Project Ugly// l.h au

2.7// Girl That You Love

Melody opened up her front door for Luke to step in. She was not expecting this, she was still in her clothes from earlier in the day, but she had cried a little bit and hadn't bothered to remove her makeup. She was extremely self conscience of the black smudged underneath her eyes, but she couldn't do anything about it now. 

Melody didn't know where Luke wanted to sit and talk so she stood frozen, like a deer in headlights.

"I'm, um, I'm gonna put this away," she mumbled, gesturing to the half eaten tub of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food.

Luke nodded, "I'll be in your room," he said and started to make his way down the hall. Luke knew from the minute that he walked into Melody's room that she wasn't taking this whole situation well. Her room was usually spotless, and now there were clothes and empty ice cream tubs, and chip packets all over the place. He didn't know where to sit, so he chose her desk chair. He had never been this uncomfortable around her, and he hated it.

Melody walked into the room shortly after, and sat on her bed. "Sorry it's a mess," she muttered, she hadn't looked at his face since he showed up at her door, "So, um, what did you want to talk about?" She already had a good idea of how this conversation would go, Luke would officially break up with her and never speak to her again. Her eyes were starting to fill up with tears again, but she refused to cry in front of Luke again. She'd wait until he had said what he needed to say.

"Mel, I just want to hear you out," Luke said softly. He couldn't believe the tone of his voice, he was angry with her but he couldn't be cruel to her now seeing how unbelievably sad she looked.

"I don't know what you want me to say you know everything," she said quietly.

Luke pursed his lips, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I was going to tell you about the whole clothing thing, but after Ashton told me that you had liked me last year I wasn't sure how to go about it. I knew about the Ashton thing for a while, and everything was going so well.  I didn't want to ruin it, but look where that got me. I wanted to tell you before prom, but I kept procrastinating because I was scared. I feel awful that you found out the way you did."

"I should have known it was you, honestly you don't look that different," Luke sighed.

"Are you mad because I don't usually dress like that or," Melody trailed off, she had to know.

Luke shook his head, "I don't care how much makeup you wear, or how you dress, but I felt like you weren't being yourself. I felt like it was a lie, and I don't know the real you."

"I didn't act any different, Luke," Melody said quickly, "You just got to know me without all the extra stuff. I wanted to dress differently to see if I could do it. I didn't like myself without makeup and nice clothes, I felt like I looked plain and I wanted to change that. Before I met you I made up the plan to dress down and not wear makeup until prom. I didn't think I was going to meet yo" 

"Well I guess I liked you both ways," Luke shrugged.

Melody's heart stopped, he had used the past tense. He "liked" her as in the past, not now. 

"Oh," she breathed, she felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She wanted her mattress to swallow her up and never spit her back out.

"I'm mad because you and Ashton kept this a secret from me. Everyone was in the loop except for me, and it was just a slap in the face," Luke concluded. 

Melody nodded, "So are you going to break up with me now?" 

Luke frowned, he didn't want to break up with her, did he? He was positive that he loved her, and his mom had said he shouldn't let her go, because what they had was hard to find.