Re-Play

Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, and Jess Britain is God.

All crappy formatting is contributed by the site...why won't it just let me do what I want?! D:

Mini's look of slight hesitancy melts as their eyes lock again, and like nothing else matters much, or as urgently, she stands up baring a small smile. To hell with it; tonight wasn't going to be about her paranoia or about Nick, or even about how she looks because she already knows that she looks like a total head-case; bright orange as the sun.

Yet, under the filtered light in the cramped underground parkade, Mini couldn't stop her lips from forming a small smile. And when Frankie leans in and whispers into the shell of her ear, "You look beautiful tonight," Mini's orange face turns a shade darker.

. . .

Mathew, she always calls him Mathew now. Never Matt.

At first she had called him stranger. He had come out of the tall grass like a predator hunting for game, tracking for anything that caught his interest. The top of the gollock reflected the dying sun and shone brightly into his dark brown eyes. The first thought that escaped her mind was a question of whether he was safe or not.

"You are so beautiful," the frankness of his words made her hold her breath. Fairytales weren't real, this was the 21st century; with a heavy heart she held his gaze. They stood motionless in the plain. Frankie too afraid to discover if he really was a hunter or something else; too on the fence of whether she wanted to be chased or not. After a lingering stare, he stalked away.

A slow, steady stream of air deflates from her tightened chest. She had never been called beautiful before… her heart continued to race.

. . .

Kiss her. Kiss her. Kiss-

Frankie looked away and shyly smiled up at the skyline, scared to see whatever would be on Mini's face. Because Mini absolutely terrified her, to the core of her bones, and no ones ever done that. No ones' ever tried.

. . .

Don't leave me, please don't.

"Frankie I'm just trying to protect you!" And protect myself. Save you from the mistakes that my mum's been warning me from since I was seven and barely even knew what the word penis meant; since the day my dad disappeared for good.

Yet Frankie shakes her head, like she's disappointed. Then, with a final glare, she turns away. Suddenly flashes of the father she had never met or seen consume her consciousness. She stands there, numb, and watch as the only girl that's ever meant anything to her leave.

. . .

"Frankie …did he hurt you?" She's not asking about her redden knees or scrapped ankles; not the mess of twigs in her cropped hair, Mini means her heart. Did he hurt her heart? Frankie doesn't know, not yet, it was too soon to know for certain.

"I just wanted to feel normal," doesn't everyone? Even the freak with combat boots: even she wanted to live the happily ever after fairytale dream. Was that okay?

In the end, Mini pulls away and stares down at her with hurt.

As the days follow, Frankie learns that normal wasn't at all what she was looking for, and what she wants is no longer speaking to her.

. . .

"Hey," He says, serious and focused.

Frankie can't help but feel a little like a cornered animal. Ever since the fiasco in the woods; the hurtful stares that Liv toss; the heavy knot of regret, she hasn't been the same. In fact, she feels very unlike herself. Between dry lips, she croaks out a forced 'Hi'.

He slips closer, occupying the same beside her on the bench, "That day in the woods… I'm sorry."

She swallows in discomfort. She doesn't want to have this talk -ever. Yet, it's all stormy eyes and planted lips when she spares a look up towards Matthew, and she knows that she is trapped as much as he is determined. "Okay."

The boy doesn't freeze at her lack of response. He doesn't even blink, "Look, I don't know why, even when I'm with her," Instantly images of Liv slip into both their minds, "I still can't help but wonder. Wonder whether you're okay, or ...happy."

Frankie knows a cry for help, she's cried for one enough times to be certain. But she isn't the kind that can save someone, not when she's barely keeping her head afloat above the waters herself. Liv's stronger than her; Liv can save Matthew. "Matthew, go home." Go find Liv.

It only takes him a moment before he gets it and nods slowly, "Alright Frankie, alright."

Frankie didn't know it until it was too late, but the stranger that stalked her out in the plains was only a boy who was just as lost as she was. They were both playing with fake guns, showing off fake bravos.

. . .

It's funny how they always catch each other alone. Lonesome in a room so jam packed, full of people. Every party they magnet into the corners of the room together. The stereo becomes background noise, and nothing, none of it is important. The school year is long forgotten and the field that they wrestled in is so far from their minds, they filter through like broken film strips. The shotgun wedding had been crazy and Frankie's knees still sting from invisible scraps, yet she feels happy.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" Her voice like little huffs of air that fade into the midnight sky, is faint and just barely audible over the pounding bass-line.

Frankie finds herself nodding, had it been a few months ago, she would've scoffed at the idea of someone like Mini being her best mate. Yet, there they were. Like during the homecoming dance, they were segregated from the rest of the world, somehow like misplaced puzzle pieces, unable to fit in with anyone else correctly. "Yeah, but you know, it's kind of nice."

Mini smiles, "You think so?"

She knows that Mini's bating her. The blonde's waited all summer long for her to admit her feelings. Frankie swallows slowly, afraid to choke on her own words. "Mini, I, I-"

A warm pair of soft lips envelope her own, chasing her breath away. Suddenly words don't seem so important anymore as she presses her lips closer, tugging for subsistence.

The unspoken words are louder than her stuttering mess; it's enough to cause Mini to smile into their kiss.

Turns out, loving Mini was better than anything normal.

.

.

.

Author's note: I'm done. I kind of lost vision near the end, /blah/. Better than nothing, right?

p.s: I know I messed up tenses and my grammar in general is just …horrible. Forgive me.