Black Rose

Twenty-Five

Hours had passed since their big confrontation and Melrose still had herself barricaded in the tiny space of her bathroom while Raine sat glued to his spot on her bedroom floor. She had taken a thorough shower, even washing her hair--which took close to an hour--so when she opened the door to find Raine it threw her for a loop. The whole time she dried off and put on pajamas, he tried to get her to listen to what he had to say, but she completely disregarded his existence and went into her art room. Raine only followed and found his place on the hallway floor, flopping down directly in front of that door. He told her that he wouldn't leave until they talked face to face and he meant every word. Melrose begged him for an hour to get out of her house, but he refused to go anywhere and he had her phone so she couldn't call the police. Realizing that she'd be stuck for the night, she checked the closet where her work supplies were stored and grabbed the extra pillow and blanket she kept in there for long nights. Laying across the Cabriole sofa, she reached over and turned the lamp off, causing her only source of light to come from the street lights outside. Sleep was the furthest thing from her mind because she knew the horrible nightmares would gnaw at her continuously. With her eyes wide open, she stared at the ceiling in a daze, shutting out the constant soft knocking on the door. In her heart, she knew that she shouldn't have blew up on him the way she did because he had no clue of Bailey's role in her life. However, he could have been honest after seeing her at the festival two days ago, but instead he kept his mouth shut. Melrose stared at the ceiling, letting her mind wander off into a world of fantasy. A world that consisted of no flaws, only strength; no lies, only honesty; no hate, only love and no sadness, only happiness. Sadly, the only place this type of world will ever exist in is her own imagination. 

"Mel, baby, please open the door, so we can talk about this." Raine's voice followed by more knocking pulled her back into the now. She had become annoyed with him hours ago, now she was straight vexatious with him, but she knew he wouldn't leave her alone until she agreed to sit down and talk with him. Angrily throwing the blanket off of her, she stomped towards the door and swung it open forcibly to see him sitting on the floor, legs crossed and his hand in the air, preparing to knock again. 

"Knock on this door again and I will detach your arm from your body." She gritted through closed teeth and slanted eyes. 

Standing to his feet, he apologized. "I'm sorry Mel but we need to talk about this. You wanted me to be honest, so here I am willing to tell you everything." 

"Now you want to own up to your mistakes when you done fucked up tremendously." She scoffed, leaving him at the door. "Typical men."

He wasted no time following her in the room, seeing as this would be his only chance to get her to listen to him. For his sake, Raine had to tell Melrose the truth and he was going to be a man and own up to it, but who says you have to tell the truth in entirety. Of course, it was ill-considered to keep a few details to himself but desperate times calls for desperate need. Melrose reclaimed her position under the blanket while Raine sat on the other end of the couch. Neither of them spoke, both waiting for the other person to spark a conversation. 

"Are you going to open your mouth and say something or sit there staring at me?" She queried.

"Oh, I thought you wanted to speak before I started." 

"I don't have anything to say." 

Nodding his head in embarrassment, he scratched his neck and dropped his gaze to the creme colored carpet. "I met her at a frat party at FSU and-"

"So, that's where you coward off to. Two hours away from me." She interrupted. Raine could hear the hostility in her voice and almost changed his mind about the truth. Twisting his mouth to the side, he kept quiet, unsure of if it was safe to continue talking. "Say something!"