Shattered

After his shower Frank felt less tension. He didn't feel completely satisfied but he felt calmer and less needy. He dressed himself and sat on his bed, deciding he wouldn't leave Evie home to go drop the DVDs off at Ray's. He would just see him in the morning instead.

Not wanting to crowd the girl, Frank stayed in his room playing guitar for a while. An hour passed and he hadn't heard a sound from her so thought he would peek into her room to make sure she was ok. He stepped quietly out of his room and pretended to be getting something from the bathroom so he would have an reason to pass by her room. As he walked by and glanced in, Evie had her face buried in a school book and was writing into another. He approached her door. "Homework?" He asked.

Evie looked up. "Trying to catch up to everyone in class. It will take a while with all the school I missed when-" She stopped suddenly.

That got Frank's attention. "You missed a lot of school?"

Evie looked uncomfortable. "Yes, there were some... things... that happened and so I missed a lot of it."

"What things?" Frank asked ignoring the fact that he knew she had already said too much and wouldn't want to tell him.

Evie took a moment and then answered him. "Things relating to... what happened earlier."

"And what exactly was that happened downstairs earlier? You scared me." Frank knew he was being pushy with his questions but he was getting to a time where he needed answers. What exactly was he dealing with here.

"I... sometimes something happens, and it's like I go somewhere else."

"Where do you go?" He asked.

"It's like I'm reliving something from the past and I can't get out of it on my own." She told him truthfully.

"Flashbacks?"

"Yes."

"What happened in this flashback? You were terrified."

Evie looked away. She seemed so uncomfortable now with that question. She did not want to answer it and Frank could see that. "I was... being hurt."

"Being hurt how? By who?"

Evie looked at Frank for a while instead of answering any more questions. She was trying to think of a way to get out of having to tell him any more without making him angry that she was refusing to give him the information he'd asked for. She took one more moment to figure out the words to use. “The man I lived with treated me really badly."

Frank's muscle in his jaw twitched at that response. He knew it, but it disgusted him hearing the words and how she used such a passive statement to describe an assault that had been bad enough to cause her to relapse into the memory of the event.

"Was he your foster father?" Frank asked and Evie shook her head no. He tried again. "Foster brother?" Evie shook no again. Frank was confused. "Boyfriend?"

"No." Evie responded. "Just... someone else I lived with." She tried to brush him off. Frank looked down at her hands which had begun to tremble because of the questions she was being asked. Frank felt awash with guilt. He'd made those hands tremble. Him as his persistent pressuring for her to tell him things she wasn't ready to talk about. Evie kept her head down, now nervous to make eye contact with Frank in case he would see right through her.

"Evie? You know my room is just across the hall from you. You can call out if it happens again and you need me."

"Thank you."


********


The next day was Friday, and Evie and Frank were both happy about that. She was excited to have some time at home to review the class notes she was given and catch up on more school work. she told the boys this at their lunch table in the cafeteria. The all looked at her as if to tell her she was crazy.

"That sounds like a really boring way to spend the weekend." Ray said but smiled at her anyway.

"Well it's not like I know anyone here anyway." She responded casually.

"Hey! You know us!" Mikey reminded her.

Evie laughed sweetly. "I think you guys want to do dude stuff. Not have some weird girl following you around."

"Hey" Gerard said. "We absolutely want some weird girl following us around. We won't be doing a lot. We'll probably all just be at mine and Mikey's house anyway. Maybe a trip to the mall so you still get to do something girly?"

"Shut up Gerard, you love the mall." Frank teased.

"I really do but you don't have to tell everyone that."

"Ok I'm in." Evie laughed again feeling more relaxed around them. She agreed to go along with their plans even though she believed they were just being nice. Nice men! That was different! She couldn't help but feel safest around Frank, but his friends were nice too. It felt good to be around men and not be afraid.


********


Just like they promised they all went to the mall the next day. They wanted to let Evie pick the shops they went into but she told them she didn't mind, she was happy just to be out. Ray and Mikey led them into couple of gaming stores and then Frank led them into some skate stores but only looked at the clothes.

Evie thought she must have seen everybody they went to school with at that mall. There didn't seem to be much else to do in that town. A few people she had met over the last two days even stopped her to say Hi. Frank and his friends were not used to people approaching them in the mall, even though they all knew who each other were.

They all stopped and had coffee together and decided what they would do next. Gerard still wanted to go into the art supply store before they were finished. Frank said he had somewhere else he needed to go so he would skip the art store and meet them after.

"Can I go to the art store with Gerard?" Evie asked Frank suddenly, thinking she had to stay with him while they were out. They were all taken aback by the question but didn't say anything about it, except for Frank who was not as surprised as the others. "You can do what you like Evie. Just don't get lost."

Evie went with the others and looked around the store. After 20 minutes they were all done with what they were doing. The group met up with Frank in the middle section of the mall and he presented Evie with a bag. "I got you something." He smiled.

Evie looked truly shocked by this. "Why?" She asked.

Frank laughed and handed the bag she was avoiding over. "It's something you need. Go on take it."

Evie gently took it and nervously opened it to see a nice black set of pajamas.

"They're so we can watch movies together properly." Frank said. "No more sweatpants!."

Evie smiled a big genuine smile. "You shouldn't have spent money on me Frank. But thank you so much Frank." She stepped forward and planted a quick unexpected kiss directly onto Frank's unprepared lips.

Frank's eyes widened. He didn't say anything. Couldn't think of anything to say. But a few people from school had definitely seen it happen.

Frank was still stunned by the action, but it seemed like Evie thought it was an entirely normal thing to do.

Notes