Melody

It felt like home in Carson's arms. Like walking into a place I'd been yearning for weeks after a hellish trip. It felt like the world's warmest blankets engulfing me in the Arctic. Like protection from the biggest storm. Like just for some time, everyone else, everything else, didn't exist and there was peace.

"Leslie! I'm home. Pour me a glass of wine!" Margot's voice rang like a death bell throughout the halls. I sighed, and closed my eyes, wishing she would disappear.

Escaping everyone at school was helpful today, but I wished that I could escape from the Allen family as well. Mia had already kicked me out of the den today when she came in with her friend.

Halfway through the one of the home videos, I heard two girlish voices outside of the room. I could make one out to be Mia and the other to be one of her friends. They sounded disgruntled and annoyed and I knew it was at my expense.

"Oh my gosh, she's been in there like all day!" Mia sighed.

"Yeah, Mia like, no offense but your stepsister is totally crushing our vibes," the friend said. Her voice was nasally and would make me roll my eyes on a normal day. Today however, I felt angry.

"Yeah she's so selfish," Mia said.

I got up and took the videotape out of the VHS player gently, despite how angry I was. I picked up the box of things to do with my mom and left the den. As I passed by Mia and her friend, I glared.

"It's all yours," I said, dryly.

"Finally," Mia mumbled. It was half-hearted but still made me furious. The kind of fury that made my eyes water from how unfortunate it was that I couldn't slap her.

"Sorry that my mourning is so selfish." The girl's face turned bright red and Mia looked down guilty. I turned around and headed down the hallway, away from her and towards the stairs.

"Mia..." her friend started quietly.

"It was a long time ago," Mia mumbled quickly. I wiped tears off my cheeks as I took the stairs two steps at a time. I ran into my room and slammed the door. I put the box down on my desk and lay down on my bed.

Selfish.

What was selfish was Mia parading her friend around here like it's her house. It's my house. My father. My life. She and her mother invaded it like parasites in a garden.

It wouldn't even feel like that if they were nice to me. I didn't know what I could do to make them like me. I didn't want to worry about them liking me. I wanted my mother back.

An eventual knock on the door made me sigh in frustration.

"Go away Mia!" I yelled.

To my surprise, it was Carson, who brightened the sky in my gray coloured day. He watched the DVD's of my mother with me and stroked my hair soothingly as silent tears spilled over. We had just finished watching the last fashion show she did when Margot's obnoxious voice pulled us back to reality.

"Where are the girls?" Margot asked loudly. I heard a chair being pulled across the floor and I assumed she was sitting down with her red wine.

"Around the house. They both have company," Leslie said quietly.

"Melody with a friend over?" Margot laughed. I sat up and listened more carefully now, that heart sinking feeling creeping up to me as she laughed at my expense.

"Yes, you've met before," Leslie said.

"Oh, that boy? Ha! He's going to move along to better things anytime now," Margot said. "More wine. Just leave the bottle." She said it so casually, like another thing on her grocery list. She didn't care who heard or who was hurt.

"Mel–" Carson started.

"It's fine," I said quickly, looking away from him.

"Melody," Carson tried again.

"It's fine," I repeated, but it was shaky. It's not like I didn't think about what Margot said long before she even said it.

"No, it's not," Carson said, gripping my shoulders gently. He turned me to face him. "It's not fine, because I can see you believing it."

"Because it's true. You could do so much better than me." It came out so quietly I wasn't sure he had heard it.

"You're everything I could ask for. There is no better; there is only you," Carson said firmly. He let go of my shoulders and placed a hand on my cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered, pressing my lips to his softly. Maybe if I pretended long enough, I'd feel like I deserved him.

"Leslie! More wine!" I heard loudly. I pulled back slightly from Carson and sighed.

"What?" Carson mumbled against my lips. I quickly kissed him once more before moving away all together.

"Don't think I'm kicking you out, but for your own good... my dad's probably not coming home tonight, and I think you should leave before she starts bottle number two," I said. Carson stroked my cheek tenderly.

"Will you be okay?" he asked. I nodded and tried to give him a convincing smile.

"Of course," I said. I didn't know if I was protecting him or myself, but I just knew he couldn't stay as long as Margot was drinking.

***

"Rob! Robby... call me back! I know you're at work, but I hate steeping along. I mean sleeping alone. I miss you. Call me."

"Robert. Are you going to come phone? Come bone? Home! Where are you? It's one o'clock. Call me."

"Roooooobeeeeerrrtttt. Caaaaall meeeeee."

It took me a while to fall asleep, thanks to Margot's endless alcohol-induced voicemails that night. Eventually Mia got fed up and took her mother to bed, which let me sleep.

Unfortunately, I was up with the sunlight because of a sudden wave of nausea. I rushed out of bed and over to the toilet. I knelt there dry heaving and cursing the fact that diet pills had side effects. There was nothing inside of me to vomit but I stayed glued to the toilet until the nausea passed.

I eventually got up and washed my face and brushed my teeth. I dragged myself over to the closet. I stared into my closet, waiting for inspiration to hit me. Getting dressed felt like too big a task today.

I had to look nice, but not too over the top or people would think I was reinforcing my slut rumours. I didn't want to wear anything too tight, but anything too baggy would look like I was hiding a pregnancy that didn't exist. It felt like I couldn't win.

Running my hands through my hair, I let out a frustrated groan. I leafed through the clothing and pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a knitted, mauve sweater. I matched it with little boots and grabbed some long, layered necklaces. After running a brush through my wavy hair and putting on a little make up, I picked up my backpack and rushed downstairs hoping to beat Leslie with her breakfast or lunch offerings.

I hurriedly snatched my jacket out of the closet and yanked open the front door. As the thick wood was pulled back, it revealed my father walking up the front steps with a briefcase in his hand.

We both stopped in our tracks as we made eye contact, shocked to see each other at this time of day. My father was speechless for a moment, while I was suddenly furious. I opened my mouth and first thing I thought of came out.

"It's nice to see you still live here."

______________

Author's Note: IT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN! Jk I don't know if it will or not... we'll find out at the next chapter!! HAHA! What do you think Melody's going to say? What are your thoughts on this chapter? I love hearing them!!

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Here's Melody's outfit:

I hope I can get a new chapter out for you soon! I'm going on vaycay for a couple days and then I work a ton all while preparing for pageant week which is SUPER soon! So... make sure you follow me on instagram at brittany.p.w  to keep updated with the ongoings of my life in the mean time! 

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