"God Melissa, just fucking talk to me!" Dan cried out. He hated crying, but he was about to. What else could you do when the one you love barely acknowledges your existance? "Shit! You used to be able to tell me everything."
"I know," she said, tears running down her face. "And I miss it. And. . .but. ."
"But what? But you can't trust me?" his voice cracked as he made this statement, and one tear slid down his cheek. "For what reason other than my sex? Or is it just because I'm your boyfriend and you can't trust your boyfriend?"
"Dan please don't do this to me," she said.
"Do what? Try to understand you? Love you?" he asked. "Mel I can't stop loving you, I won't stop."
"Well you should," she sobbed heavily. "You don't want to love me, you deserve better than me."
"You're wrong Mel," he said. "Listen to me. I'm nothing like Derek. I couldn't imagine using then losing you. If I wanted out I would've done it ages ago when you told me you were pregnant. But I didn't, I stayed, because I cared about you. I cared then and I care now. . .I love you."
Never before had those three words meant so much to Melissa. And the part that stung was that she knew how much he really meant it. She had to make a decision now. She had to choose whether she should stay strong and walk away from a life with Dan, or to crumble and return to the warm and safe embrace of Dan's arms. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes, and she knew deep down that she was making the right choice.
Jon was lying motionless on his bed, just staring at his ceiling. There was nothing for him to do, no band rehearsals, no money to go do anything, and worst of all, his laptop had crashed, so he couldn't talk to Jodi. He would've called her on the phone, but he couldn't afford the long distance charges, and he couldn't find his phone card. So there he was, just staring into space, as he had done for the past hour or so.
"Jon? Sweetie, do you want anything to eat? You've been holed up in here for hours," his mom said from the door.
"Mom, if I planned on leaving the room, I would. I'm holed up by choice, and I'd like to continue staring into space if you will let me."
Jon's mom laughed to herself. "Fine, do what you want. I'll leave you alone."
"Thanks mom," were the last words he uttered. Another hour had flown by, and he was still staring at the ceiling. He squinted his eyes and tried to refocus them, the ceiling was starting to get a little blurry. 'Screw this,' he said to himself, after all, there is only so much staring a person can do. He sat upright on his bed and tried to think of something to do, but to no avail. He settled on messin around on his bass, it kept him busy and it gave him a chance to work on a new song.
He had only been playing for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door. "What is it this time Mom?" he asked.
The door opened, and the intruder spoke. "It's not your mom," said the female.
Jon turned around, and found a living goddess standing in his doorway. With short wavy blonde hair, baggy jeans, and a baby-T, it could only be one person. "Jodi?"
Casey was walking out of Pacific Sunwear at the mall, satisfied with the new pair of JNCOs he had just bought for 1/3 off regular price. He spotted her at the other side of the bridge near the food court. It was Tori, with no sign of Ryan around anywhere, a very rare occurance indeed. He had seen her around a lot recently, especially since she was transferred into one of his classes. He spent most of his time in class staring at her soft brown hair. Just thinking about it set him a small trance, which he quickly snapped out of. He realized that now was the perfect time to talk to her, since she was alone. He could feel his hands begin to shake as he approached her.
"H-hey Tori," he said a little nervously. Tori turned and glanced at who had greeted her.
"Oh hi, Casey right?" she asked. She recognized him from history class.
"Yeah. How are you?" he asked. "Where's your boyfriend? I thought you guys were attached at the hip."
"How did you know I have a boyfriend?" she asked curiously.
"Well when you're dating Ryan Dennis, word kinda gets around," he reminded her.
"Oh yeah. I keep forgetting," she said. "He's rehearsing with the guys for a concert coming up."
"That's cool," he said.
"Yeah. . ." The disturbing silence that entailed was deafning. Neither of them knew what to say, and while they had no words, they also had a hard time looking at each other. "Well, um. . .anyways. It was nice talking to you, but I've gotta lot of stuff to do."
"Oh, yeah. Right," Casey replied.
"I'll talk to you later," she smiled as she said goodbye and walked away. Something deep down told her that she should keep her distance from Casey. She was unsure of why, but she figured she wouldn't want to chance anything. Better to be safe than sorry.
"Jodi, what the hell are you doing here?" Jon asked in disbelief.
"Well, I told you I had a long weekend coming," she replied.
"But. . .how did you find out where I live?"
Jodi smiled devilishly. "Uh-uh," she shook her head,"I nefver reveal my secret connections." Jon crossed the room to where she was standing, then he took her hands an stared into her eyes.
"You're really here and I'm not dreaming?"
"Live and in the flesh." She paused for a moment. "I seem to remember a certain someone making a certain comment about. . .oh man, what was it? Making me melt?"
Jon smiled and put his arms around Jodi's slender waist. "Yeah, I remember that too," he said. He looked into her eyes a bit longer, and then kissed her gently on the lips. The kiss deepened, and both could feel their knees shaking.
"Damn," Jodi said.
"What?"
"I'll be damned, you were right," she said. "You're making me melt." Jon smiled, and kissed her again.