Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

and large. So much so, one might call it viral.”
“Give me that,” she mutters. Snatching the phone out of my hand, Frankie
spins it in her grip.
“Can’t be that bad…” Color drains from her face. “Okay. It’s that bad.”
I bite my lip, trying not to give away that I really don’t care. Actually, I find
it funny. Frankie didn’t just loop my epic biff, she added a tiny gif of an umpire
and the words scrolling across the screen as he gives the signal: SAFE!
It’s clever. I get why everyone loves it. I look just like a baseball player
sliding into home plate. Except I scored a goal to win a playoff series. And
hockey’s about eight hundred times more interesting and challenging than
baseball. But I digress.
Frankie swallows thickly, her fingers drumming on the table. “Ren, I’m
sorry, I never—”
I set a hand over her fidgeting fingers. My thumb gentles her palm, hidden
beneath my hand, so no one can see the intimacy of that gesture. “I don’t care. I
was just giving you a hard time.”
When she blinks up at me, her lashes are wet. “I feel terrible. You said you
were a huge nerdsmobile in school, which I can only assume means you got
made fun of a lot—”
“I mean, not a lot—”
“And here I am, making something that got a laugh at your expense—”
“Frankie.” I squeeze her hand gently, somewhat stunned by the emotionality
of her response. The Frankie I know would have rolled her eyes and told me
“tough nuggets.” “I seriously don’t care. I have a pretty nice life. If a few social
media ploys happen to involve laughing at me, my love of the game and the
lifestyle it affords me more than make up for it.”
Finally, Frankie seems to relax. Her color comes back a bit in her cheeks,
and her shoulders drop. “Okay.”
“Good.” I let go of her hand. Taking a drink of water, I grin at her over my
glass. “Plus, I did score to win the series. I mean that fall was practically heroic.”
Her lips twitch. “Heroic. Yeah.”
I break and laugh, lifting my hoodie to cover my mouth. Frankie’s face
breaks into a wide grin that she covers with her hand.
But not fast enough. For just a split second, I catch that bright, unbridled
Frankie smile. And it’s worth every horrible meme at my expense that she could
ever devise.
As our laughter dies away, I notice there are a few people staring at me—us
—all of whom are not so covertly taking video or snapping photos.
Which reminds me of something. “Francesca.”