Her smile grew when he mentioned the new information and she tipped her head to the side in question, "They can make it with ice? Does it still taste the same?" She had completely forgotten about her muffin until he mentioned it, and after a moment of thought, she nodded, "If it's possible to bring it with, I think that would be nice. Then I can eat some of it later if I get full. Will they let me bring it with me?"
He shrugged a little at her question but glad that he had made her smile over the discovery. “I think it's actually made the same way and it's just served over ice but yes, it still tastes good. Especially on really hot days.” he said, standing up. “Oh, it's no problem. We can leave at any time since I've already paid for everything.” he assured her as he picked up his also forgotten muffin.
She was pleasantly surprised with the idea that coffee could be cold, or at least served over ice, and she promised herself that she would try it someday. Selina picked up her muffin and looked around the coffee shop for a moment, trusting him that they wouldn't be in trouble for leaving with the muffins. "Where do we go next?" There was lots to do in cities, or she figured there was, the only question was what they were going to do.
Frankie smiled at her as he started leading the way back to his car, holding the door open for her as they left. “Well, I need to take my clothes over to the laundromat real quick and we can stop at the store on the way back to the park…” he said thoughtfully. “Where’s someplace you've always wanted to go in a city?” he asked, realizing he wanted her to be happy with this trip.
Selina followed Frankie towards his car without question, "I'm not sure…actually, I do know somewhere." She looked over at him and smiled gently, "The last time I was in the city, we passed something called a museum. Do you think we could go there? The ranger said it was a fun place to visit." She was hopeful that he would agree to take her there, but even if he said no, she was perfectly content with waiting to see what the museum was.
Frankie raised a brow slightly at the suggestion but nodded as he got in the car. “Sure. We can go there. If we’re lucky, we can catch a tour.” he smiled optimistically. “It is a lot of fun, especially if you like history… Or art. There's a lot of different kinds of museums.” he explained, thinking about what this local museum had. He hadn't been there yet either since he was more interested in nature but he wasn't against going. Not if she really wanted to go.
"I like art, at least what I've seen. And I don't know much about history, but both sound fun." She got into the car as she spoke, buckling in quickly and waiting for Frankie to be ready. Selina didn't want to waste any of their precious time, considering they had so many things to do before the museum. "Do you like museums?'
“Some.” he nodded as he started his car and began driving. “I guess you can say I appreciate the beauty and the stories of art but I don't stay very long at art museums. Honestly, it's the history ones that really interest me. Getting to learn a little more about some of the past.” Frankie smiled softly at the thought.
She was happy to look out the window and watch their surroundings as Frankie drove, replying happily, "Hopefully this museum has history then. You could show me what a history museum has to offer, and maybe I'll like it more than one that has art." She shrugged, knowing either way that she would be happy. As long as she got to see what a museum was like, there would always be more chances to see a different type of one.
“I hope so too.” Frankie nodded slightly, glancing over at her. He smirked a little and rolled down the window on her side. “Fortunately, it shouldn't take too long for me to drop off my clothes. Then we can check out what the Museum has.” he assured her, though he didn't mention that it would cost a little more to have someone take care of his laundry for him. But it would be worth it to spend the extra time with Selena.
She smiled when he opened the window, glancing over at him before turning her gaze back outside, excitement clear on her face. The city was very different than her home, and it even smelled different. Even as a human she could tell that. Leaning towards the window, she took a deep breath in. She was tempted to lean out the window to look around as they drove, but she stayed put, even as she leaned slightly further out. "I can wait as long as you need. If there's things you need to do first, the museum can come after."
Frankie grinned back before turning his attention to driving. He had a feeling she would enjoy the window being open and seeing her almost lean out was just adorable. “It really shouldn't take long. Don't worry about it.” he assured her. “We’re here to have some fun and show you around. Everything else can wait until we're ready to head back to camp.”
Selina glanced over at him and nodded. It sounded like a reasonable thing, having fun and then taking care of everything else before they headed back. As long as she didn't cause him to miss anything, or wreck any of his plans because of going to the museum she was quite alright with everything. "What else did you have to do before we go back to the park?"
(Deliberately having him forget to call his family to stir up drama later…😉)
“Just the laundromat and the grocery store.” he shook his head slightly. “The rest of the day is my treat to you.” he assured her, more than happy to let her plan the day. It only seemed fair to show her around town, even though he was still a tourist in this area, since she didn't leave the park much and had shown him around her home. He sighed a little as he pulled into a parking spot. “Speaking of… I’ll be right back. Oh, do you want me to leave the car on? It shouldn't take long but you can listen to the radio while I run in.” he suggested, if she wanted to stay.
(Ooo yess that will definitely cause some fun drama)
"Sure," She agreed, nodding and turning her attention away from her window, "I wouldn't mind that." Studying where they parked, Selina decided staying in the car wouldn't be bad, as she could see the road from where she was, and in turn could pass the time watching cars while waiting for Frankie to do what he needed. Plus, she figured it would go faster if she wasn't there to ask questions the entire time. "I'll be right here, and take all the time you need," She added, smiling brightly at him.
(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.