*

I held it together until Carlos drove off and then I felt the emotions overflow and my tears came full force. I had had the worst day. In addition to getting thrown off my horse and then getting yelled at by one of the parents at the barn in front of a whole lesson, there were two boys at school trying to humiliate me every day and they had succeeded. They both spit in my food at lunch and I unknowingly ate it. Even the teachers looked at me like I was abnormal, like I did something wrong or disturbing. Gretchen was in the dumps too, and was getting bullied herself and she was my only friend at school.

"What's the matter?" came his smooth voice. I tried to swallow my sobs and wipe my eyes, but I knew Frankie had already seen me weeping in the entryway where I had collapsed against the front door. The final straw that caused my break down was Ivanka giving me the same look my teachers gave me and then telling me half my translation of the chapter I worked so hard to read was wrong and I wasn't even trying to learn. She gave me grief for a good thirty minutes instead of teaching me anything. I didn't even understand what I translated wrong.

"Nothing, I'm fine." I answered with my voice all full of tears. I felt like I was being a baby and knew I sounded like one too. Frankie knelt down to be eye-level with me.

"I can tell you're not fine." He argued, his eyebrows pressing down. "I hate to see you cry."

"Everyone hates to see people cry." My voice was gravelly and my sobs kept coming in painful waves along with a flood of tears.

"Well, it's absolutely heartbreaking to see such a pretty girl cry." He told me, his fingers softly moving the hair out of my face. It almost made me cry worse with how he treated me so nice. Why was he so nice to me? Does he treat everyone like this?

I kept trying to pull myself together, but I decided to give up and let the tears pour down my face, despite the gross booger-y mess I would become as a result.

"What happened?" he asked, moving to sit beside me.

I told Frankie all the awful things that had happened to me and by the time I was finished, I wasn't crying so hard anymore.

"You know, I got bullied in school too. I moved to the States in High school and you'd think having an accent would be a good thing, but it really just made kids laugh at me." He told me.

"I like your accent." I mumbled.

"I was always 'that weird German kid'. I still am sometimes. Whenever I meet people, they ask me where I'm from and I have to tell them. Every party... Every time I'm interviewed for something... Every new class... I've been trying to learn to speak like an American, but I'm either too British or I pronounce something in a German way. Very annoying."

"Not very many people know more than one language. I think whether you have accent or not, your speaking is fluent. There's a lot of things even natives pronounce incorrectly and there are dialects in England that are practically unintelligible." He laughed at my last sentiment.

"I guess you're right. At least most people can understand me."

"I don't even know why I'm getting picked on. Those boys at school have been targeting me, like I'm some weirdo. Do I look weird?" I asked, looking down at my hands.

"No, they're probably just jealous because you're prettier and smarter than anyone they've ever met." Frankie said with a shrug.

"You sound like Vati."

"Those boys don't see how hard you work and Ivanka is probably taking out whatever stress she has in her own life on you. That's not fair of her when you've probably got more pressure on you than Ivanka's ever had on her." I took a deep breath as I digested what he was saying and let my head fall to his shoulder absently. He put his arm around me and despite being uncomfortable against the door with my bag wedged half underneath me, I wanted to stay there forever with him.

*

"Mum!" Frankie said, hugging the woman that stood at the door. Christie joined me, looking nervous. She wanted to make a good impression on Frankie's parents, who were staying for a few days. She was wearing a blazer and some straight pants because she had a meeting with the Board of Directors at the barn and I looked like a filthy child compared to her, because I was covered head-to-toe in mud. My friends and I jumped some really high fences that day and we had all fallen off into the Spring mud. Wolf had also rolled in it and when I tried to hose him off, he had whipped his muddy tail at me.

Frankie's mom was a regal woman and she sorta frightened me. The way her eyes looked at me as if I was a dirty hobo that didn't belong in the house. She intimidated me but not as much as Frankie's tall, quiet, stern father. His mom smiled at Christie.

"You must be Christie." She said in a friendly voice.

"Yes," Christie smiled, shaking her hand.

"You can call me Rachael." She had the same British accent that Frankie had.

"Nice to meet you." Christie answered politely. "Oh, this is my sister, Wren." She said, drawing unwanted attention to me.

"I'd shake your hand, but..." I said with an awkward laugh. She maintained her polite smile, but didn't say anything. "I should probably take a shower now." I tried to edge away.

"Put on something nice! We're going out to dinner." Christie instructed as I stepped out of the shower. Frankie and his father were speaking German downstairs and I heard Frankie's Xylophone laugh. Christie thumped up to her room on the third floor and I slipped into my room and ripped off my t-shirt. Half-naked, I hunted wildly for a suitable outfit.

"Do I look okay?" I asked Christie before we descended the staircase. I was wearing a little-kid-ish spring dress with orange and black flowers on it. I was jealous as hell of my sleek, sexy older sister in her tight black dress.

"You look cute." She commented, making me grumble to myself about how that wasn't ever how I wanted to look.

*

Christie sat down and put her napkin on her lap. I followed her example, trying not to look obvious.

"You're both in school I assume?" Rachael asked with a slight smile.

"Yes, Wren's in..." Christie started, her eyebrows furrowing before she looked at me for an answer.

"Fifth grade." I filled in the blank.

"-and I'm working on my undergrad in Pre-veterinary medicine." She explained.

"Oh, have you applied to schools, yet?" Rachael asked in surprise, predictably sounding impressed.

"I plan on applying early during my junior year." Christie explained.

"Where are you applying?"

"Um, I like Penn State, Cornell, and Tufts."

"Very impressive." Rachael nodded with a half-smile. I had retreated into a different world, uninterested in the same conversation I had heard a thousand times. I wasn't happy about the idea of Christie going away to Vet school, leaving me...

"What about you, Wren? What do you want to be when you grow up?" Rachael asked me as if I was too stupid to follow their conversation.

"Uh, I'm supposed to take over my grandfather's business." I said, hesitantly, making both parents look at me with surprise.

"Oh, what kind of business?" Tom asked in his deep voice.

"Good question..." I murmured, seeing Christie seem to retreat into herself. "Pharmaceutical companies, restaurants, clubs, and some other types of things..." I told them vaguely.

"And you didn't want to take on your grandfather's business?" Rachael asked in confusion turning to Christie. Christie swallowed.

"I was brought up by our parents. Wren has spent much more time with our grandfather and he wants her to inherit it." Christie answered with her lips pursed.

"And is that what you want?" Frankie asked me.

"I-I don't know." I stuttered. "It's not like I have a choice." I laughed trying to lighten the mood since everybody looked dour.

"What do you both do?" Christie asked, getting their eyes off me finally. "Franklin never told me." She remarked.

"We're both lawyers. We met in law school." Rachael answered.

This is where I started tuning out the conversation. I watched Frankie sit quietly and when our food came all they did was small talk about how their food tasted. It was a nice restaurant and I had copied Christie and had gotten a chicken avocado garden salad to Rachael's surprise.

"Do you always eat so healthily?" Rachael asked me, looking to Christie and Frankie.

"We're trying to be better about what we eat." Christie explained.

"Maybe you should put Franklin on a better diet." Rachael joked, making Frankie look up from his steak at the mention of his name.

"Mum, it's not like I'm fat. I eat fine and I exercise." Frankie argued, drawing our attention to his lean muscular torso that I could picture easily having seen him with no shirt on quite a few times when he came out of the shower or when he just woke up. He definitely wasn't fat...

"When you're older, your metabolism will slow down and you'll have to start worrying about what you eat. I'm just watching out for you. I didn't mean anything by it." Rachael defended.

*

When we got home, his parents went back to their hotel and I was happy to change out of my dress.

"Hey, you want to watch a show with us?" Frankie's voice surprised me as I opened my door to head back into my room and he was standing in the hallway as he held his shirt over his shirtless body. I had to try very hard not to look at his rippling muscles as he put his t-shirt on over his head.

"Sure." I breathed after a long minute of trying to think in the wake of the breath-taking sight of him.

Loic and Sabrina had joined us around the TV and Christie came down too. Frankie shifted over to let her sit down and I was delighted that he shifted closer to me instead of having me sit next to Christie between us.

*

"She's out." Frankie laughed as I felt him lift me from the couch. I could feel his arms around me and his body was pressed against me as he carried me up the stairs. My eyes opened when he laid me in my bed in my dark room and I could see his face close to mine. I watched as he leaned over me and gave me a kiss on my forehead.

"Goodnight, Wren." He murmured, before leaving me. The feel of his lips on my skin seemed to stay as I focused on it. I tried to make sure I would remember the feeling of him holding me and the feel of his lips as I laid still in the dark with my heart pounding.

*

I had gotten up early, despite not having school and ran downstairs after Ivanka told me Carlos was coming to bring me to the estate to use the gym and take a self-defense class.

"Do you wanna eat and then go for a run with me?" I asked Christie as she glided over to the coffee to pour herself a mug.

"Uhh, I thought I'd head to the barn early and get some paperwork done." She said like it was too bad. "Are you running outside? Alone?" she asked, pausing in concern as she looked over at my spandex pants and loose black tank top that I wore over my neon blue sports-bra.

"No, Carlos is coming to take me to the estate to use the gym there." I explained, holding my phone up and then putting it on the counter, while I grabbed a mug out of the cabinet.

"Oh, hm. Well, I will see you later for your lesson!" Christie called as she grabbed her keys and put on her jacket before heading out. I sighed when the door shut behind her and I saw that the coffee pot was empty.

"Was that Christie leaving?" Frankie asked, coming down with no shirt on.

"Yeah, she had to get to the barn." I told him as I set to work making coffee and he sat down at the table and looked at his phone with a yawn. The doorbell rang and I went to get it, thinking it was Carlos, but I was surprised when Frankie's parents stood there. "Hi." I said in a high voice as I stepped to the side to let them in.

"Oh, you're wearing that to breakfast?" Rachael asked as she looked me up and down.

"Uh, no, I'm going for a run." I stuttered as I closed the door behind them.

"You're going all alone?" she asked as Frankie came over.

"My driver is picking me up to take me to the gym." I explained in confusion.

"Good morning, Franklin." She murmured, giving him a kiss on the cheek as her eyes seemed to be stuck to me.

"Oh, did you make coffee?" She asked, sounding surprised as she entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, have some if you'd like." I gestured at the pot and followed them to the kitchen. That's when I saw the funny look on her face. I think she'd been talking to Frankie and seemed confused when I answered.

"Oh, that was nice of you." She said after the seemingly long pause. "You should put a shirt on so you don't offend your roommates." Rachael reprimanded Frankie with a glance at me as I grabbed my mug and poured myself some coffee. Why would any female be offended by that ridiculously hot guy with no shirt on? I asked myself, trying not to smirk.

"I'm not offended." I laughed as I sipped my coffee with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. She looked at me with a horrified look that made my smile turn to a look of guilt and then she turned back to Franklin and gave him an even worse look. It could've been one of the most awkward moments of my life.

"I just need some coffee." Frankie mumbled, taking a couple mugs out of the cabinet.

"You drink coffee?" she asked. I looked up and this time she was speaking to me.

"Yes." I answered. Obviously... I was thinking to myself. Why else would I have made a pot? The doorbell rang and I grabbed my phone and my backpack as I went to do the door with my mug. "I'll bring the mug back." I muttered.

"See ya." Frankie called, sounding a little miserable as I closed the door and left him alone with his parents. I couldn't get out of there fast enough and practically threw my bag at Carlos, making him flinch. Ivanka was waiting in the car and her presence almost made me spill my coffee down my leg. "Hey." I said after regaining my composure and closing the door.

*

I was so happy to get home to the college house after a week and a half with Vati for the rest of April Vacation and the week after. We had gone to several charity events where I had to stand in a dress on stage with a smile plastered on my face while cameras flashed at us and burned my retinas. I had to beg him to let me live with Christie at least for the rest of the year and he was hesitant, but didn't seem thrilled about uprooting me when he planned on leaving for the summer.

I leaped over the back of the couch and plopped down next to Frankie. He had taken a shower and was wearing a t-shirt and some sweatpants similar to what I wore to bed. I breathed in a ridiculously sexy scent and before I let myself think, I followed my nose to Frankie. It wasn't until my nose grazed his collarbone that I looked up at him to see his smirk.

"You smell really good, Frankie." I breathed, with my hands lightly grasping his cotton shirt subconsciously.

"It's just cologne." He told me in a low voice. To my surprise, he stroked my hair and then smelled a lock of it. "You smell good, too." His face was dipped close to mine and I was still inches from his chest with my leg resting on his thigh. I was tempted to bury my face in his chest and press myself against him, but I resisted. "You smell like... fruit?" he guessed.

"Dry shampoo." I told him when I could finally find my voice.

"You guys are so weird." Loic laughed, breaking me out of my trance. I sunk back to my seat, but could still smell his clean, light cologne. Loic had joined us and flipped on the TV and I saw Frankie watching me with a funny look in his eyes until the show started.

It seemed like the thought of Frankie haunted me in my dreams and I had a good, but confusing dream about him that night. I felt like I was looking for him and trying to smell his cologne. My heart was pounding when I woke up late at night and I heard Christie get home. I heard her go up the stairs quietly. She had to work late and then I guessed she had tried to get homework done after. 

A/N: I might change where the last part goes. It doesn't fit that well here right now.