Fireflies In Autumn (Frikey)

Chapter 15

My night went on perfectly dreamless after I fell asleep. I must have slept pretty hard because it was like one minute I was lying there, closing my eyes, and the next, my alarm bursts into sound and startles me awake. I felt around for my glasses on the nightstand, then smacked my alarm off. God, I was perfectly fucking healthy. That would figure, wouldn't it?

I looked into my drawers where I took out this dark-blue button-down shirt. It was a little old and faded, but clean, since I haven't gotten my laundry washed yet. It was supposed to have been done Friday, but good ol' absent-minded Mikey forgot to put his goddamn hamper over by the laundry room for Mom to get to it. That meant that I was going to have to make use out of what I had for the rest of the week or try my hand at washing some things. As if I didn't have enough to fucking worry about.

My jeans were starting to get that overly-used smell to them, so I went digging around, coming across a pair of tan khakis. Dark-blue shirt and tan khakis. Apparently, I go to fucking Catholic school. Now all I needed was a tie.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of my underwear to find another pair. I found some boxers and put those on, then the tee-shirt, and then the khakis. When I was dressed, I went into the kitchen, smelling the coffee and getting a sudden craving for it. I saw no reason to put off such an internal request made, so I strode over to the pot and filled a mug, hoping I could remember how much sugar and cream I'd used before.

"Morning, Honey," Mom said when she saw me. I just saluted her silently with two fingers, then stirred my coffee implements together and sat down with it.

"Would you like anything?" she asked me. I assumed she meant breakfast, and I was in a really smart-assy mood this morning, so I said rather hoity, "Um, what about a huge stack of silver-dollar pancakes, sausage, eggs benedict, and maybe some fresh-squeezed orange juice. I'll only have the freshest ingredients to anything, you know."

"How 'bout I give you a fresh smack on the mouth?"

"Does that come with bacon?"

She laughed and then served me some of her eggs and two halves of toast. I felt rather sophisticated to be eating a normal breakfast, so I accepted it.

"Is your brother taking you to school this morning?"

I swallowed the bite of food that was in my mouth and said, "I don't know, really. I guess he could."

"Then you might want to wake him up."

I looked at the basement door that was right next to the kitchen and thought about how necessary it was for me to have to wake Gerard up so he'd drive me to school. He gets into this thing I like to call a "fat coma" where he's next to impossible to wake up. And if I did manage to get him up, he'd probably just bite my head off for making him get out of bed just to drive me to school when I normally take the bus anyway. Didn't seem worth it.

"Nah, I'll just take the bus like I always do."

"Suit yourself."

"Speaking of which," I said, looking at my wrist watch, "I should probably head out there right now." I went to my mom and kissed her cheek rather hurriedly before departing out of the door to make it to the bus stop. It was only down the street from my house.

When it arrived I climbed aboard, no longer looking for Frank inside of it. If only he'd decided to get a carpool before anything ever started happening between us. Good ol' Frank and his impeccable timing.

I read a book while I sat through the bus ride, feeling it jerking me around like it always does. My thoughts were drifting off to other things even as I tried to keep my focus on the words in front of me.