Snapshots

Weeks passed, and not one sighting of that Gee kid again. Frank thought he had run him off for good, which half of him regretted. The kid was weird, but in a nice way. He was comfortable around him after a while of getting use to him, and it was kind of disappointing not to seemingly be stalked every day. It was flattery at most, when Gee following Frank, but he guessed that didn't matter now.

Weeks became months, and still no sign of Gee. Eventually, winter came early, as usual, and Frank brought out the heavier jackets. Two weeks into winter, and Frank thought that the cold actually might draw Gee out, but it didn't. He just decided it was probably best not to think about him too much, assuming that worrying about Gee might just wear him down. So he didn't. He kept to his work, trying his best not to think of him.

November came. Then Thanksgiving. Frank had been given a slight raise and even a gig to photograph something for a cover of a book. He had to read the book he was working for, which he didn't quite favor (Being another poorly-written vampire romance story. Yuck), but it gave him something to do over the weekends. Not a single thought of Gee came to mind. He practically forgot all about the kid. At least the weight he was feeling on his shoulders from driving him off was gone now.

And now, a week before Christmas. The streets where covered in a white sheet of snow, so school was cut out early for Christmas break. Frank was out and about, happy to hang out with his friends more now for the break. They took him to an ice skating rink, to hang out and have some fun before deciding to go grab lunch at a burger joint they all agreed on sooner or later.

Frank was tying on his skates, focusing because the gloves he was wearing made it harder to tie the laces, and he regretted not picking up his usual fingerless ones in the morning. But it was cold, and his regret quickly washed away with the relief of his warm fingers.

Ray and Mikey were already out on the ice, laughing loudly every time Mikey would slip or fall over, having Ray help him up. Every time the went around, they shouted at Frank to hurry up, getting Frank to just wave them off so he could finish with his skates.

Once up, he carefully took each step towards the ice, holding onto things as he passed, shakily making it and holding onto the rail. Ray just rolled his eyes and skated over, swerving through the other skaters to get to him.
“Dude, come on. You've done this before.” Ray teased as he skated backwards in front of Frank, watching as Mikey finally skated up after him.

Frank flipped him the bird with a focused pout, staring at his feet as he tried to maintain balance. Ray groaned, “When you get a hang of it, tell me. I'll be skating on the other half of the rink.” Ray began skating away when he noticed that Mikey was lagging behind. “Come on, Mikes.” Mikey nodded and tried harder to chase him, having Ray giggle as he stumbled after him.

Frank groaned and kept trying to get going, looking at Mikey flail with Ray way out in front of him. Just like a flash, he felt a force hit him, and he toppled over. Great, he thought, not even a minute on the ice and he's already on his ass. He could already here Mikey and Ray laughing at him from a distance.

“Uh oh, need help?” Said the owner of the extended hand in front of Frank's face. He took the hand, cotton on bare skin, but feeling the cold flesh through the fabric. He was pulled up back onto his skates, and leaned on the hand rails.

Frank shook any dizziness off, about to thank the stranger quickly when he recognized the face hidden in a shady hoodie. Gee.

“Thank--- oh.” Frank swallowed, meeting Gee's cold gaze. “I uhm...wow. I'm sorry-” He turned to catch up with Ray and Mikey when he felt a tight grasp on his wrist, and he turned back to see Gee, holding onto him.

“Come with me.” He said sternly, not letting his grasp go when Frank pulled, a bit frightened by his tone.

“N-no! G-get off me!” Frank countered, glaring right back. But Gee didn't move, instead, began pulling him with him to the exit of the rink. By this point, Frank was fuming. Gee didn't listen to a single thing he said. “Get off me, you freak!” He shouted, a bit louder, turning a few heads. Gee caught on to the crowd and threw his wrist down.

“Expect me later.” Gee harshly whispered to him, turning to leave once he saw Ray and Mikey speeding their way.

Frank watched him leave, shaken up, rubbing his wrist when Ray spun him around by surprise.

“What the fuck was that about?” Ray sneered, watching the hooded figure disappear behind a small crowd of people. Frank only shrugged, spotting Mikey catching up.

“...It's that weird kid...” Frank said, looking at Mikey, hoping he'd remember. Mikey only shrugged back.

“Hey- man, don't let that freak get to you. Let's skate.” Ray comforted him, slapping a large hand over his back. Frank only half-smiled, taking him up on the offer, following his lead and eventually getting a hang of skating again.

For the few hours as they skated, however, Frank couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, and he had to call off the skating early, excusing himself by saying his feet were hurting. Ray and Mikey agreed, following him back to the bench to switch out to their regular shoes again.

They rode back to Ray's house, since it was closest, to drop off their skates. On the way, the feeling lingered on Frank, and he got chills, despite feeling warm. It wasn't the cold, it was just the glare Gee gave him, bored into his mind. He couldn't shake it off, dealing with it on the way to Ray's. He just kept staring at the window, watching what he thought was birds fly south. He felt Gee's cold grip still lingering on his wrist, and rubbed it subconsciously.

They turned down Mrs.Toro's offer of hot cocoa, and skipped right on ahead to a diner for lunch. The sky was still overcast, darker than usual, and Mikey suggested a storm was about to roll in. They decided to hurry things up and grab lunch and get back home and maybe even have a sleepover.

At the diner, most of the people already cleared out to make it home before the storm, leaving the boys and only a few couples left in the diner. One of two waitresses seated them and handed out menus, Frank only slunk back in his seat as his friends ordered for him.

Once back with drinks, the waitress took their order. Ray ordered his usual burger, Mikey, had a corndog, and Frank just agreed to share their fries and have that for himself. The waitress scurried off to put up the order, and the boys all just stared at each other.

“So, Frank?” Mikey pursed his lips together, noticing how quiet he was being, which wasn't like him, “Did you and your boyfriend have a falling out or what?”

“The kid from the rink?” He glared at him, shaking his head, “No, we weren't boyfriends. I'd never date a guy like that weirdo.”

“I've still never seen the guy.” Ray said with a smile, Mikey nodded in agreement.

“No one seems to see him. It's like only I can sometimes.” Frank said, taking off his gloves and finally setting them on the corner of the table, staring out the window at the falling snow, “He said he has no friends...I mean, I've asked people about him if they recognize him, but eh, no one seems to remember. He just has a weird....face I guess. Forgettable.” He sighed, mumbling to himself, “...Except I can't forget.”

“Oh!” Ray grinned, “You have a crush on him!”

“Do not!” Frank defended, “I mean-- he's not ugly, but the way he looks at me. It kinda just sticks. I dunno...”

“...Sounds like a crush to me.” Mikey snickered, Frank only glared. “If he's so cute-- what does he look like?”

Frank could already feel a blush creeping on, and he pulled his jacket up, hoping they couldn't see. “He's feminine. Girly...has these dark...bright eyes. If that makes sense? And the smallest, little teeth. It's weird...He's whiter than the snow outside, uh...”

“Either a zombie or a vampire.” Mikey said matter-of-factly, Ray only nodded in agreement. Frank rolled his eyes.

“He acts like Frankenstein sometimes. Full of wonder one moment, then full of hate the next.”

“Frankenstein's monster.” Ray corrected, Frank just snorted.

“What the fuck ever.” Frank growled.

“Watch out, he'll come and kill all your friends and family!” Mikey teased, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers. Frank was getting pushed past annoyance, for no reason that he could find. He just felt aggravated. He slid out from the booth, pushing away from them.

“I gotta piss.” He said to them, checking back behind the counter to see if their food was near being ready. It wasn't, so he had time to play on his phone.

Mikey and Ray only passed each other glances and excused him, watching Frank waddle off to the bathrooms.

It was a small separate hall that split into two stalled bathrooms. Each having one small stall, a larger one, sink. (With the exception of the boys room, where it had a urinal on the wall as well) Frank slipped in, moving to the urinal to relieve himself. With a sigh, he zipped down his pants and let it go, humming and closing his eyes as he did.

“Nice pretty voice.” An echo came, “Too bad you use it to say all the wrong things.”

Frank's eyes flew open with the chill down his spine and he quickly pulled up his pants and spun around to see Gee hovering over him. He didn't even hear him enter-- how did he know he was here!

Frank's eyes darted to the door, and Gee clicked his tongue, “It's locked.” He hummed, not taking his gaze from him.

“W-what do you want--?” Frank stuttered ,backing against the wall, slipping a bit as he did on the tile.


“You...” Gee said quietly, “...To apologize.”

Silence fell in between them and Frank stared right back at him, feeling a flush of relief wash over him. “T-that's it? A sorry?” He scoffed, “You stalk me all this time and all you want is a damn apology?” His voice grew, but Gee did not move.

“...You hurt my feelings...calling me a weird freak...” Frank watched as he pressed his thin, pale lips into an even thinner line as he thought. “Don't make things hard, Frank.”

Another chill shot up his spine with a mention of his name rolling off his tongue. “I-I don't want to apologize to you! Y-you're just some stranger! What does it matter?!” Frank hissed back, pressing his palm to the wall.

Gee let out a soft sigh, “I'm sorry.” He said, taking a step back, “...I am being a weirdo...”

Frank's heart fell at him admitting that about himself, and he shook his head, “N-no! No you're not. Fuck-- look, I'm sorry, Gee. I am. I...I was really shaky that day...and irritated. I had that migraine...”

“I know.” Gee said, “I gave it to you.”

“Look- you're annoying, but not that annoying.” Frank ran a hand down his own face. “I'm sorry. I'm fucking sorry. I didn't mean to freak out on you at the skating rink...I was just scared. You kinda just popped out of the grave. I hadn't seen you in months.”

“Should I apologize for being gone? Or was the break not long enough?” Gee asked, tilting his head. “I wanted to make up before Christmas came along...”

“No no...” Frank sighed, “I uh...I kinda got lonely without you creeping around.” He admitted with a shrug and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Gee smiled at that, a big toothy grin. His skin was almost as white as his teeth. “Thank you, Frank.” He bowed slightly. “But uh...can I ask one thing?”

Frank looked back up at him from the floor, meeting his eyes. “Uh, sure?”

“...Can I come over tonight?” He asked, staring right back at him. Frank swallowed.

“Uh, sure...just uh, I gotta cancel some plans.”

“Great.” Gee grinned, “I will see you at your place at dark!”

Frank was about to say something but Gee was already heading for the door. Once Gee was out, he let out a relived sigh and rushed to wash his hands before meeting his friends back at the table, where the steamy food was set out for them. But being in the presence of Gee for so long drained Frank of his hunger, and he stood awkwardly on the edge of the table.

“Food's great.” Mikey said, mouth stuffed with corn bread, Ray nodded.

Frank quickly acknowledged them, feeling his stomach churn. As the waitress passed, Frank caught her quickly, “Hey can I have a to-go box?”

“Sure thing!” She chirped, scuttling off. Frank looked back down to see Ray and Mikey staring at him in disbelief.

“What's up, Frank? Did a glory hole catch you?” Ray asked, noticing his odd behavior again.

“No, but that kid did. Gee.” Frank said, looking back at the bathrooms, as if to expect him standing there.

Ray looked back to where he was looking, “In the bathroom? Dude, you were the only one who even went back there.”

Frank squinted, “No-- that kid was there. I talked to him.” He shrugged, thinking nothing of it, figuring Ray was distracted and just didn't catch him.

“Gee, huh?” Mikey's voice went quiet, “...Reminds me of...”

“Hey hey hey-- none of that here, Michael Way.” Ray scolded, knowing exactly where that conversation was going. Frank felt bad suddenly and whipped around to see the waitress handing over the styrofoam box. He took it from her and thanked her quickly, looking back at his friends as he put only a handful of fries from the pile in the box.

He dug in his pocket then, digging out a five and tossing it to Ray. “Thanks for the food, man.” He said quietly, reaching over him to grab his gloves, and slipped them on.

“So are you dropping out from the sleep over?” Ray asked, looking back at Mikey who was still staring at his food blankly.

“I have to.” He said, “Gee's coming over and the dogs will tear him a new asshole.” An apologetic shrug and he adjusted his beanie, grabbing his box.

“Hey-- need me to drive ya home? Storms about to hit.” Ray asked, Frank just shook his head. “No thanks man, my house is just around the corner.”

Ray nodded, nudging Mikey to get him out of his daze. “Say bye to Frank, Mikes.”

Mikey forced a smile at Frank, getting a small wave back, and he turned his attention back to Ray and the food before them.

Frank slipped out the front door of the diner, deciding to quickly trek it home, hating the harsh winds. It was about half a mile, so he decided to step things up a bit. He walked at a faster pace, feeling it get colder and colder. He decided to eat the barely-still-warm fries on the way, feeling his stomach tighten with the heat from them.

The snow on the sidewalks got harder to walk through with each corner, almost there. Just a block away from his apartment now when he felt another shove, like from earlier at the rink, against him, causing him to fall face first into the snow. He squeaked, unable to catch himself and save his fries as he went down. White, then black.

Notes

Frank gets knocked out a lot...

Also, expect updates to be way slower. I'm working on 8 now, but I won't upload 7 for a few days.