Page 88 of Summer Breakdown
“Frankie,” Jasmine moans, as she slides her hands against her waist. Frankie’s thumb brushes the underside of her boob, and her vision goes white like she’s never touched a woman before. Jasmine tugs at her waistband, her fingers hooking over against her hipbones.Fuck,Frankie wants to touch her.
Frankie pulls back, resting her forehead against Jasmine’s. “I have to go.”
“What?” Jasmine asks, her fingers caught in her top. “Why?”
“I get overwhelmed, and I don’t—I never want to keep it from you, and I don’t want to leave the way I did before.” She wants to stay. Everything about her wants to stay. To figure out a way to wake up with her, but she knows she has to leave. Frankie thinks about sleeping in the bathtub, or on the sofa. It would count. It would make her happy, but it’s not something she can reasonably ask.
“Okay,” Jasmine pants. “Okay.”
Her lips brush against Jasmine’s, and she may not be strong enough to go. “I’m sorry.”
Jasmine kisses her again, but it’s softer. She pushes her away, her fingertips light against her stomach. “Don’t be, my girl.”
Frankie groans. “Don’t call me that.”
“You don’t like it?” Jasmine asks. Her eyes track Frankie’s face with a light smile. But Frankie knows Jasmine too. She’s disappointed. Frankie wants to know specifically why. If it’s because they won’t have sex or because she wants to fall asleep with her too.
“I like it too much,” Frankie says, “and I already feel like I might die if I leave you here.”
Jasmine laughs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Get out, bro.”
“Did you learn that from Mali?” Frankie asks, shoving her hands into her pockets so she doesn’t claw her back. Jasmine is looking at her lips. Frankie’s not even sure she’s doing it on purpose.
Jasmine moves slowly, pushing her against the wall this time. She kisses her again, just once, and then sighs. “Maybe.”
Frankie closes her eyes, her head resting against the wall. She tries to figure out a way to stay. If she slept in her car in the driveway, would that work?
“Get out of your head,” Jasmine whispers. When Frankie opens her eyes, she’s so much farther away than she’d thought. Her face falls a little.
“I don’t want to go,” she whispers.
Jasmine smiles. “I don’t want you to leave. But if you have to, it’s okay. I understand.”
Frankie chews on her lip. “I—I don’t think I can have sex tonight.”
Jasmine frowns, but she’s not upset. “That’s okay.”
“I want to,” Frankie says. “It’s mainly all I think about as I go to sleep. It’s ruined nighttime fantasies for me. But if—if you wanted to kiss for a little while, I would want that too.”
Jasmine’s hands flex against her thighs. Not an immediate yes, but not a no either. Frankie crosses her fingers.
“What do you get overwhelmed with?” Jasmine asks. “The thought of kissing progressing to something?”
“Sort of. I’ve never wanted anyone as badly as I want you, and the thought that I could hurt you like I did before weighs on the back of my mind. I just—I know that you would stop. I think you’d figure out if I needed to stop before I did, but I don’t want to put that pressure on you, and I don’t want to push myself and then run.”
“But you don’t want to go home?”
Frankie shakes her head. Jasmine chews on her lip and then does something on her watch that Frankie can’t figure out. Then, she walks towards her, her nose brushing hers as she kisses her slowly. Frankie’s mind turns inside out, and Jasmine hums like she’s not taking her apart with the soft flick of her tongue. Frankie’s not panicked; she trusts Jasmine.
“I’ve set an alarm for twenty minutes,” Jasmine says, kissing her again. The kiss is slow, but hungrier than before—not in speed, but in depth. The kind that aches. The kind that leaves a tremble in the chest. “And then you can sleep in the guest room.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Youknow,Ihavea DBS check,” Ezra says, stretching his hamstring. They have a match tomorrow, officially over halfway through the league. Jasmine thinks they’ll be top two, but she doesn’t know enough about the rest of the teams. Mali is next to Ezra, taking photos. He’s letting her because Cam broke up with Andrew, and Ezra is the happiest anyone’s ever been. His face hasn’t changed at all, but he brought donuts in. He’s so obvious.
“The police thing?” Jasmine asks. She’s working on the Titans’ refund from last year. She’s not entirely sure how they aren’t bankrupt with how much Frankie overpaid.
“Yeah.”
