It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time

It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time - Chapter Ten

“Oh yeah.” She chuckled. “That does take a bit of getting used to.”

“I mean. Not that I’ve been here long, but other than the cold, it doesn’t seem too bad. It’s just kind of nice to be away from home for a bit.” I mumbled. I think Hannah knew by now not to ask to many questions. While James is the only one who knows pretty much everything that is going on or has in the past, Hannah has a fair idea of how complicated it is, so she doesn’t usually question it anymore.

“Yeah. See. I told you it wasn’t that bad a place.” She grinned. “How’s Joey? You’ve not said anything about him in ages!”

Oh dear. Talk to me about my dad, about my home, about California, anything like that and I can cope. Ask me about Joey though, that just reminds me of what my dad said. I already felt tears filling my eyes, just about to brim over, no matter how hard I tried to stop them, I knew I wouldn’t be able to.

“Hey. What’s wrong? Is Joey ok?” She asked, her worry very apparent in both her tone and her face.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t. I bowed my head slightly, looking down at the table to avoid eye contact.

“This is about why you left isn’t it?” Hannah asked, finally cottoning on to the situation. I simply nodded. She stood up and grabbed my hand. “Come on. We’re going home. I’m not about to make you sit in the middle of Starbucks like this.”

As soon as we got back to Ben’s house, Hannah unlocked the door and practically pushed me into the lounge.

“Ok come on kid. Spill. What’s going on?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she was still confused with everything.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down a little before I started what was sure to be a long explanation. I knew I would have to start at the very beginning. Start with my mom, and what happened just over two years ago.

“It kind of goes back to when my mom died. It didn’t exactly happen how everyone thinks…” I began.

Throughout my entire explanation Hannah didn’t say anything, she just nodded in understanding and remained patient when I started to get too choked up to speak again.

“…So when I found out they were doing it all again… I don’t know, I just flipped at him. And then for a few days we were either arguing constantly, or not talking at all. And I know it was probably a stupid decision, but I thought if I could just get away, even if only for a little while, it might just help both of us. You know, give us both time to calm down and get our head back to normal.”

Hannah stayed silent for a minute or two longer, just mulling over what I had said.

“I don’t think it was a stupid decision exactly. Just, maybe not the best one to choose.” She said slowly. “Ok. I’m not even going to pretend I know how your feeling right now, because I really have no real idea. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose your mom, especially in that way. And I’m not trying to take sides here, but here goes… I know that you must hate your dad because he’s doing this whole thing again, but if you try and look at this from his side, firstly, this was something he, and Mike and Tre absolutely loved doing, and for a very long time, that’s all they really knew. So to just give that up completely when your mom died must have taken a hell of a lot of courage. He gave up his whole life because of that, and he had to look after you and Joey and try and support both of you, after quitting his job.” Slightly annoyingly she was making sense. “I know it’s probably still so hard without your mom, but as hard as it seems, you do have to move on with your lives at some point. If you just keep living in the past you’ll regret it later. You’ve all got to do it, so why can’t your dad start now? Doesn’t he deserve to be happy and have another chance to do that one thing he loved more than anything else? Except you, Joey and your mom obviously. And I know this is probably the least important thing on your mind right now, but what about school. You left not long before your finals!” She added. She was right. Everything she said was right, and there was no way I could deny it. I was just being selfish; I was so blinded by the anger and hatred I had for him at first that I couldn’t just see that it was actually me being stupid and immature. A fresh wave of tears flooded my eyes, and I felt Hannah’s arms pull me into a tight hug.

“I don’t really care about school. I know what I want to do, even if it’s contradicting myself. And school doesn’t come into it.” Hannah knew what I meant. I wanted to do what my dad had done; I wanted to be in a band. But I wouldn’t do it the way he had. Nothing even close…

“Ok, how about. You stay here for a couple more days, let yourself calm down a bit, and then when you feel up to it, you can give your dad a ring, just talk to him and you’ll sort it out in no time.”

I nodded, still not able to say much.

“Thanks.” Was all I could manage.

“No worries. I think you need to talk about this stuff more. Keeping it locked up clearly isn’t helping is it?”

“No. I guess not.”

“Listen, you need to take your mind off it for a little while. Go get ready to go to Highbury. We’re going to watch the band.” She smiled. I nodded and wiped my eyes. I think that’s exactly what I needed.

As I was trying to find something to wear I was going over what Hannah had said. She had said a lot of what James had said. So why did I listen more to her than to James? I mean, James is my best friend, and I know he’s trying to help, just like Hannah is. Maybe it’s just because Hannah isn’t as involved. James has known everything for a long time, but Hannah has only just been told everything, maybe it’s just easier because she has the overview of it all. Or maybe that’s just stupid.

I decided continuously mulling it over was not going help so I focused on finding something to wear.

“Frankie? You ready? We’ve got to get over there early to get wristbands or we’ll get kicked out at eleven” Hannah said, knocking on my door and pushing it open. She stopped and took in my appearance. I was wearing a blue and black stripy shirt with a black heart on the front, and was done up with a bow around the back of my neck and a pair of faded black skinny jeans with ‘The Who’ converse.

“Nice outfit.” She nodded in approval.

“Thanks.” I smiled

“So you ready?”

I nodded, grabbing my phone, wallet and my black and white plaid hoody and following Hannah downstairs.

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So here's another chapter. Sorry it's been a while. And thanks to bleedingfiction for commenting and reminding me to update! :) 

I know there's not really much significantly happening in this chapter, but there's more stuff to come soon. Any comments or votes would be appriciated... :)

Cooper x