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

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

“Holy fuck. Frank you have no idea how much I love you right now. I’ve been scared shitless for the past week! Where abouts are you?”

“We’re in Highbury. But they were talking about getting a train home. So I don’t know how far she’s staying from here.”

“Ok. I’ll talk to her friend here. He’s got to know more about where she is, and now at least I know roughly. But… Fuck. London? Thank you Frank. I’m so fucking grateful.”

“It’s all good man. Hope you sort everything out with her.”

“Me too. I’ll speak to you later. Thank you.”

“Yeah, no worries.. See you around.”

They hung up, Frank now feeling slightly better knowing that he’d helped Billie Joe out, and not just pretended he’d never seen Frankie. He just hoped they could work out whatever problems they had now.

Billie Joe rolled placed his cell back on the cabinet beside his bed and rolled onto his back again. He rubbed a hand over his tired face; there was no way he would be able to get back to sleep now. But he knew he couldn’t do anything until the morning.

He had been sent home from work late last week, because he was clearly stressed out and angry, and that he couldn’t teach properly like that. He agreed, but wasn’t happy about taking the few days off. When he was at work was one of the few places where his mind was focused on other things as well. That’s not to say he wasn’t distracted at work… Obviously he was, more so than he thought.

Joey was spending the whole weekend with Mike, but considering the attitude Billie Joe had to everything at the moment, that wasn’t too surprising. If he wasn’t freaking out about Frankie, he was just pissed off with everything. He had yelled at Joey a couple of times during the week, not meaning to upset him, but just randomly losing his temper, and Joey happened to be the only one around at various times. The most recent time was on Friday morning. He couldn’t even remember what he’d yelled at him about, but Joey had locked himself in the bathroom, and refused to come out until Mike got there to take him to school. Mike and Billie had agreed it would be best, for Billie’s sake as well as Joey’s, if Joey stayed with Mike over the weekend, he didn’t deserve to be shouted at for no reason, and it seemed that the only person who could convince him to eat anything at the moment was Mike anyway.

He sighed to himself as he sat up and stretched. He shuffled out into the hall and downstairs into the lounge. Flicking on the TV, he collapsed on the sofa and scrolled through the channels, trying to find anything decent to watch. At 3:30 am there’s not much on TV, so he settled on Fuse, and shut his eyes, letting the sounds from the TV become background noise as he tried to catch some more sleep.

***

He managed to hold off doing anything until 10:30, when he was fairly sure James would actually be awake. He was quite impressed with himself that he'd managed that long, but pretty much as soon as the clock showed 10:30 he was picking up his car keys and leaving the house.

As Billie Joe sped through the streets he tried to think of what to say. He wanted to see if James would tell the truth without Billie Joe having to tell him what he already now knew. He swung his car into the spot and got out.

“Oh… Hey Mr. Armstrong.” James said when he opened the door to him. He would have normally told him off for calling him that outside of school, but he barely even noticed it. “Err come in.”

Billie Joe walked past him into the front room while he stood nervously in the doorway wondering what he was going to say.

“James. I need you to listen and answer truthfully.” He told him firmly. James nodded. “This is your last chance… Do you know where Frankie is?”

“No.” He replied, shifting awkwardly.

“James. Tell me! She’s my daughter; I know you’ve been talking to her. You’re her best friend.”

“I don’t know!” was all he kept saying.

“Shit. I guess I’m going to have to get the cops involved then.” His face dropped.

“What?”

“Well, my daughter is missing. If you don’t even know where she is, I’ve got to call the cops.” Billie Joe had no intention of ringing the cops, but he figured it might work in his favor if he used that.

“What if I told you she’s somewhere she wants to be? She’s happy and she doesn’t want to come back. Surely that’s better…?”

“She can’t just run off. I need my daughter back. Joey needs her. I don’t think she realizes that what she’s doing… its practically tearing my family apart. I’ve been through that once, I sure as hell don’t need it again!”

“But I…”

“If you won’t say for me. Please, just tell me for Joey’s sake. He thinks she’s gone for good. Like his mom. Please.”

“I can’t.” he exclaimed, running his hand through his hair, clearly unsure of what to do.

“Look. I know she’s in London.” James froze. “I know she’s there. But London is a pretty big fucking place. I can’t find her if you don’t help me.” He still seemed unsure of what to do. Billie Joe knew he would never be able to find her if he didn’t know exactly where to look, and that was almost as disheartening as not knowing where she is at all. He couldn’t stand up any more; he fell onto the sofa, rubbing his tired face with his hands. “Please,” he mumbled. “I have to know.”

James didn’t say anything, he just saw him, out of the corner of his eye, sit in the chair.

“Billie…” he said cautiously. He looked up at him.

“I can’t… And Joey won’t…” He couldn’t finish anything he was trying to say. He put his head back into his hands, gripping his hair as tightly as he could without actually ripping it out. “He won’t eat. He barely leaves his room except to go to Mike’s. He won’t talk to me, and even his school teacher said he just sits by himself, and won’t talk or play with any of his friends. And I just don’t know what to do anymore!”

James was silent for a minute more before he finally sighed.

“Ok. I don’t know where she is exactly.”

Billie Joe froze, James was literally his last hope.

“All I know is that she went to London, because Hannah’s there and she needed someone she could trust and talk to. I don’t know where, location wise, it is that she’s staying but she gave me this number to talk to her, because she’s got her cell switched off.” He told him, handing over a small piece of paper. “She’s staying with a guy called Ben, he’s Hannah’s boyfriend. I guess that’s his home number or something.”

“Thank you.” Was all Billie Joe could said as he stared at the piece of paper.

“Just so you know. I don’t think she wants to come home just yet. She seems to be starting to like it there. And it sounds like she’s met someone.”

“She’ll come home.” He assured James, running a hand over his face once again.

“And don’t push her too much. It will only make her want to come home even less.”

Billie Joe nodded and stood up, his legs slightly shaky.

“Thank you.” He said again. James shrugged.

“You didn’t hear it from me. She’d kill me.” He added as he opened the front door for him. 

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Ok. I think I've run out of ways to say sorry. But I honestly am, it's just been kind of a hectic week with college and work. I've got coursework due in this week so I've been trying to get that finished over the last few days, and my laptop has only just connected to the internet. But here's the chapter for you. 

So Frankie got found out :o What do you thinks gonna happen next? 

Thanks bleedingfiction and mamamia4ever for commenting as always :) It is appriciated a lot! Any more comments would be great guys. 

Anyway, I hope this is ok for you. Let me know what you think...