PROLOGUE

 

I've confused love with longing and passion for a very long time, the constant thinking about somebody, and for them to be thinking of me. Well, it turned out that was not love. How can I even begin to describe what I'm feeling for him? How can you describe a burning flame?

Theoretically, everyone knows how a flame looks like, but only a few have felt the burning that it causes. I was afraid to touch this fire at first, afraid of the injuries it might have caused .And, yeah, there were a lot of times when i was hurt, but I healed.

I wouldn't change anything about our story. Our flames trusted deeply and we kept on feeding them, our shadows danced together ,our colors mixed Our love story has no need for plot twists ,it plays no games. His love consumed me, showed me the rights and the wrongs, joined me in all the roadtrips of life. My love embodied everything his soul needed to learn, it kissed away his scars. He made the nothing in me become something and I always showed him his way home. He was my guitarist, and I was his melody.

I have a genuine belief that he has been put in my path for a reason, that we're not soulmates, but that our souls mirror each other. I don't know what tomorrow will bring for us, but I know that I am where I'm supposed to be, and will be, as long as we continue to grow for each other. I don't know what will happen next .But I know that I love him. And nothing else matters.

                                                                           Never opened myself this way

                                                                           Life is ours, we live it our way

                                                                         All these words I don't just say

                                                                            And nothing else matters

                                                                           Trust I seek and I find in you

                                                                       Every day for us something new

                                                                          Open mind for a different view

                                                                           And nothing else matters

                                                                               "Nothing else matters"

                                                                                     METALLICA

2: Chapter 1. The Rain Song.

                                                                          ~SEPTEMBER 2014~

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

So this was it, the beginning of an end. My life as a normal high school student trapped in a small town was about to end in less than a year. What was I going to do after that? Where was I supposed to go after that? Would it be easy to leave my family and friends? Would I ever get used to being on my own? Questions, and questions. Questions that demanded answers I didn't possess .I was running out of time and solutions .I had only 9 more months to find my answers and let's say that was easier said than done.

My name is Melody Hathaway and I'm a student in the 12th grade from a small town Arcata, California .I started out the first day of my senior year really excited to make the most of what I had left with my friends, Mina and Hope. We were going to drift off to the same university from San Francisco, it had been one of our big dreams since we first met in the 9th grade, to get out of this small town. The three of us planned on studying journalism together, Mina and Hope wanting to become editors at a famous magazine one day. And me…well, for me It was a little bit more complicated than that. I always had this big dream of becoming a writer, but I knew there was no chance for me to accomplish it. So I moved on the closer option, a journalist. If I couldn't write books that were going to be published, then I would write reports, tell stories that deserve to be told ,meet new people and travel around the world .If a dream was unrealizable, then I would find another one.

So far so good, right? Well, not quite true. My parents didn't approve with my college choice. They wanted me to follow my sister's footsteps and go to the med school, but that wasn't on my list of future plans. I wasn't meant so save lives as Diana, my sisters, was. Hell, I could barely manage to finish off my math homework ,how was I supposed to operate on people ?I was clumsy and unsure of my abilities ,no one should lay their lives in my hands. Diana was perfect for this job, she was gracious and smart and capable. There was no comparison between the two of us. At least my parents agreed on that.

I was not my sister, and never will be, they made sure to remind me that everytime they had the chance. Diana understood me and what I wanted .She was all for me doing whatever made me happy. I loved her and the fact that she was so many miles away didn't change that. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my family with all my might and I knew I was lucky to have such a great relationship with them, despite all our recent arguments. I also knew there were people who had it way worse than me, people who maybe didn't even have a family. That's why I hated myself, for not being able to do what they wanted me to do. There were times when I considered their options, almost agreed with them ,but my sister and friends were always there to remind me that I had no obligations towards them when it came to my future lifestyle .I was the only one to make the great decision.

As it can be seen, I still had issues to deal with, questions to answer. Time does its best, it passes before we even realize. And I was trapped between two options: to follow my dreams or do the reasonable thing.

The first day of school started off great .I was happy to see my friends again and spend with them the time that we had left .I was going to miss the calmness of Arcata .with its rainy days and green spaces .I was also going to miss my family and friends. But no pain no gain. The following days weren't that good though. The fights with my parents became more constant and, at school, I was always grumpy and edgy, the weight of a decision already pressing on my shoulders. And there had passed only a couple of days. Mina and Hope saw the change in me but said nothing, not asking any questions, they were just there for me .And I was grateful for that, I was grateful for their friendship.

At the end of the first week of school, on a Friday, things started to be even worse. I was in the "don't-mess-with-me" mood, and school didn't make it easier for me. Neither did my parents ,for that matter. I came home from school tired, already planning a date with the couch and my favorite TV series. I put on my PJs, and made myself comfortable in front of the TV. Suddenly, my phone rang, showing Hope's phone number. I considered not answering, but decided against it. She was after all my friend ,and she helped me when I needed it.

"Heya !"I answered lazily."What's up? And please don't say Mary Winchester"

Hope chuckled at the other end of the line.

"Haha , but no. Sooo, Mel. listen up! I need a favor,"she spoke before I even got the chance to respond."My mother asked me to take her place at the antique shop for a few hours.Problem is, I can't go since, as you well know ,I'm feeling a little sick. So would you please ,pretty pretty please ,take my place ?You can close it up at 5 pm ,I just need someone to take my place for today"

"Straight on business, I see." I said a little bit annoyed.

"I know ,I know and I'm sorry," Hope apologized."But I wouldn't ask for it if it wasn't important. A lot of things are being sold in our shop on Fridays and we can't miss an opportunity to get more money. And I know that you're having a bad week, but it's just for a few hours. Please?"

I sighed and stayed silent. "I promise I will make it up to you," Hope said in a sing-song voice."Buy you some chocolate or whatever it is that you like."

I sighed for the second time then spoke. "Fine! You got me at the chocolate part.You still have to give me the keys to the shop though ,so I'll come over"

"Thank you, Mel! Thank you so much! I will keep my promise."

"I know you will, I'll make sure of it." I said and then hung up. I started to get ready to leave, putting on a pair of shorts ,a white T-Shirt and my leather jacket and boots ,then headed to Hope's house to take the keys.

I didn't mind helping her, I actually wanted to since it was better than staying home and fighting with my mother again. And as a bonus, she offered me chocolate.

The first 2 hours were pretty busy at the shop, people came, bought and left ,and I had to be extra careful and not let anyone steal something. as Hope warned me. It was more tiring than I expected, but after another hour I was ready to close the shop, when a young man entered in.I have to be honest, I was amazed he even fit in the door, as he was the tallest person I have ever seen. He had curly brown hair and deep green eyes, and let's admit it, he was hot. Also, he was dressed like those people you see in movies with billionaires, all suit and tie, dressed up to the nines .I gave a slight chuckle, thinking how much Hope despised this kind of people, always formal and with their heads held high.

"Hello,sir! How can I help you today? "I said with a forced smile that I had to pull off all day.

He looked at me strangely, like he was almost disappointed. "Who the hell are you," he spoke after another round of strange looks "and where is the other one, Hope?"

Whoa, way to go ,dude! I thought to myself. Just another few minutes, Melody, and you will go home ,lock yourself in the room and watch TV.

"Well she's not here ,as you can see, she felt sick today and sent me to keep her place .So how can I help you?"

"Sick, really? So what, she sent you to do her job?"he said annoyance clear in his voice.

A few more minutes, Mel. Just try not to punch the guy and you're free to go

"Yeah, I just told you that. You want me to send her a message?"

"No, don't bother. Why would she even send a minion to do her job ,though?"

Okay, that's it!

"Okay ,listen up, Richie Rich! Why don't you take your big ego and hulk face and get the hell out of here? I don't know what business you have with my friend and don't even care, but as long as I am here you wont get to come into this shop. So, fuck off ,big guy."

He blinked for a few times, clearly not used to people talking with him like that. He was probably a daddy's boy with lots of money and an ego just as big. What business could he have with Hope ?And how did he even know her? She wouldn't have taken his attitude, not even for a second.

"Fine" he said bitterly after a while."Don't even know why I bother with a child like you."And then he just walked off.

Yup, it seemed that this day couldn't get any better…

 

After Richie Rich left I closed the shop since it seemed like no other person would come in. It was only a little after 5pm and I thought to myself that I couldn't wait till Hope was going to give me that promised chocolate, so I decided to go buy some myself from the supermarket that was only a few streets away. But, surprise, surprise, it was raining outside and it's needless to say I didn't have an umbrella .I usually loved to walk in the rain, whether it was a warm summer rain or a cold autumn one ,but today I was slightly annoyed that I had to walk in the cold rain,. regretting it immediately because of the thin clothes I wore.

I finally reached the supermarket, smelling like a wet dog, and went straight to the candy department .As I walked into it, I glanced around for my favorite type of chocolate, and spotted it. I headed to take the last box left, when I also spotted an insanely tall guy, already reaching for it. He eyed the box for a few seconds when he turned around to hear a voice speak. I was actually surprised to realize the voice belonged to me.

"Hey, Willy Wonka, why won't you share with the less fortunate?"

He looked at me weirdly, not fully realizing what I was talking about, when he got it

"What, this? I'm sorry, but you'll have to find another one, I took it first." Willy Wonka said.

"But I spotted it first," I argued childishly."So it would only be fair for you to give me the chocolate ,like a gentleman that you are."

"Not gonna happen ,squirrel." he smirked.

Squirrel, really? What is it with guys and their short sizes based bullying?

"Let's make it easier, dude .I had a really shitty day and I am one minute away of hitting you right in the balls and run with the chocolate." I said, reaching for the box in his hand ,but he held it up so I couldn't reach it.

"And I said it's not going to happen. You have no idea how much I am willing to fight for this box."

He looked down on me, dead serious ,like I was a child that didn't understand the basic rules ,like no staying up after curfew ,or no talking with stranger .In his case, no stealing chocolate from people taller than you. But I'll be damned if I wasn't sick of people treating me like a kid. I guess that was when my last drop of patience vanished.

Without even thinking, I climbed into his shopping cart so I could be able to reach the box of chocolate in his hands. His eyes grew wide as he saw my action, probably underestimating my need for that chocolate ,and when he finally recovered from the shock, he pushed the cart I was in away, so I couldn't reach the box. As he did that,I fell straight forward ,right in time for him to be able to catch me. For a couple of seconds, he just stood there ,with his hands on my waist, looking me straight into the eyes, when he finally pulled me out and ran as fast as he could with the chocolate and his cart, leaving me gaping.

What the hell just happened ?Did I…Did he…?Whoa.

I still couldn't fully recover from what had just happened.

That bastard!

Did he really just run away with the chocolate, MY CHOCOLATE, and did I seriously climbed into his cart, making a fool of myself? Well, coming from my temper nothing should have amazed me. What was he thinking of me ?That I was a psycho who attacked him? Considering I couldn't stay there all day, I shrugged the event off and headed to take some Pringles and Pepsi and then left the supermarket. As I walked outside, I saw that the rain had stopped ,but there was still pretty cold .I would have taken a taxi if I had had enough money left ,but since I did not, I decided it was time for a walk.

What a day!

 

3: Chapter 2 . Long Black Road

ADRIAN'S P.O.V.

 

I left the supermarket almost scared for my life. Apparently ,not even supermarkets were safe anymore.You can never know when a savage squirrel with a need for chocolate may attack you.That girl was nuts ,pun intended. I finished the shoppings for me and my mother and went to the parking lot. My baby, a 2009 Honda CBR600RR motorcycle ,was waiting for me there, as always. I climbed onto it, humming to myself a Metallica song ,thinking that I wasn't going to let the weird event from the supermarket to ruin my good mood .It was after all Friday ,which meant I got to spend more time with my mother,work days being too busy for me to do that .I was going to drive straight home ,cook her dinner and call it a day.

I barely made it out of the parking lot ,when something caught my eye, or rather someone .That little evil creature.No way would I have thought I would encounter her again, but there she was, all alone, walking with short but quick steps, probably freezing because of the thin clothes she wore. She came to a stop, waiting for the traffic light to turn green so she could cross the street . As I saw her there, I decided it was time for me to have some fun.

I fastened up my speed, passing by the edge of the road where she stood at, right through a puddle ,which caused the water to be sprayed onto her .I came to a halt near, taking off my skid lid, just to see the squirrel standing there ,soaked from head to toe. Some really ugly words came out of her mouth ,words that would have gotten me detention back in high school. Her swearing stopped when she saw who splashed her. Amazement , annoyance, anger, wrath, all of those emotions could be read on her face in that moment. And that's when the swearing increased.

"You…" she started."…you son of a bitch! Wasn't stealing my chocolate enough for you? Did you seriously had to fucking splash Noah's flood on me? I swear to God if…"she stopped when she saw me laughing. "Oh, so you think this is soooo funny to bully a short size person, after ,I must say, you stole her chocolate…"

"Oh, c'mon! This can hardly be called bullying "I finally managed to say between giggles."Also, nice shirt .But you should have that covered up. Not that I mind." She looked down at her T-Shirt ,and then realized what I was talking about. She wore a white T-Shirt ,a very thin white T-shirt ,that was starting to show too much ,clinging to her skin .She gasped ,and covered herself with the jacket.

"Just when I thought the rich one was an asshole" I heard her murmur to herself. "There is a special place in hell for people like you. Dude, at least get lost now ,I think you've done enough for one day ,and I am way too tired to fight with you right now .Let me hope I won't have to see you again."

She started walking away ,but now I almost felt sorry for her ,as I saw how really tired she looked like. What had this girl done to me in the first place ? Yeah, she was kind of , no ,scratch that ,surely crazy and nowhere near ordinary ,no other girl would have done all those things, humiliate herself in a public place ,just for a box of chocolate .But didn't I do the same ? Didn't I, like the chocoholic that I was ,pushed the cart away so that the girl couldn't reach it? After all ,she could have fallen down and hurt herself pretty badly if I hadn't caught her on time .And again ,just for a box of chocolate. Though it was my favorite type of chocolate, I would have walked through Mordor to get It. And this girl, this 5'4'' creature ,would probably have done the same. I might try to do a good thing for a change.

"Okay squirrel ,hop in and take this."I called after her while I got out of the motorcycle ,pulled off my jacket and placed it over her shoulders .She hesitated for a few seconds ,took a step back and eyed me with a doubtful expression.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch .I'm just helping a damsel in distress "I said holding my hands up in defensive .She then looked even more annoyed than I would have thought possible.

"I am not a damsel in distress .Don't you suggest ,not even for a second that I could be."

Fierceness radiated out of her, as she looked at me with a pointed look .The truth is, she didn't look like a damsel in distress to me either .No other girl would have done the things she'd done so far ,and even if I knew her for only 1 hour or so, I wouldn't take her for that kind to mess with .

I took a step forward and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Slow down your horses for a minute there, squirrel. No need for such anger .I'm just suggesting that you should let me ,at least ,give you a lift."

She shrugged my hands away.

"What's in for you then, Groot ?"

I smiled at the nickname .Of course if I called her squirrel she had the right to call me something too. But Groot, really?

"Well ,I got to keep the chocolate ,right? And you pulled out a big fight for it ,and that's pretty remarkable."

She eyed me, then my motorcycle ,and her eyes fell back on me again .She was going to say yes after all, wasn't she ?If our circumstances would have been different ,I would have thought that she was already all over her heels for me, after a while I got used to the idea of girls falling easily for handsome guys with a good sense of humor like me ,it happened all the time .But I think that wasn't the reason she was going to say yes. From the looks that she gave me , I knew that she would have rather sold my soul to Satan for that box of chocolate . Also ,she was shaking from the cold ,and probably wouldn't like walking a few extra miles to reach her house .

She finally nodded in agreement ,accepted my jacket ,taking her watered one off, then climbed onto the bike.

"You're lucky you have an awesome motorbike "I heard her shaken voice murmur.

"I know right ?A Honda."

"I figured ,Sherlock .A CBR600RR Honda.2009 model?"

I looked at her in disbelief.

"Yeah. You like motorcycles?"

"Of course I do ,I wish I had my own .But I wouldn't go for such a modern model ,I like classics .But don't worry ,yours is not bad either ,Groot."

"Huh. You never cease to amaze me, squirrel. Hold on tight!"I said with a smile ,a plan forming in my head ,then started the motor and headed to the address that she gave me .

I thought that she ,being a girl and all ,might be scared if I increased my speed and took some dangerous turns ,and maybe tell me to slow down. Hell ,I really did want to find this girl's weak point. So I drove with 85 miles per hour ,past the speed limit ,but got no reaction from her. Her hands did held tight on me ,but more because of the cold ,not because of the fear.

"Scared ,squirrel?"I asked her over the roar of the motorcycle.

"What, you crazy ?Of course not .I love this thing. I've only had the chance once to drive on a motorcycle ,and it was with 30 miles per hour .As long as we don't have an accident, I'm cool with this "she said ,almost shouting so I could hear her.

"No accidents on my watch."

It was clearly that she was not that kind of girl to be scared easily .I've once made the mistake to take one of my one-night-stand dates on my baby ,and she freaked out because I drove with 60 miles per hour."You're gonna kill us both" my date shouted back then as I drove. Most girls were like that one ,scared and paranoid, but apparently not this hobbit .

It was fascinating how brave she seemed to be ,even though at the first glance she looked fragile like she might break ,but from what I could tell by now ,she was not like that at all.

We finally reached her address ,a small house ,painted in white from a quite neighborhood ,with a nice garden filled with autumnatic flowers .A typical American house ,easy to remember .She climbed quickly out of the Honda ,and eyed the house suspiciously ,like she wasn't sure if she should go in or not ,but then started to walk towards the front door.

"What, no thank you?"I yelled after her and she stopped walking."I'm waiting for the repayment"

"Repayment for what ?Stealing my chocolate or splashing me with water from head to toe ?How about no?"

"For taking you home "I said awkwardly ,scratching the back of my neck .She just rolled her eyes and scoffed. It seemed like she was going to start walking again so I called again after her.

"I'm Adrian ,by the way. Adrian Hayes."I pulled out the smile that I knew it charmed every girl .But not her.

"I don't care ,big guy .Have a nice life ,go eat the chocolate that you stole from me and let me be!"

"I will leave."I said ,running after her ,and putting myself in her way."If you tell me your name .I have to know with whom I had the pleasure to talk to .Or who is the only person on earth that almost succeeded in stealing my chocolate"

"It was my chocolate to begin with ."she answered, that tired expression never leaving her face."And if you want so much to know it, name's Melody. Now can I enter my own house?"

"Melody…"I repeated lamely."And you're in high school or just stuck in this city like me?"

"None of your business .You asked for my name and I gave it to you ,this is already too much interrogation. Now leave!"

I got out of her way ,just to call out after her for the third time when she almost reached the door.

"Y'know ,squirrel ,that punch in the balls would have worked .You would have totally knocked me out .And now have the chocolate in your hands."

And that's when she did it ,the most unexpected thing that she could have done .She smiled .An actual and genuine smile .She smiled at me.

"Oh, I know. I was just going easy on you .Hey, by the way ,I still wear your…"

"That's all for now .You shall pass ,squirrel." I said quickly then, climbing onto my baby and leaving before she even got the chance to say something ,I knew she still had my jacket ,but I let her keep it so I could have a chance to see her again .I was planning on coming another day to ask it back .That was not going to be the last time I would see Melody . I was just getting started. I took that smile of hers as an invitation.

I was just a few houses away when I heard a voice yell.

"Melody Sydney Hathaway, get your ass over here right now!"

I laughed to myself and kept on driving. Melody Sydney Hathaway ,huh?

4: Chapter 3. Back In Black

A/N: There ya go, amigos. Chapter 3. It might be because I'm super-duper excited, but I decided to update again today. So, tell me what you think about the story so far! Any thoughts of Adrian or Melody? Any suggestions? I really hope you like it so far and I promise, it's going to get better. The story of what inspired me to write this it's an interesting one, and if you want to I'll tell you what it was, some other time.

Until the next chapter, keep on rocking, my friends!

 

                                                                                  MELODY'S P.O.V

I entered the house ,not completely sure what I was going to find there.Truth be told ,I was expecting to see my father pacing the floor and my mother calling the police to report my missing , but no ,I saw none of that. On the couch stood my mother ,watching TV but not looking like she was paying any attention to it .I tried to silently go in my room ,hoping that she won't notice me ,but of course she did.

"Melody Sydney Hathaway ,get your ass over here right now!" my mother yelled from the minute she saw me.

Here we go again.

"Before you even get to shout at me for coming home at 8 pm , let me explain!" I managed to say quickly."Hope asked me to…"

"I don't care, Melody! You haven't even given me a phone call to let me know you were going to be late .I've called you 7 times ,for God's sake!"

Huh.That was weird .I hadn't heard the phone, and I always kept it in my pocket .I took it out and saw that the battery was dead.

"I'm sorry, mom .I would have answered if I could but I forgot to recharge it before I left. Hope asked me to keep her place at the antique shop."

"And what took you so long to come back ?And where did you get that jacket? Melody ,what the hell happened?"

The jacket…that damn jacket .Big guy had left before I got the chance to give it back. Now it was causing me problems.

"I found the jacket in the Hope's shop," I lied effortlessly. "I took it because I was cold .I'll give it back tomorrow.And as for what took me so long, I went to the supermarket to buy my favorite chocolate, and they were out of it.Happy now?"

I hadn't told her about Adrian because I knew she would start to ask a lot of question and won't leave me alone before I answered .Of course she was so protective of me when it came to dating and boys and to even hear that I've let a guy give me a ride would be a big deal to her .That's how parenthood worked ,I guess.

"Melody ,you know how much I hate fighting with you ,but you're not making it any easier for me either."

"Really, mom? If you hated fighting with me so much then you wouldn't do it all the time .You're making a big deal out of nothing again."

We were already shouting by then, that probably even the neighbors had heard us . I hurried to my room ,not wanting to argue anymore .Why couldn't this day be over already? I locked the door so my mom wouldn't be able to come in ,taking off Adrian's jacket and laying it on my desk ,dressed in a T-Shirt with a faded band logo on it and some shorts ,then made a plan to listen to music till I drifted off to sleep.

After 2 hours of classic rock songs, I walked downstairs just to get a snack and fortunately my mom wasn't there .I went back to my room, and decided to call Hope and ask her about the Richie Rich guy .I would eventually tell her and Mina tomorrow about Adrian.

Hope answered quickly.

"Hello?" her tired voice said at the other end of the line.

"Hey, Hope! Damn, you sound really sick."

"Maybe because I am ready to cough my lungs out in any minute .What's up?"

"Well ,I wanted to check up on you before I went to bed ,see if you're still alive."

"Barely, but I'll be better tomorrow .How did things go at the shop?"

"Good, good. At least until that guy showed up."

" Who?" she asked in a curious voice.

"A douchebag who demanded to see you .And when I told him you were sick ,he started acting like a dick and left the shop pretty pissed. How do you know him anyway?"

"Umm, h-he is my b-brother's friend .I've only met him a few times ,he's not important "she stammered.

"Hope…what are you not telling me ?How come the dick knew where you worked at?"

"What's with so many questions ? I don't like the guy ,I barely know him ,and I have no idea how he found out where I work. That's it!" she said annoyed and I knew for sure that there was something she was not telling me, but decided against interrogating her.

" Okaaay, if you say so. I guess I'll see you at school then."

I heard her give a loud sigh of relief.

"Sure, see ya. Buh bye! "she then hung up and I started to get ready for bed .

As I put my phone on the desk, I saw Adrian's jacket there . I took it in my hands to put it away and the smell of whiskey, leather and cologne hit me hard . It did smell good . A shame he won't have it back , because there was no way I was going to keep it. I was planning on getting rid of it tomorrow.

Soon , I went to bed and fell asleep in a few minutes, content that I finally earned my peace.

The weekend passed really fast. Surprisingly , mom and dad started to calm their daily unwelcomed suggestions about what I should do with my future, and all was partially honey and milk. Mom seemed to forget fast the Friday event and dad didn't even know about it.

As usually,I hung out with Hope and Mina, and , in that Saturday evening, I told them about the Willy Wonka vs Squirrel battle. Their reactions were as I expected. They started to burst out into laughter.

"So you just climbed into the cart?"Mina exclaimed after she stopped laughing.

"Poor guy, he must have been so scared for his life. He didn't know that he shouldn't mess with you when it came to food. " Hope said.

"Yeah, he looked a bit scared at first," I laughed along with them. "But only for a second ,and then he pushed the cart I was in away. So I fell ,of course, dramatically into his arms, like in those chick flick movies. I'm surprised he even caught me, considering what an ass he is."

The laughter increased, and when I got to the part where he splashed me from head to toe and made comments about how I should have my chest covered up , they could barely breath.

"Oh God, I love this guy" Mina said, wiping away a tear from her eyes.

"Was he hot?" Hope asked. I should have seen that question coming from her.

"Well…" I wrinkled my nose, trying to remember exactly his features."You could say that. I didn't actually analyze him or something, but yeah I think he looks good. Dark hair, brown eyes. Yeah, okay, definitely hot. Plus, he had a Honda, you guys. A modern version, but still, a Honda .That instantly gives him extra credit. But he's still a dick."

I told them the rest of the story ,how he tried to scare me by driving fast but got nothing ,I actually enjoyed the speed, and how he left me home, forgetting his jacket before leaving.

"Do you think he'll come back for his jacket? " Hope asked.

"Nah , I don't think so. It's just a jacket after all and I don't think he wants to see me again either. So probably that was the last time I ever got to see Adrian."

Monday morning came and I was not mentally prepared for it. I could barely get out of bed, but after a 10 minutes struggle, I succeeded. I dressed quickly in a long sleeved T-Shirt and a pair of jeans, then grabbed my usual leather jacket and went downstairs. I ate breakfast as fast as I could, put my ankle boots on and made it out of the door with a donut still in my mouth .

Imagine my surprise when I saw Adrian Hayes in front of the house, with a smirk on his face that faded away when he saw the backpack on my shoulders.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. What is he doing here? Did he come back for me? Or did he come back for the jacket ? Shit! Now what? Think ,Melody ,do something! Say something! Oh God ,I still have that donut in my mouth, don't I?

I took the donut out of my mouth and just stared at him , not being able to move at all. He also stared at me, I dare say, a scared expression on his face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I finally managed to blur out.

"Nice to see you too, squirrel," he greeted, the smirk returning to his face.

"You didn't answer my questions. What are you doing here? "

"I decided to come here since I was passing by, waiting for you to come out of the house. " he said matter-of-factly, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"What for?" I asked. He hesitated answering, and the staring contest started again. I dared to think for a moment that maybe he just came back to see me again and that maybe I unfairly judged him, that maybe he was a nice guy after all and God knew I needed that in my life right then .

He sighed and spoke again. "I came back for the jacket. I left it here yesterday."

Of course that was it. What was I thinking? That he would have waited here all day if needed, just for me? No one would do that, not for me. And not guys like him ,who could probably have every single lady in this town. Hell, the whole United States considering his looks. I was just a small town girl that no one would give a second glance.

"Are you going to give me the jacket back or not?" he asked impatiently. I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs to bring his jacket. He took it from my hands and then looked at me with another smile on his face

"So are you in kindergarten or what?" he joked ,testing my patience.

I sighed.

"Remind me again, why are you still here?"

He just shrugged. "Just making conversation. I have to say, I thought you were older. But now I see I was wrong."

Yep, still a dick.

"Could you stop for a minute and try to act like you're not an asshole? You got your jacket, what do you want now?"

He gave a sharp whistle.

"Boy, what a temper. I guess you're not a morning person "

I wanted to slap the hell out of him right then. I was making a list of ways to kill him , every single one being more painful than the other. But also, there were those brown eyes. And that smile. Those things made it hard for me to do so .

Stop it, Melody! How can you think of him as attractive when he is being the douchest of the douches?

"I'm tired of your shit, dude. You made yesterday a hell of a lot more tiring than it already was, and now you come here, at my house, stepping on my nerves again. Don't you get the idea that I don't ever want to see you again?"

I was kind of exaggerating about the last part, but the guy was a real pain in the ass, one that I didn't need right then in my life . I knew his type. He was a Casanova , a love 'em and leave 'em guy and I hated that, I had to deal with this type more than I even wanted to.

He looked taken aback for a while and I took the chance, turned on my heels and left. I could practically feel his stare from the distance ,when I finally heard his motorbike come to life and him leaving .I reached the street and was about to cross it when Adrian's motorbike pulled in front of me, blocking my way. My heart started to speed up at the sudden movement.

"Shit" I yelled. "What the hell were you thinking ,Adrian ?You almost ran over me. Oh God!"

He took off his skid lid and looked me in the eyes with an amused expression.

"Easy there ,jumpy squirrel! So, uhm, why …why don't you let me take you to school? "

Didn't see that one coming.

"What?" I asked him, like I might have heard wrong. First of all, had he really offered such a polite gesture and second of all, was he…was he stammering? Was Adrian Hayes, a true James Dean, really stammering ? In front of me?

"Y'know…to make it up to you. Let's say that I might have been an ass with you for no reason…"

"Definitely." I interrupted

"But the least that I can do is give you a ride to school" he said, annoyed by my interruption.

Mixed signals much?

What was wrong with this guy? One minute he was acting like crap with me and then he was being polite? What was he following here? What was his game? Maybe there was no game. Maybe he had nothing else better to do and I was already being late for school. So I shrugged any other questions that popped into my head, leaving them for another time ,and climbed on his bike.

That amused expression increased.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself" I said . "It's the Honda that sold the deal"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that ,kiddo. Maybe you'll even start to believe it"

"Kiddo ,really? How old are you ,grandpa, for calling me a kid? "

"Now, now ,squirrel. That wouldn't be fair. If you won't tell me ,then I won't tell you my age" he mocked.

"It's hard to believe you're older sometimes. I'm only 17 and I'm sure a hell of a lot more mature than you." my answer came back before I even realized that I told him my age.

"17? Senior year ? " he asked, a glint of hope in his voice.

"Oh, for God's sake, let's get moving or I'm going to be late for school"

As he brought the motorcycle to life, I couldn't help but wonder how old he was really. He didn't seem older than 21. And why wasn't he in college? He said that Friday, when he had brought me home ,that he was stuck in this city. I wondered what was the story behind that statement. I, again , hold on tight to his torso, scared but more excited to drive on that amazing motorbike. I have loved motorcycles since I was a kid, but of course my mother didn't agree with me having one, even though my uncle taught me how to drive ,but never really let me take the wheel. So I guess I resigned with the fact that I'll never drive motorcycles. But here I was, on one of the most beautiful motorcycles in the world, even though I wasn't the driver. I tried hard not to make it obvious when he first gave me a lift, but internally ,I was hola-hopping with joy. That feeling didn't fade when I climbed on it for the second time .

We finally arrived at my school and I took off fast so I wouldn't be late, but not before I heard him say over the purr of the bike

"See you soon, squirrel "

"Not a chance, Groot."

"We'll see about that" he replied and then took off.

From the distance, I saw Mina and Hope looking at us. When I reached them ,I saw their wide eyed expressions

"Was that…?" Hope trailed off.

"Oh my, he is hot indeed" said Mina.

"Yep. That, girls, was Adrian Hayes. And he just gave me a lift for the second time"

 

5: Chapter 4 . Civil War.

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

The Friday events were ,let's say at least interesting. That squirrel was fun to have around ,but also I might have been just playing with fire. She could have been a minor, and I wasn't so sure I would have liked to go to prison in the near future. Probably it was for the best to give this whole thing up. She was just a chick. But what was it that kept me wanting to come back the next day?

That night, at dinner, I decided to vanish all the thoughts of Melody from my mind, to give it all up because, to be honest ,I had a lot of better things to worry about, like my mother.

"How are you feeling today ,mom?" I asked her at dinner.

She looked up from her plate and smiled at me.

"I had better days, but I'll be fine. But what about you? You seem pretty silent tonight. Is something going on?"

Of course she had it all figured out, she always saw the slightest change in my mood ,even when she should worry more about herself rather than me.

"Nah, same old , same old for me. It's you I worry about. Are you sure you're okay?"

She gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'll survive. Weren't you supposed to go out tonight? " mom asked, obviously changing the subject.

Almost every Sunday night I went out with a friend of mine, Paul, at the bar and it became more of a custom that mom got used to.

"Not today. I'll stay home with you, watch some old movies that you'll probably cry at and make some popcorn. Just like the old times, right? "

"Adrian --" she started.

"No, mom, it's settled. I want to do this."

"You don't have to, just because you feel sorry --"

"Don't go there!" I interrupted again."Who said anything about being sorry? I said I wanted to do this and I'll do it. Paul will have to wait for another time."

She sighed and nodded, even though I could see the tears forming in her eyes already. I went there and hugged her.

"Now why don't you go and pick a movie while I make some popcorn?" I said, kissing her forehead.

She nodded again and left the room, wiping her eyes. I hated seeing her like that and that's why I wanted to stay home that day, so I could get to spend some more time with her before work days started again. We watched her favorite movie, La dolce vita and finished it around 10 pm. Obviously, she cried again at it, like she does every time . After we sat for another half an hour and talked some more, she suddenly said.

"Honey, why don't you go and take your old guitar from upstairs and sing me a song, like you used to do before? It's been a while since I heard you singing."

I was shocked that she even suggested it.

"Mom, you know I can't do that. Not since…" I couldn't even finish my sentence

"I know, Adrian, but also I know how much you miss playing guitar. You were so good at it ,you should start again." she said in a pleading voice.

"I said no, mom. It's out of discussion. I won't ever play at that guitar again, we've talked about it before."

She looked like she was going to argue some more, but she finally nodded in understatement and left to bed. Soon, I followed her and went to my own room.

The whole guitar talk darkened my mood a bit, so it took me a while to drift into dreamland, but around 1 am I did fall asleep. But not for long. I woke up at 5 am and it was impossible to go back to bed. Thoughts and thoughts popped into my head ,the words of my mother still echoing . I know how much you miss playing guitar. You were so good at it ,you should start again. There was no chance I would start again, but something about the way she said it affected me. What if my mom was right? Maybe I should have kept on my old custom and start playing again. She was right, I did miss it,but also I swore to myself 5 years ago that I will never play that guitar or any other ever again. Even if mom asked me to.

To say that I was in a bad mood was an understatement. But I managed to take my mind off that subject and think of another. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do about Melody. It was probably my dark mood or just an impulsive thought, but around 7am I dressed quickly and ran off the door. I started my motorcycle and tried to remember the address. Hopefully, I could get her in time.

In ten minutes I arrived at Melody's house and climbed off the bike. I suppose the plan was to wait there until she decided to show up. I wasn't stupid, I knew that there was a chance she wouldn't come out, I actually prayed she wouldn't because that meant she was not a student, so I was going to take the risks. After another five minutes of waiting, I saw the door open and the small figure of Melody getting out of the house. She had a donut in her mouth and her hazel eyes grew wide as she saw me standing there. I smiled at that picture ,but, as I saw the backpack on her shoulders, my smile vanished.

Shit! I knew this was a bad plan. What was I even thinking, of course she's a teenage girl. Maybe she's 14 or something. I fucked up, now what? It's not like I can back off slowly or start running. Or can I?

When she asked me, clearly pissed off, what I was doing there ,I thought of a smooth way out. I told her I was back for the jacket. For a few seconds I thought she looked actually disappointed because she stood there, watching me , probably expecting another answer. But that reaction didn't last for long. She came back to her old bitchy self and headed to the house to bring back my jacket.

So was that it? Was I going to take off that easily and never see that squirrel again? Of course not.

I tried to get answers from her about her age, but I should have expected an annoyed reaction, considering that my ways of asking weren't that kind .

"I'm tired of your shit, dude. You made yesterday a hell of a lot more tiring than it already was, and now you come here, at my house, stepping on my nerves again. Don't you get the idea that I don't ever want to see you again?" she yelled at me and then turned over her heels and took off.

Of course I had to make some snarky comments and ruin all the progress I made, it was clear that this girl probably had me on her dead list. But then again, I wasn't going to give up that easily. I started my motorbike and blocked her way when she was about to cross the street. I offered to take her to school and seeing the late hour, she accepted.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself. It's the Honda that sold the deal"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that ,kiddo. Maybe you'll even start to believe it" I mocked

"It's hard to believe you're older sometimes. I'm only 17 and I'm sure a hell of a lot more mature than you" Melody said, not fully realizing that she had just revealed her age to me.

Now those were good news. She was 17 ,which meant that it wouldn't be long till she was going to turn 18. Maybe this wasn't a lost cause after all. Maybe I wasn't going to prison.

I left her at the Six Rivers High school ,but not before telling her that wasn't going to be the last time we saw each other, even though she didn't look like she believed me at all.

I left and headed back home, having another 3 hours till I started work. The following night I couldn't stop thinking about that day's events. I was going to persist with Melody although I didn't know for sure what my reasons were. She was going to let down her walls and since I had nothing better to do, I was going to be there when she will. I set my alarm at 7 am the next morning , but waking up that earlier was easier said than done. I hadn't woken up at that hour since 3 years ago, that's why it was harder for me to do so that day. But I did eventually.

I repeated the last day's actions and pulled my motorcycle in front of her house. Just like the day before, after 5 minutes she came out of her house, no donuts in her mouth this time. It was like I was seeing her for the first time. Only then I saw how her beautiful and wavy light brown hair had streaks of gold in it and how dark her hazel eyes were and how she wasn't just a normal looking girl ,she was beautiful. And clearly she had some amazing taste in music since she wore an AC/DC T-Shirt . Only then I knew that I made the right choice to come back.

I suppose she wasn't having the same "seeing for the first time" revelation.

"No" she said, raising a finger, turning on her heels and walking back in the house.

I laughed out loud at her childish reaction, but kept my position. I wasn't going to take off that easy. She had to go to school after all, so I decided to wait there until she showed up. After 10 minutes it was clear to me that I had to do something , so I went and knocked at her door. No response came.

"You know you're going to be late for school ,right?" I said, knowing she was probably behind that door, listening. "Since I'm already here, you can come out as well "

A few silent moments followed but eventually the door cracked open and she slowly came out of the hiding, just like a scared squirrel. I smiled at her only to be welcomed by a cold and pointed expression. If I hadn't seen it once, I would have said she never smiled.

"I'm running late." she begun in a cold voice .

"I know. And what a beautiful coincidence that I ran into you and can now save the day. You can thank me later" I said sarcastically She crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground

"Why are you doing this?"

What was I supposed to say when neither did I have the answer?

"Dunno, take it as a payback for what a douche I've been with you that Friday."

"I don't need your payback. And I sure as hell don't need your lifts" she whispered angrily, probably not wanting to wake up her parents.

"Well ,you need them now. So hurry up!" I said, fluttering my bike's keys in front of her face,and turned around.

She gave a loud sigh and followed me.

"This is the last time you're doing something like this!" she warned.

"Of course it is" I lied. "Now don't be so sad, squirrel. At least you get to ride on my baby."

"Baby?" she said amused. " Doesn't she have a name?"

I looked back at her. A smile looked so much better on her face than a frown.

"Huh. I never thought about it. Yeah, she should have a name."

Melody glared at me like I have just offended her great ancestors .

"Are you nuts? You have this black beauty all for you and you haven't even given her a name? You sick monster!"

I laughed in spite of myself. "Okay, I'll promise I'll give her one. Happy?"

A ghost of a smile played on her lips. I put my right hand over my chest and faked a shocked expression.

"Squirrel, did you almost smiled? Be careful ,I don't think you would like that to happen again, it might ruin your reputation" I mused.

The smile faded from her lips, but not from her eyes.

"Oh, shut up already and drive! My class starts in 10 minutes."

I left her at school just in time and just like the day, I went back home after. My mood that day was surprisingly lifted up. I didn't arrive home from work as tired as I always did, I actually entered the house singing Alice Cooper's Poison song out loud. My mother seemed to be very surprised by my change of temper.

"Not that I don't like it, but what's with this good mood on you? What happened? "

I just smiled warmly at her. "Nothing that important, I assure you. I guess I just had a good day"

"No, I don't think it's that" she said thoughtful "but I also believe that if something important happened ,you would tell me. Right?"

"Yes, mom " I said childishly .

The next day the whole process repeated itself. I woke up at 7am, more easily this time, and hurried to Melody's house. I wondered what her reaction was going to be that day, considering I told her I wouldn't show up again. At the usual hour, Melody came out and she seemed to be into a good mood. That was ,of course until she saw me.

She stopped walking, looked at me but didn't say a thing and I could swear I heard her say under her breath "Oh no, not again"

"Rise and shine,squirrel!!" I said cheerfully .

She avoided my gaze and started walking again. Just when I thought she was going to climb on the motorcycle, she passed by me. So, she was avoiding me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, but received no answer. "Oh, I see. Avoid the problem till it goes away. Nuh-uh, squirrel, not gonna happen.You're coming with me."

I ran after her and stood in her way. She tried to pass ,but I was blocking the way. It looked like this time I was really going to get that promised punch in the balls, but I acted fast and threw her over my shoulder. And of course, kicks and screams followed.

"Adrian ,let me go or I swear to God you're going to regret this. You son of a --"

"We can do this in the easy or hard way .Which one do you prefer?" I said over her threats.She kept on trying to break free."Fine! Then the hard way it is"

I put her on the bike and caught her arms so that she couldn't escape. I started the motorcycle as fast as I could, still holding her hands, which proved to be harder than I thought .She finally resigned, stopped the kicking and held on tight.

"You have no rights to do this." Melody yelled over the roar of the bike. "Who the hell do you think you are, showing up here every morning and even assaulting me? I don't get what do you want from me!"

She really did sound pretty exasperated which made this even more amusing.

"Assaulting? I'm making you a favor , I 'm just taking you to school ,like a good citizen that I am."

"I don't need your favors !"

"Eh, you'll get used to it. Who knows? Maybe I might come in handy one day."

She remained silent for the rest of the ride and when we reached school ,she climbed off as fast as she could and didn't even give me as much as a second glance.

"You're welcome, squirrel" I yelled at her. "Tomorrow, same time!"

Again, no response. Yep ,this was going to be so much funnier than I expected.

Thursday, it was all the same. I went to her house at the same hour ,just that this time, it was past 7.35 and she still hadn't come out. At 7.45, I was ready to leave thinking that maybe she left before I reached her house or something else, when I saw the front door open and Melody coming out. Her hair looked messy and she looked like she probably had woken up a few minutes ago . She was struggling to tie her shoes and almost fell to the ground trying to do so. She saw me but this time there was no shocked expression or snarky comment. She ran over to my bike and climbed fast onto it.

"Go, go, go!" She ordered.

"Whoa, easy tiger!What are we running from? Police? 'Cuz if so,then I gotta say, that's badass."

"Just hurry! It's almost 8 am and I have to be at school ASAP "

"Aye, aye, captain!" I said and started off the motor. "I told you I might come in handy."

"Sure, Groot, whatever floats your boat."

Fortunately, she arrived in time for her first class, and this time she even thanked me before she took off. I was too surprised to even respond.

Friday was different though. On the first 4 days she had to come with me, whether she wanted to or not, but Friday was different. Same hour, same place, same process. She saw me in front of her house and she just rolled her eyes and climbed on my baby. And this time she wasn't being late.

"Now that's a new one,"I said ,surprised. " What happened, squirrel, are you sleepwalking? "

She even laughed. Can you imagine my surprise?

"Let's say I just came to terms with the fact that I can't get rid of you that easily."

"You betcha! Ready, squirrel?"

"Ready."

 

A/N: There it is, fellas, a new chapter, and I'm already working on the next one. As always, I'm opened to suggestion and I would really love to hear what you think about this story. So feel free to express your opinions.

Rock on, fellas!

6: Chapter 5. Ridin' the Storm out.

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

I wasn't sure if I should've been mad at Adrian or not. First of all, he had no right to show up every day at my house, to make me go with him whether I wanted to or not, and to just annoy me with his snarky comments .Maybe I was being naïve, but when he had told me he wouldn't show up again, I believed him, so it's needless to say I panicked when I saw him there, on Tuesday. So, like I always do, I acted impulsively and did something stupid and childish .By now, he probably thought that I was a psycho. But if so ,why did he keep on coming?

I expected to see him the next day too, so I made a plan to ignore him and maybe, just maybe, he would go away .Boy, was I wrong! Apparently I wasn't the only block-headed here. So I just went with the flow, waited to see how long it would take for him to give up. But also, what was it that he wanted? That was my perpetual question. Why would anyone like him have any sorts of interests in me? He looked like he usually went for easy preys, and I sure as hell wasn't one. Why put such an effort in a dead end?

So I waited, waited to see how long this game was going to take. He kept on coming and he didn't actually made any hints or suggestions, something you would have expected from someone like Adrian. Then what was it? Did he just think I was fun to have around or perfect to make fun of? And as if that wasn't enough, now I had to make sure my parents wouldn't find out about him, considering that mom would probably put him through a whole interrogation. So here was another problem added to my list. But it was a minor one. I only had to stand him for a couple of minutes each morning, and sometimes that wasn't really difficult. He was fun to have around too. And bonus, it was her that made it worth. The black beauty. His Honda. God knew how badly I wanted one of those and there she was, driving me to school every day. So, I was able to stand Adrian's guts for the sake of the motorcycle.

"Have you thought about a name yet?" I asked Adrian one morning, a week after I met him.I was ready for school a little earlier than usual, so I was able to talk to him more.

"Huh?" he asked confused. "Oh, her! Well, no, not really, I can't seem to find the perfect one. Why, have you?"

"Not really. I mean, I did think of some, but none of them seem perfect . She's gorgeous and her name has to represent her."

"Whoa, squirrel, easy! I'm starting to get jealous here, she's mine after all" He teased me, a smirk on his face the whole time. I just rolled my eyes in response.

"If I were you, I would be jealous too. One day I might steal it from you ,so watch out! "

"Friendly reminder that the last time you tried to steal something from me it didn't go too well. For you, at least. I got to keep the chocolate."

I tried to fight back a smile at that.

"Good times" I said

 

                                                                                  ~OCTOMBER 2014 ~

 

3 weeks. I met Adrian almost 3 weeks ago. And I still had no clue why he was wasting his time with me. I wasn't complaining since all he did was take me to school and as I said, he was fun to have around. Well, he was annoying, arrogant, nerve-wrecking and an asshole, but above all those, he was good company .He made me laugh and forget about my worries, even if it was for a few minutes. And as long as it all remained the same, I had no complains.

In the weekend,Mina, Hope and I planned on meeting at my house and watching a movie, since we hadn't really talked in a while. At school, all three of us were stressed and nervous, so if we talked it always was about homework. So I thought that if we met on that weekend to clear the air between us and catch up, it was all going to be fine.

We picked one of Hope's favorite movies, Pretty woman even though she watched it a million times, but we could barely pay attention to it since we started talking.

"Hush!" Hope warned "I like this part."

We stayed silent for a few minutes, but Mina broke the silence.

"So,Mel…" she started but Hope gave her a shut-the-fuck-up look, so Mina stayed silent. After another silent moments, Hope finally turned off the TV .

"Okay, we clearly can't watch the movie since you fools can't keep your mouths shut. So let's talk!" she said. Mina and I started to laugh.

"First of all let's catch up," Mina said, clapssing her hands together. "How are things going on with your hottie, Mel?"

"Nothing is going on with Adrian. Don't look at me like that, guys, you know I can barely stand him." I snapped, to which Hope raised an eyebrow. "Plus," I continued "I don't know anything about him. And we only have small chats every day, so the only thing I have figured out about Adrian is that he is annoying and he won't leave me alone."

"And that he looks good and has a motorcycle." Hope added. "I thought hot guys on a motorcycles were your type."

"He is not that good-looking." I huffed, but I couldn't even convince myself. "And still, I don't know why he keeps coming. Why is he doing all of that?"

"Maybe he likes you," Mina suggested.

"Nah, I don't think so. He doesn't go for girls like me, I'm sure of that. He just…I don't know what he wants, but it's definitely not that."

"You can't know for sure." Mina retorted

"Yeah ,yeah ,whatever. Now, Mina, how's it going with Dylan?" I changed the subject quickly.

Dylan was a guy that Mina had met at the races she went to. Her dad had once been a racer so I guessed he reminded her of him. She went to Sonoma's raceway almost every week ,and that's where she had met Dylan. I haven't met him in person, but from what she told me, he was a nice guy, perfect for her. He was just as dorky and awkward as she was. What I picked up from the way Mina talked about him was that she liked him. A lot, may I add. And he probably liked Mina too. What was there not to like about her? She was smart, competent and, at the same time, funny and kind. Let's not forget, beautiful. I was pretty sure that Dylan liked her. But they were in that stage of denial.

Mina started to blush, a thing that she did whenever she talked about Dylan

"He's okay, I guess, I haven't seen him in a while. Why do you ask?" she said nervously.

Hope and I exchanged meaningful looks.

"Curiosity." I grinned and Hope gave me a wink.

We talked for a few brief hours when Mina and Hope finally left. I loved spending time with them, it made the stress go away. I really don't know where life would have taken me without this two fools.

Monday morning came, unfortunately for me and every living student from this world, and, again, I almost smashed my alarm clock, got up and started to get ready for school . I went downstairs and put my shoes on, then ran out the door. As always, Adrian was waiting for me outside. He had a thoughtful expression on his face and barely noticed me.

"Morning, squirrel," he greeted the minute he saw me.

"What's up with you? You seem distracted. "

"Nah, I'm okay. I was just thinking of some names for my baby."

I groaned. "Please don't say it's another female singer, because I told you, we are not naming her Cher."

"That was a good option, but no," he said. "What about El fuego?" he waved his hands dramatically for more effect.

"Are you even serious? No! What the hell, Adrian? It's like you don't even love this bike. Why would --"

"Aren't you going to be cold like that?" he interrupted, pointing a finger at my outfit. I looked down on what I was wearing and saw that my jacket was missing.

"Shit, I forgot my jacket inside. Hold my backpack, I'll go get it," I said and headed back to the house. It took me a while to find it since my room was a complete mess, but after 5 minutes, I grabbed it and went back outside.

"Sorry it took me so long," I told Adrian. "Let's get going!"

"No probs." he handed my backpack and we left.

I came back from school at 3 pm, tired and exhausted, my only wish being to take a nap. My parents were gone till 8pm, so I was stress free for a few hours. I woke up at 5 from my nap and went to the kitchen to grab a snack. As I turned to my room, I saw that I've received a message on my phone from an unknown number. I opened it and read.

Rocket ship. What do you say? - A

A? Seriously? Like "A" from that TV show, Pretty Little Liars? What kind of weirdo would play pranks like that on me? And what did the message mean? Initially, I didn't want to honor that text with a response, but curiosity got the best of me ,so I texted back.

Who the hell is this?

The answer came quickly

Guess !What do you say about the name? Does it fit?

From what that message said, I took a guess on who that person was, but hoping I was wrong. So I texted back:

You've got to be fucking kidding me. Adrian?

Yep. Bingo,squirrel! He said back. Sup?

How did you even get my number, you weird stalker?

That was easier than I expected, actually. Remember when u left ur backpack at me this morning? Well,all I had to do was to look in the front pocket and find ur phone. One thing lead to another and I took ur number. So here we are:)

YOU WENT THROUGH MY STUFF?how sick is that?that's stalking.

The end justifies the means. So about the name….

I paused the texting to gather my thoughts. That weirdo stole my number! It was all going so well, he didn't make anything stupid and now he just ruined it. Just when I was starting to think that he wasn't so bad after all. I didn't know what to do next. Should I block his number or should I just ignore his texts? As I was considering about the ignoring solution , I got another text from him.

If you're going to ignore me, I'm just going to call her El Fuego and that's it.

No, don't do that! If you ever loved that bike, you wouldn't dare!

Oh the hell I won't! Test me!

A few minutes passed as a thought hit me.

Btw, Adrian. Was the first text a reference to Pretty little liars? It was, wasn't it? You watch that show! 

It has a good plot, okay? Don't judge!

Whatever helps you sleep at night, sure. So what do you do in your free time? Do you listen to Taylor Swift and cook muffins?

After a few moments with no answer from him, I texted back

OMG! You do! Hahaha I meant that as a joke, but you really do

Everyone secretly listens to Taylor Swift…

This is getting funnier and funnier. I can blackmail you now. You're my little bitch .

Kinky…

I was already laughing out loud by then, but he went again straight on business

How should I name the motorcycle, woman?

Dunno.. Definitely not El fuego. I'll think about it. Now let me live !

Okay, okay. Tty tomorrow, squirrel

And with that our conversation ended. Again, I didn't know if I should be mad or not. He went through my stuff after all. But didn't he just made me laugh again, made it look like it wasn't such a big thing after all? Maybe it really wasn't, maybe I was just being mean. I took my phone and saved Adrian's number then started to do my homework, which proved to be the real bitch.

The following days were all the same. School, homework, fights with mom and dad and occasional texts from Adrian that kept on coming with crappy names for the bike. Actually I didn't mind his texting ,it was pretty funny and I enjoyed those moments. He was still an asshole, but I didn't despise him as much as I did in the beginning. But also, we weren't best buddies, that was for sure. With time, I started to regard him as a friend, and didn't mind his lifts at all. Some things did change for the better.

One day, at school, in my chemistry class, my thoughts drifted to names for Adrian's bike. All sorts of possibilities popped into my head, when an amazing idea hit me. Seeing as my teacher wasn't paying too much attention to us, I grabbed my phone and texted Adrian.

Adrian ,I found it! I found the name.

He texted back almost immediately.

Shoot!

Storm. Storm is the perfect name for her.

Like that XMen chick? She was hot.

This is me rolling my eyes. No, you moron! I was thinking about that song from the REO Speedwagon band.

"Ridin' the storm out"? Huh.

Yeah, that one. I'm brilliant. Don't you dare change the name, it's perfect!

No,no, I won't change it. It really fits. Good job, squirrel.

Thank you, thank you very much. Chocolate is accepted as a reward for my efforts. You know which one ;)

Yeah, not gonna happen, Gotta go , squirrel. See ya tomorrow

I put the phone in my backpack and tried to pay attention to class, but my thoughts started to drift to Adrian again. Only then did it hit me that I didn't actually know anything about Adrian. How old was he? Did he have a job? Did he live with his family? Why was he here and not in college? He could have been married for all I knew. What intrigued me most was that I even cared. I really wanted to know more about him and the fact that I didn't was upsetting. Why did I even care? It wasn't like he knew something about me either, and he had never asked, so why should I? But that didn't change the fact that I wanted to know. I was afraid. I was afraid because I knew that this guy could really get to me, even if I didn't want him to. No matter how much I tried to not let it happen, it did. And that scared me. He had gotten to me.

7: Chapter 6 . Bad Excuse for Daylight

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

I was acting like a teenage girl and didn't even care. I was sitting by the phone, waiting for a text from Melody, like I was a 14 year old. How lame was that? But I had nothing better to do, so that justified it. Maybe taking her phone from her backpack was a dirty move, but it was also smooth. And she didn't get as mad as I expected her too, which was a start. I knew that if I started talking about my motorcycle, she wouldn't resist and would talk to me. I wasn't that concerned about the name of my baby, but Melody seemed to be, so I played her game. And the name she came up to was pretty badass, so we stuck with it.

As I said before, she never ceased to amaze me, I thought I was the only living person who still listened to REO Speedwagon, and the fact that she knew the song "Ridin' the storm out" was pretty amazing. I wondered if she knew too one of their songs, "Can't fight this feeling" , a guilty pleasure of mine when it came to music. I even asked her through a text one night, before I went downstairs to have dinner with mom.

You're kidding, right? she answered back.

Oh c'mon, it's a good song

Yes it is! I can't believe you know it, I love that song. It's impossible not to sing it from the top of my lungs everytime I listen to it.

I know ,right?

I would have talked to her more if mom hadn't called me to come downstairs for dinner . I still had a smile plastered on my face when I set on the chair in front of my mother, still thinking about Melody. I was right, she really was fun to have around. I couldn't remember when it had been the last time when I laughed so hard like I did every time with her.

When I looked up from my plate, I saw that mom was giving me a suspicious look

"What?" I asked her with my mouth full of pasta.

She chuckled slightly. "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking that I haven't seen you in such a good mood for a very long time. So I was wondering what could keep that smile on your face all the time"

I scoffed.

"I'm not that happy. It's just… " I struggled to find a good answer. Should I tell her about Melody? At the end, why not, there was nothing to hide. But why didn't it feel right to say it out loud?

"It's just what?" mom broke my train of thought. Maybe it was just better to tell her.

"Well, you see ,mom, there is this girl…" I started but she suddenly burst out laughing .

"Oh, Adrian, I never thought those words would ever come out of your mouth. This is priceless! I should get the camera! " When her eyes fell on me she laughed even harder."Look at you! You're almost blushing! I'm sorry, do continue!"

I couldn't help but laugh along with her . "So, as I was saying, there is this girl that I met 3 weeks ago. Yeah, I know, soon, and there is nothing going on, trust me."

I started to tell her less detailed what happened at the supermarket and in the following weeks. She listened without interrupting, and when I finished she said:

"Well I can't say that I saw this coming. You told me that nothing is going on, right? " I nodded. "But do you want it to?"

That was the question. I paused for a few minutes, thinking about what I really wanted from Melody. When I made the decision to go to her house every morning it was because of an impulsive thought, nothing more, I never really analyzed the situation. But where was this going to take me?

"No. I mean, I don't know. I never really thought about it. I just went with the flow. She's different." I said finally.

"That much I figured. Then what does she want? " mom asked.

Another question with no answer .

"Now,about that I have no idea. At the beginning she really seemed to hate my guts , but now I'm not so sure. I suppose I'm just going to wait and see where this is going . "

"It will go where you lead it ." Mom said. "But a sure thing I can tell you so far: while you told me about her, that smile never left your face . And that earns her extra points from me" She got up, kissed my cheek and left.

This chat only left me with more questions to answer.

No, I told myself, I'm not going to over think it. This is just a temporary situation that will eventually go away. This is just a game.

But how long was it going to last?

 

The next day, as usual, I pulled out in front of Melody's house. I knew I'd arrived earlier, so I waited patiently. After 10 minutes, the front door opened and someone came out of the house.

"Morning, squi…" I started, but the words died on my lips when I saw that the person standing there and watching me was not Melody, more like a mini version of her, with dark, not light, brown hair, and maybe 5 inches shorter.

"Not squirrel" I said and she just looked askance at me.

An awkward silence fell, none of us not knowing how to react. Should I try to talk myself out this? Should I try to explain? But who was she?

"Huh" I heard the mini squirrel say, more to herself than to me. "A motorcyclist. Should have seen this coming."

Before I could acknowledge her words, she started speaking again.

"Who are you?"

Well, there was no point in lying.

"The driver. Also, a friend. My name's Adrian."

She started chuckling under her breath, and I wasn't sure which one she found amusing: the situation or me.

"I'm sorry but, just wondering, do you have any idea what you have gotten yourself into?" Her laughing increased.

I frowned at her words ,waited till she stopped and said:

"I'm not sure I know what you mean"

"Oh, you'll figure it out. Eventually" she said and then started walking. She stopped and looked at me in something that seemed to be a sympathetic look. "So which one does she like, you or the motorcycle? " she said. I tried to hold back a laugh but didn't succeed. To say that I haven't asked myself that was a lie.

"Still trying to figure it out, but I think she's keeping me round just for the bike."

"Nah, I think it's more than that." She said, patted my shoulder and left .

Well, that was awkward.

Lost in my own thoughts, I hadn't seen Melody, standing there on the front porch, eyes wide open and jaw hitting the floor. She looked in the direction that the other girl went, then looked back at me, still expressionless.

"Who was that?" I asked. A few seconds passed till she spoke

"That was… that was my sister. And she talked to you. Why did she talk to you?" She narrowed her eyes at me and I shrugged innocently.

"No idea. She wanted to know why I was here. I told her, we had a good laugh and that's it."

"Oh God" Melody groaned and raised a finger to silence me." I don't even want to know, I'll deal with it later." She started heading to the motorcycle, climbed onto it and, soon, I followed her.

"How old is she?" I asked to which Melody started smiling "She's younger then you, right?"

"One might think, but no, she's older"

"And I thought you were way too short for your age .How much older?" I frowned.

"5 years and a half .She's in med school, San Francisco. It was her big dream since she was a kid, to save other's people life. She visits once a month and it always amazes me how, when she comes back, it's like she never left. We're really close." From the smile on her face I could tell that she insanely loved her sister.

"And where do you want to go to college?" I asked

"Well, that's a problematic subject. I want to attend journalism, but that's not what my parents want. So I'm still not sure what it's going to be. Hopefully, I'll decide by the end of the year."

I nudged her with my elbow. " Now let's not get sad, squirrel. I suppose you already know the " do what you wanna do" speech and I'm not one to give the best advice."

She gave a small laugh and I paused for a second to just look at her. She really was beautiful, with her blondish hair pulled in a high ponytail, a few golden and loose strands of hair hanging down on her face. And with that half smile that she rarely gave me. There were so many things that made her beautiful . And so many reasons why I shouldn't think about that.

"What about you, Groot? Why don't you share your family issues with the group?"

No way I'm doing that. No way I'm telling her about mom or dad or why I'm still here and not living the college dream life.

But why didn't I want to tell her? Maybe because I was afraid of a pitiful expression of lame phrases like "I'm sorry" which I didn't need. But something made me want to tell her.

"Maybe another time, squirrel. Now let's get you to school."

She said no more and we took off. After a few hours, on my way home from work, my mother called me, saying that she wouldn't be home that night, seeing as it was Bridge night with her friends. I liked that she could get to have a free night, that it was a small amount of time when she didn't have to worry about me. God knew she deserved it. But also, free night for her meant free night for me. So what could Adrian Hayes do in a free night? I took my phone out of the pocket.

"Yo, Paul. Get dressed right now! We're going to the bar, mate."

I wasn't that drunk. I remembered Paul driving me home, and I remembered my mom calling me to say that she was going to spend the night at Eugene's house since it was getting too late to come home all by herself. It was a good thing that she didn't realize I was drunk over the phone, but she definitely figured I was at the bar. I could barely walk and that's why picking a girl at the bar was kind of hard. Not even my good looks worked considering that I couldn't stand my feet.

"Go and take a cold shower, dude" Paul told me when he left me in front of the house. "Then drink a coffee. You're even drunker than me."

"Thanks, mate. Oh, come here!" I said and gave him a giant hug." You're great, man, You're like a brother to me!".

Paul started laughing, but he was familiar to scenarios like that one, so he hugged me back. "I know, I know. Now go back in the house. It's 2 am"

And with that he let me go. I headed to my house, dropping my keys twice before making it to the front door.

"Go and take a shower, Adrian" I heard Paul yell before he took off.

"Thanks, mate! I love you, Paul! You're awesome!"

He laughed and gone he was. Eventually, I entered the house, but seeing as my room and the shower were upstairs, I decided to sleep on the couch. I dropped myself into the couch and let my head fall on the pillow. I wasn't going to just sleep, I had to do something. I searched for the phone in my pocket, wanting to call someone , anyone. I remembered that girl from the 12th grade, the one that was madly in love with me. What if I called her? I searched in my contacts list for her name, when, suddenly, my eyes dropped on something else. Melody Hathaway. Melody's number.

I didn't think twice and dialed her number. It called 4 times before she picked up.

"Hello? " Melody's sleepy voice answered.

"Squirrel! What are you doing, you little ,cute squirrel ? Missed me?"

"Adrian? Are you out of your mind? You woke me up. What could you possibly wan…wait a second! Are you drunk?"

I sniggered. "Ding, ding, ding! That's it, squirrel. I am sooooo drunk right now and I was thinking of you, so a thought popped into my head. And here I am, calling you! What a pleasant surprise, right? So I was thinking…"

"Adrian, stop! Stop right there!"Melody interrupted. " I haven't understood a word you said. Why did you even call me? My parents can hear me! Go to sleep, okay?"

"Oh, no, don't leave! We have so much to talk about. I'm not even that drunk" I scoffed. "I'm just a little…dizzy" I started laughing again and heard Melody sigh at the other end of the line.

"I'm going to hang up now. Go to sleep, Adrian!"

"No, no, no, don't go! I can sing you a song. Do you want me to sing you a song? Mommy says I have a really beautiful voice. Hey, do you know the squirrel song? I'm a fur, fur, furry, squirrel, with a bush, bush, bushy tail, and I am searching for nuts!"

"Oh God, Adrian, you're just giving me blackmail material for tomorrow here." Melody chuckled "Go to sleep before you say something that you're going to regret in the morning!"

I ignored her suggestions again.

"You're awesome, squirrel. Have I ever told you I like your hair? " And my laughing increased again. " It has this awesome color, like, like…nuts. Your hair looks nuts"

After a long pause, she spoke.

"Are you done?"

"You're awesome, Melody. You have this thing… I don't know what it is. But it made me want to…"I hiccupped "… it made me come back."

Again, a long pause followed. She didn't say anything and I was having a hiccup attack. "Or maybe it's just your hair. But… but you're beautiful. Have I ever told you that?"

"No. You haven't. Thank you. Now go…"

"By the way" I blurted out" Your sister is hot. I mean, you're hot too, but…"

"Please stop! Right there, just stop! I don't want to hear more. Promise me you'll go to sleep!"

"You're mean…and short" I chuckled. "Okay, mom, I'll go to sleep."

"Good night, Adrian." She said before she hung up. Before I even realized, I drifted off to sleep.

Surprisingly, the next morning I woke up at 7 am without an alarm clock, but with the worst headache taking over. I tried to get off the couch, nice and slow, but failed and fell back. For 5 minutes I sat there, hands on my head, considering for a moment to text Melody I couldn't come. But I'd be damned if I let a simple hangover stop me. So I dressed quickly, changing the outfit I wore the previous day, took an aspirin and ran out the door. It was raining outside and, if possible, the cold raindrops made my headache even worse.

In a couple of minutes I arrived at Melody's house and found her there, on the front porch, waiting. The minute she saw me, she headed towards me. I wondered if she was upset because I'd drunk dialed her, but her face didn't betray any sign of anger, so I decided to pretend it never happened. She was trembling because of the cold and because of her thin jacket.

"Isn't it a little too cold for that?" I asked, pointing at her jacket. She didn't say anything for few seconds, but then finally spoke.

"Yeah, it is. My sister borrowed me the jacket, she is always so… hot"

I watched her dumb folded, not sure if she was serious or dropping a hint about what I'd said last night. Probably it was just a coincidence, so I ignored it.

"Okay, if you say so. Now let's go, you're shivering."

"Man, I hate this rain. It makes my hair look… nuts" Melody said meaningfully. So she did remember. Of course she did, even I remembered the stupid things that came out of my mouth. An awkward silence fell between us. This was one of those few situations when I didn't know how to react. Apologize? Laugh about it? Ignore it? I had said some things that made things between us awkward, but, on the other hand, I could have said much worse. Melody's laughter interrupted my train of thoughts.

"You should see your face. Relax, dumbass, there's nothing to worry about! You got drunk, called me, shit happens. I'm not mad if that's what you worry about, it's your life to drink away."

What surprised me most was that I did care if she was mad or not, and I wasn't supposed to. But I did feel more relieved now that I knew she wasn't. What was wrong with me?

"About what I said…" I started, but she spoke before I got the chance to finish.

"Forgotten. You probably didn't mean any of that, so it doesn't matter anymore."

She started moving towards Storm, but I blocked her way.

"That's not true." I said and lifted her chin up with one of my hands so she could look me straight in the eyes. I felt her breath catch a little at the sudden action, but I didn't remove my hand.

"So you do think my sister is hot." Melody joked, but I stayed serious.

"I do think you're beautiful." I said. Long strands of her wet, coffee-like hair cascaded around her face and I separated one of those strands from the others and started twisting it around my finger. "Too beautiful for my own good."

None of us moved. None of us knew what to say next. None of us did. But as I saw her shivering again, I broke that dangerous moment, removed my hand and climbed on the bike, and soon Melody followed me. Something was definitely off with me, something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but whatever it was, I knew it was happening to her too.

8: Chapter 7 . Soldier of fortune.

 

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

Ever since I've known myself, I've dealt with awkward situations smoothly. I was always the one to break the uncomfortable silence, or to clear the air between people. But never I have ever been put into such a situation when I didn't know how to react or what to say. Awkward moments weren't for me. But here I was, at loss of words, in front of a person that I never thought would let me speechless. I found myself caught up in a moment and found that my thoughts were racing, but nothing came out of my mouth. And Adrian Hayes was behind all of those emotions. Funny how things can change so quickly. Funny how things could get from comfortable and friendly to awkward and unusual.

The fact that he had drunk dialed me could easily be ignored, even if I didn't totally like it. But the things he had said the following day couldn't. Actually, not what he said had let me speechless, but that look in his eyes when he told me I was beautiful made the words die on my lips, like he really believed it. If it weren't for that look I would have called bullshit. But I couldn't. I couldn't move and I couldn't speak and, later, I chastised myself for it. I was rarely taken aback, and some party-boy that I'd met a few weeks ago wasn't going to get to me with a few nice words. I kept telling myself that on and on and on till it got stuck in my head. But if what he had said didn't matter, then why was it different between us? It was awkward, like the air between us wasn't ours to take over anymore, it was too full of questions. Was I imagining things? Why all the change of attitude? Was he really not how I judged him to be? It was clear to both of us that something had changed.

The next day after the last event with Adrian, I was willing to act like everything was as normal as it used to be before, but I knew I was going to fail since everything felt different. The awkward silence that I tried so hard to avoid settled between us, and I found myself looking dumbly at him, unable to say anything. The words he had said the previous day still ringed in my head, every time I looked at him.

Stop this thing, Melody! This is Adrian. The asshole, chocolate thief, James Dean wanna-be Adrian. Whatever it is that you think you're feeling has to stop! You don't need this!

I definitely didn't need it. I needed to focus on school and college and my big decision, not on a strange feeling that I couldn't quite name towards a guy I had just met. I was not like that . And definitely not for him.

"Isn't it a little earlier for you, squirrel? "Adrian spoke first, breaking my train of thoughts.

"Yeah, but I woke up earlier. Can we go now?" I asked impatiently, avoiding at any costs to stay with him more than necessary.

He started walking towards me and came to a halt at the front stairs. He sat down and gestured for me to do the same.

"Nah , it's only a few minutes past 7. C'mon, I won't bite." He teased as he saw I wasn't moving.

I finally gave in and sat down beside him on the stairs. I felt that awkward silence settling again, and both of us struggling to find a common front. I hated this. I really hated that I couldn't manage to form a small talk ,that things didn't run as smoothly as they used to do before. Like so many other times, I wanted to ask Adrian about his life or his family or anything else, but I decided against it.

As I was trying to find something to say, he turned his head to one side, giving me a look I couldn't evade. The thought that we were sitting again too dangerously close to each other hit me. I could feel his scent, the same scent I felt on his jacket that first day we met .The scent of whiskey, leather and cologne.

"Why so serious, squirrel?" Adrian said after a few more seconds of staring.

I shrugged innocently. "Don't know. I guess I'm just not in the mood for talking." I lied.

"Do you mind if I light a cigarette?" he said, taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

I smiled a little to myself. Of course he was smoking, he was a motorcyclist. Should have seen that one coming .Seeing as at my school almost half of the students were smoking, I got used to it, but that didn't mean I had to like it

"Go ahead!" I said, moving away a few inches from him.

He looked at me, then at the pack and sighed.

"Okay, I got the message, no smoking around here." He said and moved a few inches closer so that we were staying again closer than I would have liked.

"We should probably go. I have an important history test today, so let's move." I said, seeing as the conversation was slipping away again.

"As you wish, madam. "he said sarcastically, getting up and heading towards Storm. We drove to school without saying a word to each other, both aware of the silence that surrounded us.

For the next day, I told myself I was too tired of those questions with no answers that bugged me, so I planned on just asking him about his life. There was nothing wrong with just asking, right? I was sick of chasing tails, and I was no person to hold back. I was going to let the improvisation get the best out of this situation.

What I didn't see coming was the possibility that he wouldn't show up. At the usual hour, I came out of the house, but Adrian was nowhere to be seen.

Huh. That's new.

For the past 3 weeks, he had always showed up on time, I was the last one to arrive every time. I waited for 5 minutes on the front porch, but when it was clear that he wasn't going to show up, I sent him a message. Maybe he was just sick. But after another 2 minutes of waiting for an answer to my text, I decided I should better take off.

Wouldn't he have announced if something was wrong? And what could have come up? Eventually, I shrugged all the questions off, trying not to make a big deal out of nothing again. He must have had a good reason not to show up, plus, he had no obligations towards me.

My school was 20 minutes of walking away, and seeing as I had enough time, I stopped on my way at my favorite coffee shop. I could even skip my first class, since the math teacher rarely showed up. Before Adrian started driving me to school, I stopped every morning at that place to get my daily caffeine dose, and it was time for me to resume that habit.

I entered the shop and casually walked over to a table, waiting for someone to take my order. I took the phone out of my pocket to see if Adrian had left me any messages, but I had no texts from him. I was about to send Mina a message to tell her that I wasn't going to show up for the first class, when a waiter came to take my order.

"Good morning. What can I get you today?" the waiter greeted, and I recognized that voice immediately.

"Well I'll be damned," I whispered. "Adrian?"

"Shit," he said, looking up from his notebook, eyes wide. "What the hell are you doing here?"

That explained why he couldn't come this morning. He had to work. But still, couldn't he have announced before? I decided it was time to make this thing a little bit more funny.

"Rude, don't you think? Is that how waiters talk to costumers here? Because if so ,I would like to talk to the manager of this coffee shop."

He looked a few seconds at me, probably thinking that I had gone cuckoo, but he finally cleared his throat and spoke

"My apologies, miss, I mistook you for someone else, this annoying friend of mine. So what can I get you?" he said, smiling bitterly .So two could play this game.

"I'll have a non-fat, grande, soy chai latte with a half shot of espresso and no foam. Thanks!" I said, pulling the biggest bitch face that I had. He wrote it off quickly and after 10 minutes, he came back with my order.

"What took you so long? You have slow service here, in your shop. I knew I should have complained to the manager" I said, trying to be as annoying as I could.

Adrian eyed me strangely and headed to take someone else's order, when I spoke again.

"Are you sure this is non-fat? Is this even sugar-free? Doesn't taste like it .Can you get me another one? "

Boy, did he look pissed! He looked like he would have loved to just take that coffee and spit in it, but he took it from the table and went to get me another one. I put a hand to my mouth to hide the smile that was forming on my face.

After another 5 minutes, he came back with my drink, but I was far from being done with this game.

"I'm sorry, but this latte is not warm enough. Can you get me another one?" I said, after taking a sip.

You could almost see the veins in his head showing. He clenched his jaw, took a few deep breaths and looked up at me again, a bitter smile on his face

"Sure, miss. Do you also want bubbles in it?"

"Nah ,that would do. It's not my fault that you have terrible service here. Actually, now I changed my mind, you can put some sugar in it. "I smiled, giving him a wink.

As I was waiting for the coffee, I saw Adrian at the bar, talking to a red-headed chick, probably also a waitress there. What was impossible not to notice was how she was all over him, twisting one of her red strands around her finger and biting her lower lip. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention that she was flirting with him, and Adrian didn't seem to be bothered by that at all, even though I saw him looking my way a few times .She didn't even look beautiful, she looked slutty. He said something that made her throw her head back laughing, just when I was thinking that things couldn't get more obvious than that. I couldn't keep watching that stupid flirting, so I averted my gaze when I saw him looking my way another time. Why did I let that bother me anyway? I kind of always knew that Adrian was a heartbreaker who probably had flings all the time. Maybe deep down you were hoping you were wrong, my inner self told me. Obviously, I was not. Why should he hold back when all women had their eyes laid on him? For no reason that I could explain, I was even more annoyed than before.

He came with my coffee again, just when I decided that I was over with this game, I was going to sit there, enjoy my drink and stop acting childishly. As I'd told myself before, he had no obligations towards me.

"There you go, hopefully for the last time" Adrian said, putting the coffee on the table, a smirk on his face. He took a few steps back, watching expectantly. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but said nothing and took a sip of the coffee. And I spitted it out almost immediately.

"What the hell?" I shrieked. "You put salt in my coffee? "

"Oops. My bad," he grinned, trying to hold back his laughter. "Here, let me take this" He said, taking the coffee from my hands, but "accidently" spilled it on my lap.

"Oh, shoot!" he said sarcastically. "Again ,my bad."

I got up from my chair abruptly. "You can go fuck yourself!."I hissed, and ran out the door. I heard him yell after me, but I didn't turn back. It was like everything was coming to the surface. I had let a stranger into my life. I had let myself care enough about this stranger. It was all a big, huge mistake.

"Wait, Melody! " I heard him yell again, his voice closer this time. I turned on my heels and faced him.

"What?" I spat, my voice harsh. Adrian was taken aback by my tone, and opened and closed his mouth a few times. He took a few steps closer, frowned in confusion, and gave a humorless laugh.

"What was that back there?" he spoke, gesturing to the coffee shop.

I gave a loud sigh and crossed my arms over my chest. I had to end this stupid game

"That…" I began, throwing my head back a little, trying to pick my words carefully." That was the kick in the ass that I needed so badly, that we both needed so badly. What is it that we're doing here, Adrian?" I gestured between the two of us. "This whole thing confuses me and I don't need it."

"Now I'm the confused one. What do you mean? What is wrong with this?" Adrian said, making the same gesture as I did

"Oh come on, Adrian, you know what I'm talking about, don't play stupid! This is wrong on so many levels .I know nothing about you, except the fact that you're a party-boy, a heartbreaker and a coward, not being able to say in my face what the hell you want from me! "

I was already yelling by then, that even a few pedestrians stopped to look at us

"At least tell me, Adrian! What do you want from me?" I lowered my voice a bit, not wanting to make a scene in the street. He didn't say anything for a few seconds, and just when I was about to walk, he spoke again.

"Do you want me to want something from you?"

Did I? So far, I've buried that question deep down inside me, but now there he was, asking it.

"No. I don't want you to want something from me. Because I'm not able to give you what you want. I'm not able to deal with you." I said, trying to keep my calm and looked down, like facing him while saying that was impossible. If I meant it, then why did it feel so wrong to say it out loud?

But Adrian didn't look down like I did. He looked me straight in the eyes, like he was searching for the truth in my words. I don't know what he found there, but I guess it convinced him.

"Fine! Because I don't want anything from you either"

"Fine" I yelled back

"Okay"

"Okay. Glad we had that cleared up"

And with that, I turned on my hells, and left him there, but turned back after I realized something was wrong.

"The school is the other way" I said, when I passed by him.

So it was over. This whole thing was over. But it didn't feel as relieved as I expected.

I felt numb because I didn't know how else to feel. Between all of those mixed feelings, I chose to feel numb. I had tried to feel angry, but I really didn't have a reason to. I also buried the sadness deep down inside me, because it felt too wrong to feel sad for such a childish thing. So I numbed all those feelings, buried them deep down inside, not even letting them nudge in the back of my head .Because if they did ,I would be too scared of what I might realize.

I couldn't pay attention to any class that day, and of course, as always, Mina and Hope noticed it. But I also wasn't in the mood for talking about what had happened either. I wanted to go home, bury myself in the blankets till I forgot about that day's events

By the time I got out of school, the Adrian incident was almost forgotten, Mina and Hope made sure of that. That's how it always was with them, I laughed and laughed and laughed till I forgot what I was worried about. Those girls were a true gift brought to my life.

We were walking out of the school yard when someone caught my eye.

Oh, come on! Not now.

Adrian was sitting with his motorbike parked in front of the school, leaning against it, watching me approach. I stopped in front of him, and we were just looking at each other, but none of us saying anything. We probably would have kept on staring, if it weren't for Hope clearing her throat.

I looked over my shoulder, and starting moving again.

"Let's go, girls .Nothing to see here."

I only made a few steps, when Adrian moved and put himself in my way.

"No, wait! Just hear me out, okay?" he said, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Okaaaay, maybe we should just go" I barely heard Mina say before they left, leaving me there, alone with Adrian.

"I have nothing to talk to you about," I spat, jerking his hands away. "We said everything we needed to say."

He stood his ground, watching me intensely with those deep, brown eyes and clenching his jaw.

"If you are going to be mad at me for no reason, at least hear the whole story."

I actually considered it for a few seconds.

"No, Adrian. I don't think you can tell me something new. I'm not…" I paused to reconsider my words."It's not you that I'm mad at. It's me. It's me for having big expectations. It's me for being silly and childish for actually believing that you're not as bad as I thought you would be. It's me because I trusted you, when obviously I am just another ditchable thing for you." A silent moment followed, but I broke it with a humorless laugh. "And now I sound like a drama queen. Okay, let's just scratch everything and leave it the way we left it at the coffee shop. "

"I won't leave, Melody." He said dead serious, and I smiled a little to myself, thinking that was the first time he had called me by my name. "I won't leave because you are being unfair. I have done nothing wrong, and just when I'm trying to explain the situation you won't even hear me. The only thing that I'm asking is to just listen." He spoke calmly, but the anger could be read all over his face.

"I doubt that would help your case, but fine. I'll listen." I said, smiling a little.

"Finally, woman!" he said, throwing his hands up in despair. "Let's not talk here. I'll take you to the coffee shop."

"Why can't we talk here?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a really long story. Come on, hop in!" He gestured to the motorcycle, handing me the helmet.

We took off, and in 5 minutes we arrived at the coffee shop. After I ordered a simple latte, Adrian asked, smirking

"What, no non-fat, grande, soy chai latte with a half shot of espresso and no foam?"

"Ew, hell no! I was just messing with you. So, should we get to the part where you try to explain yourself but fail?" I asked

He sighed and looked down. "I'm not trying to excuse myself here, I'm just trying to be fair .You already said it yourself, you know nothing about me and I think it's time to clear this thing out." He closed his eyes and sighed again .Maybe this thing was really serious, he seemed pretty tense about it.

"How come I haven't seen you work here before?" I asked

"Yeah, I should start with that, good idea. I usually work the night shifts here, but this morning a waitress asked me to take her shift, and since I could really use some extra money, I said yes"

"But why didn't you…" I started, but he cut me off.

"I forgot to tell you this morning that I couldn't come, I know. But I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal or that you would be pissed off about something like that."

I sighed, and gestured for him to keep on talking.

"A few days ago you asked me about my family, right?"

"Right, but what does it have to do with any of this?" I asked confused.

"None .It just feels right to tell you the whole story. And trust me, I need to. So, as I told you, the reason I took that extra shift was because I needed money. The thing is…." He paused, and it was clear that this couldn't be easy for him. "My mother is sick .Really sick. She's…" Another pause. "She's dying." I winced at the words, and he kept on looking down.

"W-w…what do you mean she's dying? What is she dying of?" He lifted his head and finally stared me in the eyes.

"Cancer .Brain cancer" I waited for him to elaborate, but when I saw he was not going to, I spoke, putting, my hand over his.

"Hey, if you don't want to talk about this, I understand. I know that…"

"No, no, I have to. I think it might help me actually" he said, shaking his head. All I could do was smile weakly at him.

"She was diagnosed 2 years ago, just when I was about to drift off to college. When we found out, the doctor said she was in stage 3 of brain cancer, so he said there wasn't that much that we could do. But we tried everything .Surgery, radiotherapy, everything that could possibly remove the already spreading tumor. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that well. They could remove a part of it, but not enough. And, eventually, the doctors gave up on her. They told me she won't get to live longer, she could die tomorrow or 5 years from now, but she is going to. So I gave up on college to stay with her, and just be there. And I see her dying a little bit every day. I see how this disease eats her brain up, and how the headaches become worse and worse, and there is nothing I can do about it." he spoke frantically, a haunted look on his face the whole time.

"What about your father?" I asked, and I saw him flinch.

"He's dead. He died 5 years ago, heart attack."

"Oh" was all I could say. I wish I could have said something, to tell him I was sorry, but I knew that wasn't going to help, so I let the silence say it all.

"I don't want to lose her too, Melody." Adrian said in a barely audible voice.

"No, no, no, Adrian, hey, don't think about that!" I said, reaching for his hand again and squeezing it. "I know it will happen eventually, but not now. So make the most out of what you have left with her! And I know that what I'm saying is not helping right now and it's none of my business, but try to do that, okay? For your mom"

He nodded slowly and stayed silent. As I said, I was at loss of words, there wasn't much that I could tell him right then, that's why I settled for silence too. Compared to this, our little fight seemed stupid and childish, and I chastised myself for it. It wasn't out of pity, more like out of friendship, I wanted to tell him I was sorry about what a bitch I've been, but I wasn't sure he would see it as a friendship act. He didn't need pity, he needed someone to listen.

"I should probably get you home." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I only nodded and we got out of the coffee shop, then headed at my house.

We arrived in a couple of minutes, and I climbed off Storm, but instead of walking towards the front door, I turned to him.

"Thanks, Adrian," I said, taking him aback."For telling me all of this .For trusting me enough to tell me this ,even after our whole fight."

"About that…" he started but I cut him off.

"I know. And I didn't mean all the things that I said. After all, you really have no obligations towards me, and I shouldn't have gotten mad. We both shouldn't have. So I guess we're okay."

"Okay" he said, smiling down at me. I walked in the house and heard from inside Storm's roar and Adrian leaving.

I walked in the kitchen and found my mother there, cooking dinner. With no hesitation, I ran towards her and gave her a giant hug.

"What's the matter with you?" she laughed, hugging me back.

"Nothing. I just love you." I said, hugging her tighter

"I know, sweetheart. I love you too."

I blinked a few times, fighting back the dancing tears forming in my eyes.

9: Chapter 8 . Ballad of Easy Rider

 

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

"Oh, please, Adrian, just one time! Show me just once, and I'll get it."

I groaned for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"For God's sake, squirrel, don't make me choose! I told you before, I never let anyone touch my baby. You touch her, you die." I said, annoyed.

"But, but… I can do this. I just need you to teach and supervise me."

I gave a loud sigh and frowned.

"Just let this go, okay? I won't let anyone put their hands on Storm, not even you."

It was her turn to groan and roll her eyes. "Fine, Mr. Stubborn. If you don't want to make some innocent girl's dream come true, then have it your way."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but said nothing else. She also remained silent and kept on sulking the whole way to school. It wasn't as much because I didn't trust her with Storm, as it was to get on her nerves, just like she had done that day at the coffee shop. I knew how much she wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle and she knew that if she insisted more, I would agree to it and give her that driving lesson.

I left Melody at school, as always, and she climbed off Storm, then turned to me, opening her mouth to speak, but I stopped her before she could.

"Nuh-uh, squirrel, not gonna happen, already told you, and yeah, I know, there's a special place in hell for people like me." I said, pitching my voice a little at the "going to hell" part.

"You sound like my mother." She huffed

"Sure, 'cause that's what every guy wants to hear" I replied

Melody then turned on her heels and left. I watched her leave, walking with tiny, but precise steps. I laughed to myself, then drove straight home

At the usual hour, I went to take my shift at the coffee shop, and it seemed it was going to be a pretty boring work day. Around 6 pm, I saw the door open and the small figure of Melody entering the shop, her gaze traveling around the room until she found me.

I groaned and rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but smile.

"Oh sweet Jesus, what have I done to deserve this? You're a troublemaker, you know that, right? Every time you come here, I get into trouble."

She scoffed, but smiled back.

"I'm a joy to the world, your argument is invalid. Soooo…" Melody started.

"God, no, please" I groaned, hitting my head on the counter.

"But Adriaaaan-" she started poking me with a finger.

"No."

"Adriaaaaan," she tried smiling and looking at me through her lashes flirty

"No, no, no, no, no! This is cheating! Don't pull that trick on me!" I warned

She leaned in, over the counter, flirtatiously, with a half smile, shooting me a playful glare.

"Why, afraid it might work?"

Melody flirting. Huh .That was a new side of her that I had never seen before, but I immediately decided I wanted to see it more often. After the day I told her about my family issues, I thought things were not going to be the same anymore, that she would start looking at me with pity, just like everyone else did. But there we were, laughing and mocking each other, like nothing had changed. I should have known better, and I was glad that I decided to trust her. Question was, did she trust me?

"I stand no chance, do I? " I answered eventually.

"You never did, Groot." She winked.

I half smiled at her, then went to another table to take someone's order. Of course, when I returned at the counter she was still there, watching me expectantly.

"Okay, squirrel, you win. I'm going to teach you how to ride a motorcycle." I offered, raising my hands up in surrender.

Her hazel eyes went wide and lit up with joy. "You're serious? You're going to teach me? "she shrieked, making me laugh at her excitement, and glad that I could be the reason behind that happiness.

I nodded slowly.

"Yep .My shift is over in an hour or so, and you can wait here till I finish. And then, I'll teach you. But just the basics for now, okay?"

"Dude! I don't care, as long as I'm going to learn how to drive. I'm finally going to learn how to drive!" Melody gave another shriek, basically bouncing at that point.

Out of the blue, she got up on her feet, took a few steps forward and hugged me. The sudden action took me aback, but I hugged her back nonetheless.

But the moment didn't last long since after a few seconds Melody pulled back a little, my arms still around her waist and her hands still on my shoulder. She smiled warmly at me, but I couldn't even bring myself to smile back. She was sitting close, too close. Again. The moment felt slower and longer, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed. She pulled back for real this time, and I still couldn't stop looking dumbfounded at her. Why did she do that? What the hell was wrong with me? It was just a hug.

Probably from the look on my face, realization hit her and only then she realized what she did. We both smiled at each other awkwardly, till she spoke again.

"So I guess I'll just wait here till your shift is over, right?" she said, tucking a curl of her blondish hair behind her ear in a sheepish gesture.

I truly didn't stand a chance.

 

 

"Okay, show me, show me, show me!" Melody said, crazy excited, bouncing up and down, climbing on Storm, and putting on the good mood was so contagious, that even I stopped worrying about Melody's and Storm's safety for a while.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked incredulously for the hundredth time. "I mean, we are not in an open field and you have no idea how to drive, you could…"

"Would you stop being such a grandpa and let go?" Melody interrupted my continuing bickering. "I know the basics of driving a motorcycle, okay?"

"Oh, fine, Mrs. I-can-do-this-all-by-myself, what's the first step?"

She rolled her eyes, but laughed nonetheless. The corners of her mouth widened and her hazel eyes sparkled with joy. I couldn't help but smile back at her and, again, feel glad that I could be responsible for that kind of happiness

"Well, first, I'm going to pull out the choke. Right?" she looked at me for confirmation and I only nodded, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Then what?" I asked

"Then I turn on the ignition and then…" she stopped, biting her lip and looking a little conflicted. I laughed to myself and climbed on the bike behind Melody. I felt her flinch a little at my sudden movement, but said nothing.

"Then you pull in the clutch," I took her hand and pressed it around the clutch, and I had to remind myself to stay focused on what we were doing there, not on the feeling of her standing so close to me. "And you hold that in. Push in the starter button!"

She complied and the bike came to life.

"Okay, good, and now you …"

"Put it into first gear, yeah, I know," she cut me off, trying to look at me over her shoulder, which brought our faces a little bit closer. We both got distracted by that for a few seconds, but she shook the awkward feeling off first, eyes on the road.

"And then?" she asked, voice a little shaky

"Now don't let go off the clutch till you have…"

"What, let go?" she said, without waiting for me to instruct further, and abruptly took her hand off the clutch, which caused the motorcycle to plunge forward, throwing both of us back. Before I could even realize what was happening, the bike landed straight into a phone booth.

"Uh-oh." She simply stated.

"Oh my God, Adrian, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't… I mean, I couldn't… I'm really sorry. Adrian. Adrian!" she yelled at me, seeing that I wasn't saying anything, just staring blankly ahead. "Adrian please say something!"

"Son of a bitch!" I said, barely audible.

I just stood there, head in my hands, still not fully processing what was happening. My baby, the motorcycle that I had been driving for 3 years straight, was now crushed.

"This isn't happening. No, no, no, this can't be happening." I finally managed to mutter.

After she saw that she couldn't get a concrete answer from me, she hurried to the motorcycle and examined the damages.

"It's not that bad." Melody said, but didn't sound like she believed it either.

"Not that bad? NOT THAT BAD?" I raised my voice. "You crush my baby into a fucking phone booth, when I clearly told you not to let go of the clutch, and you say it's not that bad ?Really?"

"I'm sorry, Adrian, I really am. God, I'm so dumb! It can be fixed, right? "she apologized, putting a hand over her eyes.

I started pacing back and forth, trying to get a hold of myself but failing.

"I knew this was an awful idea. I knew that I shouldn't let you drive her, especially if we weren't in an open field. What the fuck was I thinking? "I stopped after a few seconds, more and more anger building inside me. "Actually, no, this is not my fault. This is all your fault .I told you not to let go of the clutch, and what did you do? YOU LET GO OF THE CLUTCH! You had one job, Melody, one fucking job! "

"I already told you I'm sorry, okay? What do you want me to do?"

"Oh, you hear that, Storm? She's sorry! Phew, that's clearly going to make it all better." I shouted sarcastically, looking at the bike.

"We can fight like this all day, or we can start looking at the damage. I really think it can be fixed, most of the damage is plastic." Melody tried to keep her composure, unlike me.

I sighed loudly, running a hand through my hair. I took a few steps towards the bike and saw that Melody was right, it wasn't that damaged.

"The frame looks okay," Melody said hopefully "It's just a little scratched. You should have it checked on an alignment jig. "

"No, I think I can fix it myself. My father taught me what to do in case something like this happened."

"Shit! " Melody swore, putting a hand over her mouth. "This motorcycle was your father's? Oh God, I'm a horrible person."

I bit my lower lip and frowned, still studying the bike. "You were right, it's nothing critical. Just some buckling rims and bends to the bracing .Also a few scratches here and there."

She sighed in relief, and rubbed her forehead.

"Thank God."

A few minutes passed without us talking, me examining the bike and her watching me intently. I stood up, ready to take the bike (or what was left of her) home and start the repairing tomorrow.

"I can help you repair it." She suddenly blurted out.

I raised an eyebrow and laughed cynically at her will.

"Sure, you can't listen to a simple command, but you can fix a motorbike."

"No, but seriously now .My father has this storehouse where he used to go and fix some old cars .It was like a second job of his, but now he doesn't need to go there anymore, so it's abandoned. You can go there and repair Storm. There are all kind of tools, I'm sure it would be useful."

"Melody- " I started, but she stopped me, moving a few steps closer and silencing me.

"No, Adrian, please. At least let me help you with this. Please?" she looked at me with puppy-eyes. I thought about it for a few seconds and finally nodded.

"Fine," I groaned. "You can help me repair it. And when I say "help" I mean you have to stay there and not touch anything. First, I'll go to an auto shop tomorrow to buy the parts that need to be replaced."

"And I'll text you the storehouse's address tomorrow."

I started to take off, just after Melody apologized for the hundredth time, and we both went our own ways.

The next day, I didn't mention the motorbike incident to my mother, because I knew she was going to freak out, since it was, after all, my father's legacy. And partly, I told Melody I could repair Storm at her dad's storehouse because it would have been hard to work on the bike without mom finding out.

Before I was going to take my shift at the coffee shop, I planned on going to an auto shop to buy the parts that needed to be replaced on my bike. While I was heading there, my phone started to ring in my pocket. I took it out and saw Paul's number. Damn, I had completely forgotten to call him for the past few days, between all the work days and the time spent with my mother.

Paul and I have known each other since kindergarten. I can still remember the first day we met, when his grandmother brought him there, and when she was about to leave, he started crying from the top of his lungs, asking her to stay there with him. When she left for good, he couldn't stop looking at the window, waving at his grandma and yelling "Goodbye, Nana". I remember when he stopped, 10 minutes later, and sat next to me, but didn't stop with the crying. Seeing him so sad, I smiled tentatively at him and tried to convince him to play with me. Soon after that, we became best buddies. And that was the beginning of our long term relationship.

He had been raised by his grandparents since he was 5, and lack of money was why he couldn't afford going to college either. We were both stuck in Arcata, even though, with his new job, he could raise enough money to leave for good .Leaving me here. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer since we were in mid-school, and even though being apart from my best friend was going to be hard, I was happy he could fulfill his dream.

"Now, now, look who's picking up his phone," Paul teased at the other end of the line. "You finally got time for little old me?"

"Now, now, Paul, let's not make a scene over the phone." I mocked him back.

"Where have you been, dude? You barely answer the phone and I haven't seen you in days. You're getting rusty, mate."

"What? No!" I scoffed. "It's just…I can't seem to find some free time lately."

"That's bullshit, my friend," he called. "I think you could have found some free time to at least answer my phone calls. Any plans for tonight? We could go hit the bar or something, so you could make it up to me"

"I wish we could, Paul. But my motorbike got crashed last night."

"Wait, what?! Your dad's bike? How the hell did that happen?"

"Long story .Good news is that it can easily be fixed, I'm heading right now to an auto shop to buy the damaged parts, then I'll start the repairing."

"Man, you've got issues. Well, call me whenever you're done with all this, Your Highness. You know where to find me. "

Paul then hung up, just when I reached the auto shop. I should really start finding some more time for him, especially when I knew that it was a matter of time till he left this town for good.

I entered the shop, the one I always went to when I had problems with my bike. The owner, Greg Evans, was a famous ex-racer and every time I came at his shop, we talked for a few brief moments about cars and races. I was never into the actual racing thing, I was always careful when I drove, partly because ,when my father died, I took care of the bike like he would have wanted me to. Unlike Greg, who had the speed in his bloodstream.

I was surprised when I didn't find Greg behind the counter, but the small figure of a girl, probably his daughter judging by the looks, trying to solve a crossword, a small frown on her face, which disappeared the minute she saw me entering.

"Good evening! How can I help you?" she greeted me with a smile.

"I'm looking for some 20 inch rims for my motorbike .And also a new brake lever."

"I'll look around to see if we still got any 20 inch rims" she said, already heading to some shelves to search for those rims.

"So, are you Greg's daughter?" I asked, helping her look around.

She stopped the searching for a second and stared at me. "If I could get a dollar every time I hear that question…" she murmured. "How do you know my dad?"

"I come here pretty often whenever I got problems with my bike," I shrugged. "That's weird though, he never mentioned having a daughter."

"He never does, does he?" she said more to herself. I let go of that subject, since it was clearly a tense one.

"So what happened?" she broke the silence after a few minutes, still looking for those rims. She tried to take a box from the top shelf but didn't reach it, so I helped her.

"Thanks .How did you crash your bike?" she continued, giving me a shy smile. I laughed a little under my breath, replaying the previous day's incident.

"My…uhm , my girlfriend convinced me to teach her how to drive." I said, scratching the back of my neck.

To be honest, I wasn't even mad about what Melody did, I was mad at myself for letting her convince me and not thinking the situation through. Usually, I didn't do things like that, rush into reckless situations without thinking about it, but when I saw her there , trying to convince me to let go for a second and be spontaneous, I listened and stopped worrying. Again, something I didn't normally do. But it was good for a change, not caring at all what would happen next. Lately, I found myself doing that pretty often, mostly because of her influence.

"Your girlfriend?" Evans junior asked, raising an eyebrow. I mentally face-palmed myself for not realizing that I had referred to Melody as my girlfriend

"Yeah, more like a friend who's also a girl .Actually no…she's my…my…" I stumbled for a few seconds, wondering in my head what Melody was really to me. "…my something."

The girl chuckled slightly.

"So, Melody is your something? Smooth as a chainsaw. "

I watched her wide-eyed, more confused than ever. "Wh- what? How did you…"

"Hi, Adrian, nice to meet you! I'm Mina" she told me amused, and finally, realization hit me.

"Mina as in, the Mina?Melody's friend?"

"No, the other one." She answered sarcastically

"Awkwaaard." I said, pursing my lips.

A few silent, awkward moments followed, when she finally found those rims.

"There ya go, buddy. That would do 30 dollars."

"So, uhm, Melody told you about me, huh?" I asked.

"Well, not really. She told us something, and also about how she tried to convince you to let her drive the bike. But apparently it didn't work out so well. And I recognized you from that day, when you picked her up from school."

"Right ,right. She also told me about you, and about your other friend, Hope. She talks about you guys a lot, and about how you all want to head to the same university. "

"We're really close." Mina simply stated. "I always tell them that my high-school experience would have been more different if it weren't for Melody and Hope."

I only nodded in response, understanding her completely, because the kind of friendship they had, it was the same as the one I had with Paul. Just when I was about to pay for the rimes and the lever, Mina's phone rang and she hurried to answer, or that was till she saw who was calling, because she frowned and rejected the call, barely stopping herself not to throw the phone against the wall. I remember Melody telling me about Mina's crush, a racer named Dylan and for a second I wondered if he was the reason behind her annoyance.

"Troubles in paradise?" I asked, though I knew it was none of my business.

"It can hardly be called paradise" Mina huffed.

"Well, then, I guess I'll see you around" I said and she only waved me goodbye.

After that, I went straight home to leave the parts there, away from my mother's view, then got ready to start my next shift at the coffee shop. Meanwhile, Melody had texted me the address of her father's storehouse, but didn't say if she was going to be there or not. Even though I loved to spend time with her, I wasn't so sure I wanted Melody around while I was working on the bike, since I was easily distracted, especially by her. And I doubted that she knew anything about fixing cars or bikes, no matter what she said.

I talked to one of my co-workers, Natalie, and convinced her to switch shifts with me, so I could go to the storehouse earlier and fix Storm as soon as possible. Around 4 in the afternoon, I arrived with my bike at the address from the text, and, to my luck, the entrance to the storehouse was open. I entered, closed the door behind me, and looked around. The interior was like a huge garage, full of cars of all kinds. My eyes wondered around the room and I whistled at the sight .

I put the bike on rear stand so I could examine a little those cars, and found that they were pretty old and rusty, but with some fixing here and there, they could go back on the road. I finally spot somewhere in the back a 1977 Ford Mustang, one of my favorites marks .I went to look at the interior of the car, when I saw I wasn't alone there after all.

There, in the car, stood Melody, knees pulled to her chest, reading a book intently. She was so concentrated on the book she was reading that she probably didn't hear me come in. I took a few steps forward and knocked at the car window, which made her jump a little.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as she got out of the Mustang.

"It's not like it's my dad's storehouse or something .I come here pretty often, it's quiet and I know no one will bother me here." she explained.

"What about you, isn't it a little early? You're supposed to be working."

"I switched shifts, so I figured I could just come and start repairing. "

"Good, then I can help you"

I sighed a little. I couldn't tell her I didn't need any help, she looked so excited at only the thought of it. I could see her point, she wanted to make it up to me for crashing the bike, but also, no matter how much I liked to spend time with her, I didn't want to get distracted.

But who can say no to her? Definitely not me.

"Fine, fine."I agreed. "You can stick around for now. But you'd better shut your cakehole!"

"No promises." Melody teased

"Nice car, by the way" I said, pointing to the Ford Mustang

"I know right?" she said excited, running her hand along the smoothed edge of the car's hood. "It used to be my father's, but mom talked him into buying another car, since this one is too old " At the word "old" she drew the quotation marks with her fingers.

"So he listened to her, and left the car here. But he always promised me that when I turn 18, he's going to teach me how to drive it."

"And when is that going to be?" I asked slyly.

"In less than a month .And I will finally be able to drive this baby." she said smiling, giving the car another look before turning to me and we started taking a few steps towards the bike.

"So, how do I help you?" she asked.

"You are going to sit right here," I said, grabbing her shoulders. "And do nothing. That would help me."

She scoffed but said nothing less. At least for a few minutes

"Oh, c'mon , Adrian, let me help you! I can be useful." She argued childishly while I was getting ready to replace the damaged parts.

"Here we go again." I said, rolling my eyes. "Just be here, okay? Or talk about something else."

"Are you sure you don't need any help with that? Since I'm already here, I could…"

"I already told you, squirrel, I don't need any help .If you want to be useful at least try to entertain me."

She corked an eyebrow at my words, but then smiled as an idea popped into her head.

"Yeah, I could do that." She mumbled, taking her phone out of the pocket.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously

"Entertaining you ,clearing up the air. "Melody winked.

As soon as she said the words, a rock song blasted from her phone's speakers, which I immediately recognized as Scorpion's "Rock you like a hurricane" .I smiled a little at her choice, a hot song, perfect to listen to while fixing bikes and getting oily. She smiled back, moving her hips to the beat of songs and her blond ponytail bobbed as she hummed to the verse.

It's early morning, the sun comes out

Last night was shaking, and pretty loud

My cat is purring, and scratches my skin

So what is wrong, with another sin?

She wiggled her eyebrows at me and threw her head back laughing, motioning for me to do the same and loosen up a bit.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" I cheered, as I got up to my feet and rocked around, joining her with the singing at the chorus.

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane

I wiggled a French key at her which caused her to burst out laughing, stopping the singing, but I remained serious, using the key as a microphone.

My body is burning, it starts to shout

Desire is coming, it breaks out loud

Lust is in cages, till storm breaks loose

Just have to make it, with someone I choose.

I launched myself into full-heartedly singing and Melody danced around, humming along, eyes closed and a smile plastered to her face, ignoring completely the strands of hair that were glued to her face. It looked like she got lost in the rhythm of the song, like she couldn't care less that I was there, watching her, like all that mattered were those electric guitar chords.

"Aw, man, I love that song" I exclaimed as Melody cheered when the song was over.

"Gotta love Scorpions," She agreed. "So, was that entertainment enough for you?"

"Pretty much .Now, let's go back to work!"

"You mean you go back to work while I just sit here, enjoying some good tunes." Melody said, climbing atop of a car's hood, laying down and looking for a new song to play

An hour or so passed while I kept on working on my bike, having occasional talks with Melody about music or rock references .She put the phone on shuffle and let the music play, keeping true to her word of not getting in my way.

I was almost ready, when suddenly, an unknown song blasted from the phone's speakers.

"What song is that?" I asked, surprised that she had other songs in her phone besides classic rock.

"Oh, sorry !I forgot that you don't listen to this kind of stuff. That's my favorite band, The Script."

"I thought your favorite band was Metallica."

"Metallica is my favorite rock band, with The Script it's a whole different deal. "

"I never thought you liked this kind of stuff."

"What do you mean by this kind?" she asked offended, climbing off the hood

"Y'know ,cheap ,contemporary crappy music."

"Excuse you! It is so not." Melody shrieked. "Just because it's contemporary, it doesn't mean it has to be crappy. There are good bands out there who still sell good music. Plus, you haven't even listened to a song from them."

"I don't need to, I bet it's crappy" I disagreed.

"Challenge accepted. I bet that if you gave those songs a chance, you would like them."

"Fine, prove me wrong! But I'm telling you, everything that's contemporary it's cheap to me."

"Then I'll make you a mix-tape with this kind of songs. If you don't like it, then you're right, and I'll respect your opinion. But I'm sure that's not the case."

"Agreed"

Five minutes later, I was done with the motorbike and it looked brand-new. I took Melody home, though she insisted she could walk back by herself, then went straight home, exhausted from all that work

 

 

"Are you sure?" Melody asked Monday morning, after I offered to give her that driving lesson again.

"We'll do it again, but this time in an open field, with no chances for you to crash it again." I explained

"But I crashed your bike."

"I noticed."

"And you still want to teach me? Dude, you've got issues."

"A promise is a promise. I said that I would teach you and I'll keep my word, but this time we're going to be more careful."

***

"Relax, squirrel, I'm here, nothing's going to happen." I said, as the bike started moving forward a little bit, and I felt how Melody tensed against me.

After school, I took her out in an open field, near the exit of the town, and practiced the driving again. By that point, there were no accidents .Yet.

"Don't let go!" Melody shrieked as I tried to remove my hand from the clutch. "I can't do this by myself."

"Yes, you can. Trust me and trust Storm, you can do this." I slowly removed my hand and the bike kept moving forward.

"Now how about we make a turn?" I suggested, but she shook her head no, panicked. "I'm here, calm down. Now do as I taught you!"

She slowed down a little bit, pressed the handle bar to the left and slowly rolled on the throttle. She let out a laugh as she realized that she took the turn perfectly.

"I did it! Adrian, I did it!"

"Good job! Now take the bike to a halt, I think we're done for now."

Melody did as I told her, and bounced up and down as soon as she climbed off the motorcycle. I laughed at her excitement, happy that she didn't crash my bike again, but most of all, because I was the one to bring that smile to her face.

10: Chapter 9 . How we roll.

MELODY'S P.O.V

As soon as the school bell rang, I got up from my chair and hurried to Mina's seat in the back.

"Uh-oh," Mina said she looked up at me. "you have that look in your eyes."

"What look?" I asked innocently

"The one you have when you're about to do something stupid and try to talk me into it."

"What? No!" I scoffed. "I'm not doing anything stupid. And I don't have that kind of look."

Mina raised an eyebrow, giving me a suspicious look.

"Well then I guess I was wrong" she finally said, taking another bite of her sandwich.

I stayed silent for a minute or two and tapped my fingers nervously on the desk. I closed and opened my mouth for a few times, trying to find the right words to say.

"So what if…" I started but Mina interrupted me.

"No."

"But you don't know what I was going to say!" I exclaimed offended

"I don't want to hear any sentence from you that starts with a so what if."

"So what if we skip history," I said before she could cut me off. "go out in the park, have some fun, something we haven't done in a while."

Mina chuckled lightly but stopped when she looked back at me. "Oh, you were serious. In that case, I'm afraid I might say pass"

"Come on, Mina! It's just for an hour, what's bad in that? Plus, you've never skipped a class before."

"We talked about this Melody," Mina sighed. "I'm not skipping classes. And haven't you skipped enough classes this year?"

"I haven't skipped history before." I said, which got a smile from Mina. "It's going to be fun, come on!"

Right then, Hope joined us and took the seat next to me.

"What's up?"

"Would you tell Mina that it's okay if she skips history with us?" I asked

"No, you tell Mel that I don't want to do this." Mina said angrily, turning to Hope.

"I'll have to agree with Melody this time. You can skip at least this class, and we get to hang out more." Hope said, looking between the two of us.

"I already said no, so do what the hell you want to, but don't involve me."

I kind of knew she was going to say that from the beginning, and that's why I came up with a plan B. I looked at Hope and saw that she was thinking the same thing as I was. Next thing you knew, we snatched Mina's backpack and ran out the door, counting on the fact that she was going to run after us. We heard her yell at us to come back, but when she saw we weren't going to, she swore and got up from her chair, running after me and Hope. We didn't stop there, we kept on running till we were out of school, with Mina right behind us. We stopped to catch our breaths and Mina finally caught up with me and Hope.

"Guys, this isn't funny. You know I suck at running." She said, barely breathing and we burst out laughing.

"Now you can't go back in class without the teacher seeing you with your backpack. So you might as well come with us." I suggested.

"This is not fair!" Mina groaned. "You're corrupting me."

"Deal with it. Now, where to next? " Hope asked.

"Let's go to the nearest park. Come on, Mina, don't be sad, we'll buy you some food." I said, putting a hand over her shoulder.

"You'd better." Mina said, trying to hide her smile. We started walking, making a stop at a food store.

"I don't know why we always end up buying you food" Hope told me, handing me the bag of jellies.

"Yeah, I thought you were going to buy me food, not Hope" Mina agreed

"After 4 years with me, I thought you got used to it. I never buy food, it's your job to do that, to feed the Kraken." I mocked and Mina and Hope both gave me a nudge.

10 minutes later, we made it to a playground and searched for a free bank to sit on, but there wasn't any.

"Free swings!" Hope called and the three of us ran towards the swings. Me and Hope made it just in time, right when some kids were about to sit there.

"These are out swings" one of the kids, with a red cap, said.

"Tough shit, kiddo .We were here first." I argued.

"Melody!" Mina hissed and I only shrugged nonchalantly

"But I'm only 5 and you're too old for swings." The red cap kid persisted.

"Sorry, kiddo, but life's harsh. Soon you'll grow up and you'll see. You'll have to pay taxes, you'll get married, eventually get divorced then poof! You're dead. You have to get used to the fact that life's harsh." I said, more as a joke, but the kid didn't react that well. He burst into tears.

"But I am only 5." He said between tears.

"Melody, what the hell? You made a child cry." Mina hissed again, trying to calm down the kid.

"Ugh, please make him stop!" I groaned. "How do you make this thing stop?"

While we were making attempts to calm him, Hope was just sitting there, judgment all over her face.

"Stop staring, moose, and try to help us!" I told her.

"Guys…I think his mother saw us, there's a lady heading towards us, and she looks pretty pissed." Hope said, this time more serious.

"Uh-oh .Abort mission, abort mission" I yelled, but Mina didn't move, still trying to calm the kid.

"Mina, do you copy? Abort mission! Momma bear is coming." Hope yelled and we all started running

"Buy something nice of those" I said winking at the boy and put a dollar in his hand before I took off with the girls. We ran and ran until we were sure we were out of the lady's view. As soon as we stopped, Mina punched me in my arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" I exclaimed.

"For making a kid cry, you dumbass .Couldn't you just shut up? "

"It was kinda funny" I said, trying not to laugh

"It was, wasn't it?" Hope said, laughing along, to which Mina rolled her eyes, but joined us.

"Now where should we go next?"

"Let's just sit here, on the grass." I suggested. "We got nothing better to do anyway."

All three of us sat on the grass, watching the clouds and talking non sense, like we always did. We reminisced about the first year of high school, made plans for the years to come, and we still got the chance to catch up a little, too. I found out that Mina had a very nasty fight with Dylan, something I hadn't thought it would be possible since they were like honey and milk all the time. She didn't really feel like talking about it so we dropped the subject. And also, I still couldn't completely shake off the feeling that Hope was hiding something from us. When I asked her how it was going on for her, she stammered, talked non sense and avoided eye contact till I decided to stop trying to suck information out of her. I truly trusted her and Mina and I knew that if something was going on, they would have told me. And if not, they surely had a good reason to hide it.

We didn't even realize when the time passed so fast, but we eventually left the park and headed back to school.

"Now what do you say, Mrs. Grumpy, was it worth dragging your purity through the mud for this awesome hour?" I asked Mina on our way to school.

"Yeah, okay, I'll admit it, it was worth it. But let's never do that again"

In a few minutes we were back and continued the day normally.

I finished my homework a few hours after I arrived home from school that day and sat on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do next. I took my phone from the nightstand and dialed Hope's number.

"Moose, let's go out!" I said as soon as Hope answered.

"You're a weird kiddo, Mel" Hope mocked me. "But what's up with you today? You almost never suggest we go out on school days."

"You complaining? If you don't want to go out then…"

"No, no, no, don't get me wrong, I want to hang out. But what's the special occasion?" she questioned.

"Dunno." I shrugged though I knew she couldn't see me. "To celebrate the fact that Mina finally skipped a class. And God knows we waited a lot for that to happen."

"Oh, who cares what for?" Hope chuckled on the other end of the line." Let's do it!"

"That's the spirit." I cheered and five minutes later, I was calling Mina and convinced her to go for a night out .Barely.

One hour later, I started to get ready and put on the first clothes I laid my eyes on. I was determined to have some fun tonight, no matter what. In a few months I was going to be out of Arcata, with responsibilities on my shoulders, all on my own. I was literally going to venture myself in an unknown situation, away from my home's safety, away from everything I'd loved for the past 17 year .So why not make the best of what I had left? Why not enjoy it for as long as I could? Sure, Mina, Hope and I may have made plans to go to the same university, but a lot of things could go wrong. I could change my mind, or I could never get into that university. There were a lot of possibilities to consider. My whole life, I had never thought about ultimatums. I was living under the premise that there was no other day but today, and now, it was important for me to look decisively towards my future. But until then, I still had memories to make, moments to live. I had enough time to say my goodbyes in a proper way.

This has to stop right here, I scolded myself, looking at my reflection in the mirror. You're going to go out there, and rock the night. No more worries tonight

I went downstairs to tell mom I was about to leave, though, of course, I had asked for her permission before I made any plans. I sighed, thinking that at least this aspect was not going to be missed after I left. I found my dad in the kitchen, reading a newspaper that he put away as soon as he saw me enter the room.

"Hey, monkey," he smiled at me and raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going so fancy?"

"Didn't mom tell you? I'm going out with Mina and Hope tonight." I said while taking a soda from the fridge and sitting in a chair across from him.

"Oh, right, right, I forgot about that. Well, if your mom gave you her permission, then everything must be alright. Don't come home late, okay?"

"And no taking candies from strangers, yeah, I know" I joked. "Mom already gave me the whole talk."

"Actually, you know what? You don't have to come back home at all. We'll finally get to have some peace in this house." He mocked back.

I got up on my feet, ready to go, and kissed his cheek before I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door. Hope was already waiting for me outside, and soon, we picked up Mina from her house and headed to the closest bar.

"This feels awkward." Mina told us while we were on our way. "It doesn't feel like us, we don't usually do this kind of stuff."

"Tell me about it." Hope agreed. "I've never had alcohol in my whole life and you're taking me to a bar."

"Would you stop with this negativity? I know it doesn't feel like something we normally do, but that's the whole point, to do something different. Guys, we're almost 18. We can't stay all day locked in our houses, we're allowed to have some fun once in a blue moon."

"But a bar, really?" Mina questioned. "Couldn't you have picked a nicer place?"

"Hey, hey," I scolded her. "Show some respect, grandma. It may not be a luxurious restaurant, but it's a decent bar, and it's our only shot for tonight. Now stop sulking and let's try to have some fun!"

We eventually arrived at the dive bar and entered, only to find it wasn't as crowded as we'd expected, just small groups of people chatting here and there.

"I'll go buy us some drinks," I said as soon as we took our seats at a table and headed to the counter. "And I know, Hope, no alcohol for you."

Just as I was walking towards the counter to order those drinks, I caught glimpse of some not so subtle flirting between a couple standing nearby, the guy leaning to whisper something in the girl's ear, and her laughing at some joke he said. I'd have put my money on the fact that she probably didn't even find the joke that funny. I was about to ask the bartender for three drinks when I shot that couple another glance and finally recognized the guy.

You've got to be fucking kidding me

I turned my back to the couple and five minutes later, the bartender came with the drinks I ordered and I returned to our table.

"Dudettes, don't look now, but there's Adrian flirting with some chick at the counter." I told Mina and Hope as soon as I sat at the table and put our drinks down. But of course they didn't listen and they looked, not so subtly.

"I told you not to look." I hissed.

"I think he's too preoccupied with the blondie to notice us now." Mina added.

"Jeez, what is it with you guys? You keep running into each other all the time!" Hope joked and I could only answer that with a glare. "What's the big deal?" Hope continued. "Ignore him and hope he won't notice you. Unless…"

"Unless what?" I asked, but she ignored me, looking meaningfully at Mina."Unless what, guys? "

"Unless you're jealous." Mina finished for Hope.

"Jealous?" I scoffed .A loud, barky sort of scoffing sound. "I'm not jealous at all. It's just…" I stopped, searching for the right word. "Frustrating .It's frustrating to run into him all the time, and let's admit it, that's not the best view in the world." I said, pointing in Adrian's direction who was still talking to that girl.

"Yeah, yeah sure." Mina and Hope said incredulously. I took a sip of my drink and stayed silent, purposefully trying not to look Adrian's way again.

"You know what? Screw this." I said after a few silent minutes, and got up from my chair. "I can't stay here and do nothing."

"Wow, wow, easy there" Mina said, also getting up from her chair and putting a hand on my shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going there." I simply stated.

"And do what? Make a fool of yourself? I'm not going to let you."

"I'm not going to make a fool of myself. I'm just going to say hi."

"And you're saying you're not jealous." Hope mumbled. "Let her go, Mina, at least we'll get to watch the show."

After a few moments of hesitation, Mina let go of my shoulder and I headed to the counter. Adrian was still there. And this time, he was kissing the blondie. I stopped walking, thinking twice whether I should really go there. But for some reason, I was angry. I felt my blood boil and tried to contain myself and tone down my anger. But I couldn't. So I kept on walking towards them. I stopped a few steps away from them and cleared my throat.

"Adrian, my man!" I yelled cheerfully and they stopped the kissing, Adrian looked at me over his shoulder.

"Oh no" I heard Adrian whisper and he slightly pulled away from the girl.

"What's up?" I asked smiling dumbly at his confused figure and punched him playfully in the arm.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Adrian asked, rubbing his arm where I hit him.

"Adrian, who is she?" The blondie asked confused, and, boy, did her voice match her Barbie face.

"Oh, don't let me interrupt you." I said, grinning and leaning on my elbows on the counter.

"I'm Melody, a friend of Adrian's."

"And she's just about to leave" Adrian told the blondie, but still glaring at me in what he hoped was a scary look. "Aren't you, Melody?"

"Wow, someone's impatiently to hit it off tonight." I joked.

"Don't you think you're a little bit too nosy?" the girl asked annoyed

"Charming girl you have here, buddy. Aren't you going to introduce us?" I said, ignoring both of their remarks. Adrian gave me another cold glare, but I only shrugged innocently and stood my ground. We kept on staring till he realized I wasn't going to leave that easily.

"Melody, this is Mindy, and Mindy, this is…"

"My name's Misty." Barbie interrupted Adrian, and by that point, it was pretty hard for me not to choke on my laughter, which earned me another cold stare from him.

"Don't take it personally, sweetheart, names are not important in one-night stands." I said, turning to the girl. "Knowing him, he is chasing everything that has a skirt .Preferably nothing but a skirt." I said, looking her up and down. "Yeah, you would fit the profile."

"Maybe you should try wearing more skirts then." Adrian replied. From nearby, I saw Hope and Mina laugh at the whole scene, and Hope mouthing the word "burn".

Right when I was about to throw another snarky comment, the blondie took her coat from a nearby chair and started walking.

"You guys are two psychos, I'm out of here." She said and Adrian tried running after her.

"No, Mandy, wait, don't…" he started but he was taken aback when the girl turned abruptly at him.

"It's Misty, you dumb fuck!" blondie said and then she grabbed the closest glass with alcohol from the counter and threw the drink in his face. And of course, I had to get involved in that, too.

"Preach it, sister" I said and then grabbed a glass myself and threw the drink at him. Misty stormed out of the room and by then, I couldn't hold back my laughter. And apparently, neither could a guy standing a few seats away from us.

"Something funny, Paul?" Adrian asked, turning to the guy.

"Funny? No. Try hilarious." The dude said and kept on laughing. Therefore, Adrian turned his anger on me.

"What the hell was that, Melody?" he barked.

Oh boy, he's pissed off big time. He just called me Melody.

"What was what?" I asked innocently, putting on my best puppy face.

"This whole thing! What do you think you're doing? Are you here to ruin my dates, Melody? What was this show about, huh? You think it was funny?"

"Yeah, it was pretty funny" I said, though he probably wasn't expecting an answer.

"And what are you even doing in a bar?"

"Oh, come on now, Adrian. Do you really think I came here just to ruin your date? I came here with Mina and Hope, how was I supposed to know you were going to be here?"

"Hi!" Mina and Hope said at the same time, waving at us.

"Duuude!" I heard Adrian's friend, Paul, say, looking in Mina and Hope's direction. "You didn't tell me she had hot friends." He got up to his feet, heading to our table, put Adrian stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, no." he simply stated and Paul sighed and turned back to his seat.

"Are you going to tell me what was that really about?" Adrian asked, this time talking to me.

"I told you, Adrian, I did that thing as a joke. I didn't know you were going to be so upset about this, she was just a one night stand to you. And you probably have enough of those."

He narrowed his eyes at me and then spoke again.

"You know what, Melody, you sound a bit-" he paused and looked as if he was searching for the right word, then smiled as he continues. "- jealous .Yeah, jealous would be the word I'd use to describe how you're acting."

"Yup, totally." Mina and Hope approved from the back.

"Me? Jealous?" I scoffed. "Of what? You? Her? "

"Of me, flirting with other girls"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Are you sure you're not upset about that, don't you feel at least the slightest trace of jealousy?" He questioned my words.

"Positive. Sometimes you just know. I'm certain that there's no way I could ever be jealous of you kissing anyone."

There. I'd told him. Of course, maybe I felt the slightest twinge of something in the pit of my stomach, but that didn't mean it was jealousy. Only the thought of that was ridiculous.

"You know what, I'm out of here!" Adrian said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "I can't deal with your weird behavior anymore. "

And then he walked off .Leaving me there, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. Maybe my actions weren't that well thought after all.

Adrian's friend also got up from the seat, but went to our table and set down there in a chair across from Mina.

"How you doin'?" He tried to put on his best charming face. A shame that the guy was probably an asshole, he would have been pretty charming indeed.

"Beat it, bro." Mina answered his attempts.

"Can't blame me for trying." Paul said and then got up from his chair, following Adrian.

Soon after that, we decided to take off as well, seeing as the air was already pretty tense and having fun was no longer up for discussion.

"I'm sorry for tonight, guys. Really. I ruined our night. I promise I'll make it up to you." I told them as soon as we were out of the bar. Seeing as it was too late for us to walk back home by ourselves, I called dad and told him to come pick us up.

"Hey, don't worry, Mel. We'll hang out another time. But are you sure you're okay?" Hope asked, putting a hand over my shoulder.

"Eh, I'll live. It's just Adrian we're talking about here."

We waited outside for five minutes or so, when suddenly, I saw a black Cadillac park in front of the bar.

"No way!" I exclaimed as soon as I saw who was getting out of the car.

"Isn't that…" Mina started but I finished for her.

"Diana!" I said and ran to hug the small shape of my sister.

"That's right, sis!" she said, hugging me back. "Guess who's back in town."

 

A/N: If you were wondering I have a face claim for every characters in this story. you already know that the perfect picture for Adrian would be Michael Malarkey. And for Melody, I think Emma Stone would do. But maybe a shorter Emma Stone, with hazel eyes instead of green

And also, here are the face claims for the other characters: Hope- Lily Collins

Mina- Nina Dobrev

Paul- Tyler Hoechlin

Diana- Lucy Hale

 

11: Chapter 10 . Street Wise Hercules

DIANA'S POV

I once read a quote in a book saying that a person travels the world over in search of what he needs, and comes home to find it. Once a month, every time I came back in Arcata, I got to know exactly what that quote was talking about. No matter how much I loved my job, and no matter how much I'd grown to love the life in San Francisco, I was always going to be homesick. I was always going to miss the feeling of home that my parents and my sister awoke in me.

I was in my old room, unpacking the few clothes I had taken with me for the weekend. I stopped for a few seconds to take a deep breath, inhale the scent of home and remind myself that I was safe, I was where my heart was .It was like pieces of me were coming back together.

"Surprise attack!" I heard a voice yell from behind and, before I could even realize that the voice belonged to Melody, she threw her weight against me and tumbled me back onto the bed, keeping me still and unable to move.

"Get off me, you hippo!" I groaned, trying to break free, but in vain. I was 5 years older than her, but for some reason, she was the taller one.

"Fight me, sis!" Mel challenged.

I fought for my freedom for 5 minutes or so and, when it was clear I wasn't going to succeed, she climbed off me, both of us laughing. We both leaned back on the headboard of my bed and smiled warmly at each other. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you." Mel told me, putting a hand over my shoulder. "Actually, I do. I've missed you too."

For a few moments, we stood in a comfortable silence, without saying a word and without needing to, till I was the first one to break the silence.

"How are you holding up here, Mel?"

She wrinkled her nose, in an attempt of what I knew it was to hide her nervousness.

"Eh, you know .Same old same old for me."

"Mel…" I started, giving her a suspicious look. "Something's off with you. Did you seriously think I won't notice? Since I picked you and the girls up last night, I noticed something was wrong. So talk!"

Melody sighed out loud and threw her head back a little, closing her eyes.

"How about this? I'll tell you when I have it all figured out in my head. Meanwhile, let's talk about you, doc! How's it going there, in your little dreamy world? Any random handsome surgeon or resident?"

She wiggled her eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but throw my head back laughing at her goofiness. I loved the relationship I had with my sister. I always regretted the fact that we started to grow closer only a year or two before she left to college. Back then, both of us slowly started to realize that we didn't have that much time left .Therefore, during that time, we bonded the most. And now, I reached the point where there wasn't a tiny detail about me she didn't know about. That was why being apart from her was the hardest thing I had ever done. Seeing her once or twice a month wasn't enough. And I believed, with all my might, that she felt the same.

"I wish." I chuckled slightly. "But not yet, sis. Not yet .Probably not soon either."

"Stupid, blind guys" Melody mumbled and put an arm around me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to me about what's worrying you?" I pestered her with that subject, though I knew she was not going to change her mind. That's how Melody dealt with all her problems, she buried them deep down inside her, not letting it affect her till she knew she was ready to let it sink in. We were so different when it came to that aspect.

"Positive." she answered, giving me a warm smile. "So how long are you going to stay home this time? "

"I can't stay long, just a couple of days."

"But you're going to be home for my birthday, right?" Mel asked hopefully. I hated to disappoint her, but the truth was there was no chance for me to be home for her birthday. It was as hard for me as it was for her, especially since I knew she was turning 18. I would have given everything to be with her in that special day, but, unfortunately, I couldn't make that happen. Was there an easy way to tell her that?

"Mel…" I started and she immediately got the idea. She dropped her eyes and nodded in understatement, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Oh, I see."

"You know I would love to. But I can't. You know the exams are coming up soon and-"

"You don't have to explain, Di. I understand. No biggie." she answered bluntly, moving away from me a little, arms crossed against her chest. This thing was affecting her more than I would have thought, even thought she had a good reason to be disappointed. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it again.

"I promise I'll be home as soon as I can" I said, nudging her with my elbow playfully. "And in a few months, you'll come to San Francisco and we're going to see each other every day."

Melody gave me a tentative smile and squeezed my hand in return. "Yeah, you're right." she agreed. "There's nothing you can do about it anyway. So enough chick-flick for now"

I chuckled and we both changed the subject into something lighter. I started telling her more about my classes from university and tried to explain to her all the new medical stuff I learned about, even thought I saw her rolling her eyes at my attempt to make biology seem more interesting than she thought it was. Also, from our talk, I found out that things with mom and dad were as problematic as always. They still didn't agree with Melody's decision to study journalism and Melody was not backing down.

"Things are getting worse and worse." She told me. "Why is it so hard for them to understand that I'm not five years old anymore and that I can make decisions on my own?"

"Trust me, I know what you mean, I've been there myself. The difference is that my plans were in accord with their plans. But don't worry, I'm sure they'll come around"

She gave me an incredulous look but decided to drop it and changed the subject. We talked like that for a few more minutes till she let me finish unpacking and went to her room to finish the homework for the next day at school. I never knew exactly how much I missed being around my family till I actually arrived home. Every time, it was the same as always. Life in San Francisco was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was on my way to making my biggest dream come true, how could I not like that? But sometimes it could be chaos. And that's why coming home was like finding solace from the ever changing chaos, like a reminder that there was a place for me where I could find unconditional love .No matter how far I wandered, there was always something waiting for my return. My family was always waiting for me to come back.

I finished unpacking, just as all those thought popped into my head, and smiled to myself, thinking that, even if it wasn't for a long amount of days, I was finally home.

"Get your lazy ass out of the bed, sis. You have to go to school" I said, entering Melody's room the next morning and jumping on her bed.

She only responded with a groan and tried to push me off the bed with her hands.

"Come on, get up!"

"Go away, you unnatural human being!" she told me, this time stopping the struggles to get me to leave her alone. I snatched the pillow from under her head and, this time, she was up for real.

"How can you to get up so early in the morning?" Mel asked with a sleepy voice. "And you don't even have to!"

I only shrugged as a response and tried again to get her out of bed. After a few more moments of struggling, I succeeded and Melody finally got up and started to get ready for school while I went downstairs to make coffee for both of us.

10 minutes later, Melody came down herself and found me in the kitchen, waiting for her with two cups of coffee in my hand. She gave me a warm smile, taking one cup of coffee from my hands, kissing me on the cheek and ruffling my hair.

"I'll never understand morning people like you." She said, taking her backpack from the chair and, instead of heading towards the door, she headed towards the window. She looked out and I heard her give a loud sigh.

"What is it?" I asked, coming next to her, only to see the same motorcyclist I saw the last time I came home standing in front of our house. "Is this still going?"

"Apparently" Melody murmured back.

"If he is such a pain in the ass, then why don't you get rid of him?"

She didn't answer right away, instead she just kept staring at the window, wearing a deep frown between her eyebrows.

"I don't know." She answered eventually, before turning on her heels and walking out the front door. I wondered what was really the meaning behind that statement and, for the first time, I analyzed the situation between Adrian and my sister more closely . At first I didn't think it was serious since I trusted my sister not to let anyone into her life. But now, the whole deal seemed to affect her more than it should have. More than she wanted to admit.

I saw her slowly stepping out onto the front porch and looking directly at Adrian, uncertain about her next move. He stared back at her, just as intensely, and none of them said a word. Watching them like that, both of them so perfectly still, made me realize that silence could be sometimes really loud. I knew nothing about the actual state of their relationship, but it seemed like there were a lot of things that were left unspoken. Tension radiated out from both of them. Tension, and also, something else .They were like magnets. They were like magnets pretending not to be magnets, denying it till there was nothing left to deny. And I had the feeling they were not even aware of it.

Melody made the first steps and walked towards the motorcycle. There was a change of words between them, but I couldn't figure out what they said. But judging from their frowns, I could tell it was nothing good. Eventually, they drove away to school and I left from the window, heading upstairs. I didn't know what to think of Adrian since Melody refused to talk about him every time I brought that subject up. She assured me there was nothing going on, that he was going to leave as quick as she came into her life, but now, I wasn't so eager to believe her. Therewas definitely something going on, and I was going to find out what it was.

Around 3pm, Melody came back from school and I decided that it was not the perfect time to have that planned conversation with her. The minute she entered the house, she threw her backpack on the nearest chair and collapsed on the couch next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I dropped the book I was reading and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Tough day, chipmunk?"

"Hell yeah." she sighed.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Hell no." she responded, making me laugh.

"I hope you do know that you owe me some explanations .Right?"

"About what?" Mel asked, playing innocent.

"You know about what. About that motorcyclist standing outside your house every day, like prince charming on a white horse. "

She scoffed.

"Charming my ass"

"You're going to tell me the story. And I mean the whole story, Melody .Deal?"

"Fine, fine .If that will get you off my ass, then I'll tell you." I smiled victoriously at her and she rolled her eyes in response, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Can we put that chick flick talk off for now?" Mel asked, yawning.

"Then I suppose we'll talk tomorrow since tonight I'm going to go out with Florence and Lauren."

Florence and Lauren were two old high school friends of mine that I occasionally met with every time all three of us were in town. Sure, we weren't as close as we used to be back in high school, but it was nice to keep in touch once in a while.

"Tonight?" Melody asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"It's been a long time since I last saw them. So yeah, tonight"

She then got up from the couch and told me she was going to head upstairs to take a nap, leaving me with my book.

"It was nice seeing you again, girls!" I said, making my farewells with Florence and Lauren. I hugged them both, promising each other we'd see again soon. It was getting dark outside and I could hear the wind rising. I had to hurry.

Just as I was walking around an outside of a liquor store, I noticed a few men lounging there and who also started whistling as I passed by them.

"Come here, darling! Where are you going?" one of the drunks said, trying to catch up with me. I tried my best to ignore them, cursing myself for forgetting to buy some pepper spray. But I wasn't fast enough in order to get away.

"Stop for a second, sweetheart, let's have a chat!" another one said. He yanked on my arm and turned me away, dragging me in the direction of his friends, who were now catcalling and beckoning. I dug my heels in and grasped his wrist, attempting to pull it off of me. I was outnumbered. Panic flouted through me, my breath unsteady and my arms too shaky.

"Stop it, sweetheart, you have nowhere else to go—"

He stopped speaking as his drink-blurred gaze focused on the tall man standing directly behind us, smiling sweetly. His piercing green eyes were fixated on the drunk who was holding me, and his arms crossed against his chest.

"If you don't release her in the next three second, you're going to regret it." The stranger said calmly, in a deep, husky voice.

"Hey, buddy, why don't you leave me and the lady alone, huh? We were—"the drunk tried to say but he was stopped mid-sentenced as the stranger took a few steps forward and pushed the drunk off me.

"I told you to release her." Green Eyes said again, this time harsher.

"What if I don't want to?" the drunk challenged, taking my arm again.

"Oh, well in that case…" Green Eyes started and turned his back on us, and just when I thought he was going to walk away, he moved fast, turned around and punched the guy that was holding me in the face, sending him crashing into a car behind him.

"Ugh!" he grunted as he landed in pain and slid to the ground as if he had no bones. But apparently, the other drunks weren't going to back down without a fight either, even though they could barely stand on their feet. Before they could even try to throw a punch, Green eyes reached out to one of them, the closest one to him, and palmed the guy's face with his left hand and then slammed his right fist into his stomach twice.

A bald guy lunged at Green Eyes, but he anticipated his next move and blocked it easily with his elbow. Green Eyes kicked the guy's knee, probably breaking his leg, and bald dude fell to the ground, groaning in pain. There was another drunk standing nearby who was now too scared to get involved, so he started running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Green Eyes eventually turned his back on the others, and fixed his gaze on me.

"You okay?" he asked, looking me up and down, grinning. He had just got off from a fight and he was smiling. Unbelievable .I felt myself blushing for no apparent reason, so I only nodded in response

"I'm Paul, by the way. And now, let's get you out of here, princess, I'll drive you home." Green eyes said , and just when I was about to protest, I saw a figure running towards us. I recognized him as one of the drunks who had run away before he could get involved in the fight.

"Watch out!" I yelled, trying to warn my savior, but it was too late. The guy moved fast and silently, and smashed a bottle of beer in the back of Paul's head. And he fell to the ground like a bag of potatoes. His attacker started running away, this time probably without intending to come back at all. I suppressed a scream and fell to my knees, trying to look at the wound. His dark hair was smeared with blood and I did my best trying to jerk him awake, and eventually, he opened his eyes. And groaned in pain .He tried to get up but failed, falling back to the ground.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, barely managing to speak.

"One of the drunks came back and smashed a bottle of beer in your head" I explained, trying to sound calm."

"Son of a —" he murmured and groaned again in pain.

"I have to get you to a hospital." I said, and he looked at me like that was the biggest non sense he had ever heard.

"Hospital?" he made a strange noise that sounded like a scoff and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yes, a hospital .You can barely stand your feet. Are you feeling nauseous, dizzy?"

"Kinda. What are you, a doctor?" he asked rhetorically.

"Actually ,yes. You might have a concussion. Now, can you put an arm around my shoulder and try to lean your weight on me without both of us falling to the ground?"

Green Eyes didn't answer, but did as I told him and put an arm around my shoulder, still stumbling on his feet.

"Do you have a car?" I asked and he nodded, pointing at a parked car from nearby.

"M-m-my keys are i-in my back p-pocket." Paul stumbled over his words, barely managing to keep his eyes open. I reached for his pocket, blushing as I did so, and took the keys out, unlocking the car. I put Paul in the passenger's seat, thinking that he probably wasn't aware of his surroundings anymore.

"Don't pass out now!" I said, slapping his cheek slightly and he opened his eyes abruptly, looking weirdly at me, a confused frown on his face.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." He said, voice barely above a whisper. I took a step back, prevently

"Just try not to pass out. We'll make it to hospital quickly." I said, climbing in the driver's seat and starting the car. The hospital was a few minutes away, and hopefully, I could keep Green Eyes awake until then. But that proved to be harder than I'd thought, since he could barely keep his eyes open and groaned due to the extreme pain.

"No, no, please don't pass out!" I told the guy, shaking him with one of my hands, the other one on the steering wheel, and my eyes still on the road. He winced slightly and opened his eyes for a second, only to close them back again.

"Talk to me, come on! Is there someone you would like me to call?"

He smiled a little, his eyes still closed. "My head feels like it's going to explode and you want me to talk to you?" he mumbled.

"Fine, then don't talk. But I have to keep you awake somehow."

"I have a few suggestions on that…" he started saying, but before he could finish, I turned on the radio, thinking that music could be some sort of distraction. And the song that came on the radio was no other than Bee Gees' "Stayin' alive." Oh, the irony!

Paul gave a strange sort of laugh. "Staying alive? Really? What a perfect matching song! " he said ironically, smiling a little to himself, and I couldn't help but laugh myself at the irony of this whole situation.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the hospital and just when I was about to get him out of the car and place his hand over my shoulder, he stopped me in mid-movement and grabbed my wrist gently.

"There is actually someone I'd like you to call."

I raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.

"Adrian…" he said after a long pause." Call Adrian!"

 

A/N: BA DUM TSS! That's it, Chapter 10, here for you. Hope you like it! This chapter was pretty boring, wasn't it? But I had to make an opening for the things that are coming up. And i know that right now, nothing is making that much sense, but trust me, it will. Soon.

12: Chapter 11 . Over my Head

MELODY'S P.O.V

I woke up from my nap around 5 in the afternoon, and went downstairs, only to find that Diana had already left to meet with Florence and Lauren. Since I had nothing else better to do, I sat on the couch and turned on the TV, even though I didn't pay that much attention to it. I went through the channels apathetically, my thoughts drifting into a bunch of different directions. My life seemed to be anything but ordinary in that moment. I had a lot of things to deal with, like the anxiety that was starting to build up in me every time I thought about college, or the fact that my parents and I couldn't stay in the same room for five minutes without fighting, or that my sister, the person I cared about the most, was not going to be there for my birthday. And with all those worries and issues, I couldn't bring myself to stop thinking about Adrian. Adrian, of all the people in the entire world, was my biggest question mark. He was pretty upset about the scene I had pulled at the bar the previous day, and no matter how much I didn't want to admit it, that thought bugged me.

I felt the need to get all those worries out my system. I needed to do something to get my mind off. And, of course, the only ones who could help me with that were my friends. Knowing that Mina was going to work at her dad's auto shop for a few more hours, I decided to text Hope and tell her that I was going to drop by her house. I put on some clothes fast enough and left a note on the fridge to let my mom know I went to Hope's.

I came out of the house and looked up to the sky, only to see that clouds were beginning to gather in the sky. Up until then, the sky was postcard-perfect, but it was changing. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade was beginning to darken into gravel-grey. I loved rain. I've loved it since I was a little child. I remember how my parents used to yell at me to stop standing in the rain before I was going to catch a cold. And I also remember how I didn't give a damn. Every time I saw the heavy drops fall down from the sky and hit the ground, I was out of the house in a minute, with no umbrella. And I just stood in the rain, hands lifted up to the sky, eyes closed and my face turned upwards, soaking wet. Some things never did change.

I took a moment to breath in the scent of the air before the storm, and then started walking towards Hope's place. Since we lived in the same neighborhood, I arrived pretty quickly at her flat and checked to see if she had texted me back, but apparently she hadn't. I shrugged and decided to drop by anyway. I tore upstairs and knocked on her door twice, only to be greeted by Hope's mother.

"Good evening, Mrs. Martin, is Hope home?"

"Hello, Melody. Yes, she's in her room. Come in!" she invited me, stepping aside so I could enter. As soon as the door closed behind me, Mrs. Martin told me she was going to be in the living room and left me to go to Hope's room. I decided against knocking on her door, so I just entered in with no warning . Bad decision.

There, in the middle of Hope's room, stood a half-naked guy, wearing only a pair of jeans. Eventually, my eyes fell on the guy's face and I recognized him .I froze in place. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"What the—" I started, but I was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door cracking open and Hope coming out. And she was wearing only a towel, wrapped around her body. She looked surprised at me, and then at the guy, who, by the way, was none other than Harry, a.k.a. Richie Rich, the guy I met the day Hope asked me to take her place at her mother's shop, and her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my God!" I gasped out.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Hope?" Harry spoke, grinning at me.

"No, no, no, Mel, I can explain this, it's not what you think," Hope hurried to my side, speaking eagerly and blushing violently." We weren't…I mean, we didn't…it's not what it looks like. We didn't do anything."

"Really?" Harry chopped in, putting an arm around Hope's shoulder "Because to me it looked like we were doing a lot of things."

"What?" Hope shrieked, shrugging off his arm. "No! Nothing happened. Melody, you have to believe me." A few silent moments passed, and I tried so hard to process all that new information, when I finally spoke.

"With him?" I spat, looking disgusted at Harry "Of all the people in the world, you chose to fool around with him?"

"No, for God's sake, listen to me! I am not fooling around with him or anyone."

"How easy you drop what we have." Harry interfered again, sounding almost hurt. "So that's it? I was just a one night stand to you?"

Hope looked like he wanted nothing more than to punch the guy in the face.

"Stop saying things like that! Nothing happened."

"Stop denying it, princess! We both know a bunch of things happened." Harry smirked , winking at Hope.

"If nothing happened," I said, pointing at Harry" Then why is he standing topless in your room? And why are you wearing only a towel? Please, try to explain that!" Hope looked troubled for a few seconds, and I saw Harry shaking his head slightly at her.

"I—"she began."— I really can't tell you why. You have to trust me on this, Mel, it's not what you think!"

"Yeah, right, like I could trust you. You lied to me, Hope. Dammit, I can't believe this!" I said, rubbing my forehead. "Every time I asked you if something was going on in your life, you lied to me. And when I asked you about him, you also lied. And now I am supposed to believe you?"

I turned on my heels to leave. I couldn't take all that crap.

"Melody, wait!" I heard Hope yelling after me

"Nice seeing you again, minion!" Harry also shouted back.

"By the time I'm back, I want you gone. And put some clothes on, for God's sake!" Hope threatened Harry.

"Not this again…" he murmured under his breath.

I reached the door and tried to walk as fast as I could without Hope catching up with me. But as I was about to exit the flat, I felt Hope behind me, just as she caught me by the arm.

"What?" I spat, turning around to face her.

"Melody—"

"No, Hope, I don't want to hear anymore of your lies. I don't want you to try to explain it to me, I don't want you to excuse yourself. I just…"

"Please, give me the chance to—"

"A chance? You had your chance, Hope. You could have told me the truth from the beginning, but you chose to feed me more and more lies. From all the people in the world, you were the one I never thought it would ever lie to me."

I stopped to take a deep breath and then spoke again, without looking at her.

"I can't believe you right now."

And with that, I turned on my heels and walked out the door, without wanting to see the aftermath of my words.

Just as I was on my way home from Hope, I heard my phone ringing in my pocket, and took it out only to see it was Diana who was calling me.

"Mel, are you home?" she asked the minute I picked up. Her voice was a little shaky and her breath unsteady.

"No, I went to Hope's. What's going on? You okay?" I asked, only then noticing how dark it was starting to get outside, and that Diana should have been home by then I heard her sigh at the other end of the line.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. But—"

"But what, Di? What's going on?"

"Don't freak out, but I'm at the hospital right now"

"You what?!" I shouted, without realizing I wasn't even walking anymore. "What do you mean you're at the hospital? Are you okay? Did something happen to you?" I rambled

"No, no, calm down, it's not me who's injured. But there is this guy who saved me from some creepy drunks I ran into on my way home, and one of those drunks smashed a bottle of beer in his head. And I had to take him to a hospital."

I took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of myself.

"I'm on my way." I said eventually.

"Mel—"she began, but I cut her off.

"No, Di, it's not up for the discussion. Tell me the number of the hospital room."

Probably too tired to argue with me, she told me the number and then hung up. I changed my route and headed to the hospital, arriving there in about half an hour. I entered and asked a nurse from nearby where the room 25 was, and she told me how to get there. I went to the second floor and was about to enter the room where Diana told me she was with that guy, when I saw another familiar figure approaching.

Adrian was there.

And he also saw me.

And for some unknown reason, my breath caught in my throat.

"What are you doing here?" we both said at the same time.

"No, what are you doing here?" we chorused again.

I swallowed hard, letting him talk first.

"I'm here for Paul." He spoke, his gaze still fixated on me.

"Paul? Paul as in, your friend Paul?"

"Yeah, someone called from his phone telling me he got involved in a fight. But what are you doing here?"

So Paul, Adrian's friend, was the guy who saved my sister from those drunks. What were the chances?

"I'm here for my sister. She told me a guy saved her and that he sort of got beaten up in the process. "

Adrian chuckled slightly. "That would be Paul. Shall we?" he said, pointing at the door. He opened it and stepped aside, letting me enter first.

There, in the room, stood Diana and Paul, talking to each other like nothing had happened. The minute I stepped in that room, I launched myself at Diana and put my arms around her.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling back a little and looking her up and down. "Are you hurt, or, or injured?"

"Uhm , hello? I'm the one who's injured here." Paul cut in, making both me and Diana roll our eyes.

"I'm fine." Diana assured me.

"Of course you're fine, I saved your ass. You're welcome, by the way." Paul spoke again.

"I thanked you for like a million times already." Diana said, chuckling slightly and blushing a little, for no reason that I could understand.

"Whatever" Paul scoffed

"What did the doctor say?" Adrian spoke for the first time since he got in the room. I looked over my shoulder at him and, only then, I saw the deep frown on his face. He must have been really concerned. I wondered for a second why Paul had called Adrian instead of his parents or any other relative. Were they really that close? I made a mental note to ask Adrian about that later.

"Dunno, man, he did some scanning shit and then gave me some pills and said something about monitoring me."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Diana roll her eyes and smile bitterly.

"In other words, the doctor did him a CT scan, gave him some painkillers and they'll keep monitoring him for a few days."

"Not med talk again!" Paul groaned

"So is he going to be okay?" Adrian asked concerned,looking at Diana

"Does he look like he's not going to be okay?" Diana asked sarcastically.

"Jeez, bro, you got me worried there." Adrian told Paul, sitting on a nearby chair.

"I'm fan-damn-tastic, dude, chill!"

Me and Diana let the boys alone and went outside in the hallway. The minute the door closed behind us, I captured Diana in a giant hug again.

"I'm so glad you're okay"

She hugged me back just as eagerly and we both stood like that a little longer than we should have. I couldn't get the thought that something could have happened to her out of my head.

"Now tell me everything!" I said when we, eventually, pulled back. She started telling me this crazy ass story about how some drunks picked up on her, and God knows what could have happened if Paul hadn't showed up. She also told me how he kicked some ass and, when he thought the fight was over, another drunk took him by surprise and smashed a bottle in his head.

"And now here we are." She finished.

"Huh." Was all I could say

"I got pretty lucky tonight. Thank God this guy showed up. By the way, what's the deal with him and Adrian?"

"They're friends." I simply stated.

"Small world." she said shrugging, and just when I was about to say something else, I saw the door from Paul's room open and Adrian come out.

"I think I'm gonna talk to a nurse and see when we can get Paul out of the hospital." Diana said, before she turned away and left, leaving both me and Adrian alone.

For some brief seconds, none of us knew the perfect way to fill that silence, so we avoided each other's gaze as best as we could. I tried to steal a glance at him, and saw how tired his expression was. He had dark circles under his eyes and it seemed like he could barely stand on his feet. And also, his hands couldn't stay put. He put his hand in his pocket absent-mindedly, searching for something, and then retrieved it just as quickly.

"Adrian," I called his name, moving a step forward and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I felt him flinch a little, probably my sudden action taking him by surprise, and he took a step back, moving away from me.

He nodded, still not looking at me and let out a shaky breath I didn't realize he was holding.

"Yeah, I'm okay, it's just that –"he made a pause, probably uncertain if he should tell me or not. I stayed silent, letting him take as much time as he needed. "Damn, I really need a cigarette right now." He continued. He started walking away, heading to go outside, and, without thinking twice, I followed him.

"Wait!" I yelled after him and he stopped moving, his back still turned to me. "I'll come with you."

Why, dumbass, why? Why did you say that? He probably doesn't want you around. Wasn't he mad at you?

While I chastised myself for my nosiness, Adrian turned around a little, looking at me over his shoulder, grinning.

"Didn't you tell me once that it bothered you when I smoked?"

"Yeah, but, you look like you could use some company right now. That, of course, if you… I mean, if you don't want me to come, then -"

"I'd love it if you joined me, squirrel." He interrupted, looking at me with an amused expression.

I offered back a tentative smile, nodding and followed him outside the hospital. The cold air hit me the instant I walked outside and my hair blew into my face, obscuring my vision. Brushing the hair out of my face, I turned to look at Adrian and saw that he had already lit a cigarette. He stared blankly ahead, and I decided against telling or asking him something, thinking that he probably just needed someone to be there for him. When he was almost done with his first cigarette, and I struggled to keep the smoke away from my face, he finally broke the silence.

"I hate hospitals." Adrian said, still not looking at me.

"Is it because of your mother?" I couldn't help but ask.

Since the day he told me the whole story back at the coffee shop about his mother's sickness, we hadn't talked about it. I figured that if he needed to get those stuffs out, he wouldn't hesitate. And since he didn't open that subject again, I figured he wanted to let it go. He nodded, finally turning to meet my eyes. He kept staring for another silent moments, like he was searching for something in my eyes, like he wanted to explore all the things that were inside my head, like he could read me like an open book. I felt exposed.

"You know," Adrian continued, looking away this time." I was only 18 when we found out about my mom's brain cancer. You can imagine how hard I took it. Hell, it even took me a while to accept it. With dad gone, I had no idea how to handle things. And I was so confused, because mom seemed to accept her fate. She didn't want to fight it, she didn't want to win the battle, and that made me so angry at the time. I thought she didn't care about me, that she didn't care she was going to leave me alone or that I was going to have another death to get over. So I asked her why. Why was she giving up .Why wasn't she going to fight it, at least for me. I was mad at her."

He paused, blowing another smoke of his cigarette, before throwing it on the pavement and putting it out with his foot. I thanked God for that last breath of smoke and tried not to tremble because of the cold.

He looked at me again and probably noticed how cold I was, since he took off his leather jacket and moved a few steps forward. He stopped right in front of me, putting his jacket over my shoulders and pulled my hair away from under it. That closeness killed me. I hated it. I hated how the fact that he was so close could make me feel so weak. But I also didn't want to pull away. Neither of us wanted to pull away. But I also wanted to laugh a little at the déjà vu feeling I was getting.

I felt like I needed an eternity to only explore every shade of his eyes. I didn't understand how they could be both light and deep at the same time. I felt as if I could just melt in them. They were like a cave that reached into the depth of the earth, like they begged to be explored. I couldn't believe that I was thinking all that stuff. I couldn't believe I was thinking that about Adrian. But I also reassured myself it was probably nothing, that every beautiful thing in the world should have the chance to be admired.

I tried to bring myself to look up at him, but I regretted it immediately since I found him studying me again. There were less than 3 inches between us, and every muscle in my body froze. I didn't know how to retreat. I was too caught in the intensity of his gaze. God, it killed me! It killed me to even think that he could read through me like I was an open book, like he could understand exactly what I was thinking. He smiled down on me, before taking one of my curls and rolling it around one of his fingers, his whole attention focused on that now.

"Do you know what she told me, Melody?" he whispered, the way my name ringed on his lips sending shivers down my spine. "She told me she was tired. And relieved .She told me she was happy that she was not going to be a burden for me anymore, and that she was finally going to see my dad again. And the craziest thing is that I understood exactly what she meant. I know how badly she missed dad, we both missed him. I understood that living without him was the hardest thing she'd ever done. And that's why I couldn't blame her for not wanting to fight."

After he stopped talking, the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing in the distance. And also, the sound of my heart racing in my chest

"I don't believe she didn't want to fight." I broke the silence, surprising both of us.

"What?" Adrian asked, taken aback.

"If she didn't want to fight from the beginning, I don't think she would be alive now. You told me you both did all the things that could've been done to find a way to get rid of the cancer. You told me you went to a lot of doctors and didn't stop till you knew there was nothing else left, no solution. What you did there, what you both did, that's called fighting. I think she still wants to fight this cancer. I think you're the reason she's still fighting."

He blinked a few times, still looking at me, processing my words, and I saw how, slowly, a smile started to form on his face. He probably would have said something else if it hadn't been for someone clearing her throat behind us, which sent us both flying apart. I turned my head and saw Diana a few steps behind us. I wondered how much of the conversation she heard.

"I think we should get going, Mel, mom and dad have probably gone crazy by now." Diana told me.

"Sure, sure," I said, aware of how shaky my breath was."Is Paul going to be okay?"

"I guess, the doctors said they'll keep him here for a few more days, just in case. He's sleeping now."

I nodded and took Adrian's jacket off, handing it to him.

"Thanks for that."

He only smiled at me, and Diana and I started to take off, heading straight home. And I wondered, for a few seconds as we were walking away, how it was possible to feel someone's eyes on you even when you were not looking.

The next day, everything followed its normal course. Diana was going to leave the following day, and me and my parents decided we had to spend as much as time as we could together. After mom and dad came home from work, we made plans to have dinner together and after that, watch a movie, like we used to do before my sister left to college. It was really great to have all four of us together, with no fights or arguments coming in between. We talked for a few minutes about how things went with Diana back in San Francisco and made some plans for my upcoming admission to college. It was really remarkable how well we handled talking about that subject without arguing.

"I guess we'd better start with those driving lessons, monkey." Dad told me.

"That's right," Diana shoved in. "You promised her you were going to give her that Ford Mustang she always liked. I still remember how, when you were little, you pretended to drive that car in dad's storehouse like you were in a race."

"I can't wait for those lessons." I said, turning to dad. "I really did love that Mustang. Still do, don't get me wrong."

"Yes, yes, we know, monkey, motorcycles would be a much more better option. Maybe you can still convince mom about that" Dad mocked me, half-joking.

"I don't think so." Mom shoved in our discussion too, grinning.

I heard Diana scoff beside me.

"Yeah, right, like you haven't ridden enough of a motorcycle for the past few weeks."

Fuck.

My mom's head shot up, her eyes widening in surprise.

"What?" she asked, anger already noticeable in her voice Diana looked up from her plate confused, then stole a glance in my way and realization hit her. She realized she screwed up.

"What?" she asked back, trying to sound innocent

"What did you mean she gets do ride a motorcycle?" she said, this time more impatiently, then turned to me. "What did she mean?"

I couldn't believe Diana blabbed out the fact that I was driving on a motorcycle every day. What was I supposed to say next? There was not going back from that now. Diana gave me and Adrian away. Not even I could come up with a lie that fast.

"Well?" mom tried once again to get the words out of my mouth. Both of my parents were watching me expectantly, hoping I was going to assure them it was all a big, huge mistake.

"There's—"I began, but stopped for a few seconds to pick my words carefully."There's this guy that's taking me to school every day."

I stopped, only to watch their reactions before I started speaking again. Let's just say they didn't like what they were hearing.

"On a motorcycle" I continued, and I could almost see the anger building up in mom. Dad just stood there, motionless, no reaction visible in his features.

"W-w-what? I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that correctly. You said there was a guy, A GUY, who is taking you to school on a motorcycle. Every day?" my mom shouted, and I realized she was actually waiting for a response.

I simply nodded.

"For how long now?" mom asked, this time almost whispering the words." For how long has this been happening?"

"A month, more or less" There was no point in lying anymore.

"I can't believe this!" she said, putting her hand to her mouth.

I should've known this was a bad idea. What was I thinking? I know how much she hates the idea of me, driving on a motorcycle. Way to go, Melody!

"Ellen, it's not that big of a deal, she-"Dad tried to reason with her, but mom shot him a scary look, and he didn't say anything else.

"Why, why, why, Melody? Why didn't you tell us?" mom started to yell again, getting up from her chair, food long forgotten by then. "Why am I finding out about this now?"

"Because I knew you were going to react like this. You get all freaked out about some stupid thing—"

"Stupid? STUPID? You think this is stupid? Melody, you've let a stranger drive you to school every day, on a motorcycle. And you lied to me this whole time, you haven't even thought about bringing it up. I always said you can never, ever, drive on a motorcycle. It's too dangerous, why can't you understand that? Do you know how many motorbikes accidents are out there? You've been putting yourself at risk for so long. And who is this motorcyclist anyway, how do you know him?"

"Mom- "Diana tried to cut off in discussion, but before she could even get the chance to say something, mom spoke again.

"You can't see that guy anymore, Melody"

"What?" I cried, getting up from my seat.

"I said you can't see him. He won't drive you to school anymore, I'll make sure of that."

"You can't tell me what to do." I spat. "I can and I will, as long as you're living under my roof. Is this what you've been doing? Instead of learning for your exams at school and worrying about college, you spend time with boys. Your sister never did that, Melody. Your sister knew her priorities."

That was where I really lost it.

"Of course this had to come up again. "I cried, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "You never miss a chance to tell me how great my sister is and how I'm never going to be like her. I tried, mom. I tried so hard to be like her. I tried so hard to make you proud, until it was clear to me that was not going to happen. I am never going to be able to make you proud, because I'm not Diana. I'm not the kid you always wanted, the kidevery parent wants, like you always said. I got it from the first time you told me. It never mattered that I tried. It only mattered that my best was never enough for you. So you can stop throwing that in my face all the time."

The more I spoke, the more I felt my tears threatening to fall. I always hated when people saw me cry, especially my parents. I felt like I was showing weakness. I hated myself for every tear that was forming in my eyes. And I was so close of losing control right there, in front of them. That's why I turned around, heading to the front door, dying to get out of the house as quickly as possible.

"Melody, come back here, we're not done yet!" I heard mom yell after me.

I'd barely made it out of the house, when I heard footsteps behind me. I looked over my shoulder, only to see my sister running to catch up with me.

"Mel, wait! " Diana said, catching my elbow and turning me around to face her.

"What?" I yelled, angrier than I meant it to be.

"I-I'm really sorry I—"she stumbled over her words, but I was too angry to take that kind of crap.

"Save it, Diana. It's not making it any better. I can only say that, from you, it was the least expected .I told you about Adrian because I trusted you. And this is what you do? Go and tell mom and dad, of all the people?"

"I didn't mean to…"

"No!" I cut her off again. "I don't want to hear anymore."

I turned on my heels again, and this time she didn't run after me.

It was already pretty dark outside, and I had no idea where I was going. I just knew I had to get the hell out of there. No matter how much I hated myself for it, I couldn't stop the tears from falling anymore, they flooded down my cheeks and didn't seem to stop, even though I wiped each and every one of them. I walked like that, with no destination, for a while, thinking where the hell I was supposed to go, I had no one to call and nowhere to go. I thought about calling Hope or Mina, but seeing as I was still mad at Hope and Mina was out of town, there was no one left. Except…

As a crazy thought popped into my head, I pulled the phone out of my jeans and dialed the number.

"Hello?" I heard Adrian's surprised voice at the other end of the line.

"A-Adrian?" I said, trying hard to keep my voice calm, but failing

"Melody? What's going on? Are you okay?" he asked, worried, already noticing the changing in my tone.

"Please come and take me out of here!"

 

A/N: PAM PAM PAM PAM. *dramatic music playing in the distance*

13: Chapter 12. Don't you think we ought to know by now?

                                                                        "If I could have one dance with you,

                                                                         I'd play a song that lasted forever. "

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

The minute Melody told me where to find her, I hung up and grabbed my jacket, ready to get out of the house as fast as I could. Mom saw me, and only then it occurred to me that I hadn't told her why I was leaving.

"Where are you going?" she asked, concerned.

"I have to go, I think something happened to Melody." I explained, and she raised an eyebrow at my words, but said nothing else. I rushed out of the house immediately and climbed on Storm, ready to head to the address Melody had given me.

I couldn't stop worrying about what could've happened to her. At the phone, she sounded like she was crying, and I asked myself what on earth could Melody Hathaway cry for. She didn't strike me as the kind of girl who cried about insignificant things, so clearly it must have been something really heavy on her chest to make her cry. And it was getting really dark outside, she shouldn't even have been out on the streets during that time of night. Something was obviously not okay, and I wasn't sure how to make it all better for her, or why the hell she called me, of all people.

Mel told me I could find her in front of the coffee house where I worked at, so I hurried there immediately, without caring about the speed limit anymore. It felt like I couldn't drive there fast enough, but eventually, I made it to the coffee house, and saw Melody standing there, arms crossed against her chest, her back against a wall. She lifted her eyes the minute she heard the roar of the bike approaching, but she dropped them again as I was climbing off Storm.

"What happened?" I asked, hurrying to her side. "Are you okay?"

That was a stupid question since she was clearly not okay. No matter how hard she tried to keep that hard face, she was obviously affected by something. She nodded twice, eyes still fixated anywhere else but on me, and pinched the bridge of her nose

"I'm fine, just take me out of here, I'm freezing" she said, keeping her voice calm and even, turning around and trying to head towards Storm. I caught her wrist, and lifted her chin up, so she couldn't avoid my gaze anymore.

"You cried." I whispered. There were tears in the corner of her puffy eyes, threatening to fall, and I could tell she was fighting as hard as she could to stop them. She tried to turn her back on me, but I tightened my grip on her, catching both of her wrists in my hand.

"Why did you cry?" I asked, and she tried to shrug my hands off and avoid my gaze again, but I lifted her chin up so she couldn't look away anymore.

"It doesn't matter." She whispered, voice barely audible.

"It matters to me. Tell me why you cried, Melody." I demanded.

"If you really want to help, then don't ask any questions," she spoke in a low voice, this time looking me in the eyes for real. "Please, Adrian. I really need you to get me out of here."

She leaned in my touch, and I could see one tear escaping from her eyes and running down her cheek. I wiped it away, and I pulled her a little closer, wrapping my arms around her. And just like that, all the tears that she fought so much not to let them fall came steadily, slowly dripping, like a faucet, until she was sobbing into my chest. I hated to see her like that, and I hated that I didn't know what made her feel that way, but I knew that, no matter what it took, I was going to make it better. Melody pulled back a little, nodding to let me know she was going to be fine, and I smiled down on her, wiping away the rest of the tears, before taking her hand and guiding her towards Storm. I thought about it for a second and I decided there was no other place where I could take her than home. It looked like I had a lot of explaining to do to my mother.

"Come on, squirrel," I told Melody, just as she was climbing on Storm besides me and putting on her helmet."I'm taking you home."

Her eyes widened all of a sudden and she shook her head violently.

"No, no, no, don't take me home. Anywhere else but home . Please" I looked at her surprised, at least knowing then that whatever made her cry, it had something to do with her parents or sister. She looked so vulnerable right now, unlike that badass and bitchy side of her I got to know. I wanted nothing more than to hug her again and assure her that everything was going to be fine, but I knew that might not have been entirely true, and I never took Melody for that kind of person who needed lies to make it better. So I just gave her a reassuring smile, hoping that taking her out of there was all she needed, because that was all I was able to do.

"Relax, I'm not taking you to your home. I'm taking you to mine. Come on, let's go!" I said, before starting the bike and driving away.

A few minutes later, we arrived and, just when we both took off our helmets and climbed off Storm, I noticed it had started to rain, pouring more heavily by second.

"Let's go inside!" I told Melody, taking her hand in mine again and pulling her towards the house. She stopped walking, let go of my hand, and turned her face upwards, eyes closed, and for the first time that night, she smiled a little. A strange sort of smile, both sad and relieved at the same time .I heard her give a loud sigh, before she opened her eyes and turned to me, taking my hand and smiling again. I blew the air through my mouth and smiled dumbly at her, finding myself at loss of words. No matter how many problems and issues she had, she could still find the power to cling to something that made her smile, even if it was just a simple thing like rain. I only realized then. She was holding on to everything, only so she could find the power to go on. Her whole being was so intense, that it was impossible not to feel the most alive you've ever been around her. I had no idea what Melody did to me in such a small amount of time, but whatever it was, it messed me up.

Slowly, we started walking and made it on the front porch, both of us soaking wet. Before we went inside, I stopped with one hand on the door knob and another in her hand, and stole a glance at her, only to find that she was already looking at me, studying me through her lashes, and I tried my best to keep her gaze.

"We should get inside." I whispered, leaning in a little closer.

"Then let's get inside." She said, taking a step back. I sighed, and opened the door, getting inside. She followed me, and her eyes wandered around the room.

"So this is the bat cave, huh?" she mocked me, and before I could get the chance to say something, I heard footsteps, and mom came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with a dishcloth.

"Adrian," my mom said, smiling warmly at Melody. "You didn't tell me we were going to have someone over for dinner."

Mel looked a little embarrassed, probably wondering if coming here was such a good idea like she had thought.

"Mom, this is Melody, and, Melody, this is mom." I made the introductions, trying to clear the air a little.

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Melody." mom said as she shook Mel's hand, keeping that warm smile on her face. Mel still looked embarrassed by the whole situation, but still smiled back at her.

"Likewise, Mrs. Hayes"

"Oh please, call me Mary!" mom insisted, and Mel only nodded in response. "It's raining pretty heavily outside, isn't it?" she continued, looking out the window, then turning again to us."Oh, but you are both soaking wet. Adrian, honey, go and get Melody something to change into, or she's going to catch a cold. And you should change, too. I'll go and start cooking dinner for us. I hope you like lasagna, Melody."

Before any of us had a chance to say anything else, she turned around and went back in the kitchen. I could easily see how excited she was about all that. Since that night when I first told her about Melody, she kept asking about her and about how things were going between us, she even asked me once if she would ever get to meet her. Initially, I had no intentions to introduce the two of them, thinking there was no need to. I laughed to myself and told Melody to follow me upstairs to give her one of my T-Shirts to change into.

"I already like your mother," she told me as we entered in my room.

"Of course you do, she's amazing. And now, this is the original bat cave," I said, stepping aside and letting her enter the room.

She looked around and I saw her wrinkle her nose a little.

"Wow," she finally said. "It's really messy."

"What are you talking about, I cleaned up just yesterday." I replied, looking in my closet for a T-shirt. I picked one and threw it at her.

"Cool, a band shirt. Metallica, even," she smiled as she unfolded the T-Shirt.

"I know my audience," I said, giving her a wink, and she chuckled slightly, rolling her eyes. I stood there, leaning against the wall, and Melody stopped to look at me, rolling her eyes again.

"You know, you have to go so I can get changed."

"Oh man, just when I thought you won't notice I'm here. Go on, don't let me interrupt you." I joked, which earned me another laugh from her.

Good job, I told myself. At least I can still make her laugh.

"You wish, Groot." She joked back, the ghost of a smile still playing on her lips.

"Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?" I said in a more serious tone, jokes aside, waiting for her to tell me the story, but none of that happened.

She just avoided my gaze again, and sighed.

"Can we not? I really don't feel like talking about it."

"I just want you to know that if you wanna talk about it, I'm here." I told her, moving a few steps forward till we had only a few inches between us.

"I already know." she said, obviously trying to get a hold of herself before all those feelings would come back to the surface. I wanted so badly to know what brought her in that state, but if not talking about it is what made her feel more comfortable, then I respected that.

"Good, then I'll be downstairs." I told her, before turning on my heels and leaving her in my room to change.

There, in the kitchen, stood my mother, chopping some onions for the lasagna. She lifted her eyes, stopping what she was doing and I answered the question I knew she was about to ask.

"She's in my room, changing." I explained, moving to sit on a chair next to her. "I can't believe you brought her here!" she whispered, excitement clear in her voice.

"I hope you're okay with that. She called me, all shaky-voiced and teary-eyed, asking me to come pick her up. So I didn't know where else to bring her."

"Of course it's okay, you know how badly I wanted to meet her. But what's the matter with her?"

I shrugged and, before I could say something else, I heard footsteps down the stairs and saw the small figure of Melody entering the room. I smiled to myself, looking at her. Her brown hair was still wet and her nose reddish, and she could basically swim in that T-Shirt of mine. It was way too baggy for her body, but somehow, she still looked adorable in it. She looked like a wet puppy.

"Come in, sweetie, don't just stand there, maybe you can help me with dinner," Mom told Melody, without taking her eyes off the chopped onions. "Do you know what I do every time I feel like I'm in a bad mood? I cook. It really helps, you'll see."

"I don't know about that—"Mel said awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck. "I suck at cooking."

"Oh, don't be silly! No one sucks at cooking. Plus, it's just lasagna, you can't mess it up. Come and give me a hand!"

I let the two of them chat, while I went upstairs myself to change in some dry clothes. A few minutes later, I went downstairs and heard Mel's laughter echoing from the kitchen, and entered the room only to find her putting on an apron and mom washing some tomatoes.

"I didn't know you like cooking." Mel said the minute she saw me, a playful smile on her lips.

"Mom told you, didn't she? Come on, bring on the jokes!"

"Why, Adrian, I think it's really nice that you have such an interesting hobby." She said and caught her hair in a ponytail. A long pause followed, then she spoke again." Do you also have one of those big chef hats or flowery mittens?"

"Oh, there it is, the mocking. And, FYI, no, I don't."

"But you used to have those when you were a kid." Mom cut in our conversation. "You used to read cooking books all day long, and I remember that time when you were 10 and you almost set the whole kitchen on fire."

"Savage," I heard Melody whisper under her breath, snickering.

"But of course, with time, he became better at cooking. Now, he cooks even better than me," Mom continued. "You chop these tomatoes, sweetie, and then I'll teach you how to make the meat sauce."

"Are you really letting her cook? She may be the second one to try to set your kitchen on fire." I told mom.

"Why not? She told me her mother never taught her how to cook lasagna, so I'm going to teach her."

"Wait, so I'm going to cook this all by myself?" Mel asked, sounding almost scared.

"That's right. But don't worry, sweetie, I told you what to do already. You'll be just fine."

"So we'll just sit here and watch. This is like a vacation for us, mom," I said, giving mom a high five. "We're the coolest hostesses."

Five minutes later, Mel was still struggling to cook that sauce, with mom helping here and there, but mostly we were just enjoying the show. Melody sighed and complained and then sighed again, but, finally, she managed to finish chopping the vegetables and put the sauce on high heat on the cooker.

"Now what, is that all?" she asked

"No, now we wait till the meat is completely cooked. It will take a few minutes. And then you add the onions and the garlic."

"Oh man! This is hard." Mel complained again and mom shot me an amused look again.

We waited around for the sauce to be ready, with mom telling stories about me when I was a kid and Melody listening and laughing along.

"Have you told her about that story when Paul stabbed him?" mom asked me.

"Mom, not that story again." I groaned, but she ignored me, continuing.

"One time, his best friend Paul came by our house to play with Adrian. So we let them play in the backyard, thinking that if we'd let them in the house they would've broken something. They were going to play a game with Indians, they even had lances that they threw at each other, but we never thought they could harm themselves with those. Just as they were playing, Paul threw his lance at Adrian and, somehow, his lance landed right in Adrian's foot. Adrian's cries made us come out of the house, we found him there, in the backyard, with a lance in his foot, crying for dear life, and Paul standing next to him, with a confused frown on his face, crying along. We took Adrian to the hospital as fast as we could, he cried the whole way there, but the doctors took the lance out of his foot. And that's the story of how Adrian got stabbed in his foot by his best friend."

Melody was laughing out loud by then, throwing her head back and wiping a tear from her eyes.

"Ha ha, laugh all you want at my tormented childhood. I've still got a scar from that." I said, crossing my arms against my chest, but still struggling to keep a straight face and suppress my laughter. I restrained myself from saying anything else and looked at the saucepan from the cooker and saw that there was smoke coming out of it. "Umm, I hate to interrupt your little stand-up comedy, but there's smoke coming out of your sauce, Melody."

"Shit!" she swore, getting up from her seat. She went to get the saucepan from the cooker, but burned herself while touching it, "Son of a –"

"Well, so far so good." I said, grabbing a dishcloth from nearby and getting the saucepan off, putting it on the table.

"It's not completely burned." I said, but after smelling it, I realized that was not quite true.

"So the only thing I learned tonight is that I shouldn't be left unsupervised in the kitchen." Melody sighed.

"No problem, sweetie, if it's not completely burned then it's eatable" mom told her. "I think you can still keep going and this time I'll help you more."

"Do you seriously suggest that you should let her keep cooking?" I asked, turning to mom, and she only shrugged nonchalantly and threw me a glare. And then, I got what she was trying to do. She was trying to take Mel's mind off her problems, by making her focus entirely on something else. I had to admit, that was a really good idea. Mom kept her word and helped her, but somehow, still let Melody do the hard work. Finally, they were almost ready and they put the pan in the oven. For half an hour, we waited for the lasagna to be ready, and it was Melody's turn to tell us some of her childhood memories. She told us about one time on Christmas, when she was 5 years old, her father got dressed as Santa Claus, and since he had no Santa pants, he put one of her mother's red skirts on. And she still remembered how she recognized that he wasn't Santa, that he was some "ugly man dressed in mamma's skirt".

After other shared stories, mom reminded Melody that she should get the lasagna out of the oven. She took it, this time without burning herself, and put it on the table. And, to be honest, it looked and smelled awful.

"You did… okay." Mom lied.

"It looks awful." Melody sighed.

"It may taste better than it looks. But I'm not going to prove that is right."

They both looked at me expectantly.

"Fine" I sighed, grabbing a fork. "But you'll have to take me to the hospital if this thing is as awful as it looks like."

I took a bite and chewed it slowly, then swallowed hard.

"This tastes like crap." I said eventually, and mom burst out laughing, throwing her head back" You should never be allowed to cook, ever again. This stuff is poison." But, despite my words, I took another bite of the lasagna.

"Then why are you still eating?" Melody asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"What, you kidding me, this is the first time you cook something, I can't just throw it away."

Melody smiled a little, picked a fork herself and started eating.

"It can't be that bad." She argued, but after her first bite, she made a funny face and covered her mouth. "Or maybe it is."

"You kids should stop eating that before I'll have to take you to the doctor for real" mom said, taking the plate from the table.

"I think I can cook some pasta fast enough." I offered.

"So, will I get to see Chef Gordon Ramsey in action .Oh my, what an honor!" Melody said sarcastically, smiling at me and resting her chin on the back of her palms.

"Well, you really should feel honored. Now, give me that back!" I said and went behind her to untie her apron, putting a hand around her waist and I felt her flinch a little. I didn't stop there, and I moved her hair out of the way slowly, and took off her apron She didn't move an inch, her back still turned to me, and from the corner of my eye, I saw mom looking at us and giving me a thumbs up when she was sure Mel wasn't looking. I just rolled my eyes, pretending I had no idea what she meant.

Twenty minutes later, food was ready and we were all sitting at the table eating. Me and mom were still making fun of Melody's failed attempt to cook something, but she kept telling us that she had warned us from the beginning.

Just as we were done with dinner, I heard mom's phone ring from the living room.

"Were you expecting a call?" I asked her confused, and she only shook her head before she picked up the phone. I went next to her to hear the conversation, and after a few seconds, mom mouthed it was Mr. Miller, a family friend. I went back in the kitchen and found Melody putting the dishes in the sink.

"Is everything okay?" Mel asked the minute she was me, looking over her shoulder. I only nodded at her and offered to help with the dishes.

A few moments passed before mom came back in the kitchen, smiling from ear to ear, and she didn't even wait for me to ask.

"Alex called, and he has some great news." She said, referring to Mr. Miller.

"What did he say?"

"He found me a client, a friend of his who's willing to buy some of my paintings."

"Really? This is great, mom!" I said, hugging her.

Before we found out she had cancer, she used to be an arts teacher at a high school, and of course, once the disease stroke, she had to retire and, ever since, we lived from her invalidity pension. Also, occasionally, she could find some kids whose parents hired her to teach private lessons, but those were rare cases. And since she spent most of her day at home, she could find some spare time to paint, but she always thought that those paintings couldn't get us more money, it was more of a hobby. And still, there she was, telling me she'd found someone who wanted to buy some of her paintings. I knew my mother was an extraordinary painter, and that all of her works were breathtakingly beautiful, but I got the feeling that the mysterious client wanted to buy them as a gesture of charity, not as a gesture of admiration towards her work. Either way, I was fine with that, since that meant some well needed extra money for us and that, finally, the effort that mom put into those paintings was not in vain.

"Alex said that he's going to come and pick me up, and we're going to talk some numbers."

"Wait, you mean right now? Isn't it a little late?"

"Oh, don't worry, honey, I'll be fine, Alex will pick me up with his car in a few minutes, and we'll just meet this friend of his and settle on a price. I'll be back soon." She told me, before she kissed me on the cheek and went to grab her coat and an umbrella from nearby.

Five minutes later, Mr. Miller came to pick her up and gone they were.

"I guess that leaves the two of us." I told Melody, just as we were finishing the dishes.

"I didn't know your mom paints." She said.

"She's pretty amazing at it. Who do you think painted this?" I said proudly, pointing at a panting from a nearby wall.

"Wow," She gasped out, gaping a little and looking at the painting. "I think pretty amazing doesn't suffice it."

"I know, right? I'm really glad she found someone who can finally help her. God knows we could use some extra money."

She didn't say anything after that, only nodded a little, and then, there was silence again.

"Adrian," she blurred out suddenly, breaking the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot!"

"It's pretty clear to me why you didn't go to college. It was because you didn't want to leave your mother alone, right?" She asked, and I nodded, eager to see where that was going. "But, if you were to go to college, what would you study?"

She took me by surprise a little, since that was one of the subjects I was trying so hard to avoid talking about, but also, more surprised to see that she gave voice to one of the questions that I asked myself quite often.

"I would lie if I said I haven't thought about that myself. I actually had it all figured out in my mind before mom's disease showed up. I was a few months away to leaving to college when we found out, and, of course, all my plans were ruined when I decided I had to stay with her. She protested a lot, obviously, she told me she could handle it all by herself and that I didn't have to change my future plans for her, but, like I told you, I knew that the only way she was going to handle it was by being at peace with the fact she was going to die. She may have been at peace with it, but I was not. So I stayed. And like you told me, whether she wanted to or not, she fought, for me. And, to answer your question, if I were to have a chance to go to college, I would go for the same choice I went for three years ago, when I had it already planned. To sum it up, I would attend college of music."

I saw her eyes widen a little.

"Huh. Really? You and music? That's something I wouldn't have bet my money on."

"Don't be so surprised, squirrel, I knew what I was getting into. You see, I used to play guitar back then, and I was pretty good at it. My dad has taught me how to play guitar since I was eight, he really wanted me to have the choice he never had. He used to tell me how, when he was young, he dreamed of becoming a famous guitarist or singer, but my grandparents cut his strings from the beginning (pun not intended), telling him that was too unrealizable and that he needed something more practical. So my father wanted me to follow his dream, but he also knew that he wasn't going to force that on me if I didn't want it. But, truth is, that's what I wanted, too. The more he taught me, the more I wanted to become a musician. I still want to. Though, I would be more practical about it. I wouldn't go all High School Musical, hoping one day I would become a rock star. There are a lot more practical options out there. The main one was song-writer, though, at first, I decided that I should finish my studies and then evaluate my choices. But I guess it's all off now. "

"So you just gave up? You don't even take into consideration the option of going to college anymore?"

I nodded, dropping my eyes.

"It's not like I had any other option, Melody. Mom was sick, she still is, and I'm not going to let her spend the last years of her life without me."

"Yeah, you're right," Melody agreed. "That's probably what I would've done too."

We were both silent for a while, letting it all sink in, and all I could think about was how relieved I felt to tell her all that. Besides Paul, there was no one else I could talk to about it, and I always avoided this subject with him since I knew he had his own problems to deal with. And I had no idea why I was telling Melody, a complete stranger who had randomly popped into my life, but, somehow, I was glad I did.

"Let's see if your clothes are dry." I spoke eventually, and we both headed upstairs where she left her clothes.

"Adrian," Melody begun, just as we entered my room, and she made a long pause till she spoke again, seeming to search for the right words to say. "I think you should stop coming to pick me up every morning."

"What?" I asked, turning abruptly to face her, thinking that I heard wrong. "Why? Why should I stop coming? You don't want me to come anymore or – "

"No, no, it's not that, not at all. It's just that – "she stopped again, taking a deep breath and looking me straight in the eyes "My parents found out that you're driving me to school every day, and, of course, mom freaked out at only the thought of me driving on a motorcycle with a complete stranger. And I really want to stop fighting with her, Adrian. I'm really tired of our constant bickering, I don't want to give her another reason to yell at me. And I know she'll do everything she can to make sure I won't see you again."

"Wait, that's all?" I asked, when I saw she wasn't going to elaborate. "So what, Mel? Your mother won't have to know I'm still driving you to school, I just won't wait for you in front of your house, we'll meet a few blocks away."

"Adrian – "

"That, of course, if you still want me to come," I said, starting to doubt the real reason behind her words. "If you want me to stop coming, then - "

"No, I told you it's not that. It's just…"she sighed, biting her lip. "I'm tired. I'm so tired of all of this"

"I know you are," I told her, more gently this time. "But you'll see that things will clear out soon."

Melody sighed again and looked at me like she wasn't buying any of my words, but stayed silent, moving to sit on my bed, and, soon, I went to sit next to her. Maybe I hadn't sorted things out in my head, and maybe none of us knew what we wanted from each other, but one thing I knew for sure. I didn't want to stop seeing her. Being around her made me feel different, like I could forget about all the bad things that were happening, like I could take my mind off, and I didn't want to let go of that. We'd gotten too used to each other.

Melody got up from the bed and started walking around the room, stopping right in front of my desk. She took one of the frames that was standing there and looked at it. I realized she was looking at one of the few pictures I had with my father, one where I was eight years old and dad had let me hold his guitar for the first time. And he was standing right behind me, trying to teach me how to hold it. I smiled a little at the memory forming in my head.

"So that is your father, huh? Wow, you look like a younger version of him."

"Yeah, mom tells me that I look just like him back when he was in college. That photo was taken when he taught me my first guitar lesson."

"Don't you still play guitar?" Melody asked, taking her eyes off the picture.

"Nah, I stopped a while ago," I explained, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. "Since dad died, it felt wrong to keep playing guitar, so one day I just decided I'll put my guitar in a closet and never take it out of there again. There were so many things going on, and when I thought about starting to play again, mom's disease showed up. So I quit, thinking it will do me no good if I started again. What for, if I wasn't going to go to college of music anyway?"

"What do you mean what for?" she interrupted me, a small frown between her eyebrows. "For yourself. If I had a talent like that, I would never stop playing. You're in complete touch with music, isn't that enough? Think of it like you owe it to your father, maybe. But also, it's none of my business, I'm sure your reasons are good enough for you, you don't need me to tell you what I would do."

A long pause followed, as her words played in my head again.

"If you like it so much," I spoke eventually. "Why haven't you learnt to play guitar yet?"

"I don't know" Mel shrugged. "I guess I never really had the chance."

She turned her back on me again and kept on looking through the stuff on my desk. She spotted one of my CDs and picked it up, looking at it.

"Isn't this the mix tape I made you a week ago?" she asked, lifting her eyes, and I nodded.

Just like she promised she would, back when we were fixing Storm in her dad's storehouse, she had made me a mix tape with all the contemporary bands she thought I would like, in an attempt to make me change my opinion about the music nowadays. She even went as far as threatening me, saying that if I didn't listen to it she would deflate my bike's tires.

"Did you like it?" she asked again.

"I wouldn't say I liked it .It didn't suck." I mocked, not wanting to admit that the music wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

"So you liked it."

"That's not what I said."

"Oh, cut the crap, you liked it!" she rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"Actually, there was one song I really liked from that tape," I admitted. "I can't exactly remember the name. Something like Slow dancing – "

"Slow dancing in a burning room," Melody finished for me. "I love that song, it's actually my second favorite song, after Metallica's 'Nothing else matters', of course."

"Of course." I repeated, smiling. And just like that, a crazy idea popped into my head. I got up from the bed, taking my phone out of the pocket, and searched through my playlist. Eventually, I found the song I was looking for and hit play, and the first chords of 'Slow dancing in a burning room' filled the silence of the room.

Melody arched an eyebrow at me, watching as I slowly made a few steps forward and stopped in front of her, one hand extended.

"What do you think you're doing?" Melody snickered, eyeing my hand skeptically, like she couldn't believe I was really doing that.

That makes two of us, I thought to myself, just as the first lyrics of the song played and filled the room.

It's not a silly little moment,

It's not the storm before the calm.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm inviting you to dance."

"That I can see, but—"

"And hopefully, you can accept my invitation before the song is over." I continued, like she didn't say anything at all.

She shook her head slightly, still a little skeptical about all of that, but, eventually, she threw me a half-smile and looked up at me through her lashes. Reluctantly, she placed her hand in mine, and I couldn't help but stare at it for a few seconds, thinking how small it looked compared to mine, but how, for some reason, it seemed to fit perfectly. I pulled her in and placed a hand on the small of her back, and she put a tentative hand on my shoulder, her other one still tangled in mine. She turned her face a little upwards, and I captured her eyes, studying every shade of it, and every coherent thought seemed to vanish from my mind. The only thing I could hear were my sharp intakes of breath and the music playing slowly in the background.

Can't seem to hold you like I want to,

So I can feel you in my arms…

I tightened my grip on her, bringing her body as close as I could, wrapping both of my arms around her waist and burying my face in her neck. She also wrapped both of her hands around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder. She stumbled, stepping on my feet with every step, in a clumsy attempt to dance.

"You suck at slow dancing." I whispered in her ear, and her laugh tickled my skin, leaving goose bumps everywhere.

"I know." she whispered back.

"Climb on my feet." I suggested, and she lifted her face a little so she could look at me, frowning.

"What?"

"You're too short, and you're stumbling on your feet with every step. Climb on my feet."

I saw a small smile forming on her face, and she nodded, climbing like I told her. And that only brought us face to face, noses touching, breaths meeting halfway. Just like that, I think I heard time snap. There was nothing else in the world but her, her whole being, her scent that smelled like vanilla and mint, her hands wrapped around my neck again, burning my skin. And the only noise I could hear was the music still playing, though I could barely pay any attention to it.

How dare you say it's nothing to me?

Baby you're the only light I've ever saw.

I don't know what caused it. Maybe it was the closeness, maybe it was the moment, maybe it was the song, or maybe it was just her. But, then, right then, I felt it. I felt the wheels spin in my head. I heard the clicks and the doors open, and it was like I was finally aware of everything. I finally knew. It was like a flip of a switch. I finally knew what I wanted from her. I knew why I came back the next day after we first met. I knew why I kept coming. I knew why I drunk dialed her. I knew why I told her everything about mom and dad. And, finally, I knew why being around her made me both weak and strong. I knew with every sway of our lazy dance, with every goose bump she left on my skin, with every time our noses touched and with every intake of her scent.

Don't you think we ought to know by now?

Don't you think we should've learnt somehow?

Don't you think we ought to know by now?

Why didn't I realize it sooner? How come we were both blind and didn't see what was happening right before our eyes?

Denial, I answered myself. We were both in denial.

There was only one thing I wanted right then. I wanted that song to last forever. I wanted to lean in until there was no space between us. I wanted our lips to touch and I didn't want to back down. Because it was like I was finally awake and aware. I didn't know if she had the same thoughts as I did, but she didn't back down when I leaned in. Not at all .She eyed my lips, and I eyed hers, and the dance was long forgotten, the song long ended. We were at the point where our lips were touching, barely brushing against each other, and I knew that it'd only take a second to close the gap between us. But I didn't, because suddenly, the door to my room opened, and I turned my hand to see mom standing at the entrance, eyes widened as she took in what was happening. Melody unwrapped her arms from my neck and backed away immediately, looking at me in shock, like she had finally woken up from a trance.

"I-I'm sorry, I would have knocked first if I knew—" mom stammered, but Melody didn't let her finish her sentence, and flew past us, getting out of the room.

"I have to go." She whispered, turning to face mom, but keeping her back on me. "Thank you for dinner and for the welcoming, but I really have to go now."

"Sweetie, but it's dark outside, you can't go all by yourself – "

"I'll take a cab." Melody said, and turned around to look at me once more before she rushed down the stairs.

"Melody, wait!" I yelled and ran down the stairs to catch up with her. I finally did by the time she was about to open her door and leave, and I caught her wrist, trying to turn her around.

"We have to talk." I whispered, capturing her eyes and she only shook her head, reaching for the door knob before she shrugged my hand away and ran out the door. I yelled after her once more, but I knew that running after her would be in vain. She wasn't going to listen, because she was as scared as I was. I could only see her small figure fading in the distance.

"But I think I'm starting to fall for you." I whispered, even though I knew she couldn't hear me anymore.

14: Chapter 13 . Say when

youtube.com/watch?v=WNiNHsYqd40
 

 

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

There are times when you think that things can't get worse. And the universe, like the little bitch that he is, proves you wrong. It was like I was trying to jump over a puddle, and I landed right in the middle of it. How was it possible? How was it possible for things to change so quickly?

I called Adrian that night because I had no one else to turn to, because I was looking for comfort and a friend, but that's not what I got from him. Instead of that, I got mixed feelings. The night was going so well, I'd gotten to love his mother, and the relationship between the two of them, something, I thought back then, I was never going to have with my mother. I was discovering so many things about Adrian then, and that side of him surprised me in a good way, because that was the side he probably didn't let other people see, that was the side he let show only to the people he trusted. And I was glad I was one of those people. And then, all at once, it changed. The moment he extended his hand, inviting me to dance to one of my favorite songs, I knew I was completely and utterly out of control. I'd never felt so helpless in my entire life, like I couldn't have a say in what I felt, like my insides were going to tear me apart. I felt unraveled before his eyes, I felt like he could hear the beat of my heart that sounded so alike with the boom of a thunder. He swayed me around room, he burned my skin and set me on fire, there were no words to suffice what he'd done to me. I wasn't aware of my surroundings, I didn't hear the music anymore, but I was hyperaware of him, like there was nothing else in the world to think about, like I was taking the first bite of my favorite meal, and I couldn't stop, I didn't know how to take small bites. And when our lips merely brushed against each other, I lost it, I lost hold of myself. All that was coherent in this world vanished from my mind, I kept thinking Yes, I want this, I want this song to last forever, I want to close this small gap between us, this frustrating gap. Do what you want with what's left of me, pick me over like a piece of art! Kiss me!

But, just like every beautiful dream, it came to an end. The haze, the trance, the dance, it was over. And I didn't know why I felt like the most beautiful thing had been ripped away from me. But it didn't last long, my thinking brought me back to reality. My brain whispered slowly Are you aware that's Adrian? Just like that, I became aware. That was Adrian, the Adrian who left victims behind and never looked back. He used me. He used me just like he'd used thousands of girls. I was one of his victims, and it took me longer than it should have to realize that. So I had to get out of there, I didn't want to see him, or to remember myself that, a few minutes before, I wanted to remain in that magical state forever. So, like I did every time an unpleasant situation appeared, I ran. I ran from there, even when he asked me to stay, even when every cell of my body told me to run to him.

A few minutes later, when I'd already left his house, I thought that maybe, maybe, leaving so fast wasn't such a great idea. It was dark outside and it was getting late and Diana's incident from only yesterday should have been a lesson for me. I had to wait for a couple of minutes for a cab to arrive, and being alone with my thoughts for that long did me no good. Just as I was waiting for the cab, a few blocks away from Adrian's house, it started raining heavily again. I smiled to myself, thinking that at least the universe was trying to make me feel better. The cold drops woke my senses up in an instant. Just like that dance with Adrian did, my annoying subconscious reminded me. There was no chance I was going to forget that night easily. I thought that maybe the rain would wash away the feeling of Adrian's lips brushed against mine, or his smell. I think it's needless to say it didn't.

The cab finally arrived and I climbed inside, telling the driver my address. Even if Arcata's rains weren't that cold, since, y'know, California, I still shivered as the raindrops ran down my skin. I looked down and saw that I was still wearing Adrian's band shirt, cursing myself for forgetting my dry clothes back there.

I made it home a few minutes later and I wondered what I was going to find in there. I looked at my phone and saw I had 11 missed calls from mom, 3 from Diana and one from Hope.

Great, exactly who I want to talk to right now

At home, I found exactly what I expected. Hurricane .Mom and Diana were still up, waiting for me and I checked the clock and saw it was 10 pm.

Eh, I guess I could've come later.

I knew what was going to happen next. Mom shouting, demanding to know where I'd been, more shouting and eventually, she would send me to my room. And she followed the exact scenario. I got away easily by telling her I went to Hope's, and she bought it, but my sister didn't seem to. After mom was done with her pep talk, I went to my room, changed in my PJs and wrapped myself in a blanket. I wanted nothing more than to fill my mind with something else, anything, rather than to think about what happened, or how that dance, that momentarily bliss, was the most righteous mistake I've ever made. Apparently, I didn't have to come up with anything since, ten minutes later, I heard a knock on my door. I didn't want to talk to any of them, so I didn't answer, hoping they'd think I was asleep.

"Melody, open up!" I heard Diana's voice through the door. "We need to talk."

I remained silent, deciding to ignore her.

"Mel –" she started again, and I heard her sigh. "I'm sorry, okay? I know that tonight was all my fault and that I shouldn't have opened my mouth. Please, talk to me!"

She didn't tell me anything I didn't know already, saying sorry after the damage was done was in vain.

"I have ice cream," she said in a sing-song voice. "And we both know you need some right now."

Dammit, she knew me too well! I got up from my bed and opened her door, before I stepped aside to let her enter, sighing loudly.

"I do need some ice cream," I mumbled, and she looked at me amused, entering the room without asking for permission. "Couldn't this have waited till tomorrow?"

"No, it couldn't," Diana said, sitting on my bed and handing me a spoon for the ice cream, and I followed her. "Because I needed you to know how sorry I am and – "

"I know, Di," I sighed. "But it doesn't really matter if you're sorry or not, the harm was already done. And I know it was an honest mistake, I should have seen it coming from you. After all, you suck at keeping secrets."

"True," she nodded in agreement. "But you should have told them by now, they were going to find out eventually. And now, they found out the wrong way, mom is more pissed that you haven't told her by now than the fact that you were riding a motorcycle."

"I know," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "But I don't think there's something I can do to redeem myself now. At least I'm not going to see Adrian anymore."

"What?" Diana's head shot up at my words."Are you serious about this? Do you really want to stop seeing him because mom doesn't agree? That doesn't sound like you."

"It's not because of that." I sighed again, deciding that if I had to tell anyone about what happened that night, it should be Diana.

So I told her. I told her everything that happened with Adrian that night, how I called him, how I met his mother, all the fun we had, and then, I told her about the dance, and all the confusing feelings that came along. I told her, hoping she would tell me I worried for nothing, that my feelings were normal and that I shouldn't give the moment so much thought. But I got none of that. The minute I finished my story, Diana was smiling from ear to ear.

"I knew it! I knew this was going to happen sooner or later." She grinned, taking another spoon from that ice cream.

"What do you mean? Nothing should've happened tonight. It was just a lapse coming from both of us, and I'm sure it's not going to happen again."

"Why are you so sure? Maybe Adrian wants it to happen again."

Only the thought of that frightened me, I couldn't face him, not when, maybe, he didn't think of it as a mistake. And that's why I knew I made the right decision.

"I'm sure because I'm not going to see him anymore." I said finally, after a long pause.

"You can't be serious about this, Melody," Diana argued.

"Why not? At least you should try to talk to him about what happened and then jump to conclusions and decide if you want to see him or not."

"Have you heard a word I said? There's nothing to talk about, he's Adrian, for God's sake! I'm not one of the girls he can chase around till I give in, I never wanted him in my life from the beginning, and just when I started to think of him as a friend, he saw the chance and he went for it. This is exactly what he wanted. I let my guard down, and it's not going to happen again." I stopped to catch my breath and looked at Diana.

"Then let me ask you a question. If you have such a bad opinion of him, then why did you let him in from the beginning? Why did you let yourself fall for him?"

I blinked in surprise. I must have heard wrong.

"F-Fall for him?" I stammered."No! Hell no! W-what… where did you get that idea? I didn't fall for Adrian, I never could, it's not – "I stopped when I saw her raise an eyebrow and grin. "This isn't funny, Diana! I didn't fall for him."

"Would you like a shot of truth in that cocktail of denial?" she asked sarcastically. "You obviously have feelings for him, five minutes ago you told me you almost kissed tonight."

"I may be a little attracted to him." I admitted."But that's all. It's just magnetism. I've spent a lot of time with him lately, I got to see a new side of him I never knew about, so I got a little carried away. It's ridiculous. I could never fall for him. Impossible."

Even though I was trying so hard to believe my own words, it all came out as a cacophony.

"That is typical for you. You would rather deny the truth than face it. You're using the word impossible for something that has already happened. You are falling for him, Melody, whether you like it or not, and that's why it's called falling, you can't stop it. It's inevitable."

"I'm telling you, you're not right. I don't have feelings for him, just like I'm sure he doesn't either."

"Speak for yourself! Maybe, to him, it's the exact opposite, maybe he feels something, and at least you should hear what he has to say. There's a chance he may make you realize how horribly wrong you are about this. Hear him out!"

I thought about it for a few seconds, then I nodded at her.

"Fine, I'll think about it." I told her.

A few minutes later, she left my room and went to hers, letting me alone with my thoughts again. In fact, there was nothing to think about, I'd already made my decision. I was going to avoid Adrian as best as I could.

I woke up the next morning to go to school, my head spinning like crazy. I could barely get up from the bed and put some clothes on, and for a minute, I thought that maybe mom could call in sick for me at school, but that would have meant I had to spend a whole day at home with her, so I would better go to school. I made sure I left home a lot earlier to avoid facing Adrian, and it felt surprisingly weird not to see him anymore. It looked like I had to get used to that feeling if I wanted to stick to my plan. At school, I also tried to avoid Hope, which proved to be an impossible thing to do, since we spent 5 hours together. Maybe I was being too stubborn, she might have had a good explanation to give, so I decided to give her a chance to explain herself. And she told me the whole story, how she and Harry met through her brother, how he kept showing up at her house and annoying her, and the fact that he was there the day I stopped by was just a big misunderstanding. Normally, I wouldn't have bought that story, but Hope was my friend, and even if she lied to me a million times, I would still choose to trust her. That's how it always had been between me and Hope, even if we fought a hundred times a day, we couldn't stay angry at each other. After we were done with the "Harry" topic, I decided to tell Mina and Hope about the moment I had with Adrian the night before. They had the same reaction as my sister, they told me they both knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and that I was stupid for denying the fact that I had feelings for him. Apparently, everyone had figured out we had feelings for each other before me. No matter how many people told me so, I was sure I knew better, and that the moment between me and Adrian was nothing but the mingle of obvious loneliness and some sort of attraction I had towards him. And now matter how sad it made me, I was not going to go through all of it again.

I came home five hours later ,only to find Diana upstairs, in her room, packing her clothes in a luggage.

"That's right, I almost forgot," I told her as I entered her room. "You're leaving tonight."

She looked at me over her shoulder, nodding, and I went to sit on her bed, helping with the packing. We talked a little about my day, and when we were going to see each other, she apologized again for not coming home for my birthday, and by the time we were done talking, we also finished packing.

"Guess who stopped by today!" Diana told me, as she sat next to me on the bed, and she didn't wait for me to even try to guess before she spoke again. "Adrian."

"Oh God," I groaned. "What did he say?"

I was sure he wasn't going to back off that easily, but deep down I hoped I was wrong.

"You really need to talk to him."

"Di, I told you I'm not going to – "I tried to explain again, but she cut me off.

"No, no, no, you don't understand. You really need to talk to him. You're lucky it's me who answered the door instead of mom and that I was there to try to reason with him. He was pretty pissed that you were trying to avoid him, and he said he had to talk to you, or else he was going to show up at our house and at your school till you'll give in. And I think that the next time, you won't be that lucky and mom will find out."

"I can't believe he's doing this," I mumbled to myself."I should've known it was not going to be that easy."

"Do you know what he told me when I asked him if he really wanted to talk to you? He told me it scares the shit out of him, but he has to. And I think you should do the same, talk to him, even if you don't want to."

I let silence fill the room, while I thought about what was left for me to do, and I came to the conclusion that I had no choice. I had to face him.

I spent the rest of the evening with Diana, and around 4 pm she was ready to leave back to San Francisco .I was still upset about the fact that she wasn't going to be home for my birthday, but, just like she told me, I had to understand there wasn't anything she could do about it and that she would be back as soon as she was done with some of her exams. Even if I had had to see her leave a thousand times during those three years, it never felt easier.

Considering my parents were not going to be home till late at night, I enjoyed my last moments of peaceful silence as best as I could, which meant standing in the living room instead of my room. I took a soda out of the fridge, prompted myself on the couch, and started reading one of the books my dad had let me borrow from him. I barely got to finish the first chapters when I heard a knock on the door. I put my book down and memorized the number of my last page ,even though it was clear I was going to forget it by the time I started reading again, and that I should've listened to Mina when she told me I could use a bookmark instead. I got up from the couch and went to open the door. Only to promptly close it back when I saw who was standing there.

Oh God!

"I can stay here all day long if I have to." Adrian said through the door, and I could sense in his tone that he was smiling.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I told your sister I needed to talk to you. Therefore, here I am!"

"Yeah, but my parents could've been home."

"But they aren't, are they? Open up, squirrel! You know we need to talk sooner or later." I took a deep breath and cracked the door open, only to see him leaning against the door frame, hands stuffed in his pockets, smiling and looking entirely unapologetic.

"Hello, gorgeous!" he said, slipping past me and giving me a wink. I inhaled again, preparing mentally for the conversation to come.

I closed the door and crossed my arms against my chest, turning to face him. He went to sit on my couch and was examining my book.

"Stephen King, huh? Nice, squirrel, I like your taste. Those are like the only books I like to read."

I rolled my eyes and took the books out of his hand.

"You said you wanted to talk, then talk! Why are you here?"

He looked amused at me for a few seconds, his eyes studying every inch of me, and I suddenly felt exposed again, all too aware of what I was wearing .I crossed my arms over the thin cotton shirt I was wearing, and made an effort to meet his gaze with a cold stare.

"Why didn't you come this morning?" he spoke finally, expression dead serious. He was clearly bothered by the fact that I'd tried to avoid him.

"I thought I told you it would be better if you stopped coming." I said bitterly.

"That's not what we agreed on. We said that I'll meet you a few blocks away instead of coming in front of your house."

"I don't remember agreeing on that." I lied.

"Cut the crap, Melody!" he said, voice louder. "I know you're trying to avoid me because of what happened yesterday —"

"Nothing happened yesterday, Adrian! I don't know what you're talking about, and yes, I was avoiding you because, like I told you, it's the safer way."

"You are so full of bullshit," he whispered, shaking his head. "You're lying to yourself if you say nothing happened, because I felt it, Melody, and I'm pretty sure you felt it too. And I know why you're doing this, because I know you too damn well."

I was about to interrupt him, trying to say he just thought he knew me and that he had no rights to make assumptions, but I didn't have the chance since he started speaking again.

"I know you're scared out of your mind, I know because I am too, but that didn't stop me from coming here and make things right with you. If you think I'm just fooling around then you're wrong. I'm frightened. My life was so easy two months ago, there were no complications, no confusing feelings that made my head spin, the only people that mattered for me were my mom and Paul. Only them. And then you showed up, and you turned my world upside down, you made me do things I would normally never do, and I didn't even know why. Until last night, when I finally realized what it is that I'm feeling." He paused to take a deep breath and continued. "I'm crazy about you, Mel, and I've probably been for a while, but I've surrounded myself in denial, because I never felt this way for someone. Last night, I kept telling myself it's not happening, that it's all in my head, it's nothing but some mixed feelings, and I was sure of that until now, when I came here and only the sight of you can knock me dead all over again."

I couldn't stop shaking my head, I wanted to deny everything he was saying, to cover my ears and stop hearing his words, and I kept looking at the ground, like I was begging the earth to crack open and swallow me whole, so he could forget I ever existed and that those words came out of his mouth, so I could only be a distant memory, a forgotten mistake.

"You're lying to yourself, Adrian," I said, finally lifting my eyes. "If you think I had such a huge impact on you, then it's a lie. You're replacing what's real with a surreality of words. Don't play the comedy of some inexistent emotions that you think you're feeling! And, please, don't drag me along in this fantasy of yours, and don't try to fool me! I don't want to be another brick in the wall for you."

He blinked once .Twice .Shook his head, then took a step forward.

"I understand you don't want to admit what you're really feeling, I had a hard time accepting it myself. But don't you dare say I don't know my own feelings. Unlike you, I know what I felt during that dance, and if you don't want to, then so be it! You'll realize sooner or later," He stopped speaking, only to take another step forward till he was standing close enough so I could inhale his scent, and cupped my cheek with one of his hands. I flinched. "But look me in the eyes right now, and tell me you don't feel a thing when I'm touching you. Tell me you don't feel this fire between us. Tell me that being so close to me doesn't make your head spin, or that it doesn't knock the air out of your lungs. If you say you feel nothing for me, then tell me to stop!" he lowered his voice, and I didn't realize he was leaning in till I felt his breath on my cheek. "Tell me to stop, Melody!"

He whispered my name, letter by letter. Once again, I was locked in. His words seemed so enchanting, spoken like a spell, like he was inviting me with his gaze to dance that crazy, spontaneous, intriguing waltz .My eyes closed instinctively, my breath tangled with his, and it sounded almost like music. The air was still, and my skin was scared. It was all like an ache wanting to be soothed, like a cold breeze on a hot summer day or like hot chocolate on cold, frozen lips. He was right. He was right about everything he'd said. I had fallen so abruptly for him and I couldn't crawl my way back, I was helpless once again, and I passed the point of returning. But even if I was sure about my feelings, I wasn't sure about his. After all, spells weren't true, they were made to charm, to fool, and that wasn't how I wanted to adventure into another dance like that.

A soft, whispered "don't" escaped my lips before I could take it back. I heard him take a sharp breath and I felt him pull back. For some reason, my eyes refused to open.

"Say when, Melody." I heard him speak, only his voice more distant than before, and I finally opened my eyes. "Say when you're ready for this, and I'll be right here, waiting. I'm not putting pressure on you, I'm not asking you to understand, I'm asking you to accept the fact that I won't leave that easily."

"Adrian – "I try to say, but he stops me.

"No arguing about this. You can't get rid of me, and I promise I won't bring any of this up again, I won't even come close to you, not until you tell me when. Pretend like none of this happened! Pretend I didn't say anything and that things are how we left them two days ago, and I promise I'll do the same. But not seeing you again is not an option."

He was right once again. Even if I wanted to never see him again, he wouldn't leave that easily. It was either pretending nothing happened, like he said, or nothing at all.

"Fine," I sighed. "But if you even dare to bring this up again, then I swear to God, Adrian – "

"I won't," he laughed, shaking his head amused. "You'll bring it up yourself."

I wanted to say that was not going to happen, but he didn't give me the chance before he started walking towards the door, stopping at the entrance.

"See you tomorrow, squirrel." He grinned, and gone he was.

Even a few moments after he left, I was still playing his words in my head like an echo. Say when, Melody! Say when, and I'll be right here waiting.

What on earth I had agreed to? This was going to take me down.
 

 

A/N. Heya, fellas! There you go, another brand new chapter, posted as soon as i finished it. I worked pretty hard on this one since i wanted it to be perfect. I still don't think it worked out like i wanted it, but I'll take what i can get.
And by the way, I created a tumblr page for this story, where i also post some gifs with Adrian and Mel. If you want to check them out, here it is:   autumnfires-story.tumblr.com
 

Until the next chapter, rock on!

15: Chapter 14 . Bad Moon Raising.

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

I was sitting in my room, listening to music on my headphones, struggling to find a way to keep myself busy for the next two hours, when I had to take my shift at the coffee house. Mom was out teaching one of her regular private painting lessons, so I was home alone, with nothing to do. I went to mom's room to search through her books for something to read, but since she only had romance books there, I gave up and went back to my room. I thought for a second about texting Melody, but I didn't trust myself enough to act like nothing happened yet, even thought I promised her I would.

Melody .There she was, invading my thoughts again. Why couldn't I get her out? To say that her words from a day before hadn't hurt me was a lie. I was so sure I had said all the right things, that I was going to lean in till there was no space between us and that she was not going to back down because that was all I wanted .But she did. And it took me by surprise. I was sure that she had the same feelings I had for her, but that whispered "don't" made me question myself .What if she wasn't just scared like I thought? What if she wanted me gone? What if nothing were to happen between us? What if, what if, what if. Recently, all of my thoughts were full of 'what if' questions.

You're in a big mess, buddy, my annoying subconscious pointed out.

I remained lost in my thoughts for a while, replaying in my mind the last few days, the dance with Melody, and all that followed after. I thought about how much I wanted to capture that moment and hold on to it, so I could never forget it.

Maybe I can.

I got up and looked under my bed, where I knew I was going to find my guitar. And there it was, next to a pile of dirty clothes and a dusty, old book. I took it out carefully and reluctantly, wondering if, after 5 years, it was time. Maybe I'd forgotten how to play, or maybe I'd discover I wasn't as good as I thought I was. But then I brushed my fingers over its strings softly, and I knew there was no way I could ever forget. Playing guitar was like riding a bike .I felt the rush build up in me a little, and also guilt that I had let so much time pass without playing. Tentatively, I tried to play a few random chords at first, testing to see if my skill was still there, and then I started playing what I had in mind from the beginning. I struggled to remember the first chords of Slow dancing in a burning room, and even though it wasn't exactly the same as the original tune, it still sounded good enough. I played the first chords over and over again, grinning from ear to ear and proud of myself I cleared my throat and tried to sing the first lyrics, but my voice came out gruff and hoarse. For the past five years, my singing was all about humming quietly in the shower or fooling around on a rock song, but there'd been a while since I sang properly. I tried again, till my voice sounded good enough to get that song over with, but I still felt like it was a little too mechanical and forced. I stopped the playing and reached for my pack of cigarettes from the nightstand, lightening one and puffing out a trail of smoke with each breath. I rested my head on the headboard and picked up the guitar again, repeating the same chords of the song. I told myself that, if I wanted to stop my voice from sounding so forced, I had be in complete touch with music, feel it every time my fingers brushed over the strings. I focused all of my thoughts on Melody, and us dancing on the song, and the feeling of her so close to me. I took a deep breath and tried to sing the lyrics again, and this time it didn't sound wrong or mechanical.

The buzzing of my phone brought me back to reality, and I answered it without even checking the ID.

"Hello?"

"Dude, get your sorry ass out of the house!" I heard Paul's voice at the other end of the line.

"Paul – " I sighed.

"No made up excuses this time, asshole, you get out of your hibernation nest and meet me in front of your house!"

"Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I can't, I have to take my shift at the coffee shop in 20 minutes, a thing you should've known by now."

"Fine, then I'll walk you there, but you can't avoid me this time."

"I'm not avoiding you, Paul – "

"I'm coming there." He said before he hung up on me.

I sighed and got up from my bed, putting on a shirt and opening my window to let the smoke out. Just when I was about to put on my shoes, ready to go, I saw the front door open, and Paul entered in.

"Dude, have you heard of knocking?"

"Oh please," Paul laughed. "We've known each other for 15 years, I think we passed the point where I have to announce my visits and politely knock on your door."

I shook my head amused and rolled my eyes, then passed by him and went out the door.

"You're a terrible friend, you know that?" Paul said, following me.

"What did I do now?"

"What you did?" he scoffed." More like what you didn't do. You haven't called me since God knows when. We haven't spoken since I got out of the hospital. And, worst of all, you haven't showed up at paintball. Not cool, man. Paintball was a thing we did together, you'd better have a good excuse for not coming. Our last game was savage, man, it was like world war 3, five of our men died bravely in that fight. But there was also this chick in the opposite team, and guess who's got her number. I'll give you a hint, he's an awesome dude and you're talking to him right now. True story."

"You're right, I'm sorry. And no, I have no excuse, it just slipped out of my mind."

"It slipped out of your mind," Paul mimicked me."You are going to so make it up to me, and I know exactly how."

"How?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're going to get me your friend's sister's number." he said matter-of-factly.

"Who on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, buddy, don't play dumb, that chick you've been hanging out with lately, who's pretty much the reason why you ignore me."

"Wait, you mean Melody? You want me to get you her sister's phone number? Well, would you like to go all the way to San Francisco to hit on her?" Paul only shrugged at my questions. "Dude, no!" I exclaimed.

"Dude, yes! You went for the wrong sister, so I'll go for the right one, without risking to go to prison for the corruption of a minor, unlike you. You said you wanted to make it up to me, this is the way."

"First of all, no, I didn't go for the wrong sister. Second of all, you're a jerk, and she is way out of your league-"

"Like that has ever stopped me before." He interrupted me, smirking.

"Also, even if I wanted to get you her number, I can't," I continued. "Melody and I are not on great terms right now."

"Are you guys together or something? Because if so, I have to tell you, bro, bad decision – "

"No, Paul, we're not." I cut him off, and he was silent for a few seconds.

"Is there a 'not yet' coming after what you said or—"he spoke, and I interrupted him again.

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. It's all up to her now."

"Wait, you lost me. So, you seem to really like this chick. Does she know that?" I nodded at his question, and he continued. "Does she like you back?"

"I like to think that she does, but I'm not quite sure."

"So, main point is, you're her bitch."

I rolled my eyes, even though that earned a smile from me, because what he said summed it up pretty well.

"Bro, you're in a hell of a mess." He continued, patting me on the shoulder. "And let's be clear about this, I don't like her."

"But you don't even know her."

"So what? I don't like her. She's the reason why you're disconnected to the outside world lately, and why you get in those weird moods sometimes"

"Well, you'll have to get used to it, because she ain't leaving." I said, and stopped walking since we made it to the coffee shop."Anyway, I'll see you later, dude."

"Wait a second, buddy! What about you making up to me?"

"Right. Since you're not getting any phone numbers, I suppose we can go out tomorrow night. It's Halloween after all."

"You've got yourself a deal, Hayes." he said, before we said out good-byes, fist bumped and he went his own way.

The next morning, I showed up a few blocks away from Melody's house, waiting for her. It was the first time I came to pick her up since I promised her I would act like nothing happened, and I wondered if she was really going to show up, or keep avoiding me. But five minutes later, I saw Melody walk towards me. I thought that pretending like nothing happened would be a piece of cake, but I should've known better, since ,the minute I saw her, all the things I felt during that dance, or when she turned me down, came rushing back. But I tried as much as I could to pull off a smile and ignore my thoughts.

" 'Morning, squirrel!" I greeted.

"So, are we really going to do this?" she sighed, not bothering with a 'good morning'.

"Doing what?" I asked cheerfully.

"Pretending there's nothing going on between us. I mean, it's too awkward, I think we –"

"Well," I interrupted. "Last I knew, there was nothing happening between us."

"Exactly! Nothing happened, because I don't want anything to happen. I'm sorry, but I think we should move past it, but I'm not sure we can do that if we keep seeing each other every day."

"Funny, I seem to have moved past it, you're the one bringing it up." I mocked and Melody could only stare.

"So you're done with all of that…stuff? Done with…feeling that way?"

"No way, I'm far from being done."

"But you just said that you're past it."

"I promised I wouldn't bring it up," I explained. "I know that if I insist, it won't get me anywhere with you."

"Nothing will get you anywhere with me – "Melody argued.

"I won't be hard on you," I continued, like she didn't say anything. "I'll just wait for you to realize how silly you're being about this, and you'll be the one who'll bring it up." I smiled smugly, and she narrowed her eyes at me for a second, then spoke again.

"You're wasting your time here, Adrian. You're waiting for something that's not going to happen."

"Probably," I shrugged nonchalantly. "But it's my time to waste. Now, shall we get you to school?"

She eyed me skeptically, sighed, and climbed besides me on the motorcycle. I saw she hesitated at first to hold on to me, like she always did when she climbed on Storm, and I looked at her over my shoulder.

"In case you forgot, you have to hold on." I reminded her, smirking at her childish reaction. She sighed, but, eventually, put her arms around me and held tight.

In a few minutes, we made it to her school in time, and she climbed off, maybe a little more quickly than normally. I looked around, and I saw a poster on the wall announcing the Halloween party that was going to be held at school that night. Melody turned to tell me something, but before she had the chance, I spoke first.

"So, there's a Halloween party at your school this year." I said, still looking at the poster, and she nodded.

"And are you going?" I asked, and she nodded again, probably wondering why I was suddenly interested in that party. "Back in high school, I never went to a Halloween party, my school never held one."

I sighed, and continued. "Are you bringing anyone?"

"Nah, I don't think so. There are a few guys from our school who asked me, but no one I'm interested in." she stopped, narrowing her eyes at me. "Why?"

"Bring me!" I said confidently.

"What?" she asked like she might have heard wrong.

"You heard me. Bring me!"

"Yeah, not gonna happen." She laughed humorlessly.

"Why not? After all, there's nothing happening between us, there's no awkward tension or something, you're just bringing a friend to a school party."

"Because – "she begun, but stopped in search for a good excuse.

"Great, so I'll pick you up at eight. And I suggest you to show up on time, or I may start to worry and come to pick you up from your house."

"But – "

"See you tonight, squirrel." I said before I took off and went straight home.

The rest of the day passed by normally, I finished my shift at the coffee house around five, and went straight home. Just as I was walking down the street, my phone buzzed with a message from Paul. He asked when we were going to meet that night, and, only then, I remembered I had promised him we would go out so that I could make it up to him. I swore under my breath, thinking that I probably had to cancel plans with him again, but, suddenly, I thought of a much better option. I searched in my contacts list and sent a text to Melody.

Me: Squirrel, I need a favor.

She texted me back five minutes later, when I'd already made it home.

Melody: Don't you know your limits, Groot?

Me: Funny, but no, I don't. Is there a chance, even the slightest one, we could sneak in Paul at this Halloween party?

Melody: You've got to be kidding me.

Me: …Please?

Melody: Depends. Are you bringing him as your date?

Me: Ha freaking ha. I forgot how funny you are. So, can we sneak him in? I forgot I had made plans with him tonight and I don't want to cancel. Again.

Melody: You owe me.

Me: l'll take that as a yes, thank you

Melody: So, what's your Halloween costume?

Me: Haven't decided yet. You ?

I actually knew exactly what I was going to wear, but I planned it as a surprise. Melody once told me, when we had one of our music related conversations, that her guilty pleasure was Justin Timberlake, and even though I mocked her about it for weeks, I planned on dressing as him for Halloween. My phone buzzed with another message from Melody.

Melody: I don't know, probably a nun

Me:Wait, no. No, no, no, you cannot do this to me. Halloween is that time of the year when girls dress like slutty nurses or slutty cats, not as nuns. Please tell me you're joking.

Melody: Not at all. I'm going to dress as a nun

Me: Is there any chance you might dress as a slutty nun?

Melody: Nope, see ya!

And that was the last text I got from her. Next, I decided to call Paul to tell him about the change of plans. The phone called twice before he picked up.

"Paul, my man, how's it going?"

"Hey, buddy! Pretty good, actually...wait a second, why are you calling me?" he questioned, voice suspicious. "Are you going to cancel our plans? Because if so, then I swear to God, Adrian—"

"Calm your horses, dude, I'm not canceling. But, there might be a small, insignificant change of plans. What would you say if I told you we were going to a high school Halloween party?"

"I would say there's no better way to make it up to me than bringing me to a party full of hot chicks in their senior year."

"Perfect, keep that in mind, because we're going to Melody's school Halloween party."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Paul exclaimed.

"Funny, that's what she said when I told her you're coming."

"Adrian, are you messing with me? You said tonight was going to be just the two of us, and now you're telling me you want me to come to this party, where she's coming too? Dude, the whole point was to get you to forget about this girl for tonight, because, lately, the only thing you've been doing is talk about her."

"Come on, Paul, if it were the other way around, I would be supportive. I could have, as well, canceled plans with you, but I didn't."

"Oh right, you're just inviting me to be the third wheel."

"You're not going to be the third wheel, Paul," I sighed. "Just come! We'll get to hang with each other, and you'll meet Melody and see she's not as bad as you think."

"I don't like her," He mumbled grumpily. "And I'm only coming for the girls dressed in slutty nurses."

"Perfect. Then I'll see you there, around eight." I told him the address to Melody's school and hung up.

Two hours later, I put on the suit I had prepared for the party, and the reason why I found one so quickly was because I found one of dad's suits that mom kept. Somehow, I even found a fedora that finally completed the costume. I looked in the mirror and saw that I looked more like the Godfather than Justin Timberlake, but I suppose the intention mattered. I straightened my bow tie, put on the fedora and went downstairs to leave my mother a note for when she came back before I left.

A few moments later, I was waiting for Melody in the same place and, eventually, I saw her head towards me .I don't know what I expected, but I knew for sure it was nothing compared to how she really looked like. She wore a short, black, sleeveless dress, that was a little tight in all the right places, and her hair was pulled back, with a few loose strands. She walked towards me with a steady cat walk, her hips swaying elegantly in a way that had me taken aback a little and I almost lost it when she was a few steps away from me. It took all of my will not to close the gap between us and crush our bodies together.

No, no, no, I have to stop this, I scolded myself. I'll let her set the pace, no matter how mind blowing she looks like.

My mind shut down, and I realized, only a few seconds, later that I was gulping, and she was looking me up and down, grinning. None of us said anything, and I still couldn't take my eyes off her. I took a closer look and saw that she was actually dressed as a flapper from the 1920s, and she reached past my shoulder with the heels she wore. Eventually, I was the one to break the silence.

"Well, I'll be damned," I muttered, shaking my head a little."You look– "

"Feminine?" she finished for me. "I know, weird."

"Weird?" I exclaimed. "That's not the best choice of words .What happened with the nun?"

"Why ask? Are you complaining?" she said, eyebrows raised and chuckling slightly at my failed attempt to make a compliment.

I laughed, shaking my head again.

"And who are you supposed to be, Frank Sinatra?" she said, smiling.

"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed. "You don't know who I am?" She shook her head in response. "I'm disappointed, squirrel, after I made an effort to get a suit, you don't even recognize who I am. I'll give you a hint. I'm the one who's bringing sexy back tonight."

She was silent for a few seconds, and then she burst out laughing

"No way," she said between giggles." I can't believe you dressed like J.T. The great rocker Adrian Hayes, dressed like a pop star. Now I've seen everything."

"Mock all you want, but I know you like it" I said, winking at her. She shook her head slightly, still smiling a little.

"We look like a couple from the '20s." Melody remarked.

"Now, m'lady, shall I escort you to our limo?" I extended my hand, bowing down, and I heard her laugh again, putting her gloved hand in mine. I climbed on Storm and turned on the ignition, and she tried a few times to climb on the bike, which proved to be a bitch since she was wearing a dress, but succeeded eventually and we drove to school.

We arrived five minutes later, and I parked the bike nearby, helping Melody climb off.

"Didn't you say you're bringing your friend Paul?" Melody asked me, and I took out my phone, ready to call him.

"Yeah, I told him to meet us at the entrance."

I called him, but his phone went straight to voice mail, and I looked around, hoping I'll spot him, but it was too crowded, the parking lot was full of people waiting to get inside.

"He's not answering." I told Melody, turning to her, and she shrugged. "Well, he'll call if he can't find me, so let's get inside."

She hooked her hand around my arm, and we headed to the entrance, waiting to get inside, when I heard someone call after me, and I turned around to see a guy who was walking towards us. He was wearing a white shirt and a black leather jacket, and he was painted all across his face with black and white, like the lead singer from the rock Kiss band.

"That's Paul Stanley." Melody told me, referring to the lead singer of the band.

"Nope, that's just Paul"

"Finally, I found you." Paul said as he reached us. "You're late."

I just rolled my eyes in response, and he finally noticed Melody, who was just standing there awkwardly. His eyes widened a little as he took her in, eyebrows raised, and he looked back at me giving me what I knew it was a 'nice catch' look, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes again.

"Dude," I started, smiling smugly and trying not to laugh. "You're wearing make-up."

Paul made a face and I heard Melody scoff beside me.

"Dude," Melody said, mimicking me. "He's Paul Stanley."

Paul looked actually surprised at her.

"Why, blondie, thank you. Someone who finally appreciates a great Halloween costume," Paul kept an eye on her a half-second longer, then turned to me. "And who are you supposed to be, Frank Sinatra.?"

Just when I was about to remark that everyone kept asking that question, I heard Melody giggle beside me.

"No, that would be less embarrassing," she said. "He's actually dressed like Timberlake, former pop star, ex member of N'Sync."

Paul started laughing along with Melody, shaking his head at me.

"Whatever, dude, you're wearing make-up," I said grumpily, and I waited for them to stop laughing before I started speaking again. "And you know what? Kiss is not even that great of a band."

Melody and Paul actually gasped at the same time.

"How dare you?" Melody said offended while Paul muttered a 'not cool' under his breath, and before they could launch into a lecture, I spoke again.

"Now, are you ladies ready to hit the party or are we going to just stand here?"

Paul ignored me and turned to look at Mel.

"What's up with Frank tonight?" he pointed with his head at me, and Melody started laughing again, and, eventually, we walked to the entrance.

Melody assured the two guards who decided who got inside and who didn't that we were with her, and we finally made it. The Halloween-themed disco music blasted out of the speakers while the bright lights flashed around, illuminating the walls and the many frightening masks from around. Energetic bodies moved to every beat of the music, with the sound of laughter resonating around us, and it seemed like the Six Rivers High School really knew how to throw a party. Paul looked around, probably spotting for a potential victim, turning his head after a girl wearing a cat-woman suit.

"I wouldn't hit on that if I were you, mate" She yelled at him over the music. "Unless you want to go to jail for corrupting minors, of course"

"At least I'll have my friend Adrian over here to keep me company." Paul said, throwing me a wink.

"Pick your victims wisely, my friend." Melody said, ignoring his previous comment.

"Maybe you can help with that. So, on whom am I allowed to hit on tonight?"

Both of them looked around the room, and I joined their little game.

"What about the red head over there, the one dressed in a vampire?" I suggested, and they looked in her direction.

"Nah, she's crazy," Melody said, wrinkling her nose. "One time, she stabbed a dude with her pencil in his hand because he cheated on her. Though, stabbing your close ones may be something you have in common." She mocked him, and Paul threw me a look, but I could only shrug.

"Dude, you told her! I told you a million times, it was an accident .And a week after, you threw a rock at my head to get back at me."

"I didn't know that." Melody laughed, and we chatted like that for a few more minutes, joking and goofing around, till Paul spoke again, pointing with his head at a girl standing a few feet in front of us, her back turned.

"Who's that?"

Melody waited till the girl, who was wearing a pirate suit, turned around, then spoke.

"Don't you even think about it, buddy! That's my friend, Hope."

The girl looked in our direction and started to walk towards us. She and Melody started chatting for a while and I could barely make out what they were saying, and Paul went to walk around for some potential victims. I joined Hope's and Melody's conversation, even though I didn't understand much of it, since they were talking about a guy named Harry, and how he showed up uninvited at this party all off a sudden, and how he kept stalking Hope around. They talked like that for a few more minutes, and, eventually, Hope left, muttering something about a guy named Adam who was waiting for her.

"Who was that guy you were talking about with Hope?" I asked her, once Hope was gone.

"Oh, that would be Harry, some stupid spoiled guy who lives out of his dad's money and who is now, apparently, Hope's own stalker."

"Is his last name Parker?"

"Actually, yes. You know him?" she asked, frowning.

"I meet him once I was at Mina's dad auto shop, apparently he works there. I also heard a lot of things about him, some town gossip here and there. I really can't stand that guy's guts."

"Ditto," She said, making a face. "Poor Hope though."

We chatted a few more minutes, she even convinced me to dance to one song, or more like dragged me on the dance floor despite my protests. Later, we made it out of the crowd, laughing and trying to catch our breaths, and I spotted Paul coming towards us, two bottles of beer in his hands.

"Look what I've got." He said as he reached us.

"You know you could be thrown out if a teacher found out about this, right?" Melody arched an eyebrow at him, but Paul only shrugged, taking a sip from one of the bottles and handing me the other one.

"Eh, what the hell!" Melody said, taking the bottle from me just when I was about to drink and taking a sip herself.

"Hey, hey, what do you think you're doing? You're not allowed to drink." I accused, and she gave me the same shrug Paul gave her.

"Technically, you're not allowed either. At least, not here anyway, and if I can't drink, you can't either."

"But that was my drink," I mumbled under my breath. "Bully."

"I like her." Paul laughed, and he and Mel cheered, clicking their bottles.

We started talking again, and before we even realized, it was past midnight, and, after we finished the first two bottles, Paul went to get us some more. Eventually, we ended up drinking three more bottles, or more like Paul drank three more bottles by himself, with Melody taking occasional sips here and there. We were laughing about something, when, suddenly, a tall guy, dressed in normal, casual clothes, was heading towards us.

"Hello there, minion," he said as soon as he reached us, keeping his eyes on Melody, and I realized he was that guy I'd talked to Melody earlier about, Harry Parker.

Melody sighed. "What do you want, Harry?"

He gave her a wicked grin, and I felt the urge to punch that guy in the face, no reason needed. "Have you seen Hope? I'm looking for her."

"No," she snapped at him. "And you should really learn how to take a hint, big guy. It's obvious that she can't stand your guts, so why don't you just back off?"

"That's what she told you, that she can't stand my guts?" he asked surprised, chuckling humorlessly.

"You should hear both sides of the story before you judge, minion." He shot her a wink and Melody seemed to have the same urge to punch him, but instead, she rolled her eyes.

"I'll go get us some more drinks." Melody said, turning to me and ignoring Harry, and then, she left.

I looked around for Paul, but I saw him across the room, talking to some girl, so it seemed I had to wait all by myself till Mel came back. I looked to my right and saw that Harry still didn't leave, but instead, he was looking in the direction Melody left, shaking his head slightly, that dirty grin of his growing bigger.

"That girl has a bright future behind her." He murmured under his breath, still staring in her direction, grinning.

"Umm, dude …" I said, narrowing my eyes at him and pulling off my best what-the-hell look, hoping he would get the idea and stop staring. He turned his head and looked at me confused, like he noticed I was there for the first time.

"What?" he asked, eyebrows raised, that annoying grin still plastered on his face. "Like you wouldn't like a piece of that fine ass." He pointed with his thumb at Melody, who was talking with a girl, oblivious to what was happening.

I clenched my fist, trying to keep it together and ignore the asshole comments he was making about Melody.

This is not the place to start a fight, Adrian, I tried to calm myself. Ignore him and try not to punch him.

I tried to turn my back on him and walk away, but the jerk spoke again, more to himself than to me.

"Oh, how I would love to hit that."

I clenched my jaw and my fists, but this time, not in an effort to calm myself. I turned around fast, took a few steps forward until I was standing right in front of him, and punched the guy as hard as I got in the face, which made him stumble on his feet, but not lose balance completely. He stared back at me, speechless, but angry nonetheless.

"What the hell was that for?" Harry demanded, eyes sparking with anger and wiping at his bloody mouth, but I saw that he was trying to get a hold of himself and not rush, like I did. But I was past reasoning, all I knew was that my only purpose was to knock the guy out, for what he said about Melody, for the way he looked at her…

"What was what?" I said, voice raspy."That?"

And before he could even see it coming, I lunged for him again, my fist hitting his jaw, and in a matter of seconds, we were in a heated fight. I swung at Harry, hitting him across the cheek with force, and he countered my punch by hitting me square in the nose, sending blood spurting everywhere. I should've known he was going to go for the nose, but I realized too late as I grabbed my face, blinded by the pain. Of course, he took advantage of the moment, knocking me off my feet and pouncing directly on top of me, with fists flying as fast as the lightening fast speed. I somehow managed to reach and grab Harry around the neck and flip him over, pinning him down on his knees. I quickly punched him across the face while I still had him down, and punched him once more before he could squirm loose enough to retaliate. Harry, with me still on top of him, reached up and grabbed me by the hair and head butted me in the face. I got up, crying out and grabbing my face in painful agony, and I saw Harry staggered to his feet and reached for me again, but someone got in his way. I was suddenly aware of all the people forming a circle and watching us fight, and I heard screams, some encouraging, some yelling at us to stop, but I didn't care. Through the bloody vision, I saw a girl grab Harry by the shoulders, placing a hand on his chest and yell at him to stop, but he ignored her and shoved her out of the way, maybe too briskly, since the girl fell to the ground. He was about to launch at me again, but then he looked over his shoulder and saw the girl, who I'd come to realize it was Hope, to the ground, and stopped his movement, watching her in shock. But I wasn't going to stop, I was about to make a few steps forward and start the fight again, ignoring again all the voices around me, when suddenly, someone threw a glass of punch in my face, and the cold liquid made me stop my movement and gasp. I wiped my face and opened my eyes, only to see Melody standing in my face, arms crossed against her chest and her face unreadable. I looked over her shoulder and saw Hope yell something at Harry and storm out of the room, with him following her, but not before he turned to me.

"This isn't over!" He shouted threateningly, pointing a finger at me, then went after Hope.

I looked again at Melody and saw that she turned on her heels and started to walk away. I didn't know whether to go after her or not, but she looked at me over her shoulder and spoke.

"Follow me!" she said, voice flat and cold.

So, I followed, and we made it out of the crowd .She scooted me into the ladies room and I entered reluctantly, still not knowing what she was going to say or do. She stopped in the middle of the room, looking to see if there was anyone around, then went to lock the door. Before I could even realize what she was doing, she went to wet some paper towel and stood in front of me, lifting my chin up and wiping my face of the blood. I didn't protest and for a few minutes, we stood like that, in thick, heavy silence, and I didn't dare to break it, and hopefully, I didn't have to, because when she was done with cleaning my face and looking for any other damage, she slapped me across the face.

"Ow!" I cried in pain, putting a hand over my cheek, where she hit me. "What the hell, Melody?"

I lifted my eyes to look at her, and I saw her eyes sparkle with anger and annoyance, her face no longer unreadable.

Here it comes.

"Funny, I should be the one to ask you that." She said, voice a little calmer than I had expected. She crossed her arms against her chest and spoke again. "A fight, seriously, Adrian, a fight? I leave for like two minutes and you get yourself into a fucking fight?"

One thing I'd gotten to know about Melody was that, whenever she was angry or annoyed, she started swearing. A lot.

"And with Harry, of all the people? How the hell did you manage to get yourself into a fight with Harry?" she stopped, waiting for my response, but before I could even open my mouth to say something, she spoke again. "Okay, maybe I'm being unfair here, you sure had your reasons, and Harry is an asshole and he was probably the one who started the fight," she looked at me, some of her anger gone, waiting to see if I agreed, but when I averted my eyes and remained silence, she spoke again."Oh, hell no! Tell me it wasn't you who started the fight, Adrian! Tell me it was Harry! It has to be Harry."

"It wasn't Harry." I confessed eventually, keeping my eyes down. I dared to look up, only to see Melody looking at me surprised, like I had just landed from another planet and I was some creature she didn't recognize anymore.

"Why?" she murmured, voice barely above a whisper. "Why did you fight?"

I knew she was eventually going to ask that question, but I was still hoping she wouldn't.

"It doesn't matter." I said grumpily under my breath, turning my back on her and facing the mirror, only to see my face covered in scraps and bruises, with stains of blood on my suit.

"No, it does matter! Tell me what you fought about, because I'm sure you must've had a very good reason. I'm sure he had it coming."

I hesitated for a few more minutes before I started to speak again. "It was…it was because of you."

"Because of me?" Melody spat, surprised.

"He started saying mean and dirty things about you, and, I don't know, I guess I just lost it." I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

A thick silence filled the room again, and I finally turned around, wondering what reaction I was going to get from her this time. She studied me silently, probably searching to see if I was telling the truth or not, then spoke.

"I can't believe this…" she murmured under her breath, then spoke more loudly, shouting, rage back on full mode. "You started a fucking fight because of me? Me, of all the reasons why you could've punched this guy in the face. So what, Adrian? He said some mean things about me, you can't go around punching all the people who talk behind my back and – "

She stopped talking and looked at me again, blinking in surprise. She figured it out.

"Oh, my God," she whispered. "You were jealous. He started saying some pervert comments and you got jealous." She hoped I was going to disagree and tell otherwise, but I didn't. "So let me get this straight. You come at my school, after you invited yourself by the way, and you know that I told you we should act like nothing happened between us, Adrian, but here you go, acting all jealous on my ass and starting a fight! And with none other than Harry Parker." she was shouting by that point, and I kept my eyes down, taking it all. "Who do you think you are, Adrian? What the hell gives you the right to come into my life and turn my world upside down, acting all lovey-dovey ,pretending you have certain feelings for me, when I know for a fact it's just all pretending what you're trying to do, then you start to get jealous and start fights. In what hopes, Adrian? In hopes to win me over?"

I opened my mouth a few times, taken aback by the amplitude of her outburst, but no words came.

"Well, let me shed a little truth on you." She continued, pointing her finger at me. "Nothing. Nothing gives you the right."

She turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, leaving me gaping and feeling like the biggest jerk on the face of the planet. Truth is, that night, I acted like it, that's why I stood there and let her take all of her anger out .I got out of the bathroom, deciding not to go and look after Melody since she was too upset to hear me out, so instead, I went to look after Paul and I found him outside the school, standing in front of my bike, waiting.

"Dude, what the hell?" Paul said as soon as I reached him.

"Let's leave it like this Paul," I sighed. "I'm not in the mood for another lecture of how I should've not gotten into a fight."

"That's not what I wanted to say. You could've at least waited for me so we would've beaten the crap out of the fucker together. Why did you fight?"

I started telling him the exact same story I told Melody, and by the time I was done, he nodded at me, then spoke.

"Okay, I get why you did it, I probably would've done the same. She's pretty mad, ain't she?"

I also started telling him about our fight back in the bathroom.

"So what are you going to do?"

I shrugged. "I'll find a way to make it up to her."

After that, I drove Paul back to his place and headed back home, moving around silently as I entered the house, trying not to wake mom up. I threw myself on the bed with my clothes on, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get any sleep. I kept thinking how badly I screwed things up, just when I thought I had it all under control, and what I could possibly do to redeem myself. And then, around 3 am I think, it hit me. I knew exactly how to do that. I remembered how, when I came to look for Melody and her sister told me she wasn't home, I asked her out of curiosity when Melody's birthday was. Fourth of November. In five days. And I knew the perfect way to make it up to her then.

16: Chapter 15 . Feed the Flames

A/N: Heya! I just wanted to say at the beginning of the chapter that the song Adrian is going to play in this chapter is actually performed by Thomas Rhett and it's called "It goes like this". I really recommend listening to it, it's an amazing song.

Anyway ,enjoy this chapter! And I'd love to hear what you think!

Rock on!

                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                ~NOVEMBER~

MELODY'S P.O.V

My 18th birthday passed by with no big fuss, it was like any other of my birthdays, I spent the most of it with my family, I received a lot of phone calls from my relatives to wish me a happy birthday, and Mina and Hope took me out for a girl's night. And that was all about it. I expected to feel different, everyone bragged about how big of a deal it was, how I was considered an adult already, or how I was old enough to do anything I wanted, but also young enough to get away with anything. And when everyone asked me how it felt to know I was an adult from now on, I only shrugged and said I felt the same as I did a day before.

In the morning of my birthday, I met Adrian and went to school, and just as I expected, he had no idea about my birthday. How could he have after all? And I was glad he didn't, or otherwise, I would've had to nod along, murmur a 'thanks' and hear another set of questions about how it felt to be part of the adulthood. I'd already had enough of that at school after all.

And so it passed. My 18th birthday passed as soon as it came. Next thing I knew, my calendar said November 5th 2014. I sighed and got out of bed, went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, then went back to my room to search in the closet for something to wear. I spotted a dark blue dress sitting in the back, and I realized it was the one my mom had bought for my birthday the previous year. Without giving it a second thought, I took it out and put it on, gave my hair a quick brush and took my usual leather jacket in my hand before heading downstairs. I ate something fast, then went to meet Adrian a few blocks away, like always.

Just as I expected, he was there, leaning against his motorcycle, a cigarette between his lips that he put out the minute he saw me approaching. I smiled to myself, thinking that even though I never asked him to, he never smoked when I was around because he knew it bothered me.

"Hello, gorgeous," he greeted, giving me a crooked smile that I couldn't help but return, and I felt myself blush slightly under the intensity of his gaze.

"What's with you all fancy dressed today?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know, I found this dress and I thought why not, since I barely wear any dresses."

"Well, be careful there, squirrel, I'm starting to think you're dressed to impress." he teased.

Without even thinking, I shot him a wink. "Maybe I am."

He looked at me taken aback a little, smiling playfully and I felt like slapping myself for not thinking before speaking. I couldn't believe how easily flirting came with him, even though I decided I had to keep things nice and friendly between us if I wanted him to give up and realize I was not one of his usual hook ups. But for some reason, I couldn't help myself. It was like a second nature.

I climbed onto Storm before he had any chance to say something else, and put on one of the helmets. Soon, he followed me, but not before I heard him say under his breath, "You're going to regret that style choice later."

"What?" I asked, looking at him surprised.

"What?" he also said, glancing at me over his shoulder.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing," he spoke calmly. "I said 'let's go to school' "

"No, you didn't, you said—"

But before I could argue, he brought the motorcycle to life, its roar covering my voice, and soon, we arrived to school, and he left with no other exchange of words. But before he could take off, he looked at me one more time, and I felt like he knew something I didn't. I shrugged it off, thinking I must've imagined it, and took off to my first class.

The day went by normally, except during one break, something strange happened again. I was eating lunch, hanging out with Mina and Hope, when I saw Hope nudge Mina with her elbow and whisper something to her. Mina looked at me before mumbling something back to Hope. They both chuckled slightly and looked at me once more.

"Okay, what the hell is going on? What are you whispering about?" I snapped, putting my sandwich down. I started to have the feeling that both of them knew something I didn't again, and I didn't like it .They stared at me like I had just asked what color the sky is, before Mina shrugged and spoke.

"Nothing important. I was just telling Hope something about the races for this weekend. Why?"

"I don't know, first Adrian, now you. I feel like you guys are hiding something from me. What is it?"

"And I thought I was the paranoid one." Hope joked. "You're just imagining things, silly. Nothing is going on."

I narrowed my eyes at both of them, but eventually I let it go, trusting them too much to be suspicious.

In a few hours, we finished our classes and walked out of the schoolyard to go straight home. What I didn't see coming was Adrian showing up in front of the school, leaning against the bike and waiting for me. He headed in our direction as soon as he saw me.

"What are you doing here?" I frowned at him.

"I just happened to be around and I thought I could come and pick you up," he said, then glanced over my shoulder to look at the girls. "If that's okay with you, ladies." He shot them one of his best charming half-smiles, and Mina and Hope both spoke at the same time.

"Sure, no problem."

"Perfect," he said, then turned his eyes on me again. "Then, shall we?"

I looked back at the girls and mouthed a 'sorry', but they waved me off, motioning for me to go. I followed Adrian back on his bike, even though I still couldn't shake off the feeling that something weird was happening, and I was clueless to it. Eventually, we left the girls behind and Adrian started driving to my house. We were silent the whole road, and just when we reached my home, I saw that Adrian didn't stop his bike at the usual spot, but that he kept on going.

"What are you doing?" I shouted confused at him over Storm's roar. "You passed by my house."

"Who said anything about taking you home?" he shouted back, amusement clear in his voice.

"Adrian, if this is one of your sick games –"

"Squirrel," he cut me off, speaking more seriously. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course." I spoke immediately, without thinking twice. "Then stop asking question and trust me this time."

My subconscious yelled at me to tell him to stop the motorcycle and get me back home, but I shut it all down and decided to trust him. He was Adrian after all, and no matter what we were going through or what his intentions really were, I trusted him, blindly even. And I had no idea why. We drove like that for ten more minutes, and I started to panic when I saw we had made it out of town, but I kept my mouth shut again. He took a turn towards the woods, and panic rose up in me again, but before I could say anything else, he stopped the bike and took off his skid lid.

"We're here." he said, looking at me over his shoulder and climbing off Storm.

I also took off my helmet and almost gasped at the view in front of me. It looked like it was ripped out of a painting. We came at the end of the woods and it opened up into a lake, as if by magic. It was in teardrop-silver in color and it was shaped like a perfectly flat disc of metal and no sound rang out from the shimmering emptiness of space around it. Monastery quiet, it was lined with pine trees and the whiff of mint wafted up to me. The water was clear as crystal, and shone like a million little diamonds when each ray of the sun hit the surface. It was calm and serene and radiant. And it took my breath away. Near the lake, there was a small cabin that had an eerie look to it, standing there, deep in a dark hollow with grey, creaking trees crowded up against the crumbling walls. It all looked otherworldly.

"It's beautiful." I gasped out, completely forgetting that Adrian was standing there, next to me, watching contently. "But why did you bring me here?"

"Happy birthday, squirrel!" he said, smiling at me. I gave a breathless laugh, at the view of him, standing there, arms extended, bathing in the rays of sunshine, that made his eyes glow ,and somehow, that view was more beautiful than the one surrounding us. But I had to return to reality eventually.

"This is a strange gift. And my birthday was yesterday" I said, but it came out lamely. "And it's a really beautiful view and all, but I still don't understand why you brought me here."

"For a getaway. We're going to spend the night here."

Panic invaded my body again, and I was too shocked too even speak for a couple of seconds.

"W-what?" I said eventually, stammering. "No, no, I can't, Adrian, you know that. My parents –"

"I spoke to Mina and Hope" he cut me off, waving his hand. "And they said they'll cover for us. You can call your parents and tell them you're having a sleepover with the girls. I'm sure they'll understand."

"But –"

"No buts, Melody, "he said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me slightly, smiling brightly."We're going to spend an amazing day here, and by tomorrow, I'll bring you home safe and sound. Okay? So stop worrying! You said you trusted me."

I still wasn't sure about it, but I also felt the impulsive urge to shrug it all off and shut down my mind, and trust him blindly like I claimed I did. Because I needed it so badly, I needed to get away, I needed to turn it off and stop worrying about my parents and school and college, and I knew Adrian was the perfect person to help with that. I sighed and looked up at him, his hands still holding me by the shoulders.

"Okay, okay, you're right. I said I trust you and I mean it."

"Good." He dropped his hands, but only to take one of my hands in his and squeeze it.

A bolt of electricity ran through my whole body, charging the air and filling it, with only that, the merest contact, but it felt like millions of universes being born right there. I only realized then, that every touch we shared was not careless, because every point of contact between us felt important, a rush of energy, at least to me. I too often underestimated the power of the slightest touch. He retrieved his hand too fast, or at least it seemed too fast, but we'd probably stood like that a few seconds longer than necessary. And just like that, I was left with only the echo of his hand in mine.

My heart climbed into my mouth, but I still managed to get some words out to clear the air.

"How did you know about my birthday anyway?" I narrowed my eyes, smiling.

"I have my sources." he said, before stepping away and headed towards the cabin, with me following him behind. "I couldn't bring you here yesterday when it actually was your birthday without making your parents too suspicious, but better late than never, right?"

I stepped with him inside the cabin and looked around, only to see wood walls with stuffed deer heads and a bear rug above the fire place. It smelled like dust and cheap perfume, and I turned to look at Adrian.

"Is this your family's cabin?"

"More like it was my dad's, he used to come here all the time when he went into the woods to hunt. Even after he died, mom couldn't bring herself to sell it, so we come here sometimes, during vacations. But, as you can probably see, we haven't been here for a while. I came by this morning to clean up a little and air it out though."

I nodded as he went in another room and turned back with a basket in his hands. Before I could raise an eyebrow and ask what the basket was for, he spoke.

"You should go and call your parents, I'll wait outside."

I nodded again and watched him leave the room before I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed mom. Just like I expected, she had nothing against a sleepover at Hope's, since it was Friday and she and dad were going to work late tonight. I breathed out a sigh of relief when she didn't question me too much or ask for details, but just told me to be careful and be back by tomorrow morning. I hung up and went outside the cabin, and saw Adrian at the edge of the lake, throwing small rocks in the water and gazing ahead. He heard me come from behind and turned to look at me over his shoulder, offering me a bright, full smile that I turned back almost instinctively. I went to sit next to him, watching the skyline myself and throwing rocks in the water like he did. I wanted to say something, not because I felt like the silence was too heavy, but because it felt like I should've.

"Thank you," I murmured, surprised to hear my own voice speaking, and he turned to look at me surprised too, so I continued. "For doing all of this. You didn't have to, after all the things that happened, but you did it anyway. Thank you."

He blinked then looked away again. "I wanted to." he whispered, barely audible. The silence surrounding us was the most comfortable we'd ever been in, because it had no tension in it, I just enjoyed sitting there with him ,with no need to talk or explain or argue, and I let myself lean against a tree and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of birds singing in the distance.

"I've got more up my sleeve than just a beautiful view and a lake house." I heard Adrian say and I opened my eyes to see him grin.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You're so going to love me for this." he joked, then reached in the basket I saw him take out of the cabin and pulled out something. The minute I realized what he was holding in his hand, I burst out laughing. He was holding a box of chocolate, the exact same kind that we fought for the day we met at the supermarket.

"About time you give my chocolate back." I managed to say between giggles. "I'm just being kind here, squirrel, I won the first box fair and square."

I scoffed. "Yeah, right. You won the first one because you were being a bully." He didn't argue any farther, but gave a small laugh, his shoulders shaking slightly.

"But before you eat that whole thing all by yourself, you should know I have a whole picnic prepared."

I looked at him surprised. "A picnic? You really put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"

"Do it right or don't do it at all, squirrel." He said before reaching for his basket again and taking out the food from there.

I can't remember for how long we talked, about everything and nothing, but by the time we were done eating, it was sunset and I watched with an unwavering gaze as a fiery red orb of light slowly sank beneath the horizon, and threads of light lingered in the sky, mingling with the rolling clouds. I started telling him funny stories about my birthdays, how when I was nine, my dad fell over my birthday cake and I cried for two straight hours, and he started telling me stories about his dad, and little bits of memories he had about him ,and I don't know how time passed so quickly. And I also can't remember how I ended with my head resting on Adrian's lap. But I remember how natural all of that felt, how the tension from before vanished, the electricity seemed to be gone too, and there was only comfort. Eventually, there were no other stories to tell, so we just remained silent, watching the sun and the moon battling in the sky.

"I remember one quote from a book," I heard Adrian say suddenly, breaking the silence. "From Game of Thrones actually, and it's funny because usually I don't remember quotes, but this one just popped into my head right now."

"What quote is it?" I asked, still looking at the sky.

"When the sun has set, no candle can replace it." he quoted, almost whispering."It's not even that great, I don't know why I remembered it now."

"It's beautiful," I whispered, and let a few moments of silence pass before I spoke again. "I don't remember quotes from books either, but I remember poems."

"You read poems?" he asked, looking down on me. I nodded.

"Don't be so surprised. I actually love poems."

"I never read one, except those from school."

Silence followed, but Adrian was the one to break it again."Tell me one!"

I dared to glance up at him eventually, and found that he was also looking down at me, with an intensity that made my heart skip a bit for the first time in the few hours we stayed like that. I bit my lip, thinking about a poem, any poem, but nothing popped into my head, it was like my mind suddenly forgot all the poems I've known. Moments of silence passed, with me still trying to come up with something and Adrian probably thinking I'd given up, when suddenly I spoke, with a confidence that I had no idea was the, quoting one of my favorite poems.

"Love me sweet, with all thou art, seeing, thinking, feeling, Love me in the lightest part, Love me in full being. Love me with thy voice that turns sudden faint above me; Love me with thy blush that burns, When I murmur 'Love me'. Love me with thy thinking soul, breaking it to love, sighing; love me with thy thought that roll, on through living – dying. "

I stopped, not wanting to go any further with the poem, even if it was much longer than that, and looked up at him, and suddenly felt myself blush under his gaze, realizing I'd talked about love with such easiness around him, even if I were quoting, and for some reason I felt guilty, like that should've been a forbidden subject between us. I dropped my eyes, taking a blade of grass and playing with it and even if I wasn't directly looking, I still felt his eyes on me. I felt like things had gotten awkward again, so I remained silent for a while, and he did the same, both of us staring into the distance. That until, of course, he spoke again.

"I started playing guitar again." He said matter-of-factly, taking a strand of my hair and twisting it around his finger.

"You did?" I ask surprised, getting up. "Adrian, that's great! What made you change your mind?"

He looked at me in a strange way that I couldn't quite name, maybe for a half-second too long then shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess I just missed it."

"Then, maybe you can play guitar for me someday." I told him, more as a joke, but he looked at me in that strange way again, biting his bottom lip.

"Maybe I can play right now." he said, grinning, and I arched an eyebrow at him, but before I could say anything else, he got up and went towards the cabin, only to come back two minutes later, with a guitar in his hands.

"Where did you get that one from?" I questioned as he came to stand beside me.

"I remembered dad used to keep one of his old guitars here," he explained. "It's a little rusty and out of tune, but it's good to go." He played some random chords, testing the guitar, then stopped, pondering.

"Whatcha gonna play?" I asked playfully, sitting cross legged in front of him. He seemed to think about it for a few seconds, pursing his lips.

"There's this song I wrote a few days ago – "he started, and I felt my eyes grow bigger.

"You write songs?" I asked surprised and he nodded, keeping his head down.

"It's not that good, but – "

"Cut the crap, let me hear it out!" I cut him off again, clapping my hands once.

"Fine," he sighed. "But remember, I wrote it only a few days ago so I didn't have that much time to work on it."

He looked at me once more before he brushed his hands softly against the strings, playing the first tunes of the song. I looked at him wide eyes, at his concentrated figure and at his big, calloused hands, and even if the song had just started, I fell in love with it. And I felt myself fall harder when he started singing the lyrics.

Hey girl, you make me wanna write a song,

Sit you down, I'll sing it to you all night long.

I've had a melody in my head

Since you walked in here and knocked me dead,

Yeah, girl, you make me wanna write a song.

I felt my insides turning upside down a little and suddenly, there was no lake around us, no cabin, no woods, no sun and no moon. There was just his voice, his hypnotic voice, singing a song.

And it goes like ooh, what I wouldn't do,

To write my name on your heart,

Get you wrapped in my arms, baby all around you

And it goes like hey, girl, I'm blown away,

It starts with a smile and it ends with an all night long slow kiss,

Yeah, it goes like this.

And good Lord, he sang it. He sang that song, looking like he poured all of his soul right there, right in front on me, and I could only watch and listen.

Looking at you, looking at me that way,

Makes me wanna grab my old guitar and play

Maybe I was a little selfish and stupid to believe it, but the song felt too personal, so very personal, like it was written for me and only me. But maybe I was just imagining it, surely imagining it. .And just when I thought the song was over, he brushed his fingers once more over the strings, more quietly this time, and sang the last part.

And it goes like ooh,

And it goes like hey,

And it ends with a kiss.

Yeah, it goes like this.

And it was over, the song and my trance, and I already missed the sound of his voice.

"So," he watched me expectantly, putting down his guitar. "What do you think?"

What do I think? I screamed inside my head. I think it's the most amazing thing I've ever heard, and I don't care how selfish it sounds, but I hope you wrote that song for me. I love to think you wrote that for me. That's how much power you have over me. But I know you probably didn't and those are just words in a song

But I told him none of that. I felt like slapping myself for those thoughts. If I claimed I didn't want anything from him and had no feelings for him, I had to act like it. But I knew I wanted so many things from him and my feelings were so damn obvious I could no longer deny them. But still, I struggled not to let all of that come to the surface because I was too afraid of their aftermath.

"It's beautiful," I breathed out, shaking my head slightly. "Good God, Adrian, it's so beautiful, I can't believe you wrote that."

That strange look was back in his eyes, and he looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead he went to get the guitar back in the cabin leaving me alone for a few minutes. I tried to get a hold of myself till Adrian came up, closing my eyes and breathing in the scent of nature. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I took off my boots and went to stand by the edge of the lake, putting my bare feet in the water, so that it almost reached my knees. I shivered a little at the sudden coldness, but stood put and tried to reach with my feet the end of the lake, but it was too deep. I eyed the skyline and saw that all that was left of the sunset was a chalky mauve, until that melted away too so darkness took over the sky. Silver stars shivered in the distance, illuminating the curtain of sky. Suddenly the clouds parted and I found myself gazing at a lustrous silver disk casting rays of moonlight onto the lake, making it look like a dance floor. It glistened, mirroring dazzling stars and the trees and the flowers from daytime seemed to go away, only to send slightly ominous versions of them to take their place.

I heard a branch crack behind me, and turned around to see Adrian come towards me, walking carefully, hands in his pockets and looking at me with a smile on his face. I turned back and gazed at the stars again, and from the corner of my eye I saw him take off his shoes, too, and roll up his jeans, mimicking my position.

"Quite the sight, huh?" he whispered to me, looking at the fractured moonlight on the lake and moving his feet in the water.

"You're missing out the best part." I smiled, and he raised an eyebrow at me. Before Adrian could ask anything else, I leaned backwards till my head rested on the ground and I looked at him, only to see he did the same, and heard him gasp a little at the million of stars winking down on us.

"Quite the sight." I mimicked his words from before and I heard him give a breathless laugh. For a few more minutes, he pointed out stars and constellations, telling me that's what his father used to do every time they came there, and he remembered some of them. Then we were silent again, wrapped in our own thoughts.

"Do you know what'd be fun?" he was the one to break the silence, leaning on one elbow, facing me."If we went for a swim."

"Umm, no."

"Why not?" he got up for real this time, pulling out his feet from the water.

"Because I'd rather not get hypothermia. It's November, the water must be freezing."

He scoffed. "It's California. The water is fine. Come on!"

He extended his hand to help me get up, and I took it, standing up, but shook my head in response at him

"Fine," he sighed. "But I'm going."

He smiled, his eyes never leaving mine, and just like that, he stripped off his shirt and tossed it around, now naked from the waist down. I couldn't help but trace the outline of muscles in his shoulders and arms and stomach, and I had to scold myself against giving a sharp, appreciative whistle. I took a few more seconds to appreciate the view of him, shirtless, with his jeans rolled up to his knees, crowned in the silver of the moonlight.

"Take a picture already, it'll last longer" he said, not even looking at me and before I had time to register his words, he dived in the lake. He cut through the water with broad strokes, and I sat there, watching him. He drifted away a little, floating in his back, arms folded behind his back.

"You should come in, squirrel, the water is great." I heard him say after a few moments.

"Nah, I'm fine right here."

"Alright then, as you wish" He swam towards me, till he was completely out of the water.

"You don't know what you're missing though." he continued speaking, till he was standing directly in front of me. "But it's your choice, I get it."

Before I could realize what was happening, he grabbed me by my waist and feet, throwing me in the water, and I didn't even have enough time to fight back. I felt the cold water surrounding me and I tried my best to stand on the surface, but failed miserably.

"I… I can't… swim…" I managed to say, still trying not to drown, moving my feet and arms under the water. I felt it pulling me down and I could no longer stand on the surface. The lake was longer than I thought

Adrian threw himself in the water as soon as he heard me, and I felt his firm grasp yanking me back. As soon as I could breathe again, I started chocking, holding tighter to Adrian, both of my hands resting in his bare chest, and his hands holding me by the waist.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked concerned, pulling some of my hair out of my face, and I could only nod, still trying to fill my lungs with air. "I'm sorry, Mel, I didn't know."

"You're an idiot." I said, able to speak again and pulled back a little from him, but still keeping my hands on his chest.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, but this time smiling a little, in relief, and also something else that, again, I couldn't quite name.

Only then it hit me how dangerously close we were standing to each other, and I tried to ignore the immediate tension and the electricity humming in the air between us. I felt his hands wrapped around my waist and his skin on my skin and I was suddenly holding my breath. I didn't move an inch or a muscle. I just kept staring into his eyes and wondered for a second if maybe the moon and the stars were envious of the glow in his eyes. It was so much brighter. We were standing suddenly so close that our noses touched and our breaths tangled, and I wondered whether it was the waves of the water that brought us closer or it was just me. Because I was suddenly so tired. So tired of that game, of running around my tail and pretending I didn't have feelings for Adrian when we both knew I did. The moment those thoughts rang in my head, I was beyond rational thought, beyond words, beyond all the questions that concerned him for the past weeks. He kept looking at me, frozen in places and his words from the previous week rang in my head. I won't even come close to you, not until you tell me when.

I wanted to do something about the exhausting fire burning inside of me. And so, I did, I fell to pieces in front of him. I leaned in just a little bit till our lips were touching and I kissed him. And it was that kind of kiss that took forever and no time at all .I felt dizzy, and my hands betraying me, wrapped up behind his neck, clinging to him, unable to pull back, and his lips were soft, softer than everything I'd even known, like a snowfall. I felt him gasp against my lips and not moving an inch at all. It was sweet, so effortlessly sweet, and more like a whisper of a kiss, as light as wind, but my head still buzzed with bliss. I pulled back just a little, confused why he wasn't kissing me back, and I heard him whisper my name, like a mantra, not daring to look me in the eyes. I started unwrapping my hands from his neck, suddenly feeling like I might've cried because I kissed him, and he didn't kiss me back. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But then he grabbed my wrists, gently but firmly at the same time, wrapped them back around his neck in a quick motion, searching for something in my eyes. And just like that, he was the one to collide our lips together. He kissed me back, but only this time, differently. His lips were urgent and deep against mine, tasting like desire and heat and coffee and I felt like suddenly I was in a whole new world, where things looked different and everything sounded different and it made me wonder why ,until then, I wasn't aware of that new world. I transcended and a voice inside my head whispered that I've been wrong the whole time, that kisses were not like promises, kisses were like flying. There was nothing to keep me down, no gravity, and so I rose. My legs wrapped themselves around his waist, and our lips danced together, both as eager and both as urgent, and the kiss was rough and messy, taking my breath away. His fingers felt like fire against my skin, but I no longer minded the burning, I was glued to him and I didn't care. We kissed with that kind of intensity that made me wonder why I hadn't died yet.

I can't remember how long it lasted, but eventually, we pulled apart, gasping for air, but not completely, his forehead rested against mine, one of his hands still around my waist and another tangled in my hair. I wanted to say something, but he did first.

"About time." he gasped out, giving me another peck on the lips, and that made me feel like saying something else would've been just wrong. So I shut up, feeling the water surrounding us, and I wondered for a second if it tried to pull us in because of its jealousy. I laughed a little at that thought, and also gave Adrian a quick kiss on the lips.

We slowly made it out of the water, on the shore, our fingers collided together, and he squeezed my hand tightly, like he was afraid I might've escaped , like I was about to fly away like a trapped bird. But I didn't, I squeezed his hand back, praying he'd never let me go. He grabbed his shirt from the ground and threw it over his shoulders, and I was only then aware of the coldness that made my body shiver. Adrian took my hand again and led me inside the cabin, that bright smile never leaving his face. Truth was, I couldn't stop smiling either, probably because my mind was finally shut down, and I was no longer giving out, denying everything, I was just giving in.

He closed the door behind us, turning to me, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw him bend down, leaning with one arm against the wall and his other hand cupping my cheek. I eyed his lips, waiting for him to lean closer and close the gap between us, but he didn't. He just looked at me, keeping my gaze and I wished right there to know how to capture moments like that one, and revisit them forever. I wished eyes could take pictures. Because the way he looked at me that night made me feel immortal, it made me feel alive, so alive, so very, very alive. But I knew I was never going to be able to compare the way I felt that night, the way he undid the little left of my composure. He suddenly backed away, and I felt something ache in my chest, like the most beautiful thing had been taken away from me.

"There's one of my T-Shirts in the other room," I heard him speak softly, almost whispering. "You can go and sleep in there. I'll take the couch."

I nodded, again not able to say anything else, and he took a step closer, leaning in a little till our lips brushed softly against each other.

"Good night, Melody." He whispered against my lips.

"Good night." I muttered back, and made my way to the other room, closing the door behind me, my fingers flying instantly to my lips to reminding myself it was real, it was all real. I felt the sudden urge to laugh, to laugh about all that happened that night, and I wondered for a second if the next day, all those feelings were going to stick with me or not.

As soon as I changed into Adrian's shirt, I threw myself on the bed, wondering how I was going to get any sleep that night since I felt so awake. And apparently I was right, I managed to drift off to sleep around 3 am, and woke up the next day pretty early. I looked at my phone to check the time, and saw that it was 10 am already, which meant we had to leave asap so that I wouldn't get in a fight with mom again. I got up from the bed and changed in the dress I wore the previous day and made my way to the couch Adrian was sleeping on. I kneeled beside the couch and watched him sleep for a few seconds, his lips slightly parted and his face so peaceful .I poked him with my finger, trying to wake him up and his eyes flew open. As soon as he saw me there, laughing at his confused expression, he returned my smile.

"That's a nice view to wake up to." He said in a sleepy voice.

"We should get going." I whispered, and he nodded, getting up from the couch and putting on his shirt.

In a few minutes we were ready to go, and we made it out of the house and to Adrian's bike, but before I climbed on it, I turned around to look at the whole view again, feeling like I was leaving Wonderland behind. We were silent the whole road, none of us daring to say anything, me because I was starting to question the events from last night, and him because he was probably trying to figure out if I regretted it or not. Truth was I didn't know either. None of us knew what we'd done .All of my thoughts were a blur, and I didn't know how to put them into place and what to do next, what to say or how to react, so I kept my mouth shut, hoping he would too.

In ten minutes we made it to front of my house and I climbed off his bike, opening my mouth to say something but he stopped me, speaking first.

"Before you say anything just hear me out. Okay?" I nodded and he continued. "We don't have to talk about what happened last night, it's clearly you have things to figure out and I promised I'll wait. But I just want you to know I hope you don't regret it, because last night was the most alive I've ever been in my whole life. I know there's nothing I can do to convince you that I'm not just trying to mess around with you, so I won't insist. The only thing I have to tell you is that I think we both need each other right now." He made a pause, then spoke again. "The coin is flipping in the air, Mel, and you have to call heads or tails sooner or later."

He then turned around, not giving me a chance to say something else and drove away, leaving me gaping.

For the rest of the day, it was like my mind didn't know what else to do than think about Adrian and what my next move was going to be. I was afraid I was going to do this the wrong way, but maybe wrong was the only way to do it.

What's it gonna be, Mel, heads or tails?

 

17: Chapter 16 . Wicked Game

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

I always saw myself as a strong character, as someone who couldn't be controlled by anyone, and whose romantic life consisted only of usual girls picked up from the bar, whom I left the next day with no explanation. So imagine my surprise when a single person could break me so easily. Because somehow, I knew since I met Melody that I was walking on thin ice that was going to break sooner or later. Even though I saw it coming, it still scared me. That's why I didn't understand Mel's acting, I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and talk some sense in that stubborn head of hers, and tell her she wasn't the only one scared, I was too, but unlike her, I didn't let fear blind me or interfere with my actions. I tried to be as patient as one could be, and even though she was afraid I was lying to her, I understood that too, I never put pressure on her, and just like I promised, I wasn't the one to initiate anything. Just like Melody, I was afraid of the unknown too, because that's how things were with us, unknown, strange and possibly dangerous, but I was also uplifted by it, the freedom of it, the freedom of the loss of control and uncertainty. I couldn't do anything but accept what was already happening. I knew she was going to drown me and I couldn't run.

After the night at the lake, the morning after the kiss when I drove her home, she turned to me and started speaking in that voice that people use when they are about to break you apart. That's why I had to interrupt her. I'd be damned if I let her ruin the previous night with words she probably didn't mean, and even though I was tired of waiting around, I gave her more time to figure things out. But I didn't have to figure out anything, I knew exactly what I wanted, no matter how much it terrified me. So I spent the weekend before that trying not to ruin the day I had with Melody and that kiss by thinking too much about it. Even if there still wasn't a conclusion to our story, I was happy that at least I knew it was going somewhere. I was in a surprisingly good mood, I spent most of the weekend playing guitar, trying to make up for the lost time and enjoying the look on mom's face when I told her I started singing again.

"I have a feeling this has something to do with Melody," mom said after I told her I picked up playing guitar again. I shrugged, not looking her in the eyes, though I couldn't help but smile slightly. Actually, since the day after Melody and I kissed, I couldn't stop smiling at all. "I don't know what she's doing to you, honey," she continued. "But I hope she keeps on doing it."

I hope so too.

Sunday evening, while I was heading to the coffee shop to take my shift, I called Paul and told him to meet me that night so we could finally go out, just the two of us.

"Oh, Your Majesty," I heard him say sarcastically at the other end of the line. "You finally have some time for a poor John Doe like me?"

"Take it or leave it, John Doe. So, eight o'clock, same bar?"

"Sorry, bro, I can't tonight." he said, even though he sounded entirely unapologetic.

"Oh , really?" I asked surprised. "And what are you doing tonight then, if I may ask?"

"Well, I think I'm going to read for the elderly, maybe later save a puppy from a building on fire. Don't ask stupid question, you idiot! What could I possibly do on a Sunday night? I have a date with the paintball chick I told you about."

"Paul Anderson, are you breaking your number one rule, bros before hoes?" I said to irritate him

"Look who's talking now!" Paul snapped. "Where have you been for the past few days, huh? You broke the golden rule first, with the exact same girl. Therefore, constitutionally and justifiably, I am authorized to break it too."

"Okay, fine, fine," I rushed to say. "Don't go all lawyerly on my ass. I guess we'll leave it for another time."

"Actually, I think I can come by in an hour at the coffee shop."

"Great, see you later then!" I said before I hung up, just as I arrived at the coffee shop.

Paul entered the shop ,an hour later just like he promised, and I went to sit at a booth with him, asking one of my co-workers, Natalie, to cover for me.

"Hey there, waitress," Paul greeted me with a smile as soon as I sat down. "Care to serve me with some coffee?"

"You know you still have to pay, right?" I rolled my eyes, getting up to bring him the coffee.

"After all these years you worked here, I never got a free drink," Paul said, getting five dollars out of his wallet, and instead of handing it to me, he put the bill in the pocket of my apron and winked. "Buy yourself something nice of the change, doll face"

I shook my head amused since I was all too familiar with his mocking, went to ask Natalie to make a coffee for Paul, his usual, and went back to the table.

"So what's new in Wonderland, buddy?" Paul spoke up, not looking at me while he texted something on his phone. "How did the birthday plan go with Melody?"

"Better than I expected," I admitted, smirking. "We had a great time there, we chatted all day and she's not even that mad about the Halloween fight."

"Really, she told you that?" Paul questioned, still not taking his eyes off his phone's screen.

"No, I just supposed since, at the end of the day we kissed." I said matter-of-factly, watching his reaction contently.

He finally looked up from his phone, putting it down and a smile already forming on his face.

"Really, you're serious? Score, dude!" he said enthusiastically, holding up his hand for a high-five. I shook my head, leaving him with his hand in the air."Come on, dude, this deserves a high-five!"

"Eh, what the hell." I laughed, finally high-fiving him back.

"That's why you've been smiling so smugly around all day, huh?" Paul remarked. "Well, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of you getting together with someone, even someone like Melody, I'm happy if you're happy."

It was funny how only two months before, I was thinking the same as Paul. Every time people talked about relationships and love, I shook my head and said those things were not for me, that it was just an unnecessary trouble. I saw a relationship as two poor deluded persons, grasping at some unrealistic ideal which, sure, sounded good in a poetry book. But then, somehow, everything changed and the cynic had become the converted and, with Melody, it didn't seem that much of a trouble, but it just seemed natural. And I was sure it was going to change for Paul too, whether if he wanted it to or not.

"Thanks, buddy." I smiled brightly at him.

We moved to another subject and for another couple of minutes, he told me how it was all settled for him to leave to San Francisco in a couple of months to go to law school and I wondered for a second what was going to happen with our friendship after that. There was no chance I could go to San Francisco with him to study music since I didn't want to leave mom all by herself, so the only way we would get to talk was going to be over the phone or when he'd come to visit his grandparents, but I knew that was enough to keep our friendship going. And then, reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Melody was going to drift off to college too and I hadn't thought about that before. And I knew a few phone calls were not going to be enough to keep us going, to keep me going.

"I'm never going to see Melody again." I whispered under my breath, not realizing I had interrupted Paul.

"What?" he asked as soon as he saw I wasn't listening anymore.

"Melody, she's leaving to college too, in a few months. I'm never going to see her again."

"So what? You knew this thing had no future." he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "You knew that, right?"

"Obviously not, at least not until now. That's why she was trying to push me away from her, she knew. She knew she was going to leave and we're never going to see each other again. It wasn't just the fact that she thought I was messing around with her."

"You know what, bro?" Paul snapped at me. "I'm tired to hear about your little troubles in paradise. All you seem to do recently is talk about her, how great she is and lovey-dovey crap like that. I bet you can't even stay away for a few days from her. You're both so obsessed and so caught up in your own little world."

"That's not true! I can if I want to."

"Oh, really?" Paul said incredulously. "Since you're so sure, want to bet about it? If you can live without seeing her for a whole week, you win. If not, you lose. "

"What do you get out of that?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He pondered for a few seconds, pursing his lips and then a smile twitched the corners of his mouth.

"If you win the bet, I give you 50 bucks. If I win, which is more likely to happen, you also give me 50 bucks, plus Melody's sister's number." he said, slamming his palm on the table, then offered his hand to seal the deal.

I groaned. "So you're still hooked up on that?"

Paul shrugged nonchalantly, smiling. "Well, you know me. So, bet or not, Hayes?"

I eyed his hand skeptically for a few seconds, but eventually accepted and shook it. "Fine, it's your money to lose because I'm one hundred percent sure I can do this."

Paul huffed. "We'll see about that, buddy. Remember, that's an entire week when you can't see Melody or even talk about her."

"You didn't mention anything about talking about it."

"Especially not talking about her, it's annoying. For a week, the girl is The-One-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Paul said dramatically, whispering the last part.

"Are you saying Melody is Lord Voldemort?" I asked amused, raising an eyebrow.

Paul fake gasped in shock. "You said his name!"

"You're twenty two years old, and yet still the biggest geek I know." I said, getting up from my seat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work. See you around, buddy."

"Later." Paul said, raising two fingers to his forehead and saluting me before he took off.

Even though I wasn't going to admit it to Paul, the whole bet was not going to be easy, and I was not sure if 50 bucks were worth it. But I'd be damned if I was going to let him win. Maybe the fact that I wasn't going to see her for a week would do us both some good and give us time to think through before rushing into something stupid. But over thinking was actually the last thing I wanted to do right then, I loved the fact that whenever it came to Melody, the rational part of me seemed to shut down for a while, and not being around her for a whole week could bring my annoying subconscious back from the death. But I wasn't going to back down anyway, so I shrugged those thoughts off and decided to wait for another week to see what was going to happen.

That night, after I got home, I remembered I hadn't thought about what reason I could give to Melody for not driving her to school for a whole week. After dinner, when I got up to my room, I thought that maybe I could tell her I wanted to earn some extra money and take the morning shifts at the coffee house, so I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and dialed her number. She was a little surprised at first to see me calling her, but as soon as I told her what it was about, she said it was fine and that I could take all the time I needed.

"Are you sure? I mean, after all that happened –" I trailed off, a little disappointed by the calmness in her tone.

"Of course I'm sure," Melody said, a little bit too cheerfully. "And it's not like there's something you can do about it, you need the money. Maybe it will do us some good."

I frowned at her words, wanting to ask what she meant with that, but deciding against it since it was still too early to talk about what had happened that Friday.

"Okay then," I sighed. "I guess I'll see you next Monday."

"Sure stuff. Bye!" And with that, Melody hung up.

Again, I stopped myself from questioning her attitude or starting to over think things, so I just shrugged it all off, bracing myself for a Melody-free week.

Day one was the hardest. Without setting my alarm clock, I woke up at 7 am, the usual hour for when I went to pick Melody up, but then went back to bed when I remembered I didn't have to wake up early anymore, not for a whole week at least. But I couldn't bring myself to shut down my thoughts and sleep, I wanted to screw Paul and his 50 bucks, I had to see her, especially after all the things that were happening between us. But I still had a point to prove, so I helped myself. The rest of the days weren't easy either, but somehow, I managed to resist for a whole week without seeing her. She didn't show up at the coffee house or at my house, which meant she was probably enjoying the no seeing thing, and even though I refused to admit it to anyone, even myself, that thought bugged me more than it should have. What were we going to say to each other on Monday, when I would drive her to school?

On the sixth day, the finale one, Paul came by at the coffee shop, when I was almost done with my night shift.

"It seems like you're going to lose the bet, mate." I told him proudly, grinning.

"Apparently." he sighed.

"What makes you so sure I haven't seen her this whole week though? Maybe I went to pick her up every morning without you knowing."

"I know you didn't, Melody told me." Paul said matter-of-factly.

"What?" I shrieked. "You saw her?" He nodded, and I continued. "Did you tell her about the bet?"

"Of course I didn't, Adrian, I'm not dumb. I just randomly ran into her yesterday and I asked her how things have been going between the two of you, and she said she hasn't seen you for a whole week. So I know you're not lying."

"Did she tell you something else?" I asked slyly, trying to sound casual. Paul laughed out loud.

"Grow a pair, dude! I'm not going to tell you what your crush thinks of you."

"She's not my crush!" I protested. "Oh, really?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow. "Them what is she?"

"She's my…" I stumbled for a few seconds, trying to find a word, and smiled a little at the moment of déjà-vu. "…something."

"Tell Melody that and hear what she has to say about her being your something. Smooth, bro! Anyway, I should get going. Congratulations for almost winning the bet!"

"What do you mean almost? I won, fair and square."

"The week is not over." he said before going his own way.

I shrugged his weird attitude off, thinking that was just how Paul was, and went to finish my shift. In about an hour, when it was getting a little dark outside and there was no client left in the coffee house, I promised Natalie I would stay and finish cleaning up and let her go home earlier. Just when I was almost done and turned off all the lights, I heard a thunder from outside and went to stare out the window, only to see it had suddenly started raining heavily, cold drops hitting the pavement. I pushed open a window to let a little fresh air in and I could hear the rain, the faint, whispering patter. The storm darkened the sky, and the only things that lightened the inside of the coffee shop were the street lamps. I decided not to go home right away and wait for the rain to stop, and I knew the perfect way to kill time until then. I went behind the counter and searched for a bottle of whiskey that me and some of my coworkers had hidden in a secret drawer. I poured myself a glass and turned on a radio from nearby, only in time to hear one of my favorite songs, Wicked Game, being played right then. I went to sit in one of the booths near the window, and watched the rain drops race on the window.

Just when I was almost done with my drink and got up to pour another one, I saw someone run in the rain, crossing the street and stopping right in front of the coffee house, trying to get in but failing since I had locked the door. Because of the dark, I could only tell that it was a woman, and when I opened the door and was about to say we were closed, I was left gaping since the person standing in front of me, soaking wet, was none other than Melody.

There goes my bet, was my first thought, and before I even had the chance to say something, Melody spoke first.

"You're here." she gasped out and, next thing I knew, she was laughing out loud. "I can't believe you're actually here, I thought I came too late and that you probably went home."

And she started laughing again, almost hysterically, so I stepped aside to let her come in.

"Are you okay?" I asked carefully as soon as she stopped laughing, even though a smile was still playing on her lips. Right then, a funny thought crossed in my mind. That smile, the genuine and natural smile looked like the exact same one she gave me the first day we met, the one that made me come back, the one that brought me to my circumstances. I shook that thought off and focused on a bigger issue, why she was there. Even though I knew I had lost my bet, I was genuinely happy to see her, even though she looked like she had lost her mind.

Melody nodded eagerly, still smiling. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just needed to talk to you."

"Are you out of your mind? It's like Noah's flood outside and it's dark. You came all the way here only to talk to me? Couldn't it have waited till tomorrow?"

Her eyes started to drift downward, then back on me again. "No, it couldn't." she simply stated, after being silent for an excruciatingly long time.

Why couldn't it have? Maybe because she never wants to see me again, a voice, who sounded suspiciously like Paul, whispered inside my head. But then why was she smiling?

I gestured for her to take a seat, but she shook her head, tucking a curl of her wet hair behind her ear. I looked at her, thinking maybe that was going to be the last time I would ever see Melody, and tried to memorize every single detail of her. If she told me she didn't want to be with me or have me around, then I had nothing left to do. So I braced myself for the speech to come, knowing she was going to start again in that voice people used before they broke you apart.

"I'm listening." I said, crossing my arms against my chest and standing only a few feet away from her. A few moments of silence followed, when Melody opened and closed her mouth several times before she started speaking again.

"Can you believe I had an entire speech prepared that now I remember nothing of?" she said, not looking me in the eyes.

Of course she had a speech prepared, she had to come up with a way to tell me she didn't want to see me again, or worse, to tell me we could still be friends.

"I've been thinking for the past week about what happened, Adrian," she started again, voice soft. "Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to say to you the following day, when you were going to come and pick me up. I was probably going to say I needed more time to figure things out. But then something, someone, made me change my mind, and all of a sudden, I knew exactly what I have to say and do." She paused, finally looking at me, smiling again. "I don't need you, Adrian."

First shot fired.

"And you came here only to tell me this? Again, I don't see why it couldn't have waited till tomorrow. " I said, trying to sound casual.

"Let me finish!" she told me, then continued. "The morning after we kissed, when you left me home, you told me you think we both need each other. That's not true, Adrian, I don't need you."

I still couldn't understand why she was smiling.

"Needing you would be suffocating," she spoke frantically, her eyes dancing with a glint of joy, then hurried to continue. "I don't want to need you, and I don't want you to need me either. It would be a hell of a pressure on both of us, and I would hate myself for bringing you or me in that state of reliance. That's what I kept telling myself the whole time after I heard you say those words to me, and then a whole week passed when I didn't see you and I realized what not being around you does to me. I didn't lie when I said I don't need you, truly, I don't. But then I realized there's nothing wrong with wanting you .I want to be around you and it feels so goddamn right to say it out loud." She stopped to take a deep breath then continued, speaking just as eagerly. "I don't need you to be there, I just want you to be. I'm exhausted from pretending I don't have feelings for you, I was so afraid of what could happen if I admitted all these things to you, or even myself, and yet here I am, no longer pretending and I feel like I was being stupid for not doing it earlier."

Again, a long pause followed, and the only sound ringing in the cafeteria was the rain and Melody's heavy intakes of breath.

"I also realized something else as I was coming down here. I realized I'm sorry for all the things I did for the past couple of weeks. I pushed you away because I didn't know if you were being honest or not, so I tried to find you flaws and sometimes even be angry at you for no apparent reason, and I'm sorry for not saying these things earlier. I'm sorry for all of that. But strangely enough, I'm not sorry for the fact that I kissed you, I'm not sorry for what happened that night. Hell, I'm not sorry for running all the way here in the rain like a lunatic just because I had to talk to you." She stopped again to catch her breath and looked at me for a second, frowning a little, and laughed humorlessly. "I've been rambling on for a few minutes and I probably don't make any sense. Point is, Adrian," she took a step forward, still holding my gaze. "I know there are no guarantees for us, but maybe that's how it should be. There are songs that make more sense when you're singing them and words that fit into place when you say them. So I'm finally ready to take this leap if you are."

And this time she stopped for good, watching my reaction intently, but I just stood there gaping, not knowing what to tell her after all the things she already said to me, because every word seem useless and meaningless. She had finally done what I'd been waiting all along, she took the step forward. Was I ready to take mine?

"You told me two weeks ago to say when," Mel said, almost whispering, her voice echoed by the rain. "And I'm saying now."

And yes, it looked like I was ready.

In a matter of seconds, I took a step forward and closed the gap between us, pulled her into my arms and crashed our lips together. And just like a week ago, we started fires when we kissed. The sound of the rain faded, everything else faded, everything except her. Melody responded just as fiercely, grabbing me by the collar and standing on her tiptoes. I could taste the rain on her lips and even though she was soaking wet, she still smelled like mint and vanilla .We finally broke the kiss, both gasping for air and Mel rested her forehead against mine, smiling widely and wrapping her hands around my neck.

"So we're really going to do this." Was the only thing I could manage to get out.

She nodded slowly, laughing breathlessly and leaning in for another soft kiss. "Seems like it."

I forced myself to back away for real this time, reaching for her hand and pulling her towards the door. "Come on, I'll get you home."

Melody's house wasn't so far away from the coffee house, but it was still raining pretty heavily and none of us had an umbrella. So we stopped at the doorstep and after I locked the door, I took her hand again and looked down at her, grinning.

"Ready?"

"Ready." Melody said, returning my smile, before we both started running in the rain, hand in hand, till we reached her house almost immediately.

We stopped a few blocks away from her home, and instead of letting go of my hand and going home, she stood on her tiptoes again and brought our lips together for another passionate kiss. We both lost track of time once more, forgetting the fact that we were standing in the cold, autumn rain, and she was the one to pull away this time.

"Adrian – "she gasped out my name and I wished I hadn't seen the look on her face, because she was giving me a strange sort of smile that seemed to say I can't stay long, and my heart beat faster at the , she continued, in a more serious voice. "We have an expiration date. You know that, right?"

I tightened my grip on her, as if I hadn't, she would disappear or vanish in front of my eyes. I nodded and placed another quick kiss on her lips before speaking.

"I know," I paused, leaning for another quick kiss. "But you're here and right now, you're not going anywhere and neither am I. We don't have to talk about it, not now. Okay?"

She also nodded before backing away a little and letting go of my hand. "Sounds like a plan."

And with a flashed smile, she turned on her heels and headed home and I also went my own way. We didn't have to talk about it right then, but we both knew we had to sooner or later, more likely later. But I was determined to make the most of the little time we had left.

The next day, right before I was about to take my shift, I stopped by Paul's house and found him in his room, sitting on his bed with a laptop on his lap.

"What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be at the coffee house?" he asked the minute he saw me, turning off his laptop.

"I just stopped by to give you this." I said, handing him a 50 dollars bill. "And I suppose I also have to get you Diana's phone number."

"You son of a bitch," Paul said playfully, grinning from ear to ear. "You couldn't help yourself for one more day."

"Well, you know me." I said before turning away and leaving.

I smiled to myself, thinking that finally, in a very long time, the future looked promising.

 

18: Chapter 17. Trouble I'm In

                                                                                                                                  ~DECEMBER~

MELODY'S P.O.V

Did you ever feel as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Like some sort of extra power that you aren't using, but when you do, everything changes. Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very ,very long time, or the first bite of your favorite food when you're really hungry, or finally seeing the bus pull over into the station after you waited for a very long time. Then put all those together. Because that's exactly how I felt when I finally admitted my feelings for Adrian, like I was finally using the energy I had wasted for so long. And I couldn't be more relieved, but also, slightly terrified.

I knew we had agreed on not talking about what we'd do after I was going to drift to college, and that was exactly why I was afraid. I couldn't let myself get too attached or be delusional since in a couple of months I would have to leave and he would have to stay. We couldn't take the same road. As I said, I knew that, Adrian did, too, but frankly, none of us gave a damn. I avoided thinking about it as hard as I could, but no matter what I portrayed, I knew I was not falling in love, I was just falling to pieces. It was like when you hear the thunder and you know that any second you'll see lightning tearing across the sky, nipping at the clouds with its teeth. Irrevocable. Hopeless. Thrillingly beautiful. But it was too late to back down, we were already driving down a dead-end street, reaching the point of no return. And I couldn't care less.

And even if our attitude wasn't the healthiest, it sure seemed to work out pretty well by then. It was almost the end of December, just a few days before Christmas, and we were already in winter's break at school, which meant in those two weeks, I could barely take some time off to meet with Adrian since he didn't drive me to school anymore. I hadn't seen him for almost a whole week since mom always found some home preparations for Christmas that I could help her with. I could barely find time to even meet up with Mina and Hope, with Adrian, it was even worse. There was never enough time for him. So, one day, I decided to pay him a visit at the coffee house right when I knew he was finishing his shift. The only problem was that the same day, I forgot I had made plans with Mina and Hope, and I didn't want to call it off. Therefore, to have it both ways, I explained the situation to the girls and they offered to come to the coffee house with me.

"So what's really going on between you guys?" Mina asked me as we were making our way to the coffee house. "Are you two for real?"

"It seems like it's about to snow today." I said, looking up at the sky and trying to avoid the subject.

"Don't change the subject!" Hope warned, hooking her hand around my arm. "Answer the question, Mel! Are you or are you not together?"

I shrugged, not liking where it was going at all. "I don't know, I guess you could say that. We haven't exactly talked about it, we just surrendered to an impulse and we'll see where that'll take us. But he sure does feel like the realest thing that has ever happened to me."

"You'll have to talk about it sooner or later." Mina retorted, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "You know he'll stay here and you'll go to college. What are you guys going to do about that? How is this thing going to end? Doesn't that thought scare you?"

"It doesn't," I lied. "You know why? Because I refuse to think about it now, it's too soon. And you should also stop bugging me about it."

"But – "

"Let her be, Mina!" Hope stepped in, nudging Mina playfully. "I like Adrian. I like the whole rough-around-the-edges thing he's got going on. It makes him look even hotter."

"I like it too." I smiled, more to myself.

"Oh, I bet." Hope smirked.

We walked in silence after that, and in a few minutes we almost reached the coffee shop. Before we entered, I heard Mina sigh beside me.

"Can your smile grow any wider?" she mumbled under her breath and I heard Hope snort back a laugh. "How long has it been since you last saw him, anyway?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "A couple of days, I guess."

"It must've been agony." Hope teased.

"Mock all you want, girls, mock all you want." I said as we finally made it inside.

My eyes wandered around the room when I finally spotted him, right when he was taking off his apron and putting it on the counter, a few steps ahead of us and with his back turned to me. It stopped. Everything around me stopped existing the minute I saw him and I felt like I could let the rest of the world drop dead right there, in front of my eyes, it still wouldn't matter, just because he was there and I was, too. I took advantage of the fact that Adrian had no idea I was there and took him by surprise and jumped on his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders.

"Surprise!" I said childishly and laughter shook the shape of his body.

"And you wonder why I'm calling you squirrel." he said and I could tell from his tone that he was smiling.

I climbed off his back as he finally turned to face me. He looked so devilishly handsome, with his stylishly- messy hair and his unshaven beard that he had started to grow right after I told him I liked it when he didn't shave.

"Hello, gorgeous." he said and it felt like I barely had any time to blink before I was caught in his arms.

"Hey." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck again and inhaling the scent of him. My entire body was humming with feelings so intense it almost made me think I could melt right there as his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer. I felt sideswiped, with no control over my emotions, and just like I did every time I was with Adrian, I allowed my skin to ignite and my brain to shut down.

"What are you doing here?" he asked and my stomach fluttered when he leaned down and brought his mouth a breath away from mine.

"I thought we could pay you a visit." I answered, trying to close the gap between us, but he pulled away slightly.

"We?" he questioned, and right when the word escaped his mouth, I heard Hope clear her throat behind us.

"Get a room, you two, there are people trying to eat in here!" Mina mocked us and pulled me back from Adrian, grabbing me by the shoulders.

"You brought company, I see." Adrian sighed and I mouthed the word sorry when the girls had their backs turned to me, but he just waved me off, smiling. I was right, there was never enough time for Adrian.

"She brought the freaking CSI, so take a seat! We have a whole interrogation prepared." Hope said in a serious voice, even though I knew she was joking and trying to mess with him.

"Fair enough," Adrian rolled his eyes, smiling, and we all went to sit at a booth. Just like I expected, Mina and Hope made sure I wasn't going to sit next to Adrian, so we ended up sitting across from each other.

"So, lover boy," Hope started, looking at Adrian sideways, trying to sound serious. "What are truly your intentions with our beloved friend?"

"Here we go," I muttered under my breath.

Adrian laughed, crossing his arms against his chest. "I think that if I wanted to be asked that, I would've already met her parents."

Mina tsked, shaking her head. "He's avoiding the answer. Fine, another question, do you see this going somewhere?"

I saw Adrian roll his eyes and turning to look at me. "A little help here?" he pleaded helplessly.

"You're on your own, buddy," I snickered, getting up from my seat. "I'll go love me some fries."

I went at one of Adrian's coworkers, Natalie, and ordered myself some French fries and a latte, then went back our table to find them arguing about something.

"That's not true!" Adrian said just as I was sitting down.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, putting down the fries and the drink, but they ignored me, continuing their argument.

"Fine," Hope spat. "If you say it's not true, then what's her favorite movie?"

"Hope said Adrian doesn't know you well enough, Adrian said it's not true," Mina cleared it out for me. "And now I guess they're having a Melody Hathaway pop quiz."

I laughed, a little curious myself, and waited for Adrian's answer, which came quickly.

"That's easy," he smirked victoriously. "It's Rock of ages. Boom, suck it!"

"Yeah, baby," I cheered and high fived Adrian.

"Not so fast, lover boy," Hope hurried to say. "She pretends her favorite movie it's Rock of ages, when it's actually – "

"August rush." Mina finished for her, and they also gave each other a high five.

"You're a bunch of weirdoes, "I said while stuffing some more fries in my mouth.

"That's not fair, it was a tricky question." Adrian protested again.

"Then I guess I was right after all, you don't know her well enough." Hope smiled.

I threw him an apologetic look and shrugged. "Sorry, Groot, but these girls know me better than I do."

Adrian rolled his eyes and tried to fight back the smile playing on his lips. "I still got time to know you, don't I?" he said, winking at me, while Mina and Hope scoffed muttered 'lame' under their breaths.

Mina and Hope gave Adrian a break after that, and we all chatted for a few more minutes, when all of a sudden, I felt someone brush their foot against mine, tickling me slightly and I flinched.

"Don't do that!" I warned, looking at Adrian who stared back at me with a frown between his eyebrows.

"Do what?" he asked confused.

"You know what. Don't do it anymore!"

He looked like he was about to say something else, but probably decided against it since he remained silent. A few moments passed while we kept on chatting when I felt again the shift of Adrian's leg pressing against mine, tickling me. I shot a glance at him and he only shrugged, just as confused.

"Seriously, dude, stop! I'm ticklish" I insisted, more irritated.

"Dudette, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not doing anything!" Adrian snapped back but I just rolled my eyes and continued to eat.

But there had barely passed two minutes when I felt Adrian's foot brush against mine again, only this time, without warning, I kicked him back under the table.

"Ow!" he cried in pain. "What the hell was that for?"

"For playing footsies under the table, that's what it was for." I said, and just as the words came out of my mouth, Mina and Hope burst out laughing. "Wait, that was you, Hope?" I asked confused and she could barely manage to stop laughing and nod.

"See? Told you it wasn't me," Adrian said, "But remind me to never play footsies with you."

"Sorry." I said, barely holding back my laughter.

After that, the conversation slipped back to normal, when suddenly, Mina took her phone out of her pocket and started searching through it, then turned to look at Adrian.

"You don't know what you've gotten yourself into, Adrian," she told him, still searching through her phone, and Adrian arched an eyebrow at her words. "But I'm about to show you with these pictures."

"Oh, no!" I groaned, knowing what Mina was about to show him. "I should've foreseen this, shouldn't I?"

"Poor guy has to know his shit." Hope smirked, winking at me.

Mina probably found those embarrassing pictures of me since she handed her phone to Adrian. "So, this is Melody when she laughed so hard that her mascara was running down her face and she looked like Frankenstein's wife."

Adrian threw his head back laughing at the picture, and Mina continued to look for some more embarrassing photos with me.

"Oh, look, and there's the picture I took the day we doubled dared her to fit as much pasta as she could in her mouth. And here is the one I took when we decorated the Christmas tree at school and Melody wore the Christmas globes as earnings."

And it went like that for a few more minutes, when Mina finally decided to stop.

"And those were just from the first years of high school." she said, putting back her phone in the pocket.

"Oh, man, you have to send me those pictures!" Adrian said, still laughing. "Now I have blackmail material for my entire life."

"You know what I should do?" I finally spoke. "I should ask Paul for embarrassing pictures of you. Or no, even better, I should ask your mom."

And just like that, his smile vanished.

"Please don't."

"Challenge accepted. " I smirked.

"Don't forget to show us, too." Hope cut in and we all started laughing again. Mina and Hope started telling stories about our years in high school, and Adrian remained silent for the rest of the conversation, listening intently and laughing at the stories.

After a while, I stopped listening to their stories and let the words fly past me, so instead I just resigned myself to look at him, at the way the corners of his mouth twitched into a smirk or his eyes sparkled every time he laughed at a joke. Those simple actions were enough to strike a match inside my veins, but also enough to make me question my thoughts or the abnormal influence he had on me. It shouldn't have been like
that.

Not falling in love, but falling to pieces, I reminded myself.

I would've given anything for things to be different, but I knew we had both agreed we shouldn't get too attached since that meant no good. Nine months. That's all we had and it wasn't much, not as much as it seemed to be in the beginning anyway. Time was a cruel, twisted punishment, it moved so fast in our moments of glory, but insanely slow in our worse ones. Was there something more terrifying than knowing how it ends? Was it worth it?

Almost as if he could hear my thoughts, his eyes dropped on me and his mouth softened into a reassuring smile that made the demons of insecurity vanish. Just for a moment only. I reached for Adrian's hand over the table and gave it a squeeze before turning to listen to the story the girls were telling. Hope was speaking frantically about how excited she was that we were going to drift to college together and had already started to make plans. I let them ramble like that for a few more minutes, trying to stay out of that conversation and to avoid talking about college with Adrian there, listening. That was supposed to be a forbidden subject between us. But eventually, they noticed the awkward silence that was starting to fill the air, and Hope turned to speak to me and Adrian.

"Have you guys thought about what you're going to do after Mel leaves to San Francisco?"

"Huh, it looks like it's about to snow outside." Adrian said awkwardly, trying to change the subject and looked out the window, while I tapped my fingers nervously on the table, looking away.

"Are you guys serious, you still haven't talked about it?" Mina retorted.

"It would be easier if you clear things from the beginning, don't you think?" Hope also cut in.

"Yeah, we gotta go." I sighed, getting up from my seat and grabbing my coat, then turned to Adrian. "Shall we?"

"You betcha, squirrel, let's go!" Adrian said, also getting up from his seat and grabbing my hand. "Later!"

And before Mina and Hope had a chance to say something else, we made it out of the coffee house as fast as we could. There passed a few, awkward, seconds of silence, probably both of us trying to find something else to talk about, and eventually, I was the one to break the silence.

"We don't have to talk about it, right?" I started, a little bit uncertain, looking at him sideways.

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe we should, try to clear things out."

"What is it there to clear out? I'm happy. Aren't you happy?" I snapped a little at him, harsher than I intended. It would be a lie to say I didn't have unanswered questions myself that I wanted so badly to clarify. I was terrified of everything and terrified to show it. But what was going to happen after I found my answers and maybe I didn't like them? Why couldn't I allow myself a break of worries and insecurities, without thinking of the consequences? I wanted to let my heart have its say and my mind stay idly by. My mind could be strong enough to be silent for a while.

"Of course I'm happy, Mel," Adrian spoke slowly. "But it won't be like this forever –"

"Please Adrian," I interrupted and stopped walking, putting myself in his way and taking his face in my hands. "Let it go, please, just let it go. Okay?"

"You're right, I'm sorry." he sighed. "We're just going to waste time if we talk about it. And after all, we still have plenty of time left."

We were so stupid back then, thinking that we had a lot of time left and that when the parting time was going to come, we would just split, with no remorse left. It was nothing like that. We were so deluded to believe it could be different.

"Exactly," I whispered, standing on my tiptoes, and brought my mouth right to the corner of his, but not touching it yet. And just like that, I was spinning with delirium. His hands flew at my waist and mine around his neck, and we were smiling dumbly at each other, in the middle of the street, in the freezing weather. I felt something unspoken inside of me, standing at the edge of my lips, dying to get out, but I couldn't tell for sure what is was. I was dying to tell him a lot of things, but I was also afraid to, afraid that if I said them all, it would change everything. So I kept my mouth shut and got lost in the scent of him, in the feeling of safety he inspired in me, until there was once again no space left between us. Our bodies crushed together and my lips responded just as fiercely against his, just as urgently. He could destroy me with only his lips and I could get lost in an exhilaration of a moment I never knew was possible. My heart was beating so fast and I didn't understand why it was still working. I kissed away the insecurities and doubts, setting them on fire, until there was nothing left, but numb lips. We finally pulled back and gasped for air, but not letting go yet, and I saw in his eyes the same urge to say something that I also felt, but just like I did, he remained silent. We shouldn't have said anything, I shouldn't even have allowed myself to think about it.

Falling to pieces.

For a moment we were just staring at each other, breathing hard, until he closed his eyes and took one ragged, steadying breath, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I took one step back, locking our fingers together and started walking again, in silence, till we reached my house.

"I should get in," I said, turning to face Adrian. "Diana is probably waiting for me inside."

"Oh, that's right, she came for the holidays. How did she react when she found out you gave Paul her number?"

I laughed slightly at the memory. She made it really clear that she was pissed about it and that I had no right whatsoever to give her number away to a stranger, even though I pointed out that the stranger had saved her life after all. But when Adrian had told me about how Paul insisted to get my sister's phone number, I agreed in an instant, mainly because I thought Diana really needed someone to get her out of the safety zone and help her loosen up a little, and I was pretty sure that someone could be Paul. And Paul needed someone like Diana too, to prove him that not all girls were easy prey. So I came to the conclusion it was the best idea to set those two up.

"Let's say she's just not that fond of Paul," I answered with a smile, thinking that the explanation didn't precisely suffice it.

"That's an understatement." Adrian replied, rolling his eyes.

"What does he exactly want from my sister, anyway?"

He shrugged. "He's Paul, squirrel, you can never tell what he truly wants. But knowing him, I suppose nothing good."

"True," I laughed. "I still ship the two of them. I was actually there one time when they were talking on the phone. To be honest, it even amazed me that Diana answered him. I get that the first time she was probably still thankful that he saved her life and all, but I would've thought she had gotten tired of that bullshit after a while. But it's been a month since they started talking, and she told me he keeps asking her out, on a date."

"On a date?" Adrian repeated confused. "That's odd. Paul never went on a date."

"Apparently, he wants to go on a date with my sister, or so he claims."

"But does she want to?"

I wrinkled my nose. "She claims she doesn't, but I think she'll come around. And now I should really get inside, I'm freezing."

I tried to free my hand from his and started walking away, but he caught my wrist and turned me around in a swift movement, crashing our bodies together.

"Leaving so soon?" he whispered, his breath warm across my lips, and the scruff on his chin prickled my cheek. "When will I see you again?"

I wanted to tell him he sounded like a trashy-romance-novel hero, but then he leaned down and brought his mouth right to the corner of mine, teasing me. I wondered if I'd ever get tired of kissing him.

You're not falling in love, you're falling to pieces.

"I don't know," I whispered back, and we stood like that, tangled, for a few more seconds, teasing each other and playing with our noses. I grabbed him by the collar and kissed him slightly on the cheek. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

I tried to pull back again, but he tightened his grip on me, finally bringing our lips together.

"Not soon enough." Adrian said between my lips, voice barely above a whisper

And the answer was no, I could never get tired of kissing him. I was a balloon, he always had to be touching me, he always had to bold me down and keep me grounded.

We eventually pulled apart, and after I promised him I'd stop by at his house the next day, he went his own way while I went back in the house.

I didn't realize many things back then. I was still trying to understand why the sun gave away so much, and only wanted its name at the beginning of the week, or how could trees commit to love after learning that everything had temporary intentions. But with time, I understood, and I would do it all over again, I would go over all that followed next, baring the consequences, for only a breath of ecstasy. Because I knew, deep down, no matter what lies I told myself, that I was wrong. I was not falling to pieces. I was falling in love with Adrian Hayes.

19: Chapter 18 . Countdown

 

                                                                  I close my eyes and count to ten…

 

-JANUARY 2015-

                                                                      MELODY'S P.O.V.

 

"Because you smiled at me," Adrian leaned down to whisper in my ear, as we were lying in his bed, with my head resting on his chest and one of his arms wrapped around my shoulder.

Between school and home, I could barely find some spare time to come visit Adrian at the coffee shop or at his house. Every day, I was coming home from school tired and grumpy, and there was always some more homework to do, or some more studying for the SATs and even some more arguments with my parents. But not enough time for Adrian. Sure, I could see him every time he picked me up and drove me to school, but as I said, it was not enough. Ergo, trying to sneak around to see him had proven to be quite a bitch, especially when the clock was ticking on us. But there were moments like this one, when we could both find time to spend with each other, and everything was right in the world.

"What?" I asked confused, looking up to meet his eyes, only to find that he was already staring back at me, with an intensity that made my stomach flutter.

"Because you smiled at me," he repeated, this time more loudly, smirking. "That is why I decided to come back the day after we met. Because you smiled at me."

He paused, taking a strand of my hair and playing with it, then continued as he saw the furrow between my eyebrows.

"Do you remember how, after I drove you home, I was trying to convince you to tell me your name?" he asked, and after I told him I remembered, he spoke again. "Well, the whole time, you'd been acting like a total bitch, like I was the last person on the planet you wanted to see and the first one you wanted to punch. And then I remember I made that joke about how you could've kicked me in the nuts and ran with the chocolate, and you smiled. I saw that as a sign that I could get under your skin, like a sort of challenge, so I left my jacket on purpose, to have a reason to come back. If you think about it, I probably wouldn't have come back if it hadn't been for that smile .Weird, right?"

As a response, I leaned in and kissed him, taking his face in my hands and colliding out lips together.

Do you know how there are moments when the world moves so slowly you can feel your bones shifting, your mind tumbling? When you think that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will remember every last detail of that one minute forever?

That was one of those moments.

-FEBRUARY 2015-

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

"Try not to break any strings, squirrel," I warned Melody, as we were sitting on the couch of my living room, after she'd asked me to teach her the basics to playing guitar, even though I told her it required more than a few lessons and that it was a lot of work, but she insisted, so there we were. In return, Melody had promised to teach me some Russian, since her father spoke fluently and I always wanted to learn.

"This is really hard." Melody complained, sighing for the millionth time that day. "Can't we just skip to the part where I start wailing like Hendrix?" She ran her hand roughly over the strings roughly, making an awful sound. "It doesn't seem that hard."

I rolled my eyes. "First of all, you're not holding it right," I said, taking the guitar from her hands and turning it. "The smallest string should be pointed toward the ground, and the thickest string should be pointed up at the ceiling. Now, use your left hand to stabilize the neck and fret the strings, so that you can be able to move your hand up and down the neck without having to hold it up.

"This is boring." she grumbled, rolling her eyes.

I chuckled slightly. "And we're not even done yet, this is just the easy part."

I heard her mutter something angrily under her breath, in what I could assume was Russian.

"How dare you call me that?" I asked offended. "And what does it mean?"

Melody laughed. "I guess you'll never know."

"I'm starting to think you only know how to swear in Russian."

"And I'm starting to think that playing guitar it's really boring." she argued, putting down my guitar and getting up from the couch. "That's it, Groot, I'm giving up."

"Already? I mean, it was obvious that you were going to give up anyway, but not so soon."

She took her coat from a nearby chair and put it on, with her back turned to me. "I should probably go home anyway, it's getting late and mom still thinks I'm at Mina's."

I groaned, getting up from the couch myself and went to stand behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, while she put on her gloves. "This isn't fair, you just got here."

I heard her sigh and finally turning to face me, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I know, I hate this too, but it's not like I can do anything about it, mom is already growing suspicious about these visits at Hope's or Mina's, especially right now, when I have to study for the SATs."

I leaned down and drew her face to mine for a kiss and, like always, the rest of the world vanished. There was no curfew, no guitar lessons or a clock ticking down on us, just the feel of her lips against mine, the way they managed to be soft and fierce at the same time. She was the one to break the kiss, as always, like she knew exactly when it was time to go. But that was never me. Usually my thoughts vanished in moments like that.

I looked down at her, at her rosy lips and flushed cheeks, and tucked her brown, tousled hair behind her ears, wishing to immortalize that look in her eyes forever. There was a softness in them that I rarely saw at other times. After I struggled for another five minutes to convince her to stay a little longer, but failed, she put on her combat boots and walked out the door. The sight of her leaving was never going to be a pleasant one.

 

-MARCH 2015-

                                                                   MELODY'S P.O.V

I was sitting on the couch of my living room, reading Game of thrones, like I promised Adrian I would after he insisted for so many times, when I heard a car stop in front of our house. I got up and looked out the window, only to see an old, rusty Chevy truck parked there, and my sister getting out of it, with Paul following behind her. After two months of insisting, Paul had finally convinced my sister to go out on a date with him, even though my sister didn't consider it a date.

"This is not a date," Diana told me as she was getting ready to go out with Paul. "This is me being thankful for the fact that he saved my life."

"This is definitely a date." I replied, rolling my eyes. I knew my sister too damn well to figure out that she had a crush on Paul, but she was in denial, of course. I guess it was a typical state for the Hathaway girls.

"It's not!" Diana snapped.

"Then if it isn't, why are you getting all dressed up for it?"

"It's not a date." she repeated grumpily, turning her back on me and putting on a pair of earnings.

Not a date my ass, I thought. The bitch is even wearing heels. This is definitely a date.

After that, Paul showed up at our house, ready to pick up my sister. And of course, I did my duty as a sister and warned Paul that if he didn't bring back my sister intact, I'd kill him. Normal Saturday night, right?

But apparently, Paul didn't bring her back safe and sound, because as they were getting out of the car, I saw that she was limping, leaning on Paul's shoulders to walk. I hurried to open the door when they finally made it to the front porch, and Diana rushed to shrug Paul's hand off her shoulder and walk inside.

"What the damn hell, Paul?" I spat. "I told you to get my sister back safe and sound, not limping."

"Jeez, relax, dude," Paul spoke calmly. "She just broke her heel."

"Well," I heard Diana speak for the first time that night, turning to face Paul, and boy, she looked pissed. "Thank you for an awful date and for ruining my Saturday night."

"Oh, c'mon," he said, clearly struggling not to laugh, and taking a few steps till he was right in front of her "I'm sorry, what do you want me to do? And it wasn't all bad. We had some fun, right?"

There passed a minute of complete silent, when they looked at each other meaningfully, like they both shared a secret no one else knew.

Diana sighed, turning her back and going inside. "Goodbye, Paul."

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but before he had a chance, Diana slammed the door shut behind her.

"So I'm assuming it didn't go well," I said. "What happened?"

Paul shook his head slightly, smiling. "I don't know about her, but I had a lot of fun. She'll probably tell you everything, so I should take off now."

And with that being said, he climbed back in his car, driving away. I walked inside and found Diana sitting on the couch, taking of her shoes.

"Do you wanna talk about it or –" I started, but she cut me off, getting up and turning to me abruptly.

"You set me up with the biggest jerk!" she yelled, throwing her broken heel at me, but missing.

"Whoa, easy there, tiger! What the hell happened?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened, you're gonna enjoy this."

And then, she started telling me one of the funniest stories I've heard till this very day.

"It was an awful date from the very beginning. At eight pm he came to pick me up in that awful junk of his, and at first it looked pretty promising, we made some small talk, everything was fine. He said he was going to take me to a restaurant, so as we drove there, he turned on the radio in the car. And I shit you not, Melody, that awful rap song about women with giant asses came on, 'Baby got back'. And I was just about to roll my eyes and tell him to turn it off when what do I see? He started singing to that song, humming quietly.

"I like big butts and I cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny …" he sang.

"Are you serious?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "Are you seriously singing to this song?"

"What?" he took his eyes off the road to face me, a grin on his face. "It's a catchy song."

"Yeah, and offensive."

"It's actually promoting a really healthy image if you think about it." I had to interrupt her there, but after she threw me a glare, I let her continue.

"So after a 10 minutes debate about what good music really is, we made it to the restaurant. But calling it a restaurant would be an insult brought to real restaurants. It was this building that looked abandoned, almost at the end of the city.

"This is the restaurant?" I asked, getting out of the car reluctantly and he nodded, holding the door open for me. "But it looks pretty abandoned."

"Well, I had to take you somewhere far so no one could hear your screams as I kill you." Paul spoke matter-of-factly, but after he saw the panic forming on my face, he laughed."It was a joke, for God's sake! Would you relax? I know it's not so bright on the eyes, but the pizza here is amazing."

So even though it wasn't the best place to take a girl on a date, I ignored that too, thinking that if Paul was a great guy as you said, it wouldn't matter where we were. We got inside, and the smell in there was not that great either.

We entered and just as I was sitting down at our table, one of the chair's legs broke and I fell on my back –"

I couldn't help it, and when she told me about that part I started laughing out loud, putting a hand over my mouth to cover it.

"Stop laughing, Melody!" my sister said, throwing a pillow in my face. "It was really embarrassing."

"I'm sorry," I said through giggles, trying to get a hold of myself. "Go on!"

"So, you would expect him to rush to my side worried and help me get up, but actually no, the asshole could barely stop laughing, so I got up myself, probably blushing my face off, and Paul was at least able to get me a chair from another table, struggling not to burst out laughing again.

"I'm sorry, I know it's not funny – "he said, but could barely manage to finish the sentence before he burst out laughing again.

So let's say that could be ignored too, it was just an awkward moment, not his fault, even though he was still a jerk about it. I also tried to ignore the waiter who pulled out a strand of hair from our pizza or the cats walking in the kitchen, around the food. And if you put all of those aside, he really was good company, we chatted and, yes, I'll admit it, we got along. But then something had to happen, of course. Just as we were chatting, a blonde entered the "restaurant" and as soon as Paul's saw her, his face expression changed.

"Oh, shit," he muttered under his breath, trying to hide behind the menu. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

"What?" I asked, looking at the blonde over my shoulder.

"Shh, don't talk to me, pretend I'm not here!"

But unfortunately, the blonde saw him just as she was passing by our table.

"Oh, my God," Blondie exclaimed. "Paul, is that you?"

He cursed under his breath before putting down the menu and forcing a smile in the girl's direction. "Hi, Emily," But before Paul could have the
chance to say something else, the girl slapped him hard across his face, leaving a red mark.

"Okay, I deserved that." he said, rubbing his cheek while I just stood there gaping.

"You son of a bitch, I've been waiting to run into you for a long time. How can you even dare look me in the eyes after what you did?"

"Oh come on, Emily, it wasn't such a big deal – "

"NOT A BIG DEAL?" she yelled. "You lied and tricked me. And then left me the next day even though you knew my boyfriend had just broken up with me. Is that not a big deal for you?" And then, she finally turned to face me. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust this son of a bitch."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, praying for that date to be over as soon as possible, while the girl kept on cursing Paul for another few miles. Finally, when I couldn't take it anymore, I got up from my chair and took my coat, storming out of the restaurant as fast as I could. I heard Paul call after me, I don't even know what I was actually thinking since he was my ride, but still, I didn't stop walking.

"Come on, Diana, just stop for a minute!" he yelled, trying to catch up with me. "I am your ride home, remember?"

Just as I was about to turn abruptly at him and tell him I couldn't stand through a minute at that date, I tripped and fell down, and that's how I broke my heel.

I couldn't help but start laughing again, but she punched me in my arm and continued her story.

"Well, that's exactly what he did too. He started laughing again, helping me get up only after he could get a hold of himself. And, of course, that made me even more annoyed.

"I can't believe I'd agreed to come on a date with you!" I yelled, taking off on my broken heel. "What was I even thinking, hoping that you're not as bad as I thought?"

"What did I do now?" he asked confused.

I laughed humorlessly, shaking my head. "Why am I even bothering? Just…just take my home!"

"Can't we just go back inside and – "

"Just take me home!" I repeated, more angrily. He put his hands out in defense and took the car keys out of his pocket. We got into his car and for a few minutes, we were both silent.

"Look, I know this wasn't the best date –"he started.

"No kidding," I interrupted him, scoffing.

"But I just… "he paused, clearly struggling to come up with the best words. "This is all new to me, taking girls on dates and all this romantic crap. I just suck at it."

I sighed. "This is not what this is about, Paul. The girl said it herself, I can't trust you. Or are you going to throw that 'I changed' bullshit at me?"

"No, but – "he paused, opening and closing his mouths a few times.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I said, taking my eyes off him and staring out the window. We drove like that, in thick, awkward silence for a few more minutes, and I was shaken back to reality by a thump noise and a stiff jerk of the steering wheel to the left. That was exactly what we needed, a flat tire.

"You've got to be kidding me." I muttered under my breath, closing my eyes. I heard Paul swear beside me and then saw him get out of the car, checking the tire, then getting the phone out of his pocket and dialing someone. After five minutes, I got out of the car myself and waited around for him to finish talking on the phone. He eventually hung up and came to stand beside me on the hood.

"So, I have no spare tire, but I just got off the phone with Adrian and he's coming to help in a couple of minutes."

I sighed. "Could this date get any worse?"

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Paul laughed. "The universe might take it as a challenge and soon it might start raining."

I smiled in spite of myself and looked up at the sky full of stars, thinking that at least the view was nice.

"I'm sorry this date sucked," Paul spoke softly, without looking at me, and I only shrugged, staying silent. "Maybe I can still make the most out of it."

Before I could ask what he meant, he got off the hood and went to get something from the car's trunk. He came back with a six beers pack, handing me one after opening it.

"Why do you have a pack of six beers in your truck?" I asked.

"Why not?"

I chuckled slightly and we clicked our bottles together.

"For crappy dates," I said.

"For crappy dates," Paul repeated without taking his eyes off me.

By that part of the story, I was already awing out loud, waiting for her to continue, but she remained silent, staring blankly ahead.

"What happened next?" I asked, narrowing my eyes, feeling as if she hadn't told me everything.

"Then Adrian came a few minutes later and helped Paul with the tire and we drove home. End of story."

I blinked in surprise, still waiting for more. "That's it, just like that?" She pursed her lips and nodded, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. "I can't believe this is just it. I thought you guys would really get along."

"Well, it's not my fault he took me to a crappy restaurant or that one of his bimbos showed up and ruined the night."

"It wasn't so bad after all. Did you know that Adrian took me on a date to the same restaurant, just because he told me that he and Paul used to go there a lot, and, sure, it's a really crappy place, but it means a lot to them. Plus, they're right, the pizza is really good there. And after all, he made it up for it at the end, didn't he?"

Diana sighed. "I don't know, Mel. Maybe it's just not meant to be, and this date was the proof I needed."

I groaned in response. "Would you shut up? There's no such thing as meant to be, that's just cheesy crap. I know Paul and he's a great guy, I still don't see what went wrong."

"I'm too tired for this talk," she said, getting up from the couch and started heading towards her room. "I'm going to bed. 'Night!"

And with that, she took off to her room, leaving me alone. The minute I heard her door closing, I took my phone and dialed Adrian's number, who answered after three rings.

"What the hell, squirrel?" he answered grumpily. "It's almost midnight."

"Well, I figured you would like to know that you won the bet," I said. "The date was a disaster."

Right after Paul had told me he wanted to try to ask Diana out, me and Adrian had made a bet about it. I said he and Diana would definitely hit it off, Adrian said he knew Paul too well and that he would screw it up. Therefore, I lost, so I had to pay him 20 bucks.

I heard him chuckle at the other end of the line. "A disaster? That's not how I would call it."

"What are you talking about? Diana just finished telling me the story. Paul screwed up, just like you said he would."

"Umm, I don't think she told you everything. Paul called me to help them with a flat tire, and when I arrived there it really didn't look like Paul screwed up at all."

I waited for him to continue, but when it was clear to me he wasn't going to, I spoke. "I still don't see where you are getting with this."

"Squirrel, when I arrived there, they were kissing."

My jaw dropped. "They were what?" I shrieked. "She clearly didn't mention that."

"Figures," Adrian laughed.

"Holy crap," I muttered under my breath. "Wait a second, this means I won the bet. Hell yeah, pay up, Hayes!"

 

-APRIL 2015-

                                                               ADRIAN'S P.O.V

It was a typical Monday morning and I was working at the coffee shop, as always. I'm not sure if what I did could be called working, since there were only two people sitting at a table, waiting for their order, and I was pretty much just sitting around, sketching something on my notepad that I used to take orders with. But since my drawing skills were pretty much non-existing, I gave up, putting the notepad aside and starting to play with my pencil, hitting it on the counter in the rhythm of a rock song.

"Could you stop with that?" my coworker, Natalie, asked annoyed, and normally, I would have started hitting it louder if someone had told me to stop, but since it was Natalie and she was four months pregnant, I stopped, deciding it was better not to put up with pregnancy hormones.

"Thank you." she said, smiling bitterly at me and I gave her a fake warm smile in return, making a face after she turned her back on me.

Right when another couple had entered the shop and I was just about to head at their table and take their order, I heard a phone ring on the counter, that had 'Baby got back' as ringtone, the annoying rap song Melody and Paul used to sing all the time just to annoy me.

"C'mon, Natalie," I started in a mocking tone. "You should hang up your phone at work!"

"That's not mine," she said, raising an eyebrow and checking the phone from the counter. "That's actually yours, dumbass, and Melody's calling you."

"But that's not my ringtone –" I started to say, but after thinking about it twice, that sounded like the kind of prank Melody or Paul would pull off, changing my ringtone with a song I hated.

"Hey there, Groot," Melody answered cheerfully. "Like your new ringtone?"

I sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I could bet on Storm you were behind this. When the hell did you manage to change it?"

"Last night, when I came by your house and you went to bring me a glass of water. Anyway, have fun changing it back! Bye!"

And with that, she hung up. After that, I struggled for 10 minutes to change my ringtone back, but failed miserably. Somehow, the evil squirrel had managed to make that my permanent ringtone. So I called Melody back.

"I can't change it back," I grumbled the second she picked up, and I heard her laugh at the other end of the line.

"Oh, shoot," she said sarcastically. "It's not like that was my original purpose. Well, what can you do now? Looks like you have to get used to your new ringtone. See ya, sucker!"

And again, she hung up. I laughed in spite of myself, thinking that maybe Mina and Hope and Diana were right. Maybe I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

 

-MAY 2015-

                                                                 MELODY'S P.O.V

Being around Adrian had started to be harder and harder around our six month since we had started dating. Not because I didn't like spending time with him, God no, that was not it. If only there were a way I could spend more. Just because I don't know when, or how, or why, but realization had hit me all at once. I loved him. I was in love with him, in ways I could not speak, in ways I could not breathe, I was in love with the way he looked at me, in love with every inch of him and I couldn't comprehend the sweet little feeling I had when he slightly touched my skin. I was so far gone.

I was finally able to at least admit it to myself. The only problem was, I could not admit it out loud. Not to him, not to anyone, probably because I felt like those words would be like an ultimatum. Like, the minute I said them out loud, I would not be able to take them back. Not that I planned on taking them back, but knowing how our story was going to end, saying I love you would do us more bad than good. So I kept it inside, like a secret. I was filled with unspoken I love you-s.

But for how long was I able to keep it inside me? I assumed not for too long since every time I saw him, my heart raced and those damned words popped into my head again, dying to get out. The sky was a million shades of blue when I was with him, I was a million shades of blue when I was with him. I wished I could just cut the strings of words stuck in my throat. But I guess that deep down I knew not saying it was better than the alternative.

And once again I asked myself, why did I have to lose myself to loving him?

 

-JUNE 2015-

                                                                             ADRIAN'S P.O.V

It was Saturday in the afternoon, and I was sitting in my room, getting ready to leave for a weekend outside the city, to meet some of my old friends, also motorcyclists. We usually met in the summer, when we could go camping in the woods, a spot near San Francisco. We cooked some burgers, chatted about what has been going on lately and spent the night there. It was sort of a motorcyclists-only party. But as I was just about to grab my keys and run out the door, a thought popped into my head. What if I brought Melody too? So, without thinking twice about it, I grabbed my phone and dialed her number.

"Squirrel, how do you feel about a weekend getaway?" I said the minute she picked up.

"Where?" she asked

"Let's just say it's a surprise date. We're going to spend the night somewhere outside the city. You in?"

"Hell yeah!" she replied immediately, without hesitation. I smiled a little to myself, thinking that no normal person would have agreed to something like that, without receiving at least an answer to where we were going. But then again, she was no ordinary person.

"Great, I'll pick you up in ten minutes."

"Wait, ten minutes? That's soon. Do I have to bring something or – "

"Nope," I cut her off. "Just bring yourself."

"Okay then, I'll tell mom I'll spend the night at Hope's and I'm good to go. See ya!"

And with that, she hung up. As promised, in ten minutes I was waiting for her at the usual spot, and she showed up a few minutes later.

"So," she said. "Are you finally going to tell me where we're going?"

I shook my head in response. "Nope, a surprise is a surprise. Now hop in, squirrel!" I said, handing her a helmet. She didn't press me for more answers and just climbed on Storm, putting on the helmet.

"Wait," she paused mid-action and taking her phone out of the pocket. "Can you dial Hope's number while I put this on? Put her on speaker!"

I did as she told me and Hope answered almost right away.

"What's up, girl?" she greeted. "I hope you're calling me to say you're coming over, not to cover for you again."

"Hi, Hope," I said and heard Hope groan at the other end of the line.

"So cover again for you guys it is," she said bitterly.

"Sorry, Hope," Melody finally spoke. "I really had no idea about this, Adrian just told me we're going out of town."

"Out of town?" Hope questioned. "Where more exactly?"

"I don't know, ask Adrian."

"Adrian, where the hell are you taking Melody?" she demanded.

"It's a surprise," I smirked, winking at Melody, who smiled back at me.

"So, let me see if I got this right. Adrian is taking you somewhere out of town, you have no idea where, and you're going, just like that?"

Melody sighed loudly. "Not everyone is just as paranoid as you are, Hope."

"You guys are crazy," Hope said, and Melody finally looked at me, smiling brightly.

"Some people are worth being crazy for," she whispered, loud enough only for me to hear, then turned to take the phone from my hand. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? If mom calls, you know what to say. Thanks again."

Then she hung up and I finally turned on the ignition, hitting the road. The place in the woods where we usually went for camping was pretty far, an hour or two away, but we finally made it there when night was closing in. I made my way through a path in the woods and stopped right next to other's motorcycles. I put Storm on rear stand and climbed off her, taking off my helmet and Melody did the same, looking around.

"What is this?" she asked. "A motorcyclists meeting?"

"Actually yeah," I said and her eyes grew wide in an instant. "Me and a couple of motorcyclist friends meet a few times a year and go camping, cooking some burgers and catching up, so I thought this year I could bring you too."

"Oh, my God, this is so cool – " she said but stopped herself, her eyes growing wide again, but this time with worry. "Wait, so these are all friends of yours?" she asked and I nodded. "And this is the first time you're bringing someone with you?" I nodded again, but this time she stopped talking, biting her bottom lip.

"What's this, squirrel?" I narrowed my eyes. "Are you being anxious about it?"

"No," she hurried to say. "It's just that… what if they don't like me? What if your friends don't like me and I'm going to make a bad impression and–"

I stopped her, taking a step forward and cupping her face in my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes. "There's no need to be nervous, Mel, I'm sure they'll love you. You're going to blend in so fast that the poor bastards won't even know what hit them. That's your thing, remember? You blend in."

"But –"she started again, but I hurried to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

"No buts. Okay?"

I was actually waiting for her to answer me, but instead, she started laughing. "What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

"You said no butts." she answered, still smiling a little and I could only roll my eyes in response.

"And the moment is gone. Now let's go to the campsite," I said, reaching to take her hand in mine, no longer seeing any hesitations on her expression. And so, we walked ahead to where the people were and immediately recognized the familiar faces. And so, a round of hugs and slaps on the back from the guys followed, and I was glad to see my old friends again, but even gladder to realize that Melody wasn't the only one new to the group. And so, the introductions followed right after. I some of my old friends' new girlfriends or boyfriends, and finally it was my turn to introduce Melody to everyone.

"And there she is, everybody," I announced. "Melody, this is everybody. Everybody, this is Melody."

The group was really welcoming with her, and surely enough, ten minutes after, Melody was already talking with a group of girls, laughing about something, like she had almost forgotten I was there. Not that I minded actually, as I said, I was sure she was going to blend in easily. I started helping some of my friends, Craig, Arthur and Lucy with the barbeque and with that, we had the chance to catch up too. After I found out Arthur and Lucy had gotten together, shockingly enough, the subject of my new friend couldn't be left out, of course.

"So, how are things going with this chick of yours, Hayes?" Lucy asked, nudging me with her elbow playfully.

Before answering, I looked over my shoulder and spotted Melody sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, roasting a marshmallow and talking to some of my friends, Marcus and Daniel. She noticed me looking at her and shot a wink and a smile in my direction, before resuming her chat.

"They're going great." I finally answered, grinning.

"That's it, just great?" Craig asked. "No story of how you met? Give us something, bro?"

And so, I started to tell them the story of how I met Melody at the supermarket, fighting for the same box of chocolate and the rest that followed after, less detailed of course. I was surprised to see how nostalgic I felt about those days, thinking that in two or three months, that was all I would have left, memories. I shook those thoughts off once again, as I always did, and waited to see their reaction to my story.

"Aw, you guys are so disturbingly cute together," Lucy spoke, smiling.

"But it's a shame that in a few month she's going to leave," Arthur said, not taking his eyes off the grill. "If I were you, I would do anything I could or still can to keep this thing going, no matter what it takes."

"There's gotta be something you can do, you can't just let it go. You're the great Adrian Hayes," Lucy argued. "Long distance relationships are not that hard to put up with, and she would be just four hours away."

But they were wrong, there was nothing left we could do, me and Melody had already talked about it and none of us wanted a long distance relationship, they were too hard to maintain. She would eventually meet someone in San Francisco and forget about me, the boy she once used to date back when she was young and naïve. So no, the alternative was better than that.

After a few more minutes of chatting and laughing around, I took one cooked burger from the grill and headed in Melody's direction, who was still sitting around the fire and still talking with Daniel and Marcus.

"Hey there, stranger," I greeted, sitting down next to her and handing her the burger.

"Hi," she smiled back at me.

"It was a pleasure to meet you ,Mel," Daniel said, and he and Marcus got up, leaving me and Melody alone.

"Finally alone, huh?" I teased her, grinning. "I told you that you would blend in easily. See?"

She nodded in agreement. "I really did, I think your friends like me."

"Of course they do," I agreed, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

"But it looks like I just joined the Adrian Hayes fan club. People here really love you," Melody said, then continued in a mocking tone. "Especially the girls."

"Well, well, now I've seen it all," I teased back. "Are you jealous, squirrel?"

She laughed. "Nope, not at all. Should I be?"

"Nope, not at all," I repeated and we both started laughing.

The night passed by, and before we knew it, it was almost past midnight when one of the guys ,Marcus, picked up his guitar that he had brought especially for the occasion, and started playing an acoustic version of I'll be there for you by Bon Jovi, while another guy, Isaac ,accompanied him. Since I knew that was one of Melody's favorite songs, I got up from the ground and extended my hand.

"Will you do me the pleasure, squirrel?" I asked dead serious, and Melody looked at me suspiciously before throwing her head back laughing.

"Why do I have a déjà-vu feeling about this?" she asked, also getting up and putting her hand in mine.

"Hmm, I wonder," I said, pounding my lips and pretending to think about it for a few seconds, while Melody watched me amused. "Nope, it doesn't ring a bell."

And we swayed like till the song was over, and if Melody even was aware of all the people looking and awing at us, she didn't show it or didn't really care.

And as the song was finally over and Melody's cheeks were rosy from so much laughing, I felt it again. That want, that need to tell her something, that ache to get those words out. They were lying at the edge of my lips, dying to be blurted out, but I know I couldn't. I was scared to even admit it to myself. But I loved her. God, how I loved her! I was one lucky guy, even if it was only for a few more months.

 

-JULY 2015-

                                                                                 MELODY'S P.O.V

 

ASHFORD UNIVERSITY ADMISSION LETTER

Melody S. Hathaway

1293 West Side Avenue

Arcata, California

 

Dear Melody,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been offered a spot in the class of 2015 for the Ashford University of San Francisco!

After reviewing your application and all the supporting documents, we have determined that you are exactly the kind of student that we are looking for to carry on the Ashford University of San Francisco tradition.

Attached to this letter you will find a full admission package, along with specific information on how to accept this offer. We ask that you respond within four weeks as there are many candidates waiting for any unaccepted spots.

Once again, congratulations!

Sincerely,

The Ashford University of San Francisco

The clock was ticking for one last time.

Tick

Tack

Tick

Tack

Almost time for goodbye.

 

20: Chapter 19 . Hold Back the River

 

Balance is a tricky concept, isn't it? Some people say it's the universe's way of providing contrast, others say it's karma's way of restoring things. Or maybe it's none of those things. Maybe the concept of it lays in one simple rule. When one door swings open, another one swings closed. And sometimes, you have to be the one who closes or opens the door, whether you want to or not.

In the 3th day of September, 2015, two important things happened. Two people knew when to hold on, and other two people had to let go.

Everything passes; that, at least, is an understatement; but maybe that's partly the beauty of it. Because love stays. Love stays no matter what. It stays locked inside of you, ready for whatever it comes, ready to face a thunderstorm, ready for everything.

This is the story of how some things had to die in order for other things to be born. This is the story of how someone knew when to hold on, while someone else had to let go. And it goes like this…

~

PAUL'S P.O.V

                                                                   September 2, 2015.

 

"Paul," I heard Melody calling me. "Are you…are you okay?"

I took my eyes off the window, only to see Adrian and Mel's faces staring back at me, concerned. We met as usual at the coffee shop between Adrian's work shifts, and of course Melody was there, too, since she had nothing left better to do than to hang out with Adrian as much as she could. After all, she was leaving to San Francisco in two weeks. And I was leaving too.

"What?" I asked confused, wondering for how long they had been talking to me and I hadn't heard them. "Yeah, of course I'm fine" I stopped, narrowing my eyes at them. "Why do you ask?"

Adrian shrugged. "Probably because you haven't talked in ten minutes."

"And you noticed?" I said with fake shock. "So you were finally able to get your hands off each other to notice that. How nice of you! "

Adrian rolled his eyes in return. "I don't know why you even asked, squirrel, we were finally getting some break from all the sass."

Melody didn't answer him, and just kept narrowing her eyes at me. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little off. I mean, you made no comments about how gross we are, I'm starting to worry here."

"I've never been better." I said, forcing a smile and shrugging nonchalantly.

Neither of them looked like they believed me, but they didn't ask anything else and went back to their own, little private world.

"So, Melonade -" I spoke suddenly, making Melody roll her eyes.

"Would you stop calling me that?" she asked annoyed.

"Nope. So, you're leaving in two weeks, right?"

She glanced at Adrian before answering, I dare say, looking a little embarrassed. "Yeah, why?"

"I was thinking maybe we can go at the same time since I'm leaving then, too." I said, watching Adrian's reaction. It was crystal clear that those fools hadn't talked about Melody moving to San Francisco yet, trying to avoid the subject as well as they could and for as long as they could. Not that I was one to talk, but they had to be shaken up a little and realize they couldn't just let it go, without talking about it.

Melody stiffened a little in her chair before answering. "Yeah, okay."

They were too stubborn for their own good. I suppose the Hathaway sisters had it in them.

"How's Diana, by the way?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Ever since that night of our failed date, she had been avoiding me, pretending like nothing had happened. Pretending we hadn't kissed that night. And no matter how many times I tried to call or see her again, I still got nothing. I suppose the girl wanted nothing to do with me, so at some point, I'd given up on trying and she went back to San Francisco.

"I just talked to her on the phone today," Melody answered. "She's doing great. In a few weeks she'll start her final year, and she's pretty excited about it. Also she told me -" she paused, freezing mid sentence and biting her bottom lip.

"She told you what?"

Melody sighed, continuing. "She told me she met this guy in the bus station the other day. I don't know much about him just that his name is Jeremiah and he's a doctor. He asked Diana to dinner and she said yes."

She watched me intently, waiting for my reaction and Adrian rolled his eyes, muttering something to Mel about how she really wanted to win some bet, but I was too lost in my thoughts to ask what that meant. I knew I said I was going to let the thing that happened with Diana go, that after all it was her choice and there was nothing else I could do anymore. But hearing about her and that doctor triggered something in me, and I knew I shouldn't have given up so easily. Plus, what kind of stupid name was Jeremiah anyway?

"Melody," I spoke finally, after another ten minutes of silence. "Are you going to help me go to San Francisco and try to get Diana for one last time?"

She leaned in over the table, smiling, and rested her chin on the back of her palm before speaking. "Oh, Paulie, I thought you'd never ask."

 

                                                         September 3, 2015.    11 AM.

The next day, after I told Mel I wanted to try it one last time with Diana, she and Adrian had offered to come with me to San Francisco, even though I didn't ask, since they thought that if I went there all by myself, I would screw up. Again. So she and Adrian came to pick me up in the morning, and to my surprise, Melody was driving and Adrian was in the passenger's seat.

"Are you seriously expecting me to climb in this car while you're driving?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what I said, too," Adrian mumbled under his breath, then turned to Mel. "You could let one of us drive."

"Are you kidding me?" Melody huffed, running her hands gently on the wheeling steer. "I wouldn't let any of you put your hands on her. So, climb in, Paulie!"

"Wow, you didn't give her a name yet?" I teased her, already climbing in the backseat.

"We're working on it." Melody and Adrian chorused at the same time then smiled at each other.

"You guys are getting freakier and freakier." I rolled my eyes, groaning in frustration, but they ignored my comment.

"Now let's get this black sunshine on the road," Melody said, turning on the ignition and putting on a pair of sunglasses, while Adrian just looked at her amused, rolling his eyes playfully. "Beware, California, the new version of Danica Patrick is back in black."

"This is going to be a long ride," I sighed loudly, closing my eyes. "At least put on some music!"

Just when Adrian was reaching to turn on the radio, Melody slapped his hand away, picking up a CD and putting it in the stereo.

"Hands off, Groot," she scolded him. "You know the rule. Driver always picks the music."

As Adrian rolled his eyes again, but chuckled nonetheless, probably because he would've done the same thing, a rock song blasted from the car's stereo and Mel turned up the volume.

"'Atta girl," I smirked at her from the backseat and she winked at me in the rearview mirror before moving her eyes back on the road again.

A few minutes passed with neither of us talking, just listening to the music blasting from the CD and occasionally with Melody humming quietly along to a song.

"What about Black Widow?" Adrian suddenly broke the silence, probably suggesting a name for Mel's black Mustang.

Melody rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm sorry for your future kids, Groot, their names are going to suck."

"I've been coming up with cool names for months," Adrian argued. "And you still haven't decided."

"That's because they're not cool, Adrian. Your names suck. Seriously now, do you really think I would name her Carzilla?"

I tried to fight back a smile at that nickname.

"That's a pretty good name." I jumped in their little game.

She sighed, not taking her eyes off the road. "You guys are hopeless."

Another ten minutes of complete silence passed before Adrian spoke again. "What about – " he paused for more effect. "Adrienne?"

"Huh," Melody said, pausing for a few seconds and looking like she was actually considering it. "I think that's the worst one so far."

"Are we there yet?" I tried to say over their voices, but they ignored me.

And they argued like an old married couple for a few more minutes, getting on my nerves more and more till I couldn't take it anymore.

"Just stop already!" I spat. "It's just a car, name it Whatever and get this thing over with."

There were a few seconds of complete silence.

"Did he just –"Melody trailed off.

"Uh-oh," I heard Adrian say.

"Oh, my God," Melody breathed, then continued in an almost shouting voice."Okay, first of all, please tell me you did not just refer to my car as it. And second of all – "she paused to take a deep breath, took off her sunglasses and looked at me in the rearview mirror, then started yelling again. "She's not just a car, Paul!"

"Look what you've done!" Adrian turned to say to me, gesturing with his hand at Mel, before she began giving me the longest theory I've ever heard, also known as the worst ten minutes of my life, and after she was done, she started sulking, driving silently. Believe it or not, I even had to apologize to her for saying the Mustang was just a car to get her to talk again.

An hour after that, we stopped at a fast food restaurant for lunch break, and finally got the chance to talk about what we were going to do once we made it to San Francisco. Fortunately, Melody already had a plan formed in her head, so she told us.

"Wait, that's it?" I asked, after she told me what she had in mind. "Isn't it a little cliché?"

"If you have a better idea then share with the group!" she retorted, mouth full of pie.

"She's right, mate," Adrian tuned in. "Remember where the last date took you."

"Okay, okay," I said, holding my hands up in defense. "You know her better after all."

"Exactly, so trust me, she's gonna love it. Are you going to finish that?"

I pushed the plate with my pie in front of her.

"But are you sure she's going to be there tonight?" I insisted.

"Positive. She always goes there around 10- 11 pm. So after I get her back from the restaurant, she'll come and you'll be waiting for her there."

"Great," I said, clapping my hands together. "Let's get back on the road again then!"

"Don't rush me while I'm eating," Melody spat, still chewing on that pie, so we waited for her to finish and also get another slice to-go before we hit the road.

As we were walking towards the car, Melody stopped halfway, eyes wide and a smile forming on her face.

"What?" Adrian asked concerned, looking at her.

"Arabella," Melody whispered, barely audible, then spoke more loudly. "Arabella! That's her name. That's the car's name!"

I sighed loudly, glad that they were at least over that subject.

"Why do you always have to come up with the cool names? First Storm, now the Mustang." Adrian groaned and Melody laughed in response. "It's a great named, squirrel."

Adrian dropped an arm around Mel's shoulder, kissing her forehead and they both walked back to the car, hand in hand and we drove for another two hours, full off Melody and Adrian singing along to every song on the radio, before we finally made it to San Francisco. I was right, it really was a long ride. Melody parked the car in front of the hotel we were going to spend the night at and we climbed out.

"We're finally here, fellas," Melody said then turned to me. "Are you ready to get your girl, Paulie?"

 

DIANA'S P.O.V

                                                         SEPTEMBER 3, 2015. 7 PM.

I wished my sister would've told me earlier that she was in town. Half an hour ago, she had called me, saying she decided to pay me a surprise visit, even thought we were going to see each other in two weeks, when she was going to come to San Francisco for good. Even though I asked her to come and stay with me in my dorm, she argued that she wasn't going to put up with my noisy roommates, and truth be told, I could barely put up with them myself. Therefore, she told me she was going to spend the night at a hotel. I couldn't meet with her right away when she called me, since I had some errands to run and she was also pretty tired from the road, so we both agreed we were going to meet later that night, eat dinner at a restaurant then go back to my dorm.

An hour before I was supposed to meet Melody, I started to get ready and put on one of my favorite dresses on, black, above the knee, and a pair of high heels then made my way at the restaurant. I found Melody waiting outside, even though I was surprised I even recognized her since she was wearing a dress. A red, sleeveless and drape dress. And I knew that Melody rarely wore dresses. Or heels.

"Whoa," Melody said as soon as she saw me, looking me up and down and whistling sharply."Are you trying leave the entire city starry-eyed or what?"

"I could ask the same thing, sis, you were supposed to have a boyfriend. Does he know you're leaving guys gaping in San Francisco?" I teased back.

"What can I say? I just can't help it." She replied and we both started laughing at the same time.

"I missed you so much," she said, throwing her arms over my shoulders and hugging me, and even though I was wearing heels, I still had to stand a little on my tiptoes so I could hug her back.

"I missed you too," I answered, finally pulling away. "Why did you come here anyway?"

"Why not?" she shrugged while we were making our way inside the restaurant."I had some free time so I figured I could just pay you a visit."

We sat down at a table and a waiter came to take our orders, and after he left, we started catching up a little, since we hadn't seen each other for almost a month.

"How are things with Adrian?" I asked Mel after we chatted for a few minutes.

She dropped her eyes and shrugged nonchalantly. "We're good, I guess."

"You guess?" I said incredulously, arching an eyebrow.

She gnawed at her bottom lip and started twisting her fork in her food.

"Things are great," she sighed then continued, almost whispering the second part. "For now. But I'm leaving in two weeks and we still haven't talked about what's going to happen next."

"I thought you decided nothing was going to happen after you drifted to college, that these nine months were all you got." I frowned.

"I thought so too," Melody admitted. "But now I'm not so sure those months were enough. And I want to tell him that, but I know we agreed on something else and it's not like I can ask him to come with me and nor can he ask me to stay."

"I think you should talk to him, I'm pretty sure there's a way to make this work."

She sighed and started playing with her food again. "I suppose."

We chatted for two more hours, even though Melody kept glancing at her watch constantly, looking impatient. So, eventually we took off and headed towards my dorm.

10 PM.

"I've heard you talk about that view on the top of the dorm's roof for months," I heard Melody say behind me as we were climbing the stairs to my dorm."Care to show it to me?"

It was true, my dorm was a ten-storey building with a beautiful view of the entire city on the flat roof. I went there pretty often to clear my mind and watch the stars putting on a free show every night.

"Right now?" I arched an eyebrow. "Aren't you still tired from the road? We can see it tomorrow."

"Nah, I'm good," Mel waved me off, wrinkling her nose. "Plus, I think I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Alrighty then," I replied, nodding, and kept on climbing till we reached the stairs that led to the rooftop.

"I think it's gonna be pretty chilly out there. Do you want me to go and grab you a jacket from your room?" Melody offered and I watched her confused. Since when was she being so polite?

"Yeah, okay," I answered shortly, narrowing my eyes at her but she only stared back at me with her best innocent face. "I'll wait for you on the roof."

She shot me a smile and nodded before making her way to my room. I watched as she disappeared around the corner before keeping on climbing the stairs. I opened the door, grateful that it wasn't locked, and my eyes widened at the view in front of me. The whole place was illuminated by candles and Christmas lights and in the middle was a round table with two wood chairs on either side, and first, I thought I'd walked in on two people having a romantic dinner, if it weren't for Paul, standing there, in the middle of it all, with his hands crossed behind his back and a smug smile on his face. Surprise lifted my eyebrows halfway up my forehead.

For a few briefs seconds I didn't know how to react, I just stood there gaping, staring back at him. Millions of questions raced in my mind but I couldn't get a single word out. Why was he there? How did he even get there? I looked over my shoulder, hoping to see Melody behind me, but no such luck. This had probably been her plan all along. That's why she was looking at her watch constantly and why she insisted on coming up on the roof. It all made sense.

"What are you doing here?" I finally managed to get out, narrowing my eyes at him. How could I believe he was going to back down so easily? But most importantly, why did I ever want him to back down in the first place?

Paul shrugged nonchalantly, taking a step forward and I found myself blushing violently under the intensity of his gaze. "I'm here for my second chance since I screwed up pretty badly the first time."

I shook my head, both amused and shocked. "What did my sister have to do with all of this?"

"She gave me the ride, helped me here and there. But this," he looked around, smiling proudly. "This is all my handy work."

Why couldn't I stop myself from blushing and think of something to say? I let out a shaky breath and looked around, still amazed of how beautiful everything looked.

"So," Paul continued, extending one of his hands to me. "How about you give me that second chance and let me do this right?"

I nodded reluctantly, put my small hand in his calloused one and smiled encouragingly, letting him know that I wanted nothing more than that. He smiled at me just as brightly and, with a swift movement, he crashed our bodies together and kissed me. Only this time, I didn't hesitate and kissed him back.

MELODY'S P.O.V

                                                               SEPTEMBER 3, 2015, 10.30 PM.

I went back to our hotel room only to find Adrian asleep on the bed, with an open book on his lap, snoring not so silently. I looked at the book and saw that he was reading 1984 by George Orwell and immediately wrinkled my nose at his reading choice. What was it with guys and that book? I tried to move around silently but failed since the minute I sat on the bed next to him, his eyes fluttered open.

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath. "Sorry I woke you up."

"What time is it?" he asked in a sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes and leaning on the headboard.

"Pretty late, you should go back to sleep."

His eyes finally landed on me and his brows lowered as he looked me up and down. His head cocked and surprise crossed his features.

"What?" I frowned."Do I have something in my teeth again?"

Adrian shook his head amused, a smile twitching the corner of his mouth. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"

I looked up at him beneath lowered lashes and leaned down to bring out lips together. "You should wear dresses more often." Adrian whispered against my lips, putting a hand on my waist and trying to bring me closer. Eventually, I broke the kiss, gasping for air, and rested my forehead on his, smiling widely as I dug my hands in his shoulders.

"How did the thing with Paul and Diana go?" he asked, his fingers drowning in my now loosened hair and his breath warm on my face. I don't know how I could breathe anything but him. I loved and hated the effect he could have on me, but I don't know if I was just swimming or drowning.

I leaned in for one more kiss, a little softer, before answering. "Just as planned," I would've said something else if it hadn't been for my phone buzzing in my jacket. I pulled back, even though all my senses were left in agony at the loss of Adrian's lips against mine, and took my phone out, only to see a message from Paul. I read and it simply said 'thank you'. I showed Adrian the text and he only shrugged in response. "I suppose it really did go as planned." I said, sitting back on the bed and taking off my heels.

"Does Paul know that there's no Jeremiah?" Adrian smirked and I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Doesn't matter, it was just a well intended lie," I paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm really happy for them and I hope things are going to work out."

"Why wouldn't it work out?" Adrian inquired. "In two weeks he'll come to San Francisco too and –"he stopped from saying something else and I knew exactly why. Things between Paul and Diana would work out. But not between us. I turned my back to him and sighed. A suffocating silence followed, full of questions and insecurities that I was so familiar with. I would have rather taken his heavy words over that silence.

"We're a lost cause, aren't we?" I spoke softly, more to myself, and even though I still had my back turned to Adrian, I heard him sigh.

He came to kneel in front of me and cupped my face in his hands so I could face him. "Not now, Mel. We don't have to – "

"Talk about it?" I finished, shrugging his hands off and getting up. "If not now, then when, Adrian? When I'm getting in a plane and flying to San Francisco? Is then the right time to talk about it?"

"We knew from the beginning this was not going to have a happy ending, Melody." Adrian tried to reason with me. I swallowed hard, nodding absently and pinching the bridge of my nose. I knew that every time he called me by my name he was either angry or being serious. Right then, he was both.

He took a few steps forward and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me in for a hug and I nuzzled under his chin, feeling like crying. "I'm sorry, Mel," he whispered in my ear. "I wish it could be different, too."

I let a few seconds pass before I spoke. "It doesn't have to be like this." Adrian pulled back a little, watching me with a frown between his eyebrows and waiting for me to continue. "I can stay here."

This time, Adrian pulled back for real, staring at me more confused than ever and mouthing a silent 'no'.

"I'm serious, Adrian," I dropped my voice and came a little closer to him. "College can wait. I can stay for a year or two or however long I will have to and -"

"Are you even hearing yourself?" Adrian hissed and took a step back, tightening his jaw. "I don't think you realize what you're saying, Melody. There's no way you can stay here!"

"But – " I begun, but he interrupted me again, as if I hadn't said anything.

"What will your parents say, huh? How do you think they'd feel after you tell them you want to stay home and not go to college, especially after you refused to go to med school?"

"I think you're the one who's not hearing what I'm saying," I snapped. "I don't care, Adrian, and you shouldn't either. I'm willing to do this for you."

"But I'm not willing to let you." he argued, growing angrier. "Do you even realize how that would make me feel, knowing that you had given up on your future and everything you can or could have for me?"

"I don't freaking believe you," I shouted, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "Not once, not even once, have I asked you to come with me. But you're not letting me do this for you because you're thinking about how it would make you feel? I told you I want to stay in Arcata for you, to give up on college and San Francisco and my friends for you, and you can't even accept my decision because it would make you feel guilty? Do you realize how selfish it sounds?"

Adrian sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair and averting my gaze. "I don't care how you call it. Fine, call it selfish if you will, but I still won't let you be so reckless about this."

I shook my head, barking out a humorless laugh. "Are you saying there's no other way?" I whispered, barely audible.

"I told you I wish there was on. You know I can't leave my mother here. We've gone through this before. We can't move to San Francisco, we can't afford it and I won't leave her behind. And I don't want you to sacrifice your whole future for me. There's .No. Way. Can't you see it, Melody? You said it yourself, we're a lost cause."

I was shaking with anger. I closed my eyes and sighed loudly, pursing my lips. I felt the tears burn in my eyes, threatening to get out, but I tried my best to suppress them by taking a deep breath. Adrian took a few steps forward till he stood right in front of me and cupped my cheek with one of his hands.

"What do you want me to do, Mel?" he whispered eventually, trying hard to keep his voice under control.

I rushed to shake off his hand again and turned on my heels to grab my jacket from a nearby chair, then turned abruptly to face him, raising my voice.

"I want you to fight for me as much as I'm willing to fight for you, Adrian," I shouted, voice cracking a little. "I want you to not give up on me."

And with that, I ran out the door before he could see the tears falling down my face.

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

                                                          SEPTEMBER 4, 2015. 12 AM.

I had looked for Melody everywhere. Well, not literally everywhere since San Francisco was a big city, but everywhere I could. My first instinct was to go to McDonalds since Melody always ate when she was upset, but she was not there. Then I went to the nearest bars, but she wasn't there either, and no one had seen her. But I had to keep looking. She was all alone, late at night, in a big city, and only the thought that I was the one to blame for that made me go insane. After I searched everywhere I could possibly search, I went back to the hotel room, hoping that maybe she had returned there. Apparently I was right since when I opened the door and entered the room, Melody was sitting on the bed, her back turned to me. I walked silently and went to stand beside her on the bed, putting a hand on her shoulder, but she still didn't turn to face me.

"Mel," I started, whispering her name as silently as I could and she brought a hand to her face, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. I remembered how once she told me she hated to cry in front of people. And I hated to see her cry, especially to be the one she was crying for. "I'm sorry, Mel," I continued. "I was being an asshole. You're right, I shouldn't give up so easily, and trust me, I don't want to give up. And maybe –"

Melody finally got up to face me and, even in the dark, I could see how puffy her eyes were from all the crying. God, how I hated myself for that! She didn't let me finish and grabbed me by the collar, pulling me in for a kiss. A really passionate kiss, raw and needy, that voiced everything she and I wanted to say to each other. We both pulled back eventually, gasping for air and as she spoke, her lips still brushed slightly against mine.

"Save it," she pleaded, whispering. "Please, save it, Adrian, because I really don't want to hear. Just –" she paused, leaning for another kiss then continued. "Lie to me! Just lie to me for one last time and tell me it's going to be okay. I know it's not the truth, but I want to hear it. Lie if that's what you have to do."

Little did she know that was exactly what I was going to do. I looked her in the eyes and lied.

"I'm coming with you," I told her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"I said I'm coming with you. To San Francisco. I'm coming with you."

She pulled back for real, frowning. "Are you serious?" I nodded. "What about your mother?"

I forced a fake smile, pulling a strand of her messy hair behind her ear. "We'll figure something out," I paused, forcing myself to say the next words. "I promise."

Silence followed, and I had to bring myself to look Melody straight in the eyes while she stared at me confused.

"Adrian," she begun, coming closer and cupping my face in both of her hands. "Are you sure about this?" But she couldn't help and smiled. Was I doing the right thing? Well, it didn't matter anymore, the harm was already done. I nodded and she hurried to kiss me, tangling her fingers in my hair and bringing me as close as she could, as if she knew that soon, I'd vanish from her life.

~

Melody's eyelids fluttered open weakly, only to find me staring back at her, grinning.

"Ain't that a nice view to wake up to?" she spoke softly, giving me a small smile. I laughed in return, stroking her bare back with one of my hands, and still smiling dumbly at her. "What?" she arched an eyebrow at me after I kept staring.

"I love you," I said, without thinking twice about it. I couldn't hold it in me anymore, I didn't care what the aftermath of those words was going to be, I just knew I loved her and that I had to say it ,no matter what came to pass.

At least that's true, I thought to myself.

"Adrian –"Melody started to say, but before she could, I brought her closer and collided our lips together, my hands flying to her waist and one her hands resting on my bare chest. I didn't care that she probably wasn't going to say it back. I knew after all that she did love me. And I loved her. It was not so much a matter of deciding, but more like accepting the inevitability of it. Whatever the future brought, however she was going to feel after she would find out I lied to her, I loved her. Not simply, nor passively, but clearly.

~

And that was what happened before, after and on the third of September. Paul's and Diana's story was just about to begin, whether Adrian's and Mel's was about to end, even though Melody didn't know that yet. She had loved how that I love you sounded on Adrian's lips, like a promise. Little did she know it was just his way of saying goodbye.

Adrian lied to Melody because he had no other choice. He knew that if he hadn't, then Melody would have kept her promise to stay in Arcata with him, and that he could not let happen. Maybe it wasn't his best choice. Actually, it was one of his biggest mistakes that he had ever made in his entire life.

21: Chapter 20 . As You Turn Away

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

                                                                  ~October 2015~

 

I took my first drink to the sound of her voice. The whisky burned down my throat, drowning my senses. Or at least, that's what I hoped it would do. I waited a few minutes for the alcohol to kick in, but nothing happened. I closed my eyes and still saw her. Laughing. Crying. Smiling. Kissing me. I took another drink. She was not there.

Drink, after drink after drink and I still got nothing. I decided to get out of my room and hoped I wasn't going to run into mom. I went downstairs, and only then remembered she had left to one of her private lessons and I was home alone for a few hours. Good thing she wasn't going to see me in that state. I grabbed my jacket from a nearby chair and went outside, on the front porch, to smoke a cigarette.

She was not there. Only rain and darkness and streetlights and my cigarettes. If I knew that, why did my eyes keep holding the line of the horizon, as if she were to come back? I had let her go, why was there still hope in me? God knew what she was doing right then. Maybe thinking of me, maybe cursing my name for what I'd done. I was never going to know. I was never going to see her again. I told Paul to tell I'm sorry. Stupid mistake. What difference would it make if I wasn't the one to tell her that? To be honest, I felt like cursing myself, too.

Heavy teardrops fell on the sidewalk while I blew another smoke of my cigarette, watching the rain. She was not there. Why did my eyes keep looking for her? I suppose the worst part about letting go of someone is hoping they'll come back. She was not there. I had to remind myself that constantly, because she was not, no matter how much I hoped, no matter how much I missed her. I was the one to let her go to begin with. The only thing that was there was the longing and the memories. Memories that kept repeating, reminiscing, but never dying. The one that kept repeating itself was the last one, the worst one. When she left.

I helped Melody put her bags in the truck while she went inside to say goodbye to her parents one more time. I leaned on the Mustang, still waiting for her and tried to get a hold of myself. This was goodbye. The goodbye I tried so hard to avoid thinking about. Eventually, she came out of the house, heading towards me.

"I guess that's all," she said, handing me another bag to put in the truck.

"You sure do have a lot of baggage," I complained, sighing.

She chuckled slightly, wrapping her arms around my neck. "Remind me again, why aren't you coming with me right now?"

I sighed, avoiding her gaze. "I told you, it will take time to apply to an university, especially this late."

She narrowed her eyes at me and unwrapped one of her arms to lift my chin, forcing me to look at her.

"But you're coming," she said, though it sounded more like a question. I forced myself to look her in the eyes.

"Of course," I smiled, kissing her nose. Maybe I was being selfish, even though I had no right to, but I wanted her to tell me she loved me. After I told her, she had said nothing in return. Not that I needed her to, I already knew, and it didn't matter anyway.

She leaned a little closer, bringing our lips only one breath away, brushing softly, but not closing the gap between us. She tangled one of her hands in my hair and I tried to lean closer to kiss her, but she pulled back, grinning wickedly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Not even a kiss goodbye?"

She shook her head, half-smiling. "It's not goodbye, Adrian,"

It was. She was saying goodbye and she didn't even know it.

"Come to San Francisco and finish this kiss," she continued, opening the car's door and getting in. "Just come soon, okay?"

I nodded, shoving my hands in my pocket and forced another smile at her. I could only watch as she drove away.

But that was in September. Now, it was the middle of October and I hadn't seen her since then. She tried to call me, she used to call me, but after Paul showed up at my door, demanding to know why I didn't answer Melody's phone calls and I told him everything, asking him to tell her I was sorry, the phone calls had stopped. Honestly, I expected her to show up in person, angry, furious, demanding to know everything, but she hadn't. I didn't know if I should've felt relieved or sad. I wanted to see her, I wanted to say goodbye properly, but if I told her the real reason why I didn't want to come to San Francisco, she would jump again into another reckless situation or making a stupid decision. It was for the best. She was not there, but it was for the best.

I smoked three more cigarettes and drank the whole bottle of whisky. Why wasn't I drunk? I just felt dizzy. What would everyone say if they saw me in that state? I knew my mother would try to talk me into facing Melody, she had already tried. Paul would shake his head in disapproval, helping me to get back on my feet, no questions asked. And Melody…

I was just about to put out my last cigarette and go back inside when someone caught my attention. A small figure, with an umbrella in her hand, walking towards me. I would've recognized her anywhere. Melody. She was there.

At first, I thought I was just too drunk and started hallucinating, but even my previous dizziness was gone. I was entirely convinced when she stepped on the front porch, stopping right in front of me and closing her umbrella. I wasn't ready to see her. How could I be? Hoping was one thing, but facing her was another. Her expression was unreadable. I expected her to already jump at my neck to kill me or slap the hell out of me or anything like that. Or at least to demand some answers. Any reaction would've been perfect, anything but that numbness. I decided I should be the one to break the ice.

"Hi," I started awkwardly.

After two months, in which I hadn't called her, hadn't offered any explanation, all I could say was hi? She didn't answer, just kept staring at me, like she was waiting for me to say something else.

I sighed loudly, scratching the back of my neck. "Do you want to come inside or – "she didn't let me finish and took a step forward, brushing past me and entering the house. I braced myself for what came next and followed her inside. She came to sit on the couch and I leaned against the wall, waiting for the storm to come. She was still watching me intently, her hands crossed on her lap, but I had no idea what to say. Sorry I lied to you? Sorry I didn't even have the guts to face you? It probably would've been a good beginning, and I was just opening my mouth to say something when she started talking.

"I have so many things to ask you, but right now I can't help but be happy you're okay."

The random statement caused me to narrow my eyes in confusion and cross my arms against my chest.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" I asked, genuinely confused.

Her expression was one of bitterness and she shook her head slightly, pursing her lips and pinching the bridge of her nose. We slipped into silence again and I tried my best not to stare, but failed miserably. She was there and I still couldn't get my head around it. Sitting on my couch, watching me, speaking to me, not entirely gone from my life. Even if probably for no more than a few minutes, she was there. Her voice broke my train of thoughts.

"I don't know when it happened, or why it happened. You just stopped. There were no more phone calls in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep, no more texts. So the nights went without us talking, the mornings without the good. You stopped. I was so worried. Worried that you were hurt or that something had happened to you -"

She sighed, lowering her head and rubbing her temples.

"Obviously you don't understand," she whispered, voice cracking. She closed her eyes for a second before continuing. "Can you believe I actually blamed myself for a little while? I thought maybe I did something to upset you or that you just wanted to stay away from me. Trust me, if it hadn't been for my classes I would've jumped in the car and driven here immediately. But then Paul came and told me. He told me you're sorry." She gave a harsh laugh before speaking again. "Like that would make it better. You just vanished out of my life, you didn't answer my phone calls, you had me worried. And I didn't even know why."

I cleared my throat, doing my best to hold her gaze. "Maybe I wanted to disappear from your life. Maybe I just wanted nothing to do with you anymore."

I couldn't believe those were my words. And apparently, neither could Melody. She looked at me like I had just slapped her. But I had to go through with this lie, till the end. Even if that meant hurting her even more. Truth was not an option anymore. I had to stay out of her life, for her own good.

She shook her head violently, pursing her lips. "Then," she started in a broken voice, trying her best to get a hold of herself. "Then how could you give me hope? How could you sit there and knowingly taunt me with a future that could never be? Why did you lie, Adrian?"

I was silent for a minute, still forcing myself to speak, to lie even more. "What would you have done if I had told you there was no way for us to be together? You would've probably insisted on staying here. And you know I didn't want that."

"But that's what I wanted!" she shouted. "I wanted us to be together no matter what – "

"But that was not what I wanted," I cut her off, staring at the ground. "I told you, I wanted nothing to do with you."

"So your reasons were pure selfishness." she took a deep breath, calming her nerves and smiling bitterly. "What am I supposed to do now, Adrian? I gave you me, how do you bring that back?"

"If I was so selfish with you, why don't you just move on? Be happy with someone you deserve because God knows I don't want to be the cause of so much suffering." I mumbled, still not able to bring myself to face her. She had to stay away from me.

I heard her move a few steps forward till she was right in front of me. "Because I don't want to," she shouted, breaking my heart even more. "Because no matter how hard I try, I still think about you. I still care about you." She stopped, voice now low and soft. "How can you not see?"

"See what?" I questioned.

"I love you."

I finally raised my head at her last words. She was crying. Tears were streaming down her face, and she didn't even care enough to wipe them off immediately as she always did. She was crying. She said she loved me for the first time while she was crying. My eyes returned to the floor, still listening to her every word.

"I'm so in love with you, Adrian," she said

She broke. Her voice, her face, her pride. She broke.

"I love you and it's not enough," she exploded. "I thought it would be, but it's not enough. I thought I could fight for you, I thought I could love you enough to make you want to fight for me. But I couldn't, I still can't"

"Melody –"

"Tell me I'm wrong," she pleaded, still crying. "Tell me I'm blind or that it isn't true. Tell me you love me."

No, my mind whispered. Don't lie to her about that, everything but not that. But I had to. One last lie.

"I don't," I whispered, looking her straight in the eyes as I lied. "I don't love you."

When in fact, maybe I just loved her too, much.

The impact of the last statement was evident in her gesture. At first, she just stared at me, gaping, one last tear escaping her puffy eyes, only this time, she wiped it away angrily. And then she nodded, not looking at me anymore.

"Goodbye, Adrian." she said, turning on her heels and starting walking towards the door. But I had one last thing to say, so I went after her and caught her wrist. But she didn't turn around, we just stood like that for a few seconds, till I finally spoke.

"I know I have no right to ask you this, but," I told her gently. "Don't hate me, Melody. I never wanted you to hate me."

I saw her shake her head slowly. "That's the problem, Adrian," her voice trailed off in sadness then continued in a slow, soft tone. "The only thing I hate right now is the fact that I can't bring myself to hate you. I can't cut my own strings and be free of you, but you just did it fore me. But even after all you did, I could never hate you."

I let go of her wrist, and she rushed to leave as fast as she could, opening her umbrella and stepping out on the pouring rain, looking at me over her shoulder. I could only watch as she turned away.

22: Chapter 21. Six Degrees of Separation

MELODY'S P.O.V

~October 2015~

                                                                                                               
                                                                      First, you think the worst is a broken heart.

The shattering sound of a heart being broken could be the quietest scream ever. It's forever echoing. The memory demons could be the most dangerous ones. They never let you forget. They never let you forget moments, words, and especially, they never let you forget about that someone in your life.

I don't love you.

Even after those words had been long spoken, the demons still won't let you forget. Those words still remain a whisper in your ear, whether it's 2AM and you can't sleep, or 12PM and you spin around the kitchen floor in your socks, whishing he was there to dance with you, or 7AM and you roll over and reach for someone that's not there.

I don't love you.

And you know that. But would those words stop you from loving him? Never.

It had been only two weeks since I had found out Adrian had lied to me, and not only about coming with me to San Francisco, but about everything.

I don't love you.

It destroyed me to know, to understand his very intentions with me from the beginning. How stupid of me to fool myself with something that could never be. I knew it was going to end badly, but not that badly. And it confused me that he wanted to return my inadequate, incompetent, broken heart, all for me to mend, all for me to fix, his handy work. I felt like I had left all of my belongings behind when I was about to take an eight hour road trip alone, or like running out of gas when I could see the city lights up ahead. And still, I missed him with all my might, and that was an awfully beautiful curse.

"I'm not buying it," Hope spoke, wrinkling her nose and leaning on the headboard next to me.

Mina, Hope and I were sitting on my bed in our dorm room, and they listened to my story, even if it came two weeks later. Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to tell them right away, I had to give myself time to process all of it. Plus, they had both been so excited about the new college life and classes that we barely had any time to catch up a little. They had noticed the change in me, it would've been hard not to, but didn't press me when I said I didn't want to talk about it. That was one of the many thing I loved about them.

"I think he's doing it just to keep you away from him," Hope continued. "What other explanation is there?"

I don't love you.

"It's simple," I shrugged, my eyes drifting downwards. "He never really loved me."

 

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

 

~November 2015~

                                                                         What's gonna kill you is the second part

 

Hi, this is Melody. Sorry I couldn't answer you, but leave me a message or a phone number after the beep and I'll call you right back. Bye!

As soon as the voicemail was over, I hung up the phone immediately. I laughed in spite of myself, remembering how I always teased her about her voicemail, how it sounded too nice to be hers.

It was the fourth or November. Melody's birthday. She was turning nineteen. And calling her would've been pretty stupid. But lately, I could only do stupid. Like, drinking myself up to the point where I had passed out on the couch, or worrying my mother, or pushing Paul away, even though he and mom were the only ones I had left.

It was the fifth of November. A year since Melody and I kissed for the first time, when I took her to that lake cabin. Did she even remember? I had to drink myself up once again to call her, only to be greeted by her voicemail again. Later, I thanked God she hadn't answered.

It was the sixth of November, and then the seventh, and then the eighth. Nothing changed.

On the ninth of November though, Paul paid me a visit. I wondered why he still bothered, after the way I'd treated him the last time, he should've be long gone from my life. Like Melody.

"Go away!" I mumbled in my pillow, as he entered the room.

Paul snatched the pillow from under my head and hit me with it. "Stop acting like a heartbroken teenage girl and get out of your bed! Hell, even Melody is doing better than you right now."

I flinched at the sound of her name and lifted my head a little, only to see Paul staring down at me, with the biggest bitch face he could pull off.

"Is this how you greet your friends?" he asked, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Don't bother coming then!" I snapped at him, a little louder than I should have, considering my hangover.

"That's not gonna work on me, Adrian," he spat. "Maybe this whole pretending you don't care worked on Melody, but not on me. I'm your best friend, you idiot, I won't go away just because you told me to."

As he spoke, he grabbed the bottle of whisky from my nightstand and threw it out the window.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled, ignoring my headache.

"I'm getting you back on your feet ,that's what I'm doing," Paul spoke calmly.

"I don't –" I started, but he cut me off.

"Do you ever stop for a second to think about others, Adrian? I know it was hard for you to push Melody away, I know you did it for your mother, and even if I don't agree with your methods and ways, I understand. What I don't get is why you are bringing yourself in this state," he gestured with a hand at me and then at the empty bottle. "How do you think your mother feels when she sees her son passed out on the couch almost every day, or locked in his room, doing God knows what? How do you think I feel when I come back from San Francisco to visit my best friend and see him like this? And for fuck's sake, stop sulking over Melody, you brought this to yourself." He paused, taking a deep breath and calming himself before speaking."You stayed in Arcata for your mom, at least make it count."

Not giving me the chance to respond, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. A few minutes after he left, I took the other remaining bottle from my nightstand, and poured it out the window myself. And never bought another one again.

On the 10th of November, I walked out of my room and had dinner with my mom.

 

MELODY'S P.O.V

~December 2015~

 
                                                             And the third, is when your world splits down in the middle

I slammed the door shut behind me as I entered my dorm room. Glad that at least Hope and Mina weren't there, I threw myself on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the previous talk I just had with Paul. How could he possibly ask me to go back to Arcata and talk to Adrian? He walked me home, and at first I thought that was just a friendly gesture, but of course he'd wanted something. He tried to convince me to go back to Arcata and talk to Adrian, to forget about all he had said and go back to how it was before, like I could do that so easily.

"You're both sulking over each other, don't you think it's time to talk some sense into him and convince him he was stupid to let you go? It's crystal clear that neither of you can move on."

But Paul didn't understand. He didn't know what Adrian had said to me. He didn't know my side of the story.

I don't love you.

And let's say I could finally come to terms with that. He didn't love me, never had, that's why he pushed me away. But Paul was right about one thing. I had to move on. But the past gushed in like a tide, washing my mouth with a salinity that torn me to bits. I knew moving on was not forgetting about someone in an instant. It was not as simple as deleting a phone number or burning an old picture. It was not a slam of a door or walking away without looking back. There is no wiping away. It's never a clear break. But I also knew, eventually, I would move on. Even if that meant pretending not to see his face every time someone mentioned the color green, or lying awake at night, trying so hard to sleep, but telling myself it's not because I miss him, because I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Even if I had to walk past his house and try not to look or stare at his window. I would move on. I would forget what his voice sounded like every time he said my name, or forget how his hands whispered to my skin. And even if it was the right thing to do, it terrified me. But I would move as slowly as I need, for as long as it took.

I looked into my backpack for a book from my photojournalism class to study for the next day, when I spotted one of my writing notebooks, the one I used to write my own, personal sketches. More of them were just pure nonsense, things I wrote to just get some stuff out, and I knew I was never going to show them to anyone. I knew Mina and Hope were really supportive of my writing; they were, in fact, my only readers, besides my sister, of course, but I had always felt like I hadn't reached my best, like I could do so much more to improve myself, and I only wanted to show them my best version. If I were to have only three readers, I'd do my best to impress them.

I sighed, looking through the pages of my notebook. I loved seeing imprints of each letter on the back of a page, knowing that I had poured my heart into that piece and I loved inscribing a piece of me into each word and letting it be free with every curve of the letters. I shuddered a little at how clumsy I sounded at first, but was actually surprised to realize I had improved with time, and I dare say, I was actually proud of myself, which was a rare thing. But then, as I read further, I realized why my writing seemed better. It was mostly about Adrian. Every feeling, every experience I had with him was transposed in some sloppy metaphors. He had given my writing a glow, a glow I hadn't seen in a very long time. I turned to a blank page and took my pen from the nightstand, trying to think of something to write.

I don't love you.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and hoping the words would just flow as soon as I was focused. With my horrible, not at all feminine hand-writing, I wrote the first words.

He was my little piece of hell when all I wanted was heaven.

I cringed at the words, and draw a line over them. Too cliché. I tried writing something else instead.

You were heaven, sucked in my hell.

I stared weirdly at my own words. What was wrong with me? It didn't even sound right. I scratched the sentence again. Why couldn't I find the right words? Why couldn't I find the perfect sentence to describe exactly how I felt? I knew I didn't regret what happened between Adrian and me, but I hadn't particularly liked the ending either. After five minutes of sighing and biting my lower lip, trying to find something at least accurate, if not original to write, something finally popped in my head.

You were a love I'd go through hell for a thousand times over.

Without even noticing, a tear has slipped from my eyes and flew down my cheek, but I wiped it away angrily, not allowing myself to cry like a little girl. No, no more crying. I took the pen in my hand again and wrote the final words.

Today, I'm gonna write you out of my life.

 

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

~January 2016~

                                                                  Fourth, you're gonna think that you fixed yourself

I was fine. And I wasn't saying that to just lie to myself, to pretend I was alright because the reality was too difficult to deal with. I was really fine. Well, as fine as life without Melody could get. But at least I had stopped worrying my mother by staying locked up in my room without talking all day, just drinking. After three months, it was time. I quit working at the coffee shop, just because I found a better job, at Greg's Evans auto shop, fixing damaged cars all day. Mina's father had offered me the job since he was looking for some men to replace two of his best workers, Harry and Dylan, who had drifted off to college. So I gladly took the job, even though I had hated Mina's father from the moment Melody had told me how he was treating his daughter. I couldn't believe I had once liked that man. But I was finally doing something I was good at, besides serving coffee, even though I had to admit I missed the coffee house. But it was for the better, the payment was more generous and the working hours more convenient. And I had finally stopped being a jerk with my best friend. Of course, after a month, Paul had come to pay me another visit, and this time he hadn't found me passed out somewhere around the house. No, he had found me watching Family Feud with mom, even though I hated that show, but mom loved it. He was happy to see me changed and didn't say anything about Melody this time, even though I felt slightly disappointed by that. Not knowing how she felt killed me, but it was probably for the best. Things were moving forward, I had to keep the pace.

It was going so well. But what would I have done if I knew it was only the calm before the storm? Would I have tried to stop it? Would I have not walked on that street to get to work? Would I have driven on my motorcycle? Would I have pretended not to see her?

I was in a hurry, rushing to get to the auto shop as fast as I could before Greg would notice I was running late. Just as I was trying not to slip on the ice while running, I stopped mid-step when something caught my eye, or rather someone. I swore under my breath and stayed still, hoping she wasn't going to see me. A few steps ahead of me stood Melody, and of course Mina and Hope were with her. She looked just as badass as ever, wearing her usual leather jacket and ankle boots, even though it was the middle of winter and she must've been freezing. I smiled a little to myself, remembering how she had always told me she couldn't wear a coat, it didn't add to her whole badass look. But what instantly made the smile die on my lips was the guy she was talking to. He had his back turned to me so I couldn't tell if I knew him or not, but she clearly knew him all too well. I wouldn't say she was looking at him the way she used to look at me, not even the slightest; she was rather staring at him the way a cat watches her prey.

I turned around, still hoping she hadn't noticed me, and took another route to the shop. She hadn't even gazed my way.

Lies, that's what I had been telling myself for the past month. Pretending was all I'd done all along. Every day, I got up pretending not to care, permitting excuses and lies because it was easier that way. I hadn't made any progress since she left. I was even worse. I was not fine. I was far away from being fine.

 

MELODY'S P.O.V

~January 2016~

                                                                     Fifth, you see them out with someone else

"I'm telling you, girls, if that kissasser bitch raises her hand one more time to answer another question in the photojournalism class, I'm gonna lose my shit."

I didn't even have to look to tell that Mina was already rolling her eyes or that Hope was laughing at my exaggerations.

"I like Nancy," Hope added

I sighed. "You and everyone else, Hope."

"I'm a nice person, sue me!" she retorted.

"What did Nancy even do to you?" Mina chopped in. "She's a smart, hold back girl. If she knows the answer why wouldn't she raise her hand?"

Of course she was on Hope's side, both of them had the tendency to see the good in people, a thing I had always liked about them, despite my mocking.

"Guys, what are we?" I asked solemnly, while Mina sighed and Hope muttered 'not again' under her breath. "We're bros. And if a bro hates a person, the other bros must hate that somebody, too. It's called hating by alliance. So now we hate Nancy."

"I'm not gonna – "Hope tried to say but I cut her off immediately.

I faked a dramatic sigh. "Hope, just…just…okay?"

Mina chuckled slightly and I was just about to say something else when I heard someone call my name from behind. I turned around to see a tall, blonde guy walking towards us, a smile creeping across his face.

"Who's that?" I asked the girls.

"That's Tommy, you pleb, you had history class with him in high school. He's the one who was head over his heels for you, the one you made out with at his birthday party as a gift. Rings a bell?"

But before I even had the chance to respond, Tommy had finally caught up with us.

"Melody," he breathed out, smiling. "I saw you from the distance so I thought I could come and say hi."

His eyes finally left mine and he at least managed to grumble a hello in Mina's and Hope's direction before looking at me again. Mina and Hope had always told me he had had a huge crush on me, something I thought they were exaggerating. But after his birthday party, when he had finally had the guts to ask me out (multiple times), I'd come to realize there was no exaggeration. Even though he was a nice guy, he had never been my type. But that day, after almost a year since I had last seen him, he seemed more…good looking, I guess. How come I hadn't noticed that cute and shy smile of his, or those big, blue eyes and those blonde curls? If it hadn't been for Adrian, back when I was in my senior year, I probably would've given the guy a chance.

"Ain't that a blast from the past?" I said, returning his smile. "Thomas, what brings you back to Arcata? I thought you were in San Francisco, studying medicine."

If Diana hadn't been dating Paul, or if Tommy had been a little older, he would've been the perfect match for my sister. Not as perfect as Paul, though, subjectively speaking.

Tom chuckled, stuffing his hands in his pockets in a sheepish gesture. "I came to visit mom. What about you, how's college?"

"As good as it gets," I replied, studying him through my lashes, wondering if he would have the guts to ask me out again. After a few seconds, I had my answer.

"It was nice seeing you, Mel. You too, girls." He said, turning around to leave.

"Just when I thought you finally grew a pair and were about to ask me on a date," I blurted out, making him stop and turn around to face me, eyebrows raised in surprise. "I must say, Thomas, I'm disappointed."

To my complete delight, his cheeks turned pinkish.

He laughed awkwardly. "If I recall, I asked you out multiple times back in high school and you turned me down every time."

I took a step forward, titling my head to one side and saw him stiffen awkwardly at my sudden movement. "Why don't you try that one more time, Thomas?" I whispered, narrowing my eyes playfully at him. To my surprise, he also took a step forward, so there were barely a few inches left between us, and looked me straight in the eyes, face all serious.

"Melody Hathaway," he started in a deep voice, making my smile grow even wider. "Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"I would love nothing more." I answered, and, again, to my surprise, he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly. I could already feel my eyes grow wider.

"I'll hold you to that."

And just like that, before I could reply, he walked away, but not before throwing me another half-smile and a wink. For a few seconds, I didn't even move.

"Did he just –"Hope trailed off and I finally turned to face them, breathing out a laugh.

"Poor Tommy," Mina shook her head.

"When did he become so handsome?" I asked, ignoring both of their comments.

"I can't believe he's still hung up on you." Mina added. That made three of us. "Please tell me you're not going to break the poor guy's heart again."

I laughed at the déjà-vu feeling I was getting. "You know what the song says, Mina. Boys only want love if it's torture."

Hope threw her arm around my shoulder and leaned in to kiss my cheek. "There's the heartbreaker Melody we know."

Mina eventually gave in and laughed along with us, and the whole way home we kept on cracking jokes and goofing around, like we always did. But a question kept on nudging at the back of my head, like a soft echo. Would I have turned down Tommy if I hadn't seen Adrian, watching us from a few steps away and turning around immediately?

 

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

                                                         And the sixth, is when you admit you may've fucked up a little

 

We make such messes in this life, both accidentally and on purpose. But wiping the surface clean doesn't really make anything neater.

I fucked up. After five months, I could finally admit I had fucked up. No more excuses, no more lies, telling myself I did what I had to do. No, I had fucked up big time. I let Melody go, and in such a horrible way, feeding her lies after lies and reasons after reasons for her to hate me. But once I could admit I'd been wrong, I could finally do something about it. I was going to get Melody back. And maybe I was just driving down another dead end, but I had to try. I was going to get Melody back.

 

AN: Heya, guys. So ,another quick note, i just wanted to tell you i might be late with the next chapter and i've already been pretty late with this one. I'm curious if there's anyone reading this, but whatever.

Also, i was thinking of making a playlist for this story sooner or later. So, should I? Tell me what you think.

 

23: Chapter 22 . Thanks for the Memories

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

"Hey, Willy Wonka, why won't you share with the less fortunate?"

It's the most important part of everything you'll ever write, it's the opening to a story, it's the first paragraph, it's what orange juice is to breakfast, it sets the tone, lights the stage. First words.

"What, this? I'm sorry, but you'll have to find another one, I took it first."

It starts with a smile.

"Not gonna happen, squirrel" he smirked.

"I'm Adrian, by the way. Adrian Hayes."

"Y'know, squirrel, that punch in the balls would have worked .You would have totally knocked me out .And now have the chocolate in your hands."

And I smiled. I was the one to write the first sentence to our crazy, amazing and bittersweet story. But he wrote the next sentence.

"I came back for the jacket. I left it here yesterday."

He also wrote the next four sentences.

"You know you're going to be late for school, right? Since I'm already here, you can come out as well and let me drive you to school."

"What are you doing?" he asked, but received no answer. "Oh, I see. Avoid the problem till it goes away. Nuh-uh, squirrel, not gonna happen.You're coming with me." And with that being said, he threw me over his shoulder.

"Aye, aye, captain" he said and started off the motor." I told you I might come in handy"

"Ready, squirrel?"

And I was ready, ready for what followed next.

"I do think you're beautiful," he said, twisting one of my wet strands of hair around his finger. "Too beautiful for my own good."

~

"I don't want you to want something from me. Because I'm not able to give you what you want. I'm not able to deal with you."

~

"You know what, Melody, you sound a bit-" he paused and looked as if he was searching for the right word, then smiled as he continues. "- jealous .Yeah, jealous would be the word I'd use to describe how you're acting."

"Me? Jealous?" I scoffed. "Of what? You? Her? "

~

"Didn't you tell me once that it bothered you when I smoked?"

"Yeah, but, you look like you could use some company right now. That, of course, if you… I mean, if you don't want me to come, then -"

"I'd love it if you joined me, squirrel."

~

"A-Adrian?" I said, trying hard to keep my voice calm, but failing

"Melody? What's going on? Are you okay?" he asked, worried, already noticing the changing in my tone.

"Please come and take me out of here!"

I looked at the calendar. January, 20. I looked at the clock. 19:37. I was supposed to meet Tommy in an hour, for our third date. I still couldn't believe we had come to the third one. Scratch that, I couldn't believe I was even going on a date. With Tommy. Not Adrian. For some reason, I had to remind myself that constantly, like my brain wanted to slip into denial, to function on lies, to ignore the cruel reality that I was dating Tommy, that Adrian was not there anymore. I thought I was supposed to move on. But seeing him again brought all those muted feelings back, and for a second, for just one second, it all felt like it used to be.

I shook all the thoughts and memories of Adrian out of my head and tried to focus on going on a date with Tommy. I got out of my bed and walked to the closet I shared with Mina and Hope to find something to wear and took the first shirt and pair of jeans that I spotted. I was just about to close the closet's door and get ready when I saw that one of my shirts fell from the closet, and after I picked it up and unfolded it, only to see it was one of Adrian's shirts. It was actually the only one he had ever borrowed me, when we danced on Slow dancing in a burning room,the Metallica one.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm inviting you to dance."

That night had been a turning point for me. That was the night we both had realized we were starting to fall for each other, with every lie we told ourselves, with every averted gaze and with every second that passed.

"Tell me that being so close to me doesn't make your head spin, or that it doesn't knock the air out of your lungs. If you say you feel nothing for me then tell me to stop!"

While I was brushing my hair, I didn't even realize I'd started humming quietly the song Adrian had played for me that night at the cabin, It goes like this. But as soon as I realized, I stopped immediately. Out of all the memories, that was one I should've never thought about. But I couldn't stop the myriad of waves that crashed on me when thoughts of that night came back to me. I was both frightened and relieved that I could finally admit my feelings. And honestly, I still couldn't bring myself to regret anything, because those were the greatest chapters of my life. The ugly truth was that remembering was all I could do. I put my hairbrush on the nightstand and looked again at the clock. I still had a few minutes till Tommy was supposed to come and pick me up. I sat on the bed, desperate to find something, anything, to do, rather than to sit there in silence, alone with my thoughts. But the past kept beating inside me like a second heart. I couldn't swim anymore; I could only drown myself in memories again.

"I just don't get it," I said, sitting in a booth at Adrian's coffee shop. "How were you able to pick up so many random girls from bars?"

Adrian shrugged, trying to take one of my fries from my plate, but I was fast enough to slap his hand away before he could even touch my food. "I don't know, I just did, it wasn't always that difficult. Not all the girls are hard to get, squirrel. With you, even your fries are hard to get."

"Fries before guys, Groot," I wiggled my eyebrows at him, and he couldn't keep a straight face anymore and cracked a smile. "So, did you have, like, lame pick-up lines that you used?"

He looked at me in confusion. "Of course not, who the hell uses them anymore?"

"What do you mean who uses them? A good pick up line could work on me."

He arched an eyebrow at my words. "Are you saying that if I had come at you in a bar and ask you if you wanna taste the rainbow because my lips are Skittles, it would have worked?"

I couldn't help but laugh at how lame that sounded. "You know what we should do," I said, as an idea hit me. "We should go on a bar and pretend we'd never met, then try to use lame pick up lines on each other and act like they actually worked."

"That's stupid," Adrian responded. "We should totally do that."

That night, we went at the nearest, most crowded bar we knew and tried that little game. Adrian was supposed to hit on one of the girls from there, and after she would turn him down, eventually, he would move on and hit on me, and I would act like those lines actually worked. So I went to sit on the counter, ordered a drink, while Adrian was trying to pick up the bartender.

"Excuse me," Adrian started, as the girl poured him a glass of whiskey. "I think I know you from somewhere. Are you from Tennessee?"

The bartender frowned at him, shaking her head. "No. Why?"

"Because you're the only ten I see." he answered, and I was already having a hard time maintaining a straight face since we hadn't talked about what pick up lines we'd use. The girl rolled her eyes and was about to turn around and leave when Adrian spoke again. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, you must be from Pearl Harbor, because you're the bomb."

I covered my smile with a hand, pretending like I wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation. But the girl was clearly not amused.

"Do those lines actually work on someone?" she asked annoyed, putting her hands on her hips.

Adrian scoffed. "Of course they work. Watch and learn!" And with that, he turned to face me, walking to sit next to my chair.

"Hi," I tried to smile shyly at him, batting my lashes. But he just stared at me for a few seconds, not saying anything.

"You're so beautiful you made me forget my pick up line." he spoke eventually, and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Even I had better lines than that one. From the corner of my eye, I saw the bartender smiling victoriously.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" I asked, grinning at him. "Because you look a lot like my next boyfriend."

It was a good thing that he had his back turned to the bartender, because he actually cracked a smile at that. We probably should've talked about our lines before coming there, since I wasn't sure I could stop myself from bursting out a laugh much longer.

"Since I'm new in town, can you give me the directions to your apartment?"

I smiled flirty at him, leaning closer and talking loud enough so the girl could still hear me. "How about I show you the way?" I grabbed his hand and led him out of the bar, and the minute we made it out, we burst out laughing. The face of the bartender and everyone else who witnessed the conversation was just priceless.

And that was only one of the many memories. It wasn't even our brightest one. How could I forget the bets we always did? Like the one about Paul and Diana's relationship, or when we made a bet that we could stay up all night, walking around the city till morning, then stop at his coffee shop to have breakfast. Or at least that was the plan, since when we found a hotdog stand and Adrian left me on a bench while he went to buy us some, but when he came back with two hotdogs in his hands, I was sound asleep. Even though the bet was off, we still stayed up till morning. Our relationship was built on moments like those ones. How could I be so wrong about him the whole time? How could he sound so sincere when he'd said he loved me?

"How come you haven't written any stories by now if you say you like writing so much?" Adrian asked me one day, as we were sitting in our usual booth at the coffee shop.

I took a sip of my latte before answering. "I write some stuff here and there in a notebook, just some random, short notes, kind of like a diary. But I never thought about writing something different."

"And why haven't I read anything from that notebook?"

"Because," I shrugged. "Nobody has, and I'm not particularly proud of what I wrote so far."

Adrian looked at me through narrowed eyes for a moment before speaking. "You should write a long story."

"About what?" I questions, frowning.

He pouted his lips and remained silent for a few seconds. "It should be an old murder case being resurrected."

"Why?"

Adrian shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not? I always wanted to read a book about that."

"Now that's a challenge," I muttered to myself, nodding and actually considering it for a second. "It should be about a detective who's trying to look a little bit more into this case – "

"And who dies mysteriously!" Adrian finished for me, enthusiastically.

"And his son should take after him and try to end the case. He even goes as far as finding a suspect."

"An arrogant 30 year-old woman." he cut in again.

I rolled my eyes. "Lemme guess, because you always wanted to read a story about an arrogant 30 year-old woman."

"But she didn't actually murder anyone," Adrian ignored me. "So she can help the detective's son find the real criminal."

"Not bad, Hayes," I smiled at him. "And the actual criminal should be a 72 year-old lady."

"Why?" he arched an eyebrow at me.

"Because I always wanted to read a book about a 72 year-old murderer."

It was now Adrian's turn to roll his eyes. "Fair enough. But how should it end, though?"

I was just about to suggest we shouldn't think about it right away, when we heard a voice speaking right next to us.

"They should fall in love."

I looked up to see a middle-aged man, standing with his hands in his pockets and staring down at us, a smug smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," the man apologized, grinning. "But I heard the two of you talking and I couldn't help but step in. After all, every story needs a little bit of romance, right?" he paused for a few seconds, resting his eyes on me for a few more seconds before continuing. "You should really write that story."

He shot me a wink before turning on his heels and leaving.

"Who was that?" I asked eventually, turning to look at Adrian, who had the most surprised expression on his face.

"Did Simon Powell just give us his blessing?" Adrian spoke, still looking in the direction the man had left.

"Is that name supposed to mean something to me?" I replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

With his jaw still dropped in astonishment, Adrian finally turned to face me. "Melody, that's Simon Powell, he's a published writer. He always comes at the coffee shop and writes on his laptop, I even talked to him once. He's published two or three books so far. Holy shit, you just got blessed by Simon Powell."

I couldn't help but laugh a little under my breath at that memory. I had actually started writing that story, I'd almost finished it, but after that whole mess between me and Adrian, I had stopped.

I sighed, looking at my reflection in the mirror. In five minutes, Thomas would be there to pick me up. Thomas. Not Adrian.

That was the thing about memories. I couldn't reminisce anymore, not without also remembering how it all went down. I couldn't think about how he set me ablaze, cut me loose like a wildfire, or how I was just freefalling from the moment I had first laid my eyes on him, not without also remembering those words, those cursed, damned words. In the end, I suppose Adrian had gotten it wrong in that song he'd written. It didn't end with a kiss, it ended with an I don't love you.

 

24: Chapter 23 . With or Without You.

ADRIAN'S P.O.V

                                                                                   ~February 2016~

"Adriaaaan – "

My mother snapped her fingers to draw my attention. Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't heard her talking to me and she had finally noticed it.

"Yeah?" I lifted my gaze from the ground and found her studying me curiously. "What?"

Instead of answering right away, she turned the TV off and narrowed her eyes at me.

"How are you, Adrian?" mom asked carefully, tiptoeing around me, like she had been doing for the past few months.

I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "Peachy. Why?"

But of course she didn't buy it, she knew me too well for my own good.

"No, you're not," she answered bluntly. "Is that plan of yours to get Melody back still going?"

I sighed loudly, crossing my arms against my chest. Two weeks ago, after I'd seen Melody talking with that guy, I decided I had to get her back, I couldn't stand the fact that she was still thinking I'd never loved her, that she was moving on without me. The intention was there, but I had no plan. I couldn't leave mom, not when she still had those terrible headaches, or when she could pass out at any given moment. I had to be there for her, especially when God knew how little time we had left.

"Adrian," my mother's voice broke my train of thought again. "You still want that, right?"

I sighed again. "Of course I do, but I have no idea how."

"What do you mean, how? You drive there, tell her you acted like a dumbass and fix things."

"It's not that simple, mom." I mumbled. "I can't leave you here, and things between me and Mel won't work out if she's there and I'm here."

We were silent for a few seconds, and I could feel her eyes on me intently. I raised my eyes and found her staring back at me, just like I had expected. I was just about to tell her to drop it, that I'll figure something out, but she spoke first.

"You have to go, honey." she spoke softly.

I shook my head in response. "We had this conversation before, mom, I'm not leaving you – "

"I know," she cut me off. "You told me a million times, Adrian, but it's not like you're leaving for good, you'll still be just a few hours away, you can visit and–"

"Mom," I snapped at her, a little too harsh than I intended. "Drop it, I'll find another way."

"There isn't, Adrian," she replied calmly, resting one of her hands on my cheek."You can't stay here with me for God knows how long, and you can't lose Melody just because of that."

"I said I'll find another way," I spat again. "I won't leave you alone, not when – " I stopped myself from speaking further, sighing and running a hand through my hair. But she didn't drop it that easily.

"Not when what? Not when I can die anytime? I know what I'm asking you to do, honey, I can't live with the idea that you sacrificed your happiness for me."

I got up from the couch and walked away angrily, going to my room. That night, I could barely get some sleep. I twisted around in my bed, trying to answer unanswerable questions and trying to come up with something, anything, because I couldn't just let it go, not again. Around morning, I finally managed to put my worries to sleep, but not for too long since a few hours after, I woke up to my mother pulling the sheets off me.

"Wakey, wakey," she said in a sing–song voice, drawing the curtains and opening the window.

I groaned, looking at the clock. "It's only 8am, what the hell, mom?"

She didn't reply, and only then I saw the suitcase in the middle of my room

"What's with that?" I asked carefully. "Are you going somewhere or – "

"No," she said, crossing her arms against her chest. "But you're going. You're going to San Francisco."

I sighed loudly, leaning against the headboard and resting a hand over my eyes. "I told you, mom, I'm not"

"Yes, you are, Adrian," she cut me off again, still just as calm as ever. "You're going to get Melody back because I'm not going to let you stay here with me anymore," she paused, coming to sit beside me on the bed, then continued. "I told you before, honey, ever since we found out I had this disease, I don't want you to waste so many years of your life for me, but you still didn't listen to me back then, but now, you're going to have to. I'm not letting you lose Melody, too."

"Mom –"

"Dammit, Adrian, listen to me!" she finally snapped. "Don't just sit here, waiting for something to happen. Go after her, because that's what you should do when you love someone! Don't let anything just happen to you, don't let Melody just happen to you! Do you know why I fell in love with your father? Because he had gotten in an airplane and ran down the street after me and called me up drunk at five in the morning because he really needed to talk to me right then. I loved him for all the stupid, crazy things he had done for me. Go and act like an idiot and be entirely vulnerable and honest, because that's what you should do when you love someone. Go and scream it and be with her in ways that matter, even though it's raw and unguarded and stupid, but that it's worth anything, really."

I blinked and stared downwards, letting her words sink in.

"So you're going," mom continued after a few more seconds of complete silence and took a small envelope out from her pocket, putting it in my hand. "I've been raising some money for the past few years, hoping I could convince you one day to go to college, I think it would be enough."

I shook my head, trying to give her the envelope with the money back, but she placed her hand over mine, stopping me.

"You can enroll for college in the next semester, and till then, you can find a job and raise some money yourself. I already told you, it's not up for discussion."

For a few seconds, none of us said anything else, till she got up from the bed and started walking out of my room, only to stop in the doorway and look at me over her shoulder.

"You know how your father used to say," she offered me a sad, but reassuring smile. "Go get them, tiger!"

And with that, she was gone, leaving me alone, with a suitcase in the middle of my room and with no choice left. So, the following day, I left Arcata behind and drove to San Francisco.

 

"So, what's the plan?" Paul asked over the phone, after I'd called to tell him I came to San Francisco, this time for good.

I put my bags on the hotel's bed and sat down. "I have no idea, I honestly didn't think about what I'll do after I leave Arcata."

I sighed loudly and let myself fall back onto the bed, with my feet still hanging off the sides, and stared at the ceiling.

"It's not gonna be easy, man." Paul continued.

"That much I figured," I muttered. "But I think I have no option than to knock on her door and just go with the flow."

Paul let out a laugh. "You're so going to fuck this up. Good luck, buddy!"

I was just about to hang up the phone when I heard him say something else. "Adrian, I hope you know you did the right thing, man."

I smiled a little to myself. "I sure hope so."

And with that, we both hung up. I decided right then I couldn't let myself think about what I'd do once I would knock on Melody's dorm door or about her reaction, though I pretty much already expected reproaches and thrown blames. As Paul said, it wasn't going to be easy, I wasn't sure if she was going to forgive me or even talk to me, but one thing was certain. I was going to try.

Around noon, I climbed on Storm and headed at the address Paul had given me, and luckily enough, I arrived ten minutes later without getting lost around the city. And since the odds seemed to be in my favor that day, I could also get into the dorm without being stopped by anyone. I climbed the stairs to the third floor, stopped in front of room 135 and knocked twice. Only to have Mina Evans open the door and Hope Martin looking over her shoulder at me.

But Melody was nowhere to be seen.

For a few brief moments, we all stood there in silence, the girls looking curiously at me, when finally, Hope spoke first.

"About time you showed up."

MELODY'S P.O.V

"I gotta go," I hurried to say, staying on the edge of the bed and looking at Tommy over my shoulder.

"So soon?" he asked , sounding utterly disappointed and giving me the best puppy eyes he could manage. I put on my jacket and smoothed my hair quickly before turning to gaze at him.

"It's Dylan's birthday, they're all waiting for me outside already and I told you how much Hope hates it when I'm late," I sighed and tied my shoelaces before continuing. "I'll call you later, okay?"

He nodded and came beside me to give me a quick kiss on the lips before opening the door and handing me my backpack. I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could and made it out in the dorm's parking lot, and just as I expected, the girls and Dylan were already waiting for me there. I was just about to open my mouth to apologize for being late when I heard someone's voice calling my name, only to turn around and see Tommy looking out the dorm's window and waving a black bra at us.

"Melody, you forgot this –" Tommy froze mid-sentence, finally seeing Mina, Hope and Dylan, who just stood there, gaping at him. "On second thought, nevermind." And with that, he went back inside.

I closed my eyes and sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of my nose. I finally dared to look at the girls and Dylan, and the reactions were different. Hope was the first one to speak

"No fucking way," she exclaimed, eyes wide in surprise.

"I definitely didn't need to know this." Dylan said next, scratching the back of his head and awkwardly averting my gaze.

I looked at Mina, who was just grinning from ear to ear.

"Ya nasty squirrel," she said, wiggling her eyebrows and poking my arm, and I couldn't help but flinch a little, hearing Adrian's old nickname. I immediately scolded myself.

What are you going to do, Melody, think of Adrian every time you see a squirrel in a park?

"Is there any chance we might pretend this didn't happen?" I sighed again, eager to move on to another subject as soon as possible.

"I wish," I heard Dylan mutter under his breath.

"No, no, no, I wanna hear this," Mina bounced, still smiling.

"God, no," Dylan groaned, shooting Mina a pleading look. "I don't."

I ignored them both and turned to look at Hope. "You've been awfully quiet about this." I remarked and she only shrugged, throwing a meaningful glance in Mina's direction, whose smile had died on her lips. I glanced between the two of them, wondering what I was missing there.

"What are you not telling me?" I narrowed my eyes at both of them.

Poor Dylan looked just as conflicted as I did, looking between Mina and Hope with a furrow between his brows.

"What is it?" he asked, coming to stand next to Mina and taking her hand in his.

I only saw her standing on her tiptoes to whisper something to him, but I couldn't make out what.

"Ooooh, right, that," Dylan said, realization hitting him. "I forgot about that."

"Okay, now I know you're definitely keeping something away from me. What is it?"

They both looked a little troubled for a few seconds, staring awkwardly around mumbling something unintelligible.

"You know that thing when we had to go there and do that other thing," Mina stammered, talking to Dylan, who was just nodding approvingly and pursing his lips in an attempt to not burst out laughing.

I was just about to insist some more, since they were definitely hiding something from me and I was too damn curious to just let it go, when Hope caught my elbow and drew me closer to her.

"Didn't you forget something?" she had to lean down to whisper in my ear, since she was the tallest one from our group, almost just as freakishly tall as Dylan. When I stared confused back at her, she rolled her eyes. "Your gift for Dylan, dumbass, you forgot it back in our dorm room."

I had to resist the urge to face-palm myself.

"Dammit, now I have to go get it," I groaned, turning around to tell Mina and Dylan I'd meet them at the restaurant we initially wanted to go to, but they were too busy being caught up in their own little world, talking to each other and ignoring the rest of the world, that they probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd left right then.

I loudly cleared my throat and caught their attention. "Guys, I'm heading back to my dorm, I forgot something there. I'll meet you at the restaurant?"

Mina and Hope threw each other another strange look, one I didn't know what to make of again, and decided to interrogate them all later about their understood implication

"Wait," Dylan chimed in. "Isn't Adr –"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mina nudged him with her elbow in the stomach, and he cried a little, mumbling a 'what was that for' to her.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "You seriously have to tell me what's up with all of you today, Dylan is acting ever weirder than usual, and I didn't think that was possible."

"We'll tell you when you get back." Hope stepped in, and if I hadn't knew she couldn't lie for shit, I wouldn't have let it go. So I headed in the direction of our dorm, without interrogating them any further.

Since I had also forgotten my headphones back in our room, I was left all alone with my thoughts. Halfway there, I heard my phone buzzing in my pocket and took it out, only to see I had a text from Tommy.

Sorry about before. You think we can grab some dinner tomorrow night?

I ignored the text, deciding to answer him later.

Tommy. What was I even doing with him? Frankly, I didn't know how to answer my own question. When I had first started things with him, when I accepted going out with him, it was all because I wanted to move on, to distract myself from what had happened with Adrian. It had only been an impulsive thought at the moment. But now, it was anything but impulsive. I might have taken it a little too far.

Tommy. He was an old-fashioned guy, the type of guy that you are sure your mother would want you to bring home, the type that holds doors open for girls, asks permission before kissing you. And I wasn't sure that was what I wanted. Or maybe I was just trying too much to find him flaws. Maybe, deep down in my subconscious, the only wrong thing about Tommy was that he wasn't Adrian.

Adrian. Why did I always have to end up there? When was I going to stop thinking about him?

But at least, when I was with Tommy, all my thoughts of Adrian seemed to shut down for a while. So, until I would have things figured out in my head, Tommy could be a welcomed refuge.

In a few minutes, I finally arrived at the dorm. I tore upstairs, searching for the keys in my bag and trying hard not to break my neck as I did so. I finally found them and was just about to put them in the keyhole and unlock the door, but to my surprise, the door was already unlocked.

That can't be good.

I opened the door carefully, bracing myself for whatever I was going to find there, a thief or a criminal or God knew what else. But I could never brace myself hard enough for what I actually found in there. Or more like, who I found.

Adrian was there.

"Hello, gorgeous." His eyes shone as he grinned at me, a lazy and bright kind of smile.

My heart stopped. Started. Stopped again.

And he just stood there, in the middle of my room, with his hands casually stuffed in his pockets. My mind raced as I was trying to process what to do next, how best to proceed.

Exhale, I told myself. Just breath, calm yourself.

But something inside me shattered at the sound of his voice.

"Mel – " he begun, but I could only shake my head and turn around, slowly, my back to him.

"No," I whispered slowly, more to myself, though still loud enough for him to hear.

"Melody, please," he tried one more time, and I could hear him taking a few steps forward, till he was close enough for me to feel his breath on the back of my neck. All those walls I had so carefully built were so easily being demolished. "At least look at me."

I shook my head one more time, and turned around to speak again, this time more loudly, almost shouted.

"No." One broken word.

Adrian was looking at me, his eyes wide and jaw clenched. A thick silence followed before he spoke again.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered back, and it felt like the first real words he had ever told me.

I started backing away, slowly, one step at a time. I couldn't hear anything else besides my heavy breathing and my mind whispering no, no, no over and over again. Because it must have been a dream, this couldn't really happen and I was about to wake up any time. But no matter how many times I blinked or told myself to wake up, he was still there, standing in front of me and waiting for me to say something. But what could I say? Ask him why, how, what for? It was going so well. I wasn't entirely over him, but I was trying, God knew I was trying. I had all those suppressed feelings under control. And now they kept flowing back to me.

"I suppose you're not here only to tell me this," I managed to get out, keeping my voice under control. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, continuing. "Why are you here, Adrian?"

But he didn't say anything. He opened and closed his mouth several times, searching for something to say, as if he was wondering, too, why he was there. As if he had just sleepwalked his way there, to me.

"You should go," I told him eventually, when it was clear he wasn't going to say anything, and took a step back to open the door for him, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist, stopping my movement. And my skin burned where he was touching me.

"No, just hear me out, okay?" he rushed to say and stared for a few seconds at his hand still holding my wrist, before removing it and running his other hand through his hair.

"I really should've thought this through," he muttered to himself, sighing. "I'm really sorry, Mel," he repeated.

"You'll have to be more specific than that." I said, crossing my arms over my chest, and Adrian sighed again. "What are you exactly sorry for? Because it's a long list. For leading me on, for making me think you felt something for me, when you obviously didn't, or for lying to me – "

"I did," he interrupted, almost shouting. "Dammit, Melody, I did, I did feel something for you and I'm sorry for lying to you about that," he paused, taking a deep breath and meeting my eyes, softening his voice this time before speaking. "I'm sorry I lied to you when I said I didn't love you."

I wished I could have told my heart to stop beating so fast so I could hear myself think. But it only started to beat faster, if that was even possible. I tried to say something, but I could only stare blankly at him.

"I know it doesn't make it any better," Adrian started talking again. "And I know I may be a little too late, I know I should've done this a long time ago, climb on my bike and drive here, and just do something, yell out something to make things better, but…" he paused and took a step forward so there was barely any space left between us. "Can we go back to how it was before? I'm here now, for good, and I'm here to stay."

How easy it would've been to just take a step forward and jump in his arms and tell him how much I missed him, let myself get hypnotized by his words and forget all that's been and focus on what could be. The urge to lean into him was staggering. But I couldn't.

"You think that's how it works?" I yelled at him, more and more rage building up inside me. "You think you can just come here and ask me to pretend nothing happened and go back to how things were before? You think you can pop into my life again after 5 months, months when I was way over my head trying to get over you, trying to stop thinking about how you lied straight to my face and said you didn't love me. And when I finally manage to get over you, you come back. Are you even hearing yourself?"

He stared at me with his eyes that seem to be too tired, too strained. He hesitated, licking his lips before pressing them tight, before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Then what do you want me to do, Mel? I realized I made a mistake and I'm sorry for it, terribly sorry, I had to go through hell myself and I still couldn't manage to get over you. I know I'm a little late –"

His eyes were so terribly hopeful. I had to hold out a hand o stop him from taking a step forward, closer to me.

"A little? You're too late, Adrian," I corrected him. "Too damn late," I forced myself to swallow the stone in my throat. He tried speaking again, but before he had the chance, I cut him off. "I'm seeing someone."

For the first time since we were having that conversation, I had finally allowed myself to think of Tommy. His mouth fell closed, but he kept looking at me, struggling with some kind of emotion, struggling to regain composure. That made two of us.

"Is he that guy I saw you with?" he asked, barely audible, not even looking at me anymore.

This time I actually laughed out loud, a strange, humorless kind of laugh. How easy it could have been…

"I saw you that day, you know," I told him, leaning against the wall. "I saw you turning around, just because you didn't want to face me. You know what's funny? If you had come and told me those things that day, told me you were sorry and that you wanted me back, I would actually have been able to get back to how it was before, I missed you too much not to. But you didn't tell me any of these things, you avoided me, and that's partly the reason why I started dating Tommy. What was I supposed to do, Adrian, wait for you? You weren't coming back."

Silence settled in the room again, with only the sound of my pounding heart ringing in my ears.

"Do you love him?" Adrian broke the silence, whispering those words carefully and narrowing his brown eyes at me.

My first instinct was to say no. If I had to be entirely honest with myself, I didn't love Tommy, I loved Adrian. And time was not going to change that. But I was surely going to try and hide it as best as I could. I was going to try my best to lie to myself, that I didn't love him, that he didn't deserve me, that I didn't miss him. I would tell myself lie after lie after lie if that was what it took.

I was just about to nod in response, when I lifted my eyes and saw that he was smiling smugly at me.

"You don't," he said, more loudly this time, his smirk growing even bigger. "You hesitated."

Again, I opened my mouth to say something, to tell him it didn't matter if I did or not, when he took a few steps forward, till he was right in front of me, and I was with my back against the wall, unable to move.

"Honestly, I don't think it would've matter," he resumed talking, leaning with one arm against the wall, bringing our faces closer. I was trapped. "Five months ago, I didn't allow myself to be selfish with you, and that's exactly why I lost you. I won't make the same mistake again. If there's anything I've learnt by now, is that I'm really good at waiting around for you."

He finally pulled away, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. The corners of his lips rose again, dimpling his cheeks, and he looked amused by this whole situation.

"It has always been the same with us," he told me, moving to get his jacket from a nearby chair and putting it on, his eyes never leaving mine. "I can wait, squirrel." He walked a few more steps till he reached the door, throwing another smile in my direction. "Just say when."

 

I heard the door to our dorm room closing and I didn't have to look to tell that Mina and Hope had finally arrived home. It's needless to say that, after Adrian had left, I didn't feel like going out with the girls and Dylan anymore.

"You knew," I said at last, without getting up from my bed, just facing the ceiling. "You knew I would find Adrian here."

I finally got up and leaned on the headboard, facing them with the coldest expression I could manage to pull off.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I spoke again, flatly.

"Would you have still wanted to face him if we had told you?" Mina asked, coming to stand next to me on the bed.

"That's the whole point, Mina," I snapped at her. "I wouldn't have, I would've avoided him at all costs."

"In my defense," Hope spoke for the first time since they got back. "I wanted to tell you, but she didn't let me," she gestured with her head at Mina.

Mina threw me a tentative smile. "Is it a bad time to say I still ship it?"

I ignored both of their remarks, not feeling particularly chatty at the moment.

"How did it go?" Hope asked carefully, also standing next to us on my bed and throwing an arm around my shoulder.

"Do you even have to ask?" I returned the question, closing my eyes and resting my head on Hope's shoulder.

"That bad?"

I nodded. "I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, now I could really use a really, really, long nap, like a 12 hours long nap, I feel exhausted."

They both probably wanted to know anything about what had happened, but since it was obvious I wasn't in the mood of sharing right then, they let it go, giving me a tentative smile after I assured them I was fine. Truth be told, I wasn't fine at all, but I would be. Eventually.

 

The following day seemed so normal compared to the previous one. I spent half of it at the campus, attending my classes and spending my breaks with Mina and Hope and a few students from our classes that we got along with. Around four o'clock, the girls and I headed back to our room, and only later that day I remembered I was supposed to go to dinner with Tommy. I dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a green shirt, grabbed my coat from the hanger and ran out the door, hoping I wasn't going to be late. Fortunately, the coffee shop we usually went to wasn't that far away, and Tommy knew I was usually running late. I found him waiting outside for me, and after he gave me a quick kiss on the lips, we headed inside.

It all felt wrong now. To be with him, to kiss him and talk to him, it felt wrong, because I knew I still had feelings for Adrian, I still thought about him, about what happened, and that wasn't fair for Tommy. Even though I had told him about Adrian from the beginning, he didn't knew he had come to San Francisco to convince me to start things over with him, or that for a few seconds, a few brief seconds, I was tempted to run into his arms and pretend nothing had happened. And I'm not sure what he would've done if he had known about my first instinct, he had never been the jealous type of guy. Maybe he was better off not knowing.

I was still contemplating about whether I should tell Tommy or not, when I felt a hand resting over mine.

"Melody," I heard Tommy call my name and I finally lifted my eyes and looked at him, only to see he was staring back at me, a concerned look on his face. "Are you sure you're okay? I've been talking for five minutes and you haven't said a word."

I smiled faintly and took a sip from my coffee before answering. "I'm fine, just a little tired."

But I probably didn't sound convincing at all, since he narrowed his blue eyes at me, waiting for me to say something else.

"Is this about yesterday?" Tommy asked, squeezing my hand. "Because if so, I'm really—"

"No, no, it's not," I waved him off, laughing a little at the memory. He was still waiting for me to continue and tell him what it was about then, and not telling him about Adrian seemed no longer an option.

"Listen, Tommy, we should talk," I started, and from the panicked look on his face, I realized I had just said a famous I'm-breaking-up-with-you phrase. I was just about to open my mouth and start telling him the whole incident from only a day ago, when the sound of a familiar voice coming from only a few steps away stopped my train of thoughts.

"Well, well, well, ain't that a blast from the past?"

There, next to our table, stood none other than Adrian, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his ever present leather jacket, and with a devilish grin playing on his lips.

"Melody, what a strange coincidence to find you here," he continued, his eyes never leaving mine. But we both knew it was not a coincidence. After a few seconds of only staring at each other, seconds when I couldn't even open my mouth to say something, his eyes finally rested on Tommy. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Adrian Hayes," he smiled, extending his hand at Tommy, who shook it politely, then continued speaking again. "I'm Melody's ex boyfriend."

And just like that, silence settled over us, the sound of the other costumers talking around becoming distant mumbles. Tommy threw me a confused look, probably figuring out already that he was the Adrian I had told him about, while I just kept on mentally swearing to myself for not telling him sooner that Adrian was in town. Meanwhile, Adrian just kept on staring dumbly at us, aware of what he had already caused.

"What, did I say something wrong?" he asked innocently, playing dumb and letting a few seconds pass before speaking again. "Oh, you must be the new boyfriend. Awkwaaaard." he mumbled the last part to himself, but still loud enough for us to hear, too. With no needed invitation, Adrian took a chair from nearby and stood next to us at our table, winking at me as he did so. "So, Toby, how did you and Melody meet?"

"Tommy," I corrected him. "His name's Tommy."

That devilish smile was back on his face.

"Eh, didn't you once tell me names weren't important in one night stands?" he teased, already testing my patience.

I took a deep breath, in an attempt to calm myself and counted to ten in my mind before speaking again. "Why are you here, Adrian?"

He threw me another innocent look. "It's a free country, isn't it? I just came here to have dinner. I randomly ran into you." he said, emphasizing the word 'randomly'.

"All by yourself?" I challenged, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe I'm here with someone, on a date." he challenged back

I scoffed. "Yeah, right, like you do dates. But if you're looking for one of your usual flings, I think you should better go to a bar, it's more suitable for picking up sluts."

"Careful there, squirrel, it almost sounded like you're jealous."

I rolled my eyes, mentally thinking of ways of how I could just stab him with a fork or smash a plate in his head.

"No, but, tell me, Adrian," I insisted. "With how many women have you slept to get over me?"

It was his turn to scoff. "You're one to talk. Did your new boyfriend, Teddy, help you get over me?"

"His name is Tommy!" I spat at him.

"What kind of name is Tommy anyway?"

But I could barely register his words. For the first time since Adrian had randomly ran into us, I dared a look in his direction, only to stare at an empty chair. I looked around, hoping to spot him and go and fix things with him, but he was nowhere in sight.

"I think we lost him at the one night stand part." I heard Adrian tell me, but I ignored him, getting up from my chair and walking out of the restaurant, still looking for Tommy. I made it out in the parking lot, and his car was also gone. I took out my cell phone, dialing his number, but he declined it from the first two calls. I was about to try and call him again, when I felt someone putting a jacket over my shoulder, my jacket actually, and only then I'd realized how cold it was outside. I turned around and saw Adrian standing right behind me, one of his hands still resting on my shoulders.

"Problems in paradise?" he mocked me, smirking.

With a speed I had no idea I was capable of, I hit him in the jaw with my elbow, grabbed him by the shoulders and kicked him in the balls as hard as I could. He fell to his knees, grunting in pain, obviously not seeing it coming, though nothing should have surprised him coming from my temper.

"That's something I should've done a long time ago." I spat at him, before turning on my heels and walking in my dorm's direction as fast as I could, before he could come to his senses and follow me.

On my way, I tried calling Tommy multiple times, but he declined each and every one of my calls. But what was I actually going to tell him? I had slipped in that comfortable zone with Adrian, let our constant bickering make me forget about Tommy, forget he was there. And God, how I missed it, how I missed talking to Adrian, even if we were fighting, how I missed all of it, how I missed him. And I had to put a lot of effort to remind myself what he had done, how he had lied to my face, said he didn't love me. No, I couldn't allow myself to forget about that. The fact that he was sorry and ready to fix things was not enough.

I wondered for a seconds how Adrian could have known where I was having dinner with Tommy, but I answered myself right away. Hope and Mina were behind this. Of course they were. God save their souls if they were in our room when I was going to arrive. But fortunately for them, no one was there. Mina was probably spending the night at Dylan's, and Hope may have been hanging out with her older brother. I threw myself onto the bed, with my face buried in the pillow, wishing I could put all my thoughts to sleep. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to reach Tommy till I had everything figured out in my head. I had to find a way to deal with Adrian, and then with Tommy. Around 3 am, I finally managed to drift off to sleep.

I woke up 8 hours later, thanking God it was Saturday and I didn't have to go to classes, and looked around the room, only to find out that Hope and Mina still hadn't returned. I shrugged it off, thinking that it was only 11 am; they had enough time to come back. I got out of bed, went to quickly eat something for breakfast and brush my teeth, before returning to my bed with a book in my hand and eager to spend the rest of the day reading. Read the pain away, you might say.

I had been reading for almost two hours straight already, when a knock on the door brought me back to reality. I pulled off the blankets and got out of bed, putting on a gown over my PJs before opening the door. I had expected to find Hope or Mina at the other side of the door, thinking that maybe they had forgotten their keys and couldn't get in, or even Tommy, but I found none of that. I closed the door promptly when I saw who was behind it.

"Why am I having a déjà-vu feeling?" I heard Adrian's voice through the door, and I could sense from his tone that he was smiling. I took a step back involuntary and only the sound of his voice, only the fact that he was one wooden door apart, made my breath quicken.

"Just let me in, squirrel, I want to talk to you." he spoke again, his voice more serious and pleading this time.

I took a step forward and leaned with my back against the door.

"Squirrel," he tried again and I shook my head, even though I knew he couldn't see me, but more to remind myself that I couldn't, shouldn't let him in, not in my room, not in my life, not anywhere. "I can stay here all day" But the longing was becoming already too hard to bear and missing him was too suffocating,

"Melody, please," his voice came out as a pleading, broken whisper. "I'm not going to pretend it's easy for you to forget about the past few months, I can't forget about them either. But –" he trailed off, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Aren't you tired? Aren't you tired of pushing me away, of lying to yourself or of closing doors? I'm sorry, Mel," Another pause. Another intake of breath. Another second of pure agony, followed by three whispered words. "I love you."

I was running out of time, of excuses not to open that door. The sound of ration was fading like an echo of sirens vibrating in a storm of dust and sand, leaving my heart semi dead. And something else faded, too. I had stopped hearing the echo of his flat, cold voice, when he told me he didn't love. It was gone. And I had also stopped shaking my head. I had stopped reminding myself I couldn't let him in. It was all gone. I turned around, finally facing the door, and leaned with both of my arms and forehead against it.

I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, with pain gathering its things, packing up and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

I let a few minutes pass, and I hadn't even realized a small, warm tear had escaped my eyes, but I was too caught up in everything that was going on through my mind to wipe it away. My hand reached the doorknob involuntary, and in a matter of seconds, I cracked the door open and came face to face with Adrian. His eyes were wide with surprise, making me think he probably hadn't expected to convince me to open so soon. That made two of us.

"This is the last time, Adrian," I spoke up, pointing my finger at him. "Because I can't go through this again, I can't go through any more lies. So hurt me again, and I swear to God you'll regret it. I can't lose you again. This is the last time."

In answer, he took me in his arms and pressed his lips against mine, and with each kiss, with each touch, every minute of agony, every second that had passed without him, every tear spilled, it all vanished. With each kiss, he made me see how truly alone he had been, too, he made me feel, every emotion, every ounce of his wanting and love, his all-consuming love for me. He set me on fire once more, as if that was what I was born for. He walked me backwards into the room and the door closed behind us.
 

25: Chapter 24 . Stitch by Stitch

~April 2016~

 

MELODY'S P.O.V

 

There is an old saying. If something can go wrong, it will. And the worst part is, you never know when.

 

The lights shone bright. Everyone was staring at the small stage. No one could take their eyes off the guitarist. He wasn't the only one on the stage though. Of course, there was a drummer, a bassist, a pianist. But they weren't playing. No, there was only the guitarist, in the middle of the stage, in front of a microphone, with an acoustic guitar in his hands. He hadn't even begun to sing and the crowd was already starry-eyed. He leaned forward, watching his own fingers slide deftly up and down the strings. I could've recognized the song he was playing anywhere, from the first chords.

 

So close, no matter how far

Couldn't be much more from the heart

And at the chorus, the other band members started to play along, as the music came all together.

Forever trusting who we are

And nothing else matters.

No one could do anything else but listen. And when the song was over, everyone, the crowd, the bartender, even the manager of the club burst into applause. But I just stood there, motionless, staring at the guitarist from the stage, smiling at him. And he couldn't take his eyes off me either.

 

The band played a few other songs, some faster, some slower, but surely, half an hour later, the show was over. The other members set down their instruments, talking to each other as they grabbed bottles of water. But the guitarist, as soon as he put down his instrument, got off the stage and came towards me. I also got up from my seat and ran to him, jumping on him and wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders.

 

"Whoa, I just had my first show and I'm already being attacked by fans," Adrian said, but hugged me back nonetheless.

 

"Let the rock star breath, Melonade," I heard a voice say from behind us, and I climbed off Adrian only to see Paul standing a few feet away from us.

 

"Glad you could make it, bro," Adrian told Paul, giving him a pat on the back.

 

"It was your first gig after all. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

 

We sat down at a free table, all of us ordering something to drink, 'celebration drinks', as Paul would put it. And he was right, we had a lot of things to drink for. Paul was the first to raise his glass of whiskey.

 

"For our rock star," he begun, smiling at Adrian. "And for his return."

 

I was the second one to raise my glass. "For tonight."

 

Adrian finally raised his own glass, but turned to look sideways at me as he said. "For you."

 

Several drinks later that we all lost track of, we were already laughing and joking at everything and nothing, drawing the attention of everyone to us, who ,to my surprise, instead of shaking their heads in disapproval at how loud we were, just looked genuinely amused. Although I was just a little tipsy, I couldn't say the same about the guys. They were laughing and reminiscing about some of their high school memories, and I couldn't help but laugh along, partly because of their stories, and partly because of their contagious laughing.

 

"One more round," Paul yelled, placing an empty glass on the table. I wasn't going to protest because, honestly, the guy looked like he needed a night off. For all I knew, he had probably gotten into a fight with Diana, but then again, that's how it always was with them. One minute they were arguing, the next one they were acting like nothing happened. Paul had the incredible talent of always getting on my sister's nerves, and she had always hated when someone disagreed with her. Their whole relationship was like dancing with wolves, but that was partly the beauty of it. I always thought Diana needed someone to challenge her, and Paul needed something steady in his life. It was a mutual need. So, surely enough, things were probably going to get back to normal the next day. I reached for the whiskey bottle to pour Paul another drink, but Adrian stopped me, grabbing the bottle.

 

"I'm afraid that's enough for you, buddy,"

 

It was incredible how he could be half drunk and still manage to be the responsible one.

 

"Party pooper," Paul muttered under his breath, but probably knew it would've been useless to argue with him. "Fine, grandpa, I'll go to the bathroom and then we can go home."

 

He muttered something intelligible under his breath before getting up from his chair and heading to the bathroom, leaving me and Adrian alone. I leaned with my elbow on the table and rested my chin on the back of my palm, looking at Adrian.

 

"What?" he asked me when I didn't drop my gaze.

 

"You sang my favorite song."

 

As soon as Adrian had gotten to San Francisco, he had started looking for a job, anything he could find till he would enroll at the college of music in September. At first, he had started looking for any available jobs in auto shops, but since he hadn't found one, he had no other option than to accept any job he could find. And luckily enough, one month later, he took the bartender job at a bar. Again, to his luck, after two weeks of working there, he had heard the manager complaining about a missing member for his band. So the only thing he had to do was brag about his singing skills and, just like that, he was the new lead singer and got to play every Saturday night with the band.

 

He broke my gaze, a soft smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

 

"I needed a lucky charm, didn't I?" he replied eventually, winking at me.

 

I couldn't help but return his smile and before I could say something else, Paul was back, ready to go. We left him at his rented apartment that was only a few blocks away from the bar, and then headed our own way. Since Mina and Hope were not in our dorm room and I didn't want to be alone all night, I decided to stay with Adrian, so we headed in the direction of his apartment.

 

His apartment, though it was rented and pretty small, it still looked pretty decent. But he had made it pretty clear that as soon he would raise some more money, he would start looking for a new place. I doubted that was going to happen anywhere in the near future since the money earned from the bar weren't enough. Until then, he had to put up with what he could afford, and even though I'd offered to lend him some money, he didn't even want to hear about it.

 

Adrian didn't even wait to take off his jacket before throwing himself onto the bed.

 

"I'm so damn tired," he groaned into the pillow.

 

"Yeah, I bet playing guitar in front of people for an hour can be so tiring. You poor little rock star." I mocked him, taking off my shoes and sitting next to him on the bed.

 

He rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow to face me.

 

"Being so talented is exhausting. But you wouldn't happen to know that." he teased me back, and in response, I snatched the pillow from under his head and bopped him in the face with it, harder than I intended since he almost fell off the bed.

 

"By now, you should know to stop insulting me, Groot." I said, laughing, just as he was climbing back in bed.

 

He didn't even throw any snarky comeback at me, and that's how I could tell how really tired he was, so I remained silent too, getting up from the bed and looking through Adrian's closet for a T-Shirt to change into. After two months, I should have seriously thought to at least bring a change of clothes at his place for all the times I spent the night there.

 

I was just about to go to the bathroom when I heard Adrian's phone ringing from his nightstand, with the usual ringtone, 'Baby got back' that I'd changed for him a year ago and that he still hadn't managed to change back.

 

"Could you answer that for me?" Adrian groaned from his pillow, and I danced my way there on the rhythm of the song, humming along with Sir Mix a Lot.

 

I looked at the dialing number, only to see that my mother was the one calling.

 

"That's strange," I said, turning to look at Adrian. "Why is my mom calling you?"

 

I didn't wait for his answer and picked up.

 

"Heya, mom! What's up?"

 

"Melody," I heard my mother's shaky voice at the other end of the line. "Is Adrian there?"

 

"Yeah, why? What is it?" I asked concerned, and I could already tell from her tone that she had been crying. Hearing my words, Adrian lifted his face up a little and, seeing my worried expression, the frown between my eyebrows transferred to him, too.

 

"Melody, just put Adrian on the phone," my mom insisted, voice still heavy and concerned. She'd definitely been crying.

 

"What's going on?" Adrian mouthed the words, getting up from the bed for good now and coming to stand next to me.

 

"What's wrong, mom?" I asked her again, and this time, she couldn't steady her shaky voice anymore.

 

"It's Mary. She's – " she couldn't finish her sentence before bursting into tears again. But she didn't have to. I dared a glance at Adrian, who was still waiting for me to tell him what was going on, not anticipating a damn thing. I hung up the phone, placing it on the nightstand and looking back at Adrian again. I slowly felt my eyes begin to water.

 

There is an old saying.

 

"Adrian –" I begun, taking a step forward.

 

"What?" he asked sharply, still clueless. "What is it, Mel?"

 

I gulped, unable to look at him anymore.

 

"Your mom…" I tried again, but I still couldn't form the words. I still couldn't bring myself to tell him. As soon as I mentioned his mother, he took a step backwards, his eyes widening.

 

"What about her?" he asked carefully, though he probably knew the answer already. I could barely manage to whisper the next words.

 

If something can go wrong…

 

"She's gone."

 

…It will.

*** 
 

No sounds came after that. Just a blink of an eye. A shocked, scared expression. A shake of a head. But you could hear the sound of his walls shattering, the wheels spinning in his head. I took another step forward.

 

"Adrian –" I started, but he lifted his hands in front of him, as if to push me away.

 

"No," he whispered, then more loudly. "No, no, no, you're wrong. That can't be. No, you're wrong."

 

"Adrian," I called out again, but he wouldn't listen, talking more to himself than to me and shaking his head violently.

 

"No, no, she's not dead. She can't be."

 

I felt a flood of tears forming in my eyes and I tried blinking them away, for Adrian. I had to keep my calm, for Adrian. I had to get a hold of myself, for Adrian. One of us had to hold it together. He finally looked at me, his expression still of pure shock. I had never seen him so scared before, and I never would again.

 

"You're wrong," he repeated, pursing his lips. "She's not dead. I wasn't there. She can't be dead."

 

I caught his wrists, stopping him from pacing around the room and forcing him to face me.

 

"I'm sorry," I couldn't stop a small tear from escaping. "But she's –"

 

"No," he pleaded, voice broke. "No, don't say it. Don't say it! I wasn't there. She can't be."

 

"She's gone, Adrian."

 

Only then the tears started forming in his eyes and running down his face. Only then he stopped shaking his head and let me wrap my arms around him and pull him closer.

 

"I wasn't there," he said between tears, as desperation finally cloaked in. "I wasn't there, Melody."

 

But I couldn't answer anything back, there was nothing else I could say, nothing I could say that would make it better. So I let him cry, I let him cry till there were no tears left to spill, till there was no more room left for despair and till exhaustion took over his body and he fell asleep in my arms, his cheeks still wet. Only then, only after he was asleep, I finally let the burning tears run down my face. And despair found its shelter in me now.

 

The ride to Arcata was silent. Paul had also offered to come with us, so he sat quietly in the backseat while Adrian just stared blankly ahead the whole road. He was blaming himself. He blamed himself because he hadn't been there in her last moments. I knew because the same blame that was eating him up was eating me up, too, slowly, from the inside. He had come to San Francisco because of me, left his mother to be with me. If he had only stayed two more months in Arcata, he would have been there for his mother. I was selfish, too selfish to let him go. And because of that selfishness, he probably blamed me, too.

 

After four hours of complete and utter silence, when not even Paul dared to speak, we finally made it there. As soon as I pulled my Mustang in front of Adrian's house, he got out of the car and ran into the house. I wanted to run after him, to be there for him when he saw his mother, but I felt Paul's hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

 

"Let him," he spoke softly, so calm that I couldn't believe it was Paul I was talking to. "He needs to be alone for now."

 

I nodded absent-mindedly and headed slowly towards house. Just as I expected, mom was there, in the middle of the living room, probably waiting for us, with her eyes red and puffy, from all the crying. She had probably been with Adrian's mom in her last moments, since I knew that after I'd left to college, she and Mary had become very close, so my mom visited her any time she had the chance.

 

"Where is she?" Adrian asked mom, as soon as he entered the house, but didn't wait for a response before heading to his mother's room. Again, I wanted to go after him, stand by his side, but I knew he needed to do this alone. So he entered the room, closed the door behind him and didn't come out for the rest of the day.

 

Someone had to take care of the funeral. Seeing as Adrian didn't even want to get out of his mother's room and they didn't have any other living relatives, my mom, Paul and I had to take care of everything.

 

24 hours had passed and Adrian still hadn't left the room. Paul knocked on his door twice that day, tried to convince him to come out, to eat something, to get some sleep, but no response came. I wasn't sure he would have listened to me, either, that's why I didn't even try. He probably blamed me the most, more than he even blamed himself. And he had all the rights to.

 

Sitting on the couch, lost in my thoughts, I didn't feel Paul standing next to me till he dropped his hand on my shoulder.

 

"He's still not coming out?" I whispered, without even looking at him.

 

"No," Paul answered, and I could feel his heavy gaze on me. "Mel – "

 

I knew already what was coming next. "Save it, Paul," I cut him off.

 

"No, listen to me, Mel," he insisted, getting off the couch and coming to kneel in front of me so I could stop avoiding his gaze. "I know what's going through your head right now, and I can tell you you're not right." A small pause before he spoke again. "Don't blame yourself, Melody. Don't, because Adrian is not blaming you, either. It was his choice to leave Arcata and come to San Francisco. "

 

"Because of me," I waved him off again. "He left her because of me. If he had stayed here for two more months –"

 

"You said it yourself," it was his turn to interrupt me. "If he had stayed, which he didn't, because he's a grown ass man, that can make his own decisions," he sighed before continuing. "Look, if you both want to blame yourselves, then fine, but don't do it now, not when Adrian needs you, Mel. Not when you're the only way he can go through this. You might be the only thing that could keep him sane right now. If you were in his shoes, he would help you go through this." I shuddered at that thought. I couldn't even imagine being in his shoes without feeling the tears forming in my eyes. But I knew that if I were, I couldn't go through it alone. "So get your sorry ass out of this couch and go and talk to him!"

 

Count on Paul to talk some sense into you, even in cases like that one. He was right. The blames could be taken later. Right then, Adrian needed me and I had to be there for him. Reluctantly, I got off the couch and made my way to his mother's room. Without knocking, I pushed the door open slowly and, fortunately, it wasn't locked. As I entered, my eyes already scanned the room. And on the bed, with a blanket wrapped over her, was the lifeless body of Adrian's mother, the only sign that she was not sleeping being her pale face. A cold shiver ran down my spine, as I finally broke the stare and looked around the room for him .And there, collapsed in a corner, wrapped up in his own pain, was Adrian, with his kneels pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried in his arms. He looked like a little boy. Scared and vulnerable, lost without his mother. But, at least, he wasn't alone, he had me.

 

I fell to my knees in front of him, and though he probably had sensed my presence the minute I'd stepped foot in the room, he didn't lift his head. I was still reluctant about whether I should've been there or not, seeing as I was probably the last person he wanted to see right then, but I had to try. I touched his arm gently, and then his shoulders, and rubbed them gently until he slowly lifted his gaze. His eyes were red and startling, shining with barely restrained emotion. So vulnerable. And then, as I tried to hold him closer and he wrapped his arms around my hips, his head falling on my shoulder and I shielded his body with my own, I thought to myself that that was more pain than anyone should ever have to contain.

 

I pressed my cheek to his forehead and a kiss on his temple, and slowly, he broke. He broke in my arms and cried and cried and cried. I promised myself, in that moment, as I tried to hold it together and not burst into tears myself, that I would be there, every single time, just like that, going through all the pain with him, holding on to him forever, healing all of the wounds he had or would have. I promised I would put it back together, put him back together. Even if I had to do it stitch by stitch.

 

***

 

On the night of April 16, Ellen Hathaway found herself home alone. Her husband was working a night shift, as he always did every Wednesday, and, more than ever, she missed her children, both of her children. With her youngest daughter gone to college, too, she only had her husband. And God, did she feel alone, with him gone almost all day.

 

She looked at the clock. 20: 32. It wasn't too late to pay her new friend, Mary Hayes, a visit. With her son gone, Mary probably felt just as lonely as she did. Plus, Melody had told her to check up on her every now and then, to see if she needed something, if she was feeling well. So, after finishing her household chores, she put on her coat and headed in the direction of Mary's Hayes house. Yes, she told herself, this would be a pleasant, laid-back night. She would stay a while at her friend's house, share some cooking receipts, like they always did, then head back home to her husband.

 

But that's not how it was. Because, since no one answered the door bell, she entered the house and found Mary nowhere in sight, so she decided to check her room, only to find her lying in bed, covered in blankets, her face pale as death. Ellen rushed to her side, kneeling on the bed, praying to whatever God that was listening that it wasn't too late.

 

"Mary," she called out, giving a sigh of relief as the woman slowly opened her eyes. "Stay with me, Mary, I'm calling an ambulance."

 

Ellen was about to stand up and grab her phone from her bag, when she felt the gentle grip of Mary's hand stopping her.

 

"No," a barely audible, whispered plea escaped Mary's cold lips. "It's too late."

 

Ellen wouldn't have listened to her, but the dying woman resumed on speaking, in a broken, fading voice. You could tell she didn't have too much time left from the slowly fading light in her eyes. Ellen refused to accept that, refused to think she was too late, but listened to her anyway.

 

"Tell Adrian…" Mary paused, swallowing hard and closing her eyes before continuing. "Tell Adrian it's okay," Another pause, while a flood of tears ran down Ellen's face. "Tell him it's okay. Tell him everything will be alright. And tell him  –"

 

But death is never waiting around for you to finish your last words. So, without finishing her last sentence, at 21:04 o'clock, Margaret Constance Hayes took her last breath on this earth.

A/N: Sorry not sorry, guys :)

Well, now, send all your hate to me, Im waiting for it. I partly deserve it. Though it could have been way worse.

Anywhoo, a little comment would be nice, you know, i wont bite. But we're coming to the end and i would really love to hear what you guys think. And also, dont forget to check the tumblr page for more gifs (autumnfires-story . tumblr. com). Cuz i just found a gif with Michael Malarkey playing guitar and it's heaven :3

26: Chapter 25 . The End Where I Begin

~ May 2017 ~

 

"And remember, kids, if you want to enter this writing competition, you'll have to sign up till Friday. As I told you, fiction, non-fiction, adventure and any other genres you want are included, there are no specifications. Bring any of your works! Understood, Miss Hathaway?"

 

Hearing my name, I looked up from my notebook where I was sketching something absent-mindedly, to see our teacher from the Profile-Writing course, Mr. Singer, looking at me through his glasses expectantly.

 

"Aren't you going to enter the competition, Miss Hathaway?" Mr. Singer continued, walking away from his desk and coming to stand in front of me.

 

I shook my head, forcing a polite smile in his direction. "I think I'll pass, thank you, Mr. Singer."

 

He stared at me for a second longer before shrugging and turning on his heels. "A shame, your essays are pretty remarkable."

 

He probably would have insisted furthermore, hadn't it been for a guy in our class informing Mr. Singer that the class was over. After another speech about how "the bell doesn't dismiss us, the teacher dismisses us", Mr. Singer gathered his papers from the desk and left the room. I was about to start writing again in my little notepad when I felt someone poking my arm from behind. I didn't have to turn around to tell it was Mina.

 

"I don't have food, Mina," I said without taking my eyes off the notebook. I felt Hope coming to stand behind me and only then I lifted my gaze. They were up to something. "What's up?"

 

"Sooo, Mel, we were wondering -" Mina started, paving the way for that was to follow, most likely.

 

"Why haven't you entered the writing competition?" Hope went straight to the point, cutting Mina off.

 

I sighed, closing my notebook for good. It would be a lie to say I hadn't expected that question.

 

"I just don't want to," I simply stated. "What's the point, anyway?"

 

"What's the point?" Hope repeated my question, in a much more sarcastic tone. "You might win, you dumbass. The prize is 800 dollars. The Melody I know would enter this competition thinking only about how much food she could buy of this money."

 

"Or, if she feels generous, how much food she could buy her friends of that money." Mina corrected Hope, nudging me playfully with her elbow.

 

"Yeah, no," I answered, shaking my head skeptically. "The Melody you know would never win that competition."

 

"And since when is the Melody I know being modest?" Hope retorted, arching an eyebrow.

 

"Just drop it, guys," I said, getting up from my seat and throwing my backpack over my shoulder. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to go and meet up with my beloved boyfriend."

 

"Yeah, same," Hope said, also gathering her things and throwing her backpack over her shoulder. "I have a boyfriend to meet up with, too. So let's go!"

 

As soon as Hope said those words, I froze mid-way, looking at her over my shoulder, wide-eyed, only to see Mina with the same expression on her face and a complete clueless Hope staring back at us.

 

"What?" she asked as soon as she saw our faces.

 

"Did she just –" Mina trailed off, smiling smugly.

 

"Did you just refer to Harry as your boyfriend?" I finished for her, wearing the same smile on my face.

 

To say at least that Harry Parker and Hope were complicated was an understatement. They were past complicated. They were incomprehensible, the most confusing relationship I had ever seen. Only thinking of their relationship could give me a headache. I've always hated Harry. He knew that, Hope knew that, everyone knew that. And recalling the fight they had back in my senior year, Adrian probably hated him too. The feeling was mutual even. But for some reason, Hope saw something in him. Maybe it was because she saw something good in everyone, it was her nature. Or maybe I was just misjudging Harry. But I've never understood why she could stand his attitude or his typical Richie Rich tantrums. Whatever good there was in him, I didn't know how it could cover his misogyny and arrogance. But he saw something in Hope, too. Something that made him stick around and not just give up on her like he did with his others past flings. That, I understood. He was acting different around her. Sure, he wasn't the jerk he usually pretended to be since Hope had gotten to him. And their story went on and on and on. It was a messy and complicated story, a come-and-go story, full of both hate and love. As I said, only thinking about it could give you a headache. But Hope, as weird as it sounded, seemed to be happy around him. Sometimes. And that was enough for me, so I hadn't commented about their relationship anymore. They weren't together, but they weren't apart either. And none of them referred of the other as their boyfriend/girlfriend. Not until now.

 

"What?" Hope shrieked, looking between us. "No! Of course not! I wouldn't. I didn't." she tried passing past us, hurrying to walk faster, but me and Mina were right behind her in a second.

 

"You did," Mina exclaimed, her smile spreading wider, but not before giving a dreamy sigh. "Ah, I love it when my ships sail."

 

"So this thing between you must be pretty serious, huh?" I said playfully, nudging her with my elbow and wiggling my eyebrows.

 

Hope sighed and gave a small shrug. "I don't know. And to be honest, I don't want to know. We both avoided giving labels and thinking too much about what we're doing. And I have to thank you, Mel, for setting the example."

 

"This is different." I scoffed. "Adrian is Adrian. And Harry…well, Harry is just Harry. And I still don't like him."

 

"He's okay, I guess." Mina butted in. Of course she would say that, she and Harry had been friends for a very long time, since Harry had worked at Greg's auto shop side by side with Mina, a thing I'd never understood since the guy had enough money to buy himself everything he sought.

 

"But," I hurried to add. "As long as you're happy with him, I have nothing to say against him."

 

"Shockingly enough, I really am." Hope replied, sounding like she couldn't believe it either. That made two of us.

 

"Isn't it great?" Mina asked us, basically bouncing by that point. "All of us have someone. And here we were, Mel, thinking that you will die alone with dogs and me and Hope would become lesbians and get together."

 

We made it out of the campus, and we all went our ways, Mina to our dorm room since Dylan was away, visiting his mother in Arcata, Hope to Harry and me, to Adrian's bar. In only a few minutes, I made it to Bloodhound, and walked in, spotting Adrian behind the counter, pouring a drink to one of the clients. During the year he had worked at Bloodhound, he had always told me how fascinating it was to hear his clients' stories, because everyone came at that bar for some reason, whether it was to celebrate or to drown their pain in alcohol. And people usually feel the need to pour their soul out to strangers, to someone who would hear them out willingly. And who other than the bartender could hear your stories out? I envied him for that part of his job. Of course, after his mother had died, he had taken a break from his job, a two months long break, when he couldn't do anything or talk to anyone, including me. He had basically isolated himself from the rest of the world, secluded himself, even from me. But the person who said that time can heal everything was right. Step by step, he became more like his old self again. And I made sure I was there for him, with each step he took. First, he had found solace in his music. He had played guitar till his fingers became shaky, till he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. And then he had returned to his job at the bar, where he even offered to stay extra hours to work more. And even if I was worried, I let him be, let him decorate the pain in his own way. But I knew that eventually, he was going to find his way back. And I was right; his last stage of grief, the last place where he found solace was me. I did my best to help him through, and eventually, we both made it back to the shore. Now, a year after his mother had died, everything was as good as it could get.

 

I made my way to the counter and sat in a free chair, waiting till Adrian would notice me. But, since his back was turned to me, I cleared my throat and spoke.

 

"What does a girl have to do to get a free glass of Jack Daniels?"

 

Hearing my voice, he turned to face me, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

 

"For starters," he begun, looking me up and down. "She could try showing some more cleavage. Then, maybe, I'll give her a free drink."

 

I laughed at him and at the way he always mocked me back. How could he still be my raced heartbeat?

 

"If I show you some cleavage, will that get me a free drink?" I heard a voice from nearby say in the same mocking tone, and I turned around, only to see Paul standing in the chair next to me, smiling and wiggling his eyebrows at Adrian. Somehow, I hadn't even seen him there when I entered the bar.

 

"You wish," Adrian replied, taking his eyes off me only for a moment to look at Paul.

 

"No, you wish I would show you some cleavage." he corrected.

 

"Should I leave the two of you alone?" I grinned at them.

 

"Ignore this loser, squirrel, he's just a drunk." Adrian said, leaning over the counter to give me quick peck on the lips.

 

"Show the drunk some respect, he's your best friend after all,"

 

"Isn't it a little early for drinking whisky at a bar?" I asked Paul, gesturing with my chin at the glass he held in his hand.

 

"It's never too early for whisky." he responded, emptying his glass with only one sip.

 

"Something happened, Paulie?" I went on, since something was clearly wrong with him. And I could tell that only from the furrow between his brows.

 

"Nothing a few drinks won't solve," he avoided the subject, motioning for Adrian to pour him another drink.

 

"Is it Diana again?" I persisted, even though I already knew the answer to that.

 

"Nope," Paul shook his head and pursed his lips. "This time it's just me."

 

"Wanna talk about it?" Adrian finally chimed in.

 

Paul was opening his mouth to say something else when his eyes drifted to the front door, and I looked over my shoulder to see my sister, Diana, storming towards us, with the most furious expression I had ever seen on her face. Only judging by that look, I could tell that Paul was in big trouble.

 

"You," Diana hissed, finally reaching us and looking only at Paul, while I heard Adrian muttering an 'uh-oh' under his breath. Yup, this was going to be nasty.

 

"Is this how you solve your problems?" Diana spat at him, trying hard to keep her voice under control.

 

"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" Paul suggested, voice low, and tried putting a hand on Diana's shoulder to lead her outside, but she shrugged his hand away.

 

"Oh, well, now you want to talk about it? First, I suggest we move in together and you look like I just told you I'm pregnant and then you run away, only to come to a bar. If you don't wanna be with me, fine, at least have the guts to tell me so! But don't run like a coward."

 

"I wanna be with you, Di," Paul sighed, looking like he would've rather been anywhere else, but there. To be honest, Adrian looked like that, too.

 

"Should we back away slowly or nah?" Adrian whispered at me, but I shushed him, waiting to hear the rest of Paul's and Diana's conversation.

 

"Then what is it, Paul?" Diana shouted at him, raising her arms and bringing them back slapping down against her thighs. "Why did you leave without saying a word? Why did you leave when the only thing I did was suggest we move in together? We've been together for almost two years, for God's sake! Why would you –"

 

"Because I love you, you crazy woman," Paul shouted back, finally lifting his gaze to meet Diana's, whose jaw dropped at his words. "I love you and it scares me! The fact that we are moving too fast or that you might wake up one day and say that you've had enough of me scares me."

 

"Well, I love you, too, you absolute moron!" Diana said back, just as angrily, and in a matter of seconds, she took a few steps forward, grabbed Paul's collar and brought their lips together into a fierce kiss.

 

"That escalated quickly," I heard Adrian mutter under his breath.

 

"And this is when we back away slowly," I told him, taking my eyes off Paul and Diana. No matter how much I shipped the two of them together, the sight of my sister kissing someone was not the most pleasant one. But I was happy for the two of them, happy that they could finally swallow their pride. Looking at Adrian, and thinking about some of our best memories together, I realized I knew a thing or two when it came to stubbornness and swallowed prides. But in the end, I regretted nothing, and that's the only thing that mattered.

 

~June 2017~

 

I heard my phone ring from my dorm room, but since I was in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, I shouted at Mina to answer that for me. Five minutes later, after I was done, I got out of the bathroom, only to see Mina and Hope sitting on my bed, smiling from ear to ear.

 

"What's with the rainbow coming out of your asses, rays of sunshine?" I asked them, narrowing my eyes.

 

"I got this," Hope said, holding up a hand to silence Mina, who had opened her mouth to say something. "So, Mel, we might have done something and you won't be happy about it. But just hear us out, okay?"

 

I groaned, throwing my head back a little. "Oh God! What did you two dumbasses do?"

 

"Remember a month ago when we tried to convince you to enter the story competition but you refused?"

 

"I recall that." I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and motioning for her to go on.

 

"Well, we might have signed you up in the competition without your permission."

 

"You did what?" I shrieked.

 

"Calm your tits! At least let me finish, then you can go all berserk on our asses. " I sighed, but let her continue, anyway. "So, we handed your story, the one about the reopened murder case, to Mr. Singer. He approved of it and signed you in the competition. And that was like a month ago. But we just got a phone call from the jury of that competition and –"

 

"You won!" Mina finished for Hope, barely containing her excitement.

 

"Dudette, I told you I got this," Hope threw Mina a cold glare over her shoulder.

 

"Come again for squirrel?" I asked dumbfounded, looking between the two of them.

 

"You won, Melody. Your weird, crime book won the competition. The jury loved it. And the prize consists of 800 dollars."

 

"Come again for squirrel?" I repeated, this time more loudly.

 

"And that's not all," Mina cut in again. This was already too much information. "It was one of the juries that called, some author named Simon Powell –"

 

"No fucking way," I interrupted her, the name all too familiar to me. "Simon Powell?" They both nodded, and I covered my mouth with my hand. Yup, I definitely had a lot to process.

 

"Guys, that's the author I met at Adrian's coffee shop, I told you about him. He's the one who gave us the idea that the two characters should fall in love." I explained

 

It was Hope's turn to say a 'no fucking way' under her breath. We really had a weird way of coping with good news.

 

"This gets better," Mina went on. "He was the one who loved your story the most, since he pretty much already knew the plot. And you won't believe this, but the guy owns a publishing company. And he offered to publish your book."

 

Again, I could only blink at them and gulp.

 

"He said he'll help you with everything you need and make sure the book gets published. He asked us to tell you to call him as soon as you can."

 

Seeing as I still wasn't moving an inch, just gaped at them, Hope took my cell phone and placed it in my hand.

 

"Come to your senses, woman!" she shook me by the shoulders. "Call him now!"

 

Acting absent-mindedly, I dialed the first number from my history call and brought the phone to my ear. In a matter of seconds, Mr. Powell answered. He gave me the more detailed version of the competition story and about how the jury decided to give me the prize, and how he could publish my story after editing it in his publishing company. The only thing I had to do was pay a small amount of money, and he could finance me with the rest. As for how I could bring my story into libraries, he said I was lucky he knew someone who knew someone who owned a big library in San Francisco. Posting it on online shops was also a solution. And also, I had to come to his publishing company in New York to talk some more details with him. It seemed like, in a matter of a few months, I was about to become a published writer.

***

 

"Cheers to our soon-to-be published writer, who we hope will still remember us when she becomes famous," Paul got up from his seat on the couch and raised his glass full of beer, shooting a smile in my direction.

 

A day before my trip to New York, where I had to plan even the smallest detail about my book with Simon Powell, I had met up with all of my friends at Adrian's bar, after he had finished his shift and was able to celebrate with us.

 

I heard Adrian scoff beside me. "Of course she won't. I should get half of your income from this book since we planned the plot of the story together."

 

"Yeah, yeah," I waved them off, rolling my eyes. "I'll just mention all of your names at the acknowledgments from the last page."

 

"No one even reads the acknowledgments." I heard Dylan say from the seat across from me, before taking a sip of the shot of vodka that Adrian and I had made him order, only to see his well-known reaction to alcohol. After all this time, his and Mina's reactions to alcohol were the funniest thing ever, even though they made the same face every time. As soon as he poured the drink down his throat and grimaced, Adrian and I burst out laughing.

 

"Man, this never gets old," I managed to say between giggles and high-fived Adrian.

 

"Don't mind them, Dylan," Mina told Dylan, patting him on the back, even though she could barely keep a straight face herself.

 

And we went on like that all night, laughing at everything and nothing, reminiscing about the good'ol'days and ordering some more drinks. Finally, there we were, sitting in the same room, all of us together, all of us with our own story. Paul and Diana, Harry and Hope, Mina and Dylan, and last but not least, me and Adrian. We all had come a long, long way, but we were finally there. With Paul and Diana, it didn't matter if one moment they were high, and then they were low. Eventually, I knew they would find a middle way. Mina and Dylan were just as epic as ever, just as goofy and socially awkward as ever, just as perfect for each other as ever. And maybe Harry and Hope were messy and complicated, but I knew for sure they were good for each other, and most important, they were happy. Looking around us, at all of us, I realized that we were as close to happily ever after as one could get.

***

 

At the first hour in the morning, I dressed up in an instant and took my bag with the few clothes I'd packed the previous night for my trip to New York City, before rushing down the stairs. And, as expected, Adrian was waiting for me in front of my dorm, since he had insisted on being my ride to New York. But that image of him, leaning against Storm, with his hands stuffed in his old, ripped jeans and dressed in his usual leather jacket, took me a little aback. And the déjà-vu feeling hit hard. It was like I was again in high school, senior year, and Adrian was standing in front of my house, waiting for me to come out and drive me to school. I was left again wondering how he could still be my raced heartbeat after all that time.

 

When you love someone, it's hard to ever imagine that you could ever stop loving them. It's hard to see a future in which they're not in. Because in that moment, I couldn't imagine a time when I would stop loving Adrian, whatever came to pass. Even after all the crazy we'd been through, all the lies and all the mistakes we'd made, the fact that I loved him was the only undoubtable thing. I couldn't stop, not even if I wanted to, not even for a second, I had to love him as much as I could for as long as I could, with every minute of every day, and only because I knew that love would be returned. I could only thank God for that, thank whatever God there was, thank whatever God that was listening, that I had decided, on 21 September 2014, to go to the supermarket, buy a box of chocolate, fight with Adrian over that box and just smile at him, for only a second, only to make him come back the next day. With us, every day was something new. Every smile was different, every shared look, every joke, every moment. Somehow, I was still on the edge. Even after flying so high for three years, I was still falling.

 

I made my way towards him and returned his smile, climbing on Storm and putting on the helmet he handed me. He turned on the ignition, looking at me over his shoulder and speaking over the roar of the bike.

 

"Ready, squirrel?"

 

Some things never change, do they?

 

"Ready."

 

A/N: I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS SHIT. GUYS! I JUST WROTE THE LAST CHAPTER **PANIC** this is baaaaad

So, I'm particularly proud of the ending *blushes*, but the rest of the chapter i think it's just meh. And now I only have the epilogue to write and then it's over. COMPLETELY OVER. NONONONONO... I'm okay. I'm okay

Anyway, I just posted on the tumblr page (autumnfires-story . tumblr . com ) of this story some gifs with Paul and Diana, so you can check them out if you want!. I hope you liked this chapter, since i just told what happens with every character. Well, there's someone I forgot to mention and I realized that only now. I forgot about Tommy. Yeah, yeah, I know no one probably really cared about him, but i should have mentioned him. If there really is someone who cares what happened to him then I can tell you. Melody broke his little heart, he was pretty mad at her since she didnt break up with him before hitting it with Adrian (*wink wink), so he avoided her as much as he could. But of course he was finally able to move on with someone else. Every one gets a happily ever after here. I feel generous.

Anyway, Thank you for giving Autumn Fires a shot. I hope I was worth your time. Dont forget to tell me what you think!

Until the epilogue, rock on!

27: Epilogue

"There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road. No other way. No day but today. There's only now, there's only here. Give into love, or live in fear. No other course, no other way. No other day but today."

 

 

September 2018

 

"Let's go to Italy,"

 

Hearing those words, Melody's head shot up. She looked at Adrian, who hadn't even lifted his eyes from the crossword he was trying to solve with a deep furrow between his brows, and put her book aside, not before bending the corner of the last page read. Feeling her eyes on him, Adrian finally dared a look in Melody's direction. She wore a baggy band shirt, a shirt that was probably borrowed from him, of course, sitting on the couch, legs crossed and pulled in, with a curious expression on her face. Just as gorgeous as ever, he remarked to himself.

 

"What did you say?" Melody questioned, studying him through her eyelashes.

 

"You heard me," Adrian challenged, grinning down at her and leaning on one elbow to face her fully. "Let's go to Italy."

 

Melody blinked once before shaking her head in amusement at her boyfriend.

 

"I would say you probably had a lot to drink if it wasn't 12 in the afternoon." she said after a while, picking up her book again and focusing her attention on that now. But she didn't realize that Adrian was being serious about this, that he wasn't just going to drop it, so he came to stand next to her, kneeling in front of the couch and snatching the book from her hands.

 

"I'm serious, squirrel. Let's go on a vacation."

 

Melody arched an eyebrow. "To Italy?"

 

He shrugged. "You always said you wanted to visit Italy. Why not now? We have the money and it's not like our jobs are eating up our time."

 

That was true. Besides the income and profits coming from her first published book, her only stable job was that of sub-editor at a local magazine. And Adrian, well, after working for a year and a half at Bloodhound, he and the manager, Bobby Brown, had grown pretty close. Until one day, when Bobby decided he could no longer administrate Bloodhound and preferred to sell it. With a little financial help from Melody and the blessing of the ex manager, Adrian had bought the entire bar for himself. So, over night, he found himself the new manager and administrator of Bloodhound. No longer working as a bartender, he took care of that little dive bar as if it had been his own from the beginning. And he still got to perform every night. Therefore, it was an understatement to say that money were not an issue for them anymore.

 

"Plus," Adrian continued, knowing there was no way in hell Melody could ever say no to Italy. Or to him. "Maybe one of the most romantic places in the world might help you find some inspiration for the new story you want to write."

 

Melody gnawed at her bottom lip, knowing he was right. Why was she even thinking about this? She could really use some inspiration for that new story. Hell, she didn't even know the plot of it. But Simon had insisted on her writing and publishing another book since the first one had such a big success. Maybe a more romantic one, he added. How in hell would she manage to do that? Putting her book down for good, she got off the couch abruptly.

 

"You know what, screw this! Why am I even thinking about it? I'm going upstairs to pack."

 

Adrian smirked, mentally high-fiving himself for how easy it had been. Actually, he was surprised it took him so long since Melody was the impulsive one, not him. Melody left his side and went upstairs, and soon after, he followed her, knowing that if he let her pack, she would most likely fill the luggage with food and books.

 

After five hours of Adrian arguing with her about how she could not bring the leftovers of the lasagna with them, no matter how many times Melody insisted that it would go bad, their luggage was done. So, the next day, they took the next airplane to Rome, Italy.

 

***

 

Melody stared at the black, white screen in front of her. She couldn't write a damned word.

 

She and Adrian were sitting outside a café after Melody had dragged him all around Rome to see the historical tourist attractions, or to a wine tasting or to a museum and the list went on. And even though it took them five hours or so and they still hadn't visited all there was to visit, Adrian didn't even dare complain, knowing how much Melody had dreamed about finally being able to see her favorite country. So the least she could do was to accept stopping for a break at a café and eat some Italian food.

 

She looked across the table at him and saw that he held his guitar in his hands, playing some random chords for the song she knew he wanted to compose. Melody smiled to herself, wondering why she needed any inspiration when she had him standing there, right in front of her. Silence was so comforting with him. With time, the words started to blur, and that wasn't a scary thought anymore. Right now, he was her calm rather than a raced heartbeat. And she was pretty sure he felt the same. Without thinking twice, she reached for his hand over the table and gave it a light squeeze. His eyes finally lifted from his guitar to meet hers.

 

"You know I love you, right?" she asked him softly, squeezing his hand a little harder.

 

He smiled reassuringly at her before answering. "I'd be a fool not to."

 

She finally let go of his hand, but didn't break the gaze.

 

"Did you figure out something for your story?" he asked her, going back to playing a few chords at his guitar, but still listening.

 

"I think I did," she replied, smiling victoriously to herself.

 

"Really?" Adrian arched an eyebrow, looking at her again. "What is it called?"

 

Melody looked at the screen and then back at him again before answering. "Autumn fires."

 

"Huh," Adrian simply stated, nodding in approval. "Not bad."

 

With that being said, he went back to his guitar and she went back to her writing. Only this time, she knew exactly what she was going to write. So, she typed down the first sentences of their story.

 

I've confused love with longing and passion for a very long time, the constant thinking about somebody, and for them to be thinking of me. Well, it turned out that was not love. How can I even begin to describe what I'm feeling for him? How can you describe a burning flame?

 

Adrian Hayes was all the inspiration she needed. She should have figured that out a long time ago. Their story had no need for plot-twists, it was beautiful just the way it was. Looking at him again and studying him through her lashes, Melody Hathaway understood that, sometimes, home has a heartbeat.