ff: nothing like you and i
There are bathroom habits and laundry preferences and post-local news ramblings that both charm and grate, but of all the new things he’s learned - the every day revelations that have enhanced his life exponentially - the way her socked feet sound against the floor during the sun-shy moments of the day is the most delightful.
Waltz
There are dances people do, choreographed performances of patterns and routines that emerge after any long standing partnership, when you know which foot to lift and which way to step and it all flows like a 1930’s musical - meetings, post-its, late night meals - until one day, perhaps, when she walks out of the office and the music, it seems, stops and his foot hits the floor all wrong.
Wishes
Its his name, but its quiet and tired and unlike anything he’s ever heard before, and yet it’s the same, as it fights its way across her lips; he moves closer to her, thinking that grateful might be the most inappropriate word ever devised, and speaks of her mother and light jokes about Germany because he isn’t sure of the words for this moment until she speaks them - “you’re still here.”
Wonder
“Do you ever wonder how there can possibly be traffic by volume?” she asks with almost mock curiosity, leaning slightly against the car door with her arms casually crossed across her chest, and he laughs, because he hasn’t, but she talks more about rush hour and road lanes and keeping a constant speed and he’s almost a little convinced she might be onto something so he states, the tempo up in his voice, “you’ve given me something to think about, Donna.”
Worry
The breaking news logo is never a comforting sight, and before she knows it she’s up and out of bed, hair pulled back and shoes on, faster than she did even that time sophomore year when she overslept the morning of a contemporary American literature exam, and she’s pretty sure she breaks about five different traffic laws as she hurls her way towards the hospital.
Whimsy
The wind makes a mess out of the loose strands of her hair and she shoots him a look - one that after all these years he’s come to know with both excitement and dread - and she takes off for the water, her feet throwing sand back at him as she speeds toward the sea; he hesitates for a moment, then her head bobs up above the water line with a smile that more than makes up for the overcast and he bolts to join her because he is, after all, on vacation.
Waste
There were times when Josh would think that Donna was too capable for this rudimentary job, too bright and savvy and sharp to spend all her days being his errand girl, but Josh was never one for change, and Donna had burrowed herself a little too close to his heart, and better to keep her close, if down, than to loose this altogether.
Whiskey and Rum
One Saturday in late June Donna got out some liquor and a deck of cards and challenged Josh to a game he had never heard of and that she, most decidedly, won.
War
The days when he misses lunch, when he can’t return her calls, when he doesn’t come home till well after Letterman has signed off, are the most frustratingly scary days of all, and they always lead to nights where his arm wraps around her a little tighter than usual.
Weddings
“The only thing I want are lilies. Calla lilies,” she told him, and he nodded and smiled because she didn’t care about music or cakes or dresses, just lilies - calla lilies - and he can almost imagine she picked that out when she was nine after attending a memorable family wedding; she catches him smirking and raises an eyebrow and so he replies, most honestly, “you got it.”
.
Waltz
There are dances people do, choreographed performances of patterns and routines that emerge after any long standing partnership, when you know which foot to lift and which way to step and it all flows like a 1930’s musical - meetings, post-its, late night meals - until one day, perhaps, when she walks out of the office and the music, it seems, stops and his foot hits the floor all wrong.
Wishes
Its his name, but its quiet and tired and unlike anything he’s ever heard before, and yet it’s the same, as it fights its way across her lips; he moves closer to her, thinking that grateful might be the most inappropriate word ever devised, and speaks of her mother and light jokes about Germany because he isn’t sure of the words for this moment until she speaks them - “you’re still here.”
Wonder
“Do you ever wonder how there can possibly be traffic by volume?” she asks with almost mock curiosity, leaning slightly against the car door with her arms casually crossed across her chest, and he laughs, because he hasn’t, but she talks more about rush hour and road lanes and keeping a constant speed and he’s almost a little convinced she might be onto something so he states, the tempo up in his voice, “you’ve given me something to think about, Donna.”
Worry
The breaking news logo is never a comforting sight, and before she knows it she’s up and out of bed, hair pulled back and shoes on, faster than she did even that time sophomore year when she overslept the morning of a contemporary American literature exam, and she’s pretty sure she breaks about five different traffic laws as she hurls her way towards the hospital.
Whimsy
The wind makes a mess out of the loose strands of her hair and she shoots him a look - one that after all these years he’s come to know with both excitement and dread - and she takes off for the water, her feet throwing sand back at him as she speeds toward the sea; he hesitates for a moment, then her head bobs up above the water line with a smile that more than makes up for the overcast and he bolts to join her because he is, after all, on vacation.
Waste
There were times when Josh would think that Donna was too capable for this rudimentary job, too bright and savvy and sharp to spend all her days being his errand girl, but Josh was never one for change, and Donna had burrowed herself a little too close to his heart, and better to keep her close, if down, than to loose this altogether.
Whiskey and Rum
One Saturday in late June Donna got out some liquor and a deck of cards and challenged Josh to a game he had never heard of and that she, most decidedly, won.
War
The days when he misses lunch, when he can’t return her calls, when he doesn’t come home till well after Letterman has signed off, are the most frustratingly scary days of all, and they always lead to nights where his arm wraps around her a little tighter than usual.
Weddings
“The only thing I want are lilies. Calla lilies,” she told him, and he nodded and smiled because she didn’t care about music or cakes or dresses, just lilies - calla lilies - and he can almost imagine she picked that out when she was nine after attending a memorable family wedding; she catches him smirking and raises an eyebrow and so he replies, most honestly, “you got it.”
.