noted → calum hood | #Wattys2015

twenty nine

Traveling has really kept Melanie feeling as free as ever. There's minimal stress in her life right now, and she has the roadtrip that she's been on for the past month to thank for that.

She's leaning over a hotel bathtub right now, trying to rinse a bright blue hair dye out of her hair. How Michael convinced her to do this, she doesn't even know. It's a huge change from her dark brown hair, but a nice one. "You're going to look like a Smurf," Michael laughs. He's sat on the marble sink counter, waiting to aid Melanie if she needs it. He's an expert at the matter, after all. "Try not to get the dye in your skin."

Melanie laughs. "I'm trying!" The water looks like the vibrant summer sky just outside the window. "When's this water going to run clear?" She groans.

Michael jumps off the counter to assess the current hue of the water. "That's probably as good as you're going to get it," He tosses her a white towel that one of the staff members had dropped off that morning. "Use this to dry it."

"Can't I just blow dry it rather than ruining a towel?"

Michael shakes his head. "Not for the first time doing that to your hair," He chuckles. "Heat damages your hair enough. Heat plus newly bleached hair is just begging for the drier to blow all of your hair away."

Melanie laughs and flips her hair forward, eaening herself a "Don't do that!" from Michael as light blue water droplets fling around the bathroom. She swiftly wraps her damp hair in the towel as the bathroom door knocks.

"Mel, someone's calling you." Aries states as she hands her the cell phone.

"Who?" Melanie inquires, having not recognized the number on the screen. Aries just shrugs and leaves the doorway, the door still open. "Hello?"

"Is this Melanie Craig?" The stranger asks. The voice is feminine and familiar. She puts the call on speaker so Michael can listen.

"Yes, who's this?"

"Mackenzie Matthews. I just have a super quick question, if you don't mind." Her voice is hurried, not wanting to waste any of Melanie's time.

"Yeah, I've got one too: how'd you get my number?" Melanie has a confused expression laid upon her face, meanwhile Michael is back to sitting on the counter and listening intently.

"Alexis gave it to me. Anyway, I had a question about the rumor going around about you and Ashton; you're aware of it, right?"

Melanie sighs. "Sadly; what do you want to know?"

Mackenzie begins to speak quickly. "Well, Calum and I broke up last week because I found out he had lied to me. When he and I first began dating, he told me you had been dating Ashton while he was with Alexis, and forced him to pick who he was going to continue going out with." Mackenzie stops to catch her breath. "I just wanted to know if he was lying about that too."

Melanie is dumbfounded. "Of course it's a lie! Had he heard if from someone else?"

Mackenzie is much quieter. "I don't believe so, no. I think he made it up."

Anything but pleased, Melanie stands up from the bathtub ledge quickly. "I'm afraid I have to go, Mackenzie, but thank you for telling me." She does not give the girl on the other end of the call a chance to respond before she hangs up.

Melanie pulls the towel out of her hair and walks heavily into the main room. "Start packing, guys."

Luke raises an eyebrow, taken aback my her sharp tone. "Why?"