Page 19 of Summer Breakdown (Training Seasons #2)

Mali squints, then tilts her head. She’s about to say something ridiculous or ask something sexual. “I can’t picture you with a guy,” Mali says to Jasmine. Guess it was both.

Jasmine laughs, but there’s no humour there. “Is it my legions of girlfriends that make it difficult?”

“You like birds?” Andrew asks. Frankie’s fingers flick again. Now that she has a pencil, she drags some napkins close. She throws a few lines about with no real idea what she’s drawing.

“Yep,” Jasmine replies.

“You’re a chick magnet,” Cam says, her chin in her hand. “Every time you go to the bar, someone flirts with you.”

“Guys too?” Andrew asks, with a tone. Frankie doesn’t know what tone, but there’s a tone.

Cam frowns, and Frankie doesn’t hit him in the face, but it’s close. “Guys what? ”

Andrew sighs. “Does Jasmine like guys too?” It’s unclear who he’s talking to, because he’s looking at Cam. Jasmine shuffles in her seat again, and Frankie moves closer.

“Oh,” Cam says, then, “I don’t think so.”

Andrew looks at Jasmine with his eyebrows high. “Well?” he says, like it’s his right to know anything about her. Frankie never responds when he’s a dick. She takes this approach for several reasons.

1. He’s a knob and she doesn’t want to waste her breath;

2. Ezra gets back first; and

3. She hates confrontation.

But, God, every time Andrew looks at Jasmine, she wants to wallop him. Jasmine doesn’t seem like the type to take his shit, nor will she care what he’s saying, but Frankie wants to defend her anyway.

“Jas is a lesbian,” Ezra says, holding a tray of drinks. Andrew flinches slightly. He hates Ezra. “Leave her alone.” The tables quiet as Ezra sits down, then he looks at Cam with a smile.

“Hi, Cato.”

Cam smiles back. “Hi, Sugar.”

“What we talking about?” Ezra asks.

“Glory Park, and the fact the Gayle interview is next week,” Mali says, with a squeal.

Oh, hell. Frankie has to get through an entire interview without mentioning Jasmine, and then they want to put her face on the cover.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

“And did you know M’Baku has a sister that plays? ” Mali asks.

“Is she decent?” Ezra asks.

“How would I know?” Mali replies. “I’m just giving you the information.”

Zach presses his lips to her temple. “You’re cute.”

“Innit,” she replies. Frankie smiles, they’re annoyingly sweet.

“Here,” Ezra says. He hands Jasmine a number on a napkin.

“I already have your number.”

“Redhead at the bar,” he replies. Everyone looks over with the subtlety of shattering glass. Jasmine’s hand rests against Frankie’s thigh in her pursuit to see her. Red is fine . The girl Mali thought might come and hit on Frankie. Jasmine might be interested.

“Pretty,” Jasmine says, as her hand drops to the seat. Every word does stab like poniards. Shakespeare is so real.

“Ask her out,” Cam says casually, like she doesn’t care that Frankie will be halfway in love with her if she so much as looks at her. To be fair, Cam told her to ask her out, and Frankie refused to talk about it, even though she brought it up. “Why didn’t the last date go well?”

“You went on a date?” Frankie asks, and her pencil gets caught in the napkin.

“Frank,” Mal replies. “The hour before the quiz is peak gossip time. You’re so behind!”

Frankie blinks, then looks back at Jasmine. “You did?”

Jasmine tucks her hair behind her ear. It falls back moments later. “Yeah.”

“I thought we liked her,” Ezra says. Ezra doesn’t like anyone. Frankie might scream.

Jasmine shrugs. “She was nice, but she wanted to come back to mine, and I wasn’t into it.” Oh. She’s been on dates that resemble their date, and their date wasn’t even a date. Frankie taps her heel so she doesn’t descend into panic. It’ll work if this conversation ends immediately.

“Why not?” Mali asks. “I can’t be the only one sharing my sex life.”

“Wait,” Cam says. “I need to pee. Hold that thought!” She runs, but Andrew doesn’t care about her.

“Because she doesn’t have a dick. You know that’s what you’re missing, right?” Andrew says, like Jasmine is going to suddenly realise she’s straight because a bloke she met thirty seconds ago wants her to fuck him .

“Andrew,” Frankie says, leaning against the table. His eyes widen slightly. Frankie’s never talked directly to Andrew before. “I will beat the shit out of you if you don’t leave her alone.”

4. She’s not very good at it.

Jasmine laughs, looks down at her lap, then looks over at Frankie.

“Alright, Rocky,” she says quietly, but she’s smiling, so Frankie might buy some boxing gloves. Jasmine’s ankle rests against her shin.

“Jas,” Andrew starts again, and Jasmine chews on her lip. Frankie spins her pencil like a weapon.

“What’s up?”

“If you have kids, surely you can’t be a lesbian.”

“Andrew, she’s a fucking lesbian,” Zach responds, typing on his phone then showing something to Mali. “Ask her another question about it, and I’ll let Frankie knock you out.”

Andrew scoffs. “Just a question.”

“You can’t ask someone you don’t know about their children,” Mali says.

“Why the fuck not?” Andrew replies, with a tone that should be criminal to use with Mali.

Zach places his beer down with a thump. “Andrew.”

“Yeah, bro?” Loser.

“Keep talking to Mali like that and I’ll break your kneecaps.” God, one of these days Zach will hulk out on someone that dares brush past her and it’ll change Frankie’s life.

Andrew laughs. Zach doesn’t.

“I’m not joking.”

Andrew scoffs, getting up to go find Cam or hopefully just leave.

Jasmine wrings her fingers in her lap. Frankie leans forwards to move Jasmine’s hair from her face with shaky fingers.

When Jasmine turns to look at her, Frankie says, “You’re allowed to ignore him.

We all do. You don’t owe him your story just because he demanded it. ”

Frankie’s never had to deal with people questioning her sexuality out loud because she’s never been anything other than “aggressively gay,” as her mother would call it.

But she remembers feeling bothered when she thought people were questioning it.

Frankie’s free hand stays behind Jasmine’s neck, so she should feel Jasmine looking at her drawing, but she doesn’t.

Frankie defines the jaw, the curve of her lip, the curls in her hair.

“Is that me?” Jasmine asks quietly. Frankie freezes in her movements. Is it? Well, yes. Of course it is. Everything she’s drawn recently is Jasmine, or things that remind her of Jasmine.

“Uhm,” Frankie starts, and her hand drifts down Jasmine’s back.

“It’s beautiful,” Jasmine says. “I don’t know any fancy art words, but I know I like it enough that I’d like to see you draw absolutely anything.”

Frankie smiles. “It is you. So, it’s probably not my skill. There’s really no other way for you to look.”

“It’s very flattering.”

Frankie frowns. “It’s not flattering, it’s accurate.”

“Lani is trying to improve her drawing,” Zach says casually, taking a sip of his beer.

It drags Jasmine’s attention away from Frankie and for the first time since she looked at her, she can breathe properly.

“We saw this colouring set the other day. It comes in a yellow case – can we get it for her?”

Frankie watches as Jasmine tries to play it cool. It doesn’t work all that well.

“Sure,” she replies with a shrug but she’s got the bird waking smile on. “That’s cute. Thanks.”

Mali squeals, immediately opening her phone.

Zach continues. “And Marc has been looking at my trainers.”

Jasmine laughs and Frankie wishes she was closer to she could feel it against her skin .

“Which ones? He showed me some the other day, but I swear he owns them already.”

“They’re 1G’s and I have 2G’s.” Frankie loves trainers and even she’s not sure there’s an actual difference.

“And that’s a different shoe?” Jasmine asks. She shuffles slightly, her thigh lightly pressing against Frankie’s. “To the naked eye?”

Zach smiles at the table. “If you’ve got great taste.”

Jasmine laughs again and Frankie feels it this time. She feels like she could take on a bear. Cam comes back to the table, and Frankie’s good mood drops the moment she realises Andrew is still with her. God, she loves Cam. That’s all that matters.

“What are we talking about?” Cam asks as she sits back down.

“Jas said we could buy Lani and Marcel gifts,” Mali says, her shoulders bopping up and down.

“ A gift!“ Jasmine replies, her hands wide in front of her, and Frankie switches from sketching hair to fingers.

Mali sing songs. “Gifts plural!”

“Oh my god,” Cam replies. She pulls her phone out, spinning to show Jasmine. Frankie leans over to look at it too. They’re sandals, and cute. Lani would make anything cute, but they are yellow and have ruffles on the top. “So, I can get these?”

“How long have you had these waiting to go?” Jasmine asks.

Cam laughs. “Well, I asked Frank to ask you if we were allowed to buy stuff ages ago, but she got distracted by your face or whatever.”

Frankie blinks, and Jasmine turns to look at her.

It’s quiet for a moment but Frankie can hear every thought she’s ever had vibrating through her bones.

She doesn’t want to run though; she wants to be wherever Jasmine is.

Especially if she’s looking right at her.

But she’s taken away again from Andrew’s inability to shut up .

“Isn’t that the lazy one who can’t figure out how to walk?” Andrew asks, slurring while he sips his drink.

The table goes quiet. Jasmine grips the seats tightly. Frankie’s entire body tenses. She wonders if she could hit him square in the brain if she threw this pencil hard enough. Cam wouldn’t have said that. There’s no way she would have said that, but Jasmine might not know her well enough yet.

“What did you just say?” Ezra asks. Frankie can’t see him from here; she’s too busy watching every slight movement on Jasmine’s face – but he might kill him tonight. Frankie rests her hand on the bench next to Jasmine’s, and Jasmine hooks her pinkie over hers.

“If she can walk, she should walk,” Andrew says with a shrug. “My child would be crawling before they just admitted defeat and sat in a chair.”

“Get out,” Ezra says.

“What?”

“Get the fuck out.”

“I didn’t even-”

Ezra leans forwards slightly. “She is four,” he responds, his voice deathly low. “What type of man are you to punch that fucking low? Don’t answer me, bro, I don’t care. You have thirty seconds to leave, before I put your head through the table.”

Andrew scoffs. “I’m fine right here.”

Jasmine swallows, then, she grips Frankie’s hand. “Andrew.”

He looks over at her, somehow he’s smiling like he thinks Jasmine likes him now.

“You don’t know me,” she says and Frankie’s entire body comes alive with goose bumps. “Clearly, because you think you can say whatever you want, but if you talk about my children like that again, I will put you in the ground.” God, she’s so sexy.

“I don’t need this shit.” He downs his drink, and then he’s up and out, leaving Cam behind.

“Cam,” Frankie says, leaning across the table as she looks like she might follow him. She grips Cam’s hand as her brows furrow. “We let Andrew get away with anything because we love you.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” she says. She’s panicking and Frankie hates it. Cam runs when she’s scared, and right now, she’ll run with Andrew if they’re not careful.

“I know, babe, which is why he was here. I need you to know that Jasmine is important. Okay? She is so important, and he can’t talk to her like that.”

Cam swallows. “I’m sorry, Jas. I can’t believe he said that.”

Jasmine smiles, but it doesn’t hit her eyes. There’s a tense few moments when Frankie can’t figure out if this night is salvageable.

“We should get shots,” Jasmine says, and everyone clings onto the normalcy she’s kindly given them.

Ezra goes to the bar; Cam goes with him. Mali and Zach clearly order about eight parcels.

Frankie sketches a little more. She wants Lani to have cute wheels. Jasmine hums out a laugh when she sees the drawing take shape and she leans a bit closer to Frankie. She drops the napkin with Red’s number on it in front of her.

“You can use this,” Jasmine says. “I don’t need it.”