Chapter Text
Girl Afraid
Where do his intentions lay?
Or does he even have any?
She says
“He never really looks at me…
…I’ll never make that mistake again”
Ray wakes up early every morning, just for Frank, to pick him up for school. She wakes up, has to stay quiet so that she doesn’t wake her two brothers up, gets ready, makes sure her “lucky” Spiderman figurine is in her pocket. It’s not actually lucky, she just likes to carry him around with her. Then she leaves to drive over to Frank’s neighborhood. She spam texts him to make sure he’s awake, until she eventually sees Frank moving around his bedroom through the window getting ready.
Then Frank comes out of his house with his dog Ella following him close behind and he has to spend a couple minutes getting her back in the house, making Ray laugh, before he finally makes it to the car.
“Morning” Frank says tiredly
“Good morning” Ray says back while turning out of the neighborhood and driving to their school.
Their drive was quiet besides the music Ray had playing in the car. She liked their quiet drives, they were nice, they didn’t need to speak to be with each other.
They pulled into the school parking lot and Ray parked in the back so they could get out easier at the end of the day.
“Hey Ray,” Frank said before they got out of the car.
“Yeah” Ray replied
“Would you- would you like to come to my concert tonight? We got like an actual stage tonight and everything. Not just some guys dingy basement” Frank said excitedly with a hint of nervousness that Ray picked up on
“That’s awesome Frank, of course I’ll come.” Ray said with a smile.
(Time is a tickin, are you listenin, try to find out what you’re missin)
(Shool. I simply refuse to write their entire day at school)
“Why was Frank looking at you like that?” Illi asked while they were in English.
“Like what? When??” Ray asked excitedly
“I dunno? While we were walking through the halls this morning” Illi said
“Illi, how was Frank looking at me?”
“I don’t know he was just looking at you weird?” she said with a shrug
This didn’t help because you never know if Illi means weird in a bad way, or weird in a good way.
“Ills, was it at least like a good type of weird?” Ray asked, practically begging her for an answer and hoping it was good.
“I think so?” Illi said
Ray sighed. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Frank never looks at her anyway. Illi probably just saw things wrong.
(shool)
Ray and Frank had gym together last period so they just had to get through that and then they could get out of this school. So of course their gym teacher made them play dodge ball that day.
And of course the hockey guys were on the opposing team. So Ray and Frank got pelted by kickballs because this school could care less about getting actual dodge balls. Why would schools even allow a sport that leaves children in bruises and suggests violence?
Ray got hit in the face and fell to the ground from the force.
“Ouch”
“You okay?” Frank asked, running over to her.
Ray blushed, looking up at a concerned Frank who had his hand stretched out to her.
“Yeah, I’m fine” Ray said, rubbing at her face, and about to take Frank’s hand but another dodge ball came flying towards their side and hit Frank causing him to fall to the ground as well. Ray laughed, “Are you okay?”
“A-okay Toro.” Frank said, now laying on the ground on his stomach and giving a thumbs up to Ray.
“Iero! Toro! You’re out!” Their gym coach yelled, trying to get them off the court, which both of them were completely fine with.
Frank got up first and gave Ray his hand to pull her up and they got off the court and watched as more kids on their team got hit.
Finally, they were able to leave. They separated to the locker rooms and both got changed into their uniforms. Ray changed quickly, she hated locker rooms. She walked out and waited for Frank outside of the gym and they walked to Ray’s car together.
Their drive back was about the same as this morning. Quiet. Until Ray remembered about Frank’s concert tonight. He never told her where it was at.
“You never said where your concert was at.” Ray said
“Oh! It’s at the amphitheater by that shitty corner store.” Frank said
“I have no idea where that is.”
“I can ride with you and show you where it’s at. I kinda need a ride there anyway…” Frank said
“Is that why I was invited? Cuz you needed a ride?” Ray said being sarcastic
“No! I really wanted you to come to this one tonight.” He was really trying to be as genuine as he could.
“Yeah, I know.” Ray said, which let Frank relax a bit. “When do you need me to pick you up?”
“Around 7:15? I have to be there to set up and stuff at 7:30 , but it’s fine if I'm a couple minutes late or whatever so no rush.”
“Kay, 7:15.” Ray repeated making a mental reminder for herself. “Are you playing just like your regular stuff?”
“You’ll have to see” Frank said with a smirky smile
Ray glared at him for a moment and Frank shrugged.
She dropped him off at his house and made her way to the library as planned. She just needed to finish her essay and she should be free to go to Frank’s concert tonight. If her mom makes her do an impossible chore just to keep her inside she was going to scream.
At the library she made her way to the computers. She put on her glasses and started her music up and started researching her final sources for her History essay and began writing down anything that seemed relevant.
She was so close to just exploding. Why did she think taking AP History was a good idea? Was preparing for college really worth it?? She looked at the time, 5:40. She’d been doing this for over two hours. She laid her head on the desk for a second thinking: 7:15.
She pulled Spiderman out of her pocket and sighed. She needed to get this essay done, get home, find something cool to wear to Frank’s concert, and probably eat something before she leaves, all before 7:15.
“We can do this Spiderman” she whispered
She lifted her head back up and wrote the rest of her essay in twenty minutes purely out of determination and exhaustion.
She got to her house at 6:12, she had an hour. She walked in and saw her mom in the kitchen setting up dinner.
“Hey mom” she greeted her
“Hi sweetheart, how was school?” her mom asked
“It was fine.” Ray said, “Frank invited me to go to his show tonight, can I go?”
“You finish that essay?”
“Yes, today.”
“Okay, you can go. Just be careful sweetheart, and remember if a scary man comes up to you-”
“Kick him in the nuts or use my keys to stab him. I know” she said, turning to go upstairs. Her mom was scared of something happening to her children, especially Ray. So Ray learned how to defend herself, for the most part.
She went up to her shared room where one of her two brothers was sitting on the bed playing her guitar.
“Hello” her brother Corey said when she entered
“Hi. I thought I told you not to touch my stuff anymore” Ray said, storming over to Corey and taking the guitar from him.
“It’s a guitar Ray, i’m not gonna break it” he said leaning back on his hands
“You said that about my last guitar” Ray said, putting her guitar back in its case where it was safe.
“Yeah, but that was an accident” he protested
Ray took a good look at her brother. “Are you high right now?” she said noticing that his eyes were a little red
“Why? You want some?”
“Mom’s going to kill you if she finds out you’ve been hanging out with Jared again.”
“She’s not gonna find out.” he said like he was positive that their mom didn’t go through their room on a weekly basis. “Plus, she’s still at the neighbor’s playing her card games or whatever” he waved his hand around vaguely.
“She’s actually downstairs setting up dinner.” Ray said smugly
“Shit.” He said jumping up from the bed, “I’m so fucked” he said and looked over at Ray
“I’m not covering for you this time.” she said, “You’re on your own”
“Come on, you’re my little sister,” he said like that should be the only reason she should do anything for him
“Yeah, no. I have a concert to go to, and I need to get ready, so out.” she pointed at the door
“Please?” he tried one last time
”If you don’t get out of here I will tell mom” Ray threatened
”Ugh, fine” he said leaving the room.
Ray shut the door behind him and looked through the closet for something to wear. She had to have something. Maybe her Metallica t-shirt? No, that’s probably dumb.
After going though almost her entire closet she decided she needed help and called Christa. She needed fashion help and if anyone was going to help her it was going to be Christa. She picked up relatively quickly, which was good.
“Hi Ray! What’s up?” Christa said through the phone
“So, Frank sorta invited me to go to his concert tonight, I think I’m the only one of our friends going, and I need your help finding something to wear.” Ray said
“You had me at Frank” Christa said excitedly. “I’ll be over in ten. I’ll bring over my stuff”
“Sounds great. See you in ten” Ray said, flipping her phone shut.
Christa brought over basically half of her closet. Ray was surprised she even owned this many clothes. Ray just got hand me downs from her brothers. Everything she was wearing right now was her brother’s clothes. The only actual girl's clothes she owned was her uniform, and like one dress. So seeing many variations of different skirts and dresses and jeans was like culture shock.
“Wow” Ray said just in this complete awe
“Yeah, this is going to be fun,” Christa said with a big smile.
She watched as Christa held up different pairings of shirts and pants and shook her head a lot. Ray was honestly hoping that she looked good enough just to wear an oversized t-shirt and regular jeans. But she wanted to look cool, like other girls her age so she waited patiently for Christa to choose something. She trusted her enough to make her look cool.
She was fidgeting with the Spiderman figurine in her pocket when Christa found the perfect outfit for Ray. “Aha. This is the one.” Christa said holding up a lacy black tank top and jeans. It didn’t look too bad. “Try this on,” she said, shoving the clothes into Ray’s hands. She waited patiently for Ray to start changing.
“You mind…” Ray asked nervously
“Oh, no, of course not” She said, turning around, looking away from Ray.
“How do I look?” Ray asked once she was finished.
Christa turned around and smirked, “You look hot, Ray. Frank is totally gonna lose his shit. He’ll ask you out for sure.”
Ray smiled at the thought of Frank asking her out.
Christa pulled her over to the mirror that was hanging on the back of the door so Ray could see the outfit. Ray immediately saw how low the V-line of the tank top went. It was probably appealing, like if Ray saw another girl wearing this she would think it was appealing. So it had to be.
“My mom’s gonna kill me if she sees me wearing this.” she said. Because her mother probably would kill her, if not keep her from going out.
“Then you’ll wear this.” Christa said, giving Ray a zip up jacket. “You’ll take it off as soon as you get there.”
“Yeah, okay” Ray said, putting on the jacket and zipping it up.
“Ray!” her brother yelled from downstairs “Can I have your food if you're not going to eat it!”
“No, I’m coming right now!” Ray yelled back
“Thank you so much Christa. You’re a life saver” Ray said giving her a hug
“Any time.” Christa said hugging her back, “I’ve got to head out. But tell me how tonight goes kay?” she started to gather all of her clothes.
“Yeah, of course. I’m gonna have to tell somebody. Here, I’ll walk you to your car” Ray said, helping her get all of her clothes.
Ray walked Christa out to her car and they shoved her clothes into the trunk. Ray waved goodbye to her while she drove away from her house.
Ray ran back in and almost had to fight off her brother for her food. She ate quickly and went back upstairs to fix up her hair but it was a curly mess, it always is though. So she decided to leave it.
She snuck into her parents bathroom and found her moms makeup bag, searching for the one thing she knew how to use, mascara. She put that on as quickly as possible and went back to her room to check the time. 7:10.
She went into her room, grabbed Spiderman and ran downstairs, grabbed her keys and yelled “Bye mom!” at her mother and ran out the door. She got in her car and made her way to Frank’s house. She calmed down from her adrenaline rush by the time she pulled up to Frank’s driveway. She texted him that she was here but didn’t get a reply, so she got out of her car and went to the front door. She knocked and rang the door bell and there was still no answer. All she could hear was Ella barking at the door.
She bent down and lifted up the little fake flower pot that held the spare key to Frank’s house and unlocked the door and invited herself in. Ella jumped at Ray’s legs barking, happy to see her.
“Hi Ella” Ray said with a smile and scratched behind her ears. “Where’s Frank?” she asked her
Ella stared at her for a moment before booking it upstairs, towards Frank’s room, Ray followed.
“Frank?” Ray said, opening the door to his room and poking her head in. He was asleep. Of course he was. He was still wearing his school uniform and was lying on his stomach, snoring softly, how cute. “Frank” Ray said louder, coming over to shake him awake, “It’s time to get up sleepy head.”
“Huh? What?” Frank said coming to reality. When he finally noticed that Ray was in his room he nearly fell off his bed. “How’d you get into my house?”
“The key in the flower pot. Now get up, we gotta go. I was almost late to pick you up, I had to rush around my house, and you’re apparently going to be doing the same.” Ray said
“What happened to no rush?” Frank asked, rubbing his eyes and standing up from his bed.
“It’s 7:15 now, so if we hurry we can maybe make it by 7:30” Ray said, looking at the clock sitting on Frank’s desk
“Whatever you say Toro” Frank said, walking towards his mirror and fixing his hair. He made a face when he first saw it and then began fixing it. Ray left with Ella so that Frank could get changed and he came back out wearing a striped long sleeve shirt with a t-shirt over it, black jeans and his converse he’s worn everyday for like five years. “How do I look?” Frank asked, doing a little spin for her.
“Awesome,” Ray said
“Thanks,” Frank said and he looked at her for a moment longer than she'd ever noticed him look at her before. Maybe Illi wasn’t seeing things earlier. “Okay, I’ll grab my guitar, and something to eat and I’ll be out. If you could just put Ella somewhere she wont escape the house, that would be amazing” Frank said
“Yeah, of course. I’ll see you in the car.” Ray said, taking the dog down stairs and trapping her in the front room behind a baby gate. She walked to her car and started up her music now that she had time. She also remembered to take off the jacket, and she tossed it onto the back seat.
Frank came out of his house a couple minutes later and put his guitar in the trunk and got in the car. “Wow, you look, nice” Frank said when he noticed what Ray was wearing.
“Thanks,” Ray said with a smile.
They pulled out of Frank’s drive way and they made their way to the amphitheater with Frank’s directions. Ray doesn’t know how they did it but they made it there before 7:30.
“Look at that” Frank said pointing at the clock on the stereo “three minutes to spare”
“Lucky us”
They got out of the car and Frank got his guitar and they went to the stage where the rest of the band was already setting up and everything.
“Hi guys” Frank said waving at his band mates
“Hi Frank” said all the other band members. Ray couldn’t remember their names.
“Who’s she?” The other guitarist asked.
“Oh, this is Ray. I’ve told you guys about her” Frank said
“Hi, I’m Ray” she said quietly and waved at the small group
“I’m Neil,” he said “you’re a pretty sick guitarist right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she said modestly.
“Oh come on, I’ve heard your stuff, you play with that chemical group. What’s it called again?” he asked snapping his fingers trying to remember
“My Chemical Romance” Ray said giving him the answer
“Yeah! You’re totally awesome. How do you even play that fast?”
“Uhh, lots of practice I guess?” Ray said, unsure how to respond, she just listens to a lot of music and practices guitar in her free time or when she’s stuck at home. That’s how she learned to play.
“You’ve got to teach me” he said
Ray looked over at Frank. “It can’t really be taught” Frank said for her, “Trust me, I’ve tried her ways but it’s really just an insane gift she has”
“I mean I could try, to teach you. But it’s really just a lot of practice to get my hands to move that fast” Ray said
“I bet she’s really good with her hands, Frank” Neil said with a mischievous grin and bounced his eyebrows at Frank
“What?” Frank said looking over to them, his face was bright red
“Haha” Ray laughed anxiously “Me and Frank are, we’re just friends” she said and immediately regretted it because that just probably ruined any chance of Frank asking her out anytime soon.
Shit.
She looked over at Frank who shrugged at his friends, “You heard her guys. We’re just friends” he said, pulling out a small notebook out of his guitar case and writing something down. Ray’s pretty sure that’s his lyric notebook.
8:00 seemed to take forever to get to. Ray stayed near Frank and they still talked like normal but something felt off. Frank looked sad but he was trying not to show it.
Right before the show started Ray gave him a hug. When Ray pulled back Frank looked into her eyes for a moment and smiled, a genuine smile. Like the sadness that he previously had was completely gone.
“You’re gonna do great Frank” she said with a smile
“Thanks Ray” Frank said happily.
Ray left the stage but looked back at Frank who was talking to Neil. Neil looked like he was trying to console Frank of something. Frank looked like he was telling him that it was fine and not to worry about it.
“Hi everyone! We are Pencey Prep!” Frank said into the mic as everyone in the crowd cheered. “Tonight we’re doing a full playthrough of our album Heartbreak in Stereo” Frank said excitedly.
The crowd cheered again as Frank called out the name of the first song on their track and started playing. Ray didn’t know this one so she just listened to what she could of the lyrics and the music.
Frank looked so happy on stage as he sang and jumped around with his guitar. He would go crazy on stage. But when they came to one of the last songs he took hold of the mic and he looked like he was debating on what he should say for this one.
”This song goes out to an awesome guitarist.” and that was all he said. This song was for Ray and Frank looked at her with these eyes and Ray couldn’t tell what they meant.
”Wait are we playing-” Neil asked but was cut off by Frank saying “Yes”
”Okay, then” Neil said and turned around to the others telling them what song they were playing. The rest of the band members looked confused but got ready to play it anyway.
Ray was ready to decipher every lyric of this song, wanting to know what Frank was trying to say to her.
”Why are you so far away? Even when you're standing next to me.” Frank started singing with light, gentle music in the background. Way different from their usual sound.
What? Frank feels like Ray is far away when they’re together?
“Your eyes give you away, telling secrets when your mouth don't feel like talking”
Ray was confused. What is going on?
“And I'll be your Lloyd Dobler With a boombox out in the street”
OH! Oh my god. Ray thought to herself as everything clicked into place in her head as she understood. Lloyd Dobler!
“And I'll be there if you need someone. Even if he isn't me” Frank said
And that’s talking about when Ray said what she said not even an hour ago. That’s what he was writing in that notebook! Her eyes give her away. Frank knows she likes him.
“Lying in your bed, as lights dance across the ceiling. And I listen to you breathe. Toss and turn in your sleep. And I wish that you'd believe, that I'll be your Lloyd Dobler. With a boombox out in the street. And I'll be there if you need someone. Even if he isn't me.”
Ray wasn’t even breathing anymore. She just stood there, watching Frank sing.
“There's a Norman Rockwell painting of two kids sitting on a bench. It reminds of all the stupid things, well I'd like for us to share. But I don't care”
The song ended the crowd cheered and Ray needed to calm the fuck down. She walked away from the crowd and to her car. She just needed to think for a moment.
”Our next song is Florida Plates” Frank called out but he sounded worried. He probably saw Ray leaving, but he couldn’t just run off stage now.
Ray sat in her car in silence for a moment thinking.
Lloyd Dobler. She laughed back at the memory.
She and Frank were watching Say Anything and they were both high and Ray had pointed at the screen and said “Lloyd Dobler is hot!”
She wasn’t even sure why she had said that. Because she was looking at Frank basically the whole movie.
Frank had looked at her and said “yeah” with a shrug and they continued to watch the movie together.
“Frank likes me back.” She said to herself.
“Frank likes me back!” she said excitedly. “Oh my god!”
She didn’t know what to do with herself. Should she call Christa? No. Not yet. She still had to talk with Frank.
Oh, Frank! She totally just left and if Frank saw he was probably thinking the worst.
Five minutes later, Frank opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat, still holding his guitar. He must have come here right after he got offstage. “Hey, you okay?” he asked gently
Ray stared forward only seeing Frank from her peripheral vision. “You wrote a love song about me?” she asked
“Oh” Frank said at first “Yeah, I did”
Ray was freaking out. Her best friend, her crush, likes her back! She wanted to scream into her pillow and kick her feet. Her face probably didn’t match what she was feeling since she was still half in shock.
“Did I ruin this? Frank asked
“What?”
Did I ruin our friendship? Because I like you Ray, if that wasn’t clear before. I probably should have made that more clear” Frank rambled
Ray turned her head to finally look at Frank who looked scared out of his mind. They were closer than Ray had expected; their faces were maybe fiveish inches away from each other. “I like you too Frank” she whispered “That’s why I’m kinda freaking out over here”
“You like me back?” Frank asked, inching closer to Ray. She couldn’t tell if he was doing this on purpose or if he was doing it by accident.
“Yeah” Ray said her eyes glancing down to Frank’s lips
“Woah” Frank whispered, looking up into Ray’s eyes
Ray leaned forward and closed the space between them into a kiss. It was like fireworks. A whole god damn explosion if you will. Ray smiled into the kiss and when she pulled back she found Frank in total awe looking up at her.
“Woah” he said again and reached his hand to the back of her neck to pull her back down for a second kiss, which turned into a third and a fourth until they were just making out in Ray’s car like this was normal. It felt normal, to be kissing Frank and being kissed by Frank.
They were interrupted by the sound of Frank accidentally strumming his guitar and it falling to the floor of the car, while he tried to get closer to Ray. Ray had jumped back because the sound had scared her. Frank had broke away and grabbed hold of his guitar so it wouldn’t get damaged.
“I hate to say this but I need to put my guitar away.” Frank said like this was the worst part of his day
“Yeah, go, I wouldn’t want you to break it or something” Ray said
“I’ll be right back. Then we’ll pick up where we left off?”
“Sure” Ray said with a smile before Frank opened the car door and ran back to the stage to put his guitar away and everything.
She laughed for a moment in disbelief that that had just happened. She just kissed her best friend/crush who likes her back. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel waiting for Frank to come back.
She wondered if Frank wanted to go farther than just making out in her car cuz she didn’t know if she was ready for that big of a jump. She knew Frank has been with other girls before her, and has probably like, done stuff.
She was not at all ready to have sex with… with anyone! She walked in on her brother and his girlfriend once. She had just gotten home from school a heard screaming coming from her brothers room. She went upstairs and found his girlfriend screaming in what sounded like pain.
There was lots of yelling by her brother and she left as quickly as she had came.
She’s been scarred from that. And scared of sex for the foreseeable future.
She pushed that to the back of her head. She didn’t need to think about that. She and Frank weren’t even boyfriend, girlfriend yet. She had nothing to worry about.
Frank came back carrying an amp and his guitar case, both of which were heavy.
Ray jumped out of the car and ran to help Frank carry his things.
“Don’t worry I got it” Frank tried to protest
Ray looked at him, “I’ll take your guitar, you take the amp” She said
Frank let go of his guitar case and Ray took hold of it. They walked back to the car together, their hands brushed against each other a couple times and Ray tried not to read into that too much. They put the guitar and the amp in the trunk and got back into the car.
“So where were we?” Ray asked once she was back in her seat
“Right here” Frank said coming to kiss Ray again
Frank crawled over the center console and onto Ray’s lap after a minute just to get closer to her, causing Ray’s face to heat up. This was really happening, this was amazing, it felt like a dream. If it is a dream please don’t wake her up, she wants to stay here forever.
HONK
Frank had accidentally honked the horn of the car, causing the both of them to jump apart. They stared at each other for a couple seconds before they started laughing.
“I guess the car isn’t exactly the best place to make out is it?” Frank asked
“I guess not”
“You wanna go back to mine?” Frank suggested
Go to Frank’s house? That could mean a couple things. Or just one. One thing Ray is not comfortable in doing at all.
“Is anyone else at your house?” Ray asks carefully
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“No reason. Let’s go.” she said hesitantly, she doesn’t want to seem weird or anything. But she was failing miserably to seem like everything was normal
“Ray” Frank says, bringing his hands up to Ray’s shoulders “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m fine. Let’s just go to your house” Ray says
“Hey, we’re still best friends who don’t keep secrets from each other.” Frank reminded her. Stupid friendship rules they came up with. “What’s going on? Is there something wrong?”
“I don’t want to have sex with you!” Ray blurts out. “That’s not what I meant. Fuck. I just don’t want to yet. I don’t know, I’ve ruined this.” She said, bringing her hands up to cover her face.
“You haven’t ruined anything, we’re communicating boundaries, that’s a good thing right?” He asked like a serious question
“Yeah, it is” Ray answered
“And I did kinda imply that, by going to my house. But I promise I wasn’t planning on that happening. I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend before we did anything like that. My house was just the first place I thought of.” Frank said
“Yeah, I had thought so. I just thought that since you’ve been with other girls before me…”
“You thought I would jump ahead?”
“Yeah. I’m just scared of like, the idea of sex.”
Frank was quiet for what felt like a long time but was really only a couple of seconds. Ray held her breath. “Can I ask why?” Frank finally asked
“I uhh, walked in on my brother and his girlfriend once. She was screaming like she was being hurt.” Ray explained
“Hm” Frank hummed like that was a reasonable explanation to not want to have sex.
“Does it hurt?” Ray asked awkwardly. That’s kind of an awkward question to ask your best friend who just made out with you like five seconds ago.
“No, not really. Not unless you’re into like freaky shit” Frank said
“Oh, okay” Ray said processing this new information
“I wouldn’t hurt you if we ever decided to, ya know, have sex.” He said “Not that I’m trying to get you to, I respect your boundary!” Frank clarified
“Thanks…” Ray said, thinking about everything that just happened
“You okay” Frank asked after a minute
“Yeah, I’m good. I just think I’ve changed my mind about the whole sex thing. I don’t wanna do it like today or tomorrow. But maybe in the future?” Ray said
“Yeah, whenever you’re ready” Frank said
“Hey Frank?”
“Yeah?”
“You think it’s too soon for you to ask me to be your girlfriend?” Ray asked sheepishly
“Ray Toro. Would you do me the absolute honor of being my girlfriend?” Frank asked with a smile on his face
“I’d really like to be your girlfriend Frank Iero” she said with a smile to match his.
“Man, this isn’t exactly how I wanted this to go down, but it works.” Frank said
“How did you want it to go?” Ray questioned
“Well, I wanted to take you on a date”
“And how would we be getting to this date?”
“Bus, because I don’t have a car, and the lady shouldn’t be driving us on a date I’ve planned”
“Oh how romantic, the public bus” Ray mused, sarcastically.
“And we would go to this really shitty diner, but they have these really awesome cakes there.” Frank continued. “They’re the only good thing that place sells. Oh! We would eat beforehand so that we’re not just eating cake for the night.”
“Of course” Ray said with a nod
“And then to top off the night we would star gaze and as we’re looking up at the stars, I turn to look at you and you look over at me and I would say “You’re beautiful”
“What if I looked really trashy?” Ray asked
“I’ve seen you when you’re sick and at your worst. I still think you look beautiful, even when your throwing up all the fucking popcorn you ate before going on that stupid spinny ride at the carnival” Frank said
“Hey! That was a dare by Mikey and you know it”
“And I still think you’re beautiful” Frank said
“Well, go on, how do I reply?” Ray pressed, with an undying blush on her cheeks.
Frank smiled and sat up straight “And you would say: “Well Frank, I think you’re the most awesomest, handsomest, smartest boy, and better at smash bros than me” He said in a high pitched voice that was supposed to be an impression of Ray.
Ray pushed him back a bit, and he laughed “First of all, I don’t sound like that. And two, I would never say that because you’re not better at smash bros than me. I’ve beaten you how many times again?” Ray said with a knowing look and a mischievous smile
Frank rolled his eyes, “Enough times that I’ve lost count. I never understand how you’re better at it that me”
“I have two brothers. I know all the secrets of smash bros, and that you can’t win with Kirby every time.”
“You can too”
Ray shook her head, “I want to hear about the rest of our night” she said refocusing the conversation.
“Well, you would actually not respond to my comment because you would be too flustered. So I would ask you to be my girlfriend next. You would say yes, obviously.”
“Obviously”
“And we would kiss under the stars” Frank said
“You should take me on this date and ask me again” Ray suggested
“Maybe I will” he said like he was taking a challenge
“Wanna go to your house now?” Ray asked, her legs were starting to go numb from Frank sitting on them for so long.
“Yeah” he said, crawling back to his seat and buckling his seatbelt. He turned on the radio while Ray drove.
They arrived at Frank’s house and it was past sundown. Ray would have to spend the night. Her mom didn’t like her going out alone in the day, much less the night. Ray didn’t like going out during the day or the night either, too scared she would be followed by a creep or killed on the way to her car or even her house. You never know in her neighborhood.
Inside of Frank’s house, Ella started barking as soon as Frank opened the front door. He let Ella out and she ran to somewhere else in the house, while Ray and Frank moved to the kitchen.
There was a note on the fridge that read, “Frankie, I’m out for the weekend, don’t do anything stupid, and be ready for Mass this Sunday when I get back. You can’t skip again”. Ray laughed under her breath as Frank pulled chips out from the pantry. Frank's mother was a saint, she was probably the most holy, spiritual woman Ray has ever met in her life. Funny that her son is an atheist.
“Can I get you anything?” Frank asked
“Nah, I’m good”
They went upstairs to Frank’s room and Frank hopped onto his bed, with his chips. Ray followed, sitting next to him.
“You want to spend the night?” Frank asked “Just cuz, it’s late, and I know how your mom is about you driving around late at night.” Frank said immediately after, trying to clarify what he meant.
Ray chuckled at Frank’s worried face. He looked like there was a bomb waiting to explode if he didn’t say the right thing. “Yeah, I’ll stay.” she said
“Wanna watch a movie?”
“Sure”
Frank hopped up from the bed and started looking through movies he had. After about ten million suggestions and, saving for later, they finally decided on Star Wars. You can’t really go wrong with Star Wars.
They cuddled up together on the bed and watched their movie. Ray must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew the movie was over and Frank was farther from her but was laying very still. She was cold now that Frank wasn’t keeping her warm.
“Sorry” Frank whispered “I didn’t mean to wake you”
“It’s fine.” She said blinking her eyes, trying to wake up “Where are you going” she asked
“Just the bathroom. But I kinda need my arm back” Frank said with a laugh
Ray looked at Frank's arm, confused. She was holding his arm, preventing him from leaving. She let go, “Sorry, you were keeping me warm” she said.
“Oh, well, I’ll be right back.” Frank said “You probably want to change clothes, you can take whatever you want… or whatever fits, you’re way taller than me”
Ray laughed “Yeah”
Frank left and Ray went through Frank’s pajama drawer. She’s worn Frank’s clothes before, from sleep overs in the past, so she knew what would potentially fit on her. She found a hoodie and christmas flannel pants that came down about halfway to her calf.
She looked in the mirror, she always liked wearing men’s clothes. She was more comfortable with them than she is with any other type of clothes.
She started up a different movie and Frank came back a couple minutes later. He looked at her for a moment.
“You okay?” she asked
“You’re my girlfriend” Frank said dreamily
Ray smiled “Yeah, and you’re my boyfriend” she liked being able to finally say that
“You’re so awesome,” Frank said, coming to lay next to her again “why do you like me?” Frank asked
“Cuz you’re awesome. You’re funny, you like to watch dumb movies with me, you care about me, you’re hot. Oh, you are Lloyd Dobler by the way.” Ray said
“Wait, what? I am Lloyd Dobler?” Frank asked
“You remember when we watched Say Anything. And I said that Lloyd Dobler was hot.”
“Yeah? That was like the whole premise of the song I wrote.”
“I wasn’t talking about Lloyd Dobler when I said that.” she said with a blush
“You were talking about me,” He said with a laugh. “I really am your Lloyd Dobler!”
“Mhm” she hummed
Frank was looking at Ray’s lips. Ray thought it was funny how much he looked like he wanted to ask to kiss her but doesn’t know how to.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Ray asked
Frank darted his eyes away from Ray “Nothing”
“Frank”
“Can I kiss you?” Frank asked
“Yeah”
Frank kissed her once. He was pleased with the fact that all he had to do now was ask if he could kiss her. Something he’d wanted to do for a long time and now got to do so simply.
Ray kissed him back.
“Have you ever kissed anyone before me?” Frank asked
Was she a bad kisser?? “Yeah, just once” Ray said nervously
“You’re a good kisser” Frank said
Ray laughed, “Thanks, you’re not bad either”
“Hey, I’m a great kisser!” Frank protested
“Hm, yeah” Ray said sarcastically but she had a big smile giving her away immediately.
“Yeah” Frank said softly