Page 23 of Summer Breakdown (Training Seasons #2)
Jasmine laughs and Frankie stops replying to her email.
The elderly coffee morning will have to wait.
She wants to know who made her laugh, and if she could have thought of something better to say.
Perhaps Jasmine would have laughed for longer.
Maybe she’d smile at her like she did last week before she kicked Frankie out of her house.
Frankie has thought about texting her an embarrassing number of times since. She’s even told Ezra and Cam about her now. It was supposed to be helpful but they keep telling Frankie to just talk to her. As if that’s something Frankie can reasonably do. She is trying. Desperately.
“I’m about to do some practice with Mal,” Jasmine says. Oh fuck. That’s today. Frankie knew Mali asked if they could use part of the pitch, but now she’s going to see Jasmine in gym clothes and be expected to run a full training session?
“Show me how to do it?”
“What now?” Kai asks. How is she friends with Kai? They’ve met each other like one time!
“Yeah. I’ve just got to get changed.”
“Training is going to be a shit show,” Kai laughs. “Do you know how many people on the team want to ask you out?”
“I know Frankie wants a women’s team, but I didn’t know she was recruiting already.” Frankie frowns. How does Jasmine know that?
“Is she? ”
“No,” Jasmine replies. “Well, I don’t know, I just meant why would anyone here ask me out when I’ve been so clear that I only like women?”
“You’re hot and men are annoying,” he replies. True! Kai hasn’t asked her out, because he keeps texting Frankie telling her to ask her out. Still, Frankie doesn’t like it.
“True. Well, I only have eyes for one team member, and I’m not a hundred percent on that yet.”
Oh. Frankie’s chest caves in and she slinks back into her office.
Who the fuck does Jasmine like? Last week, she could have convinced herself Jasmine was talking about her.
Now, they haven’t spoken at all. God, if they were friends she could ask, but she’s not sure how she’d make her voice light and airy when she did.
Frankie sulks, but she sulks near her office door so she sees the moment Jasmine comes out of the changing in shorts that should be illegal. Sure, Frankie has seen people in these shorts all the time. But it’s Jasmine. She’s had her thighs against her. God, Frankie’s going insane.
“Mali, what is this?” Jasmine asks. She’s trapped, her arms up to her shoulders, in what can only be a child’s top. Mali laughs, bending over at her waist as she looks through her desk drawer.
“Frank,” Mali calls out.
“Mali, I can’t breathe,” Jasmine wheezes out. Her stomach is out, and Frankie is hypnotised.
“Wait, wait I’m finding out,” Mali says with a laugh. “Frankie!”
“Oh,” Frankie responds, she holds Jasmine’s elbow as she pulls her into her office. “I’ve got one.” She closes the door and rifles through her draws. Frankie always has spare clothes because she’s not about to wear any of the men’s uniforms. Gross. She picks a top with her name on.
“Here.”
“Oh, thanks,” Jasmine replies, she takes the top but then she frowns. “I can’t move my arms. I think I’m stuck. ”
Frankie smiles, taking the top back off her. “Lift up.” Jasmine does, and it’s not until Frankie’s knuckles graze against her ribcage, that she thinks this might be a step too far.
“Uh,” she starts as Jasmine’s bra comes into view. It’s not the fancy ones she’s been picturing her in. Frankie knows what she looks like under her clothes. She’s almost salivating—God, she’s no better than a man.
“Do you want me to get Mali?” Frankie asks.
Jasmine blinks, frowns, then she shakes her head.
Frankie raises her eyes to the ceiling and Jasmine lifts her arms all the way up.
Frankie steps closer to be able to get the top off her arms because Jasmine is taller than her.
That’s the only reason they’re nose to nose when Jasmine’s arms fall back down.
Frankie breathes her in. She always smells so good. Frankie wonders what would have happened had she stayed that night. Had she texted her immediately. Had she done anything Jasmine clearly wanted her to do. Would they be friends? Would she kiss her now?
“Uhm, here,” Frankie says, taking a large step back to grab the top from her desk.
She doesn’t linger on Jasmine even if it kills her not too.
The curve of her hips and the soft skin of her waist. Frankie doesn’t need to look right now to have the image painted in her mind, but God, does she want too.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
“And thanks for letting us use the field.” Jasmine’s voice is shyer than usual.
Frankie nods. “I think you might be better than the lads at the moment.”
Jasmine finally pulls the top all the way down, though it’s the smallest bit too short. Her stomach is still out. God, she’s like a siren. Frankie would follow her into the deep if she asked her too.
“It’s not going well?” Jasmine pulls her hair out of her collar and then looks over at Frankie. She’s so pretty it’s stupid. Jasmine looks at her all over and Frankie tries not to follow her eyes. Maybe she needs to readjust her top or something.
“You look nice,” Jasmine says when Frankie doesn’t answer her question. God, how is she so kind all the time? Frankie hasn’t managed to get her out of her mind since, let alone work up the courage to talk to her. And here Jasmine is, not whacking her in the larynx the moment she saw her.
Frankie frowns, looking down at her shorts and trainers. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she replies. She smiles slightly, and then goes to leave and Frankie panics. There’s no part of her that thinks Jasmine wants to talk to her, but Frankie wants her to know that she wants to talk to her the most.
“It’s not going well,” Frankie says quickly. “Uhm, training and the team I mean.”
“How come?” Jasmine asks. She perches her bum on the edge of the cabinets. She’s a little shorter than Frankie now.
Frankie sighs. “I don’t know. We were so good last season. We were so good at the start of this season. But now we’re almost halfway and we’re in third. I can’t tell if it’s the nerves of getting to the championship, or complacency because everyone thinks that it’s a sure thing.”
“Frank, you’re a game down,” Jasmine says, her head tilted.
“If you win today, you’re in second. You’ve only lost two games.
That’s not bad, the other teams just got a little lucky.
They’re both been in this league longer than you.
” Frankie wonders if Jasmine looked her up again.
Maybe that’s how she knows about the women’s team and the rest of the teams. Maybe Marcel told her.
Frankie chews on her lip. Jasmine is right. “Do you think we could do it?”
Jasmine shrugs. “I think you could do anything.”
There’s a lightness to her chest when Jasmine answers with ease .
“Do you want me to listen, or do you want me to say something?” Jasmine asks.
“Say something.”
“Not progressing to the championship this year is not losing. Coming in third, fourth, fifth, in an entirely new league with better teams than you’ve ever played, in your third year as a team, is not losing.”
Frankie sighs. “I know.”
“There’s a ton of pressure on you. More so than there would be if you were a mediocre white man, but you’re not. You’re Frankie Adebayo.”
Frankie hums with a smile. “Frankie Bolanile Olúwa Adebayo.”
Jasmine smiles brightly. “You’re Frankie Bolanile Olúwa Adebayo. You thrive under a little pressure.”
“You think?”
“Mhm. I think it’s the reason you’re as good as you are. You need competition.”
“I’m not competitive.”
Jasmine snorts. “Liar.”
“I am not.”
Jasmine raises her eyebrow. “You are a professional rugby player and you refused to let me tackle you.”
Frankie laughs. “It was instinct!” Jasmine smiles and Frankie wonders if they’re okay now. Even if she thinks about the way Jasmine’s hand shook against the kettle as Frankie walked past her to leave.
Then, Jasmine smiles a little. She swallows, tucking her lip between her teeth. “I’m going to go lift Mali up now. If I fall to the ground just leave me there.”
Frankie truly tries to coach. The championship is important to them. Figuring out why Kai is so hellbent on keeping M’Baku off the team is important to them. Watching Jasmine line up on the other end of the pitch is the most important thing to her.
Frankie misses Kai foul Zach. To be fair, Zach almost misses it too because Mali is also on the pitch. On the other side of the pitch but the distance is useless. Frankie would see them anyway. There’s too much purple hair and way too much Jasmine’s legs for her to not be looking in that direction.
“Wait,” Mali shouts with a laugh. If Frankie had any sense, she’d ask them to move further away.
Even though she said they could use it. Jasmine jumps onto Mali’s back and Mali runs.
About five meters then her knees give out and she falls to the ground.
Frankie hears them laughing moments later but she watches Zach’s hands clench.
“Lads, run it again,” Frankie says. It takes them a moment, but they get into position. They’re waiting for Frankie to blow the whistle but Jasmine’s about to pick Mali up by her shorts and Frankie needs to watch it. It would be a crime against humanity to not watch it.
Kai throws the ball anyway, and Frankie is supposed to be watching the technique, but her eyes are trained on Jasmine’s thighs. The way she tenses as she gets ready to lift Mali into the air. She’s so fucking sexy.
Jasmine is stronger than she looks. She threads her hands through the sides of Mali’s shorts, and she lifts her up. Mali floats above Jasmine’s head with a squeal. Mali’s whole arse is out, and Frankie can only think about Jasmine’s jaw.
“We could totally catch it!” Mali says as Jasmine deposits her on the floor.
Frankie watches Zach walk over in her peripheral vision.
“No. ”