The Enigma's Anomaly

Giant Fluffy Mass of Fluff

I definitely fell asleep because when I wake up I hear the sound of a door opening, and the chime above the door. It's drizzling so that's a lot less raucous than the earlier rain.

I'm tired and I blink my eyes a few times to see whoever is standing there, and that's when I'm blinking up to see a very attractive red head looking around the diner frantically. He's been crying. A lot. His eyes are bloodshot, and the bags under them are massive, but he is still so goddamn attractive.

"Frank?" Gerard asks the entire room, and I think for a moment that I should just hide under the table and pretend I'm not here, but now he's got everyone's attention. There's two different people in here then when I fell asleep, but the other man is gone, and they're looking from Gerard to the guy lying down on the booth. The back of the booth is hiding me pretty well so Gerard doesn't notice me.

Instead I groan and his head darts immediately to me where he's standing only a few feet away, "Gerard, what're you doing here? I told Mikey I didn't-"

Gerard's eyes beat into me quickly and he steps in front of the booth, without wavering our eye contact. Mine's a little hazy from just waking up, and I also feel pretty angry. I think I'm angry at him, but I could just as easily be angry at myself for speaking out.

"I had to come instead!" he says.

"I'm going to kill that damn toothpick," I whisper.

"Frank, I had to come! Mikey knew that and it's because I made a huge mistake! I had to come get you, I couldn't let Mikey... I just made the biggest mistake of my life, and I had to tell you this myself," Gerard says, and he kneels down on the floor next to the booth that I'm sprawled out upon. I look around to see that the sky is a calmer shade of bluish grey and the same waitress is looking at me, a little surprised, but not angrily.

"And what's that then?" I say, and I pull myself upward. My body is stiff, especially my neck, because these booths are not made for sleeping. There's only two other patrons, but both are looking at the weird guy who fell asleep at a diner, and the insanely hot redhead he's taking to.

"You name it," Gerard says, and he gulps, then looks down at his hands, "I was being selfish. Thinking about myself and not you. I just didn't think about how tough this has all been on you. Which is stupid, because, I mean you got shot and everything, but I didn't even... I should've tried to look at this from you're point of view.

"And then there's the fact that I let you go. I shouldn't have let you leave. That was so stupid of me. I should've followed you, or driven behind you to make sure you were okay. I shouldn't have let you leave the house, and I'm so sorry."

"I didn't want to be around you," I say. I really didn't though. When he told me to go away I wanted to be away from him so that I didn't have to deal with all the shit running through my mind. I was mad, and scared, and nervous, and sad, and hopeful, all combining to make a potent as hell cocktail. If I hadn't left, who knows what I might have said that I'd come to regret even more than the things I regret now. It's strange but leaving was probably the best thing I could've done. Actually it would have been smarter if I'd just gone upstairs, but it's too late to take it back now.

Gerard frowns for a moment before pointing out my choice of past tense, "You said 'didn't.'"

"Keep going and I'll tell you if that's still true," I say, shortly.

"Frankie," Gerard says and he puts his hands on the booth, and I see his eyes trembling. "I shouldn't have told you I don't love you. I was just angry, and you asked me if I did, and I was... I was mad! I wanted to hurt you, because I- I, but it was wrong of me. I was lying through my teeth. God, I do love you, Frankie. I mean, I was the one who said that first anyway, and I guess what really hurt, was your willingness to believe it wasn't real. I love you so much, I don't know, I should never have... god! If there's one thing that I wish I could take back from that argument, it's that I said I don't love you."