Unlocked Hearts

Melrose shivered as she walked in the rainy city of London. She didn’t expect it to be this cold despite her mother’s warnings of the country that she now currently resided in, Melrose didn’t take it to consideration that her mother has been to London plenty of times to know what the weather was like unlike her home country where it was hot and stuffy most of the year. Not a single drop of sweat has been split since she arrived here two months ago. Only the cold bitter wind hitting her rosy cheeks as it nipped at her tan skin. Since London was her home, her tan was slowly going to fade and be replaced by the pale skin she was born with.

The more she looked around the foreign country, the more she missed her home town. Melrose stood near the sidewalk as she saw cars whizz by with no conscience of the rain that made the road slippery. Taking a few steps back, her brown eyes looked both ways before running across the street with a small squeal tumbling out of her lips when she saw a flash of light coming from her right.

Shaking her head at the crazy driver, the apparent smile that crept back on her face felt frozen, and her pink lips felt chapped as she showed her pearly white teeth to the ongoing pedestrians bolting right past her. Some of them gave her weird looks as she waved and greeted them with a chirpy, “Good morning!”

They probably wanted to smash her face in for being so happy at six in the morning, but she was always a morning person and smelling the fresh crisp air that came with the rain was intoxicating to her. Melrose never really witnessed rain unless it was the appropriate season and even then, the rain here smelled different than the rain back in Africa. Was it weird to say that?

Maybe, but Melrose was never a typical girl.

Humming ‘Wild One’ by Flo Rida, she skipped along the pavement as her rain boots splashed a trail behind her. Twirling and giggling, her brown eyes beamed as she danced along the cracks that were in the pavement just for fun. Why couldn’t the morning be fun? Every single minute she inhaled oxygen felt like a blessing and she cherished every single moment.

Spinning her umbrella in amusement she finally reached her destination as she walked into the entry way after tying up her umbrella and setting it in the small basket where the rest of the umbrellas were stationed at. Her boss was more than anal when it came to being neat and clean, having a wet umbrella tracking through the facility was not something she liked.

Melrose smiled as she saw one of her coworkers sitting by the computer at the front desk, “Good morning Alicia. How are you?” the blond behind the front desk peered up behind her glasses as a light tired smile was sent her way, “Tired, as always. You’re seven am appointment had to reschedule for a later time, I hope two thirty is alright with you?”

“Of course! Thank you for telling me.” Melrose brushed her red hair back as she entered the changing room where the rest of the girls were at. Working at a spa did have its perks seeing that she gets free treatments if she wanted to which she was looking forward to after her last appointment, a mud bath sounded nice…

As she greeted the rest of the girls with her happy wave, she quickly changed into the light pink tunic with the cursive print of the spa’s name placed on the left hand side. Marie’s Wonderland. Replacing her purple leggings for black pants, she folded up her clothes as the rest of the girls muttered how tired they were as they were going for their first client of the day.

Melrose felt someone sitting right next to her as she placed her clothes on the bottom of the locker before hanging up her purse on the hook at the top. Her dark brown eyes uneasily wandered to the side to see a brunette woman sitting right next to her. Turning her head, she peered down at the woman with a curious look, “Is there something you wanted, Kelsey?”

The brunette woman with bright blue eyes shook her head as she leaned her hip on one of the lockers, “There is something that I have noticed about you that I can’t quite figure out.” Kelsey stared at Melrose to see the curiosity has not wavered from her eyes as she continued, “From the time that you have moved here, not once have you been on a date. All of these girls share stories about their boyfriends or boy toy that they had for the night, but not you. You have not once shared any details about your dating life…”

Melrose felt like Kelsey gave her time to explain as to why she hasn’t been so open about her dating life, “I just moved here, Kelsey. There is no one that I have any interest in and my first priority was settling into my new home which is wonderful by the way. The view is absolutely gorgeous and the clothes and food here are so much di-”

She paused realizing that she has been ranting about what she had discovered in London during the short amount of time she lived here. Blushing lightly, she sheepishly smiled, “Sorry. I rant when I’m excited…or nervous.”

Kelsey shook her curly head as she mimicked the same smile, “No worries. I was just wondering if you were withdrawn from men which is kind of hard to believe since you are quite the chatterbox when you want to be. Say, why don’t I set you up with someone to start you off? He’s a true English gentleman and someone I think you will probably hit it off with. He’s dashing, smart, incredibly funny, amusing, and he’s a chatterbox like you.”

Melrose felt awkward as she heard Kelsey list off the qualities of a man that she heard plenty of times, whenever she heard someone talk about someone they hold close to their hearts, they always over sell. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to give the guy a chance, it was just…most men made her nervous and she seems to act like a klutz when they were around and if he is as good looking and wonderful as Kelsey makes him to be, then she will be screwed big time.

“I don’t know…” Melrose trailed off nervously.

Kelsey furrowed her brows in confusion, “Why not?” then she narrowed her eyes slyly as a grin crept on her face, “Are you a lesbian? Is this is what it’s about? I can set you up with a woman if you prefer-”

“No, no, no! I’m not a lesbian.” She giggled waving her hands furiously in front of her in protest. Kelsey looked accomplished as she said, “Great! Then you will agree to the date?” The red head thought about the gain she can have from the experience, it wasn’t going to kill her to have one measly date with a man. It has been a while since she dated someone…

Nibbling on her lip, she caved, “Alright. It’s a date.”

Kelsey squealed as she hugged the shorter woman, “You won’t regret it. He’s a total sweetheart, trust me.”

Melrose smiled as she replied, “Great! I guess I’ll see you later.” Stepping away from Kelsey, she exit the changing room to the front to see if there was anything she can do before her first client showed up. During the day, Melrose’s mind went into overdrive as she thought of the ideal man that Kelsey is going to set her up with. She shouldn’t be so excited since Kelsey hasn’t even told her ‘date’ that he was getting fixed up with someone.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she started to daydream of the perfect gentleman. One that would open doors for her, pull out her seat and not trick her falling flat on her ass, who would look into her eyes and not her chest, that was responsive and listened to what she had to say. Melrose didn’t want to picture him mentally, but sadly her ideal man slowly started to consume her mind.

He would have curly blonde hair that she would run her fingers through, Melrose was always a sucker for curly haired men which probably was why her exes had that same physical trait if anyone lined them up in a single row. His tan skin would be flawless with his strikingly grey eyes that she would get lost in, the muscular built of an athlete always got her insides running. Maybe her ideal man should change. Melrose was so hung up on the having a footballer as a boyfriend, the probability of having another one was slim to none. She was lucky the first time around when she bumped into one and later started dating him.

He sure was dreamy.

Melrose subconsciously started nibbling on her lower lip as she twirled her braid between her fingers, a light tap broke her out of her trance as she looked up to see a man raising a brow at her. “Having another wet daydream again?” he teased.

A blush lightly tinted her cheeks, “No. I was just—never mind.” She muttered before she gave him a soft smile and ushered her next client to the massage room. Her thoughts of her probable date has never stopped after that rude interruption and hoped that he was a sweet man just like Kelsey said he was.