Fishing out her phone from my pocket, I hand it over to her reluctantly. The last hour we’ve spent working together, I’ve had her undivided attention on me, and I really fucking liked it. It surprises me, to be honest. I thought for sure having her here would drive me crazy, but there’s something about Melody that has me drawn to her. Wondering what’s going to pop out of her mouth next. And the way she gives me shit? Yeah, I really like that she pushes back at me.
She glances over her missed messages with a smile and white-hot anger courses through my veins knowing that it’s probably Liam making her gleam like that.
“I better get going,” she says, polishing off the rest of her food.
“Aren’t you going to read your fortune?” I ask, holding out the cookie.
She takes it from my fingers hesitantly and unwraps it from its packaging.
“I never get anything good,” she says, shaking her head as it cracks open beneath her fingers.
“What’s it say? Stop being a pain in the ass?” I feel my lips tug into a smile. She's scowling at me, but I like riling her up. She has a fire to her that's easy to stoke, but at the same time as she has some amusing qualities, she's equally frustrating.
“No, it says, ‘You will meet an annoying man. Punch him in the face and it’ll make him stop.’ I think it’s right.”
I watch her stand and make a fist and it’s almost comical.
“Oh yeah? Take your best shot.”
“You think I won’t?” she asks, eyebrow raised and that supple mouth of hers turned into a small smile. She likes this, I realize.
I grab her by her hips and pull her close. “Here, I’ll give you a clear shot.” I tilt my chin, fingers digging into her flesh. Her mouth drops open and the hand she’s making a fist with drops.
“I should go,” she says, pushing my hands off her and making a dash for the door. She looks over her shoulder before the door shuts behind her, and the look on her face is indescribable. It makes me wonder if she feels this shift between us too, or if she really does hate my guts and is only being nice because we have to work and live together. Probably the last one.
Once she’s gone, I don’t know what to do with myself, so I clean up the Chinese food. I try to wipe away the feel of her from my hands, but it doesn’t work. I liked seeing her so flustered and affected by me. I want to see how much I can get under her skin.
Taking the pile of papers I scribbled some notes on, I start to transcribe the incomplete song into my computer, layering the notes and instruments together the way I imagined it. But as I work, I’m distracted. Melody has invaded my space and my thoughts, pulling me from my singular focus of creating that I’ve thrown myself in since my my mom passed. I don’t even know anything about this girl. The curiosity eats at me, and I know there’s only one way to get the answers I need.
Her luggage sits across the room, zipped shut. Tempting me to look at the contents. I know I shouldn’t which is why I get up and do it anyway. I unzip the sides and fling open the top revealing a mess of clothes. It’s clear that outside of her school issued uniform, she prefers a more comfortable look, with an occasional dress that I assume is for a fun night out. She owns an array of small nightgowns that I wonder if she’ll ever wear in front of me or if she’ll stick to the yoga pants and oversized shirt she chose last night. As I paw through her clothes, I find a stash of her underwear. A lacy black thong sits balled up in the corner. I pull it out and hold it up, feeling the delicate lace bend beneath my fingers. I thought Melody would be more of full coverage type of girl, but this is a welcome as fuck surprise.
Pressing the thin fabric to my nostrils, I inhale her scent. My dick surges to life, pressing against my pants.What the fuck am I doing?I promised myself that I’d run her off and make her regret ever coming here. And now I’m on my knees sniffing her panties. Craving something I’m not supposed to have or want.
Pocketing her panties, I stride over to my side of the room just as her key opens the door. I belatedly realize I’m still sporting a raging hard on that she clocks immediately and looks away with a faint blush staining her cheeks.
“I got the first bit of our song transcribed if you want to listen.”
“Oh, yeah?” She avoids looking right at me, busying herself with taking off her coat and putting down her purse on the hook.
I press play and the notes fill the room. Finally, she looks right at me. It’s a shot to the heart seeing her react to what we’ve created together– what she’s inspired. I realize I could get addicted to this feeling. To her approval. I’ve never really sought someone’s validation before. I create for the sake of creating, because otherwise, I fear my head might explode. But her reaction is like a drug. A hit to the senses that makes me want to see what else I can do just so that she looks at me the way she is. With appreciation and wonder. Like the asshole I am isn’t all she sees.
“It’s better than I even imagined,” she says. Her pink hair has come undone slightly, probably with the wind and a few flyaway pieces frame her flushed face as she looks at me. Something fundamental shifts inside me in the few moments that pass as the portion I’ve recorded restarts on its own.
“Now we need some lyrics to go with it,” I say.
“Right…. Right. Maybe another time. I’m beat.”
She slinks off to the bathroom, leaving me alone. I shove my hand in my pocket and feel the lace panties I stole from her. Wanting her gone was one thing, but wanting her for myself is something I’m not sure I should be doing. But I’ve never been one to live by the rules, so why start now?
10
MELODY
The man’s face is blurry, but I know the intimidating shape of his body like I know my own name. His fist pummel into my folded body as tears stream down my face.
“You worthless bitch! Why weren’t you looking where you were going?”
A broken lamp lays in a heap of glass shards on the ground nearby, mocking me for my clumsy mistake. Its pieces rearrange into a menacing face as it laughs at my misery.
