mad at something. Or maybe that was just his character.
How would she know?
“ It's
nice here,” she said.
“ Yeah,
well you decorated most of it so it makes sense that you would like
it.”
“ I
did? Wow, I have good taste,” she said looking around.
Allen
laughed. “I guess you do. So about bedrooms…we have
three plus the master. Do you want to keep it or you wanna move out?”
he asked.
“ I
want to do what’s the least disruptive thing,” she said
looking at him.
“ The
least disruptive thing would be to maintain the status quo but that’s
off the table so…” Allen said.
Frances
sighed. She wanted to tell him he was being an immature asshole but
she didn’t know him well enough to say such a thing; or rather,
apparently she did but she didn’t remember. She wondered how
they’d gotten together. He was clearly very Will Smith while
she was more Tupac Shakur. What the hell did they even have in
common?
“ Okay
then, I’ll move to one of the guest rooms for now. How about
that?” she proposed.
Allen
shrugged but said nothing, just looked at her from beneath his
eyelashes and walked down the hall to what she assumed was the
master. She followed him, looking around their room. The bed was
neatly made, with an off white duvet; a gray sheet peeking out from
under it. The pillows were gaily patterned with red roses on a white
background. The whole thing was very cozy and she could imagine
burrowing in there with a guy on cold nights, just enjoying being
warm. She could remember clearly all the cold winter nights she’d
shivered through in her bunker. Clearly those days were far behind
her but in her current state, they were pretty immediate.
“ This
is a pretty room,” she said.
“ Yeah,”
he agreed.
“ Lemme
guess, I decorated it too?” she asked.
Allen
smiled, “We both did.”
Frances
took a deep breath, “I have a proposal,” she said.
“ Uh
huh?” Allen seemed very aloof.
“ I
was thinking about what the doctor said about doing things that might
be familiar to jog my memory. So maybe I ought to stay in here…with
you,” she said, unable to stop the color from suffusing her
cheeks.
Allen’s
face brightened, “I’m okay with that.”
“ But
no sex or nothin,” Frances hastened to add.
Allen
put his hands up to show how harmless he was, “Of course,
yeah.”
Frances
breathed in deeply, “Great. That’s good. So what’s
next on the agenda? I’m kinda hungry.”
Allen
laughed, “Yeah okay, this way to the kitchen. I think I can
rustle up some sandwiches before dinner.”
“ Thank
you,” she said.
“ Why
don’t you…relax, maybe look around and get your bearings
while I get that sandwich?” he suggested.
“ Good
idea,” Frances agreed, taking a step toward the bed. She wanted
to see if it was as soft as it looked. Knowing her, if she’d
had a chance, she’d have chosen the softest bed in existence.
She sat down on it, all her expectations coming to fruition as it
enveloped her in luxurious softness.
“ Aaahh,”
she sighed in contentment, flopping back on the bed and spreading her
arms out. The bed was huge, even if she slept with Allen, there was
enough space that they didn’t have to even touch each other if
they didn’t want to. Frances closed her eyes, luxuriating in
comfort.
“ You
fell asleep,” a voice startled her awake. She sat up quickly,
scrambling around for her baseball bat before she remembered where
she was.
“ It's
okay, you’re fine,” Allen said standing in the doorway
holding a plate. Frances just stared at him, trying to shake the
instinctive panic that still curled her fingers around a non-existent
weapon. He walked toward her, holding the plate of sandwiches out
like an offering.
“ Here’s
your food,” he said.
“ Thanks,”
she whispered hoarsely and moved from the bed to the chair to eat her
sandwich. She didn’t want to get crumbs on the perfect bed. She
ate in silence while Allen sat on the bed and watched