Chapter 16

When she had gotten back to the house she made a beeline for her bedroom. She didn’t stop to talk to Tommy or Angela. She slammed her bedroom door behind her and took off her dress and bra and threw them against the door. She grabbed a tee shirt from her duffel bag and put it on. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and was disgusted with herself. She threw the bottle of suntan lotion at the mirror, nearly breaking it and let out a scream of frustration. She had taken a perfect evening and ruined it while making a complete fool of herself. She couldn’t look at her reflection anymore and threw herself onto the bed, and she sobbed into her pillow. After a few minutes she heard a knock at the door. When she failed to acknowledge it she heard Tommy call her through the door and open it.

“Mel, sweetie can I come in?” he asked quietly. She didn’t answer, she kept her head in the pillow and continued to allow the tears to flow. Tommy came into the room and sat on the edge of her bed next to her, and rubbed her back trying to calm her down. She couldn’t bring herself to face what was happening. “Mel, I’m worried about you, do you wanna tell me what happened?” Melissa tried to ignore her friend. “Please, look at me at least. You wouldn’t talk to me in the car I just want to make sure you’re all right. He didn’t hurt you did he?”

Melissa picked her head up at this. “Of course not. He was perfect. Better than I could have ever imagined. I just made a fool of myself.” Melissa said as the river of tears flowed down her face. “Tommy I can’t do this now,” she said pulling away from him. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed keeping her back to him, as her breathing quickened.

“Melissa,” Tommy started and put his hand on her shoulder.

She jumped at his touch and walked over to the window. “Tommy, please just leave me alone.” She didn’t look back until she heard him cross the room and the door shut.

She walked back over to the bed, and got in hoping for sleep. All she got was a replay of the night. She laid there, seeing her perfect night turn to disaster over again. She heard the door open around midnight and Angela asked her if she was awake. Melissa didn’t want a confrontation with her friend and pretended to be asleep.

“Mel, I don’t know if you’re asleep or not, but I’m worried about you. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here when you wanna tell me what happened,” Angela said and got into the bed next to her. She was asleep within minutes leaving Melissa with her tears and her thoughts.

Melissa hardly slept that night, and when she did doze off it was only for fifteen minutes at a time, and kept replaying the evening in her head. It was getting close to haunting her. I have to get up and do something, she decided around 3:30. She got out of bed quietly, as so not to wake Angela and headed for the kitchen.

I need something to distract me. She looked manically for something to bake. Finally in the last cabinet she found cake mix. She took it out and checked the ingredients, taking them out as she read them. She started mixing ingredients, calming down as she stirred. When the oven reached the appropriate temperature she put in two cake pans, and set the timer. Needing to keep busy she took out some butter and sugar to make icing. She went to work mixing the combination by hand to get out her frustration. After 40 minutes the oven timer beeped, and brought her back to reality. She walked over to the oven and removed her cake leaving it to cool on the stove. She heard footsteps upstairs, but ignored them and returned to her icing, which surprisingly was becoming the necessary consistency. She heard footsteps on the stairs and moved to retrieve her bag of paper work from the table.

Angela appeared at the doorway. “Melissa what are you doing?” she asked sleepily. “It’s 4:15”

“I’m baking. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and found cake mix,” Melissa said bringing her bag to the counter. “I’m sorry did I wake you?”

“Melissa, you should have woken me up. You shouldn’t be alone. Will you please talk to me?” Angela said moving towards the coffee pot. “Tommy told me he upset you when he went to talk to you before. And Richie told me that Jon’s worried about you too. Baby talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about Angela. I made an ass out of myself, and I couldn’t sleep. So I came down to keep myself busy. I started with a cake, and now I’ve got paperwork to do.” Melissa said as tears began falling down her cheeks.

Angela walked over to her friend, and wiped a tear away. “Have a seat let me start some coffee and talk to me. You’re a terrible liar.”

Melissa complied and sat at the counter. “Oh Ang, I don’t know what happened. It all happened so fast. I went from zero to sixty.”

“Just so I’m sure, he didn’t do anything right, I mean I haven’t seen you this worked up in a long, long time.”

“God no Angela. It was just the opposite. He was sweet, so sweet, and polite and gentle.” Melissa started and took a mug of coffee from her friend.

“Ok start from the beginning.” Angela said taking a seat next to her.

And so for the next hour or so Melissa recounted every detail of her evening, from dinner to their walk on the beach, to the move and her meltdown, for lack of a better word. As she told her story the tears came and went, she let everything go. The caffeine helped her let it all out. When she had finished she looked at Angela for support.

“Sweetie, I know you’re not gonna believe me but you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Angela Faith, how could you say that? You didn’t see how I reacted. The look on his face. And what I did to Tommy I couldn’t even look at him,” Melissa said getting up to pour her third cup of coffee.

“Melissa looks at me. Tommy of all people understands, he was just worried about you because he loves you. And Jon called you a couple of times; he’s worried that he did something to upset you. Mel I think he really likes you.”

“Ang, I dunno,” Melissa was interrupted as a timer sounded. “That’s for my cake, wanna help me ice?”

“No matter how many cakes you make isn’t gonna change what happened. You’re gonna have to face this, Mel.” Angela said grabbing her hand.

“I know,” Melissa said reaching for her bowl of icing. “But I don’t know what I’m gonna do, so I need to do some icing.” Angela nodded and Melissa got her two cake pans.

After the cake was finished, a pan of brownies, and three dozen cookies were made, Melissa came to the realization that there was only one thing to do. It was nearly seven thirty, and she had been up for almost four hours. I just want to do it and get it over with. Angela sat at the table reading a magazine, and looked up when she heard Melissa pull another mug from the cabinet.

“What are you doing Mel?”

“I know what I’ve gotta do,” Melissa said pour a new mug of coffee. “And I’ve gotta start by apologizing to Tommy.”

“Mel, that’s not necessary.”

“I know but I shouldn’t have treated him like that. He’s been so good to me. And then I have to go to Jon’s and explain things to him.”

“You’re gonna tell him everything?” Angela asked surprised.

“Not everything just enough. I owe him that much,” Melissa said heading for the stairs.

Melissa said her peace, and was satisfied with Tommy’s reaction. She knew that was nothing compared to what she was going to have to do. She left Tommy’s room and took a shower to clean herself up from her night. She took a pair of Tommy’s sweats and an old tee shirt before making her way downstairs to her friends and the smell of fresh pancakes.

The three friends enjoyed breakfast, forgetting what had happened the previous night. At nine o’clock, Melissa turned to her friends. “Do you think it’s too early? To go over there I mean.”

“You’ve been up long enough, it cant hurt to try right? I’ll drive you over,” Angela offered getting her keys.

“Thanks Angela. Tommy I’ll see you later. I hope your wife makes it back to you,” she said smiling.

“Oh, gee thanks,” he said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Lets go before you change your mind,” Angela said holding her purse.

“Ok, lemme take some of this food as a peace offering. I don’t think we can eat it all. And I can’t forget the pants; I promised I wouldn’t steal them,” Melissa said putting together a plate of brownies, cookies, and cake. “Ok, it’s now or never.”

Melissa and Angela headed to the front door and the car in the driveway. They took the short drive in silence. Angela parked the car in the driveway next to a Hummer that wasn’t there the night before. Melissa took a deep breath, and grabbed her bag of goodies. The two women got out of the car and headed up the walk.

At the front door Angela looked Melissa in the eye. “You’re ok. Just be honest, he’s a good guy. And if it takes a while, I’ll just have to be a loyal friend and wait with his roomie,” Angela said smiling.

Melissa shook her head at her friend and rang the doorbell. This is it. What is it that Jon says? Honeys don’t forget to breathe. Melissa Caroline, don’t forget to breathe. Just as her self pep talk ended, the door opened. Breathe.