Chapter 34: 15 Going On 16: Part 3/3:

Gheez. Never have I ever had so much scrap from one chapter. I could literally recycle all my scrap and make another chapter out of it, which is what I plan on doing. But it was just annoying as fuck writing this. -_- I'm not too fond of this last part of the chapter but what can ya' do...? *Shrug*

          I had just finished opening my mother's 'gift,' and I felt nothing at all, just plain emptiness. In a way, not feeling anything was better than feeling anything at all. I was tired of being angry, and sadness only seemed to subdue my mind.
    My bed was the only thing that seemed to give me comfort, I laid down on it, staring at the ceiling. It looked so rough and jagged, the white paint was showing all the little lumps and striations in the paint.
    It felt like I was floating on my back, drifting out into the middle of the ocean. I closed my eyes, wishing it were true even though I knew it wasn't. There was a lot of shit on my mind, a lot of shit I didn't even want to think about, yet I was.
When I opened the tiny box my mother had sent me, I thought something nice would be inside it. Only certain things would fit inside a box as tiny as that, things like jewelry. I opened it, expecting to see a necklace, a ring, or even a pair of earrings I could substitute as a nose piercing, but that wasn't what was inside of it. Instead, there was nothing but an empty box and a white bottom that was etched out with black ink. The writing marks were so hard that the 't' in the word 'bitch' was actually ripping through the cardboard in the slightest way. When she wrote it, she wrote it with passion, I could just feel her anger jump out at me when I read it. I guess the hardness inside my mom's heart was real. She got an 'E' for effort, it most certainly was original; I mean no parent in the history of parenthood had ever done that to their child, or at least that was what I thought.

   Whether or not my immediate family wanted anything to do with me, it didn't matter anymore. I was always the 'weird' one, and no one could understand me. Not everyone was made to be understood though.
    My muscles in my arm jerked when there was a pounding on the door. It sounded like a rock was being thrown against the glass, like someone was breaking in. All I could picture was my mom trying to retaliate against me.
    Bounding out of my bed and walking out of my room, I tried to prepare myself. Slow and steadily, I walked into the foyer to see who was there.
    There was no glass on the floor, everything seemed normal. I was just about to round around the corner when I heard someone muttering from behind the door, a guy.
     Taking another step and easing my back off the wall, I stood out in the open. When I looked out the door I was relieved yet nervous at the same time.

David stood there outside, scoping out our front yard. He looked at the cars parked on the grass and raised his hand to knock again. He looked kind of cold, I could see his breath leave his nose as he stood there, all white and smoky, and shivering in the slightest bit.
I opened the door before he knocked again and realized why it sounded so weird when he knocked before, he had a ring on his finger. When he finally turned around to face me, he just stood there. Staring at me as if I were an alien; sometimes I felt like an alien but damn, I never thought I actually looked like one.
"How come no one ever uses the doorbell?" I asked as I swung the door right open. The cold air swept its way through the door. "It's right over there." I pointed towards it, the damn thing wasn't invisible, and it wasn't broken either.
"Have you ever thought that maybe it was just easier?" He scratched his head, "I mean, unless you want me to wake your whole family up at 11:00 at night-"

"It's 11?" I wanted to turn back the time and fix everything. Why did I ever open that stupid box? It was like Pandora's box 2.0, and time didn't care about my feelings, it just kept slipping away from me.
"Yeah, it's 11." He was talking all slow and had a sardonic look on his face. "You alright? Are you sure you aren't on something?"
I was getting colder and colder, and my irritation was only rising. If there was one thing I hated more than anything, it was being cold. "So what's up?" I asked, nudging the door slightly more towards the closed position.
He gave me an odd look, backing up from the door. "Nothin'. Just wanted to give you something."
I turned in the other direction and started closing the door as I motioned for him to get inside. "I don't have a lot of time." He said, and before I knew it he had his hand on the other side of the door, his index finger easing up against my pinky. A pink and black polka dotted bag was in his hand, it was pretty big; and the red tissue paper sprouting out of it looked like a big rose bush

      I opened the door to my room and he asked me, "So how was the bowling?" His hair was all wet; he looked and smelled like he just got out of the shower. Gosh, his cologne was divine. He could spray it all over me and I wouldn't care, even if I smelled like a 'guy.'
    "It was surprisingly fun- Wait. How do you know I went bowling?" I asked, nearly stumbling all over my feet as I dashed towards my dresser like I was in a high-speed chase. I had to hide that damn box, he had no right to open it, but I still didn't want it out in the open. Clutching that little cow box in my hand, I opened my drawer and shoved it in there.
     "Your sister told me." There was this awkward look in his eyes, he looked down at his fingers like something might've been wrong, but then he looked back up at me. "We were texting."
    "Oh, right. I should have known that." The space between us was awkward, and I just wanted a sign. A sign that would tell me if I could get closer to him. I felt all stiff and stilted, but I still tried to talk to him. "Want a cupcake? I have chocolate and vanilla." Lame, I know. But what else was I going to say?!

He tensed up and said, "Nah, it's better if I don't." It was like he was under a spell, he wasn't being himself. It was no secret that he was nearly addicted to sugar. His eyes lurked away from mine in the most evasive way, as if they were hiding from me.
     "Come on, we have a bunch. Just have one- I know you have a sweet tooth." It almost offended me that he wouldn't eat a cupcake.
     "No Mel, you don't understand. I really can't, I mean I can but-it's just complicated." He rolled his eyes, holding the gift bag out to me. "Here." He nodded his head at me, "I really don't have a lot of time." His voice was all low and husky.
    "Okay then." I grabbed it, clenching my fingers even harder around the handles once he dropped it in my hands, it was heavier than it looked. "Gheez. I wonder what's in here."

The tissue paper felt dusty as my fingers mangled through it. Strips of scarlet tissue paper were scattering all over the floor like snow. It felt like I was digging through the gift bag, but eventually I felt something hard against my index finger.
      He glanced over in my direction and his eyes were like his hands. They were near places they shouldn't have been. "I guess you have a legitimate reason to wear that dress." He mumbled, taking slow steps towards me. If he took another step he would be stepping out of the invisible 'safe zone.'
    I was tugging on whatever was in the bag, trying not to rip it as I took it out; but it was stuck in there. "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're trying to say." I said to him as I turned my head to the side and squinted inside the bag.
A smug smile crept up on his lips. "The flames-Come on, you're a smart girl and I know you can put two and two together."

 The wind whistled outside and something snapped against my window. It felt like everything was still, except my hands. "I'm sorry, I still don't understand you."
      Without even asking, he sat on the edge of my bed. I wanted to get up, but it wouldn't look right; so I didn't. "Really?" He blustered, his eyes trailed from the top of my dress and stopped right where it cut off by my thighs. "You look hot. That's what I was trying to say."
      As if being around him wasn't awkward enough, he had to go and make it even more awkward. I looked at him but he wasn't smiling, he wasn't frowning either, he was just staring at me. "Oh." I whispered, completely freezing up and losing all attention towards the bag.
    "Oh?" He frowned at me, acting like he was confused. "Is that all you have to say?" He asked.
    "Yes, David. That's all I have to say." It felt like the world was closing in around me, everything just kept getting smaller and smaller. "That was very inappropriate, and overbearing." I looked at my legs and then back at him. "What did you want me to say?"

      He shook his head back and forth. "Nothing."
      The way he looked at me sent my lungs on a 5k run, everything moved faster and my breaths became shallow. Oh shit. I was feeling it again. 'Don't freak out, whatever you do, do not freak out, ignore it and just stay calm and breathe. Slow steady breaths like you did that night in the hospital.'
      "Does it take you all day to open a present?!" He asked, giving me a quizzical glare.
    "Well yeah, when someone is talking to me." I said, continuing to tussle with the bag and catch my breath at the same time. "How did you fit this in here?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed with pulling.
    He just sat there laughing at me, and then he grabbed the bag from me. "Seriously? Just rip it."
    The bag crinkled and crumbled as he tore it apart. Scriiip shripp shraaap. Before he took all the tissue paper off he said, "Close your eyes."
     I had already gotten a decent glimpse at whatever it was, it was rectangular and big. "You know, I was going to rip the bag myself, but I didn't want to seem rude." I said, placing my slick hands over my eyes.

      I heard him tear through the remaining tissue paper. Zhriiip zzzhick. A crumple here a crumple there and one last loud zzzhick. 
     It was all quiet and the only thing I could feel was the slight warmth from his body sitting next to mine, and the way my mattress kind of curved from his weight. A feeling of fear creaked through my veins, opening my eyes was suddenly the most frightening thing imaginable.
     He took his hands and put them over my fingers, pulling them away from my eyes. When he saw I was still not opening my eyes he laughed. "You can open your eyes now."
    His hands were still holding mine and he moved them out towards him and then straight down. All I felt was this big smooth surface, like plastic or something.
    I opened my eyes. When I looked down I gasped. "How in the world did you get this ancient thing?!" I exclaimed, looking at the old fashioned record player that was sitting between us on the bed, the kind with a spinner and a needle. It didn't even look old, I mean of course I knew it was old, but it was very neat in appearance. No scratches, no dents, nothing.

David ran his hand through his glistening hair again, smiling like he was trying to fight back the inevitable curve of his lips. "There's this record store downtown, they have a lot of cool stuff there. Do you like it?"
"I love it!" I put my hands on both sides of it, my mouth was hanging wide open as I angled it to the side and tilted my head; looking for a button or something. "I just have to figure out how to use it-" I looked up at him and laughed like an idiot. "Well, you know I'm pretty sure I could figure it out but- Like, I've never used one before. You know?"
"Yeah, I get what you mean. That thing is way before our time." He snickered and turned to the other side, pulling out a book and a birthday card. "Here. I know you like reading and what not." He put the card inside of the book, and handed it over to me. "It's supposedly a 'life changing' book, I don't know how true that is though." He laughed to himself when I took it from his hands. "It's only 7 chapters, hopefully you won't think it's that bad."

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen was written across the cover of the book along with the image of man sitting hunched over, in deep thought. I ran my fingers along the book, and picked it up, thumbing through the pages. "It's worth a read. I haven't read anything in a while, thanks." I smiled at him and it seemed like we were just staring at each other for a moment. There was less tension around us now and I felt a little calmer, my breaths felt a little less shallow, but there was still a slight struggle in my lungs.
Out of nowhere David cleared his throat. "The card." He pointed at the card, and had the most sly smirk plastered across his face. "And read it out loud too." He sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.
I probably looked like a deer in headlights as I pulled the card out and opened it. There was no way I could read it, he had written it in cursive. A black bow was peeping out of the corner of it and there were white glittered flowers drawn on the left side of the card. Although the card was pink and pretty, it felt like it was staring back at me. Everything was all slanted, fancy, and connected in deep blue strokes of ink; I glared at it for a moment, muttering out the obvious first two words which were written bigger than the others following it. "Happy Birthday." I paused, trying to decipher the rest that proceeded.
He laughed, snatching the card from my hands. "You can't read script?" Holding the card in his hands, he started to read what he wrote like an obnoxious smart aleck. "Happy Birthday! I hope this proves that I don't have chicken scratch. P.s.- I was only having a bad moment that day."

Was he for real? "Wow, I guess my 'chicken scratch' comment really upset you, since you took the time to write all that.  I'm sorry." I was trying to get a  feel for what to say next but I wasn't getting anything from the expression on his face.
"I really don't care about what you said, I was just trying to prove a point." He closed the card and placed it on top of the book I had resting on my lap.
"David, it's obvious you care. If you didn't you wouldn't be trying to prove a point right now. You ignored me after I said that to you, you were upset." I giggled, shifting around on the bed a little bit. I put the card inside the first page of the book and got up, walking over to my night stand.
"Yeah, I was upset, but it wasn't because of what you said. I'm not going to lie, when you said that it got me angry but I was more upset about other shit to really care about your little 'statement'." He got up too, taking a look around my room. "Wow, you finally decided to show some school spirit." He was talking about the blue curtains I had hanging up over the windows.
"Oh please! As if I would actually be repping our school, fuck that shit." I chuckled some more, placing the book on my night stand.

He laughed at me while walking over to my turtle tank. Tip tap tap! He pattered his index finger along the glass. "Oooh a turtle, nice."
Walking closer to him, I put my hands behind my back, giggling for no legitimate reason. "Yeah I just got it."
"What's its name?" He asked, taking it out of the tank and letting him rest in the palm of his hand. "I like the markings on its skin, it's really cool." He placed him back inside of the tank.
"Uhhh," I mumbled as I tried to ramble a name off of the top of my head. The day was almost over and I still hadn't even given him  a damn name yet. Way to be a great pet owner, I said to myself.  "Leonardo." For some reason that was the only name that was at the tip of my tongue, it was quirky and slightly sophisticated.
David zipped around to face me and said, "For real? That's so lame."
"Lame?!" I shrugged my shoulders. "How is that lame?"
"Because, everyone knows that was a name of one of the Ninja Turtles. Would it kill you to be original?"

"Kill me to be original?!" I snapped, pointing my finger at him and back at me. "You named your dog Chi-Chi and you think that's original?" I laughed my ass off.
"Hey, in my defense it's a mashup of chocolate and cinnamon, she has some teeny brown patches of fur on her face and the rest of her body is black and white. I was stuck between Oreo and Chanilla to be honest." He shrugged, "Either way, it's original all around." He frowned, scratching his head. "Maybe I should've stuck with Chanilla?"
"Oh my God. Are you always thinking about food?" I raised my eyebrows as I asked him that. This dude was standing there talking about how he named his dog after different flavors yet he wouldn't eat a damn cupcake.
"Yeah, I'm a guy." He said, as if it wasn't obvious enough. "Guys love food."

"Well, either way I don't need help naming my turtle from you." I reached in the tank and picked him up, he crawled into my palm and when I held him in my hand he peeped his head back inside of his shell.
"Wow. He's afraid of you!" He exclaimed, watching me rub its shell.
Ignoring him, I kept grazing the turtles back. "Come out and show your cute little face." I cooed, but of course it didn't come out. I shrugged, "He's probably just afraid- of YOU!" I glared at David and put my turtle back in the tank. "I don't care what you think, I'm naming him Leo, it's short and cute."
He folded his arms and smirked, "Leo is slightly better than Leonardo, I won't deny that."
I shook my head back and forth, watching Leo stretch his legs out towards the stone. "I wasn't asking for your approval either way."

He didn't say anything after that, he just kind of mumbled and took his phone out of his pocket, sending a text as his fingers zoomed across the screen.
I got a good look at the ring he had on his middle finger, it was nearly white. It was obvious there was something etched into it but I couldn't exactly see it that well. It looked fancy, like white gold or something.
"What?" He asked, realizing that I was staring at his fingers.
"Oh nothing, that's just a really nice ring." I could tell how nosy I sounded. "I've never seen you wear it before."
There was a silent moment after I said that and he just stared at me, smiling like something was funny. Maybe I was too infatuated with it? He took it off his finger, and grabbed my left hand; sliding it onto my fourth finger. "It's a family ring. It's a silly little tradition of ours."
He kept staring at me but my eyes were fixated on the ring. The name Rakenson was engraved on the ring in the most elegant way. The 'R' was curved and the 's' was all wispy, the 'o' even had a little hoop around it like the halo of an angel. "Wow, nice." I murmured, holding my hand out in front of me.

"You look a little too comfortable with that on." He said as he took my hand into the palm of his hand.
"And?" I asked.
"And- You might steal it." He glided the ring off of my finger and put it in his pocket.
"WHAT! I don't want your ring! I would never do something like that!"
He just shook his head from side to side. "You see that's why I mess with you. Your reactions are priceless." He started laughing and then he said, "Really priceless, but with all jokes aside, I really should get going; I have to catch a flight."
"A flight where?" I desperately was fighting back the urge to say more. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

He looked so disconnected when he mumbled, "New York." He was making it seem like it was something to be ashamed of.
"So you're going to the big city, and you're not even the slightest bit excited?!"
"First off, I had a bad hangover, so my day was shit from the moment I woke up. I had my head in the toilet for hours. But I'm going to see my cousin- and we're going to some random guy's house to celebrate Christmas with him and his family. I hate my cousin and I don't want to celebrate a holiday with people I barely know. I'd rather be here with my friends at least." He shrugged his shoulders, "We're going to Staten Island, not the big city." He threw air quotes up in the air and grimaced. "Maybe I'll meet some cool people over the week, and hang with them instead."
I guess when you're an only child you have a lot of friends to make up for it. Which kind of explained why he was hungover. I imagined him at a party with a bunch of people, taking shots or something. Besides his plethora of friends, I kind of was shocked that he wasn't okay with his family. Don't get me wrong, his father and his mother were something else but, I didn't think the rest of his family was like that. "What's wrong with your cousin?"
"It's a long story." He was talking all slow and detached. Suddenly he sighed and said, "Last time he was around, we got into a fight in front of the whole family- it was just a big bloody mess." He saw the look on my face and a flash of guilt seeped through his eyes. "I'm not proud of it, but it happened." His voice was cold and ambiguous.

"Of course, I understand. That's pretty embarassing, especially in front of your whole family. Yikes!" It was amazing how it only took a split second for his whole demeanor to change. "But what happened though? What made you guys fight?"
"I have to go. I really can't stay and talk, I'm sorry Melody." He walked towards the door and got the surprise of his life.
Like a groundhog, Adrianne opened the door and popped inside. "It's 11:15, Melody. That means no one should be in this house."
I stood there with my mouth wide open like an idiot. Where the hell did she come from?! She was in bed all day, and all night, but there she was. It was a little strange since she hadn't talked for like the whole week. "I-I- He was-"
David put his hands in his pockets and grabbed his keys, swinging them in the air as he held them. "I was just leaving actually, I'm not looking for any trouble."
"Mhmm." Adrianne hummed and she looked him up and down. Her eyes traveled from me, to my bed behind me and then she looked back at David. "Well, it's pretty late you know." After saying that she closed the door and left.

David looked so relieved, and ready to leave. "I'm sorry, but your aunt freaks me out; she's so vague when it comes to her expressions. It's like she has one face on all the time, I can never read her. I wouldn't be surprised if she said she hasn't had a good laugh in a while."
"She hasn't." I admitted, feeling horrible just thinking about the past week. "Turns out she was having a tubular pregnancy. They had to remove the fetus."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? You couldn't control that. I hate when people say 'sorry' to unfortunate events."
He scowled at me, his eyes nearly shooting bullets at me. "It's just a sympathetic gesture." He shook his head and said, "You know, I don't understand you sometimes. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry for her not you."
I didn't know what to say to that and I didn't really want to say anything with the way he was looking all annoyed and frustrated. Silence was just surrounding us and I just had a blank stare on my face.

He let out an Earth shattering sigh and stood up a little straighter. It was like he was ready to conquer the world or something. "Welp, it's time for me to go spend time with my amazing family!" He exclaimed sarcastically.
I laughed and said, "Take some pictures of New York for me! Have fun and don't hurt your cousin!"
"I can only promise to send you pictures." He chuckled and headed out the door, waving to me before he left. "Happy Birthday Melody."
"Bye." I waved goodbye to him and actually wanted to say more. Not say more things, but ask him more stuff. I wanted to talk to him. I didn't want it to be just a "hi" and "bye" kind of thing, I actually wanted to know about his cousin and he left me hanging. Typical David.