As he browsed through the copious amounts of different paintbrushes, he spotted a familiar face. He's seen this boy in the art supply store five times in one week already. It was now Friday and each day at the same time he saw this exact boy just looking at the boxes of paints and the jars of glitter, transfixed by the colours, it seemed. Although he was familiar with just about anyone in the art store, he couldn't seem to go up to the innocent boy and introduce himself. Every day they watched each other's movements as the boy stood staring at the jars and he himself spent a longer amount of time than usual purchasing his supplies.
The boy in the corner caught himself stealing glances at the other boy as he sat studying how the light reflected off the many different colours of glitter. He loved the dancing rainbows but he had no money to pay for a jar. As soon as the other boy had paid, he stood up and followed him out the door. Maybe today he'd have the courage to talk to the tall, mysterious looking boy he'd been practically stalking for a few weeks.
Gerard noticed the small – he didn't mean to say it, but – child stand up as he left the counter and headed for the exit. The kid couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen at most, but none the less, he intrigued him. The way he was utterly perplexed by the beauty of the colours in the art store, the way he silently sat there and observed the customers, he found endearing, though a little strange. He was surprised, when the boy stood up and followed him. If the boy was interested in him or that he suddenly realised he had to go home, he did not know, but he looked like he had something to say to him. Not sure of what to do, he slowly shuffled around the corner of the shop, the boy still following him.
Frank followed the boy with the dark hair around the corner and decided he had better say something or this obviously older young man would incite a restraining order. He had never been one for confrontations and he even had trouble with conversing normally with his parents. Friends he never had, because his peers thought him odd and different. Never had he possessed any social skills or any desire to possess such in his eyes unnecessary talents. He felt he was better off alone. School was optional in his opinion, only occasionally attending it was, he deemed, more than needed.
Before they turned the corner Frank quickly tapped the tall boy's shoulder and almost instantly regretted it. What if the young man thought he was bothering him? What if he didn't want to talk to Frank? What if he was a tough guy and would beat him up? He was practically whimpering when the older boy turned around to face him. Struggling to find words, Frank stuttered but couldn't form a complete sentence. Feeling like an idiot just standing there looking at his worn out sneakers, he wiggled his toe through the hole in the nose of the shoe. He heard a faint giggle from above him and realised the tall boy was still stood there.
Gerard wondered what was going through the kid's mind as he watched him shuffle around and pick his fingernails. He looked down as well and observed the boy's shoes, or what was left of them. He could vaguely make out the kid's toes wiggling about and noticed one of them was poking out the end. It was a sad sight to see but he couldn't help but giggle. He turned red as a strawberry immediately, not wanting the kid to think he was making fun of him. For a fleeting moment he wondered if the boy before him had anything to say to him, until he finally spoke.
"Uh" he managed to say, already kicking himself. "Hi. Are you, I mean, do you, uh, do you like art?" Swearing inwardly he tried with every fibre of his being to stay rooted to the spot and not run away, like he usually would have done. "I, uh, saw you in the, uh, shop." Very eloquently put, Frank, he complimented himself sarcastically.
Gerard was speechless, for he had not expected this boy to bring up the subject. He had pictured a scenario more in the direction of you-dropped-your-wallet but the way the boy stood there and studied the pavement made Gerard's brain go fuzzy. Trying to formulate a response was proving hard, which was usually not a problem for him. He was known to be mouthy and he always had the last word in whichever kind of argument he got in.
"Yeah. Do you? I mean, I saw you with the glitter and stuff," Gerard responded, hoping that the kid in front of him had heard him so he would not have to repeat it. The kid looked at his shoes as if he'd not heard a word. Gerard just watched as the kid's hair fell into his eyes and hoped he would be the next to speak.
"Do you paint or draw?" He enquired, with genuine interest it seemed to Frank. Although Frank loved art and had often tried to create, he could never project the images in his mind onto a piece of paper. He had given up, just like he gave up with every hobby he attempted. He considered himself a failure at everything he tried, so he gave up trying.
"No, I, uh, just like colours and the pretty rainbows with the glitter," he said, too fast and barely audible, hoping that the tall boy wouldn't think he was mentally deficient.
"Oh," Gerard answered, unsure of how to react. For a few minutes they stood on the corner of the street. The small boy's fragile looking posture was trembling, his mouth open, trying to utter a syllable. Gerard patiently waited, understanding the kid's mindset for he, too, used to have trouble talking to strangers, though he did not understand yet the reason the boy had started talking to him.
"I have to go home. It, uh, was nice," Frank muttered honestly, hoping the taller boy would say something. By now, he'd forgotten the reason he wanted to talk to him. His eyes traced the words written on the other boy's sweatshirt without reading them.
"What's your name?" Gerard asked him before he walked away, not wanting him to leave yet. Though the lack of charisma displayed by both of them made the conversation more than usually awkward, Gerard still appreciated the boy's gesture to enquire about his art and made him want to know more about this mysterious kid who had followed him out the store.
"Frankie," he squeaked before rushing around the corner out of Gerard's sight, leaving him with his thoughts about how much Frankie had done that day to help him. Today, he decided, he wouldn't give up. Today, he would create.
Meeting Frankie had woken something up inside him and gave him new inspiration which he'd been lacking for almost seven months.