Melody's Crush

Final Chapter

"Mel?" Jake's voice took on a sad tone in the dark.

"Yeah?" I hung on for his question with bated breath.

"Why did you kiss Kyle?"

Something sharp pierced my lungs making it difficult to breathe. The door handle started rattling as my hand started to shake. Would Jake leave me again if I told him the truth?

"It's okay, Mel. You don't have to answer." His voice was almost inaudible.

"No. No. I... I want to tell you. Just give me about five more minutes to get these things out of my hair and throw on my pj's. Okay?"

He didn't answer.

"Okay, Jake?" My voice was a little louder but I was desperate for him not to leave just yet.

"Yeah," came his weak reply which had me believing he wouldn't stay. The possibly that this was all too much for him dawned on me and I figured he would scooch back out the window before I could get dressed.

Stepping back into the closet, I closed the door and quickly pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt hoping I had the tags right side in.

Reaching my hands up to my hair, I felt around pulling out bobby pin after bobby pin until my arms were shaking from keeping my arms up so long.

Thirty-eight pins and five minutes later, I was able to get my fingers through all my curls and rubbed my fingertips across my scalp massaging until I no longer had the desire to wince in pain.

Taking a reassuring breath, it was time to let Jake know how I really felt about Kyle. One sided crushes were agonizing. Waiting for the other person to come around is not something I wished on Jake. Especially when the one he was waiting on would never see him as anything more than a best friend and brother.

After tonight, he would either accept how I felt about Kyle or let me go completely.

And I was ready for it.

Opening the door a crack, I stepped into the room expecting to see the window open. But instead, it was closed and the curtains had been pulled together allowing only a small sliver of light to spill over the foot of the bed.

Looking around the room, I didn't see Jake's frame anywhere.

My lips did a little downward tug as I moved over to the side of my bed. I reached for the lamp but thought it better to keep it off. If my mother walked down the hall and saw light spilling from under the crack, she would definitely start banging on the door.

Right now, she thought I was still dancing. With my car still parked at school, she would no doubt believe I found prince charming and would be staying past midnight.

"Pha... right," I said to myself as I dropped onto the bed.

"Jeez, Jake! You scared the crap out of me." I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt Jake's body lying in the bed. "I thought you left already," I said bringing my voice down along with my heart rate.

He didn't respond.

Letting out a breath, I lifted my hands to clasp over my chest as I settled in next to him, my eyes staring up at the dark ceiling.

Jake didn't move.

Was he sleeping?

Placing a hand on his shoulder, I shook him. "Jake," I whispered.

Nothing.

I shook again with a little more force. "Jake! I need to talk to you," I said in a rush.