.Frank Iero{From the lights to the pavement}Chapter One.

Christine

Cold wind nipped at Christine's bare arms
as she waited for the mayor of New York City, her father -or David to his friends
and wife, Rebecca- to finish up talking to numerous people, most likely the
majority of whom were journalists and photographers. She smiled the infrequent,
obligatory smile to those she knew as they passed her but, otherwise, stood
stock-still and regarded their surroundings. She was here with her
parents and her fraternal twin, Staci; her Mom and Staci had done the smart
thing and were inside right now. The River Caf was the classy restaurant David had insisted on taking everyone for this special occasion.
Staci and Christine had only just, today, graduated from high school and he'd
seen it only fitting to pay for his girls and their friends at a nice restaurant
to celebrate especially since he hadn't been able to make excuses to get out of
a business lunch to actually be there for their graduating. For some reason,
Christine hadn't liked the idea of dining at The River Caf and, now
when he looked back at her, she was looking around blankly as she leaned against
a pillar near the entrance as if she'd rather be any place other than this.

Finally David managed to sway the conversation he was having
with Gloria Reynolds into the direction of 'good byes' and walked away from her
as Gloria slowly made her way back to her car. "Hey kiddo," he said
fondly upon reaching Christine.

Parents are like most adults with authority, like teachers and
doctors, in that they are not supposed to pick favorites, however, they usually
did. David's was Christine. They'd always been that little bit closer than he
was with Staci and was much more protective of Christine. When she was five
years old and fell off her bike, despite the training wheels, he picked her up
and ran all the way to the hospital emergency room carrying her, holding her
hand later on and telling her not to cry, that it was okay, when she had to have
stitches in her chin where it had made contact with the unlevel asphalt. When
she was ten and rejected from the local kids' art exhibition, because apparently
finger-painting wasn't art, he was the one who arranged and set up a display in
Central Park, just to show off all of her work. When Christine acquired her
first 'official' boyfriend in middle school and said boyfriend dumped her for a
taller, blonder girl with a more developed chest, it wasn't her mother she
turned to, it was David. Rebecca didn't have any problems with one of her
daughters going to Madrid by herself when she was just fifteen years old, it was
David who argued letting her go alone until he finally had to give in because of all
the sulking Christine had done. He'd tried to go with her but he'd had to stay in the
States to finish up his election campaign so that he could keep his seat in
power. He was the one who'd named her, she was his little Chrissy, and, even
though he'd had to be away from his family alot more than usual recently, David
still loved his girl as much as he did the first time he held her, in the
maternity ward on his birthday after Rebecca passed out from all the drugs they'd had to give
her during the birth.
He watched as that same bright smile formed on her face, unchanged from when she
was only a tiny child, as she now looked up at him, obviously glad to have him
away from the crowd of people.

"Hey Dad. Your fans left have they?"

"Haha," he retorted dryly as he placed a hand on the
back of her neck to guide her and kissed the top of her head, "very funny.
Now get inside." He looked down at her as they entered, "Have I told
you that you look beautiful tonight, Chrissy?"

"No."

"Well, you do. You're all grown up."

Christine smiled, trying to ignore any bitter thoughts. She
knew being upset about not having him there for her graduation was selfish,
seeing how David had spent her entire childhood doting on her, but lately she
hardly saw him and she'd hoped maybe today he'd be there for one of the biggest
events of her's and Staci's lives. This was his way of making up for not being
there today, treating nearly fifty people to dinner. She pushed all thoughts to
whether he actually wanted to do this or it was just to take the media's
attention away from his absence earlier.

Another chorus of greetings went around as the daughter and
father entered, of course all for him. Everyone had been waiting for David to
come inside so that they could be seated. He apologized for unintentionally
making them wait and walked over to the receptions desk. While they were waiting
to all be seated, Staci left her large group of friends and walked over to
Christine, smiling.

"Hey Chris. Why are you all alone?"

"I am?" She looked around and realised that there
was a five foot square box of bare floor and she was right in the middle of it
with no one else. She hadn't known she'd isolated herself, having been looking
around what part of the restaurant she could see, hoping he wasn't working
tonight. "Oh, well you know, I didn't really feel like coming
tonight."

Staci titled her head to the side and looked at her twin.
"Why not? Today was only the most important day of our life-"

"So far."

"Yeah well, we're only seventeen." She grabbed her
twin's arm and started to pull her over to the others. "Come socialize,
Chris."

Christine frowned and shook her head, looking at Staci's crowd
apprehensively. "No thanks. Have you seen Rob and Justin?"

Staci sighed before indicating where Christine's friends were;
not liking who her sister chose to interact with. That was the difference
between the twins. Staci was always trying to fit in yet stand out, Christine
was happy with what she had and blending into the background. They had
similarities in both looks and personality traits but they were significantly
different despite having shared a womb for nine months. Christine had long blond
hair whereas Staci had naturally light brown hair, now separated by fake blonde
highlights; both had blue eyes, Christine's a shade or two lighter; and their
skin was tan, Staci from spending holidays all day at the beach and Christine
from always being outside, experimenting with photography. Christine was the
shorter and lighter twin, by eight pounds and five inches; Staci was the tall
sporty and academic one, with more friends than she needed (or wanted, at
most times).
But they were as close as siblings could be and, really, Staci's interest in her
sister's choice in crowd was only concern, as she wanted nothing more than the
best for Christine. Justin and Rob weren't that bad, Christine could do worse.
And her very closest friend, Maria, used to be Staci's best friend aswell, when
they were all little. There were times when Thom, Matt and Monique got her twin
into trouble and Staci held that against them but there wasn't really anything
unbearably wrong with them. They just weren't Staci's friends and they just
weren't popular - something she wanted Christine to be, simply because she
thought life was better if you were. Christine got along with the popular people
at their school well, if they came into contact, but had never integrated into
their group because she didn't want to have to change for others and she was
loyal to her friends.

"Thanks Stac," Christine said, kissing her sister's
cheek before walking over to the boys. Justin pulled her immediately into a
rib-crushing hug and, watching, Staci smiled before turning away to her own
friends. "Hey guys," Christine laughed as they were both hugging her
now, being careful not to touch eachother. In their junior year, a rumor had
gone around that Rob was gay and, ever since, they'd been extra careful not let
anyone see them touch. It was a little frustrating for Justin because it was he
who thought he had feelings for Rob, choosing to ignore all the times Rob had
declared he was infact straight.

"Hello lover," Justin purred into her ear.

Christine laughed again and pushed him away. "Go away,
you moron."

Rob pulled a face. "Ignore him, Chris, he's a little
horny tonight."

Well then you'd better be the one to watch out, not
me, Christine thought but didn't say. Rob had no suspicions of Justin's
attraction towards him and Justin had absolutely no idea Christine had noticed.
She'd had to resist her urges to play match-maker numerous times and settled for
musing on what a cute couple they'd make.

"Earth to Chris, stop staring at me," Rob said,
lightly hitting her face. Soon enough they were all hitting eachother until
Christine pulled away, drawing attention to the fact they were beating up on a
girl.

"Where's Maria?" Christine asked, fixing the front
of her dress. Monique, Thom and Matt had all graduated early so they could take
off on family holidays before the school year ended.

"She didn't tell you?" Rob asked, frowning.
"It's just us three. There was another family emergency, her mom pretended
to slit her wrists."

She brought her hands up to her mouth. "Are you serious,
is she okay?"

"Don't worry, her mom's fine," Justin assured her.
"Just a few old scars, a hot bath and red food dye. Maria's really pissed
off."

"We should go to the hospital and see her-"

Justin interrupted her, "No, she told us that in no
circumstances were you to go see her. She wants you to enjoy tonight and she'll
call us all later."

Christine opened her mouth to protest again but it was then
that their party was ushered through, David leading everyone through with the
waiter. All the guests had been irritable and impatient when he and Christine
had finally entered from outside but all David had to do was smile in that
charming way of his and apologise sincerely. No wonder he was so popular as a
mayor; it was a very small minority of people in the city who didn't like him.
Christine watched admiringly as everyone listened to him give a speech
explaining why he'd missed the actual graduation and declaring he was sorry he
wasn't. He could charm anyone. She sat quietly, seldom offering her opinion in
the conversation and giving hardly attention at all to anyone, until the waiter
came to ask their orders and she started coughing erratically. She hadn't meant
to because it meant that now all eyes were on her, including those of the
waiter, who grinned at her.

"Chrissy, honey, are you okay?" Rebecca asked her
daughter, leaning around Justin and trying to hit her on the back. Christine
waved her hands to signal she was okay and grabbed her glass of water for
something to do, staring hard at the table while blushing the brightest shade of
red. She could still feel the waiter's eyes on her and willed him to look away
before anyone realised.

But her father was too fast and caught the look sent between
them. "Well ..." he paused and looked him over, his eyes resting for a
considerably long time on the tattoos inked on his arms ,showing from under
where the sleeves of his uniform were rolled up, and the scorpion high up on his
neck. He didn't look too impressed by his hair, which was un-styled and combed
but still noticeable as a small mohawk or the piercings his nose and lip sported
"... sir. Are you going to take our orders or try to seduce my daughter?
She's obviously not interested."

They both flushed and he cleared his throat. "What
would-"

"Are you going to introduce yourself and do this
properly, boy, or do you not value your job?" David questioned, smirking.
Christine glared at him but no one noticed.

He met David's eyes defiantly and narrowed his. "Hello,
I'm Frank, I will be your waiter for tonight. What would you all like to
order?"
Christine followed him with her eyes after he had everyone's orders written down,
as did the whole table.

"Look at the people they employ these days," David
spat as Frank entered the kitchen and everyone's attention turned to him once
more. "Tattoos, piercings, no manners. I tell you, if that little punk
makes another mistake, I'll get him fired. He can go back working for a garage
or wherever he came from. How on earth he got this job in the first place is
beyond me."

As the adults murmured agreement, Christine looked around for an
excuse to leave. She couldn't stand having them all talk about him like that,
even if they didn't know he was her boyfriend, it was still horrible. Her eyes
met Staci's, who sat on her left, and her twin smiled. Christine's tongue felt
like it had swollen all of a sudden and was choking her. But Staci merely leaned
forward and said, "Cute, wasn't he?"

"What?"

"The waiter, he was cute, right? I mean, too short and
old, but still, no harm in looking."

Oh God. "Um, yeah, sure. I've got to go pee,
excuse me." Christine stood and walked towards the female restroom. On her
way, she passed Justin, who discreetly grabbed her hand to bring her to a halt.
She looked down at him. "What? I need to use the toilet, hurry up."

"That waiter-"

"I need to go."

He pulled her down and kissed her cheek before letting her go.
"Be careful."

Christine stared at him a minute longer, wondering if he
really was that perceptive or if he'd just taken a guess, before shaking her head and
walking in the direction of the bathrooms. Before reaching her intended
destination, though, a hand caught her own and brought her with them
into a dark room. She fumbled for a light and, when successfully turning it on,
realised she had been brought into a supply store, for the waiters' uniforms.
She glared around until recognizing Frank infront of her, watching her
movements. "Who was that guy?" He asked after she smiled and he
returned it smally.

People really need to start saying exactly what they mean.
"Which guy?"

He looked hesitant about continuing but did so anyway, staring
at her directly and unwaveringly. "The one who just held your hand and kissed you."

A smile slowly grew on Christine's face and she titled her
head to the side as she looked teasingly at him. "Frank, are you jealous?"

"No. Just - who was he?"

"You're so sweet." When he simply glared at her, she
giggled softly and explained. "That was one of my best friends, you know,
Justin."

Frank let out a long breath. "Oh. You mean -"

She nodded, staring past his shoulder when realising this
encounter wasn't of any importance. She was very conscious of how long she'd
been away from the dining party. "Yeah that
one. Now, could you please move? My Dad will get suspicious."

Frank looked down at his feet but didn't move. "Is that
the reason you didn't introduce me to your family that time, you're ashamed of
me?"

Christine stopped looking over his shoulder and at his
reddening face instead. He was embarrassed about asking but he needed to. "No, of course I'm not-"

"Then you're ashamed of what your dad thinks of me."

"Frank, look, he was being an ass and judging you before
he knows you. Don't take it personally, he does it to everyone."

"I have to take it personally because you care so much
about what he thinks. I don't like sneaking around all the time just to be with
you. I want to be able to hold your hand in public and -"

"I'll tell him soon."

"Promise?"

She saw the hopeful look on his face and smiled at it's
presence. Leaning forward she kissed him quickly. "I
promise." He tried to kiss her again but she pulled away and reached for
the door handle. "I have to get back. I'll see you next Friday?"

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, rubbing his face with
his hands, thoroughly frustrated with the limitations their relationship posed. "Same place again?"

Christine nodded in reply and turned again to the door but
Frank lightly touched her wrist for her attention. "You look
beautiful."

She blushed and smiled one last time before opening the supply
closet's door and stepping out into the hall, away from the dining area, which
was light by candles. She made her way into the bathroom and splashed cold water
over her. For months now they'd been alternating in travelling the small
distance to see eachother, as Frank lived in New Jersey. Every time it was
Frank's turn, they'd meet near Belvedere Castle, in Central Park. This was where
they'd met eachother again for the first time since their first introductions in
Madrid.