Just Look at All That Pain

After about a five minute walk down the busy Manhattan street, Frank opened the front door of the Italian for Gerard, still holding his hand.
“Hey Frank. Hi Gee. Table for two?” Christa asked, carrying two menus.
“Hey! I didn’t realize you were back yet,” Gerard replied as he slipped his hand out of Frank’s and stepped forward to hug her. “How’s Ray doing?”
“Yea, we got back from Europe last week. Ray went back to New Jersey to see his parents, but I think he’ll be coming back maybe tomorrow or Saturday,” she said as she led them to a small table in the center of the busy restaurant. There table was one of the few that was still empty.
“We should go for dinner one day. The only time we see you is when you’re working,” Gerard said as he sat down.
“Yeah, definitely. I’ll call you guys tomorrow and we can set something up,” Frank said with a smile.
“That sounds great. I’ve gotta go but Bob will be serving you tonight. Have a nice meal, guys,” Christa said with a small wave as she headed back towards the front of the restaurant.
“That would be nice to see them,” Frank said as he flipped through the leather bound menu.
“Frank, what happened today? One second you were fine and the next.. I dunno. You’re just acting weird,” Gerard asked quite desperately, suddenly changing the subject.
Frank looked up and saw the fear in his eyes. He wanted to tell Gerard but he didn’t want him to worry. Frank reached forward and put his hand on top of one of Gerard’s. He was about to come up with an excuse to pacify him, when Bob came up to their table.
Bob put a basket of bread sticks on the table and took their order. He thanked them and picked up their menus before heading back towards the kitchen.
Frank glanced around before looking back at Gerard. He was staring at the bread stick in his hands.
“Gee, I'm sorry. It’s just been a bit of a weird day.”
“You sure” Gerard asked quickly.
“Yea I am,” Frank said with a reassuring smile. “So what did you do today?”
“I was planning on going to the market but I got a really good idea for the next comic series. But then I wasn’t sure if it had already been done.”
“That explains all the comics all over the floor,” Frank said, which earned him a smile from Gerard. Frank was glad he was smiling again even if it was only at his stupid comments. Frank knew he would have o ell Gerard eventually about what happened but Gerard had just started to act like his old self, the happy, artistic Gerard and Frank didn’t want to change that.
The rest of their dinner was pretty normal. Conversation was focused more on simple things like what they were doing tomorrow. After they had finished eating, they paid and said goodbye to Christa.
“Do you wanna go to the park,” Frank asked, knowing that was one of Gerard’s favorite places. It was about a few blocks away from their apartemnt so they spent a lot of time there when the weather was nice.
He perked up shook his head ‘yes’ a few times. Frank smiled and wrapped his arm around Gerard’s shoulders. They headed towards the park, walking under the street lights.

Notes