Melody's Crush

Chapter 23

The morning alarm rang out but I was already awake. In fact, my eyes were planted on the monitor the whole night, my ears keenly attuned to Kyle's breathing, the sounds of him rustling in his sleep and the two times he had to get up with Chloe.

At least a half dozen times I had thought about going to Kyle's room to try and provoke some sort of response from him. To get him to talk to me or to at least acknowledge that what happened did in fact... happen.

And of course, during the moments when everything was quiet, my mind refused to settle. Refused to release its grasp on the vision of Kyle's lips against mine causing my heart rate to never dip below one hundred beats a minute.

Just one more day. It will all be over tomorrow.

I left Kyle's house earlier than normal not stopping to eat the breakfast offered. Pulling my car into the school parking lot, I reached for my bag, got out and moved to walk through the courtyard toward the main entrance.

Tonight would be the last night at Kyle's and I wanted to make sure he knew I was fine. That the kiss was just that... a kiss. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Melody." The familiar tone in Kyle's voice saying my name had me freezing in place causing my throat to feel like it was crystalizing as I moved my eyes to look down.

The tips of his designer sneakers came into view near my feet as he moved to stand in front of me causing me to look up. My eyes widened in fear that he would be able to see the images that never left my mind from last night. My tongue traveled from one corner of my mouth to the other leaving a trail of moisture that I so desperately needed.

Just calm down, Melody. Calm down. You can still be... well, not friends, but...just act normal.

Planting a smile on my lips, I tilted my head, "Hey. Sorry. Left ya again, huh? Sorry. I just," lifting my arm, I gestured toward the building behind him. "You know. School... and... stuff..."

So much for acting normal!

"It's okay, Melody. You don't have to tap dance for my sake," he said unevenly. "I just came to deliver Chloe."

"Oh," I said a little perplexed.

Was he not at all affected by our kiss? I mean, was I the only one going insane over it?

God, I must have really sucked!

Letting out a breath of relief and disappointment, I reached my hands out in a gesture to hand baby Chloe over to me to which he did before depositing the diaper bag next to my book bag while I was still strapping the harness on.

"I have practice today," he said simply while turning on his heel to leave. "Meet you at the house." Then he was devoured by the crowd going into the school entrance.

Well I guess that went well.

No awkwardness. No teasing. No... nothing!

So, that's it I take it. Back to the old Melody and Kyle.

Well what the heck did you expect? Roses and a ring?

Letting out a long breath, I fiddled with Chloe until she was secured.

"Mel!" Jake's boots beat against the walkway as he ran towards me.

Immediately a flush of heat rose from my toes all the way up to prickle my scalp. I completely forgot about Jake! Forgot that I would have to face him.

"Hey," he said out of breath, his emerald eyes dancing down at me. "How..." He swallowed. "How are you?"

How am I? How about CRAZY?