The Love Sickness

[François Laffont]

Clearly, Erika beat to the sound of her own drum. It was the only conclusion one might go to when she ignored any advice her friends might have said, or at least one of them, and once again took that one big leap of faith and married the guy she loved. Now, Franck was a hopeless romantic at times. But marriage was too serious for him to ever want to marry the first guy that makes his head spin like crazy and feels the same about him. He was pretty sure he would marry only once and he would plan it, think it through, make sure. Not just jump because his heart was so filled with love at the moment. That being said, he had nothing but love for Erika and was more than happy for her. All he could do was to wish her a happier ending than the previous one. Something that should likely happened, as he met with Drew and sensed just how much that boy loved her. They were young, maybe too young, but Franck would not doubt their love for each other. He had never been wrapped in as much of that feeling before. This meant more than any words they could say about each other.

It made him think of his own relationship. He wouldn’t say he was swimming in a sea of love like she did. In fact, after that fight, he sort of saw it with more realistic eyes. He still loved Jasper, he just witnessed the less likeable side of him. Still, he would say it strengthened things in some ways.

From Jasper, his thought bounced to his upcoming birthday and the plan he had for the three of them. This made him smile. He had no doubt the brothers would like it. The fairground, that sounded so much like the kind of place they could spend an entire day in. And it was not just for Franck’s birthday but theirs too. He was excited at the mere thought of it, his whole demeanor showing the pleasure it was giving him already. This year was clearly going to be a lot better than the previous one. And to top it, he was nearly done with high school! There really was no way for it to get any better. Well... he could think of a few things but he was more than happy with what he had so far. As her esumed eating, he figured it must be what people meant when they said love changed someone.

TAG: Erika Conner (Bellefonte)

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

After telling her sister, Franck had been the second person to tell. With Felix off and about and Liz on tour, Franck was the closest thing Erika had to a best friend. Now, she appreciated him and everything he did for her, and she hadn't told him simply because her best friends weren't present. It felt only right to tell him. He was her friend and she'd much rather him hear it from her than rumors. Not that she thought there would be any - seeing as how few people actually knew about the arrangement.

Looking around the cafeteria, Erika's head tilted curiously when she spotted the familiar boy whom looked so pleased it was almost a little freaky. Shaking her head, Erika moved forward until she reached his table. Placing both of her hands against the surface, Erika's lips pursed.

"You're looking awfully chipper," she laughed. Pulling out a chair, Erika took a seat opposite of him. Propping her elbows against the table, she cupped her head in her hands. Her brown eyes studied the younger boy curiously, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she simply smiled; It was really nice, seeing him look so excited.

[François Laffont]

When Franck heard what Erika did, he shook his head and let out a heavy sigh of course. With that girl, it was always all or nothing it seemed. She couldn’t take things slowly. She just had to jump. That didn't mean he was not happy for her. He truly was and he talked to Drew so he knew just how much the guy loved her. In the end, he knew that anything he might say to Erika wouldn’t matter. She’d listen, because they were friends, but she would do what she wanted and not like it if he sounded like he was telling her what to do. Since he didn't want that, he was simply happy for her.

He noticed the hands on the table where there were none before. Looking up, he saw his friend and smiled at her comment. “I am. I’ve been planning a little something for my birthday. I hope Frank got the message not to do anything for it,” he answered. That is, if the girl remembered it was Franck’s birthday. He didn't reminded her precisely so she wouldn’t plan something and he’d have to tell her to cancel it because he already had something in mind.

He let her sit down before offering her another smile. “You must be floating on a cloud too, no? How is it, missus Conner? You kept your last name or you took his?” Franck asked, frowning slightly at the last question but only laughing once he asked it.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Chuckling, Erika rolled her eyes. "Knowing Frank, I wouldn't put my faith in that." After all, Frank did whatever she wanted, usually with little regards of what other people wanted. She was headstrong and evasive, and it was no wonder that so many people found the girl as exhausting as they did. After all, she was. Even Erika could only handle her in small doses. She had no idea how Franck managed to be around her as much as he usually was. With his ability, it had to be ten times worse.

Though, she supposed it was better to admire it and perhaps even congratulate him.

A light flush spread over Erika's cheeks as he mentioned the simple fact that she and Drew had gotten married not too long ago. Laughing again, she leaned forward to lean her head against the back of her hand. "Something like that," she smiled. "I don't think it has quite sunk in yet," she said honestly, shrugging. "I took his last name. Which is even harder to get used to," she admitted with a laugh.

After all, living by one name all your life - even when she'd been "married" to Everett, she'd kept her own name. Now though, now she hadn't. And it felt oh so strange.

[François Laffont]

“Yes,” Franck agreed before chuckling. He liked her, really, but the girl needed to listen sometimes. “She’ll be disappointed then because I already have the day all planned up. I’m going to the fairground with the Emory twins,” he explained with a grin on his face. This was clearly something he was looking up for. Sure, it was mostly for Jasper but Casper was also a good friend of his and really this day was for the three of them. There would still be time for him to be alone with his boyfriend later during the day. Or so he hoped. “Their birthday’s two days after mine. And they lived in an orphanage and then in a circus so I figured they didn’t have a lot of birthday parties in their youth. I really want to make it special to them. My father agreed to help me pay the tickets. And drive us,” he told her. He kept his smile on the whole time. He really thought this was a good idea. More, a great one. And he didn’t care if it was also his birthday. It was something he wanted to share with them. His other friends could still celebrate it Saturday or at another time or even just tell him happy birthday without planning anything since Franck did not mind.

He chuckled at the pink showing on her cheeks. She was happy, perhaps even more than he was right now. Well, maybe no longer more than he was for he was feeding out of her happiness. If he had to make an overdose of an emotion, he’d really want it to be of happiness. He laughed even more once she talked to him. “You’ll still be just Eri to me,” he said, swatting away the matter of her change of name. He was not exactly seeing himself calling her Mrs Conner all the time after all.

“How was it? Tell me everything. Well, you can skip the wedding night, but the rest...” he asked her, leaning forward as if they were planning some conspiracy here that no one else should hear about.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"I'm sure she'll understand once you explain it to her." And really, if she didn't, she had no right to be mad. It was Franck's day after all, and even as much as she could understand that Frank likely wanted to participate, it wasn't always about what Frank wanted. It would probably do her some good to get shot down once in a while, instead of people simply giving in in fear of being annoyed further. "That sounds like a really fun idea," Erika smiled. "But you know, if you guys need to borrow a car, you can always use mine," she shrugged. She rarely used her car anymore anyways. Not after all the time she and Drew spent together. There was little point in driving two cars then after all.

"I'm glad." Her smile widened and grew softer at the same time. She was always going to be thankful for the people around who accepted her regardless of what kind of whim she decided to go on. After all, it wasn't like she wasn't aware of her "dive head first" personality. It was only now that she'd accepted it and truly embraced it.

Chuckling, Erika leaned back in her chair as she chewed on her bottom lip. "But that's the best part," she grinned, though shook her head immediately after. "Well... I don't know what to say really," she shrugged, a ghost of a smile forming on her lips. "We were wandering down the streets of Vegas, having had a bit too much to drink, and well, we stopped by one of the newer--" She stopped, not sure what to call it. "Chapels-" she chuckled again. "And our initial plan wasn't to do anything in there. We just wanted to see the inside of it, but I guess the power of alcohol was too strong." She smiled, a hand coming up to pull a strand of her hair away.

[François Laffont]

“Oh she will,” Franck agreed, no doubt about that, his eyes even widening a bit at the thought that something might believe otherwise. There was a but however and it went “But she’s able to try make it even better for us. You know she’s able to close the whole fairground just so the three of us don’t have to wait in line to try the rides or something like that.” This sounded like something the girl could do alright. Or find some other way for them to get everything they wanted and even more. Franck knew she meant well but he didn't want to depend on her fortune like this. Maybe he won’t have enough cash to eat all the food they wanted or play all the games they wanted to play but it would be just as awesome.

He chuckled as she suggested they borrowed her car. “No, it’s ok. My father already agreed. I think he might just be curious to see who are those two guys I wanted to spend my birthday with. I did tell him because our birthdays were close and all but he’s not that naive,” he told her, a small smile as he thought of that. No, his father suspected something. He probably hoped his son was dating only one of them though and not both. Well, he should rest easy.

His happiness was not the only one worth talking about though. As if he was not happy enough on his own, he had to deal with Erika being in the mood as well and it was way too pleasant not to want to jump head first in it. He didn't care if he looked too happy in other people’s eyes or even like he may appear in love with her or anything like that. They both knew what was going on here. And really, if you had to be drunk on an emotion, wouldn’t love be the best one?

He laughed at her joke. Oh, he didn't think she would give him any details on their wedding night. It was something too personal and even if it was not, she had to know him enough by now to know it was something he didn’t want to hear about. At all. He would not stop her but try to change the subject and definitely turn red the moment sex had to be involved. And that also meant talking of his sex life. “It’s not like you were not already engaged, right?” He said once she explained how it went. Seriously though, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to do it like that. He didn’t know how seriously she took marriage but he knew he did more than that. It was not a bad critic towards her, maybe he took it too seriously since, after all, as long as you loved each other and wanted to unite your lives, wasn’t it what really mattered? “Still, you look at lot more in live then you ever did before. And I’m sure it’s the same for Drew, if such a thing is possible.”

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"There's plenty of students here capable of that," Erika simply shrugged. After all, all it really took was money or contacts, and really, it wasn't that much of a big deal. She wasn't going to argue it though. Thankfully, she wasn't the one who had to have Frank running after her constantly. She admired Franck's patience with her. She'd likely go crazy if she had to spend more time with Frank than what she had to already.

Smiling warmly, the brunette nodded. "I'm sure he'll like them." After all, from what she'd seen, the cliche story of parents disliking their children's significant others happened more so in movies than what it did in real life and really, if Franck's personality told Erika anything, it was that his father couldn't be all that bad.

"That's true," she said, smiling. No, in truth, it wasn't nearly as bad as so many made it sound. Sure, it might have been a lot sooner than what they'd thought, but at the end of the day, it was the end goal. And they did it on their own, not having either of their parents putting their inputs in. Her smile widened slightly and she tilted her head. "I don't really care about the ceremony," she began. "I mean, yeah, it could have been a lot more special, but at the end of the day, it's not about how or where you do it, but who you do it with. It was a lot sooner than what we'd planned, but at the end of the day, it was the end goal, so really," she finished with a shrug.

[François Laffont]

“And I’m friends with most of them so you understand why I better make sure it does not happen,” he said, a smile still on. He knew he was friends with many of the richest and most influent kids at school. Some might argue it was made him so popular although Franck was pretty he would have had the same reputation even if he did not befriend them. They all knew he was not with them for their money or social status. Frank was just the hardest one to convince she didn’t have to pay him everything. He knew she didn’t do that because she wanted him to appear as rich as his friends or because she thought she needed to buy her friends. It came from kindness. But it was not necessary.

He was not really afraid for his father not to like the twins. He was more afraid the twins will be their crazy selves as that was not going to go well with the man. “All I hope is that he doesn’t think I’m dating the two of them,” he admitted with a little laugh. After all, the twins were very hard to tell from one another. It was more than the fact they looked identical, they had similar personalities. Casper only planned a little more than Jasper. Franck was able to tell them apart thanks to his power but it might be a little hard for his father to understand that concept.

He didn't think there was much to say about it. He told her why he looked so happy and he believed she had a lot more to tell him than he did. She seemed not to think the same though as she kept her explanation simple. She had a point. It did not matter how the ceremony when as you as it happened with the right person. “I don’t know why I’m surprised you jumped head first and did it now though. That’s exactly what we should all have expected when you got engaged to him. Because you’re so happy, I won’t hold against you that I did not attend,” he said but the smile on showed it was just a joke, if she had not guessed it on her own already. He laughed even after what he said. “I think it’s about time we can all be happy like that, don’t you think?”