The Rise and Falls of Melody Wilson

Part 14

 

'What did I get myself into' was the question I kept asking myself as I walked into the small cafe, as I sat down in the booth with Andrew on the other side, as I ordered a coffee with extra cream, as we sat there staring at each other. Finally, the waiter came back with my coffee and Andrew's root beer, offering some distraction from the obvious awkwardness that surrounded us.

I brought the cup of steaming hot coffee to my lips and took a tentative sip that immediately burned my tongue, "Ow!" I screeched and slammed the cup down and latched onto my tongue with my fingers. I looked around for something cold to counteract with the pain and heat on my tongue, my eyes landed on Andrew's cup of ice-cold root beer.

He saw me eyeballing it and slid it forward with a small crookedly-amused grin.  I snatched it up and took a big swig of it, letting it sit on my tongue and cool it down.

"So..." Andrew started as I sat there with my mouth full of now lukewarm root beer.

I sat there looking at him, my mouth puffed up like a blow fish.

"Melody."

I choked.

I got startled and tried to swallow, which caused the liquids to go down the wrong pipe. I was hacking up my lungs for over a minute before the spasms in my diaphragm stopped and I could take a good breath in. "What did you call me?" I rasped.

"Melody." He said again with that amused, crooked grin.

"You know me?" I said as both a question and a statement.

He nodded. "How?" I asked.

"The night of your school Halloween function you called me 'Andy'." He stated, and I continued to stare at him, “I don't like people calling me Andy. You were the only person who ever called me that, and the only person I let call me that." He let out a sigh, "I don't know. When you said it I just kind of remembered. It clicked."

I picked up the spoon that sat by the saucer the coffee cup was on and started swirling it around in the coffee. "How could you forget who I was?" I asked him the question that had been on my mind for the past five years.

He sat there for a while, fidgeting, looking at his cup of root beer, tearing the napkin he had grabbed- when I was hacking up my lungs- into little pieces, avoiding my gaze. After what seemed like forever, he finally stopped and his eyes met mine. " I don't know." He sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I guess with all the people I was meeting and in the wake of our move, I just kind of pushed the past behind me."

That wasn’t the answer I wanted, then again I didn’t know what answer I did want.

“We went through everything together! We potty trained and lost our first teeth together! I seriously don’t think someone could forget that.”

“What makes you think I forgot?” he asked holding my gaze.

When I didn’t answer for a while, he continued, “What makes you think I forgot you? My life here?” he asked. “I just didn't realize it was you at first.You look so different. And,” he sighed. “I kind of figured you had moved away and if you hadn't, you wouldn't care about me anymore since we hadn't seen each other or talked in so long.”

I pushed my hair back, away from my face, then placed my hand around the cup, twisting and turning it on the saucer on which it sat, “I cared. A lot.  But you left. What was I supposed to do?”

Andrew’s shoulders lifted in a half shrug, “I don’t know.”

“Neither did I.”

We both looked at each other and after a while a smile slowly crept across our faces. We sat for a while in silence, both of us drinking our beverages.

When I finished my cup of coffee I pulled out my cell phone to check the time, “I have to go,” I told him as I got up from the booth.

“Uh, why?” he asked getting up too.

“I just need to get home, its getting late and as much as I’m loving this,” I motioned between us, “And the silence. I have to get home,” I replied, glad that I had chosen to follow him in my truck rather than ride with him here. Andrew ran a hand through his shaggy locks, looking as if he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if he should.

“Why don’t we talk tomorrow?” I offered. “I worked extra today, so I can probably go in a little later tomorrow.”

He nodded, “Uh, yeah. That’d be nice.”

I smiled, “Okay.”

“Do you still live in that white Victorian house at the edge of town?” he asked grinning.

I nodded my head, “Yeah. Out on Avery.” I had made to the diner door and was standing halfway through it, “Come around noon.” I told him and he nodded, “Bye.”

“Bye Melody.”