For @kingdonmicrofic | words: 500 | cw: emotional infidelity if you squint | picture: Mary Skrynnikova, Unsplash
With his backpack over one shoulder, he catches up to Mel in the ambulance bay.
“What are you still doing here?” Frank asks. Without a jacket, too.
“Um, just wanted to talk to you before I leave.”
Out of Abby’s mouth, these words regularly risk a 911 call for him. From Mel, they lure out his smile.
“Ready for your big trip? Gotta be honest, it’ll be weird to not see you for a week. You’re sure you won’t have any signal?”
She stays silent as she turns her face to the cold, cloudy sky.
“Hey, everything okay?”
A cute little jump. “Yup! Just nervous, sorry!”
He chuckles. “I can imagine. First vacation in years and a solo trip? I’d be nervous too.” It’s a shame she didn’t want his company.
“Could we, um, go…” she waves towards the sidewalk. “My Uber will arrive in about two minutes.”
He crosses his arms. “I could’ve taken you to the airport.”
She laughs, brushes an imaginary strand out of her hair and steps away from the hospital lights. “Before I leave, I want to share something with you. I don’t need an answer – I’d prefer no answer, actually – I just think you should know.”
He steps closer to her. “Mel, whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll –“
“Please don’t interrupt me, because then I won’t get through this and that wouldn’t be fair to you. I appreciate your friendship, I’d never intentionally hurt you or be inappropriate, but I need to say this.”
His heart freezes in his chest. What did he fuck up this time?
Mel takes a deep breath. Her eyes fall shut. “Ihavefeelingsforyoupleaseforgiveme.”
…
……
“Feelings?”
“Yeah. Romantic, in case that wasn’t clear.” Her voice breaks.
Mel. His best friend. The best person he’s ever known. What?
“I’m really sorry, you obviously don’t owe me anything. I’ll, um, give you space, and I will switch to the nightshift for a while, and if you never want to talk to me again, I’ll understand.”
A car rolls up to the sidewalk and over any possible thought on its way to Frank’s brain. The window lowers, Mel leans in and exchanges a few words with the driver, opens the door, looks at him, swallows, whispers, “I’ll miss you,” and then, poof, gone.
Frank sinks to the cold pavement. He closes his mouth. Feelings for you. His jaw drops again. His phone wanders from his pocket to his hand. The screen unlocks. Abby’s contact. Romantic feelings. Why was Mel so sure he’d reject her?
His wife picks up after the first ring.
“Hey, Abby, I’m – yeah, happy anniversary to you too. Um, don’t open the champagne yet. I’m sorry, too many trauma cases. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Or for how long.
The seat heating doesn’t reach the chill April air that sunk into his bones the moment Mel left him behind in the ambulance bay. Parked outside his house, Frank pulls out his phone again and opens his browser.
I know everybody has moved on but what they did to bellamy blake was the worst character assassination I’ve ever seen on television and I’m still pissed off 6 years later #notmybellamy
wanting to vent a bit/being worried about privacy will have you posting like i'm dealing with issues and problems. situations have happened to me. and there are emotions i'm experiencing about this. or not. gotta keep 'em on their toes.
To my 25 - 35 year olds, you've reached the age where people around you are starting to give up on themselves because they think it's too late. Don't let that energy rub off on you. It's not too late.
I love your agreeable and amenable and flexible nature and how none of your wants and needs ever get priority and how nobody even knows what they are to begin with and how you never start or engage in conflicts and never express even mildly unsavory opinions and get along with everyone from every conceivable group, that’s so trustworthy. hey quick question. do you happen to have an enormous pressurized reservoir of rage and resentment you feel like you can’t ever analyze or express because that would break the rules for the kind of person you are and if so, do you think a lifetime of squashing it down might ever backfire?
as a lifelong nerd and hater nothing has been more devastating than realising that school's weekly gym classes were actually a pretty good idea for my general health and wellbeing.
btw it's so fucking stupid you can be anxious physically in your body even after you've decided mentally you don't care. I'm supposed to be in charge here
from some of the comments i am seeing about having a hard time with fishing or wanting to fish in a specific way or looking for a white whale or wanting to skip the fishing and go straight to having a fish i feel i need to clarify the metaphor. this is not about the fishing itself to me as much as the fish. there’s this whole societal thing that pushes people to feel like they should be eating fish all the time and while fish are awesome for some people!! and while some people Want fish but don’t like the pressure about it!! i do not like fish i do not want fish and in fact i often feel as if i may exhibit an allergic reaction to seafood
can i just say how awful it is when something makes you feel like that small insecure child you used to be and now you’re stuck in this loop of the child in your mind screaming and crying while the (semi)adult version of you is trying to reassure the child that everything’s fine
"You could get up early and do it before work" I could also wait for a magic beanstalk to start growing in my living room LMAO. Let's focus on things that happen in the real world
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