Second Heartbeat

I watched him as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. I watched as the smile appeared on his face at the caller sparking a curiosity in me on who Brian could be talking to.

“Hey you’re coming tonight right? Ok well when you get here just walk inside, we are in the den waiting for you. See you in a bit.” He hung up his phone and looked up as he placed it aside.

“New girl I see?”

“Who Melanie? Nah.” He shook his head but I could see the smirk still on the corner of his mouth even as much as he tried to hide it.

“Who is she?”

“She’s my best friend; we went to high school together.”

“So you like her?” I said again, watching him go red.

“What no?!”

“Right. Ever since I got here that’s all you and Sofia have been talking about.”

“So you’re going to say my sister likes her too?”

“Alright you have a point.”

“No she’s cool; I think you will like her.”

“She’s coming to the tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t wait.” I watched as Brian squinted his eyes as he stared at me intently.

“Don’t even think about it Matt.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

“I meant nothing behind it.” I said putting my hands up in defense but I knew he didn’t believe me. I wasn’t so sure if I even believed myself. Yes maybe I was interested in meeting this mystery girl but I doubt anything else would come from it.

“Let me remind you that you have a girlfriend and I don’t want to see you messing around with Melanie. She means a lot to me and I don’t want to be put in the middle of you two.”

“Brian you have nothing to worry about. Like you said I’m with Brianna and I’m not interested.” I see him start to relax as he takes in my words and nods. I wish he would put a little more trust in me but seeing as he knows my past with girls I don’t blame him. But I was in a committed relationship with Brianna and that might have been my past but that is not me anymore.

“Hey Brian look who I found.” I heard Sofia say as she made her way into the doorframe, pulling on someone’s hand. I see a head peek through the side of the wall before a girl came into view and stood beside Sofia.

“Hi.” She said as she waved at us shyly.

“It’s about time you showed up Melanie.” Brian said as he brought her in for a hug.

“Hey I got here as soon as I could.” She said as she ruffled up his hair a bit and turned to look at me for the first time.

“Melanie this is Matt.” She smiled at me but all I could do was stand there and stare at her. She had on a black mini dress and long brown almost black hair reaching past her full breasts. She was small, a couple inches shorter than me but really curvy. She had various tattoos decorating her arms and thighs that stood out in her pale skin and a pair of deep green doe eyes that lingered on me. As I stared at her I wanted nothing more than to talk to her, be around her and know more about her. She was beautiful and she made me curious for more. Shit. I don’t think I can keep my promise to Brian.

As my mind goes back to that first night I saw her I can’t stop but think of the time she left me. I thought things were going so well but as much as I wanted to believe that I knew there was something wrong. She wanted more and I wasn’t able to give that to. I was stupid to watch her go and not fight for her to stay and let me fix things. I was stupid to not realize early enough what I actually had in front of me.

Even though I had Brianna, Melanie was who I wanted. After that first night I couldn’t stop thinking about her and I managed to get her number from Brian. I remember him warning me again but I said again I wouldn’t do anything knowing well that it was a lie. I was attracted to her and he knew that, I couldn’t hide it and honestly I didn’t want to. I remember talking to her nonstop for that whole year even as I went off to Europe. She was the one that was there for me when things got rough in my life and with Brianna. She was the only one who cared and was there for me more than my girlfriend ever was and yet I couldn’t leave her. Melanie knew well about Brianna and I saw her try to hide her feeling but we were in too deep and as I kept falling for her I saw her doing the same and now she was gone. I wish I could just go back to that night three years ago and stop that elevator. I wish things were different, I wish she was the one to be my girlfriend and for us to finally be together. Was I too late to try to fix things? Why do I even bother, I don’t even know where she is anymore.

I got up from my bed frustrated and grabbed my phone from the bedside table before walking out to my living room. I pulled up my contacts and clicked on the name as soon as I saw it and waited as it started to ring. I needed a distraction from all of this ASAP.

“Brian!”

“What’s up Matt?”

“Hey want to do something? I need to get out of this house.”

“I was kind of the middle of something but hey why don’t you come over. I’m setting up for a party.”

“A party? Alright I’ll be over in a bit.”

“I’ll be here.”



“Brian!” I yelled as soon as I stepped foot in his house. I looked around the living room and spotted the three small, round tables pushed to the side of the room and some balloons that were scattered around the floor.

“In here!” I heard Brian shout from the room at the end of the hall and I made my way there as he came out with handfuls of decorations.

“Going all out I see.” I said as he passed by me and walked back into the living room. I see one of the things fall from his hands and I pick it up as I follow him. I turn the package around and see the ‘Welcome Home’ picture on the corner of the package. I hand it to him as he drops everything on one of the tables and starts to rip the package open.

“Can you help me hang this up?” He spreads the banner and hands me one of the corners.

“So who’s this party for?”

“Oh Melanie, I thought I mentioned it before.”

“Melanie.” I repeated as he taped up the sign

“Yeah you remember her don’t you?”

“Oh yeah. What happened to her, I haven’t seen her around?”

“That’s because she’s been living in Oregon these past couple of years.”

“Oregon? Wow.”

“I know right.”

“So she’s moving back?”

“Looks like it.”

“When is this party?”

“Tonight or more like-“He stops to look at the time. “-shit more like in an hour.” I feel as the world stands still as I take in Brian’s words. Mel is actually coming back and will be here in an hour. An hour! Was this finally the chance I was hoping for earlier today? Was this fate telling me to get things right this time around? I know one thing for sure I’m not letting three years pass by again before I decide that she’s who I want. I’m not letting her get away this time. Tonight I’m going to try to make my way back to Mel and I won’t give up until we are happy together. I felt the anticipation brew up inside me as I thought about seeing her again, of having her in my arms and feeling her skin on mine.

As we continued to put the finishing touches around the house I noticed people start to arrive and I knew the time was inching closer and closer.

“Hey Matt.” I heard a voice in the crowd as I got myself a beer and I turned around to see Brian’s younger sister.

“Hi Sofia.”

“I’m not surprised to see you here tonight.”

“What do you mean?” She smirked at me and gave me a look, giving off that she knew more then I believed.

“I know you always had a thing for Mel.”

“Huh?” I said as I tried to play it off.

“You don’t have to pretend. I saw how you looked at her way back when and Brian told me you asked for her number.”

“That was such a long time ago and I haven’t talked to her.”

“I know. Just expected you wanted to see her at the first chance you got. I don’t blame you to be honest.” I gripped onto the cold bottle in my hands feeling like an open book around her. “Don’t worry my brother doesn’t know anything. It was just a hunch I was feeling and that look just gave it away.”

“I can’t hide anything from you can I?”

“Nope.” She looked down at her phone as I tried to find the right words to cover my tracks but I knew she would know I was lying to her. “Looks like she’s here.”

“Melanie’s here?” Brian said, stopping as soon as he heard his sister.

“Yeah she just texted me that she’s in the corner of the block already.”

“That was fast.” He said before climbing the stairs behind me to tell the guests to get ready. They turned off the lights for the surprise and as I stood in the back, staring at the front door I felt myself get nervous. I started thinking of what to say when I saw her how I would get her to talk to me. I started picturing her face, seeing her smiling at me just like she used to and I felt it getting harder and harder as I waited for her.

I heard the front door open and saw the light switch turn on as everyone jumped up. “Surprise!” I moved my head around the crowd and managed to get a glimpse of her but it wasn’t enough. I made my way through the guest and stopped when I found Brian. I looked in the direction where I last saw Mel and froze when I saw a guy standing next to her, holding her hand.

“Who’s that?” I said as I leaned in next to Brian so he can hear me. He pointed to the guy standing next to her and looked at me to make sure we were talking about the same person.

“Oh that’s Eric, Mel’s fiancé.” Did he just say fiancé? Before I could get the chance to ask Brian again I hear a yell causing me to stop.

“Uncle Brian!” I heard as a little girl ran straight into his arms. I watched him as he picked her up and greeted her with a hug.

“Hi Kaylee! Wow you’re so big now. How old are you?”

“Two and a half.” She said as she showed him two fingers.

“There you are.” I heard the familiar voice say and I knew it was Mel standing only a few feet away from me. “Matt.” She said in shock as soon as she noticed me standing there. I looked at her for a few seconds before turning back to the little girl in Brian’s arms. She looked exactly like her except for her hair being light brown and wavy and those hazel eyes they looked so familiar. I knew those eyes, they were mine.