Page 11 of Finding Frankenstein a Date

“We do. The big lug and I have been roommates forever.” Drac emphasized the word roommates, which Franky thought was rude. They’d already established he was undatable, right?

“And Bob’s a fairly new addition,” Drac added. “We needed someone who knew about wi-fi and streaming and all that.”

“Right.” Vince nodded politely.

Bob returned with two steaming cups, presumably of cider, and put it on the coffee table in front of the couch for them.

“There you go. I’ve got a hot date with a scary movie. If you need me, I’ll be in my room.” Bob waved and headed upstairs.

“Yes, and I’ve got a hot date.” Drac winked.

“You don’t have to go,” Franky told him, knowing damn well Drac didn’t go out until much closer to midnight.

Drac just laughed and headed out, leaving him and Vince alone.

“I’m sorry, they’re not usually so rude.”

“Actually, I think they were being very polite,” Vince countered.

“They were?” Now Franky was very confused.

Vince shook his head. “I came to see you, Franky.”

“That’s what you said, you just haven’t said why.”

“I guess subtle doesn’t work with you, eh?”

His confusion was not lessening. “Subtle?”

“Yeah.” Vince bumped their shoulders. “I like you.”

“I like you too, you’re very nice.”

“I like like you, Franky. You know?”

“You like like me?” Franky frowned. Then it hit him, what Vince meant. “Oh!” He smiled. “I like like you too, Vince.”

“Oh, thank god. I wasn’t sure if you just didn’t get it or if you were trying to be kind because you didn’t feel the same way.”

Franky laughed. “I’m not good at subtle, remember? If I didn’t like like you, I would have just said so. If I’d realized that’s why you were here…”

“Can we sit?” Vince asked.

“Yes.” That was a good start. And they had hot cider. He sat on the couch and Vince sat next to him—close even that Franky had left plenty of room on the other side of the couch. He smiled at Vince, and Vince smiled back.

“I had been hoping you’d come back to the diner,” Vince told him. “You said you were going to.”

“I do plan to, but we were busy decorating and preparing for tonight. We take Halloween very seriously.” At least he did. He had a feeling if he didn’t make sure everything got done, Drac and Bob wouldn’t bother.

“Yeah, I saw that. The place looks very spooky—I almost didn’t come up the walk.”

“Really?”

Vince chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, so I wouldn’t have let it stop me, but you have created the perfect creepy Halloween ambiance.”

“Thank you!” Franky beamed at him.

“Anyway,” Vince said after a few moments of silence. “As you hadn’t come in to the diner, I figured I’d come to you. I hope you don’t mind—I knew Bob’s full name from the credit card, so I googled him and found this address. I was hoping he’d be able to let me know how to get in contact with you so I was pretty pleased when you answered the door.”