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Stars shining bright above you
Karen opened her eyes when the muffled voice came from the other side of the wall.
She had fallen asleep on the couch, Max’s head resting on her thigh, enjoying her hand scratching his ear. It would be hard to say goodbye to the little guy once Frank found them a decent apartment.
Speaking of which, she could hear him in the shower.
It was strange. They had fallen into a weirdly domestic routine, these two weeks he had been living in her place. She fully expected to be annoyed by his presence - he was not a small man -, not being used to share an apartment. One of the reasons she did not move from the tiny place was that it was cheap enough she didn’t have to share it with anyone.
Frank and Max, however, were a welcome addition to her day to day routine. She found she liked their company.
His company. Frank’s company.
Birds singing in a sycamore tree
He had told her he would be late. He had been laying low, but he still had stuff to do, things to put in place, whatever the hell it was the Punisher did with his days and nights, besides sending bad guys back to hell. He was always busy.
Just hold me tight and tell me you miss me
With a sigh, Karen got up, moving slowly not to startle Max. He opened his eyes and moved to look at her while she walked to the kitchen, but settled against a throw pillow, choosing not to follow her.
Frank got out of the bathroom while she was heating up the take out she had gotten for dinner on her way home from work. He had told her not to wait for him, he would be long, and she would never admit that she did, but she did.
As it turns out, it’s nicer to eat with someone than in front of the TV, the computer, or in complete silence.
“Hey”, he greeted, sweatpants and white shirt on, ready to turn in for the night.
“Hi”, she replied, taking the food out of the microwave. “Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
She thought about telling him to leave Max alone when he woke the dog to make him go sleep in his own bed. But, since he would be the one sleeping on the couch (and since he was the owner of the dog), she kept quiet.
“Again, huh?” he said, swaggering to the kitchen, pointing his thumb towards the wall and Karen rolled her eyes.
“I thought she’d at least take a break on Friday”.
Her next door neighbor, Mrs. Delia, had gotten a stereo from her kids three days ago. Every night, she would put music on and, since she was more than a little deaf, it was very, very loud. Loud enough that Karen and Frank were forced to listen along.
None of them wanted to say anything. One, Mrs. Delia was the nicest neighbor Karen had. She shared the floor with the woman, all the other apartments vacant since Schoonover decided to decorate Karen’s living room with bullets. All the old lady did was come in, shake her head at the damage, pat Karen on the arm and tell her to “shoot back next time”. Two, she kept quiet about Frank.
She knew who he was, had recognized him the moment they first met on the hallway. Instead of being nosy and creating a problem, she simply told Karen she liked her “new boyfriend. Kevin, is it?” moved Frank’s coat to better hide his holster and walked past them, to go to the park and play poker with the group of young men she had been teaching. Every time she saw Frank, she called him a different name. Brian, Joey, Tom, Robert, Brad, Ben, Harry. Clive, once.
They were both grateful to her, they both liked her, none of them had the heart to go over there and ask her to keep it down.
Stars fading but I linger on dear
“At least it’s good music”, he said, getting plates from the cabinet.
“You like jazz?”
“My parents used to listen to it when I was a kid. Grew up on it.”
She chuckled.
“I had you figured out for a heavy metal kinda guy”, she said, taking forks from the drawer. “That and The Wiggles.”
He made a face, but she saw his mouth curve in an almost smile, the fond memory coming to the front of his brain.
“I hate those guys. It was all the kids wanted to listen to, both of them. To sleep, to wake up, in the car, all the time.”
She smiled as they sat down.
“I fucking hate the Wiggles. You can quote me on that.”
“Oh, yeah. Front page on Monday. ‘The Punisher declares war on children’s favorite musical group’.”
“Plus that pig.”
She snickered while he sat down in front of her, imagining him singing along to his kid’s preferred songs.
Just saying this
He did the dishes while she showered. It was one in the morning when she sighed, the music still going on and on next door.
“You think she sleeps to it?” she asked, looking away from her computer. Frank looked up from the report he had been reading, sitting on the couch.
“It’s very possible.”
“Maybe she’s hosting, like, an illegal ballroom event, or something”, she joked, typing a few words on an article she just knew she would get rid of tomorrow. “I wouldn’t put that past her.”
“Maybe you should join”, he said from his spot on the couch.
“Yeah, maybe. If she can teach thugs how to play poker, she can teach me how to dance.”
“You never learned?”
She shrugged, selecting two paragraphs and deleting them. “My parents tried. My brother ended up going to my classes instead of me. I wanted to play basketball. When I decided I’d like to learn, I was too old, had too much to do.”
But in your dreams whatever they be
Max had his head on her lap again when she felt rather than saw Frank’s hand pulling hers from the computer. Looking up at him, he just raised his brows in a “just go with it” move and pulled on her arm until she had to stand up.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything and Max whined, complaining about losing his pillow.
“Knowing you”, he started after she was up, taking her away from the coffee table, closer to the door, where there was space. “You’ll want to lead, so I’ll just tell you now: don’t.”
Karen smiled, not really knowing what was actually happening, and he brought her closer to him by her waist, serious as ever.
“Now”, he said while she looked at him, a little stunned, and he lifted his hand from her waist to the middle of her back, raising her arm along with his. “With your right foot, you’re gonna take a step back, and then a step to your left. Ok?”
“Are you gonna teach me how to dance?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dream a little dream of me
“This is not the right music, but, you know. It’s something. Don’t look down.”
She couldn’t if she wanted to. Her eyes were trained on his face, inspecting, trying to decide if he was joking.
“Right foot backwards.”
And then he stepped forwards, leading her back, and she took a step with her right foot. She had forgotten to slide to the left, but he pulled her and she went, stopping with her feet together.
“See? It’s easy. Now you go forward with your left, and then a step to the right.”
He actually counted, low, looking at her, very close, one two three.
“See how that’s a box?”
“What’s a box?”
I’m longing to linger till dawn dear
“We drew a box on the floor. Want to go again?”
Still a little bit stunned, feeling silly and light and… Something she didn’t know what it was, she nodded, smiling at him.
He counted again, one, two, three, stop. Pulling her, he took a step back, one, two, three, stop. The music went on next door, in a different rhythm, but she didn’t really care.
“A little faster, now.”
One, two, three, little pause, one, two, three. One, two, three.
“You’re good at this”, she praised, surprised while he lead them in a circle - a box, apparently - and he flashed her what probably was the smuggest look she had seen on him so far.
She laughed when they paused, he turned them around to start again and she got confused to which foot should go first.
“Don’t think about it”, he instructed. “Just follow me.”
He ended up moving her coffee table and her couch towards the walls, creating a bigger empty space for them to move. Max sneaked away and got up to her bed, settling on it’s foot, watching them dance and snoozing, tail going from side to side slowly, relaxed.
Frank told her how his grandfather had taught him when he was nine, because his grandmother loved to dance.
“‘A man that can’t lead a woman on the floor can’t lead her in life’, he used to say.”
Karen cocked her head.
“That’s… Kinda sexist, but actually sweet.”
“That was him. Kinda of a pig, but actually a nice guy.”
She chuckled, holding his hand, her arm supported on his, and he told her how he had taken a few official lessons before his wedding.
“I can’t picture you waltzing around in a tux”, she said, going around and around.
“Well, I did. There was a video.”
She was glad to see he didn’t take that somber expression he used to adopt every time he talked about his life, about his family, anymore. Karen had been bringing Maria and the kids more, asking small questions, making small comments, just to maybe help him not suffer so much at the mention of them.
It wasn’t fair, she figured, that he would feel so horrible when talking about his family. He loved them, they loved him. They deserved to be remembered with love, with happiness, not with grief and anger and suffering. She was glad to see it seemed to be working.
“I’ll hunt that video down”, she teased.
“You should. Might learn something from it.”
And then he pushed her out and twirled her back to him. When she landed in his arms again, laughing, she had no idea how in the world he had done that.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
It was three in the morning when the music finally stopped, and, for the first time, she didn’t sigh in relief at the silence.
“How did I do?” she asked as his arm slid down from her shoulder blades back to her waist, her fingers closed around his bicep, her right hand still closed around his left one.
“Not bad.”
And in your dreams
It was close to four in the morning, and she couldn’t sleep. It was too warm, the air outside still and sticky, but Frank didn’t let her open a window, insisting on drawing the curtains closed on all of them. Karen could hear him moving around on the couch, probably too hot to fall asleep, too.
Getting up, she walked to the kitchen, sliding a hand on the back of the couch when she reached it.
“You want some water?” she asked, in the dark.
“No”, he replied, voice gruff and deep.
On her way back, she walked to the front of the couch, bending to pick his hand up.
“What?” he asked when she pulled him up. It was a little more difficult than when he did it with her. She had to pull harder to make him sit up.
“Upgrade. Come on.”
Whatever they be
She pulled him until they reached her bed, and let go of his hand to walk around to the side she preferred.
When he lied down, a long sigh escaped him while she pulled the thin blanket over herself (no matter how hot, she needed it).
“My back was killing me”, he said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Dream a little dream of me