Fable
Melissa Schemmenti x Barbara Howard
TW:Captain Rob
Idk what to warn you about. I don’t write smut and I couldn’t hurt any of these characters. Surprisingly respectful Captain Rob ig…
“Let’s go find our seats Mel” captain Rob said as he guided her up the steps in the stadium.
One of Robinsons colleagues had somehow gotten Noah Kahan tickets but couldn’t make the night off so they were passed to Rob and Melissa. She had heard some of his songs from Jacob and liked a few.
The first opening was great it was short but it was only the beginning. The next was an artist named Gigi Perez, now that’s a name she recognized she had a few songs of hers on her playlist and followed some of her socials.
Once the third song started playing Melissa recognized the beat but wasn’t sure which song it was yet.
As it sped up she felt her phone vibrate in her hand looking down to see a notification from barb reading
Barbra❤️🐝 - have a fun time with Robinson tonight send me pictures later.❤️
Melissa turned her phone off, planning to respond later.
She’s leaned on captain Rob listening to the lyrics until one cut deep.
Love was the law and religion was taught.
She heard the lyrics repeating and feeling a tear fall from her eyes looking down and leaning away from Rob. She kept thinking about it. She turned her phone back on seeing the notification from barb and looking at her phone background. It was a photo of her and barb at Christmas when she first started seeing captain Rob and she can see Gerald in the background picking up another piece of food from a platter.
She looked up for a brief moment and Rob saw her eyes.
“Baby what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
he asked wrapping his arm around her.
“Nothing” she said sharp pushing his arm of her looking back up at the stage watching this woman sing the most honest and sincere song.
Melissa was more distant for the rest of the concert she still enjoyed being there but the part she couldn’t was captain Rob. She was so confused and disappointed she didn’t want to hurt him.
She was able to be calm until “Willing and Able” came on. That’s when she started crying again. All she could think about was Barb, not in a negative way but in an honest way. She remembers them figuring out teaching together when they first started at Abbott, sitting in the waiting room for the delivery both of Barbra’s children, crying with Barbra when her and Joe divorced, the stupid fight over the tickets in the teachers lounge, and the fight when she didn’t tell Barbra about captain Rob.
When captain Rob pulled into Melissa’s drive way and kissed her she just stayed still, didn’t offer him to stay the night or even come in. She just said.
“Night, I’ll text you later”
“Alright good night Mel”
She got out of his car and walked into her house she went right to her room. She looked up the song again. “Fable”
She listened closely and cried as everything started to be put into place.
I feel when I question my skin starts to burn
Why does my skin start to burn?
Melissa knew why now. She understood why she had those feeling all these years. She opened her texts looking at Barbs notification, responding with a picture of the stage and a picture of her and caption Rob together. She wished it was her in those photos instead of Rob. She wishes she was with Barb now, but she didn’t know how to tell her. She didn’t even know if she felt similar. Gerald was a great guy, but her and Barb were meant for one another.
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The next morning was quiet it was a Sunday and she was still struggling to settle from the night before. Her phone started to ring wondering who it could be. Seeing Robs name pop up she answered quickly.
“Hi Robinson” she said quietly not exactly knowing what to talk about.
“Hey Mel… um I have been wanting to talk to you,but also give you some time. I wanted to know if your okay you seemed really upset last night. Is anything going on?”
“It’s Barb” she whispered, wiping her tears.
“What’s wrong with Barbra? Did she say something? Is she okay?”
“I’m sorry” she said not knowing what to say next.
“What are you sorry for? Did you do something?”
“I…. Love her” she said quietly.
“Mel really?”
“Yeah, I think I do. I’m sorry” she said now Sobbing on the other line.
“Well. There’s not much I can do about that. I assume “we” or over and ummm. I’m here”
He said, sound confused trying to string together the best response he could.
“I hope she will still be my friend”
“Mel I’m sure you will, you two have been friends forever now”
“Do you think I could tell her?” She asks feeling a bit bad that she’s wrapped him into this insane mess that is her feelings at the moment.
“I think you could. But Mel she’s got a husband I don’t know how happy that marriage is and I don’t know the details of it. But I think it’s okay to be honest and just continue the friendship”
“Okay I think I’ll invite Barbra to come over soon and I’ll just talk to her for a while.”
“I think that’s a good choice, even thought we aren’t together I’m still here Mel you can text me whenever you need if it’s for this or for an annoying fire detector.”
“Thank you, bye Robinson”
“Bye Mel”
The call ends and it’s now silent and she is happy with what’s she’s chosen but extremely nervous.
Melissa ❤️🔥: hey Barb whenever your free today could you come over?
Barbra❤️🐝：sure, is everything okay? I’ll be over in an hour.
Melissa ❤️🔥: I just want to talk with you.
Barbra❤️🐝: alright well I’ll be there as soon as I can.
Melissa wanted this to go well even though she was a wreck. She showered and did her hair. Put on a bit of makeup and she wanted to dress nice for Barb she didn’t know what this could become but she wanted it to go well. As she put in her earrings as the doorbell rang. She clipped the last one and ran down the stairs and looked at herself in the mirror hyping herself up.
“Hi Barb” she said opening the door for her to enter.
“Hello dear” Barbra responded while giving Melissa a hug and kissing her on the cheek.
Melissa really felt it that time. Blushing but burning as she led her to the couch.
“Alright what’s wrong” Barbra said to Melissa seeing how upset she looked.
“I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to say this Barb it’s a difficult thing okay. I really value our friendship and I want it to stay the same or improve, I really don’t want to damage it.”
“Just take your time I’ll be here either way, I’ve always been.”
“ alright for starters me and captain Rob are done.”
“Now why is that you two seemed happy”
“We were but I think we were just meant to be friends because…. Um I love someone else.”
“Wow alright. Who is it?” Barb asked completely oblivious to the answer she was about to receive.
Melissa took a deep breathe and wiped her hands on the side of her hips.
“Alright I guess I gotta just say it.”
“It’s you Barb”
“It’s been you for a while it took me a long time to actually realize it and I don’t want to hurt are friendship you mean so much to me and please don’t hate me Barbra please”
she finished whispering please for forgiveness.
“Are you serious Melissa”
“Yah Barb I just confessed my love for you I’m a little vulnerable okay! We don’t have to talk about it again. If it bothers you we can just got back to how we were.” Melissa said lifting herself off the couch to run from what she had done.
Barbra quickly grabbed Melissa’s wrist “stay her” pulling her back to the couch to sit next to her. She rested her hand on top of Melissa’s knee keeping her close.
“Melissa. I’ve felt a similar way for quite a while. I think it’s good for you to know that Gerald knows.”
“Wait what!”
“Me and Gerald have been in a relationship to protect ourselves and our identities. We got married because it wasn’t legal for us to marry who we loved so we got married. Called a lavender relationship. I didn’t intend to tell Gerald about how I felt about you, but he just found out one day, looking at my journal.”
“Barb this is a lot to find out but also for you I’m assuming. What do you think we should do?”
“Well sweet heart I’m not sure. I’ll talk to Gerald and see what he thinks because honestly it’s gotten better now and I think he wants to actually see other people I still love him in a friendly way but a romantic one was almost never.”
“I actually put everything together with Rob so he knows everything I called him before I invited you over, he even encouraged it”
“What are we doing with these sweet men we are not attracted to” Barbra laughed as she held Melissa’s thigh tighter looking up at her knowing she could now without it being wrong.
Melissa laughed back and looked into Barbra’s eyes. She could feel something different it was genuine and reciprocated. She could tell they were feeling the same thing.
“Barbra I really want this to go well, like I can’t live without you. I could even take just friends. You mean a lot to me”
“Girl don’t worry I’m not leaving anytime soon, especially now”
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Maybe I’ll write another part 🤷♀️
If I can figure out how to do that. But thank you for reading this and being patient this is only the second fic I’ve posted❤️
