You're The Only Hope For Me

The car journey back was like the previous one, singing and rocking out to good songs. Frank had been persuaded by Hazel to buy a Blink182 CD whilst they'd been out and they played it in the car with Hazel singing along whilst Frank drove, probably a little over the speed limit.
They'd barely stepped in the door to Frank’s house when they were overwhelmed by the dogs, who were obviously pleased to see them.
Hazel deposited the bags which contained her new clothes on the bed in the bedroom Frank had shown to her then she had offered her help to Frank for unpacking the shopping.
Frank’s house was very organised and it didn’t take long for her to figure out where everything went, she could guess for where the majority of the foods belonged and when she didn’t Frank pointed her in the right direction. Whilst transferring the various foods from the shopping bags to the kitchen cupboards Hazel realised that Frank hadn't bought any meat. After they'd finished packing the stuff away she asked Frank about it.
"Oh, I don't eat any type of meat." He replied, then added, "I hope you don't mind eating veggie?"
"No, no, not at all." She answered, Hazel wasn't a vegetarian herself but she did quite like eating vegetarian food.
"Well, in that case, I'd better get cooking!" Frank flashed her one of his gorgeous grins before gathering ingredients together to prepare the meal with.
Hazel helped him cook, but to be honest she was sure she was sure she was more of a hindrance than a help. However Frank didn't complain, which was all fine with her as she was enjoying his company. The meal was simple; rice, vegetables, beans and sauces, and didn’t take a long time to cook. However they wasted a lot of time messing around with utensils and squirting each other with water.
When the food was finally ready they sat and ate it at the kitchen counter again, Frank said he couldn’t be bothered with setting the table and so on, and when Hazel laughed at him he indignantly replied with “Hey! Don’t judge me! I’m lazy!”
“I think you mean ‘very lazy’, no?” Hazel had giggled back.
“Takes one to know one!” He retorted, sounding childish and laughing for that very reason.
“At least I can set a table!” Hazel shot back, making Frank laugh even harder.
They calmed down and proceeded to eat the food, talking lightly about music and art. Frank was a good cook - that was very apparent. Hazel decided that she shouldn’t take any credit for the meal because all she had done was distract Frank by spraying him with water and threatening him with egg whisks; none of which affected the cooking in any way. Other than when he tried to retaliate with the spatula and the carrots had become slightly charred.
“Yes,” She thought to herself, “Definitely a hindrance.”
Frank told Hazel not to worry and that he would clean up, ignoring Hazel’s protests and proposed that she got changed and took a shower if she wanted.
“Maybe try on some of the new clothes and see how they fit you?” He suggested, silencing her offers to help load the dishwasher.
Hazel did, and emerged from the shower half an hour later wrapped in a towel and feeling much more comfortable. After she’d put on a black tee-shirt with a white music note stamped on the front of it and some loose blue jeans she’d dried her hair and folded her towels. Frank really did have an eye for size, she decided, as both the jeans and the tee-shirt fitted her well. Looking in the mirror, she took in her blond hair, pale skin and pale lips, before lightly ringing her blue eyes in a small amount of black eyeliner. She grabbed Frank’s hoodie that she'd been wearing earlier, and breathing in its scent, pulled it over her head.
She had a final look in the mirror, and was quite pleased with her appearance. The clothes Frank had chosen suited her, and the colours, not that there were that many to be honest, complimented her hair and eyes nicely. The oversized hoodie made her look small and cute while the eyeliner made her eyes bigger and made her look older than she actually was.
She smiled briefly; feeling happy, and then went to find where Frank had gone.
Frank, it turned out, was sitting on a sofa in the living room with the lights turned quite low holding a glass of wine in his hand, staring at nothing in particular. He heard her enter the room and turned to look at her, gesturing for her to join him on the sofa.
“Would you like any wine?” He asked her with a smile.
Hazel hesitated before accepting the offer, “Yes, please.”
Frank set his own wine down and stood up, walking over to a cabinet where he got a glass out and poured the liquid into it from a bottle. Hazel wasn’t properly keen on drink, but she didn’t mind a little. The glass Frank held out to her wasn’t full, and she was happy enough to take it.
She sat down on the sofa with her wine and sipped at it, while Frank picked up his own and lounged back with it in his hand.
They sat in silence for as they drank, Hazel wanted to initiate conversation but she wasn’t sure how to though so she kept quiet. The wine tasted bitter, not unpleasant but not something she’d go out of her way to drink either. She liked it, but regarded it as more of a social thing than anything else.
"You look good." He finally said with a nod, acknowledging her clothing for the first time.
"Thanks," Hazel said with a smile, "You do really have an eye for size as well as the colours though!"
"Yeah," he smiled back, "Like I said, my friend loves choosing outfits for people and we used to spend hours together just looking at clothes."
"Really?" Hazel asked, and then added "Are they an arty person? Or do they have a degree in fashion design or something? Wait, are they model maybe?"
"Yeah, well, no he doesn’t have a fashion degree nor is he a model. He probably could have gotten a modelling contract if he wanted, but I don’t think it ever appealed to him. He’s just a quiet guy who has a passion for art and expresses himself in that way." Frank replied, sipping at his wine, "We used to spend a lot of time talking about famous artists and paintings too."
"Used to?" Hazel queried, noticing the past tense.
Frank leaned over to the coffee table and set his wine down, "Used to, yeah, we don't really speak anymore. Well for the time being anyway."
"How come?" Hazel asked.
"Well it was like, you know, after the trouble with him, like, kissing me and my girlfriend and everything." He sighed.
Oh, so this was the same guy Hazel thought as she answered with "Yeah."
"Well he had a girlfriend at the time," he continued "and she was more understanding than mine was. She forgave him, saying that she understood that people make mistakes and that he wasn’t even in a right state of mind. He was real grateful for that and decided he was going to try really hard not to screw up again. He said that he didn't want to take any chances. So we just decided we should take a break from seeing each other for a while to avoid any further, I don't know, like, mistakes?"
Hazel wasn't sure if it was just the dim light which made it that way, but she thought that Frank seemed slightly forlorn.
"Do you miss him?" She asked, feeling like she was maybe being a little too curious.
"Of course I do," Frank's voice trembled and Hazel wasn't sure if she heard it crack or not, "He's my best friend, or was, I don’t even know now, we haven’t spoken in ages."
"Aww, Frankie"
Hazel wasn't sure why she called him that, or where the courage she suddenly found came from, but it must have come from somewhere as she set down her glass, moved a little closer to him on the couch and stretched out to hug him. He let her hug him for a minute or so and moved, she thought he was going to move away from her, but to her surprise he put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he buried his face in her hair. Hazel felt warm and comfortable lying there with him, and so safe that she thought nothing could ever harm her again. Frank stroked her hair and she smiled to herself, enjoying the gentle touch of his fingers as he caressed her head. She pushed her head slightly deeper into his shoulder and felt his grip around her tighten slightly.
Hazel knew that really, she'd only just met this guy, but she didn't care, he was lovely and kind and caring, and she liked that. Besides this felt right, she couldn't explain how or why, but she knew it was right, and other than that, nothing else mattered.
He seemed so upset about this friend of his that it upset Hazel, she didn’t know his friend, and she hadn’t known Frank for very long either but it still bothered her. Frank was such a lovely person, and he deserved lovely friends. To see him sad about losing someone saddened her and she wanted to do something to help him. She wanted to make him feel better but she didn’t know what she’d be able to do to make him happy. Instead, she leaned into him, trying to comfort him with her presence.
Frank continued to hug her, his grip still strong but not in a hurting way at all, in a way which made her feel warm, relaxed and safe.
Thinking that an awful day could not have transformed any better or ended in any better way, Hazel smiled slightly and closed her eyes.

Notes

Yeee the day is over at last!XD I hope it's interesting enough for you lovely people c: