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

tomorrow. I did not know about this.”
My stomach drops. That was not supposed to get out. A furious blush crawls
up my throat to my cheeks. This is one of the disadvantages of having reddish
hair. Dad and Ziggy, as the fellow gingers in the family, empathize. You can’t
hide your emotions to save your life—you wear them on your skin.
I swallow nervously and slowly sit up. “Who told you that?”
“That is irrelevant.” Frankie leans on her cane and gives me a stern glare.
“This was almost a huge missed opportunity. What were you thinking, keeping it
from me? Do you know how many ideas I have? In the five minutes since I’ve
known, I already—”
“Frankie.” I lean forward, elbows on my knees. With her height, and because
she’s right next to the bench, we’re eye to eye, our noses nearly touching.
For just a second, her eyes lock with mine, slivers of bronze and emerald
disappearing as her pupils expand. She blinks, takes a step back, and clears her
throat. “What?”
“Frankie, that part of my world…it’s private.”
“Why?” She tips her head like I’m genuinely confusing her. Like she doesn’t
understand the discrepancy most people would see between who I am here—
former Rookie of the Year, alternate captain, Viking on ice—and the part of me
that still nerds out on Shakespeare and poetry readings.
“I’m not ashamed of them or my interests, but some of those guys, they’re
not into the camera and the spotlight. They’re dorks like me, who find any kind
of undue attention too reminiscent of the kind of attention they got in the past.”
Frankie steps closer. “Zenzero, are you telling me that you were a nerd in
high school? That you had dorky friends?”
“Yes.”
She gives me a rare smile, and the dimple pops out. God help me, not the
dimple right now.
“Are you saying…” Her eyes search mine. “Are you serious? You? You were
teased in high school? You were—”
“A misfit. Yeah. And not all of my Shakespeare Club necessarily moved out
of that demographic. I don’t want to make them uncomfortable, okay?”
Frankie covers her mouth. “Okay.” It comes out muffled.
“Are you laughing at me?”
She shakes her head. “I’m dying of adorkableness.” At least that’s what I
think she mumbles.
I don’t know whether to be offended or amused. “Frankie, how long have
you known me? Do I not have weirdsmobile written across my forehead?”
She snorts behind her hand. Another shake of her head.