“Mel, glad I caught you and didn’t have to come up,” Tate said, surprising her with his sudden appearance as he slid his arm around her waist.
“What are you doing back here?” she asked aware of Jordan’s curious and disappointed look. The curiosity part was normal, the disappointed piece though, touched something else inside her she really didn’t want to feel.
“Can’t have you starving, can I? Oh, come on Mel, I could feel your stomach growling when I dropped you off, we could have swung through somewhere on the way in, you had at least ten minutes.”
“Tate enough,” she said with a smile towards him as she took the bag of food and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“I should get back to the office if I’m going to work up a bid,” Jordan said stepping away from them. “Again, it was nice meeting you Melinda.”
“You too Jordan, thank you for the offer as well,” she replied waiting for him to go.
“Alright what was that?” Tate asked shooting her a curious look as he led her across the street to the small park. “Don’t tell me he wants to sweep you off your feet and carry you away to his castle in the sky.”
Mel couldn’t hold back the grin or the laugh that followed and dissolved into tears. “Oh yeah that’ll work really great until it’s time to fill out the marriage certificate and he notices that I’m only sixteen.”
“For two more days now. So spill, how was the meeting?”
“Awful, I swear every time I leave here I feel like I need to shower to remove the grime.”
“Then quit and find a regular teenage job, Mel. It’s our junior year we’re supposed to be living large, not living the corporate life,” Tate said making her snort a bit and he shot her a look only a best friend could get away with wearing and not raise someone’s ire.
“Oh yeah sure. Do you really think that working at the McDonalds for four or even six hours a night is going to keep me in my apartment, with electricity, internet, and water? It’d barely keep me eating—definitely not eating healthy just barely eating.”
“You know you can move in with me; Dad will agree to it with ease. Why keep this a secret from everyone? Your mom ran off two years ago tomorrow.”
“I know, but if anyone found out that I was on my own at fifteen I’d have been put into foster care, and I wasn’t going to do that Tate. Jesus…you’ve seen how guys look at me. Now put me into a home with four or five of them and tell me what’s boundto happen. Now, they’d likely try to throw me in a detention center for keeping quite the last two years or else into a group home with others that really have issues to worry about on top of everything else. Once I turn eighteen, they can’t do anything about it. I have a year to keep up the pretense and it’s not like you were complaining when I bought those steaks last week,” she added trying to push aside the reminders of things she detested thinking of, especially if she had to go back in and deal with Henry again.
“Alright I admit they were pretty awesome, you’re pretty awesome Mel, but you hate this guy.”
“I know and I’ll deal with it my own way. I couldn’t pull this off without you. Now you need to get back to school so I don’t get fired or found out.”
“Remember we’ve got our AP test tomorrow; promise me you won’t stay up all night studying.”
“I’ll try,” she agreed before hurrying back over to the building and slipping inside for the rest of her hours. It would be a long afternoon if Henry kept up his tirade.
“You and Mr. Yummy still together?” Joelle inquired as she walked past her.
“Yup, what can I say? Tate’s my best friend and considering the fact that he just kept me from passing out from starvation…”
“Lucky girl,” she said giving her a huge grin.
If you only knew, Mel thought heading back upstairs.
She reached the office and braced herself when she heard Henry on the phone yelling at his soon-to-be ex-wife. Honestly, she wished she could mute the man but since she couldn’t she did the next best thing. She pulled out her ancient iPhone that she couldn’t afford to upgrade despite not updating any longer, slipped the earbuds in turning it up until she could barely hear the screaming, and started on the stack of work in front of her.
By the end of the day, she was sorely tempted to call Jordan and inquire about the job he’d mentioned. The only thing holding her back was her worry that it wasn’t a real offer just something to tempt her into calling him. He wouldn’t be the first one to hand over his number and she was sure he wouldn’t be the last.
She stayed up half the night studying for the AP exam. The more she got ahead now the easier it’d be to hopefully get into college, and maybe, just maybe stop living this despised corporate life by getting a good enough scholarship. She slipped into the classroom and Tate sent her a questioning glance before noting her tired expression and slid into the seat next to her.
“Mel, you promised you wouldn’t stay up all night.”
“And I didn’t, just half,” she said grinning at him when he rolled his eyes. “Come on, did you really expect me to listen to you? I mean when have I ever?”
“No clue but there’s always a first Mel.”
“Well, well, well if it isn’t Indy and Tate, don’t they look cute?” Stephanie crowed from the front of the class and Mel felt herself slipping completely into the role of a nearly seventeen-year-old high school student.
“It’s Melinda, Steph, and you know that. After all, we’ve been going to school together for oh…eleven years now.”
