AU: first little miss sunshine fic. i was watching and i thought they could have done it better. plus frank is awesome...as is dwayne
"I don't know what to do" Sheryl said.
"Well its getting late, maybe can somebody stay with him?"
"I'll stay" said Frank.
"No. That is not happening" said Sheryl.
"Just worried about the time" Richard stated quietly. Cheryl glared.
"If we don't go now we going to miss it" he added, not looking up.
"Look, I'll stay with him. You take Olive and then Richard can come back and pick us up. I have my cell." He hoped this would work. "Do it for Olive."
Cheryl looked exasperated but could not think of a better plan. There was no way Dwayne would willingly get back into that bus.
"Fine, fine!" she said throwing her hands to the sky. "Richard can drop us off and come back."
Richard didn't look pleased but said nothing. He moved back to the driver's door and opened it. Cheryl lifted Olive back into the van and her and Frank moved around to the back.
"Ready, push!" The bus began to roll forward. Fortunately it was on a hill and they just had to get it going. Cheryl jumped into the bus and looked back to see Frank disappear from view. She felt as though stomach had tied itself into a knot.
Frank stood watching the bus drive away. Once it was on the highway again, he turned back to Dwayne who was slumped in the dirt. He really didn't know Dwayne all that well. He had seen him a lot when Cheryl was with his father but after the divorce Richard had arrived which quickly put an end to the visits.
Looking at him though, he realized just how much he cared for his nephew. Dwayne had to live with a man who was constantly berating him and was in no way a father figure. His mother tried but could not understand her son. The only one he connected to was Olive but Richard was very protective of his daughter and would never leave the two alone together. On top of that he hadn't spoken for nine months which couldn't be healthy.
Standing there looking at Dwayne, Frank realized he had absolutely no clue how to handle this situation. He slowly headed down the hillside, slipping in his loafers as he went. He stopped a metre of so back from Dwayne and sat down just in the boy's eye line. They sat for a while with the dull sound of the highway in the background both lost in their thoughts.
"I'm sorry for calling you a loser." his voice was still hoarse from yelling and crying.
Frank paused, "God, I am a loser. I couldn't even kill myself." He let out a forced laugh.
More silence.
"It dosnt matter Dwayne. Its okay." Surely there were more pressing issues then name calling.
"What am I going to do? I've said nothing for nine months, studied hard, finally got permission for flight school, all wasted." He spat out the last two words. "I don't have another plan."
"Look Dwayne, if you really want to fly, I'm sure you'll find a way. It might be more difficult but it's not necessarily the end." He pushed himself forward so he was next to him. "You have to follow your passions."
He lifted his hand but stopped mid action, debating how he would react. Dwayne felt a small smile grace his lips as his Uncle timidly touched his shoulder.
"Thanks Frank." He turned and pulled his Uncle into a semi awkward hug. "Thanks."