Melody's P.O.V.
When I wake up the next morning, Marshall isn't by my side, so I can only assume he must be at the studio.
I know this guy too well, and it kimd of flatters me, honestly. The fact that our night together had inspired him and all.
I roll out of bed, brush my teeth, take a quick shower, and then put some clothes on.
I make my way downstairs to the kitchen as I feel hungry as hell.
Only to see Hailie and Alaina sitting there at the table.
Well great. This is kind of awkward, but at the same time, I always knew that I would have to face them sometime.
"Morning, girls," I say awkwardly, taking a seat at the kitchen aisle next to them.
"Oh, hi Melody," Hailie says and rolls her eyes at me.
I swear to fucking God, if it was Lyric I would've been snatches her ass up right now for being so disrespectful.
But at the end of the day, no matter how I may feel about her, Hailie is, by all intends and purposes, Marshall's daughter, so it is not my place to try to discipline her how I would've liked to.
I can, however, at least try to straighten things out with her and Alaina right now.
"Okay now girls, let's talk," I say firmly, looking sternly at each of them. "Whatever problems y'all have with me, we are gonna lay it out on the table. Right now."
"Oh okay," Alaina says, and she leans forward to face me. "Let's talk, Melody."
Oh, so it really is gonna be like that, huh? I think to myself as I lean forward too.
"Yeah, let's talk," I say with a smile on my face. "But before we do, one thing you two need to understand is that y'all are gonna show me some respect as we do so. I am not you enemy. So whatever y'all..."
"Don't even talk to us about respect, Melody," Alaina cuts me off. "Not with how you banged our dad last night."
"What?!" I exclaim.
"Um, yeah, Melody, we've heard you two last night. The whole house has heard you," Alaina states. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves, cause it's honestly disgusting."
They have heard us?!
Does it mean that Lyric and Whitney have heard too? God, they are just kids, this is way out of line!
And the thing is, I didn't think we were even that loud...
"Yeah, Melody, so..."
"Yeah, so nothing!!" I suddenly snap. "Look, girls, I'm sorry y'all heard that, but..."
"Yeah, like you and dad really should have kept it down..."
"Hailie, I'm talking right now! Like I said, I'm so sorry you two heard that, but even so, at the end of the day, whatever me and your father do, is between us. And I'm not about to sit here and have two teenage girls shame me for it. But what we are about to do is clarify some things. You guys need to understand that I love y'all and I've never abandoned you."
"You did though, Mel. You have abandoned both us, and our dad," Hailie says, and it takes everything in me not to speak ill on their own mother.
"No, I haven't," I shake my head.
"You know," Alaina now says, staring at me thoughtfully. "Back when dad first went back with mom, we were actually happy. I mean, we still missed you, Melody, kind of. But at the end of the day, we were also so happy that he was finally back with our mom and we could all finally be a family. What kid wouldn't want that, right? But then, we've noticed that they would fight all the time. I mean, they tried to hide it from us, but we could still see. And daddy was always sad. So sad. And it broke both me and Hailie's heart that he was always so sad. Eventually, we realized that it was because he was missing you. He really missed you, Melody! And you just up and left him. And us!! And it took what, him almost dying for you to finally care again?! So excuse us, if we don't really trust you right now!"
I sit there and I listen to Alaina's little monolog, and it honestly leaves me speechless.
I had no idea that either of them felt this way.
And I also have no way to dispute it, that's just the way they see this whole situation, and if I do day something now, I would have to reveal to them some truths about both their mother AND their father, and I simply can't do that, so I just stay quiet.
"Nothing to say, Melody?" Alaina then says, and I remain speechless.
"Girls, the only reason she ain't saying anything, is cause she don't wanna say nothing about me," Marshall then states from behind us, and all three of us jump as he strolls into the room casually and takes a seat next to me.
His arms wraps reassuringly over my shoulders, and both of his teenage daughters frown at that.
"Aight look, Hailie. Alaina," Marshall takes a deep breath, and I honestly don't want him to expose himself like that. There's no need for that. If they hate me then they hate me, fuck it.
"Marshall..." I start to say.
"Nah, Mel, I guess it's time they should know. Alaina, you just said it yourself that you've heard me and Mel fight all the time. You ever thought to yourself what it was all about?"
"Um... about your drug use, probably."
"Yeah, that."
"So, that justifies it then, dad? That she left you..."
"Aight, first of all, Melody never left me, I broke up with her. And y'all can clarify that with ya mother too, she would tell ya. I left her, and then I was a mess after that. And she ain't never abandoned y'all. Also, I used to hit her."
"No dad, you haven't!" Hailie exclaims. "You would bever lay a hand on a woman! You've always taught us, never be with a man that would put their hands in us or disrespects us in any way..."
"Yeah, and the whole time, I was doing exactly that. Both to ya mother and Melody. So nah, I ain't no Saint. Mel was though, to put up with my stuff for as long as she had. So, when she finally did decide she wanted nothing to do with me, can y'all really blame her?"
"That's enough, Marshall," I say firmly.
I grab his hand and pull him away. I really don't want him telling his daughters none of that. They don't need this perfect image of him thay they must have tainted. Not for me.
"What are you doing?!" I say to him in a loud whisper, once we are out of earshot.
"I'm just being honest with them," he shrugs.
"Marshall, no! They don't need to..."
"Would you just hush for a second, baby? I'm telling ya, I know what I'm doing."
"And I'm telling you to stop! I don't need you going to these lengths to protect me, Marshall."
"And did I fucking ask your permission on what I can or cannot do to protect you?" He then suddenly asks me, and I get quiet. "Nah, I ain't think so, Mel. Look, my daughters are gonna find out sooner or later how I really was back in the day, no sense of sugar coating it. Better if they find out about it from me anyway, than from the press."
"But..."
"But nothing. Just fucking accept it."
I shake my head again, and Marshall puts two fingers under my chin, lifting my fave up to his.
"Just trust me, aight?" He asks, as he lowers his head and his lips brush mine lightly.
"Okay," I nod my head, and Marshall places another light peck against my lips.
A warm fuzzy feeling starts spreading inside of me, and I throw my arms around his neck as our kissing starts to get more and more intense, eventually turning into a whole makeout session. I can feel Marshall's hands trail down my body where he suddenly squeezes the hell out of my butt.
"Marshall!" I exclaim against his lips, and hear him chuckle.
"What? I can't get enough of that ass, you know that. And now that I'm allowed to touch it again, you know imma grab it any chance I get."
"You are so bad."
"You like it though," he says and starts kissing my neck.
Just then, Lyric walks into the room.
"Eww, this is so gross!!" She exclaims, sounding absolutely traumatized, and me and Marshall jump away from each other real quick.
Jesus, these kids are everywhere today!!
"Lyric, what did I tell you before about knocking?" Marshall asks our daughter sternly, and she just looks at him like she's about to stomp her little feet on the ground and yell at him, but suddenly she lowers her head, and mumbles something along the lines of "Sorry, daddy. I just wanted to ask you if I could watch some TV with you," she says shyly.
You see what I always say? So damn unfair how this little girl always listens to him, and how easily he is able to handle her?
Then again, I guess she takes after me after all.
"Aight, come here, baby girl," Marshall says to Lyric.
He takes Lyric's little hand in his own and leads her downstairs where he puts on some type of a kids movie for her and Whitney, I sit and watch it with them for a minute, but my mind keeps trailing to the whole Hailie and Alaina situation, and the fact that they still have beef with me sits heavily on my chest.
"Yo, you straight?" I hear Marshall's voice, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I look up and see him peering down at me, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"I'm cool," I nod and he reaches for my hand and squeezes it.
"Don't trip about it, Mel. I keep telling ya, they will come around."
I nod my head slowly in affirmation, and will myself to believe his words. Marshall knows his own daughters after all.
Just as I'm thinking that, my phone suddenly buzzes in my pocket, and I take it out and see that I have a missed call from a number I don't recognize.
When I call it back, it turns out to be from a hospital.
I'm told that my mother had been in a car accident and is currently in an emergency room.
Kind of a short chapter, with nothing much happening. This is definitely more of a filler chapter, and also, all good things must eventually come to an end, and as of right now, I'm planning to end this story once we get to the 80th chapter. That could change, of course, but most likely it won't. So we have 7 chapters left until the very end...