TALK TO ME ¯ᶠʳᵉʳᵃʳᵈ

-ˏˋｅｉｇｈｔｅｅｎ：ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ ｂｅｔｔｅｒˊˎ-

"You," was Gerard's answer. He didn't even give me enough time to be back in the house. He had run up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist right before I stepped into the house. His breath hit my neck and I shuddered but there was no way to hide it. "You, Frankie. Of course, you. I'm not just saying that because you gave me the most fantastic fucking kiss in the world right now, but because I want you. I don't care about myself enough to stop, but I care about you. I'll try and do everything it takes, as long as you stand by me while I do."

I spun around and threw my arms around his neck. I finally gave in without feeling any guilt or regret because I knew that I wouldn't be the one putting forth the effort. Gerard would be and it would benefit him more than anything.

"Frankie," he sighed, "I don't know, though, if I'll be able to just throw them all out. Just thinking about it, I feel-"

I pulled back and put a finger on his lips. He smiled and handed me my phone. I quickly wrote him a text: "We'll do it slow. I understand."

When I showed him the text, his smile grew, which I didn't think was possible.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he sighed, taking my face in his hands and pressing his forehead to mine. "If this gets too much, if you get tired of me, just let me know."

I rolled my eyes and shoved his shoulder and he chuckled, knowing perfectly well that would never happen.

I moved away so I could write him another text. I wrote, "How do you feel about getting rid of one bag a day?"

He hesitated before nodding slowly. "I will try."

That was enough for me. I knew with something like this there couldn't be a definite answer, so I would take that and it was beyond good enough.

"Let's get back to Mikey before he dies of curiosity," Gerard said and I nodded. He ran back to the driveway, taking the dreaded plastic bag and putting it back in the car. It was probably best to keep it out of sight from his parents. I would rather it not stay in his car, but I wouldn't say anything yet. He came back to me and took my hand and we went back to Mikey.

We explained to Mikey what happened, minus the kiss-he was sick, we would spare him-and he was happy to hear that Gerard would try and get clean. He, of course, said he would be there to help Gerard through, too. We decided it was probably best to keep Gerard's addiction a secret from his parents until he was completely clean. Until then, Gerard would have to take shit from his parents for disappearing. We couldn't really come up with a good excuse, so Gerard would have to wing it when his parents were home.

Night time came and as soon as the front door opened we heard Donna yell, "Frankie! Mikey!! I see Gerard's car outside! Is he home?!"

"Why does she say Frankie first?" Mikey mumbled, still in bed. "I wonder who her son is."

"Oh, crap," Gerard sighed. "Here goes."

Donna didn't wait for an answer because she ran to Mikey's door and her hand flew over her mouth when she saw Gerard standing there. In no time, she was crying and taking Gerard in a suffocating hug.

"Ma, I can't breathe," Gerard groaned, but Donna just hugged him tighter.

"I thought something might have happened," she sobbed. "You scared the crap out of me! Oh I'm so happy you're safe! You're ok!"

She pulled back from the hug to examine his face and then pulled him back to her.

"I'm sorry, Ma," Gerard said, the guilt obviously in his voice.

"Now," Donna sniffed, pulling away from Gerard. She wiped the tears on her face and tried to look serious but the excitement and relief were still evident on her face. "I wanna know where the hell you were so I can decide if I should kill you or not."