Page 14 of Amore
Frankie nodded, not turning to look at me.
“Now that I’m older, I can understand why you would do that to me, but Lucy? How could you do that to your best friend?” I’d had many years to wonder what had happened, and the older I got, the more I thought she had been embarrassed bythat night,and that was why she never wanted to see me again. But Lucy had no idea what we’d done.
She looked at me. “You were my best friend too. Not just Lucy.”
“And you were mine. That’s why it hurt even more.”
Frankie looked out the window again. “Can we just chalk it up to being immature?”
I snorted a laugh. “You running that night, yeah. But what about all the summers and holidays afterward? You didn’t come home to see your parents?”
“No, I did,” she admitted.
My head tilted slightly. “You did?”
She took a sip of her drink and then looked up at me. “I hid in the house each time.”
I paused for a second. “But Lucy went over and asked if you were home a few times during those first few years. Your parents said you weren’t there.”
She shrugged. “They were covering for me.”
I stared at her for a moment. “Why would you do that to Lucy? It doesn’t make sense.”
“If I had hung out with your sister, I would have had to see you.”
Her words cut straight through my heart. She didn’t say them with malice in her voice, but she didn’t need to. They still hurt. “You came to me that night,” I reminded her.
“I know,” she whispered.
We were silent for a few moments, both of us looking out the window at the busy street.
“Do you regret it?” Her having hid from me for nine years was my answer, but I asked anyway, needing to hear her say it.
She thought for a few beats and then exhaled. “No, I don’t regret it.”
Her affirmation shocked me. “Really?”
“I would do it again.”
I balked. “Seriously?”
Frankie looked into my eyes as she said, “Not everyone loses their virginity to their first love.”
5
FRANKIE
Eighteen years old– Nine years ago
When I first moved toTennessee, I thought I would hate it. Now, looking at my luggage by my bedroom door, I knew I was going to miss it. New York was waiting for me, and I was excited to go but also nervous.
Juilliard had always been my dream, and when I’d gotten in, I knew everything would change.
I was leaving behind my best friend—mytwobest friends.
Lucy was going to Kansas, but Luke still had two more years of high school, and I was off to New York City with no friends.
My phone buzzed with a text.
