Page 83 of Summer Breakdown
Frankie: Yeah. Same set up, just don’t tell Jasmine.
Frankie: We’re on the phone rn so don’t run in either!!!
Then Frankie feels guilty, like maybe she’s ordering Mali around.
Frankie: <3
Mali: omg cute!!! You’re a cutie!
Mali: Do I need to do a quiz?
Frankie: Nah, I’m halfway done.
Mali: Okay! Zach and I will bring pizza. The kids aren’t allergic to anything are they?
Mali: I’ll message Cam for cookies
Mali: And Ez on drinks. 6?
Frankie: No allergies. And perf, thanks
“What are you smiling at?” Jasmine asks, her head in her hand as if she’s been watching her for ages. Stalker.
“You’re so nosy,” Frankie jokes. “This is official Titans business.”
“Ahhh, okay,” Jasmine replies. She nods seriously, but Frankie sees her smile. Frankie watches her work for a moment. She’s so smart it’s stupid. Frankie wants to be insideher head. She probably still won’t know how to multiply more than single digits, but she’d know what she liked. What scared her. What made her happy.
Frankie dreams about what it means to know someone that well. She supposes she knows Jasmine likes sunshine, because she sits outside even if she only has a few minutes, and she hangs her laundry on the line even if it’s three degrees outside. That horror films are her favourites, but only if they don’t contain children because once she had a dream where Marcel was a demon. That she wants to be more than a mum, even if she’s the best mum Frankie’s ever met.
Maybe for right now, that’s enough. Maybe she’ll have a lifetime to learn the rest.
“I do,” Frankie says, and Jasmine raises her eyebrows in response before turning to face her. Fear runs up Frankie’s back like a bad idea, but she shoves it down as best she can with the thought that it might make Jasmine happy.
And it’s true.
“Hmm?”
“Miss you.”
The terror that rolled down her back was worth it when Jasmine smiles at her. The smile. Her smile. The one she keeps locked close to her chest. The one she wants in a locket that matches the one dangling from Jasmine’s neck. She wonders what she’d have to do to make it there.
“I miss—“ Jasmine starts, but their attention is taken by the pitter-patter of tiny feet. Frankie doesn’t mind, especially when Lani’s eyes widen when she sees her on the phone.
“Frankenstein?!”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“You’recheating!”
“No we aren’t, bro,” Ezra replies but Jasmine can see that they’re clearly cheating. Jasmine is letting Frankie be soft because she’s never been happier to see her. The kitchen is decorated ridiculously, and Lani is hyped up on sugar, but Frankie did this for her. For Marcel who pretends not to care that his father ditched them again.
“Marcel knows the answer.”
“Ten,” he replies seriously, and Zach rests his forehead against the table as he laughs. Ezra slaps Marcel on the back, but thankfully, he curbed his strength.
“See,” Ezra replies, looking up at Frankie with a shrug. “Ten.”
“But the question was about gardening flowers,” Mali replies with a furrowed brow. Jasmine wonders if Mali is down. She’s not as happy this evening, which is not to say she’s not engaging because Mali unhappy is like someone dosed up with serotonin anyway. But Jasmine does want to know if she’s alright.
