Best friends Frankie and Penelope have just arrived in the Valley seeking to escape the past. All they needed was each other and a fresh start. They make new friends and potentially find love. Unbeknownst to them, they stumble upon a war between two...
As Demetri made his way down the stairs, he heard the rapid rapping of hard knuckles on wood. He quickened his pace to get to the door, feeling the urgency that much more, but also met with smells of herbs and chicken wafting in from the kitchen. The house had otherwise been quaint, but now his heart was racing and all of his senses were on high alert.
"I've got it!" he shouted over his shoulder.
When he opened the door, Frankie looked beyond pissed off. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest and her cheeks were blooming red, but what would have tipped him off had he not known beforehand were her eyes; they were sharp as knives and ready to kill.
"Hey," he said, moving aside to let her in.
She huffed, moving passed him. "Hey..."
"So, what do you want to do?" he asked, shutting the door.
"I don't know," she grumbled, standing in the foyer and glaring at anything that caught her eye. "I just know I don't want to be home right now."
"Okay," he said. She didn't want to talk about it, so he wouldn't ask her about it again. If she wanted to tell him about it, he knew she would when she was ready. "Well-"
"Demetri, who was- oh, hello, Frankie!" As his mother came into the room, she smiled. However, she was quick to notice her sour mood and changed her approach, coming over with open arms. She didn't wrap them around Frankie, but simply used one hand to rub the teen's back. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I guess," Frankie mumbled. She drew her eyes to the floor and tightened her arms over her chest. She shifted her weight onto her opposite foot, taking a withdrawn stance as she tried to push Ms. Alexopoulos away without actually pushing her. "Just needed to get out of the house."
"Well, dinner is almost done," Sophia said, unfazed by her standoffishness. "Would you like to join us?"
Demetri tried to keep his own scarlet blush from rising to his cheeks. The thought of his girlfriend having dinner with him and his mother was startling, but not unwelcome. The only catch was that no one knew they were together, not even his mother. She was none the wiser to the late night visits Frankie made to their home while she was working the night shift or about the times he ventured over to her place when her dad was running errands. She had no idea he loved this fiery, amazing, beautiful girl.
He didn't know if he could sit through a whole dinner knowing they were in a secret relationship, so he really didn't want Frankie to say-
"Sure."
"Great! I might have made too much anyway," his mother said, smiling bright. It didn't matter who it was, she would always try to make everyone's day better. That was just who Sophia Alexopoulos was; caring and motherly. "We're having grilled chicken pitas. They should be done in just a few minutes. Just make yourself at home."
With that, she walked back into the kitchen, not knowing how much Demetri had made Frankie feel at home in their home already.
Once alone, the two looked at each other. Frankie was still very much upset and Demetri couldn't stand it. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her to him and securing her against his body. She stood still for a moment, then put her arms around him in return and relaxed into his warmth. He didn't say anything and just held her close, letting her decompress.
When she had her fill, he led her into the living room to sit, but she wandered the space and took a look at the Halloween decorations around the room. There was black garland and fake spiders and plastic skeletons about, but also pictures of every Halloween costume Demetri had ever worn set out. Frankie picked up one of the small frames and laughed.
"Nice costume," she said, shamelessly laughing at it. She even snorted, which was cute.
He walked over to see what costume had amused her so much only to see she was holding a picture from his first Halloween. He'd been dressed as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, complete with his hat.
"In my defense, I did not choose that for myself," he told her, hardly tickled over the image. "I would never wear anything with that much padding given the choice."
"I think it's nice," Frankie hummed, setting the framed photo back in its place. "You were a cute baby."
"Thanks," he droned, watching her look at all the pictures. He held his tongue on how undesirable it was that she did that, because he saw the way it lightened her mood. If it did that, then he supposed it wasn't so bad and he could suffer a little embarrassment.
"I love Halloween," she said, smirking to herself as she passed his Peter Pan and Spiderman pictures. She turned to him with a different look in her eyes, something adoring and sparkly. "Last year, I was Michael Myers and chased a bunch of kids through the street. It was awesome."
"You like terrorizing kids on Halloween?" he asked, head slightly tilting to the side.
"They thought it was fun," she said, rolling her eyes. Despite acting annoyed, she didn't seem all that bothered by the idea. "Which I guess was good for me. Their parents weren't coming for my head by the end of the night."
"Sounds fun." He looked at her, trying to think of other costumes she would wear for the occasion. "So, what are you doing this year?"
Frankie shrugged. "I don't know yet. I actually haven't thought about it."
Demetri shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that. I was thinking of being the Tenth Doctor, but I'm not committed yet."
Her eyes dragged down his body, then back up to his face. She nodded approvingly. "You can pull off David Tennant's Doctor. You've definitely got the height."
He stared at her, feeling his heartbeat quicken and his cheeks flush. "Well, uh, if you say so."
She just smirked.
"Dinner's ready!" his mother called from the other room. It nearly gave Demetri a heart attack because he'd almost forgotten she was home.
"Good, I'm starving," Frankie said, walking past him.
He watched her, then came to a realization. He hastily followed after her. "Wait, does that mean you've understood my Doctor Who references this whole time?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
~~~
Ah, it's good to see Frankie knows she can go to Demetri when she's feeling big emotions. He calms her down 😍 these two!
