Her distressed body contradicted the comfort vibes that the bed gave to her, as she tossed and turned in the sheets. Her mind was taking her places that she hoped it wouldn’t, nagging at her, yelling at her. Melanie’s eyebrows furrowed furiously as she turned over again, before prying open her eyelids. The tears poured out as her pupils fought to get used to the lack of light in the massive bedroom. She wasn’t over her phobia of being in big spaces in the dark, which is why she found herself in Justin’s bed, in his comfort zone.
Which was also why, she was fighting her conscience that decided to irk her in her dreams as if it were some sort of monster. However to her, it was. The monsters that she thought she saw in the guestroom she was temporarily sleeping in, were nothing compared to the ones in her mind. Because she was scared of the things hanging on the wall in her room, she was able to sneak in the bed with Justin that night. He was willing to let her in his bed that night, which surprised her because he hadn’t been that nice to her earlier that day.
Her secret actions, quiet words, and her self-conscious altercations began to get the best of her, but they all stemmed from one person. One person, whom she beckoned affectionate names, and smiled at when she was near. One person, who could be cheating on her at that very moment, while she lay in her sorrow, yet being comforted by her side flame. She looked around the abstract room and noticed the color variations-black and white. The colors clashed in some parts, and blended in others, making a neutral gray.
She turned over slightly and looked at Justin’s peaceful, angelic state. His lips were slightly parted and his long, eyelashes slightly graced the tops of his cheeks. His skin shown brightly, even in the darkness, and his loving personality even showed slightly in his slumber. He wasn’t intrusive with her, she remembered, he gave her the space she needed to sleep, and didn’t try to touch her where his touches weren’t wanted. He respected her, he cherished her, and he respected her opinions and motives. But, she knew that she truly pissed him off sometimes and he had every right to be angry with her when she did, for she was often found to be angry with herself.
However, the person that ran hot and cold, still managed to keep her mind occupied. She wondered what Damien was doing at the moment, who he was talking to, who he was dreaming about, and if he was having trouble sleeping just as she was. Deep down, she knew that Damien wasn’t any good, he’d trick her into things, making her believe he’d changed. But, her pride constantly got in the way, and she constantly scolded herself for that weakness. Melanie found herself waiting on him to tell her it had all been a joke. Tell her that it had been a set up, just so he could find confidence, and that he was only in the relationship for himself. Her longing side always told her that he did have a good side, he just had trouble letting it show, for she’d seen it numerous times.
He was the perfect man for her in the beginning, and much like a roller coaster, he brought her up to the highest place possible, but she’d find herself plummeting not long after, while he stayed high, looking down at her. She continued to get back in line, though and go on that ride once again- it intoxicated her. She needed it just to say that she was brave enough to say she rode one of the scariest rides. Surely, she would be the coolest person in the group then. She tossed and turned once again, and wiped her weeping eyes. She clung to the silk sheets, searching for comfort in something tangible. Instead, something that was also tangible wrapped an arm around her waist slowly, and she sighed as her body melted into the front of his. Justin’s warmth warmed her body and he sighed deeply, making sure to kiss the back of her head.
“Are you okay?” He mumbled, and she was still able to hear the concern in his groggy voice.
“Yeah,” She said softly and smiled just the same.
“Are you sure? We can talk if you want,” He offered.
Melanie slightly declined his offer by shaking her head, and grabbing his hand. She intertwined their fingers now, and kissed his hand admiringly. Sooner or later, her eyes slowly began to drift shut and her mind calmed down a bit. Her roller coaster ride was slowing down momentarily, and was coming toward a turn in her life.
****
The sun was allowed to shine through the vertical, long glass windows when Nancy, a housekeeper, opened the curtains to Justin’s balcony window. She turned, and looked down at the two, peaceful in their slumber at the wee 8 o’ clock hour. A grin formed on her face to see Justin looking so content in his sleep, contrary to how he was when he lived in California. To her, part of him was still living there, playing jokes on her. She admired Justin, even though he had his slip-ups. He was more than just someone she worked for, he was her friend too. It broke her heart when she used to see him come in the house, hurt, torn, drunk, and smelling of weed. It warmed her heart now to see him happy again, smiling and even more compassionate-the glimmer was in his eyes again. Nancy bent over now, and picked up some of the clothes that were thrown across the floor. All of a sudden, she heard someone stir in the bed, and assuming it was Justin, she lifted her head and smiled.
“Oh hi, Melanie.” The petite woman, clad in a tan uniform said.
Melanie grinned warily, and sighed. “Hi. This isn’t what it looks-“
“Oh no, no need to explain to little old me. It’s fine. Would you like me to help you with anything?”
Melanie looked around and thought, “No, I’m fine.”
“You can get me some orange juice though.” The two ladies turned their heads in Justin’s direction at the sound of his voice that was muffled under the pillows and sheets.
Nancy rolled her eyes at him. “Go get it yourself.”
Melanie was amused to see her say that to Justin, but she figured it was routine. All of a sudden, Justin sat straight up in the bed. “No, you go get it.”
“Justin, you’ve been getting things for yourself without my help now. I’m sure you can get your lazy butt up and get some orange juice.”
“Of course I can, but you get paid to do things that I’m too lazy to do, so go get me some orange juice…please.” He then flashed her a quick smile and caught the stuffed animal she threw at him. Nancy began to leave the room, in route to the kitchen and Justin yelled, “I love you, Nancy!”
There was a distant ‘whatever’ yelled, and Justin sighed and looked at his room. He’d missed it, for sure. It was three times the size of the one in Chicago.
“Thank you for letting me sleep in here last night, Justin,” Melanie said quietly.
“No problem, chicken.” He smirked.
“That room is scary! I’m not a chicken.”
“Yeah-huh.”
“Yeah-huh, Justin? What are we, like in 4th grade?” Melanie chuckled and rolled her eyes. “It’s not my fault there are all these huge ass paintings and animal heads on the wall.”
“You are a chicken. No matter what you say, you will always be a chicken.” He eyed the frustrated girl that sat next to him in the bed through the corner of his eye, and laughed.
“I’m not a chicken!”
“Fine. Scaredy pants.” He looked at her and rose his eyebrows.
“You are so immature,” Melanie grumbled and threw the covers off of her body. Unfortunately, some of them were tangled and she had a hard time trying to get out of the large bed. After flailing her arms at the sheets with embarrassment, she finally stumbled out of the bed.
“Nuh-uh!” He yelled at her retreating form as it walked toward the walk-in closet. Justin friskily hopped off of his bed, having no trouble with the sheets, and followed her. When he got close enough, he wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up, and spun her around. “You owe me an apology.”
“For what?” Melanie scoffed.
“For yesterday! Starting to bitch at me,” Justin explained vaguely.
“Whatever, Justin. I don’t owe you shit. You deserved my words,” She begged to differ.
Justin now stood in front of Melanie. “Not all of them.”
“Most of them.” She softly poked him in the chest.
“Can you do me a favor, and not poke my boobs? You don’t see me poking yours,” Justin whined and rubbed his pectoral muscles as if they were hurting.
“You want to though.” Melanie laughed, and continued her truck into the closet.
Justin laughed and followed her into the closet in search of something to put over his body. “Hey Melly?” He pulled out a pair of jeans that still had the tags on them.
“Yes? Don’t call me that. It’s really…white.” She scrunched up her nose because of her lack of a better word.
“Have you checked the color of my skin? It will be darker by the end of the week. I’ll look Mexican.” Melanie laughed out loud. “How bout I call you fat cheeks?” When he got a grunt from Melanie, he said, “It fits. You have fat cheeks cause you have a fat ass. Move girl, I’ll light ya ass on fire.”
“Justin, stop being so dirty,” She said as she rummaged through her suitcase for a cute outfit. “Let’s not fight anymore okay? I want to enjoy myself while I’m here.” She looked up at him, and grinned when he snapped his head in her direction.
“I’m a lover not a fighter, but I’m sure if you keep your big mouth shut, no disagreements will occur.” He smiled at her.
Melanie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Whatever, Justin. What am I gonna wear?”
“You could walk around naked- you’ll be the flyest girl in LA, man.”
“Justin, what are we gonna do today?” She pulled out a pair of red cotton shorts that had ‘Ecko’ sprawled across the backside, and the jacket that went with it.
Justin made a noise as he pulled out a pair of white shorts. He looked at them, shook his head, and put them back on the rack. “Whatever you want. No…wait. Whatever I want- do you have a dance class today?”
Melanie walked over to him now, and stood next to him as he shifted through his enormous space filled with clothes. “Nope. I start tomorrow. What was wrong with the white ones?”
He shook his head, “They’re ugly now.”
“They weren’t before?”
“No. Before they were sexy. Now, they’ve lost their appeal. Everything in here has lost its appeal.” He grunted and made a sad face.
Melanie rose her head and looked at the racks that were even above her head. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at different parts of the closet that had clothes arranged by color-dark to light. “Justin…”
“Okay, not everything but most of it. Should I wear the dark blue ones?” Without waiting for an answer he said, “Yeah…those are good. Then I’ll wear this shirt…” he walked over to the side that had all the shirts and pulled out a bright blue South Pole cotton shirt. “…And this hat.” He moved now to the shelves with his hats and pulled out the blue and white trucker hat that had a blank face, and blue see-through material around it. Justin turned to Melanie now and said, “What do you think? Yes? No? Justin, you’re so fine?”
Melanie shook her head and grinned, “Yeah that looks good.”
“Wrong. You’re supposed to say ‘Justin, you’re so fine’.” The excited boy left the closet now, and laid his clothes on his bed when he entered his room.
Melanie followed him out and decided to look around the large room while he fiddled with the entertainment system. She made her way to his nightstand now and picked up the glass picture frame that stood proudly. She looked at the smiling girl standing next to Justin. This girl was different, however, and Melanie recognized that she wasn’t Kelice. Her hair was jet-black and up in a high ponytail that sat on top of her head. She wore make-up, and the end of a lollipop was sticking out of her smiling mouth.
“What are you looking at?” She heard Justin ask and she turned around and faced him, lacking a shirt, and hesitated at the scene. His muscles had definitely gotten tighter since he’d been playing basketball so much. “Who’s this?”
Justin held out his hand, motioning for Melanie to show him the frame. Once she did, he grinned and shook his head. “That’s my home-girl Deanna. She’s like the best. I had a crush on her in 8th grade, but I never told her.”
“Why not?”
“Because Kelice would’ve had a heart attack if she found out. She found out everything. Plus, it didn’t help that Deanna didn’t really like her that much and Kelice was jealous of our friendship.” Justin made a face.
Melanie nodded her head. “Well, I wanna meet her…both of them.”
“I’m gonna try and keep you as far away from Kelice as possible.” He shook his head in protest before finally putting on his shirt.
“Why!” Melanie whined.
“Cause you’ll kick her ass before we leave.” Justin laughed at the face his friend gave him. “Don’t look at me like that! You know it’s true.”
Melanie laughed and sat on the bed, watching Justin dress. Immediately, her eyes landed on his butt that snugly fit into his boxers and she grinned. Justin was oblivious to her staring, however, and she was thankful. “I need to call Damien.” She felt weird saying such a thing when they were having such a good time, but she needed to.
“Sorry, I can’t let you do that,” Justin said and looked at his reflection in the floor length mirror on the back of his door.
“Why not?”
“Cause that’s a waste of money. Remember when you taught me about how to spend my money?”
“But, technically I’m spending your dad’s money cause he’s paying the bill. You spend your dad’s money so why can’t I?”
“Because he’s my dad, not yours.” Justin looked at her seriously. “If you want to call him, use your cell phone.”
“Would you be mad if I called him?” Melanie looked him in the eyes curiously.
“Would it matter?” Justin walked around to his dresser and picked up a bottle of cologne.
“To me, yeah.”
“He’s your boyfriend, not mine.” He sprayed the Curve cologne on his body, and began to lotion his hands. “You’re not my daughter-you can call whoever you want. But, if I don’t like the person, you’re not using the telephone. If it was Chasity, sure. She’s cool.”
“I’m gonna go get dressed,” Melanie said and silently left the bedroom in route to the bathroom.
Justin looked at her retreating form and shook his head when the phone rang. It took him a while to find it, but soon he saw the black device sitting on the charger on his nightstand.
“Justin,” He answered.
“So, it’s true.” Randall’s low raspy voice came on the phone.
“What’s true?” Justin’s tone changed from content to discontent quickly.
“That you’re staying at the house. I thought you, being the strong, independent male that you are, would’ve stayed somewhere else. There’s no place like home huh son?” Randall chided.
“What do you want?” he said impatiently.
“Don’t worry, you can stay. You’re lucky, son. After all the shit you’ve put me through.”
“Shit that I’ve put you through? I think you have that mixed up.” Justin rolled his eyes.
“I’m gonna be home in two days.”
“Why?”
“Because my work here is done,” Randall said nonchalantly.
“Oh, so you’ve screwed all the hoes you can handle?” Justin said harshly.
“You’re one to talk,” Randall threw back.
“Excuse me? I know how to keep my dick in my pants.”
“You had to learn the hard way though, Justin.” Justin’s insides quivered at his father’s accusations, as he touched an open wound. “Oh? Did I hit a soft spot?”
“Shut the hell up,” Justin sneered.
“Let me guess. You found someone out there. Someone you’re interested in, and hiding your secret from?”
Justin yelled a loud profanity and hung up the phone fiercely, causing it to make a loud noise as it connected with the charger. His breathing became jagged and his closed his eyes for a moment in order to calm down.
“What’s wrong?” Melanie asked, now changed.
Justin looked over his shoulder and stared at her. “Nothing. Let’s go to JC’s house…I can’t be here anymore.” He quickly and silently made his way out his room now, and Melanie followed him diligently.
“Are you sure everything-“
“I’m fine!” Justin yelled as he made his way down the stairs.
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