Rain Gently Tapping Against My Skin

“So, tell me again why you won’t give me back my clothes?” Kevin asks, as I help Alison make Jesse and Scarlett even cuter. If that’s possible.

“Aw, Scarlett, you look adorable!” I say, smiling at her. Alison wants a family photo, which of course includes Donovan. Along with Martin.

Oh, I forgot to tell you! Martin asked Alison to marry him! Jolie’s designing a wedding dress, of course, with a few others. We’re all — except for Alison and Martin — are planning the wedding. We’re trying to rent a church in Kentucky so Alison’s family can come.

“Hello? Are you deaf now?” Kevin asks angrily.

“No, I heard you. You’ll get them back when you get them back,” I say, rolling my eyes, curling Scarlett’s pretty blonde hair. It was oddly turning more and more into a pure blonde, close to golden-blonde in the right lighting. “Right now you should be more concerned with the fact that you’re gonna be in the same room with some people that you absolutely hate, supposed to smile and act like we’re a perfectly happy family.”

“I don’t get where Alison gets these crazy ideas of hers,” Kevin grumbles, leaning against the door frame. He was wearing a black tux — something that I had no idea that anyone could get him in. He looked pretty good in it, too. And, no, I’m not going to say he looks hot or sexy in the tux. He just looks nice.

“She never had a happy family, Kevin. She just wants us all together once for them,” I say, tying bows into Scarlett’s hair. “And mainly because we all may not be here forever. Her family’s still alive, you know.”

“Most of her family,” he says, rolling his eyes. “It’s still a stupid idea. Did she even invite your dad? He’s part of this so called ‘family,’” he uses his hands to make quotations around the word family, obviously not buying it for a minute. “If that’s what you call us.”

“Can you just try to act like you don’t wanna kill all of us? We only have to do this once for Scarlett and Jesse,” I say, glaring at him. “And somebody better hold me back from murdering you if you say how stupid this is one more time. Believe me, you’ll feel a lot better once you see what she’s making me wear.”

“And that would be?”

“Over there by the closet. Hanging on the doorknob. Wrapped in the plastic thing,” I sigh, picking Scarlett up, as he unzips the container to the dress Alison was forcing me to wear.

I swear, I think she’s gotten knocked-up again. Because she is as hormonal as ever. Twice as annoying and ridiculous as she was four months ago. And, yes, my birthday just passed by again. I’m now twenty-one.

“Are you kidding me?” Kevin asks, holding it out, as if it were a venomous snake. “Do you think she got pregnant again?”

“Who knows. She’s engaged to Martin, so she might be high on drugs,” I say sarcastically. “But, trust me, I’d rather be wearing jeans and a t-shirt.”

I grimace at the powdery-pink dress, as I take it out of Kevin’s hands, giving him Scarlett in return. “Time to endure the torture,” I mutter, heading toward the bathroom. The dress was loose-fitting, stopping just above my knees. It was spaghetti-straps, with absolutely no personality whatsoever. I walk out, ignoring Kevin as I headed toward the mirror, trying to put the white rose in my hair. He walks over to me, getting it in easily.

“It’s not that bad,” he says quietly, picking Scarlett back up from the dresser. “Lets just get this over with. I seriously hate this tux.”

“Why? You look just fine in it,” I say, rolling my eyes, taking Scarlett from him. “At least you’ll only have to wear it one other time, too. Jolie’s designing all these dresses that I think if I puked on they’d have more personality. She nearly got away with making Alison’s dress ten yards long until I pointed out that she’d murder us for doing it.”

“Why not just use Katharina’s old wedding dress? She designed it herself. I think she charmed it so it’d fit whoever wore it perfectly.”

“Because Alison would remember it the second she’d put it on.”

“Actually, she wouldn’t. Katharina’s friend made it for her to wear to her and Donovan’s wedding. But she never saw it. I’ve got it somewhere in my house.”

“You keep a wedding dress in your house?”

“Her friend wanted me to keep hold of it incase I’m met someone. Or, for Laura and Chris’ wedding.”

“Oh,” I say, as we meet up with everyone else who Alison had forced into the family photo.

“I hate that Witch,” Raine grumbles, wearing a pale-blue gown. “Why do I have to be in this thing, anyway?”

“Because you’re part of her family. And I think she got knocked-up again,” I say, shrugging.

“Oh, aha ha, very funny,” Alison says sarcastically, wearing a lilac gown. I had to do a double-take. That was just too odd for even her. “Oh, and prepare to meet my Hell.”

♠ ♣ ♠

“HOLY MOTHER LOAD OF —”

“I’m not afraid to punch you if you finish that sentence, Mel,” Alison says, rolling her eyes, as she hugs the man who was also my father.

He was a firm, strong-looking man. His hair — shaved pretty short for him being in the navy — was dark, along with his eyes. I finally realized why Alison’s eyes were such an impossibly dark brown.

“Hey, daddy —,” she looked like gagging when she said that, “— do you remember a Victoria Knight?”

“Victoria Knight … hmm, no. Why?”

“Umm …”

“Give it a rest, Al. You said so yourself. He’s nothing but —”

“THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE DANG WORLD!!!” She yells over me, glaring, dragging me by my arm away from him. “Look, my dad still thinks I like him and all. So, keep your mouth zipped, and just smile for the camera.”

“Are you PMSing or something?”

“Maybe,” she says sheepishly. “But that’s besides the point, Mel! Look, he’s just a bastard of a human my mom married. ’Kay?”

“You make it sound like being human’s a bad thing.”

“It’s not just — gosh! Look! This is just how my family works! I haven’t talked to him in over six years!! DAMN IT!!” I could tell she was angry, so I didn’t push any further. She stompted away angrily, toward Jesse and Scarlett.

“What’s wrong with her?” Josh asks, staring after Alison oddly.

“I dunno. She was talking to our dad, then she just explodes on me.”

“Wait, your dad’s here?!”

“Yeah,” I grumble, pointing behind myself, where he still stood. “But he has no idea who my mom even is.”

“Not a big surprise there. I was just talking to Meagan. He’s drunk twenty-four-seven,” and I suddenly remembered the strong scent of beer I had smelled when he was talking.

“ALISON!!!” He yells suddenly, angrily.

“CRUD!!!” She yells at the top of her lungs, running away. “WHAT’D I DO?!!!”

“Umm …”

“Stay out of this, Melody! I can handle it!” She snaps angrily, continuing to run for what seemed like her life.

“Aren’t you gonna do something?!” I ask, looking at Meagan.

“What’s there to do? There’s no hope for him, sweetie. Alison’s been avoiding him for years now,” Meagan says, rolling her eyes. “The only thing we could do would expose all of us.”

“Gosh, but Alison can’t just run until he passes out!” I say, looking around as if for help. “STOP!!”

“Leave it be, Mel! It’s hopeless,” Alison growls, obviously running with all the speed she had. But he somehow managed to keep up with her.

“How long will this last?” I ask angrily.

“Usually he’ll pass out right about now,” and he fell to the ground. Alison was panting, shaking her head.

“Remind me why I don’t kill his ass?”

“I’ll take him home,” Jeff says, already beginning to drag him away.

♠ ♣ ♠

“Does that happen a lot?” I ask, as we all sit around at the dining-table, eating our dinner. Alison stayed silent, looking close to setting something on fire.

“He’s never been sober, Melody. Momma and him argued constantly. He goes from one girl to the next, not caring that he leaves them cold and angry,” she says quietly, staring down at the table. “I just try to avoid him at all costs. I’ve convinced him I’m his angelic daughter for this long, I don’t wanna push my luck farther than I have with him.”

“What was he like? Before all the drinking, I mean,” I ask, feeling like I was walking into a battle-zone with that question.

“If you wanna know so badly, then why don’t you go find him yourself!” She growls angrily. “All he’ll do is disappoint, Melody. He’s not worth crap.” She stomped away angrily after that, sending a trail of smoke behind her with every step.

“What’s wrong with her?” Raine asks, as she suddenly decides to show up. “Oh, and this dude named Tyler called her earlier. I think we should look into that.”

Kevin nearly choked on his food, spitting it back up and looking at me as if it were my fault. “What the hell does he want?!”

“To know where the Witch’s been. He’s been putting up missing posters? I dunno. Should we kill him?”

“NO!” Sophie yells immediately, glaring around. “That’s her best friend! You can’t just kill him!”

“Mommy’s mad.”

“I know, Jesse, I know,” I sigh, frustrated. “How about we just send Martin or Ash down there? We could find out just how much this kid knows.”

“No. We kill him,” Kevin growls. “He’s too suspicious.”

“He can’t be too suspicious. And even if he is, then maybe Meagan can erase his memory or something,” I say, shrugging. “There’s a lot of options that don’t involve killing him.”