Always Something More

“Frankie? What’s happening?” Tala asked as their friend returned from out of the city’s alleys with a reddened face, gripping her phone tightly. “Did Miyano say anything?”

“A lot of things.” She shook her head. “But I didn’t agree with many of them.”

Katie was still, watching her sister’s face. She’d seen this expression before.

Frankie went up to face Nate.

“You’re out here all alone. You can’t talk to your aunt. This creepy park lady’s watching you like a hawk.” She uttered, hands balled up defiantly. “And she- she seems to think this is what you want.”

The boy shuffled in place.

“I… I dunno. To be honest, this is the first time anyone’s cared about me enough to think about it that hard. As for what I want… well… isn’t this enough? It was what I asked for… to be here, you know. Doesn’t feel right asking for anything more than tha-“

“Then you don’t gotta be the one to ask. Let me.”

Nate blinked. After watching the road for so long, he was honestly surprised to see just how passionate this person was- who he now recognized as a new friend.

“Will you let us hang out with you today? If not… just to spite Miyano.” She spoke her idol’s name with such contempt it was as if she was her greatest enemy.

“…Yeah, I won’t say no to that.” A smile appeared on the Canadian’s face, creeping its way into the limbo he’d been in and finally washing it away. “But I’ll be honest, I… I’ve done just about everything you can do in this park with just one person already.”

“…Oh.” The American hesitated.

“B-but… I think there might… be a lot more that I could see, with three whole people coming with me this time. And maybe even… the things I’ve done already… won’t be anything like what they were alone with friends.”

“A-Alright.” At last, Frankie smiled back. It felt as weird for her to be this open as it did to him, but both felt the warmth of happiness creeping inside them. “Katie?”

“Um, y-yeah?” Trying not to listen had only made the young woman hyper-aware of everything going on around her.

“I think this’ll be right up your alley, yeah? Wanna take the lead?”

“To… do what?”

“To go see the best things this park has to offer.” She smirked. “First off, who’s hungry?”