The Roots That Tied to My Feet

There were some days where you just didn’t want to get out of bed. Melanie just had this feeling that if she kept her eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep her day would go by a lot better, but she ignored it. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light that was pounding through the open blinds. She looked down at her waist which was covered only in her black boy shorts because the shirt she was wearing had ridden up to her bust. She rolled over in the bed so that her back was facing the window, letting the heat from the sun soak her skin.

Melanie was surprised when she found the spot next to her vacant. The sheets were ruffled and the bed was still sunken in, his scent staining the sheets, but the owner was gone. Melanie let her arm fall complacently into the spot where he had once been and she sighed. Her and John just couldn’t be normal could they?

Nothing about their friendship had ever been normal, not once. Ever since she could remember she and John had acted like a couple rather than best friends. He had always held her hand and rubbed circles on her palms with his fingers softly. They cuddled while they were in bed and kissed one another’s cheeks; she and John were always more than friends—they had always been in love and in hindsight Melanie understood that.

Melanie heard the sound of glass breaking and she slowly peeled herself out of bed. She saw her dress lying on the floor next to John’s pants and she got goose bumps thinking of what had almost happened and how bad she had wanted him. The worst part was that she knew the alcohol had nothing do to with those feelings considering she felt them now as she stared at the muscles in his bare back as he picked up pieces to a broken glass.

Melanie bent down quickly and got on her knees, picking up little shards of glass. She gathered them in her fingers, staring at the floor, even when she saw John stop out of the corner of her eye and observe her. He continued helping silently a few seconds later, picking up the glass.

Melanie stood up and lifted her foot to step but John stood up quickly and grabbed her wrist, “Here, just give it to me,” he said quietly, motioning for her to step backwards, “I don’t want you to get a little shard in your foot, okay?”

She smiled softly as she handed him the pieces of the cup she had picked up before walking into his living room. She rubbed her temples softly as she took a seat on the couch not caring that she was only wearing her underwear. John walked out of the kitchen a few moments later with some Tylenol and a bottle of water and handed it to her silently.

“Do you need anything else?” John asked nervously running a hand through his hair.

You. Melanie bit her lip softly and shook her head no. She let her eyes fall over his bare chest that was covered in tattoos and she looked at his happy trail before forcing herself to look away. She didn’t want a repeat of last night; no, that was just plain embarrassing for her.

But God did she want to kiss him. The large amount of shame and embarrassment couldn’t overpower the hormones in her body to stop wanting to throw him against his couch and slip off his basketball shorts. She shook her head softly, forcing her eyes away from the boy who was taking a seat next to her.

Melanie opened the bottle and took a pill, keeping her eyes cast on the table in front of them. Their silence was in no way comfortable as it always had been in the past. There was so much to say but neither of them wanted to address what happened the night before. One of them needed to but it sure as Hell wasn’t going to be her.

“Mel, do you remember anything about last night?” John asked softly, nerves obvious in his shaky voice.

Melanie weighed her options; she could tell him that she had no clue what happened. She could lie and this would all be in the past. She would learn to forget about him and focus only on the boy who she was getting married to—and stop taking him for granted. She could leave it at it was a drunken mistake and that it meant nothing and they could go back to how things were pre kiss.

Or, she could tell him the words that were weighing heavy on her lips. She could tell him that she had never wanted anyone as bad as she had wanted him just a few short hours ago. She could tell that she wanted to be with him and kiss him whenever she wanted to. She could tell him that she was ready to see where their life together would take them—because she was.

“Melanie, talk to me, please,” John pleaded softly. Tears were in his eyes and she could see that he was hurting as badly as she.

She bit her lip softly, staring at the chipping nail polish on her fingertips. “John, John…I—I.”

Melanie was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She looked down at her sister’s name flashing across the screen before pressing the red ignore button. She placed the silenced phone down on the coffee table before turning her eyes to John whose green orbs were staring at her so intensely that she felt her breath catching.

“Baby,” he whispered softly, taking his cheeks into her hands. “What do you want, baby? Just tell me—please. Anything you want, anything…Just talk to me.”

Melanie closed her eyes, trying to picture Ben in her mind. She loved him, she did, and in all instances he was better for her—but she couldn’t just give John up. No, he was the boy who had always made her who she was.

John’s hands slid away from her cheeks as his own ringtone began piercing the quiet of his apartment. Melanie watched as his eyes looked down with confusion at the name who was calling his phone. He glanced at her once more before pressing talk and pressing the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

Melanie tried to listen to the voice to identify it but all she could figure out was that it was a female. Probably Lucy, calling to bring him back in. She could only imagine the thoughts that would be going through John’s mind—and frankly, they scared her.

“Oh God, we’ll be right there,” John said worriedly before shutting his phone and standing up. He looked over at Melanie and grabbed her hand leading her to his bedroom.

“John? John what’s going on?” Melanie asked, her voice raising a few octaves in confusion. “Who was that?”

“Haley,” he responded softly. “Mel, just know that whatever happens I’m here for you, okay?”

“John, what the hell is going on?” She whispered harshly.

John’s body looked defeated and he gathered her in his arms. She wasn’t sure who he was even trying to comfort at the moment. “Your mom is in the hospital.”

*

Melanie ran through the halls, the scents of cleaning products hitting her nostrils. The white halls seemed brighter under the florescent lights and her feet hit the pure white tile with soft thuds. She could hear John trailing behind her chanting her name softly. She kept running though. She finally saw her father pacing at the end of the hallway and she broke into a sprint as she saw his creased brow.

She jumped into his arms as the tears started falling from her eyes. She looked up at him and saw a bruise around his eye and a cut on his lip. “Daddy, what happened?”

“A drunk driver hit us,” he said softly. Melanie could see that he was trying to be strong for her and Haley but she knew he was terrified. “I was okay, but your mom—she’s already weak and we don’t know if her body is strong enough to fight back right now.”

Melanie let tears fall harder from her eyes and her body started shaking. She felt so guilty. She had been gone for three years and seen her mom for maybe two months now and she was leaving her already. Her mother may be gone within a matter of days. Her mother may not ever see her married.

A doctor who her father was friends with came into the hall and beckoned her father away from Melanie and with a last squeeze on the shoulder walked away. Melanie turned around her knees going weak. John grabbed her elbow and used his fingertips to run falling tears from her eyes. “Look at me,” he whispered.

She shook her head and closed her eyes tightly trying to stop the amount of water that was falling from them. “Melanie,” John said again, sadly. He pulled her into his arms tightly holding her as her cries took over her thin frame. She was sobbing and she could hardly breathe. “Melanie, baby it’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not John! Her body can’t fight back! She’s dying! She’s not strong enough!” Melanie cried, feeling anger in her bones. This was not ‘okay.’ She softly hit her hands against his chest in anger just trying to get any amount of emotion out.

“Melanie, you have to be strong for her, baby,” John whispered gently, taking each blow to his chest gracefully—she honestly wasn’t even hurting him in the least. “Come on, let’s go find Haley, okay?”

John laced their fingers together and led them down a long hallway to where a waiting room was at the end of it. Melanie saw her sister curled into her boyfriend’s side, tears staining her cheeks. Haley stood up as soon as their eyes connected and ran over to Melanie instantly, wrapping her arms around her thin frame. Melanie felt her sister’s body start shaking with sobs and she tried to best to comfort her, but soon enough tears were falling from her own eyes.

Garrett stood from his seat and ran his sweating palms down his thighs, “Uh, we’re going to go get some coffee, okay?”

John and Garrett left the room and the two girls took a seat in the blue plush chairs of the hospital. Reruns of The Days of Our Lives were coming from the television set and people around the room all had the same distraught looks on their faces. “How long have you been here?” Melanie asked quietly.

“About a half hour,” Haley responded. “Dad called me as soon as he was able to. It happened last night but he didn’t want us to worry so he told the doctors to wait…”

Melanie shook her head in frustration. Her dad was too good of a man; he would wait to tell them about their car accident just so that his daughters could have a fun night. He cared too much about everyone sometimes. “Did he call you this morning?”

“Yeah,” Haley nodded. “You scared me you know, when you didn’t answer. But, then I figured you were still with John and I knew you’d be okay.”

“Was Garrett with you?” Melanie wondered aloud, although she already knew the answers from the marks that were apparent on her sister’s neck line.

Haley nodded her head and looked at her sister in confusion as Melanie took off the scarf that John had placed around her neck for heat. Melanie put it on her sister and covered the bruised skin.

“You’ve got plenty of hickeys, so I’m not going to even ask about what happened last night,” Melanie mumbled with a soft, melancholy chuckle.

Haley’s cheeks blushed and she turned her blue eyes to the boys who were entering the room. Melanie watched as Garrett stared into her sister’s eyes lovingly and worriedly as he handed her the coffee cup and coaxed her to sit back down. He wrapped and arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead softly.

Melanie wanted to smile for her sister knowing that she had found a boy who loved her more than anything, but under the circumstances smiling just felt wrong. John grabbed Melanie’s wrist softly and turned her to face him. He pulled the hoodie she was wearing higher up on her neck, covering the sides of it. “I just passed your dad on the way here and he said she’s going to be okay. She’s going through some surgery right now, but you won’t be able to see her until tomorrow most likely.”

Melanie nodded her head slowly trying to keep her tears back. “John, don’t leave me right now okay?”

John gathered her sobbing body into his arms and held her tightly against him, his hands running soothingly down her back. He pulled away after a few short moments and looked into her eyes, “I’m just going to make a quick phone call, okay?”

Melanie watched as he walked away from her slowly. She hoped that she was calling his parents because God only knew how badly she needed his mother right now. She was as much his as hers. But, she had no idea that the one call he was making was about to change everything.