Back Into Your Arms

John’s P.O.V
“You really need to finish writing lyrics” Tim said to me through the phone.

Tim, one of my best friends, had been away on vacation with his girlfriend. He had missed out on so much, but I was afraid of telling him.

Afraid wasn't the right word, more like nervous about his reaction, or worried that he would be upset that I kept it from him all this time.

The rest of the guys looked at me, I had Tim on speaker.

“I will, I promise…but there's something I need to tell you but I'd prefer to tell you when you're back”

“The heck, John, you're worrying me”

“It's nothing you necessarily have to worry about” Pat added.

“Fine, I'll be there soon”

I hung up and the guys all had their eyes on me.

“You should have told him earlier” Jared said finally breaking the silence.

“I know, I just, it's Mel…”

“Especially because it's about Mel”

“He's our manager too”

“But first and foremost he's your best friend”

“I freaking know!” I sighed.

We waited impatiently for Tim to arrive.
When he did arrive we all went over and hugged Tim, he had been away for too long.
We quickly chatted about his vacation, but he was anxious to hear what I had to say.

“Can we maybe talk outside?”

“Okay, I'm scared.

“Cmon” I said as I lead him outside.

We sat down in the shade outside. I didn't even know where to begin.

I took out my phone and took out a photo of Mel and I at the concert.

I handed it over to him.

He took the phone and looked at the photo. At first he was making no expression, he then looked confused as he scrunched up his eyebrows and zoomed in on the photo.

“No freaking way”

“I've been meaning to tell you-“ he cut me off.

“Is that Mel?”

“Yes”

“What, did you see her at a concert? Was she a fan or like what the hell is this?”

“Mel and I are dating, again”

Tim almost passed out.

He looked confused, but happy.

“I want to see her”

“I know, Fal went to pick her up”

“Wait, she's coming, HERE?” He panicked.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I think they are here” I said to him as we heard the doorbell ring.

“You're freaking messing with me right now”

I hurried back inside, Tim following me.

Mel was saying hi to everyone, smiling, cheerfully, she then saw me and rushed over to give me a hug. I embraced her tightly. She then pulled away and noticed Tim standing there.
At first she blinked confused but then her face completely changed.

“T-Tim?”

“Mel”

“How have you been?” She asked shocked.

“Tim! Oh my goodness…but how do you know-“ she began to question but she then looked around, and saw Pat, then looked back at Tim.

“Pat Kirch, he's your little brother!”

“Yeah” he said and smiled. He looked teary eyed.

“I'm still so confused!” She laughed a little emotional.

I had to admit, I was jealous that she remembered Tim, but they had known each other before we had met.

“I’m the manager of the band” he explained to Mel.

She blinked a couple of times and nodded.

“Wait…so did you meet John in high school?”

“Yup”

“Gosh, I really wish I had my memory back right now, I feel like I’m missing something important”

“I can catch you up, if you’d like”

“Please” she laughed.

I watched them as they went over to the living room couch and sat down to chat. I was surprised that she didn’t remember anything about him in the bits of memories she had gotten back. If it hadn’t been for Tim, Mel and I wouldn’t have ever become friends to begin with.

Freshman Year
Tim’s Memory

“So that friend of yours” Mel mentioned as she walked with me to my next class.

“Which one?”

“The tall one”

“John?”

“Yeah”

“What about him?”

“He’s a baseball player?”

“Yeah…”

“I like him”

I stopped walking and looked at her. My friend Mel, was into John, I was shocked.

“You like him?”

She blushed but nodded.

“I did not think he was your type Mel”

“He’s not” she laughed. The laugh was enough evidence of her infatuation.

“You really like him?”

“I do, but he’s so shy around me…What does he like, what can I talk to him about?”

“John…he’s really into music”

“What kind?”

“Really anything, maybe you should ask him what kind of music he’s into, that’s a good conversation starter”

“I guess so…”

“You want something else, don’t you?” I asked her, she just laughed.

“Gosh Tim, really, you have me all figured out or something”

“It’s that look on your face”

“Gosh, I must be so obvious"

“So, what is it?”

“Invite me to hang out during lunch or something, c’mon you’re our only mutual friend, please, please!” she begged.

“We hang out by that tree near the main building, you’re more than welcome to stop by whenever your heart desires…but your friends…they won’t join, right?” I asked a little worried. Melody hung out with the cool kids at school.

The popular girls could be kind of mean to the people in my group of friends. I couldn’t imagine them ever coming to hang out with us. Mel was different, I never understood why she hung out with them to begin with.

“Oh no, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to anyways, just me”

“Alright then, lunch tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there!” she smiled excitedly. She gave me a side hug and then ran through the hall.

The next day she showed up during lunch.

“Hey Tim!” she said pretending this wasn’t planned.

I remember John looking over to look at her. He looked down almost as if he were embarrassed. I had never seen John get so shy.

“Mel, what’s up?”

“Not much, my friends ditched me, I was going to go eat my lunch in Mrs. Hamilton’s classroom”

“You can eat lunch here with us”

“Can I?”

“Yeah, why not” I said looking over at the guys, they all nodded.

“This is Mel Riley” I said to them.

“This is Alex and Ryan, and John” I added.

“Oh yeah, I know John, we sit next to each other in English”

“Hey Mel” he said shyly.

“How’s your essay coming out?” she asked him.

“It’s pretty much terrible” he laughed.

“How come?”

“I just hate writing about something I could care less about”

“Yeah, and you got stuck with one of the worse topics huh?” she laughed, taking a seat next to him under the tree.

I distracted the other guys in conversation as I watched them talking from the corner of my eye.

As shy as John was being around her, you could already begin to see that the feelings Mel had expressed were mutual.

They were naturally hitting it off, he would crack jokes and she would laugh for days, but it was genuine. She thought he was charming and he enjoyed her company. They became close friends from that moment after but I was always waiting for one of them to confess, but neither of them would make a move.

“You like her”

“She’s out of my league”

“Clearly bro, CLEARLY, but the girl likes you”

“You think?”

“Yes"

“I don’t know…”

“Whatever John, if you don’t want to believe me that’s up to you”

He would always be so unsure of himself, but thankfully Mel had more guts to do something about it.