Status: FIN.

The Roots That Tied to My Feet

what it means to love

Melanie sat on the couch next to her mom as the stared at the two on the floor in front of them. “No Ben! You have to press A to blow people up!” Haley laughed.

“I am pressing A though!” He retorted.

“No you’re not! You’re pressing the triangle!”

Ben screamed jokingly, “I don’t understand!”

Haley rolled her eyes. “You don’t understand how to play Crash Bandicoot but you want to be a heart surgeon? Good luck with that. Give me the control,” she laughed holding out her hand.

“I’ll show you where you can put it,” He mumbled under his breath, causing a chuckle from the girl. He groaned as he lay back on the couch next to Melanie.

She giggled, “You suck at video games.”

Ben rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips, “I’m sorry. I was an unloved child,” he chuckled. “I wasn’t allowed to play video games.”

Elaine Hendricks chuckled, “I wish this two would have never played them but thanks to little O’Callaghan next door that was nearly impossible. He basically treated Melanie like she was a little boy,” she laughed.

“He did not!” Melanie retorted.

Haley giggled, “Oh yeah that’s why you came in like every day with your dress covered in mud and dog poop.”

Ben ruffled his nose and pushed Melanie teasingly, “Poop? That’s disgusting.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, playfully.

Ben wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple, “Just joking. I had my fair amount of days playing in dog poop too.”

Elaine interrupted the two, “Oh, Melanie! Before I forget, John stopped by to drop off some papers from his mom and he asked if you could call him for something?”

Melanie nodded her head, “Okay yeah, I’ll call him later.”

Haley jumped up off the floor as the door bell rang and soon Garrett was walking in behind the girl, his fingers attached to hers. “Well hello, love birds,” he smiled.

Melanie and Ben said their hellos to the boy who seemed to be unusually overly happy. “Hey Gare,” Melanie giggled at the boys demeanor. His eyes were glazed over and he had a smile that was completely made out of euphoria.

“Hey Melanie and Ben,” he sighed happily.

Haley giggled, “What’s with you, babe?”

“I think I just had an orgasm,” he said honestly.

Melanie brow tightened, “Why’s that?”

“I just had the best pizza in the entire world for dinner,” Garrett smiled.

She sighed in relief, “As long as it’s not my little sister.”

She stood up and dusted off her pant legs, her and Ben walking up her hallway’s spiral staircase. They walked into her bedroom and Ben peeled off his shirt. “I’m going to take a shower, I’m working the night shift with your dad tonight, remember?”

“Oh yeah, okay, well, I’m just going to lay down for a bit then,” she replied lying on her bed as Ben walked into her bathroom. She listened to him start the shower before she pulled out her cell phone and found his name.

She listened to her phone ring twice before he answered. “Hello?” John asked.

“Hey, my mom said you wanted me to call you. What’s up?”

“Oh! I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight maybe? Ben is working so I figured you may want something to do…” he trailed off.

She smiled as she looked at the clock next to her bed that read eight thirty. “Yeah sure, pick me up at ten?”

“Sounds perfect,” he said smiling. “Oh, and bring your swim suit.”

“John,” Melanie objected. “It’s almost Thanksgiving! It’s freezing outside.”

He chuckled, “Just trust me.”

She sighed and listened to the shower water turn off. “I’ll see you at ten.”

_____

Melanie looked at the building in front of her as John shut off the engine of her car. “John, what are we doing here?”

He opened his car door and climbed out and all she could see was his swimming trunks now. She popped out of the car and looked at him from over the top. “Seriously John, can’t we get in some sort of trouble for this?”

John laughed as he grabbed their towels and began walking towards their old high school, “Yeah because that’s stopped us before!”

Melanie stayed standing by his vehicle, “John,” she whined, dragging out the ‘O’.

“Melanie,” he whined back playfully, dragging out the ‘ie’.

“We’re going to get in trouble,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

He walked over to her slowly, a smirk on his lips. He grabbed her wrists tightly before backing them to the entrance of the school. He pulled a key out of his pocket and opened the gates.

“How did you get a key?” Melanie asked as they walked quietly down the hallways.

“I have my ways,” John grinned triumphantly. She followed him into the boy’s locker room and out of an exit in the back of it. She laughed as she saw their high school’s pool in front of her. John grinned and peeled of his shirt. “It’s heated!” He exclaimed while running and jumping into the water.

She shook her head at the boy while laughing under her breath. She slipped off her flip flops before taking off her shorts and folding them. She placed them on a bench next to the pool, covering her cell phone with the denim as she was sure John was going to splash and get it wet. She took off the Pink Floyd shirt that she had stolen from John when they were in high school and sloppily tossed it onto the chair.

As she turned around she suddenly felt very exposed. Her bandeau bikini was really revealing and she hadn’t really realized it until she saw John’s eyes traveling the plains of her tanned skin. She walked along the edge of the pool apprehensively, trying to ignore the power of his gaze on her. She lowered her feet into the water slowly, relieved when she realized John was right and that the water was very warm.

She let her body float into the water and she looked at the boy who was smiling at her. His body looked a light green from the mixture of the fluorescent lights and the chlorine, and his hot pink board shorts shined brightly.

“So,” Melanie began as she tied her brown hair into a bun on the top of her head, “How’d you know the pool was heated?”

John waded in the pool around her in circles, “Let’s just say I knew a few girls on the swim team,” he said with a wink.

Melanie scrunched her face in detest, “Ew.”

John laughed, “Don’t you ‘ew’ me!”

“I just did,” she mocked, sticking out her tongue.

He suddenly used his hand to splash over a large amount of water in her face. Melanie shrieked. “Ah! That got in my mouth, John!”

He laughed, “Oops.”

“Oops?!” She yelled, pretending to be outraged. “I’ll show you oops!”

Melanie laughed as she splashed water back at him and she wasn’t surprised when a full on battle began between the two. They were both dripping wet with water in their hair, eyes, and mouths, giggling obnoxiously. She tried to run as fast as she could against the weight of water as John charged her jumping on her back and bringing her smaller frame under.

She felt his hands find her hips and he yanked her up a moment later and as she reached the air she tried to gain her breath back. She was coughing uncontrollably, and John led her over to the edge of the pool. She leaned against the ledge, trying to control her breathing.

John patted her bare back, a small chuckle in his voice, “You okay?”

Melanie laughed softly before placing her back against the cement and looking at him, “Yeah, truce?”

He smiled and shook her hand, “Truce.”

Melanie looked at the boy who was only a foot away from her and became nervous as he leaned against the cement, only inches away from her shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the quietness of the night around them.

“So, is Lucy your new girlfriend?” Melanie asked after a moment.

She watched as John’s smile faded and his face became unreadable, “She’s just a friend.”

“I’ve heard she’s really cool though, why don’t you date her?”

John looked at her from the corner of his eye, “She’s not really my type, I guess.”

“How is she not your type? She’s tall, tan, blonde, and beautiful. She’s got a killer rack and a small waist. What’s the issue?” Melanie chuckled.

“That’s all really pretentious stuff though. Looks fade, personality doesn’t,” John replied shrugging.

“You sound so wise,” she teased.

He shook his head seriously, “Not wise; real. Like, you obviously don’t just like Ben for his looks or else you wouldn’t be marrying him.”

Melanie nodded her head, “Right.”

John put his elbows on the ledge behind them and rested him cheek on his hands. He turned his green eyes to her, “Why do you love him, Mel?”

“Because,” She chuckled.

“Tell me,” John began seriously. “I want to know.”

“He just, he’s amazing. He’s probably the most respectful boy I’ve met. He’s honest, sweet, kind, and just caring. He loves his family more than anything and he’s so driven at everything he does. He’s a great person,” Melanie smiled.

John looked at her uneasily. “Well, that’s all great and all, but how does he make you feel?”

She looked at him confused, “I don’t understand.”

“I mean those are all qualities of a great friend,” John began. “But, you didn’t mention once about how he makes you feel.”

Melanie pinched her brows together and he realized she still didn’t fully understand what he meant. John looked at her before moving his chin off his hands and facing her. “Let’s speak hypothetically,” he began, wading to where he was standing in front of her. “If I was in love with a girl, I would hope, hypothetically of course, that she makes me want to smile all the time.”

John looked in her eyes and she could feel her stomach tightening. He continued, “I would hope that she made me feel like I never wanted to be without her another day because I think I would quite possibly go insane. I would hope that she would have the most beautiful laugh in the entire world. I would hope that just by looking into her blue eyes I would see myself in an entirely new light—liking that man more than the one I was.”

Melanie’s breathing became uneven as John’s arms placed themselves on either side of her petite shoulders, caging her in against the wall. He looked at her seriously, “I would hope that she made me feel hot,” he said softly, above a whisper. “I would hope that she would make me want to be a better man. I would hope, that she would never leave me again.”

Melanie noticed that he had never once broken her eye contact, even as his forehead rested against hers. She could feel her stomach tightening and she watched as his eyes traveled to her scantily covered chest that was rising up and down. She struggled to find her voice, “T-this is all hypothetical right?” She said quietly.

John stared into her eyes, his hand making its way to her hip bone where his calloused finger gently traced over her heart tattoo that adorned it. “Of course,” he whispered softly, his nose gently rubbing against hers.

Melanie felt her eyes fluttering shut and she could taste the familiar flavor of mint on John’s breath. His body pressed against hers firmly and she knew what was going to happen next.

She blocked out all mental images of Ben and let her body release its feeling of guilt as she prepared to feel John’s lips against hers just one more time. Just as his lips were about to press onto hers Melanie listened as a door slammed open and a loud voice began yelling.

She turned quickly as she separated from John, her body shaking as she realized what she had almost just done; she felt like a whore.

“This is private property!” A large white rent-a-cop yelled. “Get out of the pool!”

Melanie looked at John nervously as he mumbled obscenities under his breath. “Come on, just listen to him.”

The cop instructed them to grab their clothes before leading them to the front of the school. He made them sit on the curb, their soaking bodies creating pools of dripping around them on the light cement. Only a few short moments later Melanie watched a metro police cop car roll into view as she looked at John scared.

“We’re getting arrested? Are you for real?” Melanie yelled in a whisper.

John looked extremely upset and he buried his face in his hands, “Melly, I am so sorry, hun.”

She looked at him angrily, staring into his eyes, “Do not call me that.”

Melanie stood up nervously as the officer instructed her and let him cuff her hands behind her back and load her into the rear of his car. John shortly followed after her and they sat silently as they made their way to the police station—which was not far from her father’s hospital.

They put them in a cell that was only for overnight stays seeing as their crime was juvenile. Melanie sat close to John on the cement bench as she surveyed the group around them. There was a woman who was obviously a prostitute Melanie assumed as she watched her making eyes at John. There was a sickly thin man who was shaking in the corner mumbling under his breath for ‘just one more hit’, and then a large man in the corner who had obviously had one too many beers and gotten into a bar fight.

Melanie watched as an officer approached the cell, looking at her. “Melanie Hendricks?” He questioned.

She stood and walked towards him, “That’s me.”

“You have one phone call,” He said showing her the way down the hall to the nearest phone.

She looked at the John as she dialed the number, and she could see the sadness in his eyes. She looked away from him as she heard a voice on the other side of the line. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Melanie…I uh, I was wondering if you could come get me,” she said nervously.

“What? Are you okay? What’s going on? Where are you?” He asked all at once.

Melanie hung her head low as she regretfully answered his question, “Tempe County Jail.”
♠ ♠ ♠
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Ah, Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I thought you guys deserved a long, fulfilling update with some yummy John O'Callaghan for Christmas. I'm asking Santa for him tonight when I leave out my milk and cookies for my dad to eat, haha.

So, today I had a very interesting day and I would like to share. I woke up at nearly two in the afternoon and headed to the mall where I saw I'm pretty sure everyone I've ever met in my life! (Except John, why is it that he's never there (;) Anywho, this "everyone" that I saw included the boyfriend I just broke up with who was extremely not happy to see me. In fact, he glared at me from the food court and that was just about it. Can you say awkward?! Then I went home and watched Easy A with my bestfriend and mother while painting my nails gold. I couldn't help but to sing 3oh!3 in my head the entire time. So yes! Successful day.

Let me know how you're feeling about this! Oh! and I have started a new John story (I know, I'm insane) but you should check that out! as well as disappearing act.'s new story: Walking On A Wire.

Much love and Merry Christmas <3