The Rise and Falls of Melody Wilson

Part 5

 

 

I found myself gawking at the huge mansion the address brought me to. Apparently, Mariah was right. This Jack person must have been loaded!

His 'house' (if you could call it that) sat atop a small hill, black iron gates guarded- though left open for easy passage tonight- its luscious green acreage that spread out behind them.

 I drove my truck through the tall gates and followed the gravel road. Everybody’s cars were parked on the small cement lot and the grass in front.

Music screamed from the inside, but thanks to the distance between houses I doubted he had and neighbors complaining.

Jack's place was just spectacular: deep beige coated the outside of the house making it look even taller as the shadows flickered up against it. Dark Spanish style tiles layered the roof, giving it an elegant look. Light shone from the many windows and as I parked my car and walked up to the front door, I could see people moving and laughing through them.

Mariah must have been waiting outside for me since the second I reached the bottom stair of the porch; she raced down and gave me a too-tight hug.

 "I'm so glad you decided to come! I knew you wouldn't leave me to fend for myself!" She squealed squeezing me tight before finally letting go and grabbing my hand, tugging me behind her.

This place had to be violating so many safety codes, with the amount of gyrating bodies and volume of the music, it would have been so easy for the police to show up and lock many of the people up for underage drinking and all sorts of other stupid things. Yet, it wouldn't be too hard for Jack to buy his way out if he got caught for it all.

I let Mariah pull me through a bunch of half-drunk people, who couldn't seem to figure out how close was too close, towards the back of the house where the music wasn't as annoyingly loud.

Mariah tugged me down onto the firm black leather sofa, next her and Rick, who she immediately leaned over to and kissed. Later she would say it was because she just saw his cute little face and couldn't resist kissing it, but I knew it was because of the girls standing around us looking at Rick with flirty eyes and smiles.

We stayed like that for a while; Mariah asked me how I liked the party, in between small 'talking' sessions with Rick in front of our dispersed audience while I just nodded. Only paying attention to the thickness of the air that surrounded us due to all the bodies inside.

I stood abruptly and Mariah quickly reached out for my hand, "Where are you going?” she asked her eyes wide, I could hardly hear her.

I bent down so she could hear me better "I just need a breath of fresh air. It’s really hot."

“Thaanks, you’re looking really hot tonight too!" She let go of my arm and turned back to Rick. I almost felt like correcting her about what I said, but she might have taken it the wrong way and gone all self-conscious about the way she looked. That’s the way Mariah was, exerting self-confidence and coolness on the outside, but inside she was a ball of unsure-about-her-body-and-herself-in-general self-consciousness. I guess that's what being one of the more “popular” girls in school got you, lots of people who were nice to your face, but the moment you turn and walk away they start talking about how big your butt and thighs are. I knew people, mostly the guys, talked about me whenever I wasn't there, because many times as I'd walk down the hall I’d see them ogling me, then as soon as I had passed they'd turn around and  start talking to their buddies about me.

I was mentally sucker-punching Josh in the face and kicking him in the groin, when I felt a hot sweaty hand clamp around my wrist. I spun around to face a stocky guy around my height, who had obviously drank too much. I tried to yank my hand free but he only pulled me closer and wrapped a sticky arm around my waist, "Hey, why don't you dance with me?" he asked with his words slurring.

I put a hand on his chest to keep him from leaning in closer and another went around his arm that was on my waist, trying to pull it loose from me. "No thanks, I'm not in the dancing mood." I struggled to keep my voice still as I tried to pry his arms from around me.

"Awe... Why not? I think I'm a pretty good dancer," he laughed leaning his head in once again.

I pushed against his shoulder, harder this time and felt his grip loosen on my waist "Well I just don't want to dance. So let go." I pulled away; his arms fell from my waist and I spun around trying to get away.

I didn't get but two steps before his grimy hand was on my wrist again "Come back here! We're going to dance!" he spat; the amused glint in his eyes had changed to anger.

"Let. Go." I yanked against his grip as he tried to pull me back.

"No! Come-" he didn’t finish his sentence. A large hand fell across his shoulder, but his hand still clamped onto my wrist.

"Hey, she said let go." the deep voice that must have belonged to the hand thundered and Mr. Greasy-Mcgrab-grab automatically let go, his eyes widening at whoever had laid their hand on him. I couldn't really see who had stopped the kid because as soon as his hand let mine loose, I bolted. Needing fresh air more than ever, the breath on that guy was so rank and full of alcohol I could practically see it dripping from his mouth. Or was that just slobber?

I  wove through the buzzing bodies, keeping my arms glued in front of me to avoid any other greasy grabby hands, as I made my way to what I hoped was the very back of the house and where I hoped  was a door that opened to a back yard or patio of some sort.

After a few moments of blindly walking around and weaving through people, I found a large glass sliding door that opened up to an expansive deep green lawn. I quickly hurried over to it and took a deep, refreshing breath as soon as I stepped foot outside.

I sighed and folded my arms in front of me stepping forward to stand at the edge of the deck that spread out to the left and right of me. The large "backyard" could have easily been a few acres in size. A little pond and waterfall ran a ways from the house, little trees and shrubs bordering its stone lined edge, like little green warriors protecting their fort from invaders. A very big Jacuzzi sat on the farthest end of the right side of the deck, its black cover sat on top of the deep mahogany colored sides. Steam still rose in small streams from small crevices in the cover.

In an effort to distract myself from a panick attack I was starting to attempt to calculate the cost to heat the thing all year, when I felt a hand touch my back. I immediately jumped and gasped, imagining the guy from earlier.

 I heard "Hey are you-" right as I shot out a hand and smacked the one that had touched my back. I spun around and faced the person, a scowl already planted on my face ready to give the person an earful.

My scowl relaxed the moment I realized it wasn't the guy from in the house.

"Oh sorry, I-" my voice cut off as my brain registered the tall, curly haired, blue eyed guy standing in front me.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." His deep voice hit my ears and a half grin stretched across his face.

 I could have passed out right then....