Someone Out There Loves You (Adopted by Frank Iero)

49

ALEXA

"Hey Lex?"

I put down my pen and rested my chin on my hands.

"Yeah?" I called back, tearing my eyes away from my notebook and to the door.

My initial instinct was panic. My heart began racing at the thought that maybe he had found the hate page or something else incriminating and this was another Talk. To my relief though, as he opened my door and poked his head into my room, he was smiling.

"It's such a nice day outside," he began, stepping into the room.

"Oh yeah?" I said, uninterested. I felt bad about my lack of enthusiasm, but there was no way to be enthusiastic while doing algebra. Frank's words were a reminder that I didn't deserve to be out and enjoying myself because there was too much for me to do to justify it.

"Yeah," he grinned. "Why don't you take your work outside?"

I looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "Why in the world would I do that?"

"Because it's a nice day and you've spent so much time in here doing work, the change of scenery might be nice."

Frank was in a white tank top, sports shorts and was bare foot. As I looked out the window, I noticed that it did look like a nice day.

Oh yeah, the heat wave, I remembered.

The sun was high, the sky bright and cloudless. The problem was it looked too nice a day - for someone trying to avoid wearing short sleeves at least. I was safe locked away in my semi dark room in my hoodie. It would have been way too suspicious to wear it outside.

"I dunno, I'm kind of on a roll here," I said slowly, still staring outside.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," he grinned. Frank came over to stand beside me and my eyes flickered to meet his. He was so enthusiastic about the idea, I couldn't understand why.

"I'll be frank with yo-"

Frank cut himself off with his own giggles as I glared at him for his dumb use of the word. He liked to slip it into conversation every now and then, and every time I would glare at him and shake my head. "You spend all your time in your room - I know you're studying and schooling and what not, but why not mix it up? Come outside, enjoy the sunshine," he whined.

I groaned and rolled my eyes before a defeated smile found its way on my face. "If I agree, will you stop harassing me about it?" I chuckled, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Maybe. You'll just have find out for yourself," he teased.

I pouted as I scooped up my books, pencil and calculator. Frank ignored it, spinning around triumphantly and leaving my room with a spring in his step.

"You're in a good mood," I commented as I stepped outside, trailing behind him. The heat hit me immediately.

He looked over his shoulder at me and grinned. "It's a beautiful day."

As I plonked my stuff down on the wooden table and sat, Frank picked his book up off it. I was glad it was under cover so I wouldn't be sitting in the direct sun, but the air around me was still hot. It was easily the warmest day we had had in a few weeks, I could already feel sweat beading on my forehead.

"And I was on the phone with Jamia before," he added sheepishly. "We're gonna do another date some time this week."

"Aww, that's so cute," I cooed, a smile grazing my lips.

He shook his head and looked away, a bashful smile on his face. "I'm excited."

"I can tell," I giggled. "I'm happy for you."