Someone Willing to Stay

Nine years

Nine years is a long time.

In nine years, I learned how to surf. I got a new best friend. My dad told me about his cancer. And my one summer with him, turned into a decade.

A lot can change in nine years.

Like Mel. She changed a lot. She's still my damsel in distress, but this time it's not pretend.
I miss her toothless smile. And her epic sandcastles. That's all I can think of when I watch her turn her back on me and walk up her driveway.

I miss her sandcastles.

I know that we're not kids anymore. And I know I may have been a jerk in the beginning. But all I could think when I first saw her, was how much taller she'd gotten. How long her hair was. How beautiful her eyes look when she sits next to me in seventh period and the sunlight from the window shines on her face. And how sad she is.

In nine years, her smile has disappeared. She doesn't swim. And she has a new nickname.
I want to tell her to turn around. To let me fix the broken shards of her, put her back together. If I'm the one that broke her, I have to fix her.

But I watch her open the door. And then I get into my car. 

Eight year old Mason would have swooped her off of her feet and tickled her until she told me where the monster was hiding and why she was so scared of it.

But I'm not eight anymore. 

I walk into my house with my shoulders slumped.

     "Did the date go that bad? No good night kiss?" My brother is sitting at the table with his girlfriend, Natalia. 

      He raises the bushes that he calls eyebrows and smiles.

     "It wasn't a date." I say defensively.

     "So then definitely no good night kiss." He confirms.

      "Jack ass."

      "You love me."

      "Who was your not-date with, Mason?" Natalia asks. She's doing homework at the table, putting down her pencil to talk to me as I sit across from her.

     "His girlfriend from when they were like five." Angel snorts.

     "She's not my girlfriend."

Yeah, not now.

     "What happened?"

     I look at Natalia and sigh, "I took her to the park. We used to hang out there all the time-"

      Angel interrupts, "Nine years ago, moron."

     "I think it's sweet." Natalia swats him on the shoulder. 

     "Anyway, some patrol dude showed up and tried to arrest us or something, so we booked it back to me car."

     "Let me get this straight," Angel sits up straighter, "you kidnap your childhood crush, take her to a children's playground, almost send her to jail, and make her sprint all on the same date?"

      "It wasn't a date!"

     "You're missing the point, hermano, you totally gave her the worst night of her life."

     Natalia nods and I frown at her.

     "He's right, Mason, I would literally cry if that happened to me on a first date."

     "It wasn't- nevermind. I'm going upstairs." I grumble, stomping away.

It wasn't a date. I just wanted it to be like old times. 

Maybe I was just using her to distract myself for a few hours from the phone call I got from the hospital in Florida.

    Your father has officially been declared brain dead. 

I can't face that yet.

I sigh and throw myself onto my bed. When I came home, I realized my room hadn't changed since the night I left. Power ranger themed sheets, posters of Superman on the wall, and a framed picture of Mel and me on my dresser. The walls are bright blue, the floor is layered in a thick coat of dust. Mom hasn't touched it.

      It's refreshing. It didn't even phase me when Robert and David teased me about the eight year old's clothes in the closet.

      It's my room. This is my home.

      Even while I was living with Dad, I knew it couldn't be permanent. I knew eventually I would come home. I knew if child services didn't get to me first, my outbursts in school would. And I was right.

     I stand up and go over to my window, pulling up the blinds. I can see Mel's room perfectly from here. I'm not a stalker I swear, but I just need to know if she's okay. I didn't mean to scare her or hurt her tonight.

      The room is pitch black.

      I don't care. I need to stop myself from caring so much. The rest of the school year is the amount of time our insurance will pay for Dad to be hooked to those machines.

      The machines that make sure his heart beats and his lungs expand.

      After that, I'm flying back down to Florida, unplugging him, and getting a job. Never turning back.

      I don't need anymore reminders of what a horrible son I am. The son who ditched his mother, the son who left his father to die.

      I'm forced to look away from the window when my phone buzzes on my nightstand.

David
Ok idiots, party at my place this Friday.

Robert
What's the occasion?

David
Parents are out of town and there's a pantry full of beer.

Robert
Cool, I'm in. Mason?

     I deflate, remembering what had happened at my own party. How scared I was while holding Mel in my arms, her dress disheveled riding almost all the way up her thighs.

      But Logan learned his lesson. And I don't care anymore.

     You're so whipped.
      Am not.

You
I'm in.

Because a lot can change in nine years. 

You can grow two feet taller. The gap in between your front teeth can disappear. Your best friend can become a stranger. 

The only thing that I can rely on now is me. I'm going to finish junior year, pass with flying colors. I'm going to put my dad out of his misery. And I'm going to be my own hero.
After nine years, everything is different. 

I look down at my sheets and smile. Almost everything.

_____________

Surprise!!!! Mason's point of view! Should I keep his point of view going or go back to Melanie? Which is better?