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𝗙ebruary fourteenth in the thomas house meant three things: valentine's day, franklin thomas's birthday, and chaos in the kitchen before 8 a.m.
frankie stood at the stove in fuzzy socks, flipping chocolate chip pancakes with her hair still in braids from the night before. abby darted around the kitchen, stealing strawberries and rearranging whipped cream like it was a fine art. elle carefully arranged the plates on the table, humming something soft under her breath.
"okay," frankie said, flipping the last pancake onto the stack. "operation birthday breakfast is a go."
they crept down the hallway like spies frankie balancing the tray, abby holding balloons, elle holding the birthday hat and burst into the master bedroom with all the enthusiasm of a marching band.
"happy birthday!" they shouted, voices overlapping.
franklin groaned dramatically but sat up grinning, eyes crinkling when he saw the girls.
"you guys didn't have to do all this," he said, already putting on the glittery "birthday king" hat elle handed him.
"we know," abby said, plopping beside him. "but you love attention."
"and pancakes," frankie added, setting the tray on his lap.
they sang the whole birthday song off-key, loud, and with extra flair at the "dear daaaaaad" part. halfway through, their mom popped in with a coffee mug that said world's okayest husband and joined in.
when he blew out the candles on his stack of pancakes, he looked at all three girls and said, "this is the best birthday i've ever had."
"you say that every year," frankie teased.
"that's because it keeps being true," he said, ruffling frankie's hair as she leaned into him.
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it was a regular wednesday in history class if anything could be called regular with the sub mr. nolan handing out fake scrolls and asking people to argue like roman senators.
frankie was halfway through doodling on the corner of her notes when the classroom door opened and lucas walked in, a little out of breath.
"you're late, mr. friar," mr. nolan said without looking up from his papers.
"sorry," lucas said, walking past the desks. "had to pick something up."
frankie barely had time to wonder what that meant before he stopped next to her desk. he was holding a small bouquet of winter roses soft pink with pale edges, her favorite and a tiny brown teddy bear with a red bow.
