Stories Yet To Unfold

I blew my nose once again as everyone continued packing their stuff. Jeff looked at me concerned and handed me another box of tissues. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the doctor? You don’t look so good, Melissa.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” I insisted as Zack came out of the bathroom in his swim trunks. “Have fun at the beach, you guys. I’d rather just hang out in the room and just relax. I’m sure I’ll be fine after I rest up today.”

Jeff sighed and slung his bag of beach supplies over his shoulder. “Alright, if that’s what you think is best. We’ll bring you back ice cream or something.”

“Sounds good,” I replied with a smile. When was high-calorie foods ever a bad idea?

Just as everyone was walking out of the white door, Zack looked back at me. “Do you want me to stay with you? I’d rather be here anyway. They don’t even rent surf boards out, so there’s no point to that bullshit.”

“No, you don’t have to,” I told him urgently. “I don’t want any of you getting sick before your show tomorrow.”

“Eh, whatever, I don’t care,” Zack told me as he yelled out the door to the guys already halfway to the elevator. “I’m staying with Melissa, guys!”

“Take care of her, man! I only trust you and Rian with her! If I come back to anything, I’m killing you.” Jeff screamed back as Zack closed the door and walked back into the claustrophobic room.

The two of us were completely alone, which was a bit awkward. I’d never been alone with Zack - ever. He was nice, but I just never talked to him much one on one – partially because he’s quiet, partially because I’m the same way.

“What do you want to do?” he questioned as he flopped down on the queen sized bed just to the left of mine. His muscles flexed as he turned on his side and looked at me directly. I could feel a blush from the intensity coming up on to my cheeks as he spoke to me.

“Maybe putting on a shirt would be a good start,” I chuckled lightly as he looked down, embarrassed, and got up from the bed.

“You know, that’s probably a good decision, Mel,” he agreed, nodding his head at himself. He then walked off to the side of the room and put on a red t-shirt to completely clash with his green and yellow striped swim trunks.

He flopped back down on the bed and asked his question from earlier once again and I answered this time. “How about we watch a movie?”

Zack picked up the remote and started flipping through the movie options. His muscles flexed even when his fingers moved just a slight bit. His body was more toned than I thought once before – and it made me a bit self-conscience.

I then looked down to my stomach. I poked it once and watched it jiggle a bit as I continued to poke and poke. In that moment, I knew I needed to at least get some exercise in my life soon or I’d never have it. The older you get, the lazier you get, and I certainly didn’t need to get lazier.

“Is The Pursuit of Happyness go-,” Zack asked before pausing and chuckling a bit. “What exactly are you doing there, Melissa?”

“I’m just, you know, living,” I responded quickly I could and I pulled my shirt back down in a flash and coughed.

“Alright,” he replied as he lifted his eyebrow. “So, do you want to watch it or not, kid?”

“Wait, what?” I questioned, totally confused about what he was asking about from being too enthralled in my thoughts.

He chuckled lightly under his breath and repeated the question. “Would you like to watch this movie?”

I looked up at the screen and nodded my head at him – happy with any choice to get his mind off of what he just witnessed me doing. He pressed play and we laid in silence for the whole movie. Not because we didn’t have things to talk about. Well, partially that, but mostly because the movie was so good.

Once the film ended, I went into the bathroom and wiped my tears away while still crying out loudly. Zack soon came in to make sure I was okay. “Jeff is going to murder me when he comes in to see your eyes so wet and red.”

He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, right next to my spot on the toilet seat, and grabbed a huge handful of toilet paper. “Here you, go, sparky. You alright?”

I sniffed and laughed at myself. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just seem to get more emotional during movies than actual life events.”

“Wow, is your life that really uninteresting?” He asked sarcastically – a smirk planted firmly on his face when I looked down at him.

“It used to be before I met you guys,” I shrugged as I wiped a few more tears from my face. “I was confined to the center for a really long time. That place fucking sucked, and the people there were so uninteresting I could barf.”

“What were they like?” he questioned – sounding genuinely curious as my life at the orphanage.

I paused for a moment to think before speaking. “They just were very bland and orderly. It definitely wasn’t a place designed for children; it was designed for business people. All of the kids were extreme rebels or extremely reserved, which is very un-Melissa like.”

“I see,” he stated before continuing. “Do you like it with Jeff?”

“I love it here!” I said too enthusiastically. “Sure, it gets hectic around here, but I do love it. Jeff treats me better than anybody else I’ve ever known; and with him, I get five other guys who treat me well too. It’s nice. It sucks that I can’t see my friends, or even talk to them much for that matter – but it’s worth being away from my mom.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Zack asked just as the door opened to reveal very tan, familiar boys with two ice cream cones in their hands.

Matt handed us the cones as Jack and Jeff came into the bathroom. Jack took one look at me and began speaking. “Zack! What the hell did you do to MelBell?!”

Jack came close to my face and looked at my eyes carefully as I backed away and tried to eat my ice cream. His brown eyes bore into mine as Jeff interrupted. “Jack, not so close. What did you guys do?”

“We watched a movie and I cried. Then we came in here so I could clean up all the tear stains,” I explained to my father. “It was good though.”

“You’re an odd one,” Jeff chuckled as he kissed the top of my head and walked out of the crystal white bathroom and into the room.

“Hey, but you chose me!” I snickered as I stuck my head out of the bathroom.

Jeff smiled and looked up at me. “And I couldn’t be happier for it.”