Invisible String #2
“No, Frankie, you—” she laughs, wiping tears from her eyes.
“My life is a mess, a complete fucking mess! I have people following me everywhere I go, I have Cole trying to tear me down one day and weasel his way back in the next. Fuck, I can’t even breathe without it winding up on some fucking gossip page. ”
“I can handle it.”
She laughs again, the seeming absurdity of the situation getting to her.
“Baby, they’ll pick you apart. You won’t ever have real privacy again, just because you’re with me, and you won’t even get a say.”
“That’s already happened, Daph.” I stroke her cheek. “And look at me, I’m fine! Sure, it sucks, but I promise you… It’s all just noise to me. You know why?”
She shakes her head, wiping away more tears and leaving one last little smear of paint behind.
“Because I have you. As long as that’s true, none of this stuff matters to me. Not one bit.”
“I think— I think it’ll just be better if I let Audrey run this place and go back home.”
“No.”
The single word leaves my lips, cool and sturdy, like it’s already been etched in stone.
“What do you mean, no?” Her brow scrunches up, her face twisting into a mix of disbelief and frustration. “You don’t get to tell me no. It’s my life, Frankie, and you don’t get to tell me how to live it just because we have some fake relationship!”
She’s right, of course, no matter how much the words sting.
It’s her life, and she has every right to tell me to fuck right off, that she’s heading back to New York and taking all the new memories we’ve made with her.
She has every right to shut them all away in a vault and never think about them again.
But regardless of how selfish it may be, there’s no way in hell I’m going to lose her twice in a lifetime. Not without a fight.
I take a deep breath, grasping her paint-covered hand and placing it over my heart.
“Tell me what you feel.”
She glares at me, a strange sort of anger blazing in her eyes, but the longer she stares, the more I see it flicker and wane.
“Does that feel fake to you?”
Her eyes drop down, lingering on her own hand as she feels the rhythm of my heartbeat.
“No,” she mutters. “But that’s what scares me.”
“Firecracker, I’ve spent the last 17 years loving you in shades of grey, locked up in memories like a long-abandoned photo album, and… I just can’t do that anymore.”
“Frankie—”
“I admit, I was hurt when you left, but I did accept it. I planned to just move on, and in a lot of ways I did. But nobody ever got as close to me as you. I put up so many fucking walls after you left, and you’ve kicked down every single one without even trying.”
I free her hand.
“I want you, and all the strings that come along with loving you. I want us to weave them into something beautiful, together.”
She stares, silent again, just like the last time.
And just like the last time, I can’t stop the words from tumbling out.
“I love you, Daphne. I’ve loved you my whole life, and if you don’t love me back that’s—”
She raises a single finger, shakily placing it on my lips.
“I do,” she chokes. “I do, Frankie, I do. I’m just… really fucking scared.”
I blink, a mix of giddiness and confusion flooding my brain all at once.
“What are you so scared of?”
“I’m always the one who leaves, and I’m always the one who makes shit complicated.
And sure, I guess I knew this was complicated to begin with, but.
..” She tips her head back, staring at the ceiling as she grasps the medallion around her neck.
“It’s all too… fragile. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you again.
So can’t we just… I don’t know, can’t we just—”
“Daph, there are probably going to be hard days, hard weeks… hell, maybe even hard years, but that’s just how things work, isn’t it? Things being tough, things being complicated… none of that matters to me. As long as you love me, I’d follow you anywhere.”
“But your job, Frankie. Your life, your home… it’s all here, and mine’s all the way in New York. Fuck, even back there I never even know how long I’ll be around.”
“It doesn’t matter. None of it. Whatever it is, we’ll make it work.” I tilt my head, giving her the smallest little smirk. “I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m pretty fucking smart.”
Daphne just stares at me.
She stares and stares, caught with a look of pure bewilderment on her face. Like she just can’t figure out what in the world is wrong with me.
And then, finally, she shakes her head, bursting into laughter.
“Okay.”
“O— Okay?” I ask, more than a little shocked at her sudden turn.
She rubs her nose against mine, and I can feel the tears starting up all over again.
“Yeah.” She mumbles. “I said okay.”
And so I hold her there in silence, for a long long while.
Or maybe it isn’t long at all before her words come, barely louder than a whisper.
“I love you, Goldilocks.”
And mine in response, slipping from my lips easier than they ever have before.
“Love you back, Firecracker.”
Because I always have.
“And I always will.”