(Exactly!)
“Alright.” he nodded, leaving the keys in the ignition and the engine running as he started to open the door. “Be sure to lock the doors while I'm gone. I’ll be right back.” he smiled back before, very impulsively and without thinking about what he was doing, he leaned over and quickly kissed her cheek. In less than a second, Frankie's face had turned so red that his ears were burning as got out of the car. His hands shook as he fumbled with the lock on the trunk to get his laundry, trying to figure out what had possessed him to do that.
"I wil-," Selina started to answer, a playful smile on her face before Frankie leaned over and kissed her cheek. It was sudden enough that she didn't register it immediately, but a moment later, she paused, replaying the moment in her mind. By that time, Frankie had left the car, but that didn't stop Selina's face from growing bright red. She didn't know much about human courting, but she knew that a kiss was special, even just a kiss on the cheek. Did Frankie like her?
She sat back in her seat as she thought, her smile reappearing as she slipped into a happy daze. Before she forgot, she locked the doors of the car, then went back to internally freaking out over what had happened, both curious and embarrassed.
By the time he made it into the building, Frankie had managed to get his blush down from near neon red to bright pink. He still didn't have an answer for why he did that but… It just felt natural. And nice. It had never quite felt like that with anyone else before. Especially not even with Linda… And this had just been on the cheek! The question of how Selina’s lips felt came to his mind before he could stop it, renewing the redness as he spoke to the clerk.
Normally, most laundromats were self-serve but he was able to strike a good deal. Though, judging by the way he wagged his eyebrows, Frankie was sure the other man had the wrong idea based on the color of his face. He sighed as he walked back out and let himself get some air before heading back to the car.
It took Selina quite a while to process what happened, but by the time Frankie got back to the car, she had processed it and had even managed to get the blush from her cheeks die down. When she spotted Frankie, she unlocked the car doors, meeting his eyes with a soft smile. Her first thought was to ask about the kiss, but her second was to let him bring it up. He was the one who had leaned over to kiss her, but she could genuinely ask without making the situation too weird. "So…" She trailed off when he got into the car, fighting herself internally about the situation.
Frankie let out a slow deep breath before he met Selena’s smile and climbed back in his car. “Thanks.” he said out of habit when she unlocked the door for him. However, when she started talking about… that, his face started turning red again. “Uhh, yeah. I… I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with… when I… did that.” he apologized. “I… I don't have an excuse.”
"It startled me…but I wasn't uncomfortable," She admitted, feeling herself blush again as she continued, "…I liked it." Selina wasn't sure why she felt embarrassed admitting that she liked that. She usually had no issues with letting her emotions show. "But anyway, what else do we have to do before the museum?" Tipping her head in question, she willed her blush to fade, though it stayed present on her face.
Frankie's eyes widened as her words echoed in his ears. “You.. you did? You liked it?” he asked in shock. “You didn't mind that I… kissed you?” he could feel the blood rushing back to his face. It wasn't that he thought he was bad at kissing, it was just that his heart was racing at the thought that she felt the same way he did about it. “Uhh… We, we don't have to do anything else. We can just head over if you want.”
“No, I didn’t mind…I’ve never been kissed before, but I liked it,” She said, not meeting his eyes while her face turned a delightful shade of crimson. “It felt nice. As the ranger described the feeling..’it gave me butterflies’.” Selina glanced up at Frankie, a tiny, embarrassed smile on her face. She wanted to go to the museum, but her mind was far from that. All she could think about again was the kiss. “Whenever you’re ready, we can head there.”
“You’ve never… Oh, boy.” he sighed, resting his forehead against the steering wheel. It hadn't been a full-on mouth-to-mouth kiss so it wasn't as if he had stolen her actual first kiss… but it still made his ears burn just thinking about it. “It gave me butterflies too.” he chuckled softly, glancing back over at her as he sat back up. “I mean… I’ve kissed, uh, other girls before but that… felt really nice.” he admitted, blushing brightly as he buckled up and started pulling out of the parking lot.
She checked that she was still buckled as he backed out of the parking lot, mostly just to give herself something to do. Everything she wanted to talk about on the drive over had vanished when he had kissed her, and so she settled into relative silence as he drove. She was more than content with watching the cars out the window, or talk if there was anything brought up.
Frankie sighed a little as he drove. A part of him still wanted to talk more about his impulsive act of affection… He just didn't know what to say or how to say it. At least she wasn't offended by it. he assured himself, casting a quick glance at her. “Uh… Did you find anything you liked on the radio?” he asked as he awkwardly tried to change the topic.
She replied without taking her eyes off the window, though she sounded happy, "I did, actually I found a few things I liked. I changed the radio back to what you had playing once you got back so I didn't mess anything up." Selina had tentatively messed with the radio, finding she enjoyed the upbeat songs, and particularly disliked the people that talked between songs to sell something.
“I’m glad to hear that.” he smiled softly as he looked back at the road. “But you didn't have to change the channel back for my sake. If you found something you like, you can leave it on. Or…” Frankie smirked as he opened the armrest compartment between them, revealing a large collection of CDs. “If you recognize anything in here, we can skip out on the commercials.” he offered.
(Sorry for the wait on a response!)
Selina glanced over at Frankie, then at the collection of CDs sitting in the compartment between them. Her eyes lit up and she peered in at the discs. "The ranger showed us these before. They play music, like on the radio, right?" Gently, she pulled one out, skimming the title before putting it back, choosing another one. This one she recognized, or at least it looked similar to one she had seen. "Can we play this one? It's a band called…Green Day?" She read out the title of the CD, then looked at him, excitement in her eyes at the prospect of music without ads. Music was one thing she loved that humans had made, songs that sounded as good as the sounds of the forest, ready to play anytime.
(It's alright. It wasn't really that long.)
Frankie smiled as he caught her expression out of the corner of his eye. “That’s right. Music you can listen to over and over again without any interruptions.” he confirmed. His taste in music was pretty varied and, honestly, it was his second passion after his love for nature. “Good choice. Do you know how to put it on?” he asked, willing to help if she needed it.
(Merry Christmas!!)
“I think so…or at least I can try,” She replied, smiling. She didn’t want to direct his attention away from the road if he needed to focus, and she was mostly sure she could figure out how to start it playing. Quickly, she skimmed over the buttons on the dash, frowning as she tried to look for the eject button. After a moment she found it, and she smiled in success, pressing the button and waiting to see if a disk came out. Nothing did, and so she gently put the new disk at the opening, carefully pushing it in until the machine caught on and ate it.
(Merry Christmas!!)
Frankie smiled, keeping his eyes on the road, though he kept glancing over to see if she needed any help. Though he was impressed that she didn't actually didn't need any and was more than able to manage without him interfering. It may have been a silly thought but he wasn't sure how many times she’d handled CDs or a radio before. But his smile grew as the music started.
Satisfied that she had gotten it working, Selina leaned back in her seat with pride. Moments later music came out of the car and she grinned, looking over at Frankie as if to silently tell him he had figured it out. She had watched people do it before, specifically the ranger, and it had just been a thing of remembering what he had done. “Is this music alright?”
Frankie chuckled a little as he noticed her posture. “This is more than alright.” he assured her. “I don't really have a lot of music that I don't like. I may not be much of a musician but I love music. Except maybe one or two genres.” he admitted with a shrug.
“I don’t know what kinds of music I do or don’t like, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out as I listen to things,” She replied, wondering just how much music someone would have to listen to to find something they didn’t like. “What kinds of music don’t you like?”
It was just a bit of conversation to keep things from getting too quiet. She liked to look out the window and watch things, but now she wanted to talk with him before the library.
“Well, I’m sure we can figure out more music you like together.” Frankie smiled, a little shyly. “I’ve got quite a collection.” he said, referring to all the CDs he had with him. “As for what I don’t like… Honestly, I'm not a big fan of certain rap or electronic. You know, loud rhythmic thumping club music. Not that there's anything wrong with any of them, it's just low on my personal list.” he admitted.
Selina wasn't quite sure what either of those types of music sounded like, but she was sure Frankie had a good reason for not liking them. "I'd like to find out what kinds of music I like, if I can. How do you find out if you don't like them? Will you know if you don't? Like I know that I like this type of music?" She gestured to the car and the CD that was playing. The song that was playing was one she enjoyed listening to. It sounded good to her, in a way she couldn't exactly explain.
Frankie nodded, not taking his eyes off the road. “I’d be happy to help you make those discoveries. And yeah, it's kinda like that. There are some that you'll know you like, like this one, but there are some that you’ll know you don’t like… But there are also some that just grow on you and you learn to, at least, enjoy it.” he explained. “Like me and opera for example. I appreciate it and I don't hate it but it took me a while to get there.”
She nodded, mostly understanding what he was saying. "Well, on the way back to my pack I could listen to some different music that you have and I can see if I like it?" She suggested, keeping her eyes focused outside of the car as she tried to look for the museum. Selina wasn't completely sure what the building would look like, but she figured she would know when she saw it. Or she hoped she would at least. "How many kinds of music are there?"
“You can put in any of my CDs that you want anytime you're in my car.” he assured her with a small chuckle. “Oh, wow… I'm honestly not sure how many there are but I know it's a lot. I’d even guess that there’s as many types of music as there are genres of literature.” Frankie shrugged as he spotted the museum just ahead of them.
"Maybe I won't be able to listen to all of them then," She decided, though she didn't seem terribly put down with the information. If anything, she seemed more curious. "Do you have a favorite song?" Selina asked, resting her head against the back of the seat. A building came into view that she had a gut feeling was the museum and she perked up. Still, she didn't ask if that was their stop, mostly from fear of being wrong and having to wait longer to reach the museum.
“Maybe not.” Frankie agreed with a small chuckle. “But you can listen to as many as you want while we're… spending time together.” he told her with a faint blush. “Umm… Favorite song. Geez, I don't know. I like a lot of songs.” he admitted, shrugging as he tried to think of, at least, one. Though he smiled as he turned into the museum parking lot. It didn't look very crowded fortunately and hopefully that would mean they could wander around more. “You ready?”
She smiled, her eyes lighting up as they pulled into the parking lot. "I'm more than ready," Selina said, practially ready to leap out of the car as soon as they were parked. Seeing the outside of the museum was exciting enough and she was sure whatever was inside would be even more exciting. "Are you ready?" She asked, reigning in her excitement as she looked over at Frankie, smiling brightly.
Frankie laughed a little as he turned off his car and opened the door. “I’m ready. And I can tell you are too.” he smiled, climbing out to meet her in front of the car. “Looks like this is a history museum so there'll be a lot of interesting stuff to look at.” he said as he looked at the large building. Really, it looked like any other museum he’d seen but art museums always seemed to be newer and not so weathered, not like they had seen the world they held inside.
"Let's get going then, there's so much to see!" Selina said, reaching out to grab Frankie's hand with the same bright smile. Even with the kiss incident earlier, she seemed more than happy to be around Frankie, practically tugging him towards the entrance to the building. Just from the outside of the building, the museum looked interesting, and she was eager to learn about human history.
