Greatest Hits

By the end of the day, Frankie was just sweeping the floors so he didn’t have to do it tomorrow morning. He heard yelling and banging towards the back of the shop. He could hear his boss yelling at, he was guessing, Mikey about something.

Putting down the broom he walked to the inventory room, to see Gerard banging metal together, something that looked like a couch? Gerard looked up, his hair in his face, but he smiled when he saw his employee.

“Surprise!” Gerard said, holding out his arms.

“What are you-“

“It’s a futon, for your apartment, so you’re not laying on the ground.” Mikey said. Frank was in shock.

“Uh, you really did-“

“Yes we did, I don’t know about you, but the Way brothers tend to help friends, so here you go. We could help you get it in your place once we lock the doors, okay?” Gerard smiled. Knocking off the dust on his pants as he locked the back door. Mikey and Frank walked with the futon through the shop until they got outside. Locking the door, the three boys headed towards Frank’s apartment.

Thankfully, Frank didn’t live far. Once they got up the stairs, Frank unlocked the door. They dragged the bed inside. The walls were still not painted, just sheetrock, the floors, at least, were done beautifully, but there was a whole lot of nothing in there. In the corner, there was a sleeping bag, and two suitcases. Gerard’s heart dropped.

“You don’t have any lights.” The only lights were the streetlight pouring into the small living room. Frank raced over to his sleeping bag and pulled a flashlight out.

“Sorry, I-“

“I understand Frank, I once first started out on my own.” Gerard smiled.

“Yea, twice, the second time was almost a failure, mom had to come and bring you a bed too.”

“See I’m paying mom’s kindness forward.” Gerard nudged his brother.

“I wanna thank you guys again for doing this.” Mikey and Gerard held their hands up.

“It’s no problem. I’m gonna go down stairs.” Mikey said, leaving Gerard and Frank alone.

“Um, I wanted to give you something. Uh,” Gerard dug into his pockets finding the envelope. Handing it to Frank, looking inside it, Frank almost fell on his ass.

“This- No, Gerard I can’t take this.”

“It’s advance, buy some furniture. When is your rent?” Frank was shocked.

“Um I paid the first six months.” Frank said.

“Great, well, buy some things, I wanna see it Sunday. If you need help, please I’d love to help.”

“I think you helped more than enough Gerard.” Frank walked closer to his boss. His heart was racing, watching Frank’s eyes get watery from his kindness; there was something there, something that happened to him, like Gerard and his divorce.

“Enough is never enough. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Gerard winked before turning to the door.

“Gerard.” Frank called. Walking over to him, catching his boss off guard with a hug. “Thank you again” Frank whispered. Gerard melted against him, pressing his nose on Frank’s shoulder, taking in his smell. God, Gerard thought, it was so intoxicating.

“Anytime.” He sighed, separating himself from his employee. “Bye.” Gerard said quietly before heading down stairs smiling at his brother.

“That was amazing of you.”

“Eh, I can tell something has happened like my past, so I would have loved if someone would have helped me when I was starting over again, other than mom.” Mikey nodded, as they walked down to Gerard’s place, right off of the Main Street in town.

A couple of weeks later, Frank came running into shop just in time for lunch. Looking up, Gerard saw Frank sliding across the counter.

“Okay so, my friend is gonna be here at four, the concert starts at six, and how many tickets were sold?” Gerard leaned against Frank’s thigh.

“All of them.” Gerard smiled. Frank clapped his hands laughing.

“Sounds perfect. We are so ready for this!” High-fiving, Frank hopped off the counter as he went over to engage conversation with some customers.

Six o’clock was ten minutes away and the place looked great. The small stage stood in front of a hundred excited customers as Gerard looked out the door of the back room. Frank was talking with his friends, laughing, and congratulating them.

“You know, its too bad Prancy Prep let you go. That was not fair, just cause you weren’t feeling the look, the sound or the drugs. You deserve better.” His friend smiled, heading towards the stage; the cheer of the crowd was all to be heard before the door closed on Frank. Gerard watched Frank as his head hung.

“Can I ask what happened?” Gerard stood close to Frank, watching as his head shot up. “You don’t have too tell-“

“I created that band, that stupid band. It was my everything. I worked so hard on it. Once we got signed, it went downhill. Way down hill; the sound changed, my team was doing drugs and I have been clean for four years. There so was no way I was going back down that road. Than I was thrown out of the band; they took off for tour. They gave me three thousand dollars, which paid for the apartment and me to get here. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have a job to pay for it or friends or-“

“Frank. I’m so sorry. I- I completely understand. I really do. I wasn’t in a band, but I know what it feels like to lose everything.” Frank combed his hair with his fingers, as the other hand grabbed Gerard’s shoulder.

“It was the past and this is now. And now you have a beautiful shop and venue that I am glad and proud to work at. Thank you.”

“Anytime.” Gerard smiled, as they opened the door to see the band killing it out there. Gerard couldn’t help but look at Frank; the way his eyes lit up when he saw his friends play. Gerard couldn’t help think, Frank was born to be on stage.

Notes

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