Sleepless (Blake Richardson/ New Hope Club)

Chapter 3

"I'm fine." I lied but I wasn't going to pour my heart out to this boy I only just met.

"I heard you and Reece arguing.." his voice was soft and gentle. I didn't want to say anything or talk about the argument. Reece had always been this perfect child that my parents had adored and I'd always been the disappointment of the family. It's really hard to live up to the high expectations that my parents want; I absolutely hate how they compare me to Reece all the time...
"Melanie, you are good enough, just because you didn't get into dance class does not mean that you aren't talented." Blake spoke with a soft voice, I turned my head to take a glance at his beautiful smile plastered over his face.

"You don't understand. Everyone in our family is talented and have things that they're good at. I'm the odd one out. I have nothing." I continued to play with the long pieces of grass on the ground and jumped as I heard a crash of thunder roaring through the sky.

"Everyone's good at something. You're 18, you still have time to find what you are good at."

"Dance is suppose to be the one thing I'm good at."

"Why? There are lots of things you could be good at, there isn't just singing and dancing."

"Because my mum was this huge dancer when she was my age, it's in my blood I think at least be good at something that should be cursing through my veins." (Authors note: I have no idea if Lyndsey was ever a dancer but she's going to in this story to add to the structure)

"Melanie...don't force yourself into trying to do something just because your mum did it. Don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to. Whatever you decide to do in life is completely your choice and you shouldn't strain yourself to try and be perfect. You're perfect the way you are, whether you dance or not." His advice, really made me think but it didn't stop the fact that I'm being compared to Reece all of the time.

"I'm compared to Reece all the time. By everyone."

"You shouldn't be compared to anyone, you are a different person, you may be his twin but you're still a different human being."

Blake and I spoke until the rain had completely stopped pouring down. I shivered slightly because it was cold being outside for a few hours...

"Come on, let's get back and warm you up." He pulled himself up from the ground and helped me up. We started wandering towards his place and as soon as I stepped through the door Reece came rushing over to me from the sofa.

"Melanie. Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?" His voice was wobbly and he was checking me over for any injuries. He may be a pain in my ass but he's actually a really sweet and caring brother.

"I'm fine." I replied shyly and he pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly as a sigh of relief escaped his mouth.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I thought I would of had to call mum and dad."

"Wait, you'd sign actually call them did you?" My voice was a little muffled as he was smothering me.

"No but I would have if you didn't return in a couple more hours." He released me from his grip and his eyes wandered over to Blake whom was stood with his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks for finding her man." He gave Blake a bro-hug and we all perched on Blake's sofa. Well Blake sat with his back against the chair that George had taking over and Reece and I had the sofa. I sat with my legs crossed, with my shoes off obviously so I didn't get dirt on the furniture. I stole the blanket from Reece as I was still cold.

"How about you get changed into dry clothes so you don't catch a cold or pneumonia." Reece suggested and I nodded, grabbing my suitcase.

"You can get changed in my room." Blake told me. "It's the first room to the left as you walk up the stairs." I nodded towards him and made my way up the stairs after he had finished. I closed his door behind me and opened my suitcase pulling out my grey sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. Once I had changed I stared around his room for a minute. He had a light coloured wooden double bed with white sheets neatly made over it. The top of the bed was pressed against the wall directly opposite his door. The bedside table next to the top of his bed was the same colour as the wooden frame of his bed; it had a picture of him, George and Reece on which I'm guessing is probably the first picture they took when they met last year because they looked young. A flat screen black TV was stuck to his wall with a cupboard underneath filled with a few Xbox games and an Xbox One console. A wooden wardrobe was placed on the other side of the room which had two drawers underneath it and a shoe rack was placed next to it with pairs of shoes neatly placed on there.

I rushed down the stairs to see Reece sprawled out across the sofa with the blanket over him.

"Reece if you don't move I will sit on you." I warned him, he didn't move a muscle so I just sat on his legs.

"No get off me." He laughed.

"Are you going to move your legs or sit up?"

"Yes. Yes. Yes now get off me." He tried pushing me off him. I stood up ma she curled his legs up to give me space to sit. I grabbed the bottom of the blanket and lifted my legs up on the sofa so they were up to my chest before covering myself with the blanket and hugging it as we watched a few movies.