Hello Angel

Just as promised, Madeleine's phone started ringing a few days after she had come home. Alex rolled over, wrapping his arms around the blankets where she had been sleeping, not even realizing that she wasn't there. Madeleine felt horrible about what she had done to their relationship, and couldn't stop thinking about it while she stood in the shower letting the hot water pour down her body. She loved the boy, she really did, but there was something pulling at her insides whenever he touched her. It was a strange mixture of guilt and sadness that Maddie couldn't exactly place, nor did she ever want to feel again.

Having a best friend with added benefits (great cook, free room and board, sex, and so on) was all she could ever dream about once. But now her mind kept flooding her senses with everything about My Chemical Romance, her brothers... Frank. It's not fair, it's not fucking fair! the voice inside her head shouted. It's not fair to Alex, she thought, rinsing off all the soap and shampoo from her skin. Maddie was pissed with herself - she barely even knew this guy who was running rampant through her thoughts, and their friendship started off awfully to boot. She barely noticed the phone ringing off the hook until she shut off the water and heard the ringer cut off.

Figuring Alex must have finally woken up, she towel dried her hair before wrapping herself up and opening the bathroom door. However, it was just her luck that her good-for-nothing roommate had answered her phone and let Frank - who was presumably outside earlier - into their house. Flustered, Madeleine tried to back up into the bathroom and ended up smacking into the doorframe. She couldn't fathom what was running through his mind when she saw him standing there with that delicious smirk on his face as she struggled to hide every inch of her body behind a towel that seemed to cover less and less.

Alex walked in out of the hallway and snorted when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him. Madeleine flipped him off and bolted into the nearest bedroom. Her clothes were scattered in both his and hers, so it didn't matter where she went; she just needed to get away from Frank's penetrating gaze. She slammed the door shut behind her and crumpled to the ground, burying her head in her arms. Madeleine had absolutely no reason to be upset, other than the fact that he had taken her by surprise. She heard bits and pieces of conversation between Alex and Frank and she quickly pulled on her clothes before they could talk about anything embarassing - Alex had a tendency to start bringing up her high school stories.

Opening the door slowly, she poked her head through the crack and saw her roommate and Frank sitting at the kitchen island staring in her direction. Alex had already offered Frank a beer and the two of them were grinning at her. Much to her dismay, Alex had their high school yearbook out open to their class photos.

"Really, dude?" she grumbled, stomping over to where the two were sitting.

"Hey, as your roommate/best friend it is my job to embarass you in front of your new boyfriend."

Madeleine sputtered, flushing red. "He's not my -"

"It's okay, doll, I won't keep looking if you don't want me to," Frank said, resting a hand on the yearbook. "But this nineties goth chick look is something I'm sure Gerard would want to see," he said, grinning widely. Madeleine groaned and slipped her shoes on, grabbing the suitcase that had been lying packed for the last few days. She hated when Alex did shit like this. Madeleine wasn't proud of her high school fashion choices, and she sure as hell didn't need Alex showing those pictures to Frank of all people.

She ushered the guitarist out the front door, and as she was about to follow suit, Alex grabbed her by the shoulder and whirled her around, planting his lips on hers. Madeleine was stunned and stood there, limp and lifeless, eyes darting from Alex's face to the back of Frank's head.

"Nothing?" Alex asked quietly, detaching himself.

"Sorry..." Madeleine sighed. The corner of Alex's mouth turned up slightly and he pulled her into a hug.

"Go get him, tiger," he whispered in her ear, letting her go and watching the two of them descend down the front steps. The door closed behind Madeleine and she sighed. A chapter in her life had just closed with that door, and she felt something weird in her stomach when Frank pulled out car keys from his pocket. The MCR van was parked outside her house, but it didn't seem like anyone was in it. Entirely lost in though, she almost missed what Frank was saying to her.

"So... Boyfriend?"

"I'm sorry he's just an ass, I didn't tell him anything to plant those ideas in his head about you -"

"No, I'm asking if he's your boyfriend. You two seemed pretty close just now."

Lovely. He'd seen them. She sighed, still red in the face after she had misunderstood him. Why did Frank even care? It's not like it had any bearing on his life. So what if she was with Alex? Would that change anything?

"No. Whatever it was, it's over," she stated bluntly. "Where are the guys?"

"We have a long ride back to Jersey since none of them are awake yet and they roped me into picking you up. You can tell me all about your non-boyfriend on the way there." She frowned and he flashed a toothy smile at her.

"What makes you think I want to tell you anything?" she asked indignantly, throwing her suitcase into the van.

"You wanna sit in silence for an hour, suit yourself. Or we can talk about your yearbook photo again." Madeleine wanted to kill him.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" she hopped into the shotgun seat and strapped herself in, waiting for Frank to light his cigarette before he started the car. As they pulled out from the parking space and onto the road, Madeleine rolled the window down and let her arm wave in the wind. She wanted to talk to someone, of course she wanted to talk about her weird relationship, but was Frank really the right person to open up to about all of this? Given that she was still trying to wrap her head abround the fact that Frank fucking Iero was standing in her kitchen not too long ago, Madeleine leaned her head against the headrest and sighed a little too audibly.

Frank turned to look at her and cleared his throat. She was a little surprised - he wanted her to talk. Madeleine had no idea where to start with anything but when they finally reached the tunnel she pulled up the window and looked over at Frank.

"So Alex and I were friends in high school, and through college, and then we decided to live together. That's about all there is to it."

"That's a lie seeing how he was attached to your face earlier," Frank said, raising his eyebrows from behind his aviators.

"And we fucked occasionally, so what?"

"Who decided to end it?"

Madeleine was stunned. Every possible scenario of carefully chosen words played out in her head with Frank realizing why she had stopped her relations with Alex. So she lied.

"It was a mutual decision, you know? We were never exclusively seeing each other, and we figured that since I was leaving it would be better to just leave that all in the past."

She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping Frank would say something. She was getting uncomfortable talking about her sex life with him because he would never comment, he just nodded and kept staring at the road. Maddie almost wished he would say something or give an opinion or advice. "You know, you asked me to talk and now you're the one sitting in silence."

"Why can't you come back and still be with him, if you still want to? Gerard's on tour all the time but he still has a girlfriend." Frank's question hit Madeleine harder than expected. Because every time I'm with Alex I think of you instead, you dick.

"It's not fair to just leave him high and dry like that. Our relationship was convenient, but it's not fair to him anymore."

Frank hmmed to himself and focused back on the road. She wanted him to talk, she wanted to pry into his life, she wanted to know what she was up against. "Well, what about you? You guys have been on the road for a while, did you not leave someone behind?" Madeleine noticed his grip tighten on the steering wheel. Good. "It's hard to believe you didn't have some kind of girl before you guys got big."

They had finally made it into New Jersey and now it was Frank's turn to roll down the window. She smirked to herself. She had him stunned for the first time since she met him and Madeleine was reveling in the quiet. His lack of response was the only answer she needed. Of course he had a girlfriend or a fling or whatever before they went on tour, and she was willing to bet money that he had cut things off with her when it was time to leave. Frank turned up the radio and they spent the rest of the trip listening to some scratchy rock station until they pulled up to Gerard's house.

As Madeleine got out of the car, Frank came around to the passenger side to pull her suitcase out. "So, you neve really gave me an answer. I told you my story and it's only fair if-"

Frank dropped her suitcase and took a step forward, pushing her against the car and keeping her trapped with his arms on either side, hands grabbing at the roof.

"My high school girlfriend. I broke it off with her. She told me she could wait for me and I wouldn't let her do that. It's not fair to her." She could feel his hot breath on her skin and Madeleine's ears were burning red. He pushed off of the car and grabbed her suitcase off the floor. "Happy?" Frank wheeled the suitcase inside, leaving her standing there.

Madeleine's knees were shaking. Still leaning against the van, she managed to pull on a small smile. She was entirely right about him, and what shocked her the most is that he was using her to find some sort of validation for his actions. Sure, he was probably going to be a little sulky around her, but it was a small price to pay for her to finally know where she stood.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Gerard running out of the house with Mikey, each grabbing her in a hug. She missed the two weirdos, and was still getting used to having siblings who gave a shit about her existence. Though they were essentially ushering her into the house, her focus was still trained on Frank, who had retired to a corner of the living room. He wouldn't make eye contact with her when she came in, and Madeleine knew it would take some time and probably another little one-on-one before the tension dissipated.

Notes

I am back from Colorado! I have so many updates to catch up on because NO INTERNET where I was camping, but I AM ALIVEEEEEE.