The Boy Who Lives Downstairs: Frank Iero

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Chapter six: Everything is Wrong and I'm Having the Time of my Life



Draw the blinds, Close your eyes



"You guys really don't need to walk me all the way up to my apartment," Katie said as they: Gerard, Mikey, Frank and Katie; began going up the stairs.

"Yeah; Mikey and Gerard, you guys can head home. I'll walk Kathleen to her abode," Frank said with a smile.

"Okay, night Frankie, Katie," Mikey said with a tired smile and a wave.

"Night Mikey," Katie said giving him a hug.

"Night Gerard," Katie said while offering him a handshake instead.

"Oh no you didn’t."

"But I do believe I did," she said standing on the second floor now.

"I don’t know what to do with you, honestly," Gerard said shaking his head. He promptly decided to pick her up in a spinning hug. Her laughter filled the second floor.

"That was fun," Katie said when he put her down.

"Want to do it again?" Gerard asked.

"Um…" she started, but before she could finish she was off her feet, spinning wildly around in circles yet again.

"G'night Katie," Gerard said setting her down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She gave him a small kiss on the cheek in return and a hug. "And Frank," Gerard said turning his attention to him, "you thought you'd get away tisk tisk." Gerard waved a finger at him. Then picked him up in a massive hug without spinning.

"Night Gerard," Frank said while trying to breathe.

"Night Frank," Gerard said then set him down.

And he was off, running down the stairs and out into the street. Either he was trying to catch up with Mikey or he was trying to escape the wrath of Frank. Quite possibly it was both. Frank rolled his eyes and Katie laughed slightly at him. She covered her mouth quickly and began walking up the stairs.

"Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four," Katie counted off quietly.

"Are you counting the stairs?" Frank asked.

"Yup," Katie said as she continued her count on her left hand via sign language.

"I didn’t know you could sign. That's awesome. There's thirty steps."

"How would you know?"

"Fifteen per flight. Two flights equals thirty. I count them too."

"Neato. Well I'm here. Thanks for walking me Frankie. Night," she said as she gave him a hug. Her next actions made his heart speed up a bit, she kissed his cheek and said, "Sweet dreams."

Lost for words Frank smiled and then quickly went down the fifteen steps to apartment thirteen. Frank went to sleep that night thinking of how she looked, her smile and her eyes, but mostly he thought of how she looked standing topless in her apartment. Of how she was probably like that right now above his head, separated only by about a foot of reinforced concrete. How she had kissed him on the cheek. That's when he realized that he was hooked, he was addicted.



"You are such a moron!" Katie scolded herself from within the confines of her apartment.

Thinking all the while of how Frank had reacted to her actions. Was it the rejection that it appeared to be? She thought that she had scared him. Or worse, disgusted him even! She ran her slim ringed fingers through her wavy auburn hair, she hadn't really done it today.

She decided worrying about it would do her no good and she needed to get up the next morning actually so getting so shut eye would be a prudent idea. She had secured a job, finally, at a local salon. Showing up late wouldn’t be good. She fell asleep at last, at 11:40 pm.



-7:10 AM- flashed in big red numerals from her alarm clock. He was sitting on her bed, with her wavy auburn hair surrounding her face in a perfect way that reminded him very much of what a halo must look like. He ran his hand over her cheek then gently traced her jaw line with his fingertips. Her lips curved upward slightly. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. She didn’t wake, and he was thankful for that. So he got up off of her bed and quietly left her apartment to return to his own, number 13.

-7:15 AM- Music blared from her alarm clock, immediately she was up. After brushing her teeth and meticulously doing her hair and makeup she put on some black pedal pushers, black Mary-Janes and a pretty silver top that was form fitting. She put on her coffee while she grabbed her bag, keys, cell phone, organizer, and other various items. When the coffee was done she poured herself a cup then poured another cup. She grabbed a napkin and wrote a quick note, set the coffee laden cup on top of it and set a thing of sugar next to it. Having everything she needed, she set off for work.

Frank glanced at his watch, 7:30, she was gone. So he headed upstairs to her apartment. As he entered number 16, his second home, he saw in the kitchenette there was a cup out. That was unlike Katie so he went to examine it. The cup was filled with hot coffee, and under it was a note.



Frank-

And you thought I didn’t know You came here!

Never underestimate my powers of logic. Enjoy the

coffee. Will be at work until 3:30ish. You can stay

as long as you like. I don’t care.

Your buddy,

XoKatieXo



He smiled to himself. He would stay. The day was going normally, he was currently sleeping when he heard knocking. Not the polite, please come to the door type knocking either, more along the lines of 'this is the police, come out with your hands up' knocking. And it was incessant.

"Gerard if that's you, you're so dead," Frank said tiredly. When he opened the door he was faced with not Gerard, but a woman and a man that he had never seen. "Can I help you?"

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"Frank, who are you?" he replied as politely as possible. She gave him a disgusted face.

"Just get me Kathleen," the woman said in an exasperated tone.

"She's not here. What do you need?" Frank asked raising an eyebrow.

"I need for you to step aside," she said as she tried to barge in. Frank wouldn’t move though.

"Sorry, don't know you and I don’t think Katie would want strangers in her apartment."

"Strangers!" the woman said getting more than a little upset. "We're hardly strangers I'm her mother, and this is her step-father. We are here for Kathleen, I don’t care what she told you to say just have her come out." She was now tapping her foot, impatiently waiting for her daughter who wasn’t there to come out.

"Look, Katie's at work. She wont be home till later. So come back later," Frank said now closing the door. The man put his foot in the way of the door.

"Look here young man."

"Frank."

"Okay, Frank. We understand that."

"No you don't! She's not here. Go away, before I call the manager," Frank said in an annoyed tone.

The woman's face flushed pink and she clenched her teeth. The man however simply nodded and escorted Katie's mom away. Frank thought that all of this was a bit odd, so he decided to call Katie on her cell phone.

"Harry's mortuary, you stab em and we slab em," she answered cheerily.

"Hey Katie, its Frank."

"Oh, hey Frank. Ya get the note?" He smiled.

"Yeah I did."

She laughed at her cleverness. "Enjoy the coffee?"

"Thoroughly."

"Good."

"Yeah, so the reason I called you is-"

"You were bored out of your mind?" she guessed.

"That too but-"

"You missed me."

"Katie!"

"Okay, fine why'd you call?"

"Some people came by your apartment, they just left."

"Crap, what did they look like?"

"Um the woman had long brown hair and I don’t know she said she was your mom. And there was a guy with her."

"Yeah, Jason her boy-toy."

"Ew."

"I agree."

"So she is your mom?"

"If you want to get technical."

"Ah, so she wanted to come in."

"Don't let her in Frank."

"I didn't, I told her you were at work and if she wanted to reach you to come back at another time."

"Thank you soo much Frank."

"Yeah, you owe me."

"Movies or dinner?"

"Both."

"Fine be that way. Pick out a movie and let me know later okay?"

"Sure thing."

"Bub bye Frankie."

"Bye Katie," he hung up, smiling.

Checking to see what time it was he realized how narrowly her mom had missed her, it was 3:20 pm. He decided to go back to his apartment and see about movies. Before he left he got a sheet of paper and wrote her a note, once finished he put it on the memo board that she had by her door with a magnet. He walked out of the door thinking his thoughts, pleasant ones.

Katie ran up the stairs, looking over her shoulder every minute or so. She had to get away, quick. How did her mom find her in the first place not important. Important: find somewhere to stay. Frank! She could stay with Frank. No too close, her mom would definitely find her there. Kailey the girl from work? No, don't know her well enough yet. That would leave…

"Gerard and Mikey," Katie said answering her own question as she entered her apartment.

While quickly dialing Gerard's cell number she ran into her room to pack clothing she would need for a few days. She was in the process of putting a pair of shorts into a duffle bag when Mikey picked up.

"Hi?"

"Hey Mikey, it's Kate."

"How many names do you go by?"

"A lot, is Gerard there?"

"Yeah, hold on," she could hear shuffling in the background and the dialog involved in the trading of the phone.

"Hello hello," Gerard answered.

"Hey Gerard, I have a really big favor to ask of you."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I kinda need to get away from my place for a few days."

"You wanna stay here?" he asked in an incredulous tone.

"Yeah if it's okay."

"It's fine..." he said slowly.

"Because I could stay with this girl from work if it's inconvenient."

"Nah, it's fine. You can crash here."

"Thank you soo much."

"No problem."

"I'll be over in a few."

"That soon eh?"

"Yeah. I'll explain when I get there."

"Okay. Bye Katie."

"Bye Gerard," she hung up.

Katie now went to raid the bathroom, putting all the essentials in her makeup case. Once she felt she had everything: clothes, toothbrush, hairbrush, makeup, shampoo ect; she walked out of the door, cautiously at first then went downstairs to deposit the things in her car, thankfully not a car that her mom would recognize. Then she was off, two blocks to the Way house.

She was standing at the door, realizing how stupid this whole idea was. She should have gone and stayed at Jazmine's. Staying at her friend's parents' house, real smooth. She rolled her eyes at herself and knocked, waited and was about to knock again when Mikey answered.

"Um hi Katie."

"Hi Mikey."

"What are you doing here?" Mikey asked confused. Katie's eyes went like saucers, but before she could respond Gerard came to the door and answered for her.

"Katie's staying with us for a few days."

"Oh," Mikey said simply.

"If that’s okay with you," Katie added.

"Yeah that’s fine," Mikey said with a smile.

"So do tell why you're running away," Gerard said.

"Okay," she said walking into the living room of the house. "My mom and step-dad came here looking for me."

"And?" Gerard asked, prompting her to continue.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that they're going to try to make me move back with them," Katie said seriously.

"Okay, lemme get this straight. So you're eighteen right?" Gerard asked.

"Nineteen." she corrected.

"Yeah, nineteen. Your parents cant force you to do anything."

"No, not if you go by legalities. But the law has never stopped them yet."

"Ah wont take no for an answer type people?"

"Yeah."

"So why here?"

"Because if I stayed with Frank they would find me, seeing he lives in the apartment below."

"Hm well. Our parents are gone for the rest of the week so its cool that you stay here."

"Thanks so much Gerard," Katie said giving him a big hug. "And you too Mikey." she said giving him an equally big hug. "So," Katie began but was cut off by her cell phone.

"Howdies."

"I've finally gotten a hold of you, brat."

"Love you too mom."

"Don't give me lip. You're coming home with us."

"No, mom, I'm not."

"But darling," she said suddenly changing her tone, "don't you miss living with us. We've missed you so much. Please?"

"Mommy dearest, I still decline."

"A visit?"

"Nope." Katie could tell her mother was ready to murder her through the phone. "Why do you suddenly care anyways?"

"I've always car-"

Katie cut her off at this point. "Sorry mom, call waiting. I'm sure you won't mind." She knew she would mind but Katie didn't care. "Aloha."

"Um Katie?" It was Frank.

"Frankie! Listen I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Bub bye."

"Bye," Katie switched lines, met with a stream of obscenities.

"Mom?"

"Kathleen!"

"Listen, I'd love to bicker with you but I'm not going to. So love you and ta-ta," With that you hung up and let out a deep sigh.

"Your mom sounds lovely," Mikey said sarcastically.

"Makes you glad you have your mom huh?" Katie said with a smile.

"Most definitely," Gerard said.

Katie was sitting between Gerard and Mikey when the doorbell rang.

"You wanna get it?" Gerard asked Mikey. Mikey shook his head no. "You suck man."

Gerard made a big to-do about answering the door. He drug his feet and acted like a cripple making faces. The whole process took about two minutes longer than it should have.

"I know your home retard!" came Frank's bellowing voice. After he yelled it Gerard opened the door.

"Is Katie here?"





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