I led her to the storage room, opened the door, and practically shoved her inside and closed it again before she had time to react. Then I looked at her.
“I…uh,” her eyes went wide, seeing candles on every shelf and the elaborate picnic sitting on the floor.
“I need to apologize, Melinda. And I’d thought I’ do it by going back to where we started. Locked in somewhere the night before a big event. I even have the punch,” I smiled. “I was wrong back then. I thought you were amazing. That I wasn’t wrong about. But I was scared. You came from the perfect family, had the perfect grades, was loved by everyone, and rich as they come. OK, so some kids were richer than you at that place, but you get what I mean,” I chuckled. Our high school had been like ‘who’s who amongst the kids in New York.’ “To me, you were simply perfect. And I tried so hard to be as perfect as you were. I tried to outdo you on every test, win every snowboarding competition, and take up debating so that I could outdo you on the podium…”
At this, Melinda laughed, which sent a jolt of happiness straight to my heart.
“The point is, I always thought I wasn’t good enough for me. And after that night in the theatre, you blanked me. You plain blanked me, Melinda,” after all this time, I could still feel the hurt.
“Chris, you showed up with one of my best friends to the dance,” Melinda replied, perturbed.
“Well, it’s not like I could change my date. We were locked up in the theatre until that very same morning. I couldn’t just call the poor girl and dump her. She wouldn’t have had time to find someone else to go with.”
“Oh,” realization dawned on Melinda’s face. “I always thought you did it to spite me.”
“To spite you?” I asked, confused.
“Yes, you always tried to outdo me in school, and then you showed up with her. I thought it was all some setup to make me feel bad. Like you had one up on me.”
I pulled my hand through my hair. Never once had I even contemplated her thinking something along those lines. Of course, I’d had a date.
“I never meant for you to think that.”
She nodded. “I get that now.”
“Anyway, I always felt like I had to prove something. To you. To the rest of the world. But I don’t. I am who I am. And I like you. I know I should have come straight to you when I got home from that trip, but I got the message about Charlie, freaked out, and went straight to the bar to get drunk. And then that woman threw herself at me. I didn’t know you’d seen it until I got your message. By then, I was in New York, and you wouldn’t take my calls,” I sighed. “Honestly, I never meant to kiss that woman—she just flung herself at me, and it took my drunk brain a minute to realize what was happening and disengage. I…I find her about as attractive as I do Mrs. Janson in high school.”
This drew a smile from her. Mrs. Janson had been our very boring chemistry teacher who always wore brown dress suits.
“I’m not used to being in a relationship, Melinda. And I’m not used to thinking I’m good enough for someone like yourself. But I want to make this work. Hell, I’ve been in love with you since 10th grade for crying out loud.”
At this, she finally laughed. “Me too. I mean, I’ve been in love with you since tenth grade.”
“You have?”
“Yeah, I have. I’ve hated you, too. But that’s because I kept thinking you were mean to me. I understand now you weren’t. I should have asked. I made assumptions, I suppose, and they were the wrong assumptions to make. I also let others make assumptions about me. I let the press think I was serious with my ex. I let the whole of New York think I was happy running around to all these events just to be seen. Let them think my dad was paying my way in life, while I brought in money for the resorts through my marketing, just as I brought in money for all the charities I was involved with. And I wasn’t involved with them for the sake of making myself look good. I cared. I still do. But I let people think whatever they wanted to think and went along with the charade. I didn’t even like the events I attended, nor most of the people, but I still showed up thinking I had to uphold…something,” she stopped to catch her breath.
“I guess we were both pretending,” I said with a sigh.
“You could say that,” she agreed.
“Do you…do you want to be with me, though? Because I’m dying to know Melinda. I’m in love with you. I’d say I love you, but granted, I don’t know you that well, yet I love what I know of you. And I’m sure I’ll love the rest of you. You’re the only woman who’s ever driven me insane, and I’d like you to keep driving me insane. I want you. And I want to tell the whole fucking world you’re mine, just like I want to tell the whole world who I truly am. I’m over trying to pretend I’m someone I’m not. My past doesn’t define me, just like your ex, or your socialite lifestyle in NYC doesn’t define you.”
“I’d like that. I mean for you to get to know me and love more of me,” she said, looking up into my eyes. It was all I could do not to turn into jelly and sink to the floor. Instead, I pulled her into my arms and hugged her so hard I could feel her heart beating against my chest. Then I kissed her. I kissed her till she was gasping for air.
“This is even better,” she whispered.
“Better than what?” I asked.
“Better than that kiss we shared when locked up in the theatre.”
“Good. Because you’re my prisoner for the night, Melinda Bailey. And I fully intend to tear your clothes off and show you just what it means to be my prisoner…”
And I did. Because Melinda Bailey was mine. She belonged to me.
Chris Bates—the kid from the wrong side of the tracks.
