Hidden Feelings and Hesitations

[17] Frankie

"What the fuck is going on?" Haylie's sister demanded, her gaze hard as she glared at us. She'd gone from an almost star-struck little freshman to an angry fifteen-year-old instantly.

"Maya, please, don't freak out. You don't understand—" the girl between us begged.

"What don't I understand? What is there to understand? What are you, gay now?"

"Please, just let me explain." She crossed the room, her hands stretched out to her sister in a desperate attempt to get her to listen.

"How can you explain something like that? You're sitting in your bed, kissing a girl. What could you possibly have to say? I'll never look at you the same way again." The younger girl spun and went back into the tiny hallway that led to the stairs.

"Maya!" Haylie started to go after, but stopped when footsteps sounded on the wooden stairs. She let out a sob and hugged her body, slowly turning to face me.

I could hardly stand the tortured look on her face, so I didn't hesitate to go over to her and pull her into me. "It's okay, it's going to be okay. Just breathe for me, all right? That's all I need you to do."

I held her as she cried and shook in my arms, reminding me so much of the way she'd been the night her grandma had passed away. If it was difficult to ease her pain then, it was even harder now.

"W-What am I going to do?" she gasped between her short, hiccupy breaths. "She's going to tell my parents."

"You think she'd really do that?"

"Yes. She can't keep her mouth shut around them. God, what if they hate me? What will I do then, Frankie?"

"Hey, hey, hey. You're going to be okay. I promise you that even though it hurts so much now, it's going to be better. I'm going to tell you what we're going to do, okay? We're going to calm down and just take a second. And then we're going to check to see what your mom needs because we don't want to make her mad. And then we're going to go find your sister and we're going to talk about this because sometimes it's hard to accept something when you aren't expecting it. That's what we're going to do, all right? Do you think we can do that?"

She didn't answer me, choosing instead to stay silent as she let her trembling and her tears die out. When she finally pulled away to wipe her eyes, I had to admit that I was relieved that she'd managed to get a grip.

"Do you know where my phone is?" Haylie glanced around her room and ran her hands over the pockets on her jeans. I saw it over her shoulder, on her desk, which was where she'd left it when we'd come up here after school. She grabbed it after I pointed it out and blinked at the screen several times. There were two calls and three messages she'd missed because she hadn't taken it off of Do Not Disturb. I waited patiently for her to read them and tell me what they said, not wanting to rush her. She sniffed and let out a slow breath before she said anything. "My mom wants me to start dinner at six because it'll take a while. Will you stay, Frankie? I don't want to be alone."

"Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere unless you ask me to, okay?" I wrapped my arms around her again and rubbed her back. My chin found a place on the top of her head.

"Do we have to talk to my sister?" She sounded like she was dreading the possibility.

"Baby, I think it's important that we do. I don't want to force you to do anything, but I think if we don't now, she won't want to hear it later."

Haylie stiffened halfway through my words. "What did you just call me?"

I mentally ran back over them and my own body froze when I caught it. "I didn't mean to say that, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, I—"