Issues [Frollie]

Chapter 17

Frankie awoke to the familiar feeling of fingers trailing through her hair. Her mind was still fuzzy with sleep and her stomach felt a tiny bit unsteady within her, but she turned into the touch without thinking.

A voice sounded near her ear. “Wake up, Frankie.” The whisper was a balm to her frazzled state, like cool water pouring over her skin, and so despite her desire to dive back into her very pleasant dream, Frankie dragged one eyelid up. Mollie was sitting beside her, annoyingly perfect and well-dressed.

“Morning,” Frankie mumbled into the pillow. At her ragged groan, Mollie’s lips bent into a small smile and it was that smile that did it. In the space that it took Frankie’s heart to stutter, for her to sink back into hopeless love with Mollie and for her to wonder why she even bothered to try and suppress her feelings, Frankie suddenly remembered that she hadn’t suppressed her feelings and the events of last night flooded fresh into her mind, pouring adrenaline over her sleepy brain. Her head shot up and her eyes popped wide open.

Mollie let out a startled laugh at Frankie’s reaction, and quickly shifted back so she wouldn’t spill the cup of tea held in her hand. “Wow. I suppose you’re awake, then,” she chuckled.

Frankie’s heart was beating fast in terror and she froze, fearing that everything would be taken back in the cold light of morning. She could still hear Mollie telling her that she loved her – she had a feeling it would echo in her ears for a long, long time – but that didn’t mean that it could ever be said again, and if Frankie thought about that too much she thought she might just break in half.

“Yeah,” she replied belatedly, watching the older girl with what was almost wariness. “I’m awake.”

Mollie seemed to notice Frankie’s sudden apprehension, and she soothed it with another reassuring smile and a routine stroke of her hair. Her thumb caressed a line from her temple to her jaw. “Calm down,” she told her serenely, raising an eyebrow pointedly. Cautiously, Frankie lowered herself back on the pillows. “How much do you remember?”

Frankie was a little scared to answer. “I remember… making you dance with me,” she hedged slyly. “And then you kicked everyone out and we…um, talked. I told you why I’d been such a prick lately… and then… I told you that I loved you.” The glint in Mollie’s eyes made her feel bolder, so she added slowly, “A-a-nd… you said that you loved me, as well.” She nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I distinctly remember that happening. I may have got quite weepy, as well, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“You did cry a bit in the end, yeah,” Mollie agreed, nodding. “But then again, so did I.”

The younger girl’s eyes flickered nervously before she dared to ask, “And this morning?”

“Well, we’ve stopped crying now, obviously.”

Despite herself, Frankie let out a short, breathy laugh at that. “No,” she said, forcing herself into seriousness again. “I mean what happens now. Where do we stand now?” She tried not to let it show how much her insides were squirming with nerves, or how much that seemingly nonchalant question meant to her. “I know that things were said in the heat of the moment, and I know how that can be sometimes. I just… I need to know how things are going to be now, okay?”