Sunshine

It turned out that Melanie was much harder to pin down than Mike had originally thought. It took her a day and a half just to answer his text message, let alone actually agree to a date. After that, he spent two days wondering if he should just take a hint, that clearly she didn’t want to go on a date with him when she surprised him with a text suggesting a day, time, and restaurant. Mike was free and agreed.

About a week later, on a breezy Saturday afternoon, Mike parked his car outside of a small, quaint house a few blocks from the beach. The house was a duplex, and Melanie had specified she lived on the first floor. He moved his sunglasses from his eyes to the top of his head, grabbed the bouquet of flowers from the passenger’s seat, and approached the porch. He rapped on the front door, and waited for a response.

Loud, deep barks resonated from inside the home combated by the shrill voice of a woman. “Belle, will you shut it?”

His knocking was answered by the same woman who, presumably, had been chastising the dog. As she opened the door, she was nearly knocked down by a monstrous and ridiculously fluffy black dog who seemed to want nothing more than to tackle Mike to the ground.

“Belle, get back,” the young woman did her best to push the dog back, but the animal weighed almost as much as the girl and wasn’t budging. “Hi, can I help you?” She smiled meekly, still struggling.

“I’m here to see Melanie,” Mike said, wondering why it wasn’t her that had answered the door.

The young woman frowned. “Um, I think she’s sleeping, but I’ll get her. You can come in.” Once she woman managed to wrangle the slobbery beast, Mike entered the apartment, and stood awkwardly in the living room. Why the hell was she sleeping?

The monstrous dog had ceased its barking upon Mike entering the house, but was now staring at him, clearly curious. “Hey, come here, Belle,” he called the dog over, using the name he’d heard her called.

Immediately, she happily bounded over ready to receive any attention he was willing to give. Melanie appeared in the living room as Mike was crouched down scratching the dog’s belly.

“Mike?” She said, surprised and he looked up from Belle. “What are you doing here?”

“We…had a date?” He answered.

“No, we have a date tomorrow,” she laughed. “You got the day wrong.”

Mike was absolutely sure he had the day right. He rose up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “You definitely said the 24th.”

“No, I definitely said the 25th.” She clicked on her own phone, ready to produce the text that would prove she was right.

But Mike got there first. “No, here. Look.” He turned the phone around, so that she could see it.

“Shit,” She said, as her cheeks reddened slightly. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I confused my own plans.”

Mike smiled and laughed. Why wasn’t he offended or at the very least annoyed? “I would reschedule for tomorrow night, but I have a game-“

“No. No, it’s okay. You already came all the way over here. Just let me get changed into something that doesn’t make me look like a homeless person.”

She looked far from homeless in a bright green tank top and cotton heather grey shorts. Her mismatched knee high socks-one orange and blue striped, the other a solid neon pink- were more endearing than they were ridiculous. Her red hair was tied up on top of her head, small pieces having fallen out.

“Oh, you’re not homeless? You actually live here?”

The girl rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I’ll only be a few minutes. You can sit if you want.” She pointed to a blue, worn in couch. “And Belle, would you leave the poor guy alone?” She scolded the dog, who had started whining at Mike until he’d resumed petting her. Her expression softened as the dog let out a quiet grumble in response to Mike scratching a sweet spot.

Before she turned to leave, Mike handed her the flower, scratching the back of his neck. “Here, these are for you.” He wasn’t sure if the gesture was too much, but she smiled and thanked him, placing the flowers in a vase before getting ready.

Melanie took more than a few minutes, but Mike wasn’t complaining. He seized the opportunity to nose around a little. One wall in the living room was almost covered in photographs. About half of them appeared to be Melanie and the girl who’d answered the front door. There were pictures of the two at the beach, in graduation gowns, wearing prom dresses, at parties, and in almost all of them the girls were making ridiculous poses and faces.

“So I realized that I made the restaurant reservations for tomorrow night.” Melanie had reappeared in the living room, dressed in a simple red sundress and strappy sandals. Her hair was half up and half down. Mike probably would have made some smart comment about her getting the day wrong and then insisting to make the reservation, but he was distracted by how someone could look so simple and so hot at the same time. “So I don’t think we’re going to be able get in tonight considering it’s Saturday.”

She frowned a little, but Mike grinned and shrugged it off. "Well since this your fault and your neighborhood, I think it's now your responsibility to entertain me. What are we gonna do?"

Melanie led them to a small little restaurant on the corner of her block, where she insisted that Mike get a salad, calling them a "gift straight from God's buffet table." A salad wouldn’t normally have been Mike’s first pick and he was very tempted to opt for one of the burgers, but he obliged, simply telling the cashier he'd take whatever Melanie had gotten. The woman ordered it to go, pulling a wallet out of her purse, but Mike beat her to it, quickly handing the cashier his credit card.

After receiving their food, Melanie only said one word. "Beach?" Mike nodded, and the two headed for the shore.



“So why here?” Mike asked, once the two had settled comfortably into the sand and began eating.

“Just ‘cause it’s close to my house,” Melanie answered in between bites.

“No,” Mike laughed. “I mean, why are you here, in L.A?”

“Is it that obvious I’m displaced?” She grimaced. “I’m here for med school.”

“Med school? Damn. That’s impressive.”

“You didn’t think I was smart, did you?”

“I just pegged you as doing something more feisty. You seem like you’d get bored making people say ‘Ahhh’ all day.”

“Hey, not everyone who goes to medical school becomes a family doctor. Why do you think I was at the office both times you were there?” The thought hadn’t even occurred to Mike.

“I don’t know. I just thought you were stalking me or something.”

She rolled her eyes. “So do you ask all your stalkers out to dinner?”

“Only if they’re pretty and rude.”

“Well you’re lucky because, unlike most women, I take that as a compliment all around.” Her eyes sparkled, and she stabbed a tomato in Mike's salad with her fork. She'd already eaten all of hers. "Can I have this?"

"Sure," Mike answered, and the pair sat in a comfortable silence for the remainder of their meals.