Kids in Love

"Say Frank?" Alice asked,"Yeah?"
"You wanna tell me what that phone call was all about?" Frank did that thing that he always did, where he would hold his tongue in between his teeth and smile right before giving in to her. Alice almost giggled because she'd forgotten about that little mannerism completely and it was surreal to see it again."Okay fine, that was Gerard." He told her, in anticipation of all of the further questions he knew she was going to ask in rapid-fire fashion he held his palm over her entire mouth.
"Gerard and the guys were out anyway so they're gonna stop bye, they come over here most days anyway. Before you ask, yes 'the guys' is Gerard, Mikey, and Ray, an- ugh! Disgusting!" Frank groaned as he was interrupted by Alice licking the palm of his hand.
"I'll say! I didn't think I'd have to resort to that again after I turned eighteen! Man, when did you last was your hands." She scrunched up her face at the bitter taste.

"That's all well and good, but, now that I've got your attention, your mom told me yesterday that you were in a band now and more importantly that you had a little man cave basement practice room thing and I want to see it." Alice spoke as she rooted in her pocket hoping to find a piece of gum.
"Here." Frank handed her a half empty box of tic-tacs, "I'm sure you need 'em"
"Thanks" she smiled shook a couple out into her mouth.
"But before you so, immaturely, interrupted me, I was going to tell you all of that- wait" he stopped mid-sentence, "when were you talking to my mom?"
"Oh yeah! Yesterday when I got here I came over and had a cup of coffee and a chat with her. We talked all about you, we didn't get as into the whole awkward puberty stages as I'd hoped but I guess there's still plenty of time for that." She giggled, "I can just ask the guys when they get here!"

Just as she said it the doorbell rang and she leapt off the bed making a bee line for the bedroom door,
"Don't you even dare! Alice!" He shouted and ran after her, catching up at the bottom of the stairs and grabbing her by the waist. He picked her up and left her down at the opposite end of the hallway as she shrieked and giggled. Before she could turn around he was already sprinting for the door and yanking it open.
"Hey guys!" He said and opened the door to let them in. Alice stood at the end of the hallway where Frank had left her, she had her camera at the ready though. There were a couple of flashes in a row that momentarily blinded the guys as they entered the house.
"Who, what the..?" Gerard asked as he held his hand up over his eyes, "what?"
"Oh don't worry, she does that. It captures the moment or something like that." Frank dismissed it with a wave of his hand. This just made the guys look even more confused than before.
"Who does what?" Mikey asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, c'mere" he motioned towards her standing at the end of the hall, she approached him and the guys, her camera hanging on her neck once more. "Alice does." Frank grinned, he knew exactly how to break big news. Alice gave a meek wave as Frank pulled her close and put his arm across over her shoulder. The rest of the guys stood with their mouthes hanging open.

"Come with me, we'll go through it all, I'm still in shock myself." Frank told them. He took a set of keys out of his pocket and walked out of the house to the garage door. He unlocked it and pulled it open. He turned to Alice, "This!" He gestured to the room, "is our 'man cave basement practice room thing' as you so nicely put it"
The garage was completely transformed. Where it used to be a dull room that smelt of gasoline and was in desperate need of a paint job, now it's was like something from a dream. Much like Frank's own bedroom it was decked out entirely with posters for various bands and movies she'd never even heard of, there was also quite a lot of art up on the walls, sketches and paintings.
"These are amazing, do you draw them?" She looked up and down the walls before turning to Frank.
"No actually, I can't draw for my life. All of the artwork you see before you is courtesy of Mr. Gerard Way over here." Frank swung his arm and playfull nudged his friend's shoulder, Gerard's face went slightly pink.
"Yeah, they're mine" he looked down at his shoes.
"Hey don't be embarrassed! Jesus, these are incredible!" As Alice looked more carefully she could make out who some of the sketches were of. One of them that she really loved was what looked like a quick sketch of Frank tuning a guitar, she was enthralled by the tattoos on his arm even if they were just in a drawing.
"You're amazingly talented Gerard, when did you take up drawing?" Alice asked, now sitting down on a bean bag in the corner of the room, beside a sleek black drum kit. The boys followed suit and all sat down around the room. There wasn't a whole pile of space because of the instruments and amplifiers but that made it sort of cosy.
"Um, well I started drawing when I was little but I only got decent when I was like fifteen, sixteen maybe and yeah.." Gerard's face was still a light shade of pink.
"Dude, stop being so modest." Ray spoke and pat him on the back, "Gee goes to SVA in New York, he's fucking amazing!"
"Thanks" Gerard simply responded before changing the subject, "So you're eighteen now Alice, right? Do you know what you want to study next year?"
"Yeah, I'm going to study Photography back in LA. I'm in but I've gotta do this summer project thingy." She explained "hence the camera."
"Oh about that." Mikey piped up, now that his voice had finally broken, it was so different. "When are you gonna delete those photos of us?"
"Don't even bother dude. She's a fighter, there's no use. Those things are as good as permanent." Frank looked across at her and gave her a small wink.

Notes

Jeez Louise! Sorry about it taking me 24 hours to update. I lost track of time so bad oh my god!

(side note I was actually making my bucket-list because I've been thinking about it a lot lately and I got carried away talking to my sister. Let me know if there's anything on your bucket list, I've only got 20 proper ideas so far so comment below if you've got any. It would be much appreciated!)

Thanks again for all of your lovely comments! You guys are just the bomb!

Please comment and vote. Thank you!

-Eleanor