My Heart's Melodie

“Hey,” I said to Nick once he opened the door.

He smiled. “Why, good evening Melodie. Come on in.”

"Thanks," I replied softly.

My heels clanged against the cold tiles as I followed him inside the house.

“Hey Mel! I haven’t seen you in so long!” I turned around just in time to see Kevin opening his arms and giving me a big bear hug.

I smiled. I missed his hugs. But I was reminded soon enough why I didn’t always enjoy them.

“Can’t…….breathe,” I gasped, choking and trying to take in air. Kevin chuckled to himself before letting me go. I paused, and gave him a smug look. “And you were messing up my hair.”

“Since when do you care about hair?” he asked.

“Since now!”

He gave me a knowing look, just before I smacked his arm. He pretended to be hurt, but I knew he wasn’t. I could never damage these boys. Seriously.

“Ow!” he yelled. “What was that for?”

“Everything.”

He hit me back. I yelped.

“And what was that for?”

“For being late.”

“Well I’m sor-ry! I got hung up!”

“With……?”

I paused, deciding if I should tell him or not. I decided it wouldn’t do any harm.

“Cassidy came over balling her eyes out.”

I saw his face change a bit. It went from playful and happy, to worried, and then back to cheerful, just after a millisecond’s hesitation.

Hmm. Maybe I can get those two together.

But my little conversation with Kevin was interrupted when I caught Nick looking at me.

“What?” I asked defensivly. I also caught Joe sort of staring at me, but I ignored it.

“Well, as Kevin said, you’re late. And we have plans.”

I took the hint. Since it was dinner plans, we probably had reservations at some fancy restaurant in Hollywood, that wasn’t easy to get into.

“Oh, right!”

**--**--**

I felt seriously underdressed.

I’m not even kidding. I was dressed for a three star restaurant. Not for a bloomin’ five star that looked like it should be in the middle of Paris.

Seriously, I’m not even exaggerating.

“Melodie, can I talk to you for a sec?” Joe whispered to me, right after our plates had been cleared. I had just stuffed myself with three full kabobs of shrimp and cocktail sauce. Now we were just waiting for dessert.

“Is this just a plan so that the dessert comes while we’re gone and they eat all of it and save some for you and not me?” I asked. I totally forgot any hate or awkwardness I had towards Joe. We had been talking all throughout dinner, and let me tell you, it was nice just to get back to our old ways.

He started laughing at my comment, even though I was dead serious.

“No. Just come on.”

He grabbed my hand and led me outside. I couldn’t help but marvel at the way he looked right then. The moon was shining perfectly on his face, making him even more irresistible than before. The light made it look like he should be the god of hottness.

“Ok, listen,” he said once we were through the door. I shook my head, clearing all of my thoughts of him, so I could concentrate on what he was saying.

“Listening.”

“I want you to know that I want us to forget any sort of hate we have towards each other because I really missed being your best friend. And I still do. I want us to be awesome buddies again. Best friends for life.”

But I wanted to be so much more.

I decided to ignore my inner talkings, and have some fun.

“I don’t know…… I mean, I finally got some normal friends,” I joked, keeping a total serious face.

“Are you calling me abnormal?” he started, a smile forming. I could tell I was in for it. Well, I might as well go in for the kill since I started.

“If you want to water yourself down to abnormal, then yes, I guess I am.”

“Oh, so I’m worse than abnormal?”

“Hmmmm. I’ll have to go with a yes on that one, sergeant.” I saluted him.

“You sure?”

“Yes….?”

I cringed, waiting for some severe punishment that I would be receiving from Joe. All I got was a big hug.

That he tackled and crushed me in.

“I’m glad to have my iDork back,” he said. I could practically hear his smile.

“Me too.”

I was happy for a few moments. But then my heart shattered. I realized what I had said to Kevin earlier about Cassidy, coming over to my house crying.

Because of her boyfriend.

Because of Joe’s girlfriend.

And now I had the joy of telling him about it.

He must have felt my change in emotion. (He could always tell when something was bothering me.) Because he pulled away and looked at me with worry.

“What’s wrong?”

I just wished that at this moment he didn’t have a girlfriend that did this. But instead he had me.

“Joe, you’re probably not going to believe me, but….” I trailed off, realizing that he probably wasn’t going to believe me.

“Yes I am.”

“No, Joe, you’re not. But I’m going to tell you anyway, because you have a right to know.

“What are you talking about?”

I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking I was going to tell him I loved him, again. But I decided not to think about that.

“It’s about Stacy,” I warned.

He didn’t seem fazed by this. Like he had been told many things about her before.

“Look,” I sighed. “Remember when I came over earlier, just before we left, and I was telling Kevin how Cass came over and she was crying?”

He nodded.

“Well, she found her boyfriend with another girl, kissing that girl, in front of Coldstone. Cass was sure that it was Stacy.”

At first his face was blank. Like he was stunned, but it didn’t necessarily surprise him.

You get what I mean?

“Joe?” I asked after a minute’s silence.

“She did that?” he asked in a voice so quiet I could barely hear him over the roar of the Hollywood traffic nearby.

“I’m sorry.”

He let out an aggrivated sigh that pained me. His dark brown eyes showed every sign of hurt possible. All of a sudden, the mood surrounding us seemed to have a downcast feel to it. I felt like I got colder, but that was probably just my imagination.

He looked up and caught my gaze, a small, sad smile forming on his lips.

“Did you know that the way the moon catches your gray eyes, it makes them look like the purest of silver?” he asked. I felt my heart beat up faster, and my stomach start doing some acrobatics.

“I was going to say that the way the moon catches—WAIT ONE SECOND MISTER! You’re distracting me! Back to our problem…..are you just going to talk to her? You have to dump her, at least! It’ll break her heart! Or actually, no it won’t because then she can go suck face with whoever she wants, but still! She won’t be dating a rockstar anymore, which ends up hurting her reputation! And in our case, that’s a good-”

I was cut off from my rambling when Joe put his fingers up to my lips. I went cross eyed trying to see them.

“I’ll take care of it, okay? Don’t hurt yourself trying to talk to fast,” he chuckled.

I blushed, causing his smile to broaden.

“Let’s go inside and have some ice cream.”