Chapter 10: Chapter 10

MELODY

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I took a moment to collect myself.

I leaned against the wall. I was panting hard, and I was flushed from the orgasm he’d given me with his finger.

“Mel,” Dan placed his hand on my shoulder, and his eyes met mine, concern on his face.

“What happened, baby?” he asked softly.

I just shook my head. The door opened, and Xavier walked out of the same washroom I’d come out of. It didn’t take long for Dan to put two and two together. He knew exactly what had happened.

A smirk was plastered all over Xavier’s face, like he’d just won what he wanted. They stood there, glaring at each other, sizing each other up.

Dan pulled me closer to him and placed his hand on my lower back. We walked back and took our seats. After a second, Xavier came and sat beside Lisa.

After our encounter in the bathroom, I started to avoid him during our dinner.

They were all talking about a trip to the beach house. I groaned inwardly.

I knew it was Lisa's plan, but I didn’t want to be with him anymore.

Dan and Dan’s parents said goodbye soon because his dad had a business meeting to attend, and Dan wanted to meet his little sister. He asked me if I was okay before leaving.

“I’m going to miss you.” I hugged Mia tightly.

“I’ll miss you too, Mel.” Mia and I had been friends since kindergarten. When we pulled back, both of us were crying.

Jacob, Sandy, and Rick had become our friends in freshman year, when we all were new to the university. We had all had different majors, but it hadn’t affected our friendship.

After saying goodbye to Jacob, Sandy, and Rick, I turned to Matt.

I smiled nervously. I didn’t know how to say goodbye to him. If I went too close to him, Layla wouldn’t like it. I turned my gaze to Layla.

I walked to her. “He loves you, Layla. Trust him. Whatever was between us was because we like each other, or we were attracted to each other, but he loves you. Only you,” I whispered, hugging her.

She didn’t return my hug. So I pulled back and turned to Matt.

“So it’s finally goodbye, huh?” I smiled, trying to hide the tears behind my eyes.

He smiled and came closer. I stepped back to maintain our distance, and he frowned.

I had never been this close to Matt before, but after dating him, after being intimate, we were closer than before.

He took another two steps, and picking me up from the ground, engulfed me in his arms.

I couldn’t control it anymore. A tear leaked out from my eye.

“I’m going to miss you so fucking much,” he whispered in my hair.

“I’ll miss you too, Matty,” I murmured in his chest. He chuckled when I called him ~Matty~. “Don’t forget me when you become a football star,” I whispered.

“Never,” he whispered back, his voice strained.

He held me in his arms for a few minutes more, then took a step back. “Stay in contact and take care of yourself.” I nodded my head in agreement.

He leaned down to kiss my cheeks.

“You too; take care of yourself and Layla,” I whispered.

“Love you,” he whispered, dropping one last kiss on my forehead, and walked away, holding Layla’s hand.

I stood there for a few more seconds, and Jake came from behind me and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me against him.

“I never knew you were that close to him,” he said.

We walked back to the table where everyone was sitting.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What question?” Dad asked, leaning forward. Xavier was watching me closely.

After the bathroom incident, I couldn’t look straight in his eyes without remembering what he’d done.

~Damn, I’m going to hell.~ I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

“She was crying. In fact, I saw some tears in his eyes when they said goodbye to each other,” Jakey told Dad.

I sniffed and wiped my eyes. “We were good friends before. As you all know, we went to the same high school, and I always had a crush on him. When we started dating, we became closer than before.”

“Then why did you guys break up?” Nick asked.

“He fell in love with Layla.” I shrugged.

“He cheated on you?” Jakey asked.

“No, he didn’t cheat on me. We mutually broke up.

“I told him before dating him if the thing went south or we felt attractions to others, we would tell each other, and we would part ways on good terms with no hard feelings.”

I turned my gaze to Xavier and said, “You all know how much I hate cheaters.” He tried to hide his wince, but I saw it.

“I’m proud of you, honey,” Dad said. It was already late by the time we’d finished dinner with my family.

“I booked a hotel room for tonight, because it’s already late, and I don’t think it’s safe to drive in the dark,” Dad said.

He never drove after dark or let us because of the accident that had happened with our grandparents. They’d died on the spot.

After that incident, Dad had never let us drive when it got dark. We loved him, so we all respected his wishes.

“Lisa and Xavier, I hope you will be staying in one room. If not, we have an extra room,” Mom said.

Lisa beamed. “We’ll stay in one room.”

I frowned and looked away.

“Actually, I have some pending work to do on my laptop, and I will have to stay awake till late. If you don’t mind, can I take the extra room?” he asked Mom.

I avoided looking at him, afraid of what I would see in his eyes.

“Yeah, of course.”

We all walked to our rooms, and I went inside, shedding my clothes as I headed to the bathroom. I lay there in the bathtub for what felt like an eternity, closing my eyes.

All I could think of was him, why I’d met him, and why he had to be my sister’s boyfriend.

He’d said they hadn’t been together when we’d hooked up. How was that possible if they’d been dating for three years? Thinking of him with my sister made my chest tighten.

I didn’t have any right to feel jealous in the first place.

As much as it pained me to admit it, whatever had been between us it had been only for one night, one wild night with a stranger, which had turned into two nights and one whole fucking day we’d spent in a hotel room together.

We hadn’t left the room for the whole day; we’d ordered room service.

Thinking back, I felt myself drifting back to the day I’d woken up in his arms the next morning…