“Easy there,” Frank groans as he ushers an incredibly wobbly Mel back into her hotel room. The door slams behind them as one of his hands searches for the light switch and the other holds Mel upright.
Frank never should’ve let Mel out of his sight. The servers at the PTMC gala are always liberal in handing out their offerings of champagne and other libations. Mel had mentioned the other day how she wanted to “let loose for once” and she used that to her advantage, he supposes, in accomplishing her goal of releasing her inhibitions.
And Frank would never stop her from having a good time. Out of everyone at the PTMC, she deserved a pass to be a little messy. Still, when he found her hanging off of Trinity’s shoulder, loudly declaring to Jack Abbott, “I’m not even that drunk!!” Frank knew she was in fact that drunk. And as her friend, it was his duty to make sure she didn’t end up in a bad situation.
“But I dunwanna,” Mel whines, clinging to the collar of Frank’s disheveled suit and nearly dragging him down onto the floor with her. Thankfully, he manages to regain his footing quickly enough to, essentially, use the momentum to fling her towards the bed.
“Weeee!” Mel's voice rises and falls with glee as her back hits the mattress. “Do that again!!” she demands.
Frank digs his thumbs into his lower back and presses inward, stretching his abdomen until he feels and hears a pop.
“No way, party girl. You need water and rest,” he says and makes his way to fill a glass from the coffee bar with water from the bathroom sink.
“Awwww! You’re no fun…” he can practically hear her pout. Brows drawn up, pursed lips, watery eyes that looked ten times bigger thanks to her glasses. He definitely would bend to her whim if he could see her.
“I know, that’s why they call me doctor no fun,” he calls out over the rush of water filling the cup. When he returns, he finds Mel sprawled out on the bed, pancake style, holding her head. Groaning and rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses.
“Here,” he says, holding out the cup, “I don’t need to tell you that this will help, but…”
Her hazy gaze peeks out from under her hands, pushing her glasses up to her dewy forehead. It takes a bit for her eyes to focus on him, but when they do, Frank has to stop himself from commenting on how beautiful they look. Shimmering despite the shitty hotel room lighting and, you know, being intoxicated.
“How many drinks did you even have?” he asks instead.
“Uh…” Mel takes the glass and downs two large gulps of water, “more than five,” she admits sheepishly. Her face flush a deep shade that reminds him of a ripe cherry.
And Frank loves to sink his teeth into tart, juicy cherries.
“What am I going to do with you, Dr. King?” he hums, shaking his head, and sits at the foot of the bed to put as much space between them as possible.
Mel shrugs and takes another swig.
“You can stay till I fall asleep, I suppose? Make sure I don’t choke on my own vomit?” she says quietly into the cup, looking at him through lowered eyelashes and gently sucking along the rim of the glass.
Frank swallows. If he were a worse man, he’d crawl over to her and sober her up with his mouth. Drown her in kisses to those wet lips, scarlet cheeks and—
But he’s trying to be a good friend. Friends don’t take advantage of each other when they’re drunk.
“I can make that happen, but you gotta promise me you’ll drink all that water and some, yeah?”
Mel nods and gulps down the rest of her water.
“Fetch me another!” she jeers, waving the cup in his direction, in a mock British accent that Frank can’t help but laugh at.
“Of course, my lady,” he says in an equally ridiculous accent and takes the cup from her outstretched hand.
Again, he’s trying to be good.