Dinner Date
Title: Dinner Date
Author: Fab_fan
Fandom: All My Children
Pairing: Bianca/Frankie
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not my characters
Summary: Bianca and Frankie have a dinner date at BJs.
The smell of freshly fried french fries and just off the grill hamburgers wafted in the air as Bianca reached for her glass of cola. It was a surprisingly slow night at BJs. Only a handful of tables were occupied, and the bartender was cleaning the counter with a bored expression. Bianca snagged the straw with her teeth and returned her eyes to the person sitting across from her. Frankie was sprawled out on the bench of the booth, feet kicked up beside Bianca on her seat. She looked tired. Bianca would have chalked it up to another long day at the Glam, but there was something in the brown eyes slowly being overtaken by drooping eyelids. This exhaustion wasn’t just from a hard day of work. Judging by the bluish tinge to the patches of skin just below her eyes and the slump of her shoulders, she would guess her girlfriend hadn’t slept at all the night before.
“Frankie?”
Her head jerked up, eyelashes snapping away from their resting placing against her face. “Huh?”
A frown marred her features, “Are you ok?”
“Fine.” Frankie absently scratched her head and sniffled. Her arms crossed over her chest.
“You sure? Because you look like you’re about to fall asleep in the middle of the restaurant.” To Bianca, she looked like a little kid up past her bedtime.
“No ‘m not.” Frankie mumbled. “ ‘Sides, slept in worse places.”
A sharp pain stabbed Bianca’s heart at the softly muttered words. She hated thinking of the other girl being forced to sneak into hotels or huddle on park benches. She silently vowed she would never let Frankie have to do that again. There would always be a place for Frankie to live - to be. She wasn’t alone anymore. There was someone who could take care of her, even if she acted like she didn’t need it. “Maybe we should get our food to go.”
“Why? I’m not tired.” Frankie forced her eyes to open completely. She shifted around a bit, rising up in her seat a fraction of an inch. “What’re you getting? Nachos?”
Bianca shook her head, “I was thinking fries.” Her teeth snagged her bottom lip worriedly, “I think I’m going to have them box it up. It’s getting late, and Opal mentioned you’re working again tomorrow.” Frankie was exhausted, and she didn’t want to worry about her feeling miserable tomorrow because she didn’t get enough sleep. She’d get their food to go and drop Frankie back at Opal’s. Frankie needed to sleep.
“Hey, wait.” A well-worn hand landed on her side of the table. Nimble fingertips reached for her across the smooth acrylic top, “Can’t we just stay here?”
A thought struck her, “Is there a reason why you don’t want to go back to Opal’s?” She gasped, “Has she made you leave?” Opal threatened to kick Frankie out when it was revealed Vanessa was her aunt, but Opal hadn’t gone through with it. Bianca thought the older woman had warmed up to Frankie’s presence in her home. That she even enjoyed Frankie’s company. She still allowed her to work at the Glam…unless there was something else Frankie wasn’t telling her. No, Frankie wasn’t lying to her. She saw her leave the business earlier that day when she was picking a few things up at the convenience store. Bianca wanted to go by and say hi, but Frankie was walking way too fast for her to even think about catching up. Now that she thought about it, Frankie was stumbling a bit with tiredness as she walked then too. And there had been this look on her face, a look she’d never seen Frankie wear before. It was like…resignation. Like something was happening and Frankie had no control over it but was forced to be ok with.
Like getting kicked out.
“What? No.” Frankie shook her head.
“Are you sure; because, you could tell me if she did, Frankie. We’ll find another place for you to stay. There’s the Pine Cone or Myrtle’s.” Myrtle would let Frankie stay. She had plenty of room and a mind of her own that wasn’t swayed necessarily by what other people said - such as Erica Kane. If Bianca asked her, she was sure Myrtle would be ok with Frankie taking up one of the rooms at the boarding house for a little while.
“Bianca, stop. Opal didn’t kick me out yet.”
She studied Frankie’s eyes, searching for the truth. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah,” Frankie sighed, “I’m not lying.”
“I know you’re not.” She could see it in her face. She could feel it in her soul. Somehow, whenever Frankie was lying about something really important, than she could feel it. “It just seemed like you really didn’t want to go back there.”
Frankie shrugged, “Not for a few hours.” Her head ducked down hiding her face as her voice dropped to a mumble, “I wanted to have dinner with you.”
The words were barely a whisper, but Bianca heard them in her heart. Her chest fluttered and her smile grew to cover her entire face. She gently placed her hand on top of Frankie’s and squeezed it tenderly, “I want to have dinner with you too, Frankie.”
Frankie’s free hand rubbed at her face, a tinge of red peeking out between her fingers and palm, “Are we ordering or what?”
“Yeah, we’re ordering.” Bianca inwardly giggled at the cuteness of her girlfriend while she waved down their waiter. She quickly ordered a basket of fries for them to share before he scurried away to resume flirting with the waitress by the bar. Bianca glanced back at Frankie, her smile falling slightly when she spotted the drooping eyelids once again, “Why don’t you take a short nap while we wait for the food? Rest your eyes.”
“Because I don’t need to.” Frankie rolled her eyes, “Only a nut tells their date to sleep through dinner.”
Bianca’s breath caught. Frankie said date. They were on a date. She knew this. Of course she knew this. They were together, after all. When a couple went out to a restaurant, it usually was a date. But, hearing someone else say it, especially her commitment-nervous girl, made butterflies take flight in her stomach. Composing herself, she idly began to trace the back of Frankie’s fingers, “I don’t want to be a nut.”
“This town is nutty enough without you becoming one of them.”
“You still look tired, though.”
“Guess you gotta keep me awake.”
Bianca rested her chin in her hand as the suggestiveness in the comment washed over her. She gingerly turned Frankie’s hand over, the tip of her finger following the faded creases and lines of her palm. Frankie bit the inside of her cheek at the tingling shooting from her palm and causing goosebumps up her arm. Bianca smirked and leaned forward. Her long hair was swept up for once, revealing her long sleek neck. Her hand moved from her chin to cup the side of her throat teasingly. “I guess I will.”
Frankie gulped at the throaty tone. She cleared her throat and plastered a smirk to hide how much the smoldering eyes staring at her affected her, “How you plan on doing that? Charades? Puppets? Breakdancing on the hood of your mom’s hotrod?”
Bianca didn’t say a word. Eyes firmly on her girlfriend, she watched Frankie subtly shudder as the edge of her short nail gleaned the soft underbelly of her ring finger before removing her hand completely. Frankie’s jaw clenched as she held in the small groan at the lost touch. Her fingers flexed unconsciously, missing the milky white hand. Bianca’s smirk grew. Slowly sliding her hand out of sight, her eyes twinkled at Frankie’s puzzled expression.
Frankie’s eyes shot open as delicate fingers probed the cuff of her jeans.
Bianca grasped the denim and pushed it up, letting her fingers land on the smooth skin of an ankle. She watched brown eyes darken as her fingertips slowly danced up the back of a calf, massaging the muscle with long slow strokes, inching higher with each caress. The sneakered foot next to her twitched as she gently scratched small patterns with the back of her nails.
Churning orbs fixated on Bianca’s face, flickering between her supple mouth and endless eyes. They didn’t look away. Not at the servers lazily ambling about. Not at the few customers gliding in and out of the door. They couldn’t. To them, nothing else existed in the entire world except for a lush sensual touch and inviting lips. They outlined the tender red flesh of Bianca’s mouth before falling down to the exposed column of her throat. They drank in the creamy skin, and the hand on the table shook, wanting to feel it, touch it, hold it. To grasp the back of Bianca’s neck and bring their mouths together. She had dreams about doing such a thing. In the few sparse seconds when her eyes would shut and she could drift off, Bianca was always there. Looking much like she was at that moment, all curves and alluring sexuality. Frankie found herself bending forward, her hand lifting toward the beautiful creature before her.
“Mary-Francis!”
BANG!
“Sonofa…” Frankie spat as her knee slammed into the tabletop. She grimaced as her legs fell off the seat beside Bianca, the joint throbbing painfully.
“Frankie! Are you ok?” Bianca immediately reached out to her.
“Oh dear, did you hurt yourself?” Vanessa asked sweetly. Too sweetly.
Frankie grit her teeth sarcastically, “No, why would you think that?”
Bianca scooted forward and captured Frankie’s hand.
“No need to take an attitude with me, Mary-Francis.” Vanessa huffed. “I was only worried about my niece.”
Frankie rolled her eyes, “Something you want?”
“I saw you two and thought I would say hello.”
Frankie scoffed as Bianca rubbed her thumb soothingly against her knuckles, “We don’t say hello. We’ve talked like, twice since I’ve been here. I don’t even think we said hello then, either.”
Vanessa fluttered about, “Well now, we are family dear. I’ve simply been…busy since you’ve arrived. I did invite you and Bianca to dinner which you refused to come to.”
Because she was evil incarnate, “We’ve been busy since I arrived.”
“Frankie,” Bianca whispered, catching her attention. The hand in hers was tense. More tense than from just hitting her knee.
Frankie looked at her and relaxed slightly, “We’re kind of in the middle of something, Vanessa.”
“I see that. You two looked like you were…enjoying yourselves.” The slight pause was accompanied by a glimmer in her eye that both girls caught. Bianca didn’t know what it meant, but Frankie did.
“Thanks for stopping by.” Frankie lifted her chin.
Vanessa ignored the brushoff, “Bianca dear, your mother must be so happy you’ve finally found someone. I know I’m very happy my lovely niece has found happiness.”
Bianca smiled politely at the woman, taken aback by the mention of her mom, “Yeah she’s…” angry, unhappy, crazed, hateful, “she’s something.”
“That’s wonderful. Considering how she’s been in the past, you know.”
Bianca’s smile dropped as Frankie glared at her aunt.
Vanessa turned to Frankie, “Well, I must be off. It was wonderful to see you both here together, though I didn’t expect to see you here. I was stopping by for a drink before my meeting tonight.”
Frankie read the look loud and clear. Vanessa loved to see Frankie with Bianca because, to her, it meant Frankie was working the con. Expect, there was one thing Vanessa wanted Frankie doing well more than supposedly screwing Bianca, both literally and figuratively. That something was the second half of the statement. The meeting that she was supposed to be going to, not Vanessa. The meeting that wasn’t a meeting at all. Not by normal standards, anyway. Normal people didn’t sneak around at night for a drug ring. Bianca wanted to know why she was so tired? It was because Proteus was working her like crazy from dusk till dawn. Not like she could actually say that, though.
“Bye, Vanessa.” Bianca watched Palmer’s wife stroll away, brows furrowing in confusion once she left, “That was a bit weird.”
“Welcome to my family.” Frankie deadpanned. She bit the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to go tonight. She wanted…she wanted to stay with Bianca. For one night she wanted to be normal. Be someone who simply went out to dinner with a girl she liked and kissed her goodbye before spending the rest of the night dreaming about her and secretly talking on the phone because Erica would put an end to that if she knew her teenager was up till 3am giggling with Frankie.
Bianca pulled her hand up to her lips, chastely kissing the backs of her fingers, “Our fries should be here soon.”
Frankie peeked at Vanessa. The drug lord was at the bar watching them. Swallowing, Frankie looked back at Bianca. She looked so beautiful. Amazing. Her heart skipped a beat just by looking at her.
“Frankie?” Bianca shifted under the appraising stare. A blush coated her cheeks and warmed her insides.
“You sure know how to wake someone up.” Frankie winked playfully.
Bianca chuckled, “I’ve had some practice.”
Frankie’s eyes sparked with jealousy, though she tried to play it off, “Have you? With that Sarah chick?”
Tangled their fingers together, “In my dreams.”
“Dreams?”
Bianca hummed, “Sometimes, I’ve dreamed about waking you up.”
“Not putting me to sleep?”
“I might have those, too.” Bianca responded demurely.
“Sounds interesting.”
“Oh, it is.”
“Here you are.” The server appeared, sliding the basket of fries in between them. “Anything else?”
“Yeah,” Frankie didn’t look away from the younger girl, “how about another basket and some more colas. Throw in a piece of chocolate cake, too. We’re gonna be here awhile.”
Bianca’s eyebrow rose as the server nodded and walked away, “We are?”
Frankie moved to the edge of her seat and grasped Bianca’s free hand, bringing both close to her, “If you want. I…” she shrugged, “I want to spend time with you tonight.”
Bianca beamed, “That sounds great, Frankie. I really want that, too.”
“Cool,” Frankie grinned crookedly, “because we need to clear something up. I heard you were a model once, and I think that’s something a girl should know if they’re dating you.”
“Frankie! Who told you that?” Bianca giggled.
“Come on, am I dating a model?”
“No!” that stunt had blown up in her mother’s face spectacularly. Whoever thought Enchantment could plan a campaign around her was sorely mistaken.
“You sure? Maybe we should have you do that runway walk thing to be certain.”
“Frankie, stop. I’m not a model. Believe me, I’m nowhere near being like that.”
Frankie’s face softened, “Nah, you’re right. You’re way prettier than them.”
Frankie ignored as Vanessa stormed out of the restaurant. She didn’t care. For once, she was going to be normal. She was going to have this date with Bianca.
Proteus would just have to deal with it.