Frankie

Frankie stared at Jordan dumbfounded. She felt like the whole world was crashing on her and she had just been hit with a bucket of extremely cold water. Not knowing a lot about relationships, she never got a chance to think about how she really felt about Jordan.

Sure she liked him a lot. He was sweet to her and he seemed to care a lot about her, which he proved when he decided to miss his games to be with her. But love. That was way beyond her capacity to think. She didn't know if she loved him, Frankie had strong feelings for him, but love was a whole other question.

She closed her eyes and exhaled. "Please don't say things that you don't mean," she begged him, her voice quivering.

Jordan's heart sank. He was sure that Frankie would say that she loved him back. He was so sure of it. He had been nothing but supportive and loving towards her, he gave her no reason not to love her. But then he remembered that this was her first relationship and she was new to it.

"I'm saying the truth Frankie. I do love you," he tried to convince her.

"No," she said looking down at her lap. "You were just scared that I could have died and you were caught up in the moment," she tried to explain, her voice in a panic. "Jordan, please tell me that you don't love me?" she begged.

"Frankie I would never lie to you about something so serious," Jordan tried to convince her, getting up from his chair. "Why are you so scared of someone loving you?"

Biting her lip, she looked at her boyfriend sadly. "Its not that I'm scared, Jordan. I-I just don't know how I feel and I think that you're only saying you love me because you got caught up in the moment."

"Frankie babe, I'm not caught up in the moment. I've been feeling this for awhile and I just want you to know it. Do you like me?" he asked, looking her right in the eyes.

"Of course," Frankie said instantly.

"Then that's all I need right now. I'll wait as long as you want until you're ready," he reassured her and kissed her in the forehead. He did his best to hide his hurt and sadness that Frankie didn't feel the same way. "I'll go and get us something to eat."

Jordan sighed when shut the door softly behind him. He went into the hospital cafeteria and gathered food for him and Frankie. He was so into his thoughts that he didn't notice Edith walk up to him until she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"So you're my daughter's boyfriend," she said with a friendly smile on her face.

Gulping nervously, Jordan slowly nodded his head. He remembered that he introduced himself as Frankie's friend and not her boyfriend. He was also nervous because this wasn't the way he wanted to meet her parents. Jordan had hoped that it would be Frankie introducing him over dinner.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't say it earlier," he started but Edith held up her hand to stop him from further speaking.

"Frankie hasn't really told me your name. All she said to me is that she has a boyfriend," Edith said. "But," she started when she noticed Jordan's crestfallen look, "She speaks highly of you. I don't know what's going on between you two and judging by the sad look when you came out of her room it seems bad. Frankie really likes you; I've never seen or heard her act and talk the way she does when it comes to you. I might have never seen the way my daughter acts when it comes to boys, given that she hardly interacts with them, but the way she has that look when she talks about you, she really cares about you. You're special to her," Edith explained.

"I told her that I love her," he confessed. He didn't know why he confessed to his girlfriend's mother, maybe it was because of her friendly and motherly nature that reminded him of his own mother that made him do it. "She said she didn't know who she felt yet," he said sadly.

Edith just smiled and patted his arm. "I'm sure she feels the same way. Frankie just doesn't know it yet," she reassured the hockey player and walked away.

She had a sad smile on her face as she walked to her daughter's room. It was hard to swallow how much Frankie had grown in the last few months she had met Jordan. She was much more mature when it came to the subject of boys. Edith, as a mother, never thought the say would come when her daughter would move on from being her little girl to being a young woman who was in love.

Opening the door, she walked into Frankie's quiet room; her daughter was staring at the wall in a trance. Edith had a feeling that Frankie was thinking about what Jordan had said to her. She knew that Frankie was trying to sort out her own feelings, but it was obvious to the mother that Frankie was in love with him.

"I saw Jordan," she stated, sitting on the chair that Jordan had previously occupied. "He told me that he said he loved you."

Frankie looked away and groaned. "Mom, can we please not discuss this. I probably lost him," she pleaded, looking at her mother sadly.

Edith smiled and held on to her daughter's had, caressing it. "Jordan's a good guy, I think he's more dedicated to you than you think. I'm not pressuring you answer back, I don't want you to make the wrong decision, but I think he'll wait."

Frankie looked thoughtful and then looked up at her mother. "You don't think our relationship is going to fast do you?" Frankie asked unsurely. "I mean, just a few months ago, I was this awkward girl who knew nothing about guys and was just there to study, and now I'm dealing with whether or not I love Jordan."

Getting up from her chair, Edith moved over to Frankie's bed, laying beside her and gathering her daughter in her arms. "It's a part of growing up honey. I can't tell you how you feel, but love doesn't come with a time frame. It can come in two days or two years, it just happens."

"I wish I was still a little girl. Life was so much simpler," Frankie said, letting out a few frustrated tears.

Edith held her daughter tighter, rubbing her arm and kissing the top of her head. "It's a part of growing up and I think you're doing a fantastic job handling things. You've grown up to be an amazing woman and a good person," she reassured Frankie. "I know you can handle life."