I look up as Samantha open the private study room at the library. My eyes open wide when she looks at me. I don’t think I’ve seen her this disheveled, she looks like she hasn’t taken a long time.
“Hi” Samantha says sitting down in front of me. I look at her shock; she looks like she hasn’t slept in a year. Her eyes are all puffy and red. Her face has tear lines and her lips are swollen. I stare at her feeling all types of guilty because I know why she’s like this.
“Are you okay?” I ask already knowing the answer. I can’t tell her I know why she’s sad and I can’t just ignore her too. This is bad, really bad. She doesn’t deserve what Knox is putting her through. And I help but feel like I’m partly to blame for what she’s going through.
She was probably crying the whole weekend while Knox and were having sex and avoiding the world.
“Yeah, I’m fine.&rdq
“Are you okay?” I ask Melody when she opens the door. I can tell that she just woke up but she doesn’t look rested at all. I was hoping her text was not as urgent as it sounded but judging by the look on her face; something is up.“Can I kiss you?” She says when I close the door behind us. I look at her surprised because she’s never done that before. I usually have to beg her to kiss me. It takes me a moment to respond to her because I’m so surprised.“Yes.” I say and she takes a few steps closer to me and she stands on her toes. I lean down and cover the last distance between us. Our lips meet and I can feel all the emotion, electricity and feeling flow between us. She moans softly accepting my tongue into her mouth.I wrap my arms around her deepening the kiss. I hold on to her saying my last goodbye to her. I need to take all that she can give me so that can sustain me for the rest of my life
I listen to Samantha put her keys in my apartment door and unlock it. I’m sitting on my couch looking at the door. I take a deep breath and watch the door open; I see her walk in slowly.As soon as I see her walk in so many emotions flood through my mind, I have to stay as calm as possible. Whatever she says I’m not going to react, I don’t want to give her any ammunition against me. I know she wants me to do or say something she will blackmail me with.I have to play this game the right way. My main priority is to get Samantha and my mother as far away from Melody as possible. And for me to do that I have to keep this one happy. I don’t care what I have to do; I just need to play along until I can find a way to get out from under their thumb.This is not going to be my reality forever.“He’s not home yet.” She says switching on the light. “What the hell?” She says when she sees me sitting o
“I was thinking of going backpacking in Asia.” I say and my grandfather shakes his head at me but he doesn’t say anything else. “You don’t think it’s a good idea.” I ask when he continues to stay silent. I can tell he’s over this complaining, self pity phase I’m going through. He’s just being nice about it.“You want to take some time off school?” He asks looking into the far distance. We’re sitting on his porch enjoying the cool air of the night. I remember the nights him, my grandmother and I would waste sitting out here. We would watch the stars and my grandmother would tell us old stories about warriors that live among the stars.“I want to disappear.” I say and he looks at me unimpressed with what I just said.“You want to run away.” He states not really asking me to confirm that’s what I’m feeling.“L
5 years later I listen to the sound of her heels hit the floor as she come closer and closer to where I am. She keeps calling my name over and over. I close my eyes leaning into my chair. She knows not to disturb me during my meditation. This is my hour to reset, plan and hopefully forget my worries. Her coming here at this moment is throwing all that into chaos. And she knows it. We’ve talked about her letting me have this one luxury in life but she can’t seem to let me have it. All I ask for is an hour where I can sit and not be bothered, but of ‘course she just has to do something to disturb my peace. I sit there until I hear her stop in front of my chair. She sighs audibly so I can hear that she’s annoyed, if only she knew that I’ equally annoyed with her right now. “Didn’t you hear me call you?” She says when I don’t open my eyes or acknowledge her. I slowly open my eyes and look at her. “I’ve been walking around this house calling your name like a mad woman. Why didn’t you a
Samantha stares at me as I walk into our bedroom. I can see by the look on her face that she has something serious she needs to take off her chest. That look usually means that our night is going end in a fight unless one of us compromises. For the sake of peace it has always been me but there are certain things I won’t fold on. I wonder who’ll have to make the compromise tonight. “Will we ever have a baby?” Samantha asks when I get into bed. I lay my head on the pillow and close my eyes. I can’t believe she chose to talk about that right now. This is not something I’m willing to compromise on and she knows it. “You’re not talking to me now?” She asks her voice getting a little high. I really don’t need this right now. I just had a long evening with my parents and I can’t have her going in on me right before I sleep. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before and I say the same thing every time. I don’t see how the answer is going to be different this time.” I say and I hear he
“Hello Penthouse apartment.” Casey says excitedly when I open the door. I smile and go in for a hug. It feels so good to see her, we haven’t seen each other in so long. I missed her so much. Life has been so busy that we haven’t had time to link up. What they don’t tell you about adulting is that the days get shorter and relationships are harder to maintain. It’s so hard to keep in touch when you are trying to keep your shit together. “I think I chose the wrong career.” She says when she walks into my apartment. “We do the same thing. What are you talking about?” I say laughing. We walk into the kitchen and sit at the island. She touches the marble top, smoothing it out. I look at her funny, we work in the same industry and we make about the same amount of money. She’s acting like she can’t have this if she wanted to. “I chose the house, white picket fence and the 2.1 kids. I didn’t stop to think that maybe I could want this.” She says gesturing to my place. “This is bomb af, pent
When are you going to see her?” My grandfather asks looking at me sitting on his favorite chair in my home office\ library. He looks at me smiling mischievously and then he turns to the fire place longingly. “I’m not going to see her. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I say more to myself but I’m looking at him. He turns to look at me smiling. He has this I don’t believe the crap you’re telling me look on his face. “We should light the fire.” He says out of nowhere, changing the subject. I look at him confused and disappointed. I really need someone to talk to about this before I lose my mind. But I guess he’s not in the mood to listen to my bullshit today. “It’s going to get hot.” I say looking at the fire place. It’s not cold out, the house is cool. But as soon as we light that thing it’s going to be a furnace in here. “I know but it would be so nice to look at.” He says smiling at me like a kid that wants something really bad. And unfortunately I can’t say no to him when he look
“Hey, Melody.” My new boss Jack says standing at my office door. I look up and smile at him. He walks in gingerly unsure of himself. I look at him curiously, that’s very odd of him. “Hi.” I say and he walks in closing the door. I look at him slightly concerned, I’ve only been here two weeks and he’s already walking into my office closing doors. This can’t be good. I can’t imagine I’ve messed up yet. “I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing. You know the two week check in.” He says sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “I’m settling in well. I think I’m starting to find my rhythm.” I say and he looks at me smiling but he still seems unsure. “I’m happy to hear that. I want you to be as comfortable as possible. The board and I are very excited to have on board and we know how important of an asset you are to our team. We hope we can build a lasting relationship with you.” He says and I calm down a little, I thought he was coming in here to tell me that I lost my jo
“I know your favorite thing to do right now is to sleep.” Knox says into the silence. I stand in the doorway and watching him holding our son. He has his back to me so he can’t see me eavesdropping on his conversation with his son. My eyes water at the beautiful sight, he’s taken so well to being a father. I knew he would be great at it but it blows my mind how much heloves being a father. I don’t have to ask him to do anything. He knows exactly what his child needs. I wasn’t surprised when I woke up from our nap and Asa wasn’t next to me. I bet Knox came up to our room as soon as he got home. He misses his son like crazy when he’s not home. If it was up to him, he would stay home and devote his whole life to our child. But he can’t do that, he has tgousands of people that rely on him. They need him to show up at work so they can have jobs too. The dedication he has to his family takes my breath away. He makes sure that his child is loved in every way. He has Asa sitting comfortabl
“Are you okay?” Knox says walking into the bathroom. I’m bent over the toilet, vomiting my guts out. I’ve been having morning sickness for a while now and I’m not happy. “I read somewehere that ginger helps with morning sickenss. Let me get you some.” He says walking away. I listen to him walk away. He’s been annoying the hell out of me with his rememdies and pregnancy facts since he found out we’re having a baby. But I have to admit for once I appreciate his obsession. I would give anything to make this stop. I came home about half an hour ago and I’ve been hurdled over this toilet since. I thought morning sickness was for the morning and that’s it but not. Imagine my surprise when this happened during a meeting in the middle of the day. I flush the toilet and sit on the wall next to the toilet. I don’t want to move from here. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to vomit in a minute or two. Knox and I should have thought about this a little harder before we decided to engage in bab
My ex wife is sitting opposite me at one of her favorite restaurants in the city. She looks perfect. She doesn’t have a hair out of place; she’s staring at me with a look of hope in her eyes. She’s looking at me like she won the lottery. When I look at her face I see my past. I don’t see anything beyond this conversation. The only woman I want is Melody. I’ve never been surer about something like I am about my love for Mel. I feel bad that Samantha is looking at me like that. I can tell she thinks I’m here because there’s still something between us. “Thank you for meeting me.” Samantha says smiling at me. “I didn’t think we would ever see each other after everything that happened.” She adds looking away but she’s still smiling. After my talk with my father I had a lot to think about. I realized I owed her at least one last conversation. I might have moved on but she clearly needs to talk to me. I want to go into this next chapter of my life with no attachments. And no matter how I
“Is it weird that I want to pick out the baby’s name already?” Knox says kissing my belly. This man is obsessed with his baby. That’s all he wants to talk about, he’s constantly asking me random questions about pregnancy, birth and anything else that comes to mind. “Are you pretending you didn’t hear what I said?”I ask looking down at Knox. He doesn’t want me to go back home. But I need to; I haven’t seen my siblings in two days. I feel bad for leaving them alone for so long. I know they’re grown and they can take care of themselves but I can’t pretend they don’t live with me. I have to be a good sister and make sure they’re okay. I know they love it when I give them their space but I need to check in on them. “I’ll drive you home when we’re done here.” He says kissing me over and over again. Of ‘course Knox wants me with him all the time, I want the same thing but as long as we have two different households that’s going to be a little difficult. I need to make sure all the people i
The dinner party is over. Knox’s grandfather opened his expensive gifts. Olive and her father left, done for the night. It’s just Knox, me and his mother left. We’re back in the living room enjoying a late night drink. I’m having tea while everyone else is having alcohol. I have to admit, this being pregnant this has its drawbacks. On a stressful night like this a glass of wine would have come in handy. If I sip on the tea slow enough I swear I can taste the wine. If I’m going to be required to attend these awkward family events, it’s going to be a very long 9 months. I can’t imagine getting through them sober. “Are you ready to go home?” Knox says touching my belly softly. I look up at him smiling. I can feel his mother’s eyes on me. She’s been eying me the whole night. She hasn’t said a word to me but she had her eyes on me the whole time. It was creepy in the beginning but I don’t care anymore. If she has something to say to me she should shout. I won’t let her intimidate me wi
“Mel, you look so pretty. Look at you.” Olive says when I walk into her grandfather’s house. It’s pouring outside and I had to run into the house while Knox parks the car. We’re at his grandfather’s town house. Knox says this is the house he uses when he wants to host extravagant parties. And of ‘course his birthday is one of them. “Thank you, you look beautiful as always.” I say giving her a hug. She giggles as I squeeze her closer, I’m so glad to see her here. I need all the support I can get if I’m to face her parents. “Thank you. I feel beautiful as always.” She says smiling at me. “Melody, how nice to see you.” Knox’s grandfather says walking to the entryway. “You know I barely recognized you. I can’t believe how much you kids have grown.” He says looking at me surprised. “And you look like you haven’t aged a day, happy birth day by the way.” I say smiling at him. We hug as he laughs at my comment on his age; or lack thereof. “You don’t have to lie to an old man. I know I’v
“Casey seems to be in love with you.” I say looking at Knox peeling a papaya. I shift forward in my stool so I can be closer to his plate. I’m sitting on the opposite side of the island, so it’s hard for me to get my hands on it. He’s been at this for the last five minutes; he’s taking his precious time to peel the whole thing. The moment he started peeling it my taste buds went crazy. The bright orange color is making me want to bite into it with the peels. “I think I’m in love with her too.” He says cutting the peeled pieces into even smaller pieces. I reach out taking a piece off of the plate he’s cutting them on. I don’t what know what happened but as soon I found out about the pregnancy I had a rush of an appetite. I want to eat everything I see. It’s like my body knows I need to eat for two. “Don’t tell her that or she’ll ask to move in with you.” I say throwing the piece into my mouth. I moan in appreciation at the taste. It’s so sweet. I reach out to take another piece and
10 minutes before “I’m confused. Why are you taking a pregnancy test?” Casey asks sitting the bath tub in my bathroom. I look at her with a look of concern on my face. I’m stressed out to the 100th degree. I can’t believe I’m here, with a pregnancy test. I’m sitting on my toilet, feeling all types of embarrassment. I survived all of my teenage years without taking a pregnancy test. I know it’s not a big deal but it’s embarrassing that I’m doing this as an adult. I’m so mad at myself for being careless with Knox. I didn’t even think about using protection with him. I didn’t even think about the possibility of getting pregnant. I just went in blind, I wasn’t thinking at all. This has to go down as the dumbest mistake I ever made. This wasn’t part of the plan, I wanted to take time and fall in love again, have fun, relearn each other. How are we supposed to do that with a baby? “Well I know why you’re taking the pregnancy test. I just mean what happened, when and most importantly wi
“Hi Mel.” Samantha says staring at me when I open the door. The smile on my face slowly fades; I go from excitement to shock. How did she get up to my apartment? Why wasn’t I told she was coming up? The front desk should have let me know when she arrived. I look at her on alert. I look into her eyes trying to figure out if she has any animosity. The second I saw her at y door, the word murder pops into my head. Why else would she be here? Surely she came to kill me for taking her love from her. I have so many questions right now. The one that’s nagging me the most is; how does she know where I live? I look behind her expecting to see Knox. He’s supposed to be here instead of her. Maybe they are playing a sick game on me. Knox wouldn’t tell her where I live; he believes Samantha would never bother us. So much for his promises. “How are you here?” I ask looking at her suspiciously. I don’t know what’s going on here, I feel ambushed. I hate when people show up unannounced at my door. T