Hollywood ***

Brian’s POV

I looked over at Melody when I reached a red stoplight. She had her head resting on the head rest but she was facing me. In her hands was my hand which she held onto tightly despite the fact that she was asleep. I smiled as I reached over to tuck the stray locks behind her ear, keeping it out of her beautiful face. Melody looks so happy in her sleep and part of me was telling me that I caused that happiness in her now.

To think that Melody Romanov had become the most important person in the world to me was a bit shocking to me. I remember the days where she was my best friend who was there for me for everything and I only saw her as that. Back then, she was my best friend who I could go to for anything. I dated other girls but not Melody. She was the best friend for so long but now, her status in my life had changed. She was my everything. Just one little smile from her could brighten my day. I loved hearing her laugh because I’d forget everything miserable in my life. Now, I loved holding her in my arms. When her body came into contact with my own, I felt complete. Melody fit perfectly against my own body and I didn’t want to let her go.

The light turned green and I gently hit the gas pedal. I didn’t want any sudden movements because she might wake up. I figured Melody had been up pretty early considering the clock on the dashboard said it was only eleven. She needed sleep and I was more than willing to allow her that. I was about ready to give her anything that she wanted thought I knew she would never ask that of me. I knew Melody preferred the simple gifts over the expensive kinds. She’d rather have a hug instead of some fancy watch or some shit like that. Hell, when we were little, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she responded that she wanted a tiger lily, her favorite flower. That’s all she wanted and of course, I got it for her. Every year for her birthday, I got her a tiger lily and something else but most importantly, that flower.

She mumbled something as she tightened her grasp on my hand but then relaxed. I couldn’t help smiling as I realized that she was staying in my life. I was so happy to know that. Melody would be with me and there was nothing preventing her now. She would be in my life and both of our lives would be perfect. She was not leaving and disappearing from my life again. I lost her before but now, it was different. I stopped her from leaving me again.

I've been traveling
On this road to long
Just trying to find
My way back home
The old me
Is dead and gone
Dead and gone

“Funny,” Melody softly said as her eyes opened, looking at the stereo.

“What’s funny,” I asked, glancing at her.

She smiled as she sat up, blinking a bit, but still holding onto my hand. A sigh escaped her full lips before she answered, “I was listening to this song when I got a very strange fortune cookie fortune.”

“What did it say?”

“’Someone from your past has returned to steal your heart’,” Melody replied, looking at me, “I also thought about how right this song felt at that moment. I mean, for a long time, I felt like I didn’t have a home despite the fact that I had my own house. I felt like I had a house but not a ‘home’. Does that make any sense for you?”

“A bit,” I admitted as I realized what she was trying to say, “But continue.”

“Anyway, I don’t feel like anymore. I feel like I do have a home.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Melody was looking straight at me when she said that; her pretty smile was on her face. It took all of my self control to prevent me from reaching over and kissing her but I didn’t want to risk getting into a car accident, especially since I knew that Melody had already lost something due to that kind of incident. There was no way in Hell that I’d make her relive that again.

I tightened my grip around her hand and smiled.

“Can you believe that this is the first time that I have been to your house,” Melody asked as she followed me into my home.

“It’s shocking considering you were always at my house when we were younger,” I laughed, hugging her.

She just sighed as she buried her face into my shirt. I closed the door behind us as I picked her up and carried her to the family room. Melody laughed as I nuzzled my face in her neck, nipping slightly at the soft skin. Her arms wrapped around my neck as I started kissing her while I placed her on the couch. Her fingers tangled themselves in my hair as she started to kiss me back. I loved that feeling and it just made her want her more. My hand found the end of the shirt she was wearing.

Do you really want to have sex with her on the first day like you did Michelle and Kaytee?

No, I didn’t. Melody wasn’t like the others. I actually loved her and I didn’t want to treat her like that. She was different compared to everyone else. That’s why I was attracted to her. I didn’t want to treat her like everyone else. I didn’t want to have my relationship start off like it did with every other girl before her. No, I wanted it to be special so I pulled away, leaving her a bit confused.

“What,” she asked, worried, “Is there something wrong?"

“Nothing,” I replied, “I just don’t want to start off everything by having sex immediately.”

Instead of looking mad or frustrated, Melody just looked at me, smiling. “Good because I don’t want that either.”

God, she was just perfect. She really was. I could see in those blue eyes of hers that all she wanted for me to just hold her, to keep her close to me. So I sat up and pulled Melody onto my lap. She laid her head against my chest and sighed, our fingers laced. I didn’t want this moment to end because right now, everything was perfect.

Melody’s POV

Somehow, we ended up lying on Brian’s bed. No, we didn’t do anything; we just laid there and stared into each other’s eyes. Apparently, while I was in the hospital, he told me that he changed his bed sheets and got a new mattress because he couldn’t deal with sleeping a bed that a whore also slept in. I thought it was funny but he was dead serious.

He laid perfectly still as I traced his jaw line with my fingers. His eyes still stared at me but I was looking at my fingers as they ran over his thin lips. As each passed, he kissed my fingers. As soon as I removed my hand, I scooted closer to him so I could kiss him. His lips smiled against mine as they touched. I felt his muscular arms wrap around my small waist and pull me even closer to him. When we both pulled away for air, I buried my face in his chest. I felt safe in his arms. I also noted how perfectly I seemed to fit against his body.

We didn’t say anything as one of Brian’s hand ran up and down my back, tracing little designs on the cloth of my shirt. The silence between the two of us made everything seem so surreal. I felt like I was in a dream or some random shit. But that silence ended when a little white puff ball hopped onto the bed and barked.

Brian groaned as he sat up and looked at his dog, “What the Hell, Pinkly? I thought I told you I was going to have a nice moment with an amazingly hot girl. You’re just jealous.”

I knew he said that to amuse me so I smiled as I sat up, resting my head against his shoulder. Pinkly wagged her little tail as she climbed onto Brian’s lap and laid down, causing him to get annoyed. He was about ready to shove her off but I just held his arm.

“It’s alright, Brian. I want to stay like this,” I told him, closing my eyes, “Besides Pinkly just wants some attention from her daddy”.

“Alright,” Brian whispered, allowing my wish to be fulfilled, “As you wish.”

I quietly laughed as I looked down at the sleepy puff known as Pinkly in Brian’s lap. Brian looked at me with questioning eyes as I said, “It’s funny. We were best friends before and we always slept in the same bed now, I don’t know what we are and we’re sitting in the same bed.”

“You’re strange, Mel,” Brian scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“And you love me too,” I said, kissing his cheek.

“So true,” he replied, looking at me with those beautiful brown eyes of his, “I do love you. But to answer your statement, you’re my girlfriend and I’m your boyfriend.”

“Really now,” I asked, looking up at him, “Since when?”

“Since I asked you right now: will you be my girlfriend?”

He was humoring me again but I felt all warm and fuzzy when he said that so instead of answering with words, I pressed my lips against his and silently told him my answer.

“This is so amusing,” Brian said with his face in his hands as he watched me from the counter as I was cooking some steak and potatoes for dinner, “I mean, you’re probably the first girl that I dated that actually knows how to cook.”

I rolled my eyes at his statement. We laid on his bed for five hours but then Brian’s stomach growled. He admitted that he hadn’t eaten anything all day so I decided that I was going to make him dinner. He decided that he was going to watch me just because he was absolutely fascinated with the thought of me in the kitchen. I thought it was completely strange because I always made dinner whenever I lived with my dad or James but then I remembered that I was gone for quite some time so of course he’d find it strange.

Yeah, when I moved from my mother’s to my father’s custody, I had the duty of making meals. It was understandable considering my father had limited mobility and would obviously have issues cooking. So I took it upon myself to learn how to cook from every female friend of my father’s and extended family’s. I learned from Josie, Pamela, Lia, Stormy, and even Nikki’s second wife, Donna. It helped because when I was married to James, he’d often complain that he was gaining weight just because he liked eating my cooking.

“Don’t you know how to cook,” I asked as I turned the steak over.

“Does mac ‘n cheese count,” he asked back with a cheesy grin.

No pun intended.

Again, I rolled my eyes. “Not really,” I told him, “But you’re getting an actual meal now.”

He just smiled as he watched me intently. I cut off a slice of steak and handed it to him. Brian just looked at it for a second before eating it straight from my hand. He blinked a couple of times as he ate it slowly. “Wow. Damn, Mel, this is amazing,” he said, totally shocked, “Now I really can’t wait for dinner.”

“Jeesum,” I joked, “I’ve been your girlfriend for five hours and you already got me cooking for you.”

We sat on the back porch while we ate dinner. Brian had this amazing view of the ocean and the sun was just setting making it even more perfect. Pinkly was laying in the space between Brian and me but that was okay. It still was a nice dinner. The two of us watching the sunset; I am happy.

I looked at Brian and realized something. For the ten years I had been away, I had been lost. Mentally, I was looking for something that I had yet to find. I didn’t even know I was looking for whatever it was I was looking for until now. I realized it as I found it, well, him. I was looking for Brian. He was everything that I could ever want in a man and more. Plus, he was my best friend so he already knew all my favorites.

“You okay there,” he asked, placing a hand on my cheek and turning my head so I could look at him.

“Yeah, just realized that I was lost but I found what I was looking for,” I said, closing my eyes.

“What?”

“You.”