Our Everlasting Melody

Our Everlasting Melody (3)

My parents weren't happy that I was living in Blake's apartment, but they weren't about to stop me from staying there. It was like they knew I was hanging on by a thread, and spending all my time at Blake's apartment made me feel better. That was the only reason they let me stay there.

But they had one rule. I had to spend one night a week at home, and I was able to decide which night that would be. I usually stayed on Saturday, now that school started, because Blake's apartment was closer to school so I stayed there on school nights. It also took me a lot of time to get out of bed when I stayed at my house with my parents.

It was really hard. My bed didn't smell like Blake, so it was hard to fall asleep. Even after nearly four months, the bed in Blake's apartment still smelled like him. My bed, however, smelled like me.

It was Saturday night now, and I was sitting on the couch watching TV with my dad while my mom made dinner in the kitchen. We were watching some crime show; one I really didn't care about, and I could tell that my dad really didn't care very much either. There was obviously nothing else on, which sucked considering it was a Saturday night.

"So..." my dad started, and I didn't even turn toward him. I kept my eyes glued to the TV screen, even though I had no idea what was going on. "How's school?"

"Good," I shrugged, since it wasn't exactly a lie. School had been in session for only two weeks, and even though Blake wasn't there, it wasn't exactly the worst thing ever. It actually made me feel a lot better about what was going on. All my friends surrounding me made me realize that I wasn't alone in all of this. "We're going to find out what the play is in drama on Monday."

My dad nodded. "That's good, that's good... You're going to get the lead, right?"

I laughed, not being able to help myself as I said, "I don't know yet, Dad. Auditions are on Friday. We don't even know what the play's going to be, so there's no way to know if I'll be the lead or not."

My dad shrugged, leaning back in his seat on the couch now. "Well, knowing you, you're going to get the lead.

I smiled, smiling into my knees as I pulled them up to my chin and wrapped my arms around my legs. His compliment made me feel happy, and it reminded me of Christian. He made me smile for real after four months of faking.

"I hope I get the lead," I shrugged now, just imagining how great it would be to get up on stage again after a year of taking a break. "It would be a lot of fun."

It was kind of weird, talking to my dad about this. It'd been so long since I'd had a normal conversation with one of my parents, and it was actually really... nice. It was nice talking to them about something that wasn't Blake.

"Dinner's ready!" my mother called out from the kitchen now, and my dad and I both let out sighs as we pushed ourselves up from the couch and toward the dining room. My mother always made such elaborate dinners during the nights I visited, and I just didn't have the heart to tell her that it was really unnecessary because I'd be perfectly fine with a TV dinner.

But I sat down at the table anyway, and I couldn't help but feel awkward sitting there. After living in Blake's apartment for so long, my house just didn't feel like my home anymore. It felt more like a hotel.

"So what were you two talking about in there?" my mother asked us as she spooned some macaroni and cheese onto my plate. "Neither of you sounded interested in the television at all. I'm glad to hear you talking to each other."

I shrugged. "We were just talking about school, that's all. Nothing that important."

It was always so much harder to talk to my mom than it was to talk to my dad. It must have been because of all the things my mother had done to me, since she had always been so much worse than him.