Open mind for a different View

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Eric laid back on his bed feeling like the world’s biggest jerk. He hated that he had hurt Mel. His ego was bruised and with his friends standing there he played into the role they all expected from him. He couldn’t get the hurt lacing her eyes out of his head, she had looked betrayed and he couldn’t blame her.

He was the fool that was falling for someone he shouldn’t be, she had done nothing wrong to be humiliated and hurt in front of almost the whole school.

Lena came bursting into his room. “What the hell has gotten into you? Everyone is talking about what happened with you and Mel.” She hadn’t been there and missed the whole thing. “You’ve been moody all week and she won’t tell me anything so you better spit it out.”

He sat up, deciding to cave and share his shame. “I kissed her and she turned me down. I didn’t handle it well.”

“No kidding!” she slipped him on the arm as she sat on the bed. “I told you to forget about her and it was a mistake but you never listen. You can’t be mad at her for reacting that way.”

“She’s never going to forgive me.”

~*~

Mel could kill Eric for what he did but at the same time it did give her the courage to talk to Anthony about their relationship and finally take that next step. They had been kidding themselves when they talked about being friends and tried to convince others of the same thing, there was a lot more between them then friendship. She would’ve pulled all her hair out if he had kissed her on the cheek one more time.

She laid back on his bed and listened as he strummed his guitar. “You don’t want to work on your assignment?” 

Anthony chuckled from his spot on the floor, his fingers not stopping. “No we can’t do that either.”

Her eyes drifted up to the ceiling. “Ok then maybe I should go and you can do something productive.”

“This is productive.” He turned around and kissed her when she least expected it. His guitar laid forgotten on the floor as he climbed over her on the bed. “It’s just going to get worse if we keep trying to dance around it. We can kiss.”

“Sure.” With him on top of her and his lips ever so close to her mouth she didn’t care the reasoning as long as he kept doing what he was doing.

Simply kissing was never just that, it didn’t take long for his hands to start moving under her shirt. She gasped when his hand closed around her breast; the thin material of her bra did nothing to protect her from the heat radiating from his palm. She arched her back and pressed her body farther into his. Her hands shook as they moved over the front of his shirt; she wanted to feel him too. The muscles on his chest jumped with excitement as her hands gave them attention.

With a groan Anthony stopped the kiss and pinned her hands down on the bed. “We can’t, baby.”

Baby? She really liked the sound of that.  “No one has to know.” She moved her body closer to him again. “I want to.”

His blue eyes showed the wrestling match he was having with what he believed was right and what his body was screaming for him to do. He was saved from having to make that difficult choice when someone knocked on the front door. He jumped out of the bed. “I have to get that.”

Amelia resisted the urge to scream and got up. She should get home anyway before her mom got worried about how much time she was away. She grabbed her backpack and turned away toward the living room section.

It was Eric at the door and Anthony looked ready to strangle him. Her blood turned to ice. “I’m sorry.” Eric blurted after noticing she was there.

She fought the tears that stung her eyes. “Don’t.” she looked at Anthony and found strength there. “I’m gonna go, my mom was expecting me on time today.” She left the studio apartment in record speed after that.

~*~

Seeing her there with his brother still stung. Eric truly did regret how he hurt her and found it ironic that she had no idea how she was hurting him.  As much as he tried not to he had feelings toward her and here she was with his brother. The ache was raw in his chest and he had no idea how to fix it.

“What the hell possessed you to say that to her?” Tony’s deep and furious voice broke though his thoughts.

It dawned on Eric that his brother didn’t know about the kiss. Mel had the perfect chance to paint him as the bad guy and didn’t. “I fucked up, I know that ok?”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pound on you? Or better yet rat you out to mom for being a royal jerk and let her torture you with a long speech about how she raised you to be a gentlemen?”

Eric groaned. “I’d rather take the punch. Mel and I disagreed about something and I reacted badly. I didn’t mean it.” he didn’t know how to put his regrets into words, he never ever wanted to hurt her and now he was the person who hurt her the most.

“It must’ve been pretty big for you to throw your friendship in her face.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Tony had never been one to push. “Ok. Why did you come over?”

Eric’s shoulders sank and he took the seat on the couch his brother motioned to. “I’m glad you’re not kicking me out on my ass.”

“You’re still my brother and you always will be.”

That only made him feel like an even bigger jerk. “I came over to ask if you spoke to Mel and get your advice on what I should do.”  

“Groveling would be a good start and so would be explaining why you would say such stupid shit. I’d hold off on trying to talk to her though, she’s not ready to listen.”

“No she’ll storm away and slam the door in my face.” Eric agreed. “I know she told you what happened, why else was she here?”

“She wanted to know if I was spending time with her out of pity like you. We talked and cleared it up and I told her not to fault me for your idiot choices. We also cleared up the fact I see her as lot more then a friend.” He was excited to share.

Eric did a good job at hiding his reaction, only wincing on the inside. “Really? And she feels the same way?” he asked but deep down in his heart he knew the answer to that. It had been staring him in the face for days now.

“Yeah, thankfully. I can’t have my girl and my brother at odds. I know this sounds selfish but I don’t want to be in the middle.”

Eric chuckled, if his brother only knew how true that statement was. “I’ll fix it, as soon as I come up with a fool proof plan.”