I'll give you my sunshine

Chapter 33

Frankie's POV:

I did sleep well that night, but I was kept up by the same repeating nightmare I've been having for months, or more specifically, since my accident.

It was the same thing every time. Almost exactly how the actual events played out.

And it would always end right as I fell, as I made an impact with the floor. And I would wake abruptly, my heart beating rapidly and breathing hard.

It was a horrible nightmare. I would often avoid going to sleep just because of the possibility of having the nightmare.

But could I really call it a nightmare when it was my own memory?

After waking up, I checked the time on my phone; it read 3:25 am.

I sighed, knowing that I probably wouldn't be sleeping again that night.

I tried to fall asleep again, but I couldn't even get close, so after an hour I just gave up, put my headphones on, and played an audiobook while I just lay staring at the ceiling.

Eventually, I could see the sun begin to rise through the crack in the curtain, so I put on my leg and took a book into Taylor's living room, where I sat and read for another hour under a blanket, with Benjamin sitting at my feet.

At 8ish, I heard Taylor get out of bed and walk downstairs, where she must have looked into my room and muttered, "What the hell?" when she saw I wasn't there.

I heard her footsteps become heavier and quicker as she reached the living room, where she pushed open the door, saw me, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jesus, you scared me." She laughed as she walked towards me.

"Sorry." I said, smiling at how Taylor had gotten worried.

"Are you ok? Why are you up so early?" Taylor asked, sitting down next to me and picking up Benji to put on her lap.

"I didn't sleep very well, so I just came in here, and I've been reading for the last hour." I said. Showing her the book.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You can always come see me, you know; even if I'm asleep, I don't mind one bit." She said, smiling softly.

"Thanks," I said, smiling back.

"Are you ready for some breakfast, or do you want to wait a minute?" She asked.

"I don't mind; I'll eat whenever." I said, shrugging.

"Alright, do you mind if I wait a little bit then?" She asked me.

"No, of course not." I said it back.

Although I was trying to mentally fight it, there was no denying that I was hungry, and I didn't want Taylor to get worried at all, so I didn't try to fight the idea of breakfast.

"Ok, cool, want to watch something?" Taylor asked, nodding at the TV. "Yeah, sure, I said, closing my book and readjusting where I was sitting to be at a more comfortable angle to watch the TV.

Taylor put on some sitcom I hadn't heard of but swore I would like, and we both sat under the blanket watching it together. It was a surprisingly cold April morning.

After the episode finished, Taylor went to make breakfast, and I sat on my phone, waiting.

20 minutes had gone by, and Taylor hadn't come back in yet, so I started to get curious and walked into the kitchen, where it looked like one of the cats had come and tipped over every messy ingredient in the kitchen.

"What on earth are you doing?" I laughed at the state of the kitchen.

"Well, I was trying to make breakfast muffins, and I needed to open a new flour, so I did that, but it went like everywhere. Then I figured I would just sponge it up once they were in the oven, and I was trying to measure out some water, but the spout of the faucet was in the complete wrong direction, so it also went everywhere and then mixed with the flour, and now there's a sticky flour water mix coating the whole thing." Taylor said, laughing.

"This is going to be an absolute nightmare to clean up." I said, trying to scrape some of it off the table and just getting my hands covered in the stuff.

"I'm not looking forward to it at all." Taylor said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, which just got flour all over her face. "Anyway, the muffins are just about ready; I'm going to go change into non-floury clothes; do you mind taking them out of the oven in a second?" She asked.

"No, that's fine." I said, looking into the oven and seeing the muffins.

"Ok, great, thanks, sweetie." Taylor said, blowing a kiss to me as she left the room, trailing flour behind her.

Laughing to myself, I turned back to the oven, found a cooling rack in one of the cupboards, and then took out the muffins.



Taylor's POV:

After eating the delicious but mess-causing muffins, Frankie and I went back into the kitchen, where we spent what felt like a year cleaning up the kitchen.

Once it had dried, it was easy enough to get off, only leaving a small chalky residue that was wiped off with a sponge.

We eventually finished cleaning, and then I moved onto cleaning the rest of the house as Tree was coming over for dinner tonight.

The cats had gotten an impressive amount of hair all over the place, which I spent a long time lint rolling away.

After cleaning, we had a few hours until the tree was supposed to arrive, so I just took my time getting ready.

*

Soon enough, it was 6 p.m., and Tree messaged me that she was heading from the airport to my house now.

I went into the kitchen to start dinner, so we weren't waiting too long to eat once Tree was here.

This was a more casual dinner, so I wasn't too fussed about making some Pinterest-worthy meal, and I knew Tree wouldn't be waiting, so I decided to make spaghetti bolognaise.

While boiling the water, I got a message from Tree letting me know she was outside, so I unlocked the gate for her and waited a minute or so more until I heard the doorbell go.

"Frankie Tree's here!" I shouted down the hall to Frankie, who was in her room doing some homework.

I reached the door and unlocked it to find a happy-looking tree.

"Hi Taylor." She said she was stepping inside.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked her.

"I'm alright, you?" She asked, taking off her shoes.

"I'm good, thanks." I said back, walking the tree through to the kitchen.

"How's the film going?" Tree said as we entered the kitchen.

"Oh, it's amazing; I can't wait to show you." I said, smiling at the thought of the movie.

"Oh great, are you enjoying directing?" She asked me.

"I love it; it's so rewarding and just feels so natural," I said.

"Good, I'm glad, Taylor, and how's Frankie?" She asked, looking at the door to make sure Frankie wasn't coming in.

"Uhm, she's ok; I think she's beginning to struggle with everything to do with her mom, but that's not a surprise, really. Speaking of her, though, I called her out of her room; she should be here by now." I said, looking down the hall to see if she was there.

As if in queue, she suddenly walked through the door.

"Hey, sorry, I was just finishing off the last bits of my history homework." Frankie said, walking in, smiling.

"Hi Frankie, I'm Tree." Tree said. Shaking Frankie's hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Frankie said it politely.

"And you sound a lot more British than I thought you would." Tree said.

"Yeah, most people say that; I think it's because I play so many American characters." She shrugged.

"That makes sense, so how are you liking Taylor as a director?" Tree asked her.

"Oh, she's great, honestly." She said she was smiling at me.

"Aw, thanks, Frankie." I said, smiling back at her.

"No worries." She said it back.

Over the next 20 or so minutes, we all talked while I finished up dinner.

"Frankie, would you get the Parmesan out of the fridge?" I asked her.

She nodded and got out the cheese, and I grated it onto mine and the trees as I knew she liked it on her food. Then I asked Frankie if she too wanted some.

"Oh, no thanks," she said, shaking her head.

"You don't like Parmesan?" I asked her.

"Nope, way too strong." She said this, pulling a disgusted face.

"Do you want another type of cheese?" I asked her.

"No, I'm ok, thanks though." She said she was smiling.

"Ok, Tree and I usually play a board game of some kind when we have dinner; do you want to do that or just eat in here like normal?" I asked Frankie, hoping she would say yes and we would extend this tradition to her.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds fun." She shrugged.

"Ok, tree, and Frankie, you go choose the game; I'll clear the dining room table." I said, going through the side door of the kitchen to the dining room, where I cleared the table of the clutter that had gathered in the last few months so we could eat and play whatever game Tree and Frankie came back with.

Not long later, they came back with Monopoly, which I was pleased about.

We all took our plates into the dining room and set up the game.

"Taylor, you are not going to be the banker this time." Tree said, laughing as we set up.

"Oh, come on, it was one time." I said, recalling the last time we played monopoly.

Frankie, I'm confused. She looked from me to the tree.

"The last time Taylor and I played monopoly, I made the mistake of letting her be the banker, and she was taking more money than she was spending." Tree said, laughing.

Frankie looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't like losing, ok?" I said, throwing my hands up in surrender while rolling my eyes.

We all sat down and began to eat as we played. Frankie was more competitive than I thought and was very good with how she spent her money.

Once we all finished eating, I took our plates into the kitchen, trying not to seem sad when seeing that Frankie had barely touched them.

I especially didn't want to say something in front of a tree.

Nevertheless, I went back into the dining room, and we carried on playing until Tree brought up the inevitable subject of why she was actually here.

"So, Frankie, I'm sure you've probably figured out I'm here for bigger reasons than just defeating you both in monopoly." Tree said.

Frankie sat back in her seat, nodding.

"Ok, so I want you to be involved in all this as much as Taylor is; is that ok with you?" She asked.

Frankie looked at me, and I nodded to her. "Yeah, that's fine." She said.

"Ok, great, so Taylor and I both thought that instead of having the paparazzi and media start photographing you and speculating what's going on, I thought we should get ahead of it so there's not any pressure or stress to come up with a plan." Tree said, looking at me and then at Frankie.

"Uh yeah, ok, that makes sense." Frankie said, nodding.

"So then it's a matter of how to actually tell the media that you have now moved in with Taylor and trying to predict the reactions." Tree said, sounding very professional all of a sudden, very different from 10 minutes ago while playing Monopoly.

Frankie nodded, and Tree continued, directing the conversation at both of us now and not just Frankie.

"So what with the movie being in production right now? We want to be careful that the media doesn't see this as a grasp for attention and a publicity stunt to get more people talking about the movie, which would not go down well." Tree said, which was something I hadn't even considered.

"But we can't exactly wait until after the movies are out; that'll be in months. People will start asking questions about what's happening to Frankie now that her mom isn't here, and there'll be photographs and speculation. I don't want to let it fester for too long." I said, knowing how prying people could be into the lives of people they don't even know.

"That's completely right, which is why we need to think about whether we want to do this sooner or later." Tree said, again looking at both of us.

"Well, we've just started to think about schooling for Frankie next year, so definitely before then, as someone at the school will leak it once they find out." I said, looking to Frankie, who again just nodded.

"Ok, so do we think after you've stopped filming that the paparazzi aren't waiting outside to set up in swarms like they have already this week?" Tree said.

"Yes. I don't want that again, and it's worse this time because more people care about Taylor." Frankie said it definitively.

"Ok, so that gives us a two-ish month window, and then we can refine the details of what the post will actually be closer to the time." Tree said, noting this all down in a little notebook.

Once that conversation finished up, we finished playing the game until I, of course, won.

I let Frankie go off and do her own thing as a tree, and I cleared the dining room and kitchen.

"Is Frankie okay? She hardly ate anything." Tree said, noticing Frankie's basically untouched plate.

I sighed, not wanting this conversation to happen but knowing it was important.

"I don't know honestly; she's barely been eating the whole time she's been staying here, but I don't know if it's a coping thing or what. I don't want to jump to any conclusions and ask her about it, and it sets us back in our relationship, but I also don't want to not say anything, and it is, well, an eating disorder." I said. "I know that her mom was horribly strict with Frankie's food intake, and I'm worried that she's still scared to eat much of anything."

"Oh Taylor, whatever is going on, I'm sure she'll be happy to know that you do care enough to ask her in the first place and not just leave her alone while she's struggling." Tree said.

"Yeah, you're right; I'll talk to her this evening." I said, sighing again.

"Ok, good. Let me know how it goes." She said.

"Of course." I said it back.

After clearing the kitchen, Tree and I both had a glass of wine while we sat talking about what I had planned for after the film.

"Well, I've been writing still; I can't seem to stop, ever, so I'll probably go to the studio with Jack and Aaron while we're shooting in New York in a couple weeks." I said, thinking about the notebook I had been scrawling lyrics in just hours before.

"That's exciting; do you think they'll form into an album or something?" Tree asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm so busy, and my label would want to do a tour of some kind, and I'm just not sure that's feasible with everything going on right now." I said, shrugging.

"If you do want to release something new, I'm sure we'd be able to make something work; no matter what it ends up being, it'll be the right thing for the time." Tree said.

Agreeing, we both finished our glasses before Tree decided it was time for her to head back to her hotel.

Frankie had already said bye to Tree when she went off to her room, so I didn't bother making her come back out to say goodbye again.

I said my own goodbyes to Tree before taking a deep breath and walking down the hall to Frankie's room.

I knocked and opened the door upon hearing a "cold in" from Frankie.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked her as I walked in, Frankie putting her phone down and sitting up.

"What after you beat me at monopoly? No, I'm distraught." She said she was smiling sarcastically, but her smile faded when she saw I wasn't laughing with her. "Is everything okay?" She asked, her face now one of concern.

"That's what I wanted to ask you," I said, sitting down on the end of Frankie's bed.

"About my mom?" She asked, her brow furrowed.

"Well, I just wanted to ask you about your eating." I said, my heart sinking when I saw Frankie's eyes glaze over with tears, and she started to bite her lip, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to worry you." She said, her voice a whisper.

"Frankie, sweetie, you don't need to be thinking about whether things will worry me or not; I just want you to be happy and healthy." I said, feeling horrible that she felt that way.

"It's just my mom; she would practically starve me, and I guess I'm just worried that because you're not like that, I'm going to gain weight, and I've had it grilled into me for so long that any and all weight gain is bad." She said she was now crying.

I pulled her into a hug, which she practically melted into, sobbing into my shoulder.

I held her tight and securely in the hug, telling her without words that I was here and that I cared.

"I know how you're feeling; it's daunting, but I promise you that it'll be fine. We will take it one day at a time, and it will be hard, but you need to know that eating like that's not healthy for anyone." I said, tears of my own filling up my own eyes.

Frankie nodded, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "Yeah, ok, I can do that."

"Ok, great, let's go watch a movie and eat popcorn, sweet popcorn." I said, pulling Frankie up and out of bed and going into the living room, where we cozied up under a blanket and watched a film.

Authors note

Quicker update this time! I'm writing this instead of my essay that's due in Wednesday 😬.

1989 TV CAME OUT!!!!! I have streamed don't say go so much that in the 3 days it's been out, it's my most listened song of all time...

What's your guys' favourite vault tracks? I also really like is it over now.

Hope you've all had a great week!
Audrey x