Angelica looked beautiful and her long term friend and boss, Darrel made sure that she knew it. Every few minutes he would go on about how beautiful she looked. She knew it was near to impossible that Frank would even come in since he didn’t seem to care when she talked about where she worked. All he seemed to care about was getting laid, drinking, and not having a committed relationship.

“Have I told you that you look absolutely beautiful today?” Darrel asked, winking.

Angelica laughed softly as she arranged the CD’s alphabetically, “No, only about five billion times.”

“Oh okay good, so not too many.” He chuckled and turned around to go into the back room.

Darrel turned on the stereo and some ACDC started playing over the store speakers. Angelica rolled her eyes, she wasn’t a huge fan of ACDC and Darrel knew it. He just played it to annoy her.

“Ann, could you come back here and put some of these boxes away? I’ll man the front.” Darrel shouted from the back.

Angelica glanced up from the pile of CD’s and nodded, “Sure.”

She walked into the back and Darrel went up front. Angelica shoved boxes away of old CD’s and records that only came out during discount days. After a few minutes she heard the doorbell ring, signaling that a customer had come in. There were voices that she couldn’t make out then Darrel called out for her.

“Ann, there’s someone here for you!”

Angelica set the box in her hands down before walking out front. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Frank standing at the counter. He didn’t look drunk, he looked sober and actually cleaned up very well. Both of his hands were behind his back. Darrel noticed the tension in the air and excused himself to the back of the store, so he’d be close in case anything went down.

“Angel.” Frank breathed out and stepped closer to the counter.

Angelica stayed where she was and crossed her arms over his chest, giving him a glare, “Frank.”

“I got something for you.” He smiled softly at her.

He bit his lip as Angelica walked closer to the counter. Frank looked at her up and down, noticing how beautiful she was. He knew if he lost her it’d be the worst thing that ever happened to him. She was something special to him.

“Well? What’d you get me?” She snapped after a minute of him just staring at him.

Frank pulled a bouquet of white roses out from behind his back and held them out to her, “I know this is cliché but I saw these and thought of you. I know they’re your favorite type of flower and I also wanted to apologize. You mean the world to me, honestly.”

“Then why the hell don’t you show it? Why now?” She demanded to know.

He let out a soft sigh and reached out to caress her face, “I’m not good with words. Hell I had to practice this with Gerard at least twenty times before I got it right. I fucking love you with all my heart and I’ll be damned if I lose you.”

Angelica reached out and took the flower, “We’ll you already lost me” she looked at him once more before turning around and walking into the back room.

“Angel!” Frank called out for her but she didn’t listen.

She heard Darrel tell Frank to just leave before coming back to see if Angelica was alright. Darrel frowned when he saw the girl sitting with her back against the wall, knees pulled up to her chest, roses clutched to her chest in between her torso and knees. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, messing up her mascara.

“Ya know honey this is why waterproof mascara was invented.” He used his pocket hankie to wipe away her tears.

A dry laugh escaped from her throat and she wrapped her arms around him, letting herself cry until she felt completely drained. Darrel lifted the small girl up letting the flowers fall to the floor. He carried her over to his office and laid her down on the small couch he had in there, before pulling a blanket over her.

“Just go to sleep. Don’t worry about anything.” He smiled at her before walking out of the room, leaving the door open a crack in case she needed to yell for something.

Darrel picked up the flowers and put them in a vase of water on the front counter before going about his business. Angelica slept for the rest of the day and Darrel just decided to carry her up to his apartment above the record store and let her sleep it off. He cared for her like she was his little sister, although he was a lover not a fighter so he would never fight with Frank unless he physically did something to her. He kissed her forehead then fell asleep on the couch, letting her take his bed for the night. All he could do was hope that for her sake, everything would turn out alright.