Hunger

August (part 2)

"Frankie, please pick up. I need to hear that you are okay. Can you please, please pick up?" 

"I'm getting really worried, love. Please call me as soon as you hear this."

"You must have fallen asleep. Call me when you wake up. I love you." 

"Please Frankie, I don't understand. Where are you?"

Radio silence was her only defense. The photos of him at the club were everywhere. The photos were grainy and they wouldn't be worth anything in a murder case, but he was definitely very close to Veronica Louis. She had her arms around his neck in some of the newer photos that had surfaced. One of them seemed to be her twerking against him. 

Frankie had packed a bag and gone to stay with Abi. She cried on the phone when she asked Abi if she could come, and Abi had cried when she opened the door to her. 

"Oh Frankie. He wouldn't. I just can't believe it. Have you spoken to him?" She asked as she squeezed Frankie tightly. 

Frankie shook her head. "I can't talk to him right now. I think I'll die if I have to hear him admit that he has slept with someone else." 

Abi scrolled through all the photos and winced at the screen. "I mean, they are very grainy. It might not be what we think it is. It could be very innocent." She was doing her best to console Frankie, but it wasn't helping. 

"I just can't hear him say it, if it's true. I think, quite literally, I might die." Frankie sat down and cried into her hands. 

Her phone kept lighting up with his name. Every time she saw it, she felt sick. 

"Can I talk to him, Franks? He's very far away and he is clearly panicking." Abi was the only one of the two with a clear mind, and she knew how to handle men. 

Frankie ran to the toilet and vomited. Abi wanted to come help her, but Frankie closed the door and slid down on the floor, and sat quietly. She heard Abi picking up her phone on the other side of the door. 

"Hello? No, this is Abi. I know. I understand that. Haven't you heard? Don't you check social media, Harry? I think you should. Then call back." She hung up and knocked softly on the door. "Franks, can I please come in?" 

Frankie scooted away from the door, and let Abi come in. Abi sat down and hugged her tightly, helping her feel her own body. She was so distraught, she didn't feel as if she was in her body at all. 

"He hadn't seen anything. He thought you were dead or something. He had made his sister go to your house, and when she couldn't find you, they called the police." Abi spoke calmly. 

Frankie drew in a shaky breath and hugged her knees tighter. Her head was throbbing, and her pulse was either too fast or too weak, she couldn't quite tell. 

Her phone rang again, and Abi held it up to see who it was. Harry. She got up and sat on the edge of the bathtub, before she answered the phone. 

"Hello? Still Abi. She can't right now. I'll take care of her. Are you sure about that? I can't Harry, she's not herself right now. No, don't. She wouldn't want you to. Don't come!" 

Frankie shook her head at Abi, and waved her hands while mouthing "no".

"I mean it. Don't. I'll give her a message from you, and then she will contact you if and when she is ready to talk. I'll tell her that. Bye." Abi hung up and sat down in front of Frankie. 

"Okay, Franks, he's in pieces. He says he loves you and he would never, ever do something like that to you. He did meet what's-her-face in a club in LA, but she was loud and rambunctious and he only spoke to her for 5 minutes. She wanted a hug and then she started twerking, and he asked her respectfully to stop." Abi looked at Frankie, waiting for her to react, but Frankie was just staring at the floor, unable to snap out of it. "Can I help you into bed, please? You need to sleep."