The First Catch

Chapter 22: Calling Off The Game

It was one of those rare days that Anthony had off. Since he had some vacation time, he decided to take the whole week. It had also been two weeks since he had heard from Melanie. He was rather confused at her sudden distance with him. He had thought that the last time they were together that things were going to be okay. He knew that it would still take some time for her to completely warm up to him, but he had hoped it had been a start.

He had been planning to contact her and hope that she would agree to meet up with him, so they could talk about some things, but he had also wanted to wait to see if she would take the step first this time, but he was wrong. Too much time was beginning to pass.  Anthony was beginning to worry, he didn't want too much distance between them when he thought they could have a good thing. He had been enjoying spending time with Melanie and having her for company. He didn't want to lose that. But he could also see that she still seemed to need her space. He was pacing back and forth in his living room trying to think, debating whether he should call her or not. "Two weeks is a long enough wait right?" He said to himself out loud. Suddenly he heard that familiar voice again. Call her. It had been a couple of weeks since he had heard that before. He shook his head to shake off those thoughts again. Greta get out of my head! There was a time that he would've loved to hear his sister's voice again, but now it only seemed to be annoying. She seemed to be pushing him, and getting him to go after Melanie. But he wasn't sure if he could when Melanie didn't seem to want him.

Anthony stopped pacing. Once he had his mind changed he pulled his phone from his pocket to dial her number before he decided to change his mind again. He could feel his heart pounding a little as he began dialing the number, feeling extremely nervous about talking to her after not seeing her in awhile. Especially with after what had happened the last time they were together. He almost was hoping she wouldn't answer, changing his mind as soon as he had pressed send. He thought he could hang up, but it almost felt like something was forcing him not to, and he waited it out, listening to the rings while waiting to see if she would answer, almost hoping that she wouldn't.

"Hello?" Anthony took a deep breath hearing her voice. "Melanie.. Hey.." Melanie grew quiet hearing him speak.  She had been a bit busy and hadn't thought to look at the name on the screen. If she would've known it was Anthony, she most likely would've ignored the call. She had been trying to stay away from him so she could clear her thoughts and knew what she wanted for sure. Hearing his voice made her realize she did miss him, she missed spending time with him. But she couldn't get too close again.. "Is everything alright?" She asked. She felt slightly worried but wouldn't admit it.

Anthony smiled a little hearing the worry in her voice.  "Everything is fine.  I..  I was just hoping.. Wondering.. I have a day off, and it's been awhile since we got to chat, or hangout. I miss visiting with you. So I was.. Hoping if you weren't too busy.." He began to ramble, letting the sentence trail off waiting for her answer.

Melanie took a deep breath. She knew she should say no. But for some reason she couldn't. She for some reason thought she could hear a far off distant familiar voice. Telling her. Give him another chance. And for some reason she decided to choose to listen to it. It almost sounded like it was Paul's voice. Melanie shook her head from those thoughts. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. Victoria and Levi are both working. You can come here and meet me at the house if you would like." Anthony thought on it a moment. "It's a nice day out. I don't suppose that you would be up for meeting at the park, by the bench?" He thought of saying our bench but he didn't want to freak her out anymore than he already had.

She gave a small smile at the memory of meeting him for the first time. Though it wasn't that long ago, it seemed like it had been.  "That would be fine. I just need to get ready and I can meet you there?" Anthony smiled to himself at her answer. He assumed she was going to say no, and continue to try and avoid him at all costs. "I will be waiting." Once they hung up, Melanie headed into the room and began to get ready. Exiting out of the house once she was finished, and headed towards the park. Not surprised at all to see that Anthony was already there, and sitting on the bench waiting for her.

She shoved her hands in her jacket pocket as she walked over to him. "Hey.." He glanced up feeling slightly awkward at the face to face meeting. "Hey." Melanie slowly walked around to the other side of the bench and sat down next to him. "Look.. I wanted to explain.." She said quickly.

Anthony stayed quiet hearing her starting to speak, at first staring straight ahead at the scenery before looking back over at her. "Explain what? Why you're choosing to ditch?" Melanie took a deep breath hearing his words. "I did not ditch..." She scratched her head trying to come up with a way to explain to him he would understand. Without giving him too much information about her husband. She still wasn't ready to tell him that part yet. That would mean she was opening up to him, starting to let him in, and she couldn't allow that to happen.  It also meant if she talked to him about Paul, talking about the accident made Melanie think it seemed real. She still wasn't ready to believe it was, even though she knew otherwise.

"Then what would you call it!" He gave her a glare. Melanie jumped as she heard his voice. Anthony didn't yell, but he sounded stern enough to make her feel nervous. She glanced around worried someone would hear their arguing, then turned back to him giving him a glare in return. "I thought you said you wanted to hang out!" She said standing up. "If you called me just to argue with me then.. This was pointless.. Because I'm not in the mood." Anthony took a deep breath to try and calm down. He hadn't exactly meant to pick an argument. He had meant when he said he wanted to hang out with her, and maybe casually bring up the situation. But unfortunately as always, he let his anger get the best of him and he let it slip out. It was why he was never really the best with making friends, or let alone being able to find someone enough to tolerate him. They didn't quite understand him, and of course that was his fault for not letting them. He had been different before this. Before his sister's death. He was a lot calmer, nicer, and didn't seem as closed off from people. He would've loved to have more friends, but people seemed to tend to ignore him. But after Greta, he changed. He had chosen to stay mostly to himself. He became more angry with things. He hated the fact that he had to lose his sister. One of the few people who actually seemed to care about him besides his grandparents. Who actually wanted to be with him and spend time with him. With Melanie however, he had chosen to follow Levi's advice and let her in. He thought he could trust her, hoping they could at least become good friends. But that didn't seem to be a possibility at all. For them to be any kind of pair. It was very clear to him that she didn't really want anything to do with him at all.

"Well I think I at least should get to know why you're avoiding me. I thought we were going to be fine. Then you chose to up and leave me, avoid me as if nothing had happened. I told you what I told you about my sister because I thought I could trust you.  Levi thought that if I revealed a few things..  That you would hopefully see that you could trust me. I guess I was wrong. And so was he.  You're just like the rest of them, choosing to pretend to care and take pity, because you feel sorry that I have lost someone. I care for you, and worry about you.. I thought that.. With our last meeting, it was possible that you had returned those feelings as well."

Melanie stared at him as she listened to him bantering. Since Paul's death. She appeared to be becoming the old Melanie back in school who only cared about herself. But she couldn't help it. She had no choice. "No.. You don't Anthony.. I don't have to tell you anything! It's not like we were ever a couple.. We are still very complete strangers. What makes you think I can trust you at all?  When we don't know each other.  You just assumed.. You just assumed we were.." She knew he wasn't going to like these next words. But she couldn't go any further with him, so it was best to close herself off from him.  Get it over with now instead of leading him on and hurting him later.  These words would be the only way he'd let her go, that he'd leave her alone. And if she said them enough, then she might believe them herself too. And it would be easier to close herself off from him and forget him. "You just assumed that I cared, that I loved you.."

Anthony took a deep breath, staying quiet for a long time before speaking. Once again almost making Melanie feeling nervous that he hadn't spoken yet. "Then if that is what you want.. I wish you luck. But I will just leave you with one question. The same question you asked me.  What happened to you that made you this cold? That made you feel you needed to be this isolated and cut off from everyone?" Anthony had of course done the same thing.  And he was stubborn himself.  But he at least was willing to take that risk.  Because he thought that she seemed like she would be worth it.  Not saying anything more, Anthony turned and walked away before Melanie could say anything more.