Last Night - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 – Welcome Home


I felt Frank's heartbeat against my chest, faster than any normal person's should be…and rightfully so. His mom had left the room in disgust, slamming the door behind her as she left. Frank was shaking with fear.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him, holding him closer than I had ever held anyone to me in my entire life. I knew there was nothing I could do to stop the tears forming in Frank's beautiful eyes, but then again, I could do nothing but try.

"Fuck, this is all my fault," he said, his voice shaking as much as his arms, "I started this whole thing, damn it, I shouldn't have done that."

"Frankie," I whispered quietly into his ear, feeling tears forming in my own eyes at what I knew he was going to have to endure, "I promise, I won't leave you. I will never leave you. I will never let you get hurt."

When he kissed me, I felt tears from his cheeks land on my own face, the warm drops running down my skin.

"You should go, she's gonna fucking kill you."

I shook my head, "I just told you, I'm never leaving you."

He kissed me again before slowly removing the blanket from us and standing up. "I need… to talk to her… fuck, I'm not even going to try to come up with some bullshit excuse," He was hurriedly dressing as he spoke, "If she doesn't fucking like it, then that's her fucking problem."

I stood and put my clothes back on as well. Before we exited the small room, I pulled Frank into a tight embrace, kissing him one last time.

"No matter what happens, I will always love you," I whispered against his lips, "Nothing anyone says will ever take that away."

Frank's hair was a mess, eyeliner running down his face from the sweat and tears. In a twisted way, he looked beautiful. There was something strangely romantic about the pain and the passion.

I took his hand and we walked together through the door, as if there was a chance we wouldn't make it back alive. I squeezed his hand when I felt him still shaking slightly out of fear and anger.

When we entered the room, Frank stood next to me with his head held high, a fire I'd never seen before burning in his dark eyes.

His mother looked at me in disgust, but spoke to Frank as she said, "I don't know what he's still doing here, but he better leave."

"No."

She stood up, "What? What did you say to me?!"

"He will not be leaving."

I watched as her hand twitched slightly toward Frank and he flinched, as if he had been hit before.

I somehow mustered up the courage to speak, and did so with venom, "Don't you dare."

Frank's mother looked at me and hissed, "No one is speaking to you, faggot."

I gritted my teeth and remained calm, but couldn't help but respond with "I don't fucking care." Every fiber of my body wanted to scream, but I held back. Frank's mother turned to him.

"This is disgusting," when she spoke, she was only inches away from him, but he didn't move, "You are disgusting, Frank. I thought you were better than this." Frank didn't flinch, he didn't even blink as she came even closer. "You are no longer welcome in this house," The most frightening thing was the calmness with which she spoke when she then said; "You are no longer welcome in this family."

Frank didn't get angry, he didn't become upset, he simply said "If you are unable to accept the person I love, I don't want to live in this house, and I don't want to be a part of this so-called family."

With that, Frank turned on his heel and started to walk away. I was right by his side. As we stepped out and into the pouring rain, Frank turned and spat in the doorway. He continued forward without looking back.

…

We walked to the closest place we knew we could be inside: school. It was a Friday, so we weren't worried about people being there because of after-school sports or anything. When we opened the large doors to let ourselves into the hallway, we were soaked to the bone from the pouring rain, my hair wet through my hat.

Luckily, there was no one around. Our clothes were dripping, creating puddles on the linoleum floor. As soon as we were out of the rain, I pulled Frank close to me.

"Frankie, you're so brave," I whispered, kissing the top of his head.

Frank shook his head. His tattooed hands gripped my shirt tightly as he cried quietly into my chest. I discovered tears falling from my own eyes, mixing with the water already soaking my skin.

"Shh," I placed a hand on the back of his head and just held him against me. He was shaking slightly from the tears and from the cold.

"S-she threatened to do that, b-but I didn't t-think she would actually d-do it. Shit, Mikey, where will I go if I can't go fucking h-home?"

I didn't even have to think about it. "Stay with me. My family will welcome you, I promise."

Frank looked up at me. "Y-you would do that? I could never… I don't want to be… I couldn't…"

"Please."

Frank nodded and then pressed his face into my chest again.

"I owe you everything," he mumbled into me. I almost couldn't hear him.

"Frankie, you don't owe me anything. Having you here is enough."

He sniffed and looked back up at me. He put his hands on my shoulders and stood on his toes to kiss me lightly. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and we just stood there for some minutes. I was leaning against the wall of the empty school hallway, Frank leaning on me, we were both absolutely soaked, but neither of us seemed to mind. It was a while before Frank spoke.

"Even though my mom walked in at the end," he said, looking up at me again, his cheeks turning slightly pink, "It was amazing."

I smiled, kissing Frank's forehead. "It was amazing. You wanna pretend that was our first time?"

Frank nodded.

"Good. Me too."

We remained like that for a long time, just holding each other, almost in an attempt to convince ourselves that everything was going to be okay.

"I know it's still raining, but we should probably get home." I suggested, pushing my glasses up as I spoke.

Frank nodded, taking my hand. I pulled out my phone with my free hand, calling Gerard and hoping he would answer.

Mikey?

"Yeah. Uhm, do you think you could come get Frank and I and bring us to our house?"

Sure thing, why?

"It's kind of a long story… I don't want to talk about it right now. We're at school, actually."

What? Alright. I'll be there soon. Are you okay?

He must've heard the sadness in my voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Is Frank okay?

"Yeah—well, no. I'll explain everything when we get home. Are mom and dad home?"

Okay. I'll be there soon, and yeah, they are. Meet me out front?

"Mmkay. Thanks so much."

No problem, Mikes.

When I hung up the phone, Frank was still sniffling slightly. I was too.

"Everything's gonna be okay. I promise." I told Frank, kissing him lightly.

"I trust you," he said, smiling slightly.

…

During the car ride home, Gerard didn't ask any questions. Frank was still visibly upset, and he held my hand tightly, biting his lower lip the entire time.

"It's okay," I whispered, kissing his cheek and then wiping the few remaining tears off his face with my thumb.

When we finally got home, we stepped out of the car and my arm was immediately around Frank's waist. I held him as we walked in the door. My parents were sitting on the couch watching the television.

"Uhm…" I started when we walked in. They looked up, smiling, and then seemed concerned when they saw that we were upset...and soaking wet.

"What's wrong?" My mom stood and came over to us.

"I... we need to talk to you guys about something. All of you."

My mom nodded and sat back down. My dad turned off the TV. Gerard joined them on the couch.

I cleared my throat before speaking.

"Today… I was at Frank's and… and his… his mom found out that we were… that…" I felt tears coming again, but I tried my best to hold them back, "His mom is extremely homophobic. And when she found out that Frank's gay… when she found out who I really was…"

"She told me I'm no longer welcome in her family," Frank spoke quietly and sadly, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"And… I love Frank so much… but he has nowhere to go…"

My mom said, without hesitation, "He can stay here."

"W-what?" That's what I planned on asking, but I wasn't expecting her to suggest it herself.

"You love him. And if you love him, we love him, too."

I released Frank and ran toward my mom, hugging her tightly. My dad and Gerard had huge smiles plastered on their faces.

"Thank you so much, mom," I was sobbing into her shoulder.

Frank spoke, "I don't know how I can ever thank you enough, Mrs. Way I—"

"You don't have to thank me, dear," my mom smiled in his direction.

I went back over to Frank and he threw his arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him right there, in front of my entire family. I didn't care anymore. Our tears of sadness had turned into tears of happiness.

When our lips parted, I whispered against his lips, "Welcome home."