Hours later, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I looked through the window as I reached over for my phone, groaning when I saw the moon was high in the sky. I clicked "answer" and put the phone up to my ear. "I swear to god if this is Patrick, I will--"
"Gee?" a soft voice spoke on the other end.
I sat up in my bed, feeling a smile spread on my face. "Frankie?" He hummed. "Why are you calling me at..." I glanced over to my clock, "3 in the morning?"
"The nurses wouldn't let me talk to anyone. I faked being asleep until they left. I'm calling you from a hospital phone." I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off. "I'm sorry for, uh, getting you kicked out."
I chuckled. "It's fine."
"Well, I've been told I'm staying here for another week on suicide watch, and I don't want to be here without you." I could practically hear his smile.
"Tsk tsk, Need to learn to be away from me, babe," I joked. In reality, I had just as much of a separation issue with him as he did with me. He sighed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I was miserable before you woke up," I told him as I laid back down onto my bed. He giggled. Fuck, he's so adorable.
"Well, I--"
He stopped talking suddenly, and all I could hear on the other line was soft murmuring and shoes clicking. I'm assuming it was one of the doctors.
"I love you, okay, Gee?"
"I love you too, Frankie. Good ni--"
The line went dead.
Despite how short our conversation was, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

---

I woke up extra early the next morning, squinting my eyes when light filled my room from my lamp. I REALLY do not feel like getting up at 6:30 in the morning, but the diner Patrick wants me to meet him at is on the other side of the town. He lives in the semi-rich part of Summit. Y'know, condos and stuff and people who have house parties and stuff? The stereotypical suburbs. I forced myself to sit up, sniffling a bit. I hope I didn't get a cold from yesterday. I rummaged through my closest for a few seconds before pulling out my signature outfit: skinny jeans, combat boots, and a plain black shirt. I quickly slipped into them, surprisingly not struggling to put on my jeans. Lindsey said weight loss is a normal thing with the meds I'm taking. I didn't really want to bother with my hair or makeup, so I just grabbed my phone and wallet and left my room, softly shutting the door behind me.

A bell above the door of the diner rang as I opened the door, causing a few of the other customers and some employees to look over to me. I looked around to find Patrick, who was sitting at a booth next to the window. I plopped down in the seat across from him. He jumped, but upon realizing who I was, smiled. "Mornin'!" he said cheerfully.
"How are you so chipper at 8 in the morning?" I groaned, grabbing a cup of still-hot coffee he probably ordered in advance for me.
"I'm just a morning person," he replied, shrugging. I took a sip of my coffee when a waiter came up to our table. He had messy brown hair, some stubble, and a name tag that read "Alex". I'll admit he was kinda cute.
"Good morning, Patrick and friend! What can I get you two?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but Patrick did it for me. "Two orders of shortstack pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries, please." "Alex" nodded and wrote the order down before turning on his heel and walking towards the kitchen.
"One," I started, "do you know him; two, how did you remember what I order after not being here with you for at four months?"
He laughed. "One, no, I just come here a lot; two, why wouldn't I?" He took a sip of his coffee. "Let's discuss your whole birthday plan with Frank. Actually, no, how about why I haven't seen him for the past... week?"
I gulped. "U-Uh, he's in the hospital. He... he tried to kill himself."
His grip around the handle of the coffee mug tightened. "Oh."
"He's fine now, though!" I assured. "He's just on suicide watch."
"I'm sorry Gee, I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No, no, it's fine. Let's talk about the birthday plan." I took a big gulp of coffee. "Are you willing to tutor Blews?"
He scoffed. "Of course not. She's definitely the dumbest girl in school. But there's just the things I do for love." He started tapping his finger on the table. "So, I just have to make her trust me?"
"Yup."
"Okay. So imagine we get invited. What's the plan then?"
"I already told you last night, but me and Mikey's friends can just serenade him."
"Did you even ask them?"
I pursed my lips. "Well, no. But I know they'll say yes." He rolled his eyes.
"Can you even play guitar?" I shook my head no. "Gerard, you are so bad at planning things out. Though I must admit, serenading your boyfriend and treating him to a new guitar is a great birthday present." His eyes widened and he smiled a bit. "Maybe that's what I should do for Pete's birthday!"
"'kay, you do that. I just won't tutor anyone!" I joked. It felt nice to talk with someone again, I was so used to being alone.
Alex suddenly came over to our table, two plates of pancakes in hand. He set them down in front of us, smiling. "Tell me if you need anything, yeah?" he called over his shoulder as he hurried over to another table. I turned back to Patrick, who was grinning.
"Well, dig in! It's on me!"

Notes

so, good news! well, at least for me. i've decided i'm actually gonna start giving a shit about my mental and physical health so i can be happier. this will probably mean that i have more motivation to write and stuff and yeah. idk it's good news to me
also i want to do a teacher/student frerard but it's so oVERDONE
BUT I WANT TO DO ONE SO BADLY
sorry for such a short chapter but i didn't have many ideas

xo