Just a Dare

Chapter Twelve

The sky was grey and the clouds overhead were heavy with precipitate. I drove the familiar way to Mel's house, even finding my surroundings to appear dull and colorless.

Lifeless, like my father's cold body that was now in the ground. Like Rob's would be within a few hours' time.

I pulled up to Melody's house and parked out on the street in front of her house, the same spot I always took when I was over. As I pulled the keys out of the ignition, however, I froze. I stared in surprise at the driveway, where Melody's car was usually parked alone. Now two other vehicles were sitting there alongside it.

One I figured belonged to her mom-that one was easy enough to figure out-but as for the other one, I didn't recall her saying anything about anyone coming over today.

Thunder rumbled overhead, reminding me that I didn't have time to sit around and play Sherlock Holmes to figure out the mystery behind the appearance of the third car in the driveway right at that moment, so I pocketed my keys and climbed out of my car, walking casually up the smooth cement pavement up to her door. My knuckles brushed against the cool, white painted wood as I knocked on the door.

I heard some noise behind it and then the sound of the lock being unbolted, and I forced a smile for Melody's sake. But when the door opened, Melody wasn't the one standing there. Instead, there was a woman who greatly resembled her.

There was no denying that this lady was, without a doubt, her mother.

Melody was a carbon copy of her, right down to the shape of her body, color of her lips, and texture of her hair. Her mother had aged gracefully, a small amount of whitish-grey hair beginning to form at the crown of her head and a few delicate wrinkles lining the edges of her eyes and around her mouth. The only difference between the two was their eyes; where Melody had bright, sparkling green irises, her mother's were a deep blue.

She also wore the exact opposite of what I'd expected when I came to that house for the first time with Mel: a soft pastel-pink cotton blouse and a pair of simple jeans instead of an apron over some sort of fancy-looking cocktail dress.

She didn't even have a pearl necklace on and her hair was down.

"You must be Trey," she said, her voice soft and unassuming.

I nodded. "That's right, ma'am." I held out my hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Melody's mom looked in surprise at my hand for a moment before smiling a little and taking it, giving it a hearty shake. It was now obvious to me who Mel had gotten her firm grip from. "I could say the same thing about you." she replied, releasing my hand.

I couldn't help but notice that Melody was still missing. "Mrs. Scribner-"

"Please," Mrs. Scribner artfully cut in, "call me Carol."

"Carol," I amended, "where's Melody?"

There was a noise behind Carol, and then Melody finally emerged. She was wearing a black sweater over a knee-length silky-looking black dress, her hair pulled back slightly, with little black heels on her feet.

"Here!" she said, her cheeks slightly flushed. Mel looked between her mother and me, shooting me an apologetic look before turning to her mom. "We're leaving, Mom. You can go now." Her tone was cold, snappish.

I was taken aback by it, shocked that she would speak to her mother that way.

Carol only sighed heavily in response, some of the light dissipating from her eyes. She suddenly looked much older-more tired, stressed out. "I know, dear." She gave me a miniscule smile, attempting to regain the mood she had a few moments ago. Even still, I could see in the deep blue depths of her eyes how little she really meant the happiness that her smile implied. "It was great meeting you, Trey." She said, and then she walked away to leave us alone.