Chapter Seven
Frankie took a big bite out of his hamburger and smiled at Sly. Sly was in a growth spurt and had already finished one burger and started on his second one. His brow knit in confusion as he watched Frankie eat. Frankie always insisted on going after Sly in the lunch line and selected the identical items that Sly did. Sly had even tested him once or twice and occasionally tried to sneak an extra banana or slice of pie onto his tray, but Frankie was super careful and never missed an item. Sly looked at his companion’s tray - Frankie sure was a slow eater, always one step behind him.
"Hi guys!" Emily slapped her tray down on the lunch table with a sigh. "I better eat fast – I’m always running late. Now I only have fifteen minutes left." Emily glanced at Frankie. "Hi, Frankie, how’s it going?" Lately Emily had noticed how blue Frankie’s eyes were, and she liked his personality, the way that he seemed older than the other kids, yet somehow naïve about the basics. Frankie had a mouth full of hamburger, so he smiled and gave Emily a little salute with his hand.
Frankie’s eyes snaked directly to his left. He’d taken to staring at Maxie Jones every day at lunch. He decided that today was the day. Frankie swallowed his last bite of burger and pushed his chair back without a word. He threw down his napkin and sauntered over to Maxie’s table with an easy, on top of the world, smooth walk. Emily turned her head slightly and a small, secret smile creased her face.
Sly noticed where Emily’s attention was directed. "What are you looking at, Emily?" he questioned with a note of irritation. Emily raised one eyebrow and shrugged. "The finest tush in PC just walked away. And I shouldn’t notice?" she commented nonchalantly. Sly blushed and shook his head. "Be careful if he asks you to go to the mall," he muttered under his breath. Sly’s eyes narrowed in jealousy as he saw Frankie approach Maxie. "What’s he doing talking to her?" he asked Emily tersely. Emily gave Sly a knowing smile. "Looks like you missed your opportunity, Sly. I told you to go talk to her. But did you listen to me? No. Now you’ve got competition."
"Hello Maxie Jones," said Frankie with a low bedroom voice as he leaned casually against the lunch table and stared directly into Maxie’s pretty blue eyes. "My name’s Frankie DeMarco. Just thought I’d introduce myself to the pretty woman sitting to my left." Maxie’s hand paused midair with a potato chip as her mouth hung open slightly. I can’t believe it. That hot guy is introducing himself to me. Think! Think! What do I say now?
Maxie lay down her French fry and smiled at Frankie. "Hi Frankie. It’s nice to meet you. Do you want to sit down?" Maxie motioned to the chair next to her. Frankie stepped over the chair with a dancer’s ease and pulled it closer to Maxie. Maxie’s spine shivered deliciously with the proximity of Frankie. His thigh was only a bare inch away from hers and she swore she felt it bump hers for a second.
"So do you like to go to the mall?" Frankie asked knowingly. He raised one eyebrow jauntily for emphasis. A confused look passed over Maxie’s face. "Um, yeah, I guess so," she said uncertainly. "I like to go shopping with my mom sometines."
Frankie frowned lightly. That wasn’t the response he was looking for. Sly had only mentioned the mall in their conversation about girls the other day. Now he had no more material to use with this very pretty girl. Stall tactic. That’s it. He’d postpone their conversation until he could talk to Sly again and take notes. Frankie leaned in closer to Maxie, and the entire length of their thighs warmly met inch by inch. "Can I call you sometime?" asked Frankie respectfully. Maxie brightened. "Yeah, sure. I’d like that." She dug around her purse for a piece of paper and a pen. Frankie continued to study her face adoringly and thought, Yes! I score.
Maxie handed him a slip of paper with her name and phone number on it. Frankie folded the small piece of paper and stuck it into his pocket. Uh-oh, he thought when he noticed his reaction to her. How am I going to walk back to the table without anyone noticing? "Thanks, Maxie," he said huskily. He rose from his seat and said, "See ya around. I’ll call you this week." Impulsively, he quickly bent over and kissed her on the cheek. Frankie smiled when Maxie’s surprised eyes met his, and he returned to Sly and Emily.
By this time, Sly was simmering. He gave Frankie a dirty look when Frankie sat back down. "Going to the mall?" he asked angrily. Frankie looked up sheepishly. Sly had noticed. Sly’s glaring eyes met Frankie’s. "No," replied Frankie. "I’ll leave that activity to you."
Emily rescued the situation by changing the subject. "Okay, Sly, I need your advice," she said wearily. "Jason wants to attend my grandmother’s birthday party this week, but everyone is fighting about it. Mom says yes, but my dad and grandfather say no, never.
Frankie was always interested in organizational conflict. "Who’s dis Jason?" he asked.
Emily sighed. "Jason Morgan, used to be Quartermaine. He’s my brother. He’s in the mob with Sonny Corinthos, so he’s basically been disinherited, but my grandmother is crazy about him, so she wants him to come. Every family occasion becomes a hassle."
Oh crap! thought Frankie. Emily’s a nice girl, and I’m going to have to off her brother. Shit. His face took on a stressed, tight aspect, and he looked down at his hands, twirling his thumbs over and under each other, as he became lost in his thoughts. I don’t want to hurt Emily. What am I gonna do? Frankie looked up sadly as his eyes sought Emily’s face.
Emily stopped her rant when she noticed Frankie’s expression. His eyes were moist, and it looked like he was near tears. "Frankie, what’s wrong?" she asked softly. Frankie bent his head down. "Nothin’," he mumbled unhappily. "Excuse me," he said quickly as he scraped back his chair and bolted from the cafeteria.
"Sly, I’m worried about him," stated Emily. "He seemed upset."
Sly stuffed a huge piece of pie into his mouth. "He can take care of himself," he replied flatly.
~*~*~*~
"Hey! When are you guys going to be done here? I want to clean up the place before my nephew comes home." Luke watched the cops with irritation as they combed through his bar looking for evidence. The only reason he’d called them was because his insurance wouldn’t pay without a police report. But, his nerves were frazzled enough without a lot of incompetent flatfoots loitering about.
"What is going on in here?" Alexis’ voice called through the bar. Her face radiated concern as she gingerly stepped over to Luke, barely avoiding an encounter with congealing liquor or broken glass. She took Luke by the arm. "Honey, what happened?" She grew worried as Luke’s face fell.
"I had a visitor last night," he said tensely. Luke’s jaw muscles twitched as he clenched his teeth. "You know the circumstances of my son’s death and the man responsible for it?" Alexis nodded slowly. "The damn murderer left a calling card on the anniversary of that death," Luke declared angrily. He pulled the piece of paper from his pocket to show to her. "Frank Smith is Satan himself," said Luke as he shook his head. Luke’s eyes moistened, and he fought back his tears unsuccessfully as he turned away. "I need to protect my nephew," he said. "Sly comes first. No one is going to harm him – not if I have anything to do about it."
Alexis stroked Luke’s hair and pulled gently on the end of his beard. She smiled when Luke met her eyes. "I came here this morning to ask if you wanted to come with me and my nephew to Greece for spring break next week. How about it? You can remove Sly from the scene while you hire a crew to fix up the place and enjoy some surf, sand and Alexis for a week." Alexis’s eyes twinkled as she leaned up to Luke and kissed him lightly on the lips. Luke’s eyebrows raised. "Are you saying that you want to make this official, darlin’? Because if Nikolas knows, then pretty much the whole world knows."
"I want to spend some time with the man I love," said Alexis, her broad smile revealing her cute dimples. Alexis’ warm brown eyes met Luke’s curious blue ones. "If that means that other people know, then okay. I don’t care if the family – either family - approves or disapproves. All that matters to me is that you and Sly are happy and safe. So how about it?"
"Darlin,’ I thought you’d never ask," Luke replied with dancing eyes. He took Alexis’ hand and twirled her around on the wooden floor, pausing only to dip her low and then pull her up close and tight. Luke kissed Alexis, and the two remained in a passionate lock for at least a minute.
"Ahem." A young cop with white gloves and a baggie interrupted the lovebirds. Luke turned his head to glare death rays at the man who interrupted his kiss. "What?" he asked with irritation.
"I need to know if you cut yourself on the broken door glass sir," the cop replied.
"No," stated Luke. "All I had to do was push the door open to enter. The glass was already broken and had the blood on it."
"We’ll take a sample of the blood, then. It may identify the criminal."
"Sure, sure, whatever," Luke stated as he waved the cop away.
"Let’s talk some more about this great island getaway you have planned," Luke said excitedly as he and Alexis walked hand in hand toward the stairs to his apartment. "I might need to practice some things before we go."
~*~*~*~
"What?" Luke answered the phone loudly. He sat up in bed in his boxers, patting away Alexis’ snaking hand crawling its way up his back.
Ruby spoke with a no-nonsense tone of voice. "Luke, would you stop by Kelly’s on your way over to Bobbie’s? You are picking up Sylvester tonight aren’t you?"
"Yes, Ruby, I’m picking up Sly tonight. There was some vandalism at the club, and I wanted to start cleaning it up before bringing him home with me." Luke rolled his eyes and ran his hand over his mussed hair.
"Luke," said Ruby with a worried catch to her voice. "There’s something that’s been bothering me. I need to talk to you about it."
"Okay," agreed Luke. "Be there in twenty." Luke hung up the phone and rolled over to lie beside Alexis. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his heart. "Babe, you’re the best," he whispered in her ear as he stroked her soft, brown hair.
~*~*~*~
Frankie opened his combination lock with ease and glanced over at Sly. He threw all but his astronomy book into a heap in the bottom of his locker and slammed the door shut. "So are you mad at me?" asked Frankie.
Sly slammed his locker shut with a bit more force than Frankie had. "What do you think?" he retorted.
"I think – yes?" replied Frankie. "Why don’t I give you a ride home. We can talk about it."
Sly thought about Bertha the bus driver and the extremely long ride home. "Okay," he agreed reluctantly.
As Sly and Frankie walked outside, Sly asked, "What’s up with your hand?" as he pointed toward Frankie. Frankie looked down and saw that his cuts from two nights ago had opened up again and slowly leaked blood that smeared onto his book. "It’s just a cut," he shrugged. "It’s nothing." Sly frowned. "You’d better have someone look at that. You might need stitches." Frankie said, "Whatever," in a bored tone of voice.
"We gotta drop off Sly at his aunt’s," mentioned Frankie as he slid into the passenger seat of the white Cadillac."
Johnny brightened. "Maybe Ms. Spencer will be home."
"Her name’s Bobbie," stated Sly with a sigh.
"Right," replied Johnny with a deep dimpled smile.
Frankie leaned over the passenger seat and looked at Sly. "So why you pissed off?" he asked.
Sly set his face and looked out the window. What could he say to Frankie without admitting that he was hopeless in the romance department and conceding defeat to him? "I was going to ask Maxie for her phone number. You cut in on me and beat me to it." He slumped down in the seat and crossed his arms defensively.
"You kept it a big secret," laughed Frankie. "How am I supposed to know you got the hots for the girl? I been talkin’ about her since I arrived in town, and you never said nothin.’"
"Maybe some of us aren’t as quick on the draw," retorted Sly as his face turned red. "We like to take things slow and easy."
"So you think I’m muscling in on your territory," said Frankie sagely, nodding his head. "I don’t like it when people cross me neither." Frankie pulled on his lip as he thought. "Do you want her after I’m done?" he asked sincerely.
"God!" yelled Sly. "What rock did you crawl out from under? You talk about her like she’s a piece of meat. I care about her. I think I’m in love with her. And you, you just want to go to the mall," he said sneering with the last few words. The hot tears sprung up in Sly’s eyes, and he was powerless to stop them. This happened every time when he got really mad, and it made him feel like a fool.
"Well, I don’t know how to talk to her," yelled Frankie back. "What am I supposed to say. I only been with women. You know, the ones that get paid. I don’t know how to talk to no girl." His lower lip trembled with emotion as he dug into his pocket for Maxie’s phone number. "Here," he said, thrusting it at Sly. "You can have her number. You know how to talk."
Sly looked at Frankie’s hand and turned his head away. "I can get my own phone number," he said in refusal.
"Maybe we can help each other out," suggested Frankie, the desperation tingeing his voice with an edgy, brittle sound. "You teach me how to converse with a girl, and I’ll tell you what to do to show her a good time." Frankie raised his eyebrows hopefully as his blue eyes met Sly’s green ones. Frankie held out his hand.
Sly looked down at Frankie’s hand as he considered his words. True, there were certain mysteries and questions involving the female of the species, that well, he had no one to ask to find out. There’s no way he’d talk to Uncle Luke about these delicate matters, and Sly had no big brothers or cousins. And it’s true. Frankie was clueless about girls’ emotions, but not about their anatomy. Sly looked up and took Frankie’s hand, gripping it tightly and shaking it firmly. "Deal," he stated. "And may the best man win." Frankie nodded. Sly pointed his finger. "And don’t automatically assume that it’s you."
Johnny remained silent and unobtrusive as he drove the car. He reflected on how eternally grateful he was to be a thirty-nine year old man.
~*~*~*~
Luke plopped onto a stool in front of Kelly’s counter and sighed. "Okay, Aunt Ruby. What’ up? And can I have a cup of coffee while we talk?"
Ruby nodded and poured Luke a cup, sliding it over to his waiting hand. Ruby set the coffeepot down and leaned on the counter, looking Luke in the eyes. "Luke, do you have an illegitimate kid walking around that I don’t know about?"
Luke sputtered, spraying his coffee onto the countertop. Ruby didn’t miss a beat as she wiped up the mess. "Spill it, Luke," she said firmly.
Luke wrapped his hands around his cup as a small smile twitched on his face. "Why are you so interested in my past sex life, dear auntie?"
"Because there’s some kid walking around here that I’d swear on a stack of Bibles is a Luke Junior," she stated decisively.
Luke’s face fell and colored with negative emotion. "Do you know what you just said?" he asked quietly. "There’s only one Luke junior and he’s dead. Remember? Why bring this up? Do you want to hurt me? Because you’re sure doin’ a good job of it."
The doorbell rang, and Ruby’s eyes left Luke’s to look at the person entering. Luke saw the look in her eyes and followed her gaze.
Frankie strolled into the diner, whistling and swinging his astronomy book. He walked up to the counter and plopped into a seat two down from Luke. "Hi Ruby!" he said happily. "Frankie," replied Ruby with a smile. "What’s got you so happy?" Frankie squirmed in his seat and dug into his pocket, producing the small piece of paper with Maxie’s phone number. "This," he said, offering it to her. He beamed while she read the name and number. "Sly is going to teach me how to talk – to a girl that is." He accepted the paper back from Ruby. "You’re a regular Casanova," teased Ruby as she gave Luke a pointed look. "Are you hungry?" she asked. "I’m always hungry," replied Frankie. "I have some cookies in the back – do you want a couple?" offered Ruby. "Sure thing," said Frankie. Frankie opened his book while Ruby was in the back. He laughed and slapped the counter beside him as he bounced in his seat. "I love astronomy!" he declared to no one in particular. Frankie looked down at his fingers and noticed that they’d started bleeding again. He reached for a napkin, and held it over the cuts. Luke’s eyes narrowed as he saw Frankie’s bleeding hand.
"That’s a nasty cut on your hand," observed Luke.
Frankie jumped in his seat at the sound of Luke’s voice. His face fell when he recognized Luke.
"How’d you cut your hand?" asked Luke casually.
"Metal shop," said Frankie gruffly, comfortable with an immediate lie.
"So you live here at Kelly’s diner," Luke continued. "My Aunt Ruby seems taken with you."
Ohmigod, thought Frankie. He’s Sly’s uncle, the uncle Sly lives with. And Bobbie’s his sister. Oh man. Things are getting complicated. Frankie nodded. "Ruby’s nice," he said softly. His eyes met Luke’s, and the two stared at each other for a minute. Frankie became nervous and looked away, thumbing through the pages of his book. "So that’s your pink Caddy outside," mumbled Frankie as he sneaked a sideways glance at Luke. "I like dem big cars."
Luke chortled. "You just don’t like anyone touching yours, right?"
Frankie shrugged. "No. Guess not," he admitted. "Um, sorry ‘bout the other day." He pressed the napkin into his cut even harder.
Luke nodded wordlessly and kept looking at Frankie. He’s a brat, but at least he’s not terminal, he thought. I can see why Ruby likes him. He’s a cute kid, nice personality, lots of salt and vinegar.
Ruby came back and handed Frankie three large cookies and a can of Coke. Frankie’s face lit up as he accepted the cookies. "Thanks," he said. "I’m gonna go up to my room and study. Bye." Frankie looked over to Luke again, their blue eyes meeting and holding one another’s gaze. He hopped off of the stool and ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time.
When Frankie was out of sight, Luke said loudly. "No. No, Ruby."
"Luke, he’s the spitting image of you at age fifteen," insisted Ruby.
"Ruby, fifteen years ago, I was married to Laura and we had a baby son. I was faithful. No offside romances. Sorry, it doesn’t fit. He’s not my kid."
Frankie’s brow flickered with confusion as he stood on the landing to the stairs and spied on Luke and Ruby’s conversation.
~*~*~*~
On his way out the door, a white napkin with a smear of blood on it caught in Luke’s peripheral vision. He bent over and picked it up, pausing to place it in his pocket as he looked up the stairs that led to the sleeping rooms above Kelly’s Diner.
~*~*~*~
7:30PM
The Port Charles Grill was hopping tonight - seventy-five tables and all were full of satisfied customers. Black suited waiters with jaunty bow ties carried trays back and forth with assembly line precision. No sooner had a customer drained a water glass, then it was refilled. When the fork hit the side of the plate, hands appeared to whisk the empty plate away from the table. The place rumbled with a low roar of multiple conversations. Every once in awhile a sharp laugh rang out from a table as a marriage proposal was accepted or an especially beautiful gift was unwrapped.
Sorel sat near a window overlooking the broad expanse of downtown Port Charles. It was a beautiful scene with the evening’s lights dancing across the gently swaying waves of the Port Charles River. A horse drawn carriage waited below for romantic couples desiring a private ride around old town Port Charles, and a lady stationed on a corner sold red roses singly or by the dozen.
Sorel was a voracious eater – more interested in quantity rather than quality. He tucked his white cloth napkin into his collar as a makeshift bib as he hurriedly slurped down twenty shrimp for an appetizer, leaving red splotches of cocktail sauce trailing over its elegant linen surface. He rubbed his knife and fork together and gave the room a broad smile as he proceeded to attack his medium rare top sirloin steak. So busy was he inhaling the tasty meat, that he didn’t notice a rather suspicious man approaching his table, nor did he hear the drop of conversation throughout the room as people stopped talking to gawk at the man in a black zoot suit, black fedora hat and odd black bandana tied around his face.
The approaching man’s arm raised with a sure, swift motion, and several people began shrieking and ducking under their tables as he produced an Uzi. Too late, Sorel alerted to the cries surrounding him. His mouth full of steak, his hand poised in the air with a hunk of steak impaled and dripping juices onto his plate, his eyes widened in fear to nearly twice their normal size. He never had a chance to swallow. The gaunt man pulled the trigger of his fierce automatic gun, spraying only the width of Sorel’s table with a pepper of bullets – 350 in all was the later count.
The glass beside Sorel shattered into hundreds of pieces, matching the violence perpetrated on the man sitting next to it. Sorel quickly slumped forward onto his table, his face smeared with blood and steak. One finger on his right hand twitched convulsively as the life quickly drained out of him. His bib-napkin grew bright red, and his eyes froze in their startled position.
~*~*~*~
8:00PM
"It’s done," confirmed Frankie. "Sorel’s history. And in front of a full house." Frankie paused, then laughed. "No pedestrians were hurt. Gregory gets a bonus!"
"Very good work," complimented Frank. "I look forward to reading the newspapers tomorrow morning. Are you developing a plan for Corinthos?"
Frankie shifted on the bed, a bit uncomfortable after his conversation with Emily earlier in the day. "We work around Corinthos for now," he stated. "While he’s distracted, we move in."
"I’ll want a full report and detailed plan when you return home next week," commented Frank.
Frankie stuttered. "I…I thought I was stayin’ here until the job was done," he protested.
"What’s the matter, Frankie? Afraid of slot machine patrol?" asked Frank in a nasty tone of voice. "We have business to discuss. The number two man must make his presence known to the rest of the organization. It won’t do to be away too long. You can’t show any weakness before the men."
"Yes," agreed Frankie. "I’ll be home next week then."
Frankie hung up the phone and reflected that he should be feeling very happy. Why was he so nervous and sad all of a sudden?
~*~*~*~
"Sylvester!" Luke called out into Bobbie’s living room as he entered her house. "Where’s my favorite nephew?"
Sly bounded out of his bedroom and smiled broadly at the sight of Luke. "Hi!" he said happily. "Are we going back home?"
"We’re going to stay in a hotel tonight, Sly," stated Luke. "I had a little vandalism at the club the other night, and I want to stay out of the way of the cleaning crew," he commented. And Frank Smith.
Sly’s face fell and grew concerned. "What happened?" he asked worriedly. Sly’s mind immediately went back to his dreams of finding Luke lying in a pool of his own blood, dead.
Luke dismissed his concerns with a nonchalant look and a wave of his hand. "Oh, it’s just some neighborhood kids – probably had one beer too many. We’ll take care of it."
Sly’s thoughts went back to the fishing rod that he had in his bedroom. His face lit up expectantly. "I have something for you!" he exclaimed. "Wait right here and close your eyes until I tell you to open them."
Luke chuckled and closed his eyes. "Okay," he said with resignation.
Sly came back into the living room carrying a large, very oddly shaped object encircled by yards of green wrapping paper, seemingly held together by what must have been one entire roll of tape. He set the package in front of Luke and took Luke’s right hand, placing it around the gift. "Okay, open your eyes," he said excitedly.
Luke opened his eyes and laughed loudly as he looked from the package to Sly and back again. "What’s this?" he asked curiously. "It’s not my birthday."
Sly grew shy and looked down at the floor. "No special occasion," he said quietly. "I bought this for you to…to tell you I love you, and I’m glad you’re my uncle."
Luke’s face softened, and he smiled. "Can I open it?" he asked. Sly nodded.
Luke ripped at the paper and exclaimed, "Oh man. Oh boy!" He pulled the fishing rod from the paper and bugged his eyes as he recognized the exact brand. "Wow, Sly. That’s some gift. How did you know I was lusting after this beauty?" Sly shrugged. "I just noticed."
"Come here, boy," said Luke happily. He wrapped his arms around Sly, giving him a big hug and placing a kiss on top of his hair. "You are so special to me, Sly. I love you. I’m so proud of you. Thank you for being the best nephew in the whole world." Luke hugged Sly again, and Sly sank into his embrace as his heart filled with warmth and happiness.