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Word count: 2 393
You clearly remembered the first time you met Frank. The seat next his was the only free one in the science class. You remembered being shy and slightly scared of the boy with the fauxhawk and piercings. He had absentmindedly chewed on his lip ring and fiddled around with the hem of his patches covered jacket. You had sat as far away from him as possible, always making sure there was a safe distance between your books and his side of the table. Something about him triggered an alarm inside you, telling you he was dangerous. You had almost gotten a heart attack, when suddenly you felt someone breathing against your ear and quietly, in a soft voice, ask for the answer on one of the exercises. You had pointed the answer out on your worksheet and shyly turned your head over at Frank, who had sat back in his chair as if nothing had happened. His eyes had followed your movement and he nodded, sending you a bright, happy smile that seemed not to fit his appearance at all. That was the first time you met Frank.
Now, almost two years later, you could only laugh about remembering how intimidated you had been by him at first. A few weeks after your first conversation he had cut his hair really short, and now it was growing out into a mop of black curls, giving his otherwise typically punky appearance a hint of carelessness. You liked it. His hair was really soft. He also had stopped wearing his piercings, but to make up for it, his comments were as sassy and rebellious as ever.
Right now you were sitting in the schools playground on the grass under a tree. His one arm was loosely draped around your shoulders, with the other one he waved around, underlining his words every other time. You were listening to his plans for the weekend. He had promised to take you outside the city this weekend to watch the stars when he had found out that you had never done that.
'As long as you don't have a boyfriend who can do that with you, it's a best friend job,' he had declared.
Yes, two years after this awkward first encounter Frank was your best friend. You spent a majority of your time with him. He always had some stupid ideas he wanted to try out and he had gotten both of you into trouble, more than once. But he was a sweet person, caring and loving. He was the best audience when you felt conflicted about something, and once he had started opening up about his own problems to you, you also understood why. He was incredibly sensible, easily disturbed and hurt by the merciless world, but he hid his vulnerability under a mask of rebellion and confidence. Once you got to see through that mask though, he was soft and calm, easily excited about things that interested him, and just wanted to be a happy cheerful person. Around you he got to be that.
Now he was making a list of things he wanted you to bring to your stargazing, like a warm jacket in case you got cold and some mosquito repellent. You nodded, wondering if he had done that before, told someone what to bring to a night of stargazing. Maybe some girl he liked or some sweet boy whose sympathy he tried to win. You did not ask. As far as you knew Frank had not much experience with relationships, and if you were a little honest with yourself: you hated the idea of someone apart from you being so close to him.
~*~
Frank and you had decided that you would have a sleepover at his place, so that was what you told your parents when you asked for their permission to stay away overnight. They knew Frank and even though you had been worried about their reaction before they met him, they had liked him immediately. You mum always said he had something 'honest' about himself. You were not sure if you knew what she meant by that, but you were happy she liked him. It was not the first time you had a sleepover at Frank's and he had been staying overnight in your room countless times before, so of course your parents were completely fine with you spending the night at Frank's home.
You threw your bag into the backseat of Frank's car as he came to pick you up. He hugged you when you climbed into the passenger seat, just like he always did, and waited until you were buckled in before he started driving.
The sky grew darker as you drove through the city and the street lanterns turned on, illuminating the road. Once you were outside the city, it was almost completely dark. Dark shadows of trees and bushes rushed past your window, and you started to feel a little spooked out when Frank pulled into a gravel path that lead into the forest. Something about forests, especially in the dark, was scary to you. Maybe because your fantasy went wild, picturing monsters lurking behind each tree, maybe because running in the dark on uneven territory was almost impossible, maybe because you knew how easily you could get lost in the woods. You were thankful for the bright headlights shining your way in the dark, chasing away possible monsters hiding everywhere.
And then suddenly the motor died. The car rolled a few more meters and the lights went out.
"Oh, come on," Frank groaned, "Seriously? Now?"
You felt your breath speeding up a little and your heart beating in your throat. Had the car really just died down? Did you have to walk back all the way to the city? You were miles out! And what kind of animals were waiting in the dark to get some nice meaty dinner?
"I'm gonna check the motor," Frank decided and pulled a little lever at the side of his seat, "Wait in the car for me."
You nodded quietly and watched how Frank climbed out of the vehicle. He turned on his smartphone torch and walked to the hood, lifting it up and securing it. He was searching around, shining his torch here and there, causing strange shadows to shape everywhere around the car. Suddenly the light went off and a second later the hood slammed shut. You knew your eyes were gigantic as you tried to spy past the windshield into the dark, trying to spot Frank, but you were surrounded by shadows that seemed to creep closer and closer to the car with every passing second.
"Frank?"
Your voice died down in the car, sucked up by the upholstery of the seats. Panic rose in you, no matter how hard you tried to suppress it. This was ridiculous. There were no monsters in the woods, no supernatural powers that somehow tried to kidnap or kill two teenagers. But where the hell was Frank? You tried shouting his name once more. But still no response. You wanted to turn the light on, but then again the car had died and any source of light would shine brightly like a beacon for anything that was on the lookout for some delicious midnight snack.
The shaking of some branches next to your window brought even more fear to you and involuntarily you moved closer to the middle of the car, away from the window.
Suddenly there was a scream, and a face appeared by your window. You flinched, your body shooting adrenaline through your system. A moment later you recognized the laughing face of Frank.
"You asshole," you shouted and jumped out of the car, "I was fucking scared!"
"I know," Frank laughed, obviously thinking it was hilarious. "I told you it's a bad idea to watch horror movies in the dark when you're already scared, but nooo, you insisted!"
"I hate you," you declared, unable to hide your smile.
"No, you don't," Frank grinned and hugged you. "Sorry, it was just too tempting."
"You are forgiven," you laughed, finally relaxing a little, feeling Frank so close to you, "Just please tell me we are not really broken down."
"Well," Frank dragged the word out and you pushed away looking up at him incredulously, "of course not! I just turned off the lights and the motor."
"Asshole" you mumbled pouting.
"You love it," he winked.
"No I don't," you answered, following Frank around to the trunk where he lifted out a basket and handed you your jacket from the backseat.
"Yes, you do. You just don't want to admit it," he giggled and slammed the doors shut, looking the car. "This way."
"You are too sure of yourself, Iero," you told him, but made sure to stay close behind him, as not to lose him in the dark.
"Again, you lo-"
"Don't say it!"
You had not even walked a few yards when you reached the tree line. Spread out before you lay a little glade. No trees were blocking the light of the moon that brightly shone down on you in a cold, white light. Flowers spread over the ground and not too far away from the trees you recognized a blanket spread out, held down by several table lanterns in which candles were burning.
"Sorry again I left you in the car, I just had to prepare that," Frank grinned and walked towards the blanked while you were still staring at the scene.
It was perfect. Your heart felt like bursting at the thought that Frank had put so much effort into taking your stargazing. He could as well just have invited you to his garden and sat on the porch to watch the stars from there. Out here though, where the glow of the street lanterns did not reach the sky, the stars were a lot more visible.
You followed Frank who had already sat down and spread the contents of his basket.
"So we got... apple juice, some cookies, sandwiches, and... wait..." he tried to identify the contents of a bottle, "ah, iced tea."
"Wow, you made a real picnic out of this," you grinned, taking the cup of iced tea he handed you.
"Only the best for you," he laughed, "and everything is self-made."
"In other words, don't eat the cookies or you might get poisoned," you joked, earning a glare from Frank.
You laughed lightheartedly, knowing that Frank's cookies were some of the best in the world, and so was the iced tea as you let him know with a content hum following your first sip.
You both enjoyed the sandwiches and some of the apple juice before you lied back on the blanket, staring up at the countless stars above you.
Playfully they were sparkling at you, and you felt yourself drowning in the bright dots on dark ground. They seemed so close, close enough to grab them, but they were so far away.
"Some of these stars might already be dead," Frank whispered, his voice low as if he was deep in thought. You loved these moments, when he shared his mind with you. "They could have died a long time ago and we just might not know yet, because their light has not reached us yet. And somewhere else, another star might have been born, but it is so far away that we might never learn about it in our lifetime." He fell silent for a moment. "The universe is so big, and so amazing, surely there is a planet out there that has life. Maybe a little alien child just stands outside its house, looks at the sky and wonders if there is someone out there watching. Maybe it waves up at the stars, hoping someone might wave back." His voice died back down and slowly he lifted his hand, waving at the sky as if to greet the little alien kid.
You had stopped looking at the stars the moment he had started talking. Frank's profile was clearly visible in the light of the moon and your eyes were fixed on his face as he told you about his thoughts about the universe.
His hand sunk back down, resting on his chest and he turned his head to look at you.
"Am I weird," he asked quietly.
"A little, the perfect amount of weird," you told him, smiling gently at him.
For a while you just lay like this, looking at each other. Your eyes wandered over his soft features, admired his lips, his eyes and the crinkles around them. It seemed like the world passed by without affecting the two of you. You were enchanted by each other, unable to take your eyes away from what was right in front of you. None of you noticed how clouds started pulling over the star-filled sky and darkened the moon, but only when a slight drizzle set in, Frank started talking.
"I wanted to tell you something, but I don't know how," Frank whispered, his breath warmly fanning over your skin as tiny drops of cold water hit your cheek.
"Just say it," you encouraged.
His eyes shortly flickered away, but then met yours again.
"What if you don't like it," he asked.
"I didn't like you scaring me at the car," you replied, "it can hardly be that bad."
Frank hesitated for a moment. His next words were quiet but clear.
"I like you, like really."
You let the words sink in for a moment, feeling the same feeling swell in your chest as when you had realized how much effort he had put into this evening.
"So how about we turn this best friend job into a boyfriend matter," you asked, remembering how he said it would be a boyfriend's duty to take you out stargazing.
Apparently he remembered as well, because a smile spread over his face.
"Okay," he agreed, his voice full of happiness.
You moved a little closer to Frank until your shoulder were touching and he wrapped an arm around you. The drizzle had stopped and the clouds had ripped open again, revealing the sparkling stars over you once more.
You looked up at the sky again, snuggling against Frank. Stargazing really was a lot more beautiful than you could have ever imagined.