The Boy Who Lives Downstairs: Frank Iero

Chapter one: Velcro



Katie had been living at apartment number 16 on the third floor for exactly seven days now. In the past seven days, she had yet to see Frank again. Not that it mattered too terribly much to her; she enjoyed having friends but she was busying herself with the mess that was number 16.

She had gotten rid of the filth but there was something about the place that made her feel weird. Perhaps that it wasn’t personalized to her yet. Yes that must be it, she thought to herself around the third day in the place. Which is why she purchased paint and had been laboring at it ever since.

Each room was being assigned a song, a theme. A song that inspired her artistically. So far she had finished the bathroom, its theme song: Santeria by Sublime. One of her favorite songs, why you might ask? Because it wasn’t what it seemed, it sounded soft and nice but was really about a man’s cheating girlfriend and his plans of revenge against her and Sanchito. The bathroom was painted white with purple accent pieces, and all over there were fairy figurines. Fairy shower curtain, fairy pictures, fairy towels. Just a lot of fairy stuff. Fairy's reminded her of the song, because of their back-history.

But now she was on her room. Probably the only exception to her music themed house if the plan went the way it was supposed to go. The walls were white while the ceiling was black. On the ceiling she had painted stars and planets and had done a lovely job so far. That's when she heard a knock.

"Hold on a second I'll be right there," she said while quickly stepping from the chair she was standing upon in order to reach the ceiling. Another knock.

"Just a minute!" she said loudly, over the music that was blaring. Oh god I hope it isn't the manager.

What are you doing here? Its not like she wants to see you or anything. It's not as if you even like her. Shut up mind. I want to get to know her. His mental argument suddenly ended as the door swung open quickly, revealing Katie.

She had on mesh gym shorts and a shirt that at one point was white. The shirt was now blemished by black, silver and blue paint.

"Frank!" she said excitedly. "Come in, how are you?"

"Umm… fine I guess."

"So, what do you need?" she asked as she turned off the music.

"Oh, I was just coming by to say hi," he said quietly. Liar, you were coming by to…

"That’s so nice of you. Do you want something to drink or whatever?"

"What do you have?"

"Orange juice, milk, lemonade, and assorted sodas," she counted off on her fingers. Fingers that were adorned with four rings. Interesting.

"Um. If you have Pepsi that would be great."

"Sure thing. Oh, and I'm sorry that I look like a slob. Painting is not a clean activity," she recounted from the kitchenette. "Here," she said as she tossed him the Pepsi.

"Thanks," he said as he opened the can.

"No problem," she said smiling as she began fiddling around with her rings nervously. Frank also noticed that she had a paintbrush in her hair, a wet one, positioned right behind her ear.

"You know it would be a shame to get black in your hair."

"Sorry?" she said snapping out of her own thoughts. "Oh, yeah," she stated as she removed the brush from behind her ear, "you wanna see what I've painted so far?"

"Sure," Frank said as he followed her to the bathroom. "Looks awesome."

"Ah its okay. But thanks, I thought I'd show you one that I've finished. Come here," she beckoned with a smirk that made her look strangely like one of her bathroom decorations, pixyish with her green eyes and short messy hair that went down to the middle of her slim neck. "This," she started as she turned on a light, "is what I've started in my bedroom."

"Wow." was the only word that really came to mind. She was a talented artist, and her depiction of the stars was beautiful.

"It's still wet, but that’s what I'm doing for the ceiling."

"Cool. You want to, like go out for coffee or something?" Frank asked suddenly. It didn’t come out nearly as suave as he planned.

"I can't."

"Oh, well that’s cool," he said trying to mask his disappointment. I knew she wouldn’t like me.

"Not right now, caffeine does crazy things to me and I sort of need to get a bit more painting done today."

"Ah, okay."

"Another time?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, just let me know when," he said monotonously.

"Okay, where do you live here?" she asked.

The apartment below you," he said with a small smile before he disappeared through the door.






Author's note: Rate and message. Thanks!