ONE: Vanilla on My Hands

13: Why Did You 'George' Me?

"You have gotta be fucking kidding me?" Frank asked outright, stopping in his tracks, his phone pressed against his ear as his stomach sank into his almost-threadbare socks.

"I'm sorry, Frank," She sighed. The editor in chief of the newspaper that Frank worked at, who also ended up being Ryan's mom, was definitely not sorry, "We're letting you go."

"Fuck sake, Danielle- Mrs. Ross- this is all I have. I fucking love this job and you know it." Frank begged as he flopped down onto the sofa with a small groan, "You can't do this... Please- I-I love this job."

"I am, Frank. We gave you the job because you were family; you were like a son to us. We let you into our home, treated you as only a loving family would and it didn't seem to matter after all this time. You broke my son's heart with the way you behaved. He told us about the things you said." She replied simply and Frank grimaced, biting on the inside of his cheek.

"I didn't- I mean..." Frank began but he trailed off, having no words to say. What could he have said? That he felt betrayed by Ryan for telling his parents that their employee had gotten a job offer? Highly likely to make his situation worse.

"Just hand in your notes and your press badge, and collect your week's pay, Frank. We're letting you go. And Ryan wants you to know he's not sorry for spending the past two nights here." Danielle replied with a sigh before hanging up. Frank looked at his phone as the dial tone beeped into his ear. He sighed, locking the device and chucking it beside him on the sofa when he brought his legs up against his chest, his toes curling slightly over the end of the cushion.

Ryan left the night that they had fought over Frank's job because Ryan had done what Frank had asked him not to. Ryan would rather have driven forty minutes to his parents to sleep in his old room than bare graces and sleep on the sofa. Frank had expected Ryan to come home the next day but he didn't, and Frank had held up his reins, fighting the urge to phone Ryan first. Ryan hadn't phoned him either, not since that Friday night- it was now Sunday morning. Frank had gotten over himself yesterday when Ryan had left, he had started to get anxious when his boyfriend hadn't returned and he realized just how much he loved Ryan, but he put his ego first and waited everything out. Apparently Ryan was doing the same.

Ryan was as stubborn as an old mule when he dug his heels in, the slight and slender boy had not a raging temper like Frank did, but had the legs to kick in anyone else's bravado. Frank wasn't sure when Ryan would return, hell, he didn't even know that Ryan had left until he heard Ryan's car pull out of the driveway, frowning in confusion as he lay in their shared bed all by himself. He was angry, yes, and he had started out being smug about his victory in their argument, and then he had realized that maybe he had been a bit harsh to Ryan because he had been with him for so long and he knew how excitable his boyfriend could be.

But now two days had passed, two days that Ryan had been alone with his parents saying God knows what and Frank's suspicions had all come to fruition. He had been fired, just as he had predicted much against Ryan's haphazard nonchalance. Now Frank had to sit back and wonder whether or not Ryan was to blame, had he been so angry and hurt by Frank that he had told his parents to fire him, been the tiny shoulder devil whispering in their ears? Frank shook his head vehemently.

Ryan would never do that, Ryan didn't have a venomous bone in his body- never had and never will. He was a tall and skinny teddy bear. Frank's heart sank a little bit more then, at the thought of Ryan, and he looked at the clock on the wall of their living room. It was almost noon now. Frank just wanted Ryan to come back. He reached for his phone, deciding that now would be when he was going to call Ryan and make him come home but then he heard the gate of their small house opening, the mechanisms whirring as the gate slid open, the faint sound of Ryan's electric car as it pulled into the driveway and crunched over gravel.