TheAllKnowingOwl
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Summary
They are both in the backyard, which is filled with green grass and tiny fireflies and a shining soccer ball that the kids must have left out.
Mel has her head tilted back to the summer sun, and her eyes are closed; the frame of her glasses is gleaming; her cheek is marked with a tiny freckle.
Frank has to gather himself enough to focus, and say, “I was thinking about something your sister said to me last week.”
“What was that?” she says, the long stem of the white wine in her hand.
“You talked about me all the time,” he says, and then with the undertone of something less sure, he continues on, “We only worked the one shift together. Was I that terrible?”
(or. a week after the fourth, mel goes over to say thank you to frank for being there for her. he takes it well.)
Bookmarked by TheAllKnowingOwl
24 Apr 2026
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"Hey, I need to go back to my office and get my wallet," he says, opening the classroom door for her. "But it's kind of out of the way. There's a courtyard… right here—" He opens a door at the end of the hall that goes out into a little courtyard in the center of the building. Nothing fancy, just a few trees, a couple of wrought iron benches, and some pitifully neglected flower beds that have more weeds than flowers, but it's shady and quiet, which are the most important qualities he's looking for right now. "You want to wait here a minute while I run back and get it? Five minutes, tops."
She gives him that sunlight-bright smile again, and nods. "Yeah. Thanks."
***
Dr. Frank Langdon, assistant professor of music, meets Dr. Mel King when she comes to interview for a position in his department. Also: Frank learns how not to be an asshole.Bookmarked by TheAllKnowingOwl
23 Apr 2026
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When they roll into the parking lot, they sit in pregnant silence. Mel seems reluctant to leave, gripping the steering wheel and taking her time with her things. “I can order an Uber from here.”
“You could. Or you could stay the night,” Trinity avoids eye contact. “Dennis is out, so his room is free, and there’s a couch or--”
“Okay,” Mel smiles in what Trinity reads as relief, “Thank you for inviting me.”After karaoke, Mel spends the night, and then most of the day.
Bookmarked by TheAllKnowingOwl
22 Apr 2026
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Trinity Santos and Melissa King do Karaoke on the Fourth of July.
(A section of this was inspired by Isa Briones and Taylor Dearden's interviews about this scene)
--Title from Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know"
Series
- Part 1 of Mentos Friendship Saga
Bookmarked by TheAllKnowingOwl
22 Apr 2026
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Twenty to thirty years. She had done the math in that courtroom and landed on thirty-seven and let herself exhale for the first time in years. She had been seventeen and wearing a blouse her mother had pressed the night before because her mother had needed something to do with her hands in the same way her Nanay was cooking all day, and she had sat in the second row and listened to the sentence and let the number settle over her like something solid. Like a foundation. Like something she could build on top of.
She was twenty-eight.
And he had been good.
or
trinity's roommate moved out, her situation-ship is over and her abuser was just released from prision.
Bookmarked by TheAllKnowingOwl
22 Apr 2026