It Was All An Accident (Frerard)

Chapter Seven: The Aftermath

When we managed to recover whatever dignity we once had, Frank cut me a dirty look before stomping over to the paper towels. He ripped a couple off the roll viciously before I could say anything. I wasn’t too sure what had brought on this mood swing and I actually hoped that it was the coffee. I wasn’t sure what I was sorry for just yet, but I tried it anyways, “Hey, um, Frank, I’m sorry.”

Frank’s gripped tightened on the paper towels and he looked in my direction, his face showing nothing but fury. If looks could kill, then I’d have been dead for a while now. Frank only narrowed his eyes and managed out a “yeah, me too” before shoving the paper towels into my stomach, hard enough to make me grunt, and then disappeared from the kitchen, his coffee long forgotten.

I stood leaning against the counter for a long time afterwards feeling completely confused. It wasn’t until I heard the front door slam that I managed to unfreeze and lean down to clean up the spill. When that was taken care of, I grabbed Frank’s discarded coffee and tested the temperature before dumping it down the sink. It was already too cold for my taste, and, oddly enough, it felt weird to think about drinking after Frank even though I had done it millions of times before.

My thoughts were occupied as I poured myself a mug and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why Frank was in such a mood. What did I do? Yesterday, I could remember Frank sleeping on my lap and him waking up just as Ray was leaving. I could remember Frank trying to get up the stairs and being dizzy as I stood up to help him, but it was all fuzzy after that.

I was halfway through my second mug before I finally remembered the rest of last night. It replayed in my head like a scene from a horror movie and I had to set my mug down in order to keep my shaking hands from dropping it. My heart started slamming guiltily in my chest and I felt terrified. Then, everything rushed back at once. My headache intensified, my stomach flipped itself inside out, and I was leaning out of my chair and puking heavily into the sink. Everything suddenly made sense again. The way he was acting was completely justified, but even this only made things worse. If Frank never forgave me, then I deserved it. I had taken advantage of him. I had kissed Frank, my best friend who was still grieving over his dead wife.

Frank’s P.O.V:

I had woken up this morning a bit disgruntled with my head screaming at me for all it was worth. I was definitely hung over but not enough to completely forget what had happened last night. Gerard had kissed me and to say I was furious, would be an understatement.

Who the fuck does he think he is?

I gripped the wheel tightly, barely noticing the way my knuckles strained and turned a ghostly shade of white. I knew without a doubt that without Gerard I would’ve failed as a father and my kids would most likely be living full time with their grandma until I managed to figure things out. I was grateful for Gerard. He was always there when no one else was. He was someone to talk to when I thought even Jamia wouldn’t understand, but I thought that that just came naturally with friendship. I didn’t think that Gerard would expect something back. Was he expecting something back?

I slammed on my brakes as the light turned red and the car in front of me stopped suddenly to obey the law. My heart started thumping unevenly in my chest before I released my death grip on the steering wheel. My anger wasn’t worth dying for. Instead, I turned up whatever CD was playing and used it to drown out the rest of my thoughts.

Roz lived on the opposite side of town where the houses were a bit smaller but still known for their high reputation. I stopped in front of the familiar two-story, red bricked house and stopped the car. My hands were still shaking a bit, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the excessive coffee amount I had this morning, the fact that Gerard kissed me and I wasn’t really angry anymore, or from the almost accident I had just had. My mind was a bit scattered and I had to take several deep breaths before I could fully get out of the car.