out of the blue / n.h

Chapter 46

“Do you want to have a dinner at my dad’s?” I ask, wrapping my arm around Melanie’s shoulders as we walk down the crowd street. She wears her maroon coat with her black knitted sweater and her skinny distressed jeans. She wears her usual combat boots and her hair is pulled into a ponytail. Her cheeks and nose turn red despite the cold November air. She looks beautifully cute. I kiss her cheek unceremoniously.

“Yeah, I would love to. How about later?” She asks, holding my hand that is hanging from her shoulder.

“Then, I should call my dad.” I dial my dad’s number and he answers in the third ring. “Hey dad.”

“Hey, son. What is it?” My dad asks through the line.

“Can my girlfriend and I stay for dinner?” I ask him.

“Yeah, sure! Let me call Marcus and Lizzie to prepare for dinner!” He sounds excited.

“Okay, dad. See you.” I hang up the phone. “He’s too excited having you for dinner I guess.” I chuckle.

“Well, that’s great. Does your dad know that your girlfriend is me?”

"No, but he will.” I say, leading her into the antique store. We get in, and I can’t let my gaze off of Melanie who is admiring the shop. She walks to the old casette records and amazes the artworks.

“Oh, hi! Welcome.” The old guy that served me a month ago greets us. Has it been a month. “Hey, you’re that guy that came here couple weeks ago.” He points to me, rubbing his fingers through his grey hair.

“Hi.” I straighten my lips into a thin line.

“Oh, hi. I was just looking around.” Melanie greets the guy as she holds the cassette with HOLE artwork on it.

“Take whatever you want, name the price.” The guy sits on the wooden chair behind stacks and stacks of vinyl records. I walk over to the vinyls to see the old Maroon 5 album.

“Really?” She drops her jaw, holding old records in her hands. I shake my head and chuckle at the sight of her. The old guy nods and gives me a smirk.

“What.” I ask the old guy, playing my fingers through the stacks.

“Is she your girlfriend?” He asks quietly so Melanie can’t hear him.

“Yeah.” I chuckle, looking at her adoring the old records cassettes that arein her hands.

"Well, you certainly have a good taste on girls.” He states then stands up from his seat to Melanie. “You seem to love Hole.” His deep hoarse voice asks her. Melanie cheerily answers making the records fall from her hands.

“I love Courtney Love so much, I mean. . .” She nonchalantly explains the whole biography just by asking if she liked Hole. I go through the old records from a cardboard that has tons of mixes in it.

“Thankyou for bringing me here.” I let myself carry the carton bag that has four old records and two big vinylsin it. She carries mine which are second-handed Eagles old records cassettes.

“You bought Blink 182? You like punk rock music?” I furrow my eyebrows.

“Yeah, it’s not like I’ve been living under a rock or something.” She giggles. “I even love the 1975, Sleeping with Sirens, Neighborhood,”

 “I love the Neighborhood, too.” I grin.

“by the way, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran.” She adds.

“Gosh, you are my soulmate, alright.” I chuckle, follows by her laugh. We drive to my dad’s house as soon as we get into the car. The rest of the car we spend by talking lots and lots about bands and singers and it’s really nice to be able to talk to someone that understands your taste of music. Especially, with your girlfriend. We arrive shortly at my dad’s driveway.

“Well, come on.” She brushes her hands together and her lips, nose, cheeks turning into bright shade of red. I chuckle at the sight of her being so cute and I hold her hands together between the two of my hands, brushing it altogether and gives a warm kiss on her hands. She blushes that her cheeks become even more red. I can’t stop looking at her and I grin at her blushing and flushing in front of me. I lean in and kiss her lips, sending warm and hot breath between our smooches. I lightly brush her small redden nose with mine.

“I realized I haven’t kissed you today.”

“You kissed me in the morning with your terrible morning breath.” She laughs.

“Yeah, way to go to ruin my mood.” I let go of the grasp and open the door handle to get out of the car. I leave her, laughing as she follows me down to the front door. And it opens, revealing Marcus that wears his usual t-shirt and his navy shorts. “Hey, Marc.” I hug him as soon as we go in and so does Melanie. I lead her to the dining room where Lizzie is preparing the dinner. “Lizzie.” I walk to her and hug her.

“Who is this?” Lizzie asks with her latino accent.

“I’m Melanie.” She shakes her hand and Lizzie, as always, pulls her into a hug.

“Niall’s girlfriend?!” Lizzie asks with a shock covers her face.

“Yeah.” I answer her.

“What? You never told me you had a girlfriend before!” She laughs.

“Well, we got to go.” I inform Lizzie who is still cheering and Marcus that is helping her cooking. “Those are the housekeepers but they are already more like a family to us. Marcus followed my dad from Ireland and Lizzie worked here since my dad moved here.”

“Well, no wonder why Marcus has the same accent as yours.” She chuckles, following up through the brown carpeted stairs. “Where’s your dad?”

“Probably still in the shower. Come on, I’ll show you to my old bedroom.” I lead her to the hall full of doors and I stop at the door right in the corner of the hall. She gazes at the painting on the brown wallpaper. I let her in and her eyes traces through the room I was in a year and a half years ago.