Unexpected (MxM)

Chapter Eight- Best Day Ever

Chapter Eight-

Frankie

“Swear you’ll cover for me?” I confirm with Will as I open his window. I locked my door so it wouldn’t be hard to just pretend that I was lying in there asleep. Will is the only person who lives here that knows where I’ll be.

“I swear. Just tap on the window when you get back. Be careful, Frankie. I know that kid isn’t as bad as he seems, but he gets into a lot of trouble.” Will reaches out to ruffle my hair, making me pull back.

“I’ll be fine. I’m not a baby anymore.”

“I know, Frankie. You say that like every day.” He groans before showing me where to put my foot to find the first step. “But if anyone ever hurts you, it’s my duty as your big brother to beat the crap out of them.”

I smile softly and climb out of his window, moving down a couple of steps. “Thank you, Will.”

“No problem.”

He shuts his window as I climb down the ladder, my feet finally touching the ground. I peek in the window to make sure nobody is in the living room before walking past it and starting to run down the road. The further I get, the more I laugh. My heart is racing in my chest, but I like the feeling I get from it.

I pause for a moment to catch my breath before laughing again. I just snuck out. I smile when I get to the corner of the road, seeing Moth there.

“Hey, Barbie.” He greets as always.

I smirk. Some of the football guys have called me that as an insult before, but I know he means it endearingly. I also know that he’s nothing like any doll I’ve ever seen, but if I’m Barbie then we both know who he is. “Hey, Ken.”

“I thought you got caught when you weren’t answering my texts.”

“Oh damn. I think I left my phone in my room.” I mumble, hesitating when he hands me my helmet.

“It’s fine. Will knows you’re with me and he has my number. He’ll text me if something is wrong.”

I nod in agreement, hooking the helmet beneath my chin. I climb on behind Moth and wrap my arms around him tightly as he drives. The wind feels so cold against my face, but Moth’s body heat helps keep me warm.

I’ve grown to enjoy the danger of his motorcycle. Of course, I’m scared of getting hurt. Statistics aren’t on our side, but I’m tired of always being so scared of everything.

I’m scared of bullies, failure, and pain. I’m scared of getting in trouble or disappointing people. I’m scared of spiders, birds of prey, earthquakes, caves, getting sick, and just about everything else in the book. One thing I’m not scared of anymore is motorcycles.

I’m working on it. I’ve been trying to get out of my shell. I used to be scared of anything new. It was so paralyzing that it was hard for me to even start a new book once I finished one. I started rereading everything I’d already read just because I was scared of starting a new one and not liking it.

I don’t like being that way. I don’t like holding back and limiting myself so much just because of fear. I want to enjoy what’s in front of me. Moth shows me how to do that. He shows me how to live in the moment and appreciate everything life gives us. He makes me love the idea of change and growth.

I laugh softly when he hits a small bump and tilt my head up to feel the air rushing across my face. I open my eyes and look up, seeing the streetlights and skyscrapers lighting up like stars. I hold my breath, staring at all of the lights. I never realized how beautiful this city is. I guess that’s the difference between looking down at the concrete and looking up at the sky.

“Wow.”

“Right? It’s almost as beautiful as you.”

I blush, knowing he can’t see it. I take one hand off of him and put it in the air, feeling the force of the wind trying to push it back. I laugh more, holding him tightly when he hits another bump.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yeah,” I respond, letting out a soft whine when he pulls into the lot for the bar. It’s small, but it seems pretty packed. We get off and I notice Moth taking a few deep breaths. I know he gets nervous about playing in front of people, but I don’t want him to worry too much. “Hey. You got this. Me and everyone who’s ever watched you play your music knows that this is what you’re meant to do, okay? Stop worrying so much.”

He kisses my cheek and takes my hand to lead me inside. The rest of the band is already setting up, so he goes to join them. I see Cory sitting at the bar, so I join him not ordering anything when the bartender asks. I don’t even have an ID, let alone a fake one.

Alcohol isn’t even good. Maybe that’s why I was so offended when Sawyer implied that I’d try to get some. He should know me better than that. He’s even let me drink a sip here and there and it always makes me cringe. The burn makes my eyes water.

“Is he excited to sing for everyone?” Cory mumbles, sparing me a glance before looking back at the stage as they all set up.

“Yeah, he is. I know he’ll do great. Do you know what happened with Laila? I still feel kinda bad for mentioning that whole thing.”

I didn’t know that asking her about being a Dupree would make her switch alters. I didn’t know that the new one wouldn’t know their songs either.

“Cas said that after they started rehearsing Sam switched back to Laila so it’s not a big deal. They’re prepared and they’re good. Everyone will love them.”

I smile and quiet down then they begin. Gwen introduces the band and they even set up a little booth with shirts and links to their music.

I listen for a while, blushing and smiling when Moth looks at me. Throughout the performance, he blew me a few kisses and got me a little attention from the audience, though most of them seemed more interested in the band than our relationship. They seemed very interested actually. Corduroy even had to get up to help people buy some shirts and tell them how to download their music.

“You know that kid?” Someone asks, making me turn my head. He looks pretty old to be interested in a high school rock band, but I nod anyway.

“Yeah, he’s my boyfriend.”

“He’s a good singer. I’ve got somewhere else to be, but can you give him my card?”

I accept the business card and my eyes widen when I see that he’s a music producer. That would be a huge jump from recording in his basement. “Uh, yeah! You’re interested in the band?”

He laughs. “Oh no. Absolutely not. Just him.”

“He plays guitar. He plays acoustic too.” I want him to like Moth. This would be a total dream come true for him and I know he’d figure something out and take the band with him.

“Yeah, I can see. He’s not very good at it though.”

I frown and glance back at the stage. He looks so happy. He loves this band like it’s his child and he loves playing his guitar just as much as he loves singing. There’s no way he’d go for something like this. There’s no way he’d sit in a studio singing songs someone else wrote. He’s always talking about how much he hates sellouts and how music goes to s**t when people start making it for an audience instead of themselves.

I go to return the card to the man but sigh when I notice he’s already left. I tuck the card into my pocket and return to watching them on stage. I love watching them play. It’s like the passion for what they’re doing radiates off of them every time they pick up their instruments and play together.

Caspian aggressively smashes the drums when he plays. He’s really good, but his cymbals are always cracked or broken from how hard he hits them. Corduroy said it’s how he takes his anger out. I don’t know much about their pasts, but from what I gather, he’s got a lot of reasons to be angry at the world.

Jonis skillfully strums the bass. He always gets a stool to sit on instead of standing. I’ve heard people comment on it being lazy, but I know how hard he works at it. Jonis always comes early to practice so he can get it perfect. He always looks like he’s surprising himself when he plays. Sometimes his eyebrows shoot up like he’s baffled that he’s that good.

Gwen and Laila both dance along with the music, swaying their bodies to the beat. Honestly, I’m glad Laila is loosening up. After watching her practice long enough, I started realizing that she’s a classical pianist. she always has the perfect posture and finger placement. Caspian has been trying to show her how to be more loose and carefree while playing. Gwen sings backup into the microphone only pulling away every once in a while.

Moth jumps around, using a pick to pluck the strings on his guitar while leaning in to sing into the mic. I can’t imagine someone seeing something like that and wanting to tear it apart. It’s his right to know though. That’s not my decision to make, so I’ll tell him once they finish.

The show goes on for a while, and I know now that Gwen loves singing just as much as Moth does. She only did two songs, but it was clear on her face that she enjoyed it. It’s sweet that she lets part of her dream take a back seat to do what’s best for the band. People like Moth’s singing more, so I’m sure that’s why he’s the lead instead of her.

Once they finish, Moth comes over to me while the rest of the band packs all of the instruments into Jonis’s truck. I open my mouth to tell him about the card I got, but before I can speak, he puts a finger over my lips.

“As fun as that was, it wasn’t all I wanted to do for you tonight. We’ll only be out a little longer but there’s somewhere I want to take you.”

I smile and laugh softly, standing up to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him gently before pulling away. Maybe I should save it for the end of the night. I don’t want it to ruin his mood. “Where are we going?”

He takes my hand and leads me out of the bar to start walking down the road. “It’s a secret.”

We talk while we walk down the road, and I can tell he’s going slow so I can take everything in. I never realized I lived in such a gorgeous city. Between the lack of greenery and the air pollution, I never even thought to look for anything good in it. Even the street performers and graffiti are amazing in an artistic way.

After strolling for a while longer, we walk into another bar. The sign said closed, but the door wasn’t locked and the lights were on. There are chairs stacked on tables and a couple of stools but there’s a big open space that he leads me to.

Moth drops my hand to reach behind the bar and turn on the music. I perk up when I hear it. He hates listening to Taylor Swift, so it’s a bit shocking that he’d pick it. Granted, I have told him a million times that ‘Paper Rings’ reminds me of us.

“May I have this dance, Frankie?” He asks politely, reaching his hand out.

“I don’t know how to dance.”

Moth smirks slightly. Not in a mischievous way. He’s just amused. “Just follow my lead.”

I give him my hand and try to dance to the upbeat song, following the way his feet tap against the ground and his body twists. He yanks me against him and rocks us back and forth, making me laugh softly.

“I thought you hated pop music.”

“You don’t. I want to enjoy some of your hobbies with you. I might even learn how to read.” I gently smack his shoulder, rolling my eyes at his joke.

He puts his arms around my waist and spins us around. At this point, I’ve been smiling so much my face hurts. He takes my hand and twirls me around a few times before pulling me close when the song slows down, softly whispering the words.

“I like shiny things but I’d marry you with paper rings. That’s right, you’re the one I want.”

I feel my stomach doing cartwheels. He learned a song he hates just because he thought it would make me happy.

“You learned the song?”

Moth just smiles in response, putting one arm around my waist and the other in my hair. He leans in and presses his lips against mine again, stealing the breath from my lungs. I kiss him back, holding him tighter as his hand trails down. I assumed he’d grab my ass, but when he grips my thigh and tilts me backward to dip me toward the floor, I start to laugh against his lips.

“You’re so stupid.” I giggle as he holds me there. I’m usually pretty clumsy so it’s shocking that he didn’t drop me. He looks down at me and pecks my lips again before standing me back up.

“Whoever said chivalry is dead, is stupid.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve said that.”

“Then I guess you’re right.” He smiles before turning the music off. “I don’t care if chivalry is dead, you still deserve to be courted like the girl at the ball that everyone wants.”

I put one arm around him and use my free hand to reach up to tuck my hair behind my ear. He’s so sweet and romantic. I hate that my family can’t get past his looks long enough to see that. I’m glad Will and Noel are warming up to me being with him. We should probably check in to see if Sawyer is suspicious of anything yet.

“Can you check in with Will? I’m surprised he hasn’t called yet.” I admit.

Moth pats his pockets before finding the one his phone is in. He pulls it out and taps on the screen a few times, frowning when it stays black. “It’s dead.”

I sigh and start pulling him out of the bar to walk back toward where he parked. “That’s fine. We should head back anyway. I’m getting pretty tired.”

“Aww. Is it past your bedtime, Barbie?” He comments, making me nudge him with a little glare.

“Shut up.”

Once we get to his motorcycle, we put our helmets on and start driving towards the house. I hold onto him tightly and kiss his shoulder, unable to keep a smile off of my face. “I think this was the best day ever.”

“Good.”