Wicked Little Town

The twins were napping in a cradle that Frank managed to get the day before at a second-hand store for a very cheap price he almost fought to death for. As for Frank, he sat on the floor of the living room contemplating the mess that house was and how much trouble he was in. He had his green bag near him on the floor, so he grabbed it and took from it a note pad and a pen and looked around. He started to make a list of the things he might need to fix the place up.

He was going to start with the room next to the kitchen to try and make it a bedroom for him and the girls, but it would eventually be theirs alone and he would move up to the room upstairs which he didn’t need to think about right now.

After finishing up the list, he took another look around. He had no idea how he was going to fix this house up, but he knew the process would involve a lot of cursing, and crying, and probably blood. But he was ready for it all.

He noticed some movement in the cradle and stood up from the floor to go check, and found Lily awake, sitting up, just looking around.

“Hey Lils,” he said reaching for her and picking her up, then walking around with her. Lily hugged her dad’s head with her tiny arms, still a bit sleepy. “As soon as your sister gets up, we’re gonna go shopping for supplies, okay? And if you are both good maybe we’ll have a little dinner out.”

Frank talked to his kid, rocking her in his arms. Lily didn’t make a sound, but Frank knew she understood and agreed. Lily was the most serious of the twins and he knew he didn’t have to worry about her. Cherry was the trouble maker of the two. It wasn’t even that bad but she usually made Lily tag along whenever she was angry and made them both bring hell on him.

Frank took a deep breath as he walked around the kitchen with Lily in his arms. He was worried, so worried. He had been saving money like crazy for the past year and a half but he knew it wouldn’t last forever with two babies, and now that he had to fix up the house it was even harder, so he knew he had to get a job as soon as yesterday.

The only job he had as a teenager was a stock boy at a supermarket, and he hated it, but he was good at bagging stuff. He was quick with his hands, but he thought that if he had to go through that again, it would kill him. He still would do it because he has two babies to take care of now, not just his own needs, but he really, really hoped there was something else out there for him.

After a while, Cherry finally woke up and he readied both girls, put them in the stroller, and headed off to town.

He passed by Way’s and waved Gerard’s way where he was taking an order and saw him through the window, waving back. Frank then went straight to the hardware store. He told Billy, the owner, about the house to see if he had any idea of what he might need. Billy of course knew Bob and after saying “that lunatic” as apparently everyone else did, he said he knew the house.

“Bob had wanted to fix up that house before but never went through with it. He won’t sell it or rent it either so it’s weird he gave it to you, really.”

“Yeah?” Frank was confused because Bob didn’t seem like the type of man that would do something good out of the kindness of his heart alone. Maybe he would ask for something in return later on? Well, future Frank would have to deal with that then.

“Anyway, your main focus should be downstairs for now, the bedroom and living room. The kitchen is actually fine. I gave it a look not long ago because he started there when he first wanted to fix the house up.”

“Oh good, that’s great,” Frank said.

“And there is some roof stuff to check out, but you’ll need a professional for that.”

“Well, what can I do for now and for cheap?”

“I think, cleaning the place up and start with the bedroom is your best choice,” Billy said, and it was exactly what Frank had in mind. He then gave Frank a bag with a few tools he’d need and anything necessary for his task for now and with great pain, Frank paid for it.

“Oh, one last thing.” Frank added. “Do you know of a job or something?”

“No, sorry.”

“Oh well, thanks anyway.”

“No problem.”

Frank left the hardware store and walked around town with the girls. He didn’t want to go back to the house quite yet because everything about fixing that place would get very real, very quickly.

In front of the town square there was a place, some sort of big barn looking place and he could hear some music coming from it.

“Hey guys, let’s check that out,” he said to the girls as he crossed the street to the place. Once he was at the side walk, a big, heavy, wooden, sliding door opened and a loud, big woman was screaming to someone inside. She turned around with a long cigarette in her hands that she was smoking. When she turned around, she saw Frank standing there, staring.

“Oh honey, don’t look at me like that, you are way too young and you have babies.”

“I… no. No, no. I wasn’t…” Frank stuttered.

“You must be Frank.”

“I’m sorry… what?” Frank asked. He heard her fine but there was definitely something he was missing, he thought.

“Frank, the new guy!”

“I guess? I am Frank, yes and I guess I’m new too… I… I’m sorry, what is this place?”

“It’s Miss Gladys’ music studio. I’m Miss Gladys.”

“Oh… music studio, you say?”

“Yes. I’m a former Broadway star and an amazing singer,” Miss Gladys said, with a wink, all too confident.

“Wow, that’s impressive. You know... actually I’m a musician too, I play guitar. I’m looking for a job.”

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, I’m not hiring right now.”

“Hey, Gladys, hold on…” said someone else, interrupting the conversation.

Frank saw a young guy, tall, very thin with great hair and a jaw line that could cut diamonds, approach them at the door.

“Not that I was eavesdropping or anything but you know, we could use someone new. I’m teaching a million classes at once. I could focus more on teaching piano and cello and he could teach guitar”

Gladys looked at the guy and then at Frank and his two babies in the stroller. She sighed and rolled her eyes because how could she say no now?

“You are a pain in my ass, Brendon… fine, be here tomorrow at four with your guitar,” Gladys said and left, waving a hand dismissively at them.

“Oh God, thank you for that man, I appreciate it.”

“Hey, no problem,” he reached for Frank’s hand to introduce himself.

“Brendon,” Frank said before Brendon could.

“Yeah…”

“I’m…”

“Frank, I know.” Now it’s Brendon turn to interrupt him.

“Apparently everyone does.”

“Small town, ya know?”

“Yeah, I’m getting the hang of it,” Frank said and nodded.

“Well, welcome to the studio. You’ll get harassed by old ladies and scolded by old men because you are too thin or your hair is too long, but it’s all in good fun. These people are the best.”

“It could be worse,” Frank said smiling at the twins.

“You could be a stock boy.”

Frank looked up at Brendon, frowning.

“Anyway. I gotta get back! It was cool meeting ya!” Brendon said and waved at Frank and the twins and went back inside the studio.

Frank thought that everyone was so weird in the town, but shook his head and turned around. He noticed that Way’s was just across the town square in front of Miss Gladys’. He thought himself lucky, and as a reward for getting a job, he decided to have dinner there and tell Gerard the good news.

“Hi! Anywhere?” Frank asked, gesturing around once inside the diner, with a huge smile. Everyone turned to look at him, including Gerard.

“Hey… hi um… yeah, yes, yes anywhere is fine, yeah,” Gerard said a bit nervously and now everyone turned to look at him as funny as Frank was. “Hey, mind your own business! Back to your food okay?” he said to the room, offended and everyone just shrugged and carried on with their meals.

As Frank sat down at a table near one of the windows, a massive amount of curls peeked out from the kitchen followed by the person those curls owned.

“Hey, is that Frank?”

Gerard turned to Ray with a deadly stare, with his eyes as big as he could open them. Ray noticed, but didn’t mind. He cleaned his hands on a cloth that was hanging on his apron and came out from behind the counter to approach Frank.

“Hi! I’m Ray, Gerard told me all about you. How are you, man? Settling in well?”

Gerard closed his eyes tight and hoped that he was dreaming. Or dead.

“Oh, he did… huh?” Frank said.

“Yeah I saw you the day you first arrived, after you stopped by here and I mentioned it to him, and he told me he gave you coffee and stuff.”

“Yep, that happened.”

“So, Gerard said you play guitar!” Ray said excitedly. “What kind are you using right now?”

“Um… Ray?” Gerard interrupted. “People are waiting for their food?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Hey maybe we can catch up later!”

“Sure,” Frank nodded and smiled as Ray left. He seemed like a nice guy, Frank thought. “Everyone knows me and everyone is so nice to me. That doesn’t happen to me often.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

Frank picked up one of the twins and Gerard turned around from where he was standing as he said, “Hey, hang on…”

Gerard walked towards the other side of the diner and came back with two wooden baby chairs, one blue and one green, and he placed them at Frank’s table. Frank simply looked in utter surprise.

“These weren’t here before,” Frank said as a statement more than a question because he knew they weren’t.

“No… I just got them actually.”

“For…?” Frank teased although he knew the answer.

“Babies, yeah.”

“Yeah… yeah of course.”

Frank smiled to himself, not looking at Gerard. He thought it was such a nice selflessgesture from him, so he didn’t want to put him on the spot and force him to explain himself, so he didn’t ask anything else and placed the twins on each chair.

“Well, thanks anyway. We’re gonna benefit a lot thanks to other babies so…”

“Yeah, no problem. I should have had them really. It was a long time coming.”

“Totally.”

Frank finally ordered some food for him and the girls. They were talking over dinner as usual, and as usual, Gerard wondered what he could possibly be talking about with two one and a half year-old babies, but every time he looked at Frank, which was more than he cared to admit, he saw this look on his face that said he was having the most interesting conversation in the history of human interactions.

After a while the diner got less busy and Gerard was just cleaning up tables, so Frank stood up from his seat to talk to him without taking his eyes off the girls.

“Have a minute?” Frank said, approaching Gerard who left some plates on the counter and turned to him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“So, I got a job!”

“Really? That’s awesome! Where?” Gerard said.

“At Miss Gladys’? I’m gonna give guitar lessons there with this guy, Brendon. Well, not with him with him but he teaches there too.”
“That nerd…” Gerard said dismissively.

“Actually he convinced Miss Gladys to hire me.”

“He did? How does he know you?”

“How does anyone know me here? I have no idea but everyone does,” Frank said.

“On the other hand, he works for Miss Gladys and she literally knows everything there is to know around here.”

“So you don’t like Brendon?” Frank asked, without letting Gerard’s first remark about the guy pass.

“I guess he’s alright.” Gerard shrugged his own insecurities off.

“He seemed really cool.”

“I hear he’s got a huge ego,” Gerard said with that dismissive tone again, because he couldn’t help himself.

“Is that an innuendo for something?” Frank asked frowning.

“What…? Oh, God no! Wait… I hope not. I never thought of that.”

“Wait. Hope not? It can’t hurt. Unless it’s like ridiculously huge, I guess that must be uncomfortable,” Frank rambled.

“How did we end up talking about Brendon’s dick? Also, how can we stop?” Gerard asked a bit disgusted.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Anyways… congratulations! You are slowly building up a life here.”

“Yeah. It feels kinda nice,” Frank nods. “Everything’s thanks to you anyways.”

“Me?” Gerard asked.

“Well yeah, you were the first one to let me in and pointed me in the right direction.”

“Oh please. It was nothing.”

“You were kind, Gerard. Most people aren’t, sadly,” Frank said this remembering the times he’d been at the receiving end of disapproving looks because he was a single dad full of tattoos. But no one seemed to see that there, they just saw that Frank was a guy that needed help and everyone was happy to try their best to help him out.

“Well… you are kinda nice to have around,” Gerard managed to get out of his mouth. He wasn’t good with words or feelings; he’d rather do things for people than say anything to them.

“I am?” Frank smiled.

“Yeah, you are. You know, and the girls too…”

As Gerard said this, Frank gave a look at them again and as Lily was kind of drifting off, Cherry was decorating her hair with macaroni.

“No, Cherry! Come on, man.”

Frank walked towards them and started pulling pasta out of Lily’s hair as he heard Gerard laughing. “Well I guess this is my cue. We should get going.”

As Frank said this, Cherry turned around in her chair and threw her arms towards Gerard while making noises. He assumed she was calling him so he got to her and picked her up. Cherry immediately started to play with Gerard’s face.

“You don’t have to do that,” Frank said. He always assumed people picked his kids up out of pity or to make them shut up, especially Cherry.

“I don’t mind. Besides I think she likes me,” Gerard managed to say through Cherry’s hands that were over his mouth.

“Well, you are a natural, let me tell ya,” Frank said as he finished cleaning up Lily and putting her down in the stroller.

Gerard smiled and walked towards Frank to help him put Cherry down too, against her wishes because she started complaining again.

“You know you are doing something wrong as a parent when your kid’s first word is no, right?” Frank said once he got them both to settle down.

“You are doing great.”

“Thanks…” Frank said, unconvinced. “Well, we’re off. Hey, maybe you can come over some time? I’ll make some food. Well… ‘make.’ I’ll heat up something frozen for sure. I’m great at it.”

“Oh… yeah sure. Or I can bring something.”

“No it’s okay, my treat, you feed me all the time, it’s my turn. Is Friday okay?”

“Great, yeah. I’ll be there after I close here,” Gerard said and nodded.

“Cool. See ya!” Frank waved and left Gerard and the diner behind him.

Notes

I totally didn't know I hadn't post this here but hey, there's another chapter coming right next to this one so yay?