Bad Love

Chapter 15

Having called on her for help, Andrew had no choice but to submit to sessions with Sally. It was a full month before Andrew was prepared to talk about what had happened with Jasmine, a time during which he was reticent and spent most of his time in his room working on his novel, while Sally and Marcus made sure to be careful about giving him his space and served as bulwarks keeping Melissa away from him. Since leaving home to live with Claire, Melissa's visits home had been few and far between, owing to a conversation she'd overheard her parents having when she'd brought Claire home to meet them during which they'd referred to Claire as potentially unstable and pretentious. Claire was the first girl Melissa had brought home to meet her parents and had hoped that with her worldliness and intelligence Claire would easily win them over. Melissa took their comments about Claire as an expression of deep disapproval of her and her life and had moved out in a huff of anger. One of her infrequent visits home had come a week after Andrew's arrival. Sally, thinking it was in Andrew's best interests for him and Melissa not to see each other, had blocked her from going up to her room.

"You can't go up there," Sally said to her when Melissa walked passed her angrily having informed her that she was only here to pick up something.

"Why not?" Melissa asked, feeling confrontational.

"Andrew's upstairs, he's staying in your room."

"He came back? When?" Melissa asked, her bellicose mood mollified by the news of Andrew's return.

"Last week."

"I have to talk to him," Melissa said, bounding up the stairs.

"Melissa!" Sally admonished her daughter from the bottom of the stairs, "You can't see him."

"He's going to want to see me!" Melissa responded, her hostility returning.

"No, he's not. We've seen him, you haven't; he's not in the mood for one of your back and forths. Please leave."

"You're kicking me out? Your own daughter!"

"I'm only doing it because I have no other choice."

"Fine," Melissa said in capitulation, some of what her mother had said about Andrew having gotten through, "but you can't keep him to yourself forever, soon I'm the one that he's going to want."

With that Melissa left the house, leaving Sally concerned that Melissa was once again going to hijack Andrew's therapy. As always there was no stopping Melissa from doing what she had her mind set on. After walking out the front door she snuck around to the side of the house and climbed up the trellis. From there she walked to the window of her room and, before tapping on the windowpane, spent a moment watching Andrew. He was sitting at her writing desk facing the wall with what she knew, despite not being able to see it, was an expression of deep reflection. It had been so long since Melissa had seen him like this that she'd forgotten how much he drew her in when he was like this. When she had been his girlfriend and had seen him like this she had sought to distract him from thoughts that he seemed to have become unhealthily absorbed in by using her body, fearing what she considered to be the very real danger of losing him to his mind. At present she could tell that he was similarly preoccupied and tapped on the windowpane feeling that old responsibility to save him from being taken hostage by his mind.

Andrew had been thinking about Jasmine, like he was most of the time. He slid the window open so Melissa could crawl inside and they hugged awkwardly, unsure as to where they stood with each other having not seen each other for so long. The awkwardness between them quickly gave way to familiarity and trust as Andrew's hold on Melissa grew firmer. Melissa was right; he did need her, never before had he been like this with her, so shaky and in need of human kindness. Melissa had come to see him not knowing what to expect. Her mother's comment that Andrew wasn't his usual self had piqued her curiosity and it was that more than anything else that had brought her here. Upon hearing of the end of his relationship with Jasmine from her mother Melissa's immediate assumption was that he'd satisfied himself that the feelings he thought he had for her weren't real and had let go of her and his obsession with her. The boy who was currently holding on to her like she was a ballast of unwavering strength was not someone who had grown bored having satisfied his curiosity. Rather than going to be with Jasmine and disabusing himself of the idea that he was in love with her Andrew had developed feelings for her that were deeper than anything he'd shared with her when they'd discussed Jasmine. A small part of Melissa was angry to have discovered this; she didn't remember Andrew being like this in the aftermath of their break-up and was jealous of Jasmine for getting Andrew to fall so deeply in love with her. For the most part, however, Melissa was empathetic. She held on to Andrew wishing she could do more, that she had something more to offer him than the mere tangibility of her body, but she wasn't capable of being the substantial, emotionally selfless person that he needed. That role would have to be performed by her mother.