Do You Love Me - Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
"Do you love me?"
Frankie froze, her left foot hanging in midair as she moved to enter her bedroom. The bag of potato chips she'd snagged from Opal's cupboard to snack on crinkled in her suddenly shaking hands. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
She looked like a tiny rabbit spotted by a big scary predator whose teeth were bared and seconds away from pouncing.
Bianca didn't notice, her back turned to the shorter girl as she shuffled through the folder of papers. She'd stopped by, wanting to hang out with Frankie after school. Frankie'd offered to grab some food while Bianca hurried through whatever small amount of homework she had. Which explained why she was hunched over the desk.
It did not explain her asking that question the second Frankie scurried back with the half eaten bag of sour cream and onion chips that Petey would no doubt be looking for in about an hour.
Frankie tried to blink, but she couldn't move. The very instant the words Bianca hummed registered in her head, it was like everything stopped. If she could think, she'd probably worry about if she was breathing or not.
But, her brain had shut down.
Then, it jumped to back to life with a vengeance.
Love?
Bianca asked if she loved her.
Had...had she done something to...she couldn't...it wasn't like...Vanessa would...
Dozens of thoughts swept through Frankie's mind, a ruckus of confusion and terror. Why would Bianca ask that?
Frankie didn't know how to love. She never would love anyone. Ever. It wasn't something she was capable of.
And Bianca knew that.
Right?
"B-Bianca?" slipped from her mouth in a stunted whisper.
"Do you love me?" Bianca hummed again.
Frankie nearly fell into the wall.
Oh man, this wasn't happening. It wasn't. Not at all. No. Because Frankie Stone didn't deal with this kind of stuff. She didn't do feelings or sappy emotions. Just because she wanted to see Bianca all the time and was blowing off her assignments from Proteus to be close to her didn't mean anything. It didn't mean anything that the best night she ever had was spent wrapped in Bianca's arms, and it really didn't matter that all she wanted to do was kiss Bianca senseless when she saw her on Opal's doorstep earlier.
Frankie choked, her legs wobbling.
She should get out of there. Run. But, she couldn't move.
She wanted to say no...but she couldn't.
Love?
Her chest felt like it was going to explode and her stomach felt like she'd just gotten off the world's worst spinning upside down rollercoaster.
It couldn't be love. It just couldn't.
"Now that I can d..aaa..nce." Bianca sung, pushing back her curtain of silky locks to reveal the earbuds plugged in her ears. She glanced over and smiled when she spotted her girlfriend, "Hey!" She frowned and tugged the buds from her ears when she noticed the look on the blonde's face, "What's wrong?"
Frankie stared at her.