Six Feet Under the Stars

Caitlyn’s opening line couldn’t have been any worse: “Alex and I are getting back together.”

The mother-to-be reached a sympathetic hand out and touched my arm. The look of pity in her eyes for me was something I couldn’t stand and after a few false starts, I finally forced words out, “Really?” My voice sounded choked.

Part of my mind was skeptical to her claims, especially after Alex and I’d little adventure down to the lobby. I was beginning to regret being so mean to the singer earlier. He had been stepping up to talk about our relationship and I wimped out, resorting back to a child.

“Yeah,” Caitlyn continued, staring out at the raining skyline, “I mean, it’s nothing official but we had a good talk about things on the taxi ride over to the hotel. Things between us are a little patchy, but they’re beginning to mend.”

Quite frankly, I was getting pissed. “And he’s okay with raising someone else’s kid?”

A pained expression flashed on Caitlyn’s face and I immediately wanted to take back my foolish words. Before I could apologize, she kept talking, “Raising a baby isn’t something I’m going to force him to do. I can take care of this child on my own. My child has nothing to do with Alex and me.”

“But it’s part of you. If he accepts you, he’s taking on the baby as well.” I disagreed, tightening my grip on the arms of the patio chair.

“Maybe Alex wants this child.” Her eyes flashed, “You think you know him just because you spent one heated night together. Well listen to me; I was his girlfriend for months and knew him for years before you ever even met him. If anyone knows Alex, it’s me.”

“If you know him so well, wouldn’t you realize that cheating on him would break his heart? I was the one there for him when he was dealing with all that shit,” I spoke fiercely.

Caitlyn found it difficult to agree with my logic and sputtered out acid words, “Alex doesn’t really care about you. I feel sorry that he strung you along like that. Really, I do. But like I said, you were his piece of ass for the first part of the tour. Now he’s going back to a real woman.”

I tried not to show how deep those words gnawed at me. “That’s not true.”

“He gets a new ‘prize’ for every different tour. Don’t think you’re any different.” She sat up straighter in her chair and folded her arms across Zack’s sweatshirt she wore.

For some reason, I felt that I had to prove that the relationship Alex and I had wasn’t fake. However, I wasn’t sure if I was trying to prove it to Caitlyn or myself. “No. Alex and I… we shared things. Things you don’t just tell a fuck-buddy. That’s not even how it was.”

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow, “Did he take you on a few dates? Dazzle you with his humor? I bet that he even turned down sleeping with you once just to make you trust him even more. Mel, I’ve seen this a lot already. It’s a cycle.”

I stood up in an instant, causing the chair to topple over behind me. “You have no idea what you’re even saying! I don’t want to hear you anymore.” As I stood in the doorway, the volume of my voice rivaled the forte of the thunder, “And don’t call me Mel!”

The glass door slid shut with a triumphant slam. The group of boys looked up from their poker game with eyes as wide as deer in headlights, taking in my rigid posture and flushed cheeks. Alex was passed out on my makeshift bed with a bandana wrapped around his askew hair. Just looking at him renewed my anger.

Jack spoke up, hesitantly. “Melanie?”

Without an answer, I snatched a key-card from the end table and trudged towards the door. The whispers behind me overwhelmed my senses and all I knew was one thing; I had to get out. Before the door slammed shut, I heard Rian yell out, “Cat fight!”

I wasn’t sure where I was headed. My feet guided my path as if following directions of their own accord. The anger inside me was swelling to a dangerous level and I was afraid I’d do something regrettable to someone if I remained a prisoner in the hotel.

About halfway down the hall, my senses finally kicked in and I realized I was in pitch black. Somehow the lights still being off just pissed me off further as I stumbled blindly in the direction of the stairwell. After yanking the door open, I nearly collapsed on the landing and chastised myself for forgetting the flashlight back in the room.

It was a silly situation, I thought, actually shedding tears for someone who never cared about you. Nonetheless, I couldn’t stop the waterworks from flowing. After what Caitlyn had said I just wanted to block it out and pretend it didn’t make perfect sense. But that wasn’t rational.

The door leading to the floor creaked open, and I covered my mouth self-consciously to cut down on the sniffling. Hopefully the person would just pass me in the darkness and I could return to my pity-fest-table-for-one party.

Unfortunately, I knew the stranger. “Jack, can you just leave me alone? You’re probably losing out on a really good poker game right now.”

The guitarist took a seat on the top stair next to me, “It doesn’t matter.” The pair of us faced forward in the black surroundings, keeping a no-contact space in between.

“I’m just… overreacting. Give me a few minutes to clean myself up and I’ll be back in the room as good as knew.” I tested out a smile, but knew it was off.

Jack didn’t even acknowledge my words and got straight to the point, “What happened?”

Playing with the frays in the holes of my jeans, I sighed deeply, “Caitlyn happened.”

“And what did she say?”

I shrugged, “It’s not important.”

“If it’s bothering you than it is important. Caitlyn can be really vindictive a lot of times. Her bark is worse than her bite though. You have to filter through what she tells you to get to the truth,” said Jack, resting a gentle hand on mine to stop my fidgeting. After a moment, he laced his fingers with mine.

“I’m pretty sure she was telling the truth,” I said scooting closer to Jack. The warmth of his body immediately made me feel a little better. Just knowing someone was there for you means more than you can put into words.

“Involving Alex,” guessed Jack, rubbing his thumb over my hand.

I nodded then realized he couldn’t see the gesture. “Yeah. She just got me so angry. It’s like she knew exactly what to say to get me pissed off.”

He chuckled, “It’s a gift of hers.”

“Well, I hate it.”

“Me too. Once she criticized my guitar playing for an hour and a half straight on the way back from a show. It took all I had not to tell her off. Seriously, she was trying to compare me to Hendrix and anyone would lose in that battle,” Jack gave my hand a squeeze.

“Maybe someone needs to say something to her,” I suggested dryly.

“They will one day,” said Jack as he wiped the streaks of tears from below my eyes with his other hand that wasn’t occupied with holding mine.

“One day soon.”

He chuckled and promised, “One day soon.”

And then it was only a moment or two before Jack kissed me for the first time. His soft lips searched for mine in the midnight of the stairwell with questionable accuracy; he planted his mouth on my cheek. Extremely shocked, I only acted on instinct and angled his face sidewards so his lips would align with mine.

Fumbling through the dark, Jack rested a tentative hand on my thigh and leaned in farther. My back pressed against the wall and his chest was flush with mine, teasingly brushing mine in maddening increments. I gasped loudly and Jack pulled away quickly but kept the distance between us the same. “Sorry,” he apologized in a whisper.

I answered back just as quietly, “Don’t be. You just caught me off-guard.”

The heat from his blush radiated in the intimate space between us, “Should we… Should we try that again?”

There was only a split second of hesitation on my part. “Okay.”

Jack pushed some of my hair behind my ear and then trailed his finger under my jawline to draw me in closer to him. Our breath mingles in the millimeters of separation between our lips. Hesitantly, I gauged the distance and then moved to fill it. When our mouths touched, Jack lingeringly kissed me causing goose bumps to rise on his skin.

I didn’t find it fair that he had my heart pounding, so I decided to play unfair. Breaking away, I moved to his bottom lip and nibbled on it playfully. A low groan emanated from the back of his throat which only managed to get me more excited; my own plan had backfired on me.

Jack’s hands trailed up my sides but were hesitant to go any further. Taking control, I laced my fingers with his and then managed to slide them up my chest for him. His breath caught, “Melanie--.” My lips silenced him.

His words were drowned out and his breath ratcheted up a few degrees. Soon his shirt was discarded to the floor courtesy of my handiwork. Jack’s chest was smooth and warm pressed up against me. His lips planted kisses in strategic locations.

Teasingly, his teeth skimmed against my skin. I heard a low chuckle in the dark and then knew why; I was being given back my own medicine, with tiny bites left on my neck. I dug my nails into skin and groaned loudly in the dark, “Oh, Alex. Come on.”

Immediately, Jack removed his lips from my sore neck and met my gaze with unreadable eyes, “You just called me Alex.”