XOXO// Frank Iero

Nine

Kit

Saturday

On the bus, he almost fell asleep, his head lolling on his shoulder in the black crew-neck. Our shared wired earphones playing AFI had fallen out of his ears a long time ago.

The only way I would've been allowed stay out that late was if I was sleeping in someone's house. I told mom it was Marlowe's. It was Frank's.

'Frank,' I murmured, nudging him gently once we we got to Trenton. 'We're here.'

He regained some of his energy and walked with me down the stairs of the bus and out the door. My phone was dead and tucked away in my bag;I could only assume time was after midnight. The sky was blackish-blue and there wasn't a lot of people around.

"I've never been out this late." I thought out loud, leaning up against the wall.

Frank was still rubbing his eyes and stretching, making funny groaning noises and scrunching up his nose. The walk to his house would be another twenty minutes, or a ten minute bus. The last bus to Belleville was at 11:30, we'd missed it. That was fine by me, I was enjoying the idea of going for a late night walk, because it was something I never got to do, but I would've understood if a sleepy Frank would've liked to got the bus.

He didn't though. He wanted to walk.

He stayed on the outside of the pavement, chivalrous, I thought. He didn't sit on the outside on the bus though. He wanted to look out the window at the lights on all the buildings, which he did for about five minutes before falling asleep.

"Are you not cold?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked me up and down.

"Not really." I shrugged. "There's a breeze, but it's light."

He tutted and shook his head. "Your outfit is a bit...revealing though, no?" He asked, and I knew by his face that he regretted saying that the second it came out of his mouth. "No, no-I just.. I meant that like.. y'know-Fuck."

I giggled at him. His cheeks were going red.

"I know what you mean, don't worry." I nudged him.

My outfit was a bit revealing. I opted for no tights that night with my patch denim shorts and my blue Descendents tank top. Frank, more cozily wore a black sweatshirt and jeans. He took off the sweatshirt at the gig in NYC, and I'm surprised he got it back at the end of the night.

"Did you enjoy the show?" He kicked a rock that was in his way. It seemed like he had been doing everything to avoid my eye contact that night.

"Yeah. I really like that band. A lot. I wish I could do it." I said the latter half of the sentence quietly, because I knew already that Frank was going to give me some kind of pep talk on how of course I can start a band if I want to, even if I've never picked up an instrument.

"You should do it. I would go and see your band." He said, once again looking anywhere but at me.

I ignored Frank's statement and kept walking, listening to the sound of our sneakers hitting the ground. The dim glow of streetlights illuminated our path, casting long shadows across the pavement. It was quite a beautiful night, even if it was Jersey.

"I really like your song. Yesterday." I said, my voice weak and small.

Frank finally met my eyes. There was smile on his face. His teeth were really white and the streetlights shone off them. He had changed his lip ring from black to silver, and I preferred how that looked on him.

"I didn't think you'd remember any specific ones." He looked very proud of himself in that moment, not the only time I'd seen him have that look. "I wrote that one."