Taking Back the Life You Stole

Chapter 3

 During the course of the night, a few other people came in, but not many, and they usually didn't stay for long. Mostly the night was just Frank and Gerard talking, so when Frank looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was a quarter to two, he was shocked. He was tired and buzzed and had all but forgotten the pain coming from his knees. "If it's okay with you, I think I'm going to close up a bit early." He said to Gerard, standing up from his stool. He winced but kept going.

Concern immediately covered Gerard's face which he quickly tried to hide from Frank. In an attempt to sound blasé he said, "That's okay. If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here while you close. Your apartment is on the way to where I live, so we can leave together."

Frank was a little surprised, but after what happened last night, he was not going to say no. "Yeah, no, that's totally fine," Frank replied as he gathered up the glasses shared between the two of them. A lucky side effect of drinking for the past eight hours was that he could barely feel the pain in his foot. He worked through it, wiping down the counters and putting everything back in the cabinets. While he was stacking glasses he glanced up to see Gerard fiddling with the hem of his jacket, calmly waiting for Frank to finish his work. He smiled to himself and moved to count down the register.

Gerard watched Frank's hands move as he counted the cash in the drawer. It was strangely calming, the way his hands moved, it seemed so automatic. His favorite thing was the way the tattoos on his arms flexed as his fingers moved. Gerard would never get a tattoo himself, even the thought of a needle that close to him made his stomach tighten, but he still liked the way they looked on other people.

There was a clatter as the last coin hit the drawer, and Frank gave a triumphant "Done!" as he closed and locked the register. He turned to face Gerard with a smile, "Alright, let's head out." He grabbed the keys from the counter and came around to join Gerard on the other side.

As they walked out Frank was hitting off light switches and the pain was beginning to creep its way up through his legs. He held the door open to let Gerard out first so he could take a second to stop before he had to walk all the way to his apartment. His hand shook as he lined up the key to lock the door, but he hoped Gerard would see that as just being buzzed. He bit his lip and turned to start walking.

Gerard was chewing on his lip, not wanting to fish out a cigarette but still needing to do something with his mouth. He opened his mouth to speak a few times but just would lick his lips and go back to chewing. His mind was a little fuzzy, but he was focused on watching Frank walk and the little grimaces that kept crossing his face. He was about to go to speak again but what he was going to say was lost when Frank tripped.

"Fuck," Frank fell forward roughly. He tried to catch his falls with his hands but his weight landed almost entirely on his knees.

"Frank!" Gerard yelled before he even realized. He was on his knees next to Frank as quickly as he could. Frank had already rolled onto his side and pulled his legs up to his chest. He was hissing out breaths and didn't even open his eyes to look at Gerard. "Frankie, are you okay? What can I do?"

The first thing Frank did was check for rips in his jeans, it felt dumb, but he couldn't ruin his only pair of work pants. Once he established that they were still intact and only a little dirty, he pushed himself up into a sitting position so he could be face to face with Gerard, "Don't tell Ray, I don't want him to worry."

Gerard nodded, not really sure why he shouldn't tell Ray, but it was what Frank wanted so he went along with it. "Okay, Okay, let's get you home." He helped Frank to his feet and put his arm around Frank's waist to support him.

The second he put any weight on his knees he gasped. The pain seemed worse than it should for just bruised and scraped knees. He almost fell over again, but Gerard caught him and kept them moving forward. The next challenge was climbing the stairs up to the apartment building.