
House of Wolves
Good Advice
Frank hadn't moved all night and neither did I. An alarm went off at six in the morning. To be honest, I don't remember anyone setting an alarm. Frank let out a low moan and tried to ignore the ringing, but it kept going. He rolled out of bed and hit the off button. I rubbed my eyes and stretched out my toes.
"What am I supposed to wear?" I mumbled as I sat up.
"You can borrow one of my shirts." He rubbed his eyes and sat on the bed. I scooched over to him and put my head on his shoulder.
"Good morning." I whispered. He turned his head.
"Good morning." He kissed me. He got up and through a band tee at me to wear. We both got dressed, still not quite awake.
"Hey Frank, is this you?" I asked, pointing at the picture on his night stand.
"Yeah, and my mom. Its one of the few pictures left of just her and me." He was smiling, but it wasn't a good smile. I went over and pulled him in. I hugged him for a few minutes.
"Well, we should get going before we change our minds about going to school," I held his neck,"hey, I love you." He smiled and kissed me again.
"I love you too." He grabbed his backpack and the key to his bedroom and I followed close behind. He locked the door behind him and walked to school. We went the secret back way. We held hands and occasionally pecked each others cheek. When we were about to reach school we had to separate a little. Bob and Ray were at the meeting spot already.
"And look who it is, Iero in the flesh and his new sidekick, G-man." Bob called out. God, he made up horrible nicknames.
"Where were you guys yesterday?" Ray asked.
"We were at Ethans. We didn't feel like dealing with all this crap." Ray nodded and then the bell rang. We waited for Ray and Bob to leave before we started to talk.
"I'll see you in music, K?" I said. Frank nodded and I headed down to art. I sat in the very back, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone. We had a free draw, not surprising. I sat and drew for my first two classes and obtained no knowledge. When the bell rang, it was finally time for music. I got there first, then Ray who was with his other friends, and finally Frank. We sat together in the corner and he played his guitar as I drew some doodles and wrote some random lyrics. We sat close but not close enough to give anybody an idea. After music went by it was lunch. I had to pee so I told Frank I would meet him outside. I went to the closest restroom and tried to go as fast as I could, but when I was walking down the hall, Mikey saw me.
"Gerard, where have the fuck have you been. Mom has been worried sick!" He yelled. I glared at him and pulled him to the side.
"What, I was going to come home tonight anyway."
"Dude, she spent all night looking for you. SHE IS GOING TO KILL YOU DUDE, and frankly, you deserve it." He snickered at me.
"Thanks, its good to know that you wont cover for me. I'll remember that for next time." I snickered at him and went back outside. All three of them could tell something was wrong with me.
“Why so serious?” Bob tried to joke. It didn’t really work.
“You look like a serial killer. What happened?” Ray asked me. I didn’t take the serial killer thing to heart.
“It’s nothing. I just had to talk to Mikey for a second.” I said. I just kind of wanted to let it go.
“Oh man, you okay G... bro?” Frank tried to comfort without raising suspicion.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” I said. We made eye contact for longer than necessary so we both looked away. We all ate our lunch while Ray and Bob did their daily arguing. It was pretty boring actually. The bell rang and Bob and Ray left.
“Do you wanna leave?” Frank asked as he watched the last person outside disappear around the corner. I shrugged.
“Yeah I kinda do, but I have to go home after school to deal with my mom and brother.”
“What’d Mikey say to you?” Frank asked.
“To be honest, I don’t even know.” I replied, “He is just arguing for the sake of arguing.” he scooted closer to me and I put my head on his shoulder.
“Well, do you want to leave?” Frank asked again. I nodded my head and he led me up. I didn’t have to ask where we were going because I knew we were going to Ethan’s. We had to walk there again but it wasn’t to bad. We sat at our normal spot and had our normal drink.
“What’s getting you so down in the dumps?” Ethan asked me. Apparently it was quite obvious I was upset about something today.
“He has a pretty interesting brother relationship.” Frank said. I shrugged and chugged down on my drink.
“Ah, brotherly love. It can either be a great relationship that keeps you close, or it can be a toxic relationship that rips you apart inside.” Ethan lit a cigarette and stared at up at the ceiling.
“Yeah, well this one is more than a toxic one. It kills everyone around us too.” Ethan exhaled smoke and took a drink of something.
“Well bud, you can look at it in two ways,” he said, “You can either let it drag you down all the time and make you miserable, or you can just accept you and your brother don’t have a good relationship and just let him go.” his advice was great, but I guess I just didn’t want to here the truth at the moment.
“And you would know?” I snickered at him. I felt bad, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Ethan looked down at his feet and Frank gave me the “WHAT THE FUCK MAN” look. I could tell I did something wrong.
“I had an older brother. My parents died when I was young and so he had to take care of me, or more like, I had to take care of him. Anyway, I looked up to him, he was the only family I had, but he was a drunk. He would beat me and make me do things like steal cigarettes or liquor. I wanted to get out of the abuse, but I didn’t want to lose my brother, he was all I had, considering I had no friends anyway. I was a mess. But when I was eighteen, I got up, packed my stuff, called the cops and then once he was locked up behind bars, I moved out of the house and got a new one and finally had the chance to start over. I opened this bar and made friends. So yes, I know all about it.” I felt myself blush and I saw in the corner of my eye, Frank turn pale.
“Ethan, I’m sorry, I just-”
“No worries man, I understand it’s hard, that’s why you can always come here and I will be here to listen.” he smiled and handed Frank and I a cigarette. He handed us a lighter and we all smoked together.
“Ethan,” I asked after a few minutes, “Why do you sell cigarettes and liquor to kids?” He laughed, which was a little weird, but whatever.
“I got into a lot of trouble stealing alcohol and cigarettes for my brother. I have things on my record that will never come off. So, if kids want to do things they shouldn’t be doing, I want them to at least get it in the safest way possible. I don’t want some silly kid to have to ruin their entire life just by wanting to experiment,” he slapped the table with his palm, “So, if you two ever want anything, come to me, DO NOT DO SOMETHING STUPID OR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND FEED YOU TO MY DOGS!” He pointed at both of us and we sort of saluted and laughed. He went to go serve the other people at the bar and Frank and I continued with our business. I felt so much better than when I came in.
“I never thought Ethan was that cool. I thought he was just a punk like us?” I said.
“Yeah,” Frank replied, “He was my only friend for a long time. He’s helped me through a lot of shit, he’s a good guy, no matter how horrible and stupid he may seem.”
“How long have you known him?” I asked. He looked to the side and thought about it.
“Since I was about twelve.” he said.
“Wow, that’s a long time. How did you guys meet?”
“I was walking home from school and these kids started pushing me around. He saw and beat the shit out of them. It was his last year of high school and I was in 6th grade. It was odd, but he didn’t have any friends either so ever since we’ve been friends.”
“Cool.” I said. We both took a drink and sat around and just relaxed.
“Damn, it’s already three. I should get home.” I said as I looked at the clock. I got up and Frank followed me to the top of the stairs and around the corner.
“If things go bad, you can come to my house. My dad’s still gone.” he said with his hands in his pockets. I looked around to see if anyone was around. When I made sure the cost was clear I took his hands and pulled him close to me.
“I will take you up on that.” I said and kissed him.
“Gee,” he pulled away, “I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just... I love you... but I’m just scared and I... Uhm-”
“It’s okay, I love you too.” I said and pulled him closer and kissed him again. He didn’t hesitate and just accepted it.
“WHOOOO FRANK’S FINALLY GETTIN’ SOME!!!!” I heard someone call out. We instantly pushed apart and both blushed. At the bottom of the stairs, Ethan stood there drying a cup with the biggest grin on his face.
“Ethan!” Frank yelled, but it was more of a squeel.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m not a homophobe, your guy’s secret is safe with me.” he waved us off and went back inside. I looked at Frank and we both laughed.
“Well, I’ll see you later.” he said after we had calmed our laughter. I pulled him close to me and felt his warmth.
“you bet I’ll see you.” We separated and and I started to walk away, but Frank grabbed my wrist,
“Gee,” he said, “If you come over tonight, I’ll have a surprise for you.” I raised my eyebrows and smiled.
“Oh really?” I asked.
“Yep.” He leaned in and this time HE kissed me on the nose. It was different but it was nice. We let go for real this time and I walked across the parking lot and he went back down to the bar. I was definitely going to go to his house tonight.
Notes
SO:
Sorry this chapter is a little disappointing. I literally just finished it and where I'm at it's four in the morning.... So I'm about half asleep. I'm going to be in the south for a while, so I wont be able to upload anything until I get back home (maybe I actually don't know). BUT DON"T WORRY I HAVE ALL THE TIME I NEED TO WRITE PLENTY OF CHAPTERS (so I may or may not have a few surprises that I'll throw in there).
SO TILL I GET BACK: please enjoy whatever kind of chapter this is and you shall await for what's to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for putting the note at the end for Leelah still not many people know about her saddening story and i really hope her parents come to justice!
1/3/15