Frankie

"Come one Frankie! Please? It's my birthday, and I want you to be there," Gwen begged her best friend over the phone.

Francesca sighed. "Gwen, you're birthday was last week and we celebrated that last week," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Gwen had been begging Francesca for a good five minutes to come with her to a bar to celebrate her 'birthday', but really Gwen just wanted Francesca out of her dorm and in a different environment.

"I don't know Gwen; I'm really swamped with homework…" Francesca trailed off, unsure of what to do.

"Please?"

Francesca sighed defeated. "Alright, but I'm going to need a ride. My car is in the shop."

"No problem, I can get Jordan to pick you up. I knew you would say that."

"What!" Francesca exclaimed, jumping out of her seat.

Gwen winced at the sudden loudness of her voice. "Jeez, scream much? God, it's just Jordan. I can't pick you up, I'm at my parent's and it's completely out of the way and Jordan lives near CMU. He was the one that actually volunteered."

Blushing a million shades of red, she thought back to what happened days earlier when she encountered Jordan at Bob's. "But I thought it would just be us, I don't know about this." she tried to excuse herself.

"You're going! Jordan's picking you up at the main building. Bye, I love you!" Gwen said and hung up before Francesca could let out another word.

Francesca glared at her phone, but none the less went to her closet and took out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She wondered what she was supposed to wear; after all she had never been to a bar.

A couple of minutes later, Francesca grudgingly made her way to the main building, not a long walk from her dorm. She jumped up in surprise when her cell phone started to ring loudly.

Looking at her caller ID, it flashed Unknown Caller, making her stare at it in bewilderment. "Hello?" she greeted unsurely.

"Frankie?" a male voice asked.

"Who is this?" Francesca was now really confused. No guy other than her brother knew her cell phone number, and sadly only a hand full even had her number. Francesca could hear shuffling in the background.

"Uh, this is Jordan. Gwen asked me to pick you up. Where are you?"

"Right! I'm in the main building, are you the car turning up? The silver one?"

"Yeah, I see you," he said and hung up. "I knew you couldn't resist me," was the first thing Jordan said when Francesca opened the door and got it. Francesca looked at Jordan quizzically. "Making up an excuse about your car at your brother's," he added.

"Right, that's why I'm madly in love with my brother's best friend," she blurted and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Jordan chuckled. "So you do like him. Let me guess, he treats you like a little sister?" he teased her.

Francesca looked away and turned to face the window, a blush on her cheeks. "Shut up," she muttered, making Jordan laugh out loud. She glared at him to show she was not in any way amused.

"Sorry, it's just; you're so painfully obvious I don't know how he can't pick up on it," Jordan pointed out the obvious.

Francesca looked out the window sadly. It had always been like that, even in Annapolis, Francesca was always overlooked. With a brother who had a promising career in the NFL and her father being the mayor, Francesca was always in the background as the overachieving nerd. People only left her alone because she was they mayor's daughter and Drew's little sister.

Getting out of the car quietly, she thanked Jordan for the ride and followed him into the bar. It was already rowdy, people sat in the bar area, watching a hockey game intently, while others, who were less interested, were playing pool near the back.

"Frankie! Glad you made it," Gwen said excitedly and gave Francesca a huge hug. Francesca smiled and hugged her friend back. "Come on, we're playing pool!" she said excitedly and dragged her over to the group of good looking guys.

Francesca blushed when the group greeted her and Max wrapped his arms around her shoulder. "If it isn't my favourite nerd," he said light-heartedly, only making Frankie blush even more. "Come, come. You have to watch me beat Sid's ass in pool," he said and brought her closer to the pool table.

Sidney pouted, making Frankie chuckle because it made his lips even bigger. "I'll kick your ass," he countered and handed him a stick. Beside him was Kris and from behind she heard TK talking to Gwen.

Max unwrapped his arm around Frankie's shoulder and took the stick from Sidney. Jordan stood behind Frankie and watched his friends make fools of himself; an amused look graced his handsome face.

"Jordy, good of you to finally join us!" Max said finally noticing him and the rest greeted him a little less enthusiastically as Max.

Jordan smirked and sauntered over to the pool table. "I've been here the same time as Frankie," he pointed out. "Where's Flower and Geno?" he asked looking around the bar.

Both Max and Sidney shrugged and started to play their game. "Flower called earlier saying that he and Vero are going on a date. Geno's probably just running late," Kris answered him after figure that the two idiots weren't going to be giving Jordan any answers.

Nodding, Jordan took out a cue stick from the rack and joined Sidney and Max. "I'm going to kick both your asses," he stated arrogantly.

Frankie stood there watching and snuck out when they started a heated argument. She made her way to the bar and ordered a coke. The bar tender gave her a weird look, out all the things she could have ordered she ordered coke, but gave her the drink none the less.

"Frankie?" a voice asked, cutting her out of her trance. Frankie turned to her left and saw Ryan with a woman wrapped around his arm. Frankie winced; the she was a gorgeous thin redhead with legs that went on for miles. "Hey, since when do you go to these things?" he asked her and took the stool beside her.

"Oh, I'm here with a couple of friends," she said and kept her eyes on her drink.

The woman smiled at Francesca. "So, you're Francesca. Ry's been talking about you non-stop and how much you're like a little sister to him," she said and giggled, kissing his cheek.

Francesca winced and felt a heavy feeling in her chest. For the longest time, Francesca had the biggest crush on her brother's best friend, but being Drew's little sister, she herself became like Ryan's little sister. It was a position worse than the friend zone.

Ryan chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah," he responded quietly.

"He also told be you have an obsession with Sea Lions, which is totally perfect!" she exclaimed and Frankie gave her a confused look. "Ryan and I are going to the Pittsburgh Zoo to watch their new aquatic show thing. You should totally come with us and bring your boyfriend!" she exclaimed. "Is he here?"

Francesca fidgeted with her drink. She didn't want to embarrass herself and correct the woman and say that she didn't have a boyfriend. She didn't want to show Ryan that she didn't have a life and that she personified nerd.

"Hey Babe, sorry it took so long. I was kicking Sid's ass," Jordan said and slid his arms around her waist, kissing her on the cheek and sat beside her on the left.

Francesca looked shocked, she definitely wasn't expecting that. She looked at Jordan and he gave her a smile that said she should play along with him.

The redhead woman perked up and gave Jordan a flirtatious smile. "I'm Rebecca," she introduced herself and stuck out her hand.

Francesca frowned, the woman never even bothered to introduce herself to Francesca, but her sour mood didn't stay too long as Jordan pulled her closer to his body. "Jordan, Jordan Staal," he said graciously and accepted her hand. "Hey, you're Ryan right? You work with Drew."

Ryan nodded silently. He never really had a problem with Jordan, who was a long time customer of Ben's Mechanic, but he didn't like that he was with Francesca. Francesca was a sweet girl, who was a little bit in the awkward side that belonged with someone who would treat her right, Jordan was not that guy. "So, you and our Frankie here, huh?" he said with his eye brows raised. He contemplated in telling Drew in hopes that Drew would have a fit and tell Jordan off.

"Yeah, we've been together for awhile now. Were actually here with some of my friends, I wanted them to meet the girl that's got me whipped, their words not mine," he said lightly and kissed Francesca on the cheek again.

Francesca blushed and looked down on her lap. Jordan's hands still had not left her waist, making her feel rather uncomfortable. She looked up when Rebecca clapped and squealed.

"This is totally perfect! You should come with us to the zoo tomorrow, I'm sure Frankie would love the aquatic show!" she said happily and looked at Jordan.

"Yeah definitely. Frankie's been wanting to go anyways," he said.

Francesca looked at Jordan shocked. The last thing she wanted to do was see the boy she'd been in love with for years think that her and Jordan were a couple and see him suck faces with a woman ten times prettier than her.