Higher Places In Mind - YUNGBLUD - DOMINIC HARRISON-

Chapter 10

Dom and Melanie were hand and hand walking on the pier to the beach " I hate vanilla " Melanie whispered " hm" Dom changed their ice creams,giving Melanie his cookies and cream. Melanie looked up at him a bit confused, it had been 25 days of them dating now and Dom had always found a way to give up something of his for Melanie, always and never with a second guess or a question if she even wanted what he gave her " Why do you always do that?" "do what" "give me something of yours or take care of me before yourself" "it's my job as your devoted boyfriend to give you the world and then some" he put his arm around her neck,kissing her nose as they finally touched the sand, removing his shoes he threw his ice cream in the trash and picked Melanie up bridal style,making her squeal "but all the time Dommy ? " Dom squinted at her " that's a new one" " Dommy?" " yeah, I like it" Melanie leaned up to kiss him but where she was supposed to feel lips soon was drenched in water. Salt water " DOMINIC HARRISON ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME" The boy fell back into the water, giggling his heart out " I'm glad it's funny because I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day" "oh,is that so?" "yes,very much so" Dom walked further into the water in front of Melanie " damn, I wonder who's driving you home than" "mhm" she jumped on his back and they fell in the water. Melanie and Dominic played around together for about twenty minutes,finally coming up to the hot sand afterwards drenched in water" are you hungry piggy" "piggy? that's a new one" she quoted him from earlier and he let out a childish laugh" mhm, you like it?" "oink Oink my good sir, I guess I do" Melanie said with an English accent causing Dom to tumble over in laughter" I never EVER want to hear that again"

" You know...I don't know much about you" Melanie sighed "I don't know your dad's name, I've never spoken to your mom or your sisters and I still haven't gotten an explanation as to why you stalked me when I worked at the book store" Melanie started reminiscing the day she finally quit the job,telling her elder boss that she had things to do-which basically meant making out with Dom in the back of the movie theater every week- .Dominic tensed up, still obviously not ready to give up that part of himself yet "reminds me,can you come with me to pick out some new books? I've read the ones I have already" Melanie stared at him, putting her fork on the restaurant table " you always switch the conversation, you spend a lot of money on me, you tense up when I ask normal questions-" "Melanie" Dominic tried interrupting her but she just kept going"you never want to talk about yourself, you always want to talk about me and my family when you basically know all there is to know about them, and you get mad at me when I ask you can you open up-" "MELANIE" Dom shouted at her,slamming his palm on the table. Melanie stared up at him a bit shocked. In the time Melanie had known Dominic he had never gotten mad at her,hadn't even raised his voice at her,so she was completely caught off guard"Have you actually told me ANYTHING about yourself ? you seem to only want to eat and make out "she said back bitterly "you know I care about you " "than tell me about you, you're not letting me"Melanie reached for his hand but Dominic pulled away,whipping his mouth and getting up from the table after leaving payment for the meal. 'Did he really just leave?' Melanie thought to herself. She got up and went to the front after him,thanking the waiter who walked by a bit puzzled at the couple that was just laughing like there was no tomorrow storming out with angry looks on their faces.

Mel found Dominic outside leaning on his car with a cigarette to his lips, huffing with an angry look on his face. She walked up to him and pushed him aside, opening the passenger seat door and pulling her coat out. Melanie put it on and started walking towards the bus station next to the restaurant " oh come on Melanie" he ran after her, grabbing her arm" don't touch me" she snatched it away,stumbling. Dominic grabbed her face and wiped tears that she didn't even know were coming out of her eyes " how dare you get angry at me and scream and humiliate me in public because YOU won't communicate with ME?" Dom threw his cigarette,kicking a rock near him out of frustration " maybe I'm trying to PROTECT you ! Maybe my life's so fucked up I don't want you involved in it all,yeah?" "well that doesn't answer all the questions does it?" Dom shrugged as if he didn't know what she was referring to " YOU STALKED ME AT MY JOB DOMINIC, THAT'S NOT NORMAL" He laughed dryly and she grimaced " oh so you have an explanation for that?" she gripped her coat closer to her and started walking backwards towards the station,him walking with her " STOP" she shouted at him,now the tears flowing as she shivered in the cold " listen, just come to the car in the heat, okay? Can you at least give me that?" "you're acting like I'm taking something from you Dominic" he stared at her blankly" please?"  he leaned his arm out for her" fine"

When they made it to the car Dominic quickly turned the heater on,looking over to make sure she could feel it. The girl was staring right at him with her jaw clenched. 'shes a hell of a fighter' Dom thought to himself, looking over at her pouting with her hands on the heater. He chuckled.Maybe it was time to tell her what he dreaded even speaking about

He sighed.

" I really like you Melanie" her head snapped towards his " okay " she said bitterly,crossing her jacket on her lap. Dominic looked between her and the windshield whippers, letting out a cough before clearing his throat " your dad used to play guitar" Melanie felt her breath hitch in her throat "..yes?" " I-" he sighed once again before continuing " I started learning guitar when I was fourteen, my grandpa and your father were close friends from school" Melanie sat up,feeling like a brick had just been thrown at her. Her reaction was shock but shocked was an understatement " my grandpa got too old and too tired to teach me how to play the guitar,so when your father was in America he'd Skype me and play with me for hours"

Melanie put her hand over her heart, remembering walking into her dads study when she was just thirteen, asking him to play soccer with her. She remembered him strumming his guitar on video camera with a kid around her age, the kid looking at her in the camera as if he'd never seen a girl before.

" Melanie come here I want you to meet a friend of mine" Melanie walked over with her soccer ball in hand. When she came upon the camera Dominic sat up straight, putting his guitar on what she assumed was his dresser " sup dude" she said nonchalantly, causing her father to laugh " h-hi, i'm Dom" she nodded " I'm Melanie,but everyone calls me Mel. Why do you sound like that" " like what?" "like this" Melanie mocked Dominic's English accent,her father snickering behind her looking at her and the computer in admiration" I'm from England"Dominic chuckled" oh! you're British" "yes" Melanie's dad scooted the chair up,waving at Dom " okay Dominic i'll speak to you later,I have to go now" her father waved goodbye to the boy and Melanie walked towards the door" Daddy who's that?" "a friend of the family's" he said,walking with his little girl to the backyard to play soccer.

Melanie realized Dominic was talking,basically telling her about what she had just saw. They both sat there afterwards,both too drained to say anything " why didn't you just tell me " he sighed " I knew how difficult it'd be, the real reason we're here is because my grandfather left my dad his childhood house in the neighborhood he was raised in before his parents sent him back to England.That's why I know so much about you, because I grew up hearing your father talk about you and how much we were alike" Melanie didn't realize it but her eyes were watering up " I-" he pulled her face towards his,kissing her softly while whipping her tears away" I realized this would happen" he whispered onto her lips " I feel like I saw you grow up but you never knew I existed,when we moved here I couldn't wait to meet you and become friends but than I saw how beautiful you were, the pictures your dad had sent didn't amount to how beautiful you truly are " Melanie stared up at him with dough eyes and the boy turned his body towards her, now looking intently at her lips waiting for her to talk " say something" he whispered again ,pulling her face back to his.

"I love you" Melanie whispered back. Dominic let her chin go,leaning up to the steering wheel in shock" I ...I love you more" Melanie crawled on top of him and attached their lips. She didn't know where she was going with this but for some reason she didn't care, she didn't care about it anymore" you're not mad"Dominic gently pulled her away from him,grabbing her back to keep her close" there's no way I could be" she kissed him again. Truth be told Melanie didn't know how to reply to what he told her. She knew she was happy but also she was extremely in awe. If she knew Dominic was that close to her all this time she would've done everything she could to get him earlier. She couldn't help but think of all the time she wasted,like at the library when he came in leaving her money and talking to her about his shirt from Nevada. How she could've had him in her arms when she went through her panic attacks and depressive states. He could've been there.

Melanie and Dominic weren't holding on to anything anymore, pulling each others clothes off in the parking lot, Dominic pulled her from him right before she finally released her bra " not here" the eager girl sighed " not again" he laughed into her collarbone, sighing from the long make out session they just had " no, I mean not here. Somewhere else" " now?" "if that's what you want" he looked up into her eyes and she kissed his lips softly,

"that's all I want right now"