Page 63 of Summer Breakdown
“Whenever I write in the group chat,” Jasmine carries on. “I’m waiting to see if you think it’s funny. And oh, if you respond to me directly instead?” she closes her eyes, smiling, her shoulders up byher ears.
“It makes my day.” Frankie wasn’t aware she had this effect on her. It’s life affirming in a way she never expected.
“It does?”
“Yeah,” she whispers. “You’re really important to me.”
“Can I kiss you?” Frankie blurts out.
Jasmine smiles brightly. “You don’t have to ask.”
Frankie pulls her bottom lip between her teeth before she leans forwards. The light is low, and her eyes flutter shut just as she breathes in the cherry from Jasmine’s lips.
Then Jasmine’s phone rings. A loud, shrill sound Frankie’s never heard before.
Jasmine groans but Frankie thinks it’s frustration more than annoyance.
“I’m sorry. It’s Mike.” She gets up, grabbing her phone from the counter. The kids are at his place tonight. When Frankie waved them off this afternoon, she wasn’t as giddy as she thought she would be at the prospect of having a kid free house. Hanging out with Marcel and Lani is fun.
“Hello. Oh, hi baby.” Jasmine rolls her neck but Frankie can see the blush rushing down her neck from here. Frankie taps her feet. She’s not impatient, but she does want her tongue on Jasmine within the next thirty seconds.
But then Jasmine frowns. “What did she fall over?”
Jasmine runs her hand over her forehead. “Put your dad on, baby… What do you mean he’s not there?”
Frankie gets up, clearing the dining table and looking for Jasmine’s keys. If she can’t find them, she’ll drive Jasmine there. She doesn’t know how to flirt with her, but she does know when Jasmine needs something and right now she needs to pick her kids up.
“I’m on my way, okay?” she says, spinning around to look for something. Frankie holds her keys high and Jasmine grabs onto her hand as they leave. She locks the front door as Jasmine talks frantically.
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Marc. Do you want me to stay on the phone? No… you don’t have to move. I’ll come in. Be there soon. I love you.”
Frankie drives as carefully as she can when she’s over the speed limit. Jasmine directs her but she’s mainly quiet. When they’re on a straight road, Frankie reaches for her hand.
“It’s almost eleven,” she whispers, clamping Frankie’s fingers with her own. “Marcel is a child. He shouldn’t have to—fuck he’s not a babysitter.”
“Take a deep breath,” Frankie says. They come to a red light and Jasmine does just that. Frankie looks at her, the panic in her eye and the way she worries her lip.
“Sweetheart,” she mutters and Jasmine looks over at her. “Kehlani is going to be okay. No, Marcel shouldn’t have to watch her this late, but you know he’d do anything for her. You know he’s got her.”
Jasmine nods. “I know.”
Frankie rubs her thumb across her knuckles until Jasmine sighs.
“Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For jumping up to come with me,” she says, looking out the window. This light is notorious for being long. “For not caring that I had to stop our date to go get my kids.”
Frankie’s entire body heats up so fast she’s sure Jasmine can feel it through her palm. “Was it?”
Jasmine turns to look at her with a frown and Frankie has half an eye on the colour of the lights, the rest on the way Jasmine blinks at her.
“Was it a date?” Frankie asks and Jasmine screws her face up. She’s delightful.
“Shut up.”
“What happened to ‘you’d look so good’…”
