Red Ribbon

Chapter Four

"Okay so how do you find the standard deviation of the sample?" I asked Melrose as I laid out on the carpet, plane style. We had been studying for around four hours now and I was sure that my brain would be cooked straight through if a doctor opened my head.

"I couldn't tell you," Mel responded, slurping another fork full of her microwave noodles. I moved to sit on my hip with an arm supporting me as I eyed her incredulously.

"Melrose. We have been studying for God knows how long and you can't tell me how to find standard deviation?" I chuckle, stealing her noodles.

"I can I just don't want to. Let's do something fun," I take a mouthful of noodles before looking at her quizzically. "Let's go swimming."

I gesture to the snow falling outside, "Babe, we'd be popsicles if we went swimming," I sighed and set her noodles on the table before resting back against the floor of her luxurious house. A few seconds passed in silence us just staring into the abyss.

"Did you have sex with my brother?"

I snapped upward to my feet, "What? No! I—EW!" I gagged showing my utter revolution at the thought.

Melrose gazed at me suspiciously, "It's just... he treats you differently than he treats other people," she toys with the noodles.

Heat rushes to my cheeks, "What do you mean?"

Melrose shakes her head, "Kallias..." she hesitates, "talks to you. It's odd."

"He talks to you too; he talks to his employees well enough!" I rush, gesturing with my hands.

She shrugs, "Yeah, but not in the same—" Her head snaps up to meet my gaze, "You went to his work? Why would you be at his work?" Mel accuses as she rises to her feet.

"Just to return his jacket, nothing else. He hates me, remember? You saw." She didn't look convinced. "Come on, Mel, don't be crazy!"

"Don't. Don't call me crazy," She commands before firmly setting the cup on the table and moving to leave the room. I quickly stepped in front of her.

"I don't think you're crazy, I'm sorry," I sigh, "There is nothing and will never be anything going on between me and your brother. He's a prick."

A well dressed, handsome prick who makes me wet but still a prick.

Melrose pinched her lips before a small smile crossed her face, "Ok, I'm sorry for accusing you. I just—I am not used to the whole friend's thing, and I don't want to lose you. Especially to him," She exclaimed, spitting out the last few words.

"You won't, I promise." I give her a quick hug and she returns it, hugging me so tight it's slightly hard to breathe.

She sighs, "You better not break that promise or I'll break your neck, bitch," I chuckle at her words. Melrose has always had a big knack for horror movies and uses freaky vocabulary on the daily.

"You wouldn't. You love me," I respond, pulling out of the hug.

Mel merely raised a brow and hummed before continuing out of the living room.

"Hey, by the way," I ask as we step into the spacious hallway's marble floors, "Who is Marcello?"

Melrose stopped dead in her tracks, and I had to rework my steps just so I wouldn't slam into her.

"How did you get that name? Did Kallias...tell you?" Mel asked looking deep into my eyes.

My stomach felt slightly queasy, "I-uh... I saw his phone yesterday and the name 'Marcello' popped up. He acted sort of sketchy after that, so I was just wonderi—" Mel tilted her head before returning to walking, "Is everything okay? He's not a murderer, right?" I joke, but Mel only stiffened.