Coffee
“Ella! I need that sketch finished in an hour or your ass is on the line!”
“Fuck off Dan!” I yelled at the man passing my office door, glasses halfway down my nose as I looked up from my laptop. A hand appeared back in the doorway, middle finger up, but I could hear Dan’s laughter on the other side of the wall.
I groaned and pushed my chair away from my desk, throwing my glasses onto the desktop cluttered with loose documents, pens, pots of half-dead succulents, and empty Starbucks cups. I peered hopefully into the venti cup closest to me, but it was in fact, empty. I was just starting to gather my coat and scarf to make a run down to the nearby store when my phone buzzed.
Thinking it was one of the other writers calling to yell at me, I answered the phone with a gruff “What?!” only to be met with a chuckle.
“Damn, what’d I do?”
“Frank?” I asked, taken aback by the voice on the other end.
“Hey sweetheart. How are you?”
“Not great, if I’m being honest.” I groaned. “I have a sketch due in an hour that I’m only halfway done with and I just realized I’m out of coffee.”
“What a happy coincidence,” Frank said. “I happen to be holding a very full cup of hot coffee at this moment with your name on it.”
“What?” I asked, nonplussed.
“Look out your window.”
I dashed to the window behind me and clung to the sill, nose pressed to the glass. “Oh. My. God. Is that you?”
“It is indeed.” A miniature version of Frank waved from 15 stories down, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, his other hand holding a Starbucks cup.
“I’ll be right down.” I hung up, flustered, and stood still for a minute, running my hand through my hair. “Whoa, shit, okay.” I yanked the random compact mirror that every girl has in their desk out of my drawer and examined my reflection. “Jesus Christ,” I groaned, taking in my disheveled appearance. “Whatever.”
I bounded out the door, snatching up my scarf and whistling to Lola, who was in her customary place in her bed behind the door. She got up, leash in her mouth and padded after me to the elevator. As we traveled down, I put her leash on and attempted to smooth my hair in the mirror. My eyes were bright despite the smudged mascara underneath them and my heart was definitely racing. The elevator dinged and Lola and I stepped out into the lobby. I pushed open the heavy front door and Lola, catching sight of Frank, tried to take off towards him. I laughed and dropped her leash, letting her jump up on him.
“Whoa girl!” Frank said, lifting the cup of coffee out of harm’s way. “Settle down!” Lola, obedient as always, sat, but was frantically licking his jeans and boots.
“Hey there.” I said, reclaiming her leash from the ground and smiling at him. “Uh, what are you doing here?”
“Thought you could use some caffeine.” He said, blushing a little and passing me the cup. “Is this weird?”
“No, no!” I said hastily. “It’s actually really…. Sweet.”
“Sweet, huh?” Frank smiled. “Bet ya didn’t think you’d ever use those words to describe Frank Castle.”
“Oh, big bad man,” I scoffed and he laughed. I turned the cup and saw that he’d gotten my order exactly right: venti coffee with almond milk and two pumps of vanilla. “Okay, maybe it is a little weird that you know my order and I met you last night?”
“Ah.” Frank said. “That is actually not weird, I just happen to be quite resourceful.”
“As in you figured out that there’s a Starbucks literally around the corner that’s very well known to be popular with the SNL writers, so you went in there and asked what a small blond girl with a pitbull usually gets?”
“Bingo.” Now I was the one laughing.
“That is actually very resourceful and as I said before, sweet.” I grinned at him and took a sip of the coffee. “Ahh, perfect.”
“So uh, day not going so well?” Frank looked up at me from where he was crouching letting Lola lick his face.
“Just super busy, as always.” I sighed dramatically. “But c’est la vie. This is the very small price to pay for somehow landing my dream job. I just feel bad for Lola, cooped up in my office all day.” As if she could understand me, Lola gave a pathetic whine and butted her head against Frank’s chin.
“I could, uh, take her for a walk and to the dog park or somethin’, uh, if you wanted.” Frank was blushing again and my heart literally skipped a beat. Was he seriously nervous around me?
“Wow, I mean that would be amazing, but I don’t want to interrupt your day.” I said, frowning a little.
“No, you’re really not.” Frank said, standing up and gently taking Lola’s leash from my hands. “I swear getting your coffee was really the first and last thing on my to-do list for the day.”
“Well, I know Lola would love it because she’s clearly obsessed with you. Traitor!” I said, pointing at her. She just smiled up at me, tongue flopping out of her mouth.
“Nah, she loves everyone.” Frank said.
“No, she really doesn’t.” I insisted. “She usually is super protective of me and hates guys, I’m pretty sure it was a guy who chucked her in a trash can when she was a puppy.”
“Well, I’m honored then Miss Lola.” Frank gave a rumbling chuckle and Lola barked once. “Yeah, well, I’ll just take her to the dog park then and uh, give you a call when I’m back?”
“Oh, you can just go in and say you’re coming up to meet me.” I said. “Francisco at the front desk is a total softie and knows me quite well since I’m always coming in and out with Lola. That way I can repay you for the coffee with a donut or something from the snack room.”
“Snack room? Sounds tempting.” Frank smiled. “Alright, then uh, we’ll see you in a bit. Hope the writing goes better.”
“Thanks, Frank, really and thanks for the coffee. You’re a lifesaver.” I hesitated for a moment, then leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Before I could see his reaction, I turned around and hustled back inside the warm lobby.
I waved hello to Francisco and then once back in the elevator, let out a groan and slumped against the wall. Why, oh why did I do that? I’m sure he thinks I’m crazy now, some obsessed little fangirl who can’t keep it in her pants around The Punisher.
“Fuck!” I said aloud, straightening my jacket and stepping out of the elevator doors when they opened.
1 hour and 5 minutes later, the coffee was long gone and the sketch was finally done. I emailed it to Dan complete with a snarky message and some gifs that displayed my feelings about the audacity of managers holding me to my deadlines and closed my laptop with a satisfying snap. I checked my phone and saw that it was already 6 pm, which meant I should really start thinking about what to do for dinner.
I messed around on Instagram for awhile instead, responding to some DMs from fans of the show and posting a cute picture of Lola from earlier in the day. Just as I had opened the Grubhub app and started to hunt down some food, there was a light tap on my door and I looked up to see Frank’s large frame taking up my entire doorway.
“Hi!” I said, standing up and letting Lola hurl herself at my legs. “Did you guys have fun?”
“Yeah, it was great.” Frank said sincerely, standing a bit awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. He seemed too large for my tiny office and I suddenly realized how much bigger than me he was. It somehow wasn’t apparent at the gym or outside, but here in an office setting it was suddenly clear why people were scared of him.
“She wasn’t too annoying?” I dug a treat for Lola out of my pocket and tossed it on her bed, where she happily snuffled after it, ate it, and flopped down.
“Nah, she’s the best.” Frank laughed. “Tried to herd some little Yorkies at the park, but their owner didn’t mind.”
“Oh, good.” I suddenly remembered the kiss and started to feel incredibly awkward. There was a moment of silence.
“So, uh, do you want a donut --” I started at the exact same time Frank said, “What are you doing for dinner?”
We stared at each other and then started laughing.
“Is this going to be our thing?” Frank asked, walking towards me and taking a seat on the corner of my desk.
“I hope not.”
“Yeah, me too.” I stared at him for another second before he decided to repeat his question, “So, dinner plans?”
“Oh yeah, well usually around this time is when one of my bosses will come in and demand that I attend some table read or meeting that I was previously unaware of, so I usually order something off my phone or have a Page go get me something.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Go out to dinner with me instead.” Frank blurted out, and then I saw him clench his fists by his sides.
“Really?”
“Does your usual alternative sound better?” He asked.
“No! I mean, yes, I’d love to.” I shook my head and bit my lip, not quite believing my luck.
“Good. Let’s sneak you out of here then, yeah?” Frank stood up and seemed to shake his nervousness away with one heave of his broad shoulders.
“Um, yeah, hang on, I’ve got to like, clean up and stuff…” I trailed off, waving a hand over the mess that was my desk.
“I’ll get Lola ready to go and then we’ll make our escape.” Frank was already leaning down to re-attach Lola’s leash and straighten out the blankets she’d rumpled into a nest around her bed.
I hastily shoved all the papers on my desk into a pile, pulling out the documents that I needed to take home and putting them in my bag along with my laptop. I picked up an empty cup and arced it across the room into the trash can and, entirely forgetting that Frank was in the room, called out my customary “Kobe!”
Frank burst out laughing at my horrified expression when I realized what I’d done and I quickly relaxed.
“Well, now that you’re aware I’m a three point maverick, are you too intimidated to take me out to dinner?” I teased, putting on my coat and grabbing my purse.
“Oh definitely.” Frank said seriously, leading the way out the door with Lola in tow. I snapped off the lights and closed the door and we walked quickly down the (mercifully empty) hallway to the elevators. We made it downstairs without incident and when we were outside, I gave Frank a huge smile.
“This is the earliest I’ve been out of the office in weeks!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms up and spinning in a circle.
“Jesus girl, ever heard of work-life balance?” Frank put a hand on my lower back and gently guided me in the correct direction across the plaza.
“Oh, you’re one to talk.” I retorted, knowing that I might have been treading on thin ice. Frank snorted, but didn’t seem to mind my not so subtle reference to his infamous nighttime activities. I wondered if he was still out there every night, but pushed the thought aside.
“So where are we going?” I asked, breaking a few moments of companionable silence as we strolled along, Lola in the lead. Just then, I gave an enormous yawn that literally had me stopped in my tracks and filled my eyes with tears.
“Well I was gonna suggest that we hit up this Italian place I know that allows dogs on the patio, but considering that yawn, maybe we should call it a night?” Frank sounded a little disappointed, I noted with glee.
“No, no, I really want to do dinner —“ I interrupted myself with another yawn and suddenly felt the entire weight of the sleep-deprived weeks (ok months) I’d had descend on my shoulders. “Fuck.” I restarted my sentence and decided to throw caution to the wind. “I really want to do dinner, but you’re right I’m kind of beat. Is it super lame to suggest we get takeout and eat it at my place?”
Frank’s face brightened and he gave me one of his slow grins.
“To be perfectly honest ma’am, that sounds a damn sight better than going out to me.”
“Excellent.” I said, turning on my heel. “Then let’s catch the 6.”