Laughing into Love

Chapter 46: A Photo and a Fight

All the guys get up in front of the crowd and give a little toast to the filming of season 7. Everyone cheers and hollers and the music continues. They take a photo for their Instagram and Twitter pages and all wander off to find their dates. Melanie stood in the middle of the crowd so Brian found her quickly. "So glad that's over with." He mumbles as they embrace for a hug.

"What? You give presentations in front of strangers all the time. How is that hard?" She asks.

He explains, "it's different when it's serious and around people you know."

"I guess so" she agrees, "I need another vodka soda, want a refill?" She asks, about to move towards the bar.

"I'll get it" he kisses her on the lips then leaves to get them their drinks. As Melanie waits for Brian to get back, she sees Marcus and Shelly enter from the front. Her stomach knots with disgust, still upset Marcus got away with everything he did. She tries to pitty Shelly, and not hate her for not listening to her advice but she can't help but feel a bit angry. If she's stupid enough to ignore everyone around her to be with him, then that's her problem. Melanie turns her back to them, tapping her foot to the music to try and get her mind off of them being feet away. "One vodka soda!" Brian hands her the cup with a grin and Melanie quickly drinks it down. "Wow, okay. Looks like it's going to have to be me keeping up with you tonight." He winks and takes a big sip of his whiskey.

Melanie half smiles but points to her glass and says to him, "ima get another" and she leads him over to the bar. She gets another and starts to sip at it slowly. Luckily, they start engaging in conversation with some people and she's easily brought out of her bad mood. A few drinks later she manages to get Brian to the edge of the dance floor and as he holds his arms around her waist she sways to the music. She knows not to ask him to dance with her so she just enjoys what she has. A minute later, the song changes to something slow and people start to couple up to dance. "Want another drink?" She asks as she turns to look at him.

"Dance with me?" He asks, throwing her off.

"Yeah?" Her smile is beyond wide and Brian is glad he asked. He nods and she nods. They move a few steps in and start to slow dance together. When it's over, she quickly embraces his lips with hers then says, "thank you, I know you hate to dance."

"Anything for you" He returns, kissing her back again. When they pull apart, she squeezes him in a hug then leans up on her toes and whispers to him, "wanna get out of here?"

He smirks and nods, "I'll get our coats" he returns, moving to go get them. Melanie waits for him but a small crowd forming at the front of the building gets hers and most other people's attention and she moves to go and see what's going on. By the time she's close, she hears a few whispers and hears "Q" said and whispered among the crowd more than twice.

She pushes her way through people, "what's going on?" She asks as she does. Eventually she's able to see and she sees Sal and David holding Brian back as Marcus lays flat on his ass on the ground holding at his bloodied face.

When Brian left to get their coats, he waited outside the coat closet for the attendant. As he waited, he heard someone say Melanie's name and his ears perked like a rabbits would. He listened as the voice said, "yea, his girl Melanie is actually a little kinky. Here, look at this." He turns the corner to see what someone is talking about and loses it when he sees Marcus holding his phone out for some people to look at. Marcus catches his eye and smirks, "you might have your own shots now, but don't miss out on this one either bud." He turns the phone over just a little and Brian can see just enough to know that it's Melanie. He loses it and lunges at him, taking them both to the ground.

He throws punch after punch into his face and it's not until two people work at getting him off does his fist stop connecting with his skin, "if I ever see you around here again I'll fuckin end you!" Brian hollers at him and curses some more.

Sal tries to calm his friend down, "Q! Q! Q! Brian! Hey! Calm down! Brian!"

Brian continues to cuss Marcus out as he's being held back. It's not until he hears Melanie say his name does he stop trying to attack Marcus. "Brian!" She calls to him again, confused by what is going on.

"Let me go" Brian growls as he turns to find her face in the crowd.

Melanie sees a few people looking at her, but she ignores them. She's too worried about Marcus bleeding on the floor and Brian being the one who beat him down there, "Brian, what happened?"

"Let's go, we're leaving." He manages to get away from Sal and David and grabs Melanie by the hand. He forces her to take the stairs down as she tries to ask him what happened. Once outside, Brian lets go of her hand and exhales heavily, slowly pacing the area. Both are too heated to even realize they didn't get their coats.

Melanie watches him with concern, and eventually puts her hand out to touch his arm, "hey, hey. What happened in there?"

Brian brings his eyes to hers, not sure he even wants to tell her what Marcus was doing. Her eyes search his for answers and he knows he can't not tell her, "let's go back to your apartment and we can talk there." He says, moving to grab her hand.

"Brian, you were just beating up Marcus! What happened? Did he say something to you?" She asks, not wanting to go to her apartment until she figures out what happens.

"Come on" He tries again, urging with her to come with him.

She stands firmly in place, "Brian, no. What happened?" She demands again.

Brian bites the inside of his lip for a few seconds but he lowly tells her, "he was showing off that picture of you to people."

"Wait, What?" She asks, actually not following what he is saying.

He says it again, stepping closer to get it out in a whisper, "he was showing that selfie you sent to him while you were dating to some of the people in there."

Melanie's eyes instantly start to water but she also can't control how angry she feels. Her hands shaking "who? Who did he show?" She asks, afraid that any one of the jokers would have seen it. She's mortified no matter what, but the idea of Joe, Murray or Sal seeing it makes her nauseas. Sal's her boss and they are all Q's friends, she doesn't think she'd be able to face them ever again if they saw that photo.

Brian shakes his head, surprised at her question, "I—
I uhh, a few sound guys, an intern I think. I wasn't paying attention to them."

Melanie stands frozen in place, her mind racing. After a few moments of silence, she eventually hums out, "is it still on there?"

"What?" He asks back.

"On the phone? Did you delete it?" She asks him, pleads to him to tell her he did.

He looks down, "I didn't think— uh no, I didn't delete it." She quickly swivels her body to head back inside to find that jackass and get rid of the photo once and for all. "Melanie, stop. Where are you going?!" Brian catches up to her. He places his hand gently on her shoulder but it's enough to stop her.

She looks at him, still trying to fight the tears from falling, "I'm deleting it, he can't do that. He has no right to do that!" She starts to get uncontrollably upset and the tears pour out, "Brian, he can't do that." She just starts to repeat herself as the mortifying reality sets in. He can do that, because he just did. She's not underage and she sent the photo willingly to him. Brian pulls her close into his chest and rubs her back as she cries. He manages to shuffle them into a cab and get her back to her apartment as she releases her emotions.