Page 82 of Summer Breakdown
Frankie smiles again. “I trust you too.”
Frankie’s probably going to kiss her tonight. Well, if Jasmine looks like she wants her to. If her eyes are on her lips for more than twenty seconds the entire time. If she leans in. If she smiles at her. Frankie’s really going to try and kiss her.
Jasmine hums again. Frankie doesn’t want her to leave, but she needs her hands, and she can’t balance the phone between her shoulder and her head the entire time.
“What are you doing?” Frankie asks.
“Right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Just some work.”
“Can I call?” Frankie asks easily, though the moment it leaves her mouth, she double-guesses.
“You know we’re on the phone now, right?”
Frankie tries not to panic. Jasmine didn’t say no. She didn’t automatically say yes either. “Yeah. I just mean can I call from my phone? I have some admin things to do, but I can’t hold the landline comfortably.”
“Oh,” Jasmine responds. “Yeah.”
“Are you sure? If you’re busy or that’s annoying, you don’t—“ The line goes dead, the beep tone harsh against her ear. Frankie flinches. Well, at least it was quick and not at all painless. Her phone rings moments later. It’s Jasmine. Video calling. Frankie tries to tamper down her smile before she answers, but it doesn’t work.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” Jasmine says, moving around a little, then her picture settles, and she waves at the camera. Her hair is thrown up on top of her head, her pen between her teeth, and she might be in Frankie’s coach top. The sun shines on the top of her head. She’s so beautiful. “I thought hanging up would be hilarious, and it was, but then I thought maybe you’d be worried about it, or you’d think I didn’t want to call.”
Jasmine knows her so well, and she’s barely had to tell her a thing. She wonders if she can. To make it easier for her, to take some of the weight out of having to deal with Frankie’s mind. Is it unkind to tell her how messed up her brain is? There’s a frightful chance that Jasmine will look at her like she’s precious and not problematic.
“So,” Jasmine says, “I thought if you could see my face and how happy I am that you wanted to call, you’d feel better about it.”
Frankie smiles. “Happy?”
Jasmine screws up her nose. “Shh. Do some work. Lani is going to hear you soon and come running.”
“Monster girl,” she calls out, and Jasmine laughs. “I miss her.”
Jasmine chews on her cheek, looking down at her paper. Frankie wants to know what she’s working on. “She got tiredafter her breakdown. She’s having a tiny nap that I’m going to regret later.”
“Oh.” Frankie’s heart breaks for her.
Jasmine hums. “I can’t believe you’ll say you miss her, but you won’t tell me that.”
The heat floods Frankie’s face so fast she wouldn’t be able to hide it if she wanted to. Jasmine has caught her crawling across this very office floor before. She is around for every embarrassing moment, and Frankie only feels safe when she is.
“Are you doing maths?”
“Mm-hmm. Want me to do it out loud?” she asks, and her voice sounds flirty—so flirty Frankie can’t look at her in case she turns inside out.
“You’re so rude to me,” she mutters.
Jasmine laughs, but by the time Frankie looks at her, she’s already writing something down. Frankie wants to tell her she does want her to do it out loud, because she misses her voice. She doesn’t; instead, she notes down questions for the quiz. She adds an entire round of maths and hopes Jasmine does say them out loud. Then she sends Mali a message on the team function. It takes Frankie, like, eight minutes to find it.
Frankie: babe, Jasmine can’t make the quiz tonight
Frankie: I want to do it at her house. wanna do that?
Mali: Sure!!!! Withthe guys?
