that thing about love and devotion

 

Listening to Hope's words about her new place was the downward spiral of everything. Frankie thought he might collapse. After all, he was home, he could fall on the floor and no one would ever know.

"I know you don't need me for anything," Frankie said before she could. "But if you do, you know I'd be there in a second." He understood she needed time to get situated. "I hope it all works out." After he hung up he wondered how many times he used HOPE in a sentence. He wondered if Hope even noticed.

He made a face of disgust. No wonder she couldn't stand him. He tossed his phone to the couch and walked to the fridge to see if there was anything to drink. Just cold bottled water. He put the bottle to his forehead wondering just how lost he really was.

He couldn't dare call home. After all, there was his work in the morning in billing at the hospital, then a two-hour class for lunch at the university. His late afternoons were devoted to the yoga studio. When did he have time to date, really?

Frankie, sighed as if he could kick himself he would. Why was he this way with Hope? First, it was Tori. He didn't even want to think how long that was so unrequited. He knew he needed to get out of this rut.

Finally, he unscrewed the bottle of cold water and chugged it down. It was warm at his place. Maybe he did need to put on the AC. Next, he grabbed his phone and looked at the free app he'd downloaded. He sighed heavily.

It was now or never. He got a new password and signed in. The first step was to answer a long list of questions.

Frankie winced hard. What if he got them all wrong? He didn't like any of the questions. Especially the one, "What's a perfect day for you?" Did he honestly know? He winced harder. This had him in a fret. 

"What fictional character are you most like?"

"OH MY GAWD, really!" He shouted back. 

Finally, he got to the quick list of questions which was much easier. Maybe. Like how far of a match would he go (30 miles? 60 miles?) He had to put in his income and that kind of thing too. But just what was he really passionate about?

In the back of his head, he already knew and their names were Hope and Tori.