It's an hour before midnight, everyone is in the living room of my parents' house, dancing, drinking, and generally having a good time with each other while waiting for the new year to come. John is making out with a girlfriend on the couch. Hmm, hope he has a condom on himself. Lord knows mom doesn't want to see another baby in the house. Dad is conversing with my mother in the kitchen like good ol' friends. Melly is outside with me talking to our cousins as she allows them to greet our newborn son. She is wearing a pale iridescent gold fortune wiggle dress with cap sleeve and a geometric neckline with flip flop. She's wearing little to no makeup and her dark brown hair is in it's natural wavy look in a loop waterfall braid way. I am wearing a t-shirt under a blazer and a pair of dress pants. Danny is asleep with his step-grandfather looking over him and Mia, since Melly got the children to watch ball drop in New York live online around nine.
I looked at my champagne glass filled with ginger ale, before I looked at my fiance who is constantly checking her phone every few minutes. The thing about baby monitor that we bought to look over Danny while he's in the house is that it can be connected to a smartphone or tablet and we're allowed to watch the baby anywhere at anytime as long as there is wifi connection, of course. While it is one of the best invention that anyone could make, so we can keep an eye on our young son, Melly, who has him attached to her arms most of the time, is anxious now that he's not in the same roof as us. Don't get me wrong, I'm anxious on what's going on with him when he's inside sleeping in his crib and we're out here, but I have to be the confident one for Melly's sake. Besides, he's under my step-father's care, who basically took care of Mia by himself when she was a baby; I am pretty confident that Danny is fine.
I put a hand on Melly's wrist as she continues to stare at her bright screen and said in the gentlest voice I can muster, "Danny's is sleeping in his crib as peacefully as every baby should. He's fine and we're talking to family right now, therefore, I would appreciate it if you would please put your phone away."
Since she doesn't have a pocket on her, I held my hand out so I can make sure that the mobile phone is put away. She looked at me with a sigh and an eye roll as she shut off her phone and put it in my hand.
"Thank you." I said, smiling at her as I put my phone in my jacket pocket. "Don't try to take it out. You're not that slick to me."
"I wasn't going to." She lied with another eye roll.
I stayed quiet and turned my attention back to my cousin who was laughing about who knows what. I just laughed along to look like I was paying attention to the subject. My cousins stopped, and just looked at me, making me stop as well. I looked at the bottom of my glass, before looking back up again.
"So what's up?" I asked.
"Nothing, nothing. Just joking around." Sophia said, drinking her glass of wine. "What are your plans after the ball drops in our time?"
Melly shrugged, "Go back to normal, go back to school, while taking care of a newborn baby?"
"Same." I said, agreeing with her response with a smile.
"Really? You guys don't have a new year's resolution plan?" Jimmy asked.
"I mean, mine is to be kinder and be a good mom. I don't what else to ask for." Melly responded with a small giggle, thinking that having a new year's resolution is stupid.
I agree her. What is the point of wanting to be a better person for a new year, if you're just going to return to be the same person in a few days? If you believe you want to a better person, you should work every day towards being that person; you shouldn't have to wait for a brand new year to come to do so. Plus, people should know that they won't automatically change overnight; it just doesn't work like that. But let people be people. It's not my place to say whatever they're doing is wrong. If they want to have a new year's resolution, let them. But they better not come and cry to me when they realize it doesn't work, because I'll most likely laugh in their face.
"What about you Derek?" Sophia asked.
She asks a lot of questions.
"To change Melly's last name." I said with a smirk until I saw the said girl tilt her head back, gulping her drink in nervousness. "Kidding."
I wasn't kidding, but for Melly's sake, I am. I am not asking to get married anytime soon and I don't want her to think that I am pressuring her into marriage. I know she has a lot on her plate right now, I know that pretty well, but I hope she's at least thinking about the wedding, even if it's for a little bit. At the moment, we have never talked about our plans for our big day, we're just happy that we're engaged, and while I'm satisfied with it, I just hope that we can come to a day where we can call each other, "husband and wife".
Melly nodded her head, making her pretty waves bounce before she faced our cousins who were discussing their new year's eve plan. I paid no attention to them as I continue to stare at my girl. The way her hand that is holding her glass is shaking, the way her cheek rises up and her eyes closes as she lets out a good laugh, always reminds me of how truly beautiful she is. Things has been so awkward between us since Danny came home with us, it's these rare moment where we can get along like our normal selves that I'm so grateful of.
She looks at me in the eyes, worry already starting to fill them.
"What do I have something on my face?" She asked, cupping her cheek.
"No. You're perfect." I said, meaning every word of it.
Melly smiled at me as I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, kissing her head.
"It's almost midnight, guys. Come on in!" Mom said.
Everyone in the backyard filed inside the house, ready to see the ball drop (again) in Time Square. I pulled Melly in my arms as everyone in the room counted down from ten. She turned herself around in my arms, making her face to face to me,
"Happy new years, Derek." She said in a low voice, her eyes moving from my eyes to my lips.
"Happy new years, Melina." I said.
We smashed our lips against each other as everyone started to cheer into the New Year. I smiled within the kiss as let our lips move in sync. Right then and there, nothing else mattered in the world except for the girl in my arms.
{_}
"I told you he was fine." I said to Melly as I came into room after checking up on Danny, who's still sleeping in his crib.
I laid down next to my fiance in our bed, pulling the sheets over our heads. No, we're not going to do the dirty. The woman just gave birth, we agree to take it slow for now. I will to fuck her, when she's ready again. We're just a couple, hanging out under our bedsheets. We did this all the time before we had sex and we did all the time after it.
"I know, but as a mother, I worry." She said, wiping eyes.
Dark circles ring surrounds them, telling the world that she hasn't slept in days since she's constantly running around in the night taking care of Danny's need. My poor baby is working so hard, she needs a break, but she won't allow it. She insists that she needs to do this for Danny's sake, but I think she's telling that more to herself since she always looks like she's on the verge of passing out. I'm afraid that she will have a mental breakdown, if she doesn't get a goodnight's rest. I've witnessed this happen before, during the sixth grade and it wasn't pretty. We were in the middle of finals week and because she didn't let herself get some sleep, she was hyperventilating and breaking things, to the point where I had to hold her down until she stopped thrashing in my arms. That was one of the scariest weeks of my life, and I would do anything to not let it happen again.
"I know, I know. I'm just saying." I said, putting a strand of hair behind her ear.
Melly was about to speak up, when I heard the door burst open followed by the sound someone's frantic feet coming in. I rose up to see who the intruder was to see that it's my brother.
"Have you ever heard of knocking on the door before entering?" I yelled at him, earning a hard glare from Melly. I was confused on why she gave me that look until I saw how sad he is.
"Technically, this is my house too, so I let myself in." John said, in a low voice, not seeming interested in this topic.
"What's wrong?" Melly asked, gently, sitting up as well.
"Debbie broke up with me." He said, starting to tear up.
Whoa.
John walked towards us, sitting on the edge of the bed. Melly puts her arms around him and pulled him towards her chest, while rubbing his back. She shushed him as she continues to comforts him.
"I'm so sorry." She said.
"Man, that sucks." I said, feeling bad for him.
I may not have liked that girl, but I do know how much she means to my brother and that was the only reason I managed to tolerate her after all these years. John took pretty good care of her and love her with his heart, so it's pretty much her loss.
"She said, our relationship was doomed from the beginning since I'm your brother." John said, through his tears. "I gave her everything, I push aside the fact that she almost tried to take advantage of you, and I get dumped, because you're my sibling? That's completely unfair."
"It is." I said, agreeing with him.
If I didn't think that Debbie was a bitch before, she is now. Seeing how hurt my brother is now, increases my hate for her. I won't do anything as I really do have other things to care of and she isn't worth my time, but trust me if I had energy, I would. I just hope karma gets to her.
The three of us stayed as much as we could, talking about John's breaking until he calmed down. I offered to stay here tonight and sleep on the couch, so he doesn't have to go home and face the fact that he's alone. He agreed to it and bid us a good night, before walking out the room to get his sleep.
Left alone in the dark with Melly, there's nothing more that I want to do than wrap my arms around her waist and get some rest. I almost did just that until I heard Danny cry through video monitor's speakers. I watched the monitor in exhaustion as Melly moves around the nursery to address his needs. Her soft singing was enough to send me to sleep.
21 chapters left!
Yes!!!! Now I'm on the second page of the table of content on Google docs(that's how I planned the chapters for this story). And because we're in the new year and finally into 2015, it'll be easier to move along to the ending. Then I'll update Melly's story in, Little Angels, and then I'll move to spin-off starring Melly's and Derek's son, Danny, in Below The Tide. I bet you guys will love that one as it follows Danny's life through his teen years and him going through even more trouble than his parents and I promise it won't be as cliche as this story. I will release the full summary when I finish Melly's story.
If you want to check out my website, it will give you link to all of my stories on both here and Wattpad. It will also give you links to my most of my social media account, so just view and tell me what you think:
Did you like the chapter? Was it too messy or did you understand what was going on? Please tell me what you think in the comments, down below.
Until next time! -waves-