She turned to look towards the water and at that moment spotted her sister who was definitely comforting Nick. Well, never again could Melissa say she'd never been kissed.
Just then she sensed somebody behind her. She turned around quickly and realized it was AJ. "Hey."
"Meg? I thought it was you," he replied.
"Yea, I was just waiting for you."
AJ joined her at the rail overlooking the beach. "Didn't take Nick long to find a new chick," he observed, gesturing towards Nick and Melissa.
"Well, I asked Melissa if she was going to comfort him and I guess she just took my advice a little to well," she said with a laugh but then turned serious. "I really am glad that she and Nick got together. You see this is kind of her last chance to just have fun."
"What do you mean?"
"Melissa is very sick. She hides it well but in reality... Anyway, next week she's going in for an operation which may make her all better but if it fails she could die so my mom and dad decided to let the two of us come down here on a final vacation. Plus it's nice and warm down here even if it is only the middle of March. In New York where we come from it's freezing!"
"Wow!" AJ said amazed. "That must be really hard for you especially since your twins and all."
"Yea it is. I'm really praying that she pulls through but the odds of that are slimmer than her's of dying."
"Then why did you even agree to the operation?"
"If we didn't at least try she would definitely die later on and it would be much more painful and that would just be cruel because I don't want to see her suffer."
"I understand. Exactly what's wrong with her?"
"It's a brain tumor," she said solemnly, as tears fell down her face.
"Shh. It's ok," he told her as he wrapped his arms around her. "Just keep praying."
"It's so hard though. I mean when Nick called her this morning and asked her to hang out it was so cute how she reacted. She was like OMG Meg guess what? Nick found Erin in bed with another guy and now he asked me to meet him at the beach! I never saw her so happy and excited before. You see she was never really popular with the guys. I never understood why. Maybe it was because of her being sick, but now ever since she first saw Nick she's just come alive and its so amazing. I hope she can at least get a little taste of what it feels like to be in love before the operation." Meg took a deep breath but then a terrible thought crossed her mind. "You don't think Nick is just using her to get over Erin do you?"
"I seriously doubt that. Nick is'nt like that so don't worry," he reassured her.
"God, I have no idea why I'm telling you all this. I mean I only just met you yesterday and already I'm confiding all my problems to you."
"It's OK. I'm a comforting face willing to listen. That's why you want to unload on me."
"Yea maybe that's it but thank you for listening."
"Anytime you want to talk you can come to me okay?"
"OK sure," she told him as she looked up into his eyes.
He met her gaze and for a moment their eyes were locked on each other. Meg felt her heart pounding and wondered why she was feeling this way.
Before she knew it AJ's lips were on her's and she found herself kissing back. Without breaking contact AJ led her over to a bench nearby where they continued kissing for a long, long time.
It was later that night and Melissa and Meg were hanging out in their room getting ready to go out to a club that night.
"OMG Meg! I honestly think I'm in love!" Mel said excitedly.
"God, Mel can't u give it a little more time? I mean I hardly think that one day of making out on the beach is grounds for true love."
"Well, maybe you're right but how will I know if its love or not?"
"It's hard to describe. You'll just know and you'll just feel so complete when you are with that person that when their arms are'nt around you, you start to feel empty inside."
"Wow Meg! You sound really experienced. Have you ever been in love?"
"Maybe for a little bit with Paul."
"O OK. So what's with you and AJ?"
"I don't know. I guess we are just going to have to find out huh?"
"Yea I guess so."
All of a sudden there was a knock on the door. It turned out to be Nick.
"Hey are you almost ready?" he asked Melissa.
"Yea just about."
A few minutes later the two left and AJ arrived to pick Meg up.
"Hey AJ, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"You didn't tell Nick all about Melissa being sick did you?"
"No, I didn't but we haven't had much time to talk."
"Do you think you could do me a favor? Don't tell Nick anything about my sister being sick okay? He might get weird about it and I've never seen Melissa so happy, so I'd rather not complicate things. Please just don't tell him okay?"
"Sure I can do that. I understand what you are saying and maybe you are right."
"OK, thank you so much. It's just that I care about my sister so much and don't want her getting hurt."
"Shh it's going to be ok. Just loosen up a little and have fun okay?"
"Okay I'll try."
Melissa was sitting at a table near the back next to Nick. Meg and AJ were in the middle of the dance floor dancing wildly.
Melissa really didn't feel like dancing. She just wanted to be close by Nick. Right now as they were sitting there they were holding hands which may sound corny but Melissa didn't care, she was just enjoying the feeling of their fingers interwining.
A few minutes later when the song ended they slowed things down by playing I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden. Wow Melissa thought this song totally describes the way I feel about Nick.
"You want to dance?" he asked.
"Yea. I'd like that," she said smiling.
He led her out to the dance floor and she wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed softly as he pressed her closer.
When she opened her eyes she spotted Erin who seemed to be giving both Nick and Melissa a dirty look. Well, Melissa thought angrily I'll give her something to stare at and kissed Nick a liitle more passionatly than she actually meant to. She not only suprised herself but she could see a slight look of suprise on his face but he kissed her back and she started to get That Feeling again.
She was so absorbed in him she never noticed Erin walk out of the club obviously upset.