Chapter Four
New Friend
I woke up the next morning with a massive headache and a cold and empty house. Trevor decided not to stay the over, since I had purposely ignored him for the rest of the night as I tried and failed to enjoy myself. My head had been replaying the preposterous events that had occurred on my birthday and I found it hard to have fun.
Was it really my fault?
Checking my phone, the time read 12pm and I was glad that it was now a Saturday. I definitely needed time to myself. I read a birthday text from my mum, apologising for not being able to go to my birthday party and mentioning that she'd be coming down to see me today, around 2. This left me no time to myself and made me dread the day ahead.
Grumpily dragging myself out of my bed, I made my way to my bathroom and took a long, much needed shower, wishing that I could wash my problems away too. If only...
Getting dressed, I threw on a grey jumper dress, boots and straightened my hair, wondering why my mum was deciding to come down today, since last year she hadnât. Throwing on some jewellery and straightening my hair I only just managed to grab myself some breakfast before my door was knocked upon.
"I'm coming mummy!" I yelled running towards the door.
"You look beautiful as always sweetie. I'm really sorry that I missed your party. You know work." My mum apologised once again.
"It's fine mummy. I'm just glad to see you," I replied, giving her a tight embrace.
"So...I heard that you had set a date," She sang, smiling widely, not even trying to withhold her happiness.
"I had always thought that you'd have gotten married to Stephen. I mean he was a nice kid. Only God knows what happened with t--," My mum rambled making my stomach twist at the sound of Stephen's name.
"Mummy! I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about past relationships. Especially that one. So..." I urged, wanting her to get off of that sensitive subject.
"Okay! Fine! Somebody's obviously not over that. Anyway, I came so that we can go wedding dress shopping. I've been waiting for this day for years! 24 to be exact. Now letâs go." She insisted, almost jumping up and down in joy. Stephen's name now seemed to float into my mind and I almost cursed myself for it. His fangs kept reappearing as I went to grab my things before me and my mum headed out of the house finally.
"So I have a wonderful idea about your colour scheme and your wedding dress. There was a beautiful dress that I saw on my way to your house. Just perfect," My mother rambled as we headed to our first wedding shop in a taxi. Feeling my phone vibrate in my hand, I glanced at it and instantly recognised me and Trevor's smiling picture, signalling that he was calling me. My finger absentmindedly clicked ignore before I could even register what I was doing and my heart instantly plunged. What was I doing? It was only a small argument. Yet it had been about Stephen and was our first argument...due to Stephen.
Stephen.
His name seemed to be thought of when bad things happened, since it was all his fault. I went to a new message, blocking out my mother's constant talking, only for a message to pop up.
'I'm sorry Melanie. I didn't mean to make you upset. I love you and I'll never raise my voice at you about that guy ever again. Just answer my calls please. xxx'
I felt even guiltier when I read his text message and immediately clicked dial. Putting it to my ear, my phone was snatched viscously away from me and I glared at my mother.
"What are you doing? I was trying to call Trevor," I complained, watching in horror as she easily threw my phone into her bag, zipping it up afterwards.
"That's exactly why I'm taking it. He's been with you throughout the time that Iâd missed with you, so he can wait." My mother retorted, sighing heavily and then continuing to ramble on about the wedding. I'd rather she planned it all and then told me the information, than having to follow her everywhere and listen to her talk and talk forever. We were now at out fifth wedding store and I was starting to get irritated. Every shop we had entered, my mother had insisted that I wore a puffy princess wedding dress when I had imagined and fell in love with a simple slim fitting mermaid wedding dress. However, she was not allowing me to even dare look at one, repeating that
"It was not as pretty and beautiful as the princess one, considering that you was a princess!"
Growling, I followed silently behind her, not able to communicate with anyone other than her since she had taken my mobile phone captive, angering me to a higher extent. Deciding quickly, I ran into the next wedding shop that we were going to and remembered that I had seen the most exquisite wedding dress there. I ignored my mother's shouts after me and sprinted down the street, not paying attention to the stares. Arriving inside, I gaped at the wedding dress that I had fell in love with at first sight.
"May I try on this dress please," I breathed
"It is ten thousand dollars Madame," The brunette women informed me
"Yes, can I try it on please," I repeated, growing aggravated. She was wasting my time. Finally taking the dress with a hanger, off the rack, she slowly and cautiously handed it to me and I instantly speed walked towards the changing room, ready to see how the dress looked on me. Ripping off my clothes and surprised that my mother hadn't arrived to yell at me, I slowed down my pace, making sure to handle the dress with delicacy and pulled it over my body. Sadly, I wasn't able to do the zip on the back of the dress. With a huff on hearing my mother's voice, I opened the changing room curtain, spun around calling,
"Mummy, can you zip it up for me please," as politely as possible. Cool hands slowly, but surely zipped it up, leaving goose bumps along my skin and slightly made my breathing increase. I wasn't sure if it was due to the person's finger tips brushing against my skin or the zip tightening around my torso.
"What do you think?" I asked quietly, turning around slowly and lightly touching the silky soft ivory lace material that went from one side of the chest diagonally to the bottom of the dress, whilst the rest of the dress was made of a delicate silk. Gasping when my eyes met black male shoes, I carefully looked up, stopping when they were met by pure black ones who belonged to the one and only...
Stephen.
His eyes instantly left mine to look down at the dress that now clung to my body. Feeling self conscious and unable to speak due to shock, I stared at his handsome face, standing as still as a statue. I felt to scream, still not over that fact that he was a vampire, yet another part of me didn't want to, since if I had screamed and explained to them that he was a vampire, I would probably have been put into an insane asylum.
"I see that you have seen Stephen," My mother smiled blissfully, making her way towards us. As my eyes snapped towards hers, I relaxed in an instant, no longer under Stephen's scary spell.
"That dress looks beautiful," She gushed, staring at me wide-mouthed and with bulging eyes.
"She looks more than beautiful, exquisite, gorgeous, stunningâ¦How about perfect?" Stephenâs husky voice commented, making my mother blush. A small smile slipped onto my lips when I heard the word 'perfect' from his lips. He had never ever called me that. For once, out of the two months that I had seen Stephen, a genuine wide, highly attractive smile spread across his lips, making me smile wider. I acted on impulse and put my hands on his cheeks.
"You're smiling!" I teased, pinching his cheeks as his black eyes twinkled in amusement.
"Melanie please," He grinned wider, a deep chuckle erupting from his throat, giving me goose bumps as his large, cold hand softly grabbed both of mine, pulling them away from his face and to his side.
"The groom should not be with his to-be wife whilst she's trying on her dress!" A woman yelled startling me and making me jump slightly closer to Stephen, who squeezed my hands gently, making a small shiver run along my arm due to his touch.
"I'm not the groom sadly," Stephen smiled politely
"Oh! My apologies, I just assumed. Stupid me!" She cried
"They did used to go out though, but I guess they are just friends now," my mother explained
"Acquaintances." I corrected her
"I think we're friends," Stephen added holding up my two hands in his. I had totally forgotten about that since it had felt so natural that I hadn't noticed. The older woman and my mum, chuckled whilst I scowled and then snatching my hands away from his.
"Acquaintances." I repeated, lifting up the dress and heading back into the changing room. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I knew that this dress was the one. I loved it.
"Friends," Stephen growled sexily, pressing his body against mine on the mirror. He  had magically appeared in my changing room, spun me around and now has his body pressed tightly against mine, all in a sum of a millisecond, knocking the breath out of me. I weirdly found his new, superhuman speed sexy and wondered why he hadn't told me his secret in college.
"What are you doing in here?" I breathed still in shock.
"I came to tell you how perfect you looked in that dress and that youâre my friend." Stephen answered, his dark eyes fixed on mine, instantly hypnotising me and reviving my love and desire for him instantly.
"Well thank you and we're not friends, my acquaintance." I stated, feeling my heart beat accelerating in my chest.
"Would you like to repeat that?" Stephen asked, his fangs now visible, making my heart skip a beat.
"That's highly unfair." I mumbled quietly as my eyes glued to his large, sharp teeth.
"I don't really think so. You smell awfully delicious today Melanie," Stephen complimented, inhaling my scent as his nose brushed along my neck, his face now in the crook of my neck.
"I'll scream," I threatened shakily
"I doubt that." He whispered huskily, his teeth now grazing along my bare neck, causing me to suppress a moan. Why and how I could enjoy this sounded outrageous to me, yet here I was trying not to cry out for him to bite me again, so that I could feel the ecstasy that filled my body only yesterday.
"Get out." I ordered, rather strongly
"But I don't want to." Stephen whined, making me shiver in desire. Faintly remembering Trevor, I pushed Stephen away from me with all of my power, only causing him to stumble back slightly and retract his fangs easily.
"I'm getting married." I reminded him, now feeling angry at myself for letting myself fall back into his spell so that he could play with my feelings.
"You didn't say anything two seconds ago," Stephen replied smugly, making me even angrier.
"Just get out if your gonna be smug." I retorted, trying to keep my voice down.
"You feel it, I know you do. It's cause we're soul mates. Our love will never die, unless one of us does. Just let us be together Melanie. Even if you marry that dick, you'll still fall into my arms when I'm around." Stephen insisted
"Shut up with the soul mates thing! We're not soul mates. There's not such thing!" I whisper shouted, feeling my vision go red with anger.
"And I bet you thought that there was no such thing as vampires. Yet here I am." Stephen scoffed, placing his thumb lightly onto his bite marks from yesterday, caressing his mark on me, making me suck in a breath.
"Just think about it Melanie. I'll always be here for you since I love you a whole world more than that other guy does. I suggest that you choose the right person, so that you donât end up regretting it." He finished, vanishing out of the changing room. Pulling the curtain open, I noticed my mother and the other women emerging from around the corner, informing me of how Stephen had gotten into my changing room unnoticed.
"Where has Stephen gone?" My mother asked straight away.
"I guess he got bored and left," I lied, before looking at the older woman from earlier.
"I want this one by the way," I smiled, happy with my decision but irritated at myself when I couldn't smile naturally, since for a weird reason, I felt somewhat unhappy.
"Can I come in?" My mother quizzed outside of my apartment door as I unlocked it.
"Of course, what kind of question is that?" I questioned
"Youâre always welcome." I added opening the door to find a crying and worried looking Trevor, sitting on my couch. In a matter of second, he had enveloped me into a tight hug, taking all of my breath out of me.
"I thought you'd left me. I'm so sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I was just annoyed at Stephen. I love you and I donât want to loose you. Youâre the most important person I have in my life. Please forgive me," Trevor cried, holding onto me, as if for dear life.
"Trevor," I whispered, feeling my eyes watering as well. I loved him too and hated to see him crying like this, for me, after such a small fight.
"I love you too and I forgive you. I would never leave you, it's just that my mum confiscated my phone today so I couldn't text or call you back. I don't want to loose you either." I stated, wiping away his tears, hating to see his deep blue eyes with so much sadness in them.
"I feel so stupid now," He chuckled sadly, wiping away some of my stray tears.
"You're not stupid. I'm actually glad that you came, now I know that you definitely want and love me as much as I want and love you," I smiled happily, enjoying his warm lips against mine as his tongue merged with mine, reminding me of how much we loved each other.
"I think I should go now," I heard my mother cough in the background, causing me to giggle and pull myself away from Trevor, who smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry Mrs Zeleny," He apologised sweetly
"It's alright dear. I'll just go and meet up with Richard, so that you guys can make up. But I'll be back later, so you guys better be dressed." She urged, shutting the door behind her, making Trevor chuckle. Seeing his eyes and face back to it's shinning and happy glory, made my heart swell. He was the man that I loved. There was no such thing as soul mates, except if there were, Trevor would definitely be mine and making up, was exactly what we did.
âI brought a wedding dress by the way,â I told Trevor as we lay in my bed, tangled into each others bodies.
âOh did you? Do you think Iâll be able to see it anytime soon?â Trevor wished, stroking my cheek comfortingly.
âNope,â I laughed, just as the door was banged on furiously, scaring me. My mother didnât knock on my door like that, so who the hell could it be?!