In My Mind Only

"This is my home," Frank told me as we entered his grand home, "feel free to snoop around. I don't care." Then he walked away up the wide steps to the second floor. Well, I thought, his parents certainly are business people. Look at this house, it's beautiful. But... It's missing a home feeling. It's nothing but a house. Poor Frank.

I took a seat on the big fluffy looking couch, which is misleading seeing how it's a hard sofa. I groaned in pain as I let myself fall on the couch.

"Not soft, right?" I heard Frank's voice. I looked over at him and nodded.

"I normally sit on the floor or something," he said as he walked away. "Come on, Mr. Way, let's get going. Library closes in an hour." I got up and remembered my way back to the front door. As I closed the door behind me, I noticed Frank already sitting in the passengers seat. I looked at him for a few minutes before getting in the car myself.

"You have a very nice home," I said as I started the car.

"I guess so. It's just a house really. I'd honestly be okay with being poor if it meant my parents were home more, but that's besides the point right now," he explained. I was slightly shocked that he shared something so private.

"That's the entire point right now, Frank. You want your parents to stay with you a lot, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"There is according to my father," he said lowly. We hit a red light, and I took that opportunity to look at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Nevermind, you know? It's nothing," he shrugged.

"No. It's not nothing. Is your dad telling you that you have to live this way?" I asked curiously. I watched as he nodded. Wow... Poor kid. That's it. This family night is definitely happening, I thought, determined. The car behind me honked and I realized that the light had turned green. I quickly put my foot on the gas and turned off into the library parking lot. I parked the car and Frank quickly got out as did I. 20 minutes into our library visit, we had printed and laminated about 15 copies of the picture. The librarian gave us weird looks, but Frank lied and told her they were movie posters of a film we were making. She quickly believed us whenever she saw the JROTC patch on his chest and proceeded to help us cut out the laminated posters which were roughly 27" x 40"

"This should be enough, right, Mr. Way?" Frank asked me. I nodded and pulled out my wallet to pay the librarian. It all came out to $25 and I was almost reluctant to pay for it seeing as I'm helping someone get their life destroyed, but I did anyways.

"Let's go, Mr. Way," was all Frank said after rolling up the posters. I followed him out of the library and into my car.

"Do you really want to do this?" I asked him as I started the car.

"He hurt my family. He doesn't deserve a happy life," he answered.

"Isn't that a bit extreme though? I mean, I get that she's your family, but there's a limit, isn't there?" I put my foot on the gas and took off in the direction of the movie store.

"Since my family isn't around, I'll be around for them. I'm doing what I assume any other family member will do when their own is being hurt." I couldn't argue with that. He was right. My family is the same way; we would kill for each other

"I suppose you're right," I said as we pulled into the movie store. I parked and shut off the car, I turned to him and he was looking at me confused.

"What are we doing here?" He asked. I opened the car door and shrugged.

"Getting movies," and then I got out, waiting for him to make the same move. Eventually, he did, and we went inside the store.

"Well," I said to him,"pick any movie you want." Then I went in a different direction to pick out my own movies. I wandered around for about 20 minutes before going to find him, and after going through all the aisles, I found him in the last one holding a bunch of movies in his arms.

"All of those? What are they?" I asked. He turned and looked at me with a smile on his face.

"I've been wanting to see all of these. I heard they were all great, but I'll be the judge of that," he said. His eyes beamed with excitement. I smiled and shook my head at his silliness.

"All right, then. Let's get those," I chuckled. His eyes lit up more.

"You mean it?" He asked excitedly. I nodded and he went to the front counter. I laughed quietly, followed after him and pulled out my wallet. I watched as he set the movies down, and noticed him trying not to look so excited in front of the cashier. I counted the movies as the cashier scanned them. There were 13 movies in total. Jesus, this kid is gonna make me go broke. Even though I thought that, I couldn't help but smile at my discovery: Frank, too, was childish in his own way.

"That'll be $49.99," the cashier Bob his name tag read, informed me. I nearly fainted, but considering it was 13 movies, it was kind of cheap. "Is that going to be cash or card?" I sighed and pulled out my card. Thankfully, I was slightly well off. Besides, I needed the money for snacks later. This family night will be the best thing for him right now, and I needed to focus on that rather than the money in my wallet. Frank's deprived of the things I had the privilege of having when I was growing up. Even though my parents always worked, they made time to make sure we were okay and made sure we spent nearly every night together. Frank, on the other hand, how many nights did he go home to an empty house? How many times had he eaten dinner alone? Watched television alone? How many times did he go to bed without anyone to tell him goodnight?

I looked over at him as he impatiently waited for Bob to put the movies in a bag. He was slightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. Finally, when the bag was set down near him, he quickly grabbed it and then looked at me, noticing how I was smiling at his behavior. He quickly stopped all his movements and left the store. I chuckled softly and looked back at the cashier who was staring at me.

"Here you go," he said as he held out my card. I smiled and took the card.

"Thanks, Bob." He looked shocked until he seemed to remember that he had a name tag on, and he smiled sweetly.

"Smile more, okay? You look 10 times more adorable." He blushed and smiled more, nodding his head. I don't know why I said it, I guess I was just feeling great enough to give some advice. I left the store and noticed Frank reading the backs of the movies and I smiled so much, my cheeks hurt. I slid inside the car, but he didn't even turn to me because he was so interested in the movies. This kid is so unpredictable. I started the car and drove to the store for some popcorn and soda, and maybe some pizza for dinner. I kept driving in the direction of the store as Frank kept reading the back of the movies.

Notes

I didn't even mean to update this late, but I got back home from Austin way later than I expected. Well, enjoy! Feedback would be sexy :3

-OAIF <3