Back at home, I paced back and forth in the living room. The clock was ticking and for some reason my nerves became more on edge with each passing second.
It wasn't until I was in the car driving home that I realized that my fear of failing the grade provided me with false courage.
If Kyle Warner wasn't such an ass, I would have handled things differently.
Repeating that mantra over and over on the drive home helped a little to justify my actions. By the time I had gotten home, I was practically cheering for myself.
But that cheering section was losing its enthusiasm.
You did the right thing. You did good. WELL...I mean you did well!
Argh!
Oh dear lord, I was correcting my inner dialogue. What next?
Looking at the clock again for like the thousandth time, the face read five minutes to nine and now that cheering section was nowhere to be found. My confidence was shattering with every second passing. It was clear to me Kyle was going to spite me to prove a point.
Argh. I want to kick him so hard!
Picking up the pillow and blanket my mother left out on the couch, I opened the front door and waited as the final seconds counted down. At exactly nine o'clock, headlights could be seen as a car pulled up in the drive. Another minute passed before my eyes caught sight of Kyle moseying up the path toward the house.
My blood began to boil as he was completely ignorant to the fact of me standing there, waiting.
"Kyle!" I yelled. Either he didn't hear me or he was just flat out ignoring me. The latter being the most likely.
His head jerked upward when the pillow and blanket hit him in the chest before falling to the ground causing him to nearly trip. Satisfied with seeing the look of disbelief taint his egotistical face, I stepped backward, smiled and slammed the door across his stunned expression. Locking it, I finally let out the air I was surprisingly holding.
Just as I expected, within a few short seconds Kyle began pounding on the door demanding that I open it. The door rattled and I wasn't sure at first if the thing would hold. But, it held up with great resistance to his obsessive pounding and proved to be a great muffle to his string of obscenities.
Placing the chain on the door, I cracked it open slightly. Immediately he pushed against it scaring the crap out of me. However, the chain held... thank God.
"Let me in!" he demanded.
"When I say nine o'clock or else, I mean nine o'clock or else!"
Pushing away from the door, he growled before kicking the blanket and pillow out onto the pristine lawn. Marching back and forth on the porch like a caged lion, he cursed out loud with every possible vulgarity in the book and some I was pretty sure to be in foreign languages.
It was actually quite comical. My lips twitched with amusement despite the situation.
Mentally slapping myself back to reality, I stated, "There's a hammock to the right of the porch." I thumbed through the crack before quickly pulling it back through as he reached to grab it. "You can sleep there tonight." Then I slammed the door shut locking the deadbolt for good measure.
"Argh!" he screamed before slamming his fists on the door. "I won't forget this, Melody Jenkins." His voice muffled through the wood.
"Good, Kyle Warner. It was meant for you not to forget," I yelled equally as loud at the door. "Every night, the door will be locked at nine o'clock. If you're not here, you'll sleep in the hammock." I waited. He didn't respond. "Do you think your peon brain can remember this? Or has your head been hit one too many times for you to comprehend?" I smiled to myself at the small victory. "Growl once if you understand."
I could swear I heard a growl.
Okay, now I was trying my best not to double over in laughter.
Using my body weight to lean a shoulder against the door, I calmed my nerves before quietly removing the chain so that my mother could get in later. Maybe she would take pity on him by letting him in when she got home.
I headed to my room and undressed to take a shower. There was nothing like warm cascading water to drown out the echoes of a blue-eyed devil cursing. I was feeling pretty good once I toweled off and put on a pair of sleep shorts along with a tank top. I let down my hair to air dry and was putting lotion on my hands when the baby started crying.
Guilt washed over me as I had completely forgotten about it. Flipping the covers and pillows on the bed, I finally found the key and placed it in the baby's side. Going through the motions, I checked to see if changing the diaper made a difference, but it continued to cry.
Rummaging through the diaper bag, I found the fake bottle and placed the nipple in its mouth. The suckling sounds replaced the crying which was a relief. I remembered reading in the manual that the baby liked to be burped every five minutes during feeding and it liked to be fed for twenty minutes or so.
Baby cradled in my arm, I strolled to the kitchen to grab the timer off the refrigerator. Heading back to my room, I set it to go off in five minutes and continued to feed it until the suckling slowed.
Four burps and thirty minutes later, I was finally able to get the baby to coo allowing me to lay it down in a makeshift bed next to mine. Satisfied, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
Looking at the girl in the mirror, I stared at her hard, squinting. She looked back at me mimicking my movements, my expressions and I could tell exactly what she was thinking.
Her eyes read intelligence and yet, there was a hint of sadness. A gentle cloud of unhappy emotions seemed to show up more often of late. I wondered why she couldn't snap out of it. She has a bright future ahead of her. A shoo-in for acceptance to any college of her choice which meant she could go to the east coast, far away from her classmates, far away from the too perfect people of Los Angeles and far, far away from Jake.
After graduation, she would finally be able to let go of her one sided crush and look to a future with someone more like her. Someone who had a grasp on what he wanted to be when he grew up and had a definitive plan on how to get there. Most likely, she would meet him in class or somewhere on campus or possibly at a sports bar during a football game. Or she would meet him while interning after graduation. It didn't matter where she met him or when. The only important thing was that he would help her forget her first love.
Smiling weakly, I reached for the light switch flicking it before heading back to my room.
Upon entering, air bombarded my lungs as I heard an unnatural gasp come from my throat. The rhythm of my heart took up a staccato I had never felt before causing blood to rush to my head.
It was truly alarming.
Standing next to my bed was Kyle furious as I had ever seen him. For a second, it seemed like he didn't recognize me but my voice seemed to bring him back to reality.
"How the hell did you get into my...?" I noticed that the window was still slightly open. "You bastard!"
I went to open the window to demand he leave the same way he came in, but he grabbed both of my wrists and swung me around so quickly that I lost my balance and fell back onto the bed taking him right along with me.
His well-muscled body was very heavy. Pushing hard against his hands, I tried to get him off of me but he pinned my wrists on either side of my shoulders as he rose up. I took in a much needed breath while struggling to free my hands. The musky scent of his skin slapped my senses causing my heart to start racing. The icy blue of his eyes bore into mine as he seemed to just barely be holding back his fury. Feeling his chest expand and contract against mine, he took in deep breaths as if to calm himself.
Finally, my body went still realizing he wasn't going to budge.
Exhaling sharply, air pushed toward my forehead in order to knock a curl out of my eye. But it just landed back on my lashes causing me to wince with irritation. Jerking my head slightly, the curl finally fell to the side freeing me of at least one annoyance.
Something in Kyle's demeanor changed. His eyes no longer appeared irritated rather they were more startled. The place between his eyebrows creased as his eyes raked across my face in a haphazard pattern as if he were seeing me for the first time.
Blinking a few times, I was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable at his scrutiny. Lifting both eyebrows, I asked, "Can you get up now?"
I guess hearing my voice was all he needed to confirm I was indeed his arched enemy. His voice was a bit calmer than when on the porch as he spoke. "Don't ever... EV-ER lock me out like that again or so help me God, I'll..."
"Or what?" I interrupted. "Grab my wrists and pin me to the bed?"
I just had to egg him on.
Once my hands were free, I would definitely pop my mouth!
Feeling the pressure of his fingers increase around my wrists had me wincing. He must have noticed because he immediately lightened his grip. However, the muscles in his jaw continued to flex as his eyes bore down into mine. Refusing to give in, I kicked up the intensity of my stare until I felt daggers shooting pass my lids.
But he didn't budge.
Instead, it was as if he were hypnotized to near unmoving. It felt like a lifetime had already passed as he continued his stare down, each breath from his lips brushing against my skin.
His closeness had my throat constricting making it very difficult to swallow. Call it absurdity or better yet insanity but I could have sworn his lips were dipping closer and closer.
The mood was shattered when we both heard a woman's voice calling from the front of the house.
"Mom!"
Squirming, I bucked and pushed as hard as I could while chanting under my breath, "Please get off me! Please get off me," in hopes the panic in my words would get through to him.
For a second, he shifted his weight just enough for me to roll him over to where my body was pressed down against his, the advantage now mine. My soft ringlets fell across the side of his face as I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips.
For a moment, his lids flickered in confusion but soon widened as my fists gathered up as much material of his shirt as they possibly could. Fear pumped through my veins giving me the strength I needed to pull myself upward with Kyle coming along with me. Letting go of his now crumpled shirt, I Instinctively reached for the baby placing it over my shoulder pretending to make it burp.
"There, there," I said nervously bouncing the baby a little too hurriedly. Kyle had an expression of disbelief as my mom walked through the door.
She smiled for only a second until she caught sight of Kyle standing next to me. Her expression went from happy to see ya to protective mama bear in less than a nanosecond.
"Who the hell is this?" she asked pointing at Kyle, her language filter clearly not working.
It was obvious Kyle was shocked at my mother's bluntness. I almost pissed myself trying to hold the laughter in. Mom's facial expressions slightly softened when she saw the shock on Kyle's face.
"I'm sorry. The only other person who I ever allow in this room is Jake," she said more to me than him, even though her eyes didn't leave his for a second.
I could have killed her. I bared my teeth and slashed my hand across my neck giving her the 'knock it off' sign. But of course, she didn't speak mime and I could only close my eyes and bare it.
"So, it is obvious that you are not the husband my daughter intended to marry." She smiled sweetly. Kyle's eyes furrowed thereby unknowingly giving my mother permission to continue. "Jake Kensington, you know? The tall protective type who is like her brother? He was supposed to be Melody's husband for this project. So why are you standing here instead of Jake?" she demanded as her finger pointed to the floor in front of him.
"Mom, stop it!" Putting a hand on her shoulder, I pushed her backward toward my bedroom door. "You'll have him divorcing me by morning leaving me a single parent."
She lifted her finger and pointed at Kyle. "You lay one finger on her and I swear I will..."
Throwing my back against the door, I closed it with her on the other side before locking it as she started pounding.
"Melody! I told you the rules. No locking the bedroom door! And he is not to sleep in the same bed with you! Melody?"
"Mom, seriously?" I yelled back as my cheeks lit up with embarrassment. Of all the people for her to showcase her temper to, it had to be Kyle Warner.
She yelled a warning through the door, "He better not touch you, Melody, or I will kick his..."
"AND that is my lovely mother," I yelled so as to drown out her threat.
She went quiet.
I waited.
Moving my eyes to meet Kyle's, I actually felt sorry for him. He looked terrified.
My eyes not leaving his, I yelled, "Are you gone yet?"
A loud bang hit the door causing Kyle to jump. I could hear my mom's footsteps retreating as well as a string of curses fading down the hall.
Frustrated, I pushed myself from the door tossing him the baby as I walked passed him. His eyes went wide as he caught it.
"You might as well sleep in here tonight because she isn't going to leave you alone one second out there," I said as I thumbed over my shoulder toward the door.
I could tell my mother completely caught him off guard.
Another sweet victory.
Crawling into bed, I pulled the blanket over top of me before reaching over to turn off the lamp light. A smile crept over my lips as I stifled the desire to start laughing. The look on Kyle's face meeting my mother for the first time was priceless.
A few minutes ticked by as my eyes adjusted to the dark. I could just make out the silhouette of his body still standing there. Absentmindedly, I turned over hugging my pillow.
Suddenly, flashing images of his parted lips so close to mine had me squeezing my eyes tight. I shook my head trying desperately to delete the images from my memory.
After what seemed like ages, I could hear him rustling about. Turning to look over my shoulder, I noticed the shadow of his body moving in the dark. Amazingly, he placed the baby, to which I had completely forgotten about, into the makeshift bed before lying down on the floor.
Sighing, I turned over, grabbed my extra pillow and tossed it to the floor next to him. My ears picked up his movement to retrieve it as he made his adjustments before everything went silent.
It really felt odd having someone other than Jake in my room.
I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit.
Somehow with that last thought in mind, I was able to drift off to sleep.