Melted by You

8

"Yeah, he was all giddy".
Logan rolls his eyes.
"Ugh, love".
"I know right" Willow says. She's sitting in the fake grass of the football field, trying to pull the plastic out of the ground. She's leaning against Logan's legs, and she sighs.
"But can't you be happy for him? Just this once? I mean, he's still your brother..."
"So? He's got a date every month, it's nothing special".
"But if he was that happy yesterday night, is it really like every other month?" Alex asks.

Logan shrugs.
"Well, whatever makes him happy. I just hope he won't get all depressed like when he got ditched by that other girl".
"Depressed?" I ask. I can't really imagine Owen depressed. Then again, I've known him for a week.
"Well, not depressed" he says. "But just really useless".
"Logan!" Willow says. "Don't say that, I'm sure it was a very hard time for him".
"Well he certainly didn't do anything about that then".

"I'm going to go" I say, and I get up. "Lucas needs me to talk to Jay or something, I don't know".
"Who's Jay?" Alex asks. "Is he cute?"
"It's a she" I say.
"Well, is she cute?"
I chuckle. "She's pretty, I guess. Well, see you".
I walk away, and scan the field. I spot my former coach yelling at the football team, as always, and somewhere to the side, my friends are laughing at the players. I walk towards them.

"Ah, look at the poor slaves. It seems insane to me that anyone would voluntarily join that team" Dean says, and he looks at me. "What were you thinking, Mantel?"
I shrug. "It seemed cool, and Callum joined".
"Ugh, Callum" Lucas sighs.
"He's not that bad" I mutter. "He just wasn't really my type of person".
"Ah, yes. I tend to avoid the cat-killing kind of person too" Dean says.
"He didn't kill any cats!"
"Oh, no, that was just his best friend. Sorry".

I sigh.
"Let's drop that subject" I say. "Lucas, you said you needed my help?"
Lucas nods.
"Jay is going to walk by the football team because her best friend is on it, and I want to talk to her, but I don't want to call out for her because that sounds desperate. So you do it".
Dean rolls his eyes.
"Okay. Hey Jay!"
Jay, who's walking by, looks up. Lucas' eyes widen.
"Oh, hey Landon!" she says, and she walks towards us. "What's up?"
She has a slight British accent, making her voice sound a bit deeper. It sounds pretty nice.

"Just saying hi" I say. "When is the next practice again?"
"Tomorrow morning, before school. I trust I'll see you there?"
"Of course!" I say, already feeling excited. Practice has been going great lately.
"You guys too?" she asks, looking at Lucas and Dean. Lucas nods, making a strange mumbling noise. Dean nudges his side.
"Yeah, we'll be... We'll be back..."
"Okay, great! See you then!"
She walks off, towards the football field, and waves to her best friend.

"Real smooth, my man" Dean says, clapping slowly. Lucas mumbles something incoherent and looks at the ground. I put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sure next time you'll say a complete sentence" I assure him. Dean laughs. I look up, frowning.
"Oh, you were serious?" he asks, and he laughs again. "Sorry, it just sounds a little pathetic".
"Wow, thanks for your support man" Lucas says miserably. I pat him on the shoulder again.

After a few more classes, the school day is over. I walk through the halls to go outside, to the bus stop, but I suddenly bump in to someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I..."
I look at the girl I knocked over, and get a very strange feeling in my stomach.
"Hi Landon" Maggie says quietly. "That's okay, I'll be on my way".
I stare at her for a second, and before I can stop myself, I ask: "Are you okay?"

She doesn't look okay. She's not wearing any makeup, even I can see that, and her otherwise smooth, shiny hair is put in a messy low ponytail. Most of all, she's walking with her head low, shoulders down, and no trace of the confident, slightly arrogant attitude is visible in her walk.

"Oh, it's so sweet you asked Landon. But don't bother, it's not like you can help".
Her voice is trembling a bit. I frown, and sigh.
"Well then" I say. "Good luck with your next class".
She smiles miserably, and quickly walks away. I watch her leave, still feeling weird. Something was not right, that's obvious, but I feel a strange urge to help her even though I really shouldn't. Imagine what Willow would say. She'd go all mother-like and tell me no good will come from it. It's not like I don't know that.

I shake the feeling off, and realise I need to run if I want to catch my bus, so I start running towards the bus stop. I don't see Logan or Willow there, so they probably aren't done with school yet. Or they're already home, or... I look at the bus times. Or I just missed the bus. Great. I guess I'll wait here for a while.

I sit down on the bench, lean my head against the glass wall of the bus stop, and close my eyes. Above me, I hear tiny drops falling on the glass ceiling. Slowly, the number of rain drops starts to increase, and quickly enough there's a thunderstorm whirling around me.

Over the sound of the rain, I hear quick footsteps approaching. I look up, and see a tall, dark figure heading towards me. It's not until he's standing next to me that I can see his face.
"Owen?" I ask, surprised.
"Landon!" Owen says, and he grins. "What are you doing here?"
"I go to school here" I say. "What about you?"
"I've got a job somewhere near here, but I thought I'd come by and say hi to my brother".
"I'm not your brother" I say, confused. He laughs.
"No, you're not. But Logan is. I looked at his timetable and he's supposed to be done in... Thirty minutes. I thought I could pick him up, but then I realised he always waits here, so if I want to meet him, I'd have to go here".

"Well, welcome to the Molton high bus stop" I say, with a smile. He grins.
"Where do you live?" he asks.
"Just three bus stops away from school" I say. "My mom says it's useless to take the bus but there aren't any good bycicle paths on the route".
Owen looks at his watch, at me, and at the rain.
"Come with me" he says.
"What?"
"Come with me!"
He grabs my arm and pulls me into the rain. I guess I'll just follow him then. After walking for a minute, I'm already completely soaked.

He stops by a black family car.
"I'll take you home" he offers. "If you know your address".
"Really?" I ask. He nods.
"Sure! I've got enough time, and I'm bored, and this way you'll travel for free".
"Oh... Okay, thanks!" I say, and I get in the car. He gets in too. I name my address, and he types it into his GPS. Carefully, he turns onto the road, and we start driving the way I usually only see from the bus.

He turns the radio on, and soft guitar music starts playing.
"Aren't you upset about the seats?" I ask. He looks at me.
"What?"
"Well, we're soaked! Aren't you upset that the seats are wet now? My mom is always very upset when that happens".
He chuckles, and shrugs, looking back at the road.
"It's not my car" he says.
"Who's is it?"
"My mom's. She barely uses it because she doesn't like driving in the city, so she put me on driving lessons in case I ever got a job and needed to go there".
I sit back a little, admiring the warmth of the soft seats.

"So, excited for your next lesson?" he asks.
"Yes! So much! I loved playing the last time, and ever since then I've been thinking about what songs to play and how and I can play for other people..."
He laughs, and looks at me.
"You're very happy" he says.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because life is hard, my friend. Life is very hard sometimes".
I stare out the window, at the streams of water running down the car window, and the window wipers trying their best to create a clear view. Go on window wipers, I know you can do it.

"Well, here we are" Owen says suddenly. I look up, surprised, and notice he's right. We're right in front of my house.
"Thanks!" I say, and I look at him. He looks back at me. Suddenly, in a very strange moment of silence, I notice how attractive he actually is. He's got dark eyes, pleasant facial features to look at, and a fairly well trained physique.

"See you next Friday".
I snap out of my trance, and smile.
"Yeah, can't wait!" I say, and I bounce a little in my chair. I quickly stop when I realise that all the water in my hair starts to fall onto the seats.
He laughs quietly.
"Me neither Landon. Me neither".

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