I got up for the day and went down to find Frank waiting in the lobby. He smiled as I stood up and I looked down.

"Hey, how are you doing today?" He asked.

"I'm good, I guess," I said with a small shrug.

My neck was still sore from the choking that Andy gave me and a solid bruise was forming on my face, not to mention the other marks all over my body. There was also the puffiness from the non-stop crying I've been doing.

"I can carry your bag for you," he offered.

"It's okay, I got it," I said.

Frank smiled softly, resting a hand on my arm.

"It's gonna be okay, Gee," he said

we walked to the school store and I grabbed my apron, sitting behind the counter as Frank left. I was thirty minutes into the shift when someone came up and set down a bouquet of roses, a stuffed bear and a box of chocolates. I looked up at Andy, my heart clutching in fear.

"Hey," he said softly. "I'm sorry about everything that happened last night. None of that was supposed to happen. I love you so much, you're my baby and I don't wanna lose you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

My lip quivered as I looked up at him.

"You were going to rape me with him," I whispered.

"No, no," he denied. "It was going to be okay and you would've seen that before those assholes interrupted. We were gonna kiss you and cherish your body. We wanted to take care of you."

"You hurt me," I said.

"You were being disrespectful," he said. "You were the one not listening and being a little bitch. If you had just behaved it wouldn't have gone that way."

I sniffled and looked down.

"You know, that hair is growing on me," he said and I looked up. "Yeah, I like it, you look good."

I smiled softly, my hand brushing over the stuffed bear's fur.

"I'm gonna pick you up tonight," he said. "We can go to one of those comedy nights you like. We can both get kind of dressed up and then afterwards we can get some ice cream."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," I said.

"Baby, I'm so sorry, let me try to make it up to you," he said.

"Okay," I said quietly.

Andy smiled and kissed my cheek before he left. I felt sick as I put the items behind the counter. When my shift ended, Frank came with a cheery smile.

"So, what's your next class?" He asked.

"Math," I said.

I took off my apron and put Andy's gifts in a bag.

"What's that?" Frank asked but it sounded like he already knew the answer. "You can't."

"He's sorry and it was my fault—"

"It wasn't," Frank interrupted. "Don't believe a single thing he says."

"You don't understand, we just have a complicated relationship," I said. "I was misbehaving."

"It's not complicated, it's abusive," he said. "What did he say?"

"He's taking me out tonight," I mumbled.

"No he isn't," he said. "Come on, we can go back to my house with Jamia and have an awesome movie night. It's a Friday night and I have this awesome movie room."

"I already told Andy and he's gonna get mad—"

"You don't have to do anything," he said. "I'll let him know that you won't be able to make it tonight."

"What if he hurts you?" I asked.

"Don't worry, he won't," Frank said. "Come on, let's go to your next class."

Frank walked me to class and I sat down. It was pretty boring but soon we were driving to his house. I stared in awe at the straight up mansion he lived at. We went in and he gave hugs to two women and a younger boy before we went down to the basement.

"Jamia will be here in a few minutes," he said.

I nodded and we went through a door to what was an entire mini movie theater with a huge screen. In the back was a popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, soda dispenser, and a crap ton of candy.

"Holy fuck," I mumbled.

Frank smiled and sat down on one of the recliners.

"So, what did you want to watch?" He asked.

"Anything is fine," I said.

"Come on, you can pick," he said.

"I guess something funny," I said.

Frank grabbed a laptop from the back table and began looking through a list of movies. Jamia came in and smiled as she gave me a hug. We sat around eating snacks and watching movies until it got late. Jamia ended up falling asleep and a movie was just ending as I wrapped my arms around myself.

"Are you cold?" Frank asked.

He went over to the basket in the corner and pulled out a large fluffy blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders.

"Thank you," I said softly.

He smiled, sitting back down next to me.

"Um, h-how did Andy take the news that I wasn't going with him tonight?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "He can deal with me."

"Aren't you scared of him?" I asked.

"He should be scared of me," he said.

I bit my lip. "Why do you have a gun?"

"My dad is a gun person," he said. "Are you not okay with me having a gun?"

"No, I'm okay," I said.

Frank smiled at me. I stared at him for a bit as the soft music of the movie credits played in the background. I watched the way the light shined off his lip ring gently.

"You're so amazing, you deserve to be treated better," he said softly.

I bit my lip as I looked down with a shrug.

"I'm serious, Gee, you're perfect," he insisted.

Frank wrapped an arm around me and I rest my head against his shoulder. I looked up and felt a twisting nervousness in my stomach. He was looking down at me and there was just so much pure kindness that I wasn't exactly sure what to do.

I pulled away and stood up.

"I should maybe go back to the dorms," I said.

"Alright, let me grab my keys," he said.

"That's okay, I can walk," I said.

"It's seven miles and it's dropped twenty degrees," he said. "Don't be silly, I'm driving you."

I didn't want to argue with him so I didn't say anything as I got into his car with him. We drove back to the dorms but Frank stopped and made a U-turn, pulling into a parking spot.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You know, you should just stay the night at my place," Frank said. "Mine and Jamia's moms love to cook, their biggest meals are breakfast and dinner. It would be a lot of fun."

"That's okay," I said.

"No, really, it'll be fun," he said. "And if you're not tired still we could stay up a little later playing video games. Or if you don't like video games we can just, like, watch YouTube videos of funny animals or something."

Frank seemed really persistent on me staying over and it was getting harder and harder to say no.

"Let me just go grab an overnight bag," I said.

"You can borrow some of my clothes and we have extra toothbrushes," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "My dorm is right here."

I looked out the back window and saw Andy and Bob camping out outside my dorm, making my stomach drop.

"I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to scare you," he said softly.

I whimpered, ducking down in my seat.

"Or, if you really don't want to stay the night at my place, I can escort you into your dorm," he said.

"But Andy knows which dorm room is mine," I said.

"He can't bother you in there, the RAs will kick him out," he said.

"I'll be way too nervous if he knows where I am after I stood him up tonight," I said. "C-can I come back to your place?"

He nodded and we drove back to where we just came from. Instead, though, we went into the mansion next door.

"That was actually Jamia's house," he said. "This one is mine. She has a lot more cool amenities because there's more kids in her house."

We went upstairs to what I assumed was his room. It was big, all the walls covered in posters and guitars. In the corner was a drum kit near the TV and couch. There was a huge king size bed with a large black safe next to it. I followed him through a door into a walk-in closet.

"What kind of pajamas do you like to wear?" He asked. "Are you a boxers kind of guy or pj set kind of guy?"

"Um, pj set," I mumbled.

Frank smiled and handed me some batman pajama pants and a white t-shirt.

"I'll show you the guest room," he said.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled and he looked at me in confusion. "I just have this weird thing. Um, at home I share a room with my brother and at school I share with my roommate. I'm just not used to sleeping in a room alone. Especially in a new place. I have bad dreams sometimes."

"No worries, you can take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch," he said. "Bathrooms through that door, you can change and there's extra toothbrushes in the linen closet."

I went into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. I folded my clothes and walked out, awkwardly standing with them. Frank smiled and took them from me, setting them onto the coffee table. He helped get me comfortable in the bed before turning off the lights and hopping onto the couch. I stared at the ceiling above me, wishing for the sleep that never actually came.

~~

What would you guys like to see happen next?