Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

Throwing on some of my clothes, I ran to the door, yelling for the person to calm down. I was confused and surprised when I saw both Jennifer and Jasmine standing there, looking agitated.

"We'd been knocking on the door for forever. What the hell were you doing?!" Jennifer yelled, until her eyes roamed over my body, probably giving the answer to her own question.

"I think I know what she was doing," Jasmine smirked, raising a suggestive eyebrow, whilst I stayed silent.

Shaking her head, Jennifer barged past me into my house, with Jasmine on her tail.

"Why don't you guys come on inside," I replied sarcastically, closing the door after them.

"What do you guys want to say, that's so important, that you wanted to smash my door down?" I questioned, plating my hair into two separate braids, to keep the hair out of my face.

"We're here to talk about someone important, but I think we need to go somewhere a little more private," Jasmine answered, glancing at Trevor who was coming out of the bedroom without a shirt on.

"If you'd like to put some clothes on please." I suggested, watching a playful smirk appear on his lips.

"Anything for you Mel," Trevor replied, winking at the girls behind me, who rolled their eyes.

"So what did you want to talk to me about again?" I asked, forgetting the reason for their company.

"We wanted to talk about how you couldn't tell us that 'someone' tried to come onto to you!" Jennifer whispered

"Why are we whispering? And Mel are you happy now?" Trevor questioned, now back inside the living room with a shirt on.

"Yes she's happy and we're whispering because we're waiting for you to leave." Jennifer answered bluntly.

"You know you love me really," Trevor joked

"If you say so," Jennifer shrugged, looking bored.

"Do you know what? How about I leave you so that you can have some girl time. I'll call you later." Trevor informed me, giving me a long goodbye kiss, which literally left me breathless.

"Don't let the door hit you on your way out," Jennifer shouted after him, as he held up his middle finger and slammed the front door shut.

"So...," I began

“In fact lets go and have some dinner. There’s actually a lot we want to talk about,” Jasmine stated, standing up and heading towards the door.

“I can’t leave like this. Give me a minute.” I insisted, running to my room. I brushed my hair and placed it into a high ponytail before plaiting it again. Needing a rubber band to keep the plait in place, I searched my room, finding none and then rummaged through my bag finding the luminous yellow rubber band that Stephen had slipped into my pocket two months ago. Smiling slightly, I wore it on the end of my plait, wondering if he’d appear; hoping, stupidly.

Throwing on my one and only, yet favourite furry coat, I threw on my black ballet flats and with my bag in my hand, followed the girls out of my house.

“That reminds me of the rubber band that you used to wear in college all the time. I remember you said that whenever you wore it Stephen would always magically appear.” Jennifer reminisced as she drove us to a restaurant.

“And funnily enough, he weirdly did.” Jasmine finished, chuckling as well.

“I remember that time he played a trick on us, pretending the he had broken his ankle.” Jennifer added

“He had put ketchup all over it and got one of his friends to make a clay bump to make it look like he actually had. I was so scared, then the idiot, said April Fools. I wanted to kill him!” Jasmine growled

“You did almost kill him Jasmine,” Jennifer laughed

“You guys didn’t tell me about that one before,” I piped in, wanting to hear some more things that Stephen had done. Both of the girls seemed to have enjoyed his presence almost as much as I did, but with Trevor, they don’t seem to enjoy his company that much, especially Jennifer.

“He was a cool guy, handsome too. The two things Trevor isn’t,” Jennifer insulted

“Hey! Trevor is handsome and cool.” I defended. Alright, maybe not as cool and collected as Stephen, but he was still cool…to me.

“If you say so,” Jennifer replied, sharing a look with Jasmine before they began to giggle, leaving me out of their inside joke. Deciding to ignore them for the rest of the journey to the unknown restaurant, I watched the other cars; buildings and people do past in a blur as my mind drifted back to my first date at a restaurant.

------------------I

It had been a month since Stephen had kissed me and whenever I was around him, I had wanted that wonderful moment to happen again, yet I had gotten nothing. Did he think that it was a mistake? Or was he just taking it slow? Or maybe, he didn’t even remember because he was too drunk!

My fears had increased, tonight in particular, since he had asked me to dinner earlier today. I had no idea what to wear, behave like or even talk about and I was panicking.

“Calm down Melanie, we’re here to help you, if we can help,” Jasmine tried to soothe me as I paced the room.

“Wear something casual. I mean it is your first date with him,” Jennifer suggested.

“Casual.” I repeated, scanning through my clothes. Pulling out a simple hot pink top, black jeans and my black flats, I signalled for the girls to tell me what they thought.

“It’s simple. Do you have a blazer?” Jennifer quizzed

“Yeah.” I remembered, pulling my black one off its hanger.

“Perfect,” The best friends exclaimed.

Having a quick shower, I straightened my hair, threw on my clothes and applied some make-up.

“Do I look alright?” I asked then, giving them a twirl so that they could see me fully.

“Gorgeous, now where is this boy. I want him to take you out so that you won’t be so anxious. And I want him to kiss you so that he can put you out of your misery,” Jennifer commented.

“Who said that I wanted him to kiss me?” I exclaimed in horror. Had I voiced my mind?

“You did just now,” Jasmine laughed as I felt my face warm up

Hearing a knock on the door, Jennifer, Jasmine and I exchanged looks and in a matter of a second were fighting for the door. Sadly, Jasmine got to the door first as slowly, guided it open.

“This isn’t Parker’s room is it?” A deep voice quizzed

“Err, no. Sorry.” Jasmine answered nervously

“I thought so when I saw that you were a girl,” He chuckled

“Sorry to disturb you,” He apologised, politely before Jasmine closed the door.

“He was so cute!” Jasmine gushed as she pressed her back against the door.

“Jasmine seems to like someone,” Jennifer smiled

“I can tell. Too bad we didn’t see him. Maybe we’d be able to hook them up,” I joked, making her blush some more whilst I and Jennifer laughed at her cuteness.

The door was knocked upon once more and all eyes landed on Jasmine, who was closest. Opening the door, I was once again filled with anxiety as I turned to pick up my bag on my bed.

“Who knew I’d be welcomed into Melanie’s room with such a view,” Stephen chuckled behind me, making me shiver and gasp as I spun around to see him handsomely dressed, his dark eyes watching me with amusement.

“He’s funny, as well as good looking,” Jennifer mumbled, receiving a disapproving look from me.

“Thank you, you two are also stunning yourself. I didn’t know that I was taking all three of you. But I’m not complaining,” He smirked, winking at Jasmine who giggled. If I hadn’t known before that Stephen was a flirt, I definitely knew now. It made me feel quite sad, since maybe due to the fact that he was such a flirt, he took many girls out on dates.

“Don’t try and flatter us because we don’t need your flattering.” Jennifer retorted. Jasmine elbowed her hard whilst I growled quietly in annoyance. What was she trying to do? Drive him away?!

“Let’s go,” I urged, pulling him out by his arm

“Don’t bring her back too late,” Jasmine added

“Yes Mrs. Zeleny,” Stephen joked and I couldn’t help but smile.

Stephen had taken me off campus, to a restaurant close by, in his sexy, sleek, black BMW. How he had gotten this car at such a young age didn’t cease to amaze me. It was a cute, cottage looking diner and I was suddenly starving. I ordered simple fish and chips, whilst he ordered a large cheese burger and fries.

“Did I say how beautiful you look tonight?” Stephen asked, leaning back in his chair, making him look almost as delicious as the food smelled as it sat finished in front of us.

“No,” I mumbled, looking down

“Oh, well I meant to say, you look very beautiful tonight Melanie. I’m actually surprised that you allowed me to come out with you.” Stephen stated, now sitting up straight.

“Why is that?” I replied, raising an eyebrow. If anything I was surprised that he had asked me to come out with him, and not the other girls he spoke to.

“Because. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but you’ve caught some other guy’s attention and I thought you wouldn’t have been interested in me,” Stephen shrugged

“Well you were wrong I guess,” I smiled, watching as his face lit up and the small dimple on his left cheek became visible.

“Should we get you home before your friends beat me up,” Stephen said, politely calling over a waiter and asking for the receipt. He kindly paid for the both of us and drove us back to campus and led me back to our room, not holding my waist, or my hand. In fact he wasn’t touching me at all which made me quite sad; I wanted to feel the tingles he gave me.

“So I had a great day tonight. I’d like to do this again, if you would,” Stephen suggested, leaning against my dorm door.

“I had a great night as well and I would, like to do it again that is,” I grinned, looking up at his, enjoying the feeling his eyes were giving my body, just by a look.

“That’s great. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then Melanie.” Stephen smiled cutely, lifting my hand and softly placing a sweet, soft kiss on it, leaving his lips lingering there for longer than a second as his eyes stayed on mine. Sucking in a breath, I let out a shaky one which made him chuckle huskily as his lips left my hand.

"I'm not going to kiss you because that wouldn't be very gentlemanly, but I want you to know how much I want to." Stephen informed me, his eyes glancing at my lips as mine did to his. I was glad that he was being so kind and taking his time with me, but I was still slightly gutted.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow as well Stephen,” I mumbled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, enjoying the feel of his cool, smooth skin against my lips, unable to withhold myself.

“Goodnight,” I mumbled, looking at the ground as I opened and closed my dorm room, too scared of what he would say. What had I done?

---------------------I

“I hope that we’re just here to talk about girl things because I’m not in the mood to talk about Stephen,” I snapped as we took our seats.

“Woah. Alright Melanie. Calm down.” Jasmine gasped, making me even angrier. I hated it when people told me to calm down. We sat in silence and ordered our food, only glimpsing in each others direction, even couple of minutes.

“Fine, but can I ask you this one question since you are about to marry the dude. What you love about Trevor?" Jennifer suggested.

"Easy. I love the way his eyes shine when they see me and his whole face lights up cutely. I love the way he kisses me and hugs me close, keeping me warm and comfortable. I love that he asked me to marry him and didn't say that he doesn't love me anymore, for no reason out of the blue, when I had doesn’t absolutely nothing wrong! I ---," I roared, getting wounded up. I blinked confusedly when eyes started to stare my way. Had I been shouting? Whoops.

"Alright. I think we get it. He's a comfortable option. Ne--," Jasmine interjected, cutting me off.

"Hey, he's not a comfortable option. I love him." I butted in.

"Yep. We know." Jennifer replied, rolling her eyes. I felt the urge to ask her what had happened between her and Trevor, that had made her hate him so much, but Jasmine spoke first.

"Now. What do you love about Stephen?" Jasmine asked, shocking me slightly. What did I used to love about Stephen.

"I love the way he held me in his arms, as if I was fragile and would disappear any second, even though it was annoying sometimes. I love the way he wasn't afraid to make silly jokes or embarrass himself in front of me or his friends.” I started, chuckling at the memories which blinded my eyes.

“The way his eyes were always watching me as if I was a show, that he didn't want to miss a second of. His kisses were...amazing. Soft, sweet and gentle as if he was treasuring every moment, like I was. His dark eyes always seemed to somehow captivate mine, making it as if it were just the two of us which I loved. And he never once pressured me into anything, taking everything slow, as if we'd have each other forever. But he lied. Because he broke up with me, leaving me with nothing and nobody to fill the space that he left." I remembered, looking down, avoiding all eye contact as I stuffed my mouth with the chips, from my main meal of fish and chips. Just the sight of it made me even angrier and upset since I knew that I was bringing unwanted memories back, as if on purpose. My heart hurt all over again and I could feel my eyes watering. I didn’t want to cry because of him.

I felt hands on both of mine as I set my fork down and smiled wryly and the both of them, still confused as to why the feelings were hitting me so hard. It had been four years and I had gotten over it already and was about to married in three weeks. Or had I?

“So…what are us maid of honours goings to wear?” Jennifer quizzed, changing the subject

“Something ugly of course. I don’t want you guys to show me up,” I joked, smiling slightly

“Gee. Thanks Melanie. I bet now your gonna say that I’m no longer going to be the entertainment.” Jasmine frowned playfully

“No way! J Cole and Trey Songz are going to be my entertainment and then afterwards Trey will let me rub my hands over his delicious packs,” I fantasised

“You whore. What happened to Trevor’s?” Jennifer chuckled

“Eh. There still there, but I want to touch Trey’s,” I grinned before we all started laughing, the atmosphere instantly lifted.

When I got home, I smiled and I changed into something for comfortable to wear and stared at myself in my bathroom mirror. Taking off the luminous yellow rubber band, I felt my heart sink slightly due to the fact that Stephen had appeared when I had wanted to. What happened to him always appearing whenever I wore it or put my hand up? Feeling silly and hopeful, I slipped the elastic band around my wrist and ran my hand through my hair to take out my other hair band. Sighing when I still saw nothing, I stalked to my bed and fell into a deep slumber.

PS. It's not proof read, sorry!