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“Is it really okay if Scooby stays with you tonight?”, Frank asked for the third time that day, standing in her doorway, looking frazzled, sounding out of breath. Scooby was standing next to him, tail waggling, panting happily.
Mel hummed and said patiently, “Yes, Frank, it’s really okay. Becca and I love having him here. Don’t worry.” She smiled to herself. He could be so silly. It was more endearing than it should have been.
Frank huffed out a breath. “Okay, great. I walked him, but he might want out again before bed. Sorry, I’m a bit all over the place.” He raked a hand through his hair and then looked at his watch. His eyes widened at the time.
“Shit, okay, I really have to go.”
“It’s okay. Breathe. The three of us will be here with breakfast when you come over after your night shift”, Mel said simply. She took Scooby’s leash and bent down to pat his head.
“God, I love you. I have to go now, talk to you soon, bye!” He sounded distracted and was already walking down the hallway, waving at her, almost running into a wall. He was gone before Mel had a chance to reply. Which was maybe for the best, because she was speechless. She stared at the wall he had walked into. I love you. I love you???? I love you.
Scooby nudged her knee with his head, asking for her attention. Right. On autopilot, she let the dog into the apartment, closed the door, unclasping the leash. Scooby, already familiar with their home, dashed over to Becca’s room and started scratching at the door. Becca threw open her door and squealed, falling to her knees to hug him. Mel watched them, but she wasn’t really there, her mind still on Frank telling her he loved her.
She could figure this out, she told herself. There was a reasonable explanation!
1) It might have been a habit from his marriage, thanking his wife for a favor before dashing off to work.
2) He meant it as an expression of friendship. Friends loved each other! And they could say those words to each other. That wasn’t weird at all. Maybe Mel was the one making it weird by bringing her...feelings into it, when it had been a perfectly innocent declaration.
3) --
Actually, scratch that. 1 and 2 were both incredibly good explanations. She really had to stop obsessing and get herself together. This was just ridiculous. She shook her head at herself and mentally came back into the living room – where Becca was looking at her, saying her name, probably not for the first time.
“Mel? Can I give Scooby a treat?”, Becca asked impatiently.
Mel shook herself, trying to shake off her thoughts. “Yeah, sure”, she replied.
Becca frowned at her. “Is something wrong?”
Mel forced herself to smile and shake her head. “No, I was just...in thought, sorry.” She needed to get a grip.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t really let it go. Frank’s “I love you” kept replaying over and over in her head, making the butterflies in her stomach flutter and her heartbeat accelerate. On the walk with Scooby around the block, on the couch watching TV, Scooby between the sisters, happy about being petted from both sides, and later, alone in her bed, Mel couldn’t stop her mind from going back to Frank’s declaration. It didn’t matter that she had rationalized all the romantic connotations away. Mel was usually pretty good at keeping her feelings for Frank under wraps, but his words had shattered her defenses.
She had realized a while ago that her feelings for Frank weren’t strictly platonic, but had definite romantic and sexual proportions. Looking back, they had started forming on her first day at PTMC, but she hadn’t known back then. She had been overwhelmed by all the new impressions and then by the mass casualty – and on her next day, Frank was gone. She had been insistent about finding out what was going on with him and staying in touch once she did, and Frank had welcomed her efforts after brief hesitation.
They had formed a friendship that had woven itself into Mel’s life in a way she had never been able to imagine before. Through Frank’s divorce, through rehab, through Mel’s self-doubts, through her anxiety, through overwhelm and desperation, but also through joy and comfort, success and excitement, they had stuck by each other’s side. She wouldn’t want to miss it. And because of their closeness and the newness of it, she hadn’t realized right away that she was in love.
The realization – the noticing of what had been there the entire time – had been stupid, really. Banal and every day. Frank had brought her a chai from a really good café one morning because she had mentioned that she missed drinking it a few days earlier – and had texted him that morning that she hadn’t slept well. So Frank was five minutes late to work, bringing her a huge cup, putting a warm hand on her lower back, looking at her like she mattered more than anything else, like he could really see her. And Mel felt something settle in her stomach and something click in her head, like Oh. Of course.
Since then, she had tried her best not to let these feelings complicate things, and until now, she thought she’d been doing a good job.
Now, though, she was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, when her phone pinged. Frank had seen the picture of Scooby she had sent him a few hours ago, and had replied to it with 😍
Mel almost dropped her phone on her face.
Frank just loved his dog, she told herself. Sure, Mel was in the picture, looking straight at the camera with a distracted smile, one hand in Scooby’s fur. But this was about the dog, Mel was sure of it.
She tapped the heart to reply, and then quickly typed out, How’s work going? to distract from it.
Frank sent back 🤷♂️okay, followed by a selfie with a protein bar, his face making a silly expression with his tongue out. Mel needed to cleanse her thoughts of the images her mind conjured up at seeing that. She could feel her face heat up and looked around her bedroom as if to make sure nobody could see her.
She closed her eyes and counted five breaths before opening them again, clearing her throat and sending 😂 back. That was normal, right? Casual.
Before she could second-guess her texting skills further, a new message came in.
Shouldn’t you be sleeping? I don’t want to make you miss your beauty sleep.
Mel frowned.
Not that you need it!
She frowned harder. What was happening right now.
I mean
You’re always beautiful, but you know that.
What.
What I meant was, I know how much you cherish sleep even though you pretend you don’t need it. So. Ignore me and get some sleep
Sweet dreams, sweet Mel x
Mel felt like she was having a stroke or something like that. Her vision was a bit blurry when she typed out the very reasonable response, Thanks, you too – and promptly dropped her phone on her face after all when she realized that made zero sense.
Scrambling, she typed out, I mean, good shift, sorry! You’re right, I need to sleep lol. See you tmrw!
She didn’t usually abbreviate like that, but she needed this to be over as quickly as possible. Not waiting for a response, she put her phone on silent and locked it.
It took a while, but when she finally fell asleep, she did so while imagining Frank’s arms around her, his voice whispering “I love you” into her ear.
The next morning, she saw that Frank had responded to her last text with a simple heart, which made Mel’s heart rate speed up to an abnormal degree for the early hour. Mel tried to focus on her breathing, counting to four on every inhale, hold, exhale, and hold, until she didn’t feel anymore like her heart might jump out of her chest and she could get up and face the day.
And face Frank, who would come over – she checked the time on her phone – in one hour, if he didn’t have to stay longer at work. Enough time to shower and make breakfast. And not have a heart attack. Easy.
Methodically, she undressed in the bathroom, stepped into the shower when the water had reached the perfect temperature of 98°, shampooed her hair, washed her body, and didn’t linger anywhere longer than necessary. Not today.
She turned off the water, toweled off her hair and body, used body lotion, braided her hair into two wet braids and put on comfortable clothes.
40 minutes until Frank would arrive. Mel filled Scooby’s bowls with water and food (Scooby was such a regular guest at their flat that they had decided to get bowls for him, to make it easier for everyone. When Mel thought about how familiar and domestic that was, her chest ached and her stomach got warm.). Next, she filled up the coffee machine and started cutting fruit for breakfast.
The actions had a meditative and calming quality to them, like suturing a clean cut or picking gravel out of a wound. Mel could breathe a little easier, just focusing on the movement of her hands, accomplishing the task at hand, just being in this moment.
By the time Becca and Scooby came out of Becca’s room, Mel was almost relaxed, and she smiled at her sister easily.
“Good morning, Mel!”, Becca said brightly. “When is Frank coming for breakfast?”
Mel checked her phone. Frank had texted that he was leaving on time, so, “He should be here in a few minutes”, Mel said, and the buzzing in her stomach started up again.
I love you.
Sweet dreams, sweet Mel x
You’re always beautiful.
It wasn’t like her to get her hopes up about romance – she had fallen on her face a few too many times in younger years – but the way Frank talked to her and, when she was thinking about it, the way he looked at her, was different. Was it actually a possibility that he felt the same way?
The relaxation of her morning routines was gone, replaced by butterflies and frantic thoughts that were only broken up by the doorbell ringing.
Mel’s head snapped to the door, Scooby started barking, and Mel tried to placate the dog while buzzing Frank up. She cracked the door open a tiny bit so he could come in, but held Scooby in place so he wouldn’t run out.
Frank appeared in their doorway, looking tired but sporting a genuine, bright smile. He waved at them with both hands, one of them carrying a bag from their favorite bakery.
“Good morning, King sisters, good morning, Scooby”, he said, crouching down to pet his dog. “Was this little rascal good?”
Mel chuckled. “Yes, he was the picture of innocence”, she replied. Frank smiled up at her, his hair flopping over his forehead, eyes sparkling. Mel felt a bit woozy. I love you.
She cleared her throat. “There’s coffee and fruit salad, some leftover hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter, jam, honey”, she listed. Frank’s eyes didn’t leave her face the entire time.
“And chocolate sprinkles!”, Becca added.
Mel nodded. “Yes, and chocolate sprinkles. And what did you bring us?”
Frank got up. “Croissants and all your favorite bread rolls. And a small loaf of that full-grain bread you like so much.” He walked over to the counter to wash his hands while speaking. Mel didn’t doubt for a second that he had gotten their favorites right without having to think about it.
“I love you”, she blurted out and immediately slapped a hand in front of her mouth.
Frank stilled, his hands soapy under the running water. For a few seconds, the tap was the only thing making a sound in the apartment. Slowly, Frank resumed his motions, washing off the suds, turning the tap off, drying his hands.
“I love you, too”, he said carefully, almost neutral. Mel swallowed. It was unlike her to speak without thinking. But apparently, she wasn’t finished.
“I know”, her mouth answered without her input. “You said so last night.”
Frank huffed out a laugh. His face was kind of red. His eyes searched Mel’s face for something, seemingly anxious. Mel wasn’t sure what he found, but she felt like her adoration for him was always radiating off her, and right now couldn’t be any different.
He took slow steps towards her, towel still in his hands. “I did, didn’t I. I didn’t mean to.”
Mel felt something shutter inside of her, and Frank had to see it on her face, because he hurried to say, “I mean, I meant it! Of course, I meant it. I just hadn’t intended to say it.”
“I didn’t intend to say it just now, either”, Mel replied, placated. She felt bold enough to ask, “In what way did you mean it?”
Frank’s gaze pierced hers. “In every way. You?”
Mel swallowed. “Me too”, she said quietly.
They were just staring at each other, the tension between them taut and charged –
– broken by Becca asking, “Are you going to kiss now or what? Or can we eat?”
Frank laughed, almost hysterically, and Mel couldn’t help but join in. She felt a bit like she was soaring. It wasn’t unpleasant.
He tore his eyes away from Mel to address Becca. “How about you put the bread in a basket and dish out fruit while I kiss your sister?”
Mel felt heat rise up in her cheeks – she hadn’t expected that.
Becca shrugged and smiled. “Okay.” She turned to the counter to deal with the food, and Frank turned back to Mel.
“Only if that’s okay with you, of course”, he said quietly.
Mel was still flustered and couldn’t do anything but nod enthusiastically. Frank smiled, almost shyly, and gently cupped her face in his hands. One hand moved around to settle on her neck. Instinctively, Mel craned her neck upwards and got up on her tip toes to meet Frank’s lips halfway.
It was a soft, careful kiss, both of them aware that they weren’t alone, but it still held a lot of promise. Mel felt safe and caressed and, at the same time, she felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter more excitedly than ever and her heart rate spike up. She held onto Frank’s biceps to deepen the kiss for just a second before they both pulled back.
The kiss had not been heated enough for Mel to be as breathless as she was, but Frank didn’t look any better, face flushed, eyes shiny.
Mel licked her lips to chase his taste, and then bit down on her lower lip, happiness threatening to escape. Frank tracked the motions with his eyes and swallowed thickly.
“Breakfast?”, he asked quietly.
Mel nodded, hungry for more than food, but she was certain that she had all the time in the world for that later. Now, she could spend the morning with her two favorite people in the world, relishing the intimacy of being known and loved.