Melissa must have known that it was only a matter of time until I approached her. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Despite the awful dance music that was blasting around the room, it was like she heard my footsteps and slowly spun round to face me, a frustrated look already on her face.

"What do you want David?" I heard her ask between loud bass thumps.

"Can we talk?" I asked, rather than dive straight into the details. Mostly because I didn't want any of her friends, who were now watching with clear hatred, to get involved.

"I'm not sure that we have anything to say to each other, do we?" She asked before taking a huge sip of her water. She was clearly uncomfortable but I wanted to ease her mind.

"Please?" I asked.

"There's a pretty cute girl over there. Why don't you go and talk to her?" She retorted, pointing to the other side of the room. I didn't even look.

"I don't want any other girl. I just want you!" I cried, not caring if her friends heard anymore.

"Really?" She yelled sceptically. "Did it just take you getting caught kissing someone else to realise that? Was she not as good as me or something?" She sounded like she was about to cry right here in front of me. My heart broke the last time that I saw her cry; I couldn't see it again.

"No . . . that's not it," I wasn't really sure what the right answer to that question was. "I admit that I fucked up, ok? It was the worst mistake I've ever made. What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't want you to say anything! I just want to forget that I ever thought you were the one for me so can you please just go?"

"I think you should do what she says," One of her friends snapped at me from behind Melissa. I was suddenly glad that her sister didn't seem to be around. I wasn't ready for that type of backlash tonight.

My heart sank.

Another look at Melissa's face, along with those of her friends, told me that whatever I was trying wasn't going to work. Maybe I should just give up.

I decided after one more question, I would do just that.

"Look Melissa . . . can't you just give me another chance? I'll do anything."

Somehow, I didn't think that pointing out that I didn't actually sleep with Piper would do me many favours at this point.

I waited impatiently for Melissa to give me any sign of a reconnection. It felt like forever, but finally she sighed and gave an answer.

"I'm sorry David . . . but I just don't see how I can trust you."

"I promise I'll never hurt you again!" I begged. I might as well have been on my knees.

"You let me down before. I just can't believe that you won't do it again," She sighed. "I need some air," She said before leaving the club, closely followed by her friends, ensuring that I didn't follow.

Disheartened, I walked back to Dean with my tail firmly between my legs.

*

Dean wasn't where I'd left him.

"Dean?" I foolishly asked as if he'd be hiding under the table. There was no way he'd hear me in this place.

Someone remind me why I go to nightclubs again?

"God dammit!" I said to myself before heading to the bar to get myself a beer. I was in desperate need of it.

As if the night couldn't get any worse, I turned back to see that in the two minutes I'd been away, our booth had been stolen by a random group of people.

"Well that's just fucking fantastic," I sighed.

The magical merry-go-round.

I took up a new position at the bar with my beer. If I couldn't have Melissa, I might as well get totally wasted.

At least that's what I thought, until Eddie re-emerged.

"Dude! What are you doing here?" He asked me, clearly surprised to find me when he was buying himself another drink.

"What does it look like?" I asked, holding my half drank beer aloft. "Where did you get to?"

"Meh, just around. I thought you'd be off fornicating with Melissa by now. What happened?"

"Literally nothing. She didn't go for it," I told him. "You know where Dean went?"

"No idea. I thought he was with you," Eddie shrugged.

"God, we're a mess tonight," I groaned. I just wanted to go home.

That was, until I finally spotted Dean, talking with one of Melissa's friends. The one he'd been talking with all this time until now.

"What is he doing?" I asked aloud.

"He's trying to get some. Isn't that obvious?" Eddie asked, knowing that I wasn't really looking for an answer.

I then saw the rest of Melissa's friends on the dance floor, surrounding them. But no Melissa. Where was she? Did she go home? Did I ruin her night?

Finally, I saw one of two things.

Either Dean was having a seizure, or he was trying to get my attention using nothing but his eyes.

After deciding (and hoping) it was the second option, I tried figuring out what he was trying to tell me. I can barely understand English when I've been drinking, never mind eye. Finally though, I gathered that while he was keeping the girl somewhat distracted, he was directing me to the exit. Was he wanting to leave? Or was Melissa outside alone? Was that what he meant?

I pointed at him to see if it was he that wanted to leave. In response, he shook his head and pointed back at me instead. He wasn't subtle about it.

The girl he was talking to clearly saw it as well, turning round to see where he was pointing to so he quickly started pointing with his other hand, alternating them so that it turned into a shitty dance. I actually laughed a bit after the girl started copying him, signalling that she hadn't seen me. It was some pretty impressive improvisation from Dean, but I didn't have time to applaud him right now. I had someone to see.

*

It was a warm night with only the slightest breeze in the air, but I still felt as though I was freezing.

As suspected, Melissa was stood outside the club. She looked as though she was trying to compose herself before entering again, but I wanted to talk to her first.

"Melissa . . ." I said just above a whisper.

"What now?" She sighed after seeing me. "I've said everything I need to say."

"Yeah but I haven't," I stated. She didn't say anything, so I took it as a cue to carry on. "I don't deserve you. I never did. I think you're perfect."

"David . . ."

"But I'm not perfect. Far from it. I don't have any talents, I'm lazy and I fuck up way more than the average person. But for the first time in my life I've found someone who . . . makes me care when I fuck up. You make me want to be better. I really hurt you and I honestly have no idea how you're feeling right now. All I know is that I hurt you."

"Yeah. You did," She said curtly.

"And I'm always going to regret that. But if you give me the chance, I'll spend the rest of my life making up for it. I love you, Melissa," There was literally nothing else I could say. If this didn't convince her, nothing would.

"How do I know you're not just saying that to get me into bed again? Or to use me again?" She asked. It hurt, but I suppose it was a fair question. So I answered as honestly as I could.

"There are at least a hundred girls in there," I pointed to the club we'd been sharing. "And the only one I ever looked at was you."

Melissa stared at me for what felt like twenty-four hours, but I could see that behind her eyes, her mind was racing. Finally, she spoke.

"Before I say anything else . . . I need you to tell me something."

"Anything," I eagerly agreed.

"I need to know why. And don't just tell me you fucked up. I'm well aware of that. I need to hear an actual reason."

This was going to be difficult. Not because I didn't know the reason, but because I had never admitted it to anyone out loud before. But I was done being quiet now.

"Because I was scared!" I cried. "I've never felt like this before and I didn't know how to deal with that. I was scared that being with you meant that I couldn't hang with my friends the same. But now I don't care. I want to settle down. I want to be with you."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes!"

"You're an idiot David!"

"I know! Wait . . . what?"

"I liked you for you! The way you were! You don't need to change anything to be with me! In fact, I'm sick of people who change who they are for someone else! You're right, you're not perfect. But that's what I love about you too! I love how goofy and dumb you are! I love that you're loyal to your friends and always try to help them. I think it's admirable that you try your hardest to be there for as many people as you can. I just wish that you'd been able to see that."

"Did you say you loved me too?" I asked, trying hard to hide my million dollar smile.

"That's all you heard?" She asked incredulously, but I could see a smile beginning to crack around the edges of her lips.

"No, but it's definitely my favourite part."

"Shut up," She told me, finally losing the battle to prevent her own smile from appearing.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked her, extending my hand out to her.

"I'm not sure this is really a song you can dance to," She said rolling her eyes at the noise we could still hear coming from the club. She was right. Whatever this song was, it was the shits.

"I'll fix it, come on. I'll even get you a water afterwards," I urged, my hand still outstretched.

After some careful deliberation, and trepidation, Melissa smiled that perfect smile and took my hand and we both walked in together.

*

"Why not?" I asked the surly DJ.

We'd headed straight to his little booth in the corner and I'd asked him to play a song but he'd denied my request instantly.

"I'm the DJ here," He told me. "It's kind of a big deal."

"Is it though?" I asked.

"Yes!" He hissed at me. "This is a position of power. I will never, ever let anyone dictate which songs I play, ok?"

"I'll give you five dollars," I suggested.

"Deal!" The guy took my money and jumped out of the booth as if he was a soldier in the war, jumping into a trench. I couldn't help but laugh as I used his laptop to choose a more dance-able song before dragging Melissa to the dance floor, where I didn't let go of her all night.