The Rise and Falls of Melody Wilson

Part 13

 

Even though Mariah kept pressing me for answers, I could not seem to pull myself together enough to give her one. Plus, I just did not want to at the time.

Mariah knew almost everything about my life, she knew my mother was a heavy drinker, she knew my brother was pretty much never there, she knew my dad wasn't here, but what she didn't know was why everything was the way it was and she didn’t know about my life before her. I could never bring myself to tell her about my father and I'd even told her that it wasn't something I was big on talking about and for the most part she'd seemed to accept it. Mostly.

Now she knew there was something I wasn't telling her and she wasn't to happy about it. The whole time we were in the kitchen she kept urging me to "Explain, explain, explain! Explain yourself!", but I couldn't bring myself to do so.

How was I supposed to tell her all about me and Andrew's life long ago as best friends? That my father was dead? That I had secretly watched Andrew grow up in the spotlight through all the magazines he'd been in since he left? How do you explain all that to someone? I didn't know, and that’s why I didn't tell her.

The whole weekend and week at school I was trying to avoid her imposing questions, which isn't that easy when I had almost every class with her. I could tell she was getting more than  a little frustrated with me, but I just didn't know if I wanted to even tell her.

For years and years I'd kept it my little secret and never told anyone.

Andrew and I never really associated with anyone but each other in elementary and middle school, so no one really knew much about either of us or our families. Andrew's dad had been this big business man that owned several of the restaurants and stores in town. He always talked about moving to California to open up some new upscale restaurant and have my dad help him run it, but he never really acted upon it. After a while it just became something we joked about.

I felt someones gaze resting on me and I looked up just in time to see Mariah turn back and face the front of the class room.

 When the bell finally rang letting us out of last hour, I stuck all my things into my locker and made a beeline for my car.

"Did you really think you could leave without saying anything to me?" I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Mariah leaning on the front of my truck with her arms crossed.

"I wasn't trying to avoid you if that’s what you're saying." I remarked going to unlock the driver seat door.

"That's not what I'm saying, even though you obviously are." she looked at me pointedly and I looked back at her over the top of my car.

She sighed "Look, all I'm saying is if you don't want to talk to me right now about whatever it is you're not telling me, then don't. I'm not going to force you to, even though I really want to know what is going on with you and Andrew." I sighed  and she continued, "Just don't try not talking to me at all."

"Okay. Sorry." I held my door open waiting so I could leave.

"So can you come over tonight?" she asked eagerly.

I shook my head and tossed my practically empty back pack into the passenger seat, "I can't, I'm putting extra time in at work."

"That stinks!" Mariah huffed crossing her arms again over her chest, "Its Friday night, my mom finally ungrounded me, but you have to work. Great."

"Sorry," I offered half heartedly. As much as I loved Mariah, I was in no mood to spend the whole night listening to her talk about how it was going with Rick while watching some chick flick.

"Fine. But next weekend we are definitely doing something together, got it?" she suggested.

I nodded, "Got it. Bye." I got into my truck and started it up.

Mariah waved and started off across the school quad to where I could see Rick waiting for her.

 

***

 

 

Birdie was humming and whistling towards the back, living up to her old nickname, and I was in the body care isle. Burt's was a medium sized convenience store near the middle of town; it was almost like a Walgreen’s or some other small store. At least that’s what I thought anyways.

It was getting pretty late and I was still working on restocking the shelves in the body care section. There hadn't been many customers that night which helped me get most of my work done.

I heard the front door of the store open and close, I continued stacking bottles of lotion on the shelf. I was finally on the last box of lotions and only had the face creams and deodorants left to put up.

It was as I was opening the box of creams that I heard someone come into the isle and stand near me. "Need help?" I asked without looking up.

"This is the second time I've come here and found you like this." the person said.

I felt myself instantly bristle at the now familiar voice. "What do you want?" I asked still not looking up.

"I want to talk to you."

Great.

I shook my head and picked up the box, "Not now, I'm busy."

He continued to stand there, "It’s important."

Again, I shook my head "Sorry. I'm busy." I held the box and moved down the isle to where the creams were located.

Andrew just came to where I was, "It’s really important."

I dropped the box on the ground and went out the isle and into the main walk way. "Busy!"

I could hear him following behind me, "Please."

Pausing in front of the bathroom door, I spun  and faced him, "This whole I'm busy thing just isn't clicking with you, is it?"

A flicker of amusement flew across his face, "No, but this is important."

"Yeah and I'm busy." I spun around. At the last moment, instead of continuing to the back of the store, I pushed against the women's bathroom door and went in, locking it behind me. I stood facing the door for a moment, all quiet.

I wasn't entirely sure why I was trying so hard to avoid him like this. I guess after calling him by his old nickname at the school dance, I wasn't really sure what he had to say to me. Did he know? Was he just trying to trick me? Did he think bugging me was fun and he was getting a big kick out of this?

Then again, he did look kind of serious...

I was just starting to think he had given up and left, when I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come on, it’s important." his deep voice came through. I stifled a loud groan and rather let my eyes roll as I reached for the toilet lever.

"Mega importance out here." he said and I pushed down on the lever. The toilet let out a loud roar and sucking noise as it took the water out the bowl. The place went quiet again, only the sound of the toilet refilling was heard for a while.

"Did you really just use the toilet?" Andrew asked through the door, I could tell he was trying not to laugh. Although I didn't know what was so funny about this.

 "No," I answered crossing my arms over my chest. "I was just trying to get rid of you." I explained for no reason really.

"Please." he said softer, sincere, this time.

I felt my frustration at him dissipate and I took a step forward, resting my hand on the door handle. Did I really care? I asked myself.

After a deep breath, I turned the handle opening it to see his serious face that slowly spread to a wide grin.

"Fine. What do you want?"