House of Wolves

I woke up in the middle of the night. Frank had shifted but was still close to me. I took a deep breath and brushed my hair out of my face. I pulled myself out of bed very slowly, trying not to disturb Frank. I looked at my alarm clock and it said it was one in the morning. I looked back at Frank. His black eye didn’t look as black, but it still looked painful. I got up and went to the bathroom, then I went upstairs to get a snack. It seemed like my mom hadn’t gotten home yet because the stove light wasn’t on.

I grabbed an apple and went back downstairs. I turned on the radio and lowered the volume so it didn’t disturb Frank. I pulled out my sketchbook and started to sketch some random things while I ate my apple. Occasionally Frank would turn or shift, and sometimes he would make a small whimper. About an hour went by before I got tired again so I climbed back in bed. I was hesitant at first but I put my arm around Frank and pulled him close to me. He must have been half awake because he scootched himself when I pulled on him. I fell back asleep for a couple more hours. At seven Frank shifted and his eyes were open, but sleepy. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

“Good morning.” I whispered. He pulled the blanket above his face, peeking out his eyes and closing them.

“Good morning.” he replied. He inhaled deeply and snuggled closer to me.

“How’s the eye?” I asked, trying not to remind him of earlier events.

“It’s hurts, but I’ll live. I’m hungry.” he looked up at me and I kissed his nose then I got up and pulled him out of bed with me. We went upstairs and to the kitchen. I heard the sink running so I let go of Frank’s wrist. Of course it was my mom.

“Hi mom.” I said. She dropped something in the sink and jumped.

“Jesus christ Gerard. Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry.” I said.

“It’s okay,” she exhaled and gazed behind me, “Who’s this?” I looked behind me.

“Oh, mom this is Frank, he’s my... friend, the one I went to the concert with.” She narrowed her eyes at me and lifted her chin.

“Why wasn’t I told he was staying over?” she asked, glaring at Frank. I felt uncomfortable for him.

“I don’t know mom, just-” she interrupted me and walked up to him, completely changing her mood to happy.

“Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you!” she said shaking his hand. even my mom was getting into the whole hand shaking.

“Nice to meet you too.” he said, I could tell he was a little nervous.

“Well, are you boys hungry. I have to work in a bit, but I can whip something up if you’d like.” I looked over at Frank and he shrugged.

“Uhm, sure, I guess we could eat.”

“Great.” she turned around and started making a quick breakfast. Frank and I sat at the table in an awkward silence, not sure what to do. So I made coffee for the three of us and served it. About ten minutes later my mom had finished making us pancakes.

“Well boys, I have to get going so call me if you need anything. I have another late shift. What’s up with Mikey Gerard?” I thought about him and how he went to a girl’s house. If it were me, she wouldn’t have cared, but if it were Mikey, it would be a different story. He would probably be skinned alive.

“We went out to his friend’s house. I don’t know when he will be back.” I lied. No matter how much me and my brother argued or didn’t get along I would cover for him when he needed it.

“Oh okay, well tell him to call me when he gets home.” I nodded at my mom and she left the house.

“Dude, I don’t know what your mom does, but these pancakes are delicious!” for some reason that made me laugh, and then Frank laughed with me, and I could tell that the nerves had subsided.

“I don’t know, they’re just plain old pancakes.” The way Frank ate the simple breakfast food made me wonder about his dad. And about his home life. It made me pretty sad, so I stopped thinking about it. We both ate the last of our breakfast and then we went and sat on the back porch to smoke a cigarette.

“Hey Gee?” Frank asked me after he exhaled smoke.

“Yeah.” I got tingles in my stomach.

“What do you want to be when you go off on your own?” he seemed so content and so serious. I thought about his question. My dad always told me I would never be anything big, so I never really had hope for myself.

“I guess I will probably just get a job somewhere and do art, maybe if I’m lucky go to college. I may go back home to Jersey, but only if college happens,” I looked over to him and he nodded, “what about you?” he sat up as if we were waiting for me to ask.

“Well, first I want to get the hell out of this town. I will probably start a band somewhere and hopefully travel all over the world, just playing music that I created.” he sounded so motivated. From what I saw, I wouldn’t blame. him. I was still curious about him, but I was still to scared to ask about it, but apparently my brain had a different idea than me.

“Hey Frank, why do you want to leave here so badly.” I instantly regretted asking and I turned my head away from him. He slouched over and took another hit on his cigarette.

“Me and my dad have some issues that we’ve never really worked out.” he said. I could definitely tell they didn’t get along, but I didn’t say anything. He looked so sad about the whole thing, as if it were killing him inside. My mind scrambled for something to say to him, but soon I felt his hand grab mine and squeeze it tight. I looked up at him and I could see a tear on his cheek, followed by another tear, and another, and soon he leaned onto me and let it all out. His sobs were quiet but still sad and dark. I put my arms around him and held him close and together we sat on the back porch. it almost seemed like hours.

“Gee?” he mumbled under his cries.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“Thanks for saving me.” My mind set off fireworks, but also set a raging fire. I was thrilled that I saved the one I love, but it also angered me knowing that he could’ve “died”. I hugged him closer and kissed him on the head. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Do you wanna go to Ethan’s?” he asked. I knew it was bad to think, but damn I needed a drink, especially after the giant emotional roller coaster I have been riding for the past week.

“Yeah.” My mom had taken the truck so we had to walk. It was about a fifteen minute walk, but considering the gloomy weather, it would’ve been nicer to just drive. Of course there was awkward tension between me and Frank, but we still walked close to each other and kept each other’s company.

We got to Ethan’s and sat at the bar again. Some local band was playing again and they were playing some form of blues. Ethan came to us and pushed some glasses to us that obviously had alcohol in them. At first I was a little nervous, but then I remembered that the people who hung out at Ethan’s bar were mostly drunkards or other teenagers like us. So I gladly let all my nerves go and enjoyed my time with Frank. At first we just sat there and listened to the music and smoked more cigarettes.

“You know, I never liked blues, but these guys are pretty good,” Frank said, easing up a bit, “hey Ethan, who are these guys.” Ethan walked over to us and refilled our drinks.

“Their The Willies. They’re from Redding, California and they’re doing a North-West tour. They said they were driving through town and wanted to get a little taste of us, so I let them play here. They are even doing it for free. They ain’t half bad.” Frank nodded.

“Totally agree, I’m digging it.” Frank and I started getting into a music conversation again and for about an hour everything was pretty light and cheery. We kept drinking and smoking and listening to music, and everything was fine. When the clock struck five we decided we should stop before we got to drunk and we went back to my house. Mikey still wasn’t home so we went back to the back porch again.

“Thanks for letting me just take it easy. I needed it.” he said and smiled. It was so cute.

“Don’t worry, I needed one too. I haven’t this much fun in a long time. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like what I’ve done in the past week.” I shoved him playfully and we laughed. It was good. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful orange color, like the sky of tropical beach. I put my head on Frank’s shoulder and took a deep breath. I didn’t want the moment to end.

“I should probably go home.” he said and instantly I sat up.

“What do you mean?” I didn’t know at this point if I actually was concerned about him or just having him leave me.

“Well, I did just run off from him. Plus we have school tomorrow. It’s probably just best if I at least check in with him.” he just kept saying him, not “my dad”, which concerned me a bit.

“Well, okay. But I’m going to walk you home.” I said.

“No, you don’t have to, you’ve done enough for me and I wou-” I cut him off mid sentence.

“No, I’m going to walk you home.” I insisted. We both got up and we walked around the house.

“Can I leave my guitar at your house? I feel like it’s better if it stays there.” he asked me, but he sounded a little embarrassed which was extremely confusing to me.

“Yeah, of course. You can leave anything you want there.” he smiled and I smiled and we started to walk down the street and to his house. That’s when my slightly intoxicated brain decided it was time to take over. I grabbed his hand and held it in mine. It was so warm and comforting. In the corner of my eye, I could see Frank just looking down, extremely confused, but he squeezed my hand and didn’t let go. he just smiled and kept walking.

When we got to the corner of his street we stopped so his dad wouldn’t be able to see us. Frank let go of my hand and the warmth was instantly lost. He turned to face me. He looked pretty pale.

“Hey Gee, so I know-” my brain took over again, and this time I wasn’t happy about it.

“Frank, are we, like, ya know.... a thing... like together together?” He just froze. He froze and looked straight at me as if we were looking at my very soul. Of course, I coward and looked away.

“Sorry, I just-”

“I thought we already were.” I whipped my head around, squeezing his hand even tighter. He had his same wonderful smile on his face and I couldn’t help but kiss him. I kissed him on the corner of the street, for everyone who was watching to see, but I didn’t care whatsoever. He pulled away and looked down at his feet.

“But let’s just keep it a secret, you know, on the back burner. People around here aren’t exactly for the whole gay thing, and my dad, he just...” he just stopped talking and I could tell it meant something to him. So I respected him.

“It’s our little secret.” I said. He pulled me in for a hug and then slowly crept away from me. He waved goodbye and walked down to his house. My insides were having the biggest party in the history of the world. I smiled like a dumb ass and if someone saw me they would probably send me to the looney bin. I turned to go back home and just kept grinning and almost talking to myself. I couldn’t hold in my happiness. Soon, I couldn’t bare it any longer and I yelled it out and jumped in the air.

Notes

I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER!!!!!!
It's my finals week at school and friday is my last day, BUT HEY I FINALLY FINISHED

Yes, I know, it's super cheeseball.... again.... and even a little boring... but now that I got all summer to myself, I can write all day long if I wanted to (minus the days I work)!