The Pain of Silence

Chapter 4

(Present Day: November 21st)

Joe sat on a bench with his girlfriend Vanessa Bender, both having some ice cream, as they took a break from shopping.

Joe was pondering what to get Frank for his birthday. It was just a week away and he had no idea what to buy. Holding his ice cream cone with one hand, he ran the fingers of his free hand through Vanessa's ash-blonde hair, lost in thought.

Vanessa's gray-blue eyes fell upon her boyfriend and she smiled. She knew he was having trouble finding Frank the perfect gift – and then an idea came to her. "Maybe you can get him something for college? A new case for his laptop perhaps? The one he has is getting beat up. He could use one."

"I like that idea." But what would make it special? Joe thought. "Maybe I can get one personalized for him?"

"That's a great idea Joe. I bet he'd love that," Vanessa said, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"What would I do without you?" He kissed her forehead.

A few minutes later, they continued to walk around the mall looking for a gift. Vanessa pointed out a store that had luggage and various style bags in a display window. "Look at that," she said, indicating a black shoulder bag which would be perfect for a laptop. "Let's go in and look!"

They walked inside and went directly over to the bag they saw in the window. Vanessa opened it to show Joe the compartments inside.

"That's a nice bag. I bet he'd like it," Joe commented. "He could even slip his text books in there."

Vanessa agreed and looked at the price tag. "I think this gift will be from the both of us," she told him.

He looked at the price. "A hundred and fifty for that bag!?" Joe had never seen a bag cost that much before.

"It's the quality of the bag, Joe. I had one like this and it lasted me a while. That was until I misplaced it," Vanessa frowned. She pulled out some money and handed it to Joe. "There's a store on the first floor where you can get it personalized."

"Okay, let's get it and get going. I'll get that taken care of and then take you home. We're still meeting up tonight with Tony and Chet at Mr. Pizza, right?" he asked.

"Of course! What time does Tony's shift end?"

"He was supposed to get out at five, but someone was going to be late, so he's covering until seven."

"That's too bad. At least he'll make some good money from the dinner rush."

They paid for Frank's gift and made their way to the lower level of the mall. "So where is this store you were talking about?" Joe asked.

Vanessa's cell phone rang, as she was about to answer, so she pointed out the direction to go in. "It's on the right," she said and answered her phone. "Hello?... okay, hold on, Mom." They stopped outside the store and Joe waited for her. "Joe, go on in. My mom needs to talk to me about something. I'll be in as soon as I'm done."

Joe took the bag in and spoke with a sales associate about what he wanted on the bag. He decided to go with Frank's initials, but wasn't sure what else should go on it.

Vanessa came in a few minutes later. "Joe, my mom wants to pick me up if that's all right with you? She wanted to run some errands and do a few things before I go out tonight."

"Sure, no problem, hon," he said as he paid for the personalization. The salesman promised the bag would be back within the next few days.

Ten minutes later Vanessa's mother, Andrea, swung by to pick her daughter up. Joe gave his girlfriend a kiss goodbye. "See you at six-thirty, beautiful," he said and she blushed.

"Joe!" She gave him one last kiss goodbye and left with her mother.

Joe grinned. He got a lot of pleasure out of making Vanessa blush. He knew she was the best thing to ever happen to him even though they had only been going together for six months.

Joe decided to make his way up to Mr. Pizza and say hello to Tony, and see how the lunch rush had been. Mr. Pizza had always been the boys' favorite hangout and place for food. Tony had become good friends with the owners; they had offered him a job last year when he turned eighteen.

A few minutes later he entered Mr. Pizza and looked for his friend. He saw Tony sitting in a booth, next to a girl, and Tony had his back turned. Joe started to make his way over to the table just as Tony stood up, grinning.

Joe noticed the happy expression. "Hi Tony!"

Tony, who had not noticed Joe, was heading towards the counter. He turned quickly. "Joe! Jeez, you know how to scare people!" Tony started walking towards his friend and ran a hand through his wavy brown hair. "You know I don't get off work until seven, right?"

Joe glanced back to see if he knew the girl Tony had been sitting with, but couldn't see her face. "Yeah, I just wanted to stop in. Vanessa and I were shopping for Frank's birthday present."

Tony walked behind the counter. "Want a drink?" he offered.

"Sure. I'll have a coke please," he answered.

Tony went over to the fountain, seemingly lost in thought. He snapped back to reality when some soda went over the edge of the glass and onto his hand. "Oops," he mumbled, cleaning up the mess, and returned with Joe's soda. "Here you go. I may have someone coming with me tonight," Tony informed him.

Joe's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Someone? As in...?"

Tony grinned. "A friend, Joe." Tony wanted to let Joe know who he had run into but didn't think it was the right time.

"Do we know this friend?" Joe pressed.

"I think you do. I gotta run out back. I'll see you later," Tony said and headed for the kitchen.

"Catch ya later." Joe stood up and left Mr. Pizza, making his way to the parking lot.

As he started to leave he recognized a familiar face he hadn't seen in a couple of years. It was Morgan Tyler, Brooke's mother. Joe watched her make her way inside the mall. He wanted to say hello, so he followed her, and discovered she was going to Mr. Pizza.

To Joe's surprise, Tony came out from behind the counter and gave Mrs. Tyler a hug. That's when he noticed the girl in the back corner stand up and walk over to Tony.

Joe recognized the long dark brown hair and soft brown eyes as she stopped next to Tony. It was Brooke.

Joe decided not to intrude. He returned to the van and drove home. He was sure Frank would want to see Brooke, since it had been two years.

He ran upstairs and knocked on his brother's bedroom door.

"Come in," Frank yelled.

Joe walked inside to find his brother on his computer. "More homework?" he asked.

Frank turned around. "Yeah. I've got a couple more hours ahead of me. Lots of reading and a writing assignment due."

"Wow, I can hardly wait for college," Joe said sarcastically and then remembered why he'd wanted to talk to Frank . "Guess who I just saw!"

"Who?" Frank asked.

"You'll never guess!" Joe paused, teasingly waiting for his brother's reaction.

"Okay, if I'll never guess, why don't you just tell me?"

"Brooke Tyler is back in town!"

"I've always wondered what happened to her. It's been a while," Frank said. "Where was she?"

"The mall. She was in Mr. Pizza with her mother. Tony was there and they were talking," Joe smirked.

Frank smiled, "I bet that made his day. Why don't we go see how she's been? When we come back, I'll finish up my paper and complete the reading after the movie tonight."

Joe agreed, "Yeah, let's go." He left the room and went downstairs. Both boys were looking forward to seeing their friend. They had a lot of catching up to do. "Wait a second, Frank."

Frank was about to get his jacket. "What?"

"Tony told me he might be having a friend come with him tonight. I'm guessing that 'friend' he mentioned is Brooke. How about you finish your homework and we'll leave early?"

"Yeah, we can do that. Let me finish my paper. Why don't you give Vanessa a call and let her know we'll swing by early to pick her up. I'll call Callie and let her know what's going on."

They called their girlfriends to inform them about the change in plans. A couple of hours later the group was on its way to the mall.