Someone Willing to Stay

Everything Has Changed

     Claire takes it upon herself to play the music, seeing as how she's the only one who seems to know what "decent music" is.
     She makes Robert and David drag the stereo up from downstairs.
     I've only ever been in the basement twice in my whole life.
     I remember the first time because it's one of the only memories I have of my dad. We were downstairs while he was doing laundry, I was sitting on top of the dryer and pretending it was a rocket.
     That was before Adam dragged me down there after a teacher had noticed the bruises on my arm. Before the walls became tainted with my screams and the sound of my arm cracking.
     There are no more happy memories down there.
     I watch as David hooks up the machine so it's leaning heavily on my kitchen table. I cross my fingers, hoping it won't collapse.
"Riley, go get Apples to Apples!" Claire calls out as she hooks up her phone to the stereo.
"I am not- you know what? Okay." Riley says with a defeated shrug.
"I have to use the little boy's room again!"
"My God, David. Get that checked out." Robert wrinkles his nose.
David rolls his eyes but walks briskly out of the room and down the hallway.
Mason shoots Claire a knowing look and they both smirk at each other.
"What? What's going on?" I ask them.
"Nothing." They say simultaneously.
Mason leans down to my ear, "You'll definitely wanna wash your sheets after the party."
It takes me a minute before my eyes widen in realization and I gasp, "They wouldn't."
"Hush, child," Claire says just as I hear a small yelp come from down the hallway, "Just listen to the music." She turns her phone up louder so an upbeat song is blasting through the house.
I can't believe they're doing it.
I shudder slightly, shaking myself out of it when Claire grabs my hand and starts jumping and down.
She's laughing hysterically at my disgusted expression.
     "Come on, Ni-Ni."
    I roll my eyes and weakly jump with her.
    It's only seconds late that there's a pounding on the door.
     Rob's eyes widen, "Oh no."
     "What? What oh no?"
     He winces, "David may have invited a few more people over."
     Mason walks over to the front door and to me it's like a scene from a horror movie as he opens it and people flood into the house.
"A few?" I shriek.
There's at least twenty more people that cover my living room and don't even seem to notice me as they set down packs of alcohol and dance.
I'm going to kill David.
Mason comes over to me, smiling, "Calm down, beautiful. Let's just dance." He winks at me and stage me out into the middle of the room, we're not crowded like usual at all of the parties I've been dragged to.
I sway awkwardly in front of him.
"This is not how I planned my party." I tell him.
Mason rolls his eyes, "Just go with the flow. Dance!"
He starts singing at the top of his lungs, "I kissed a girl and I liked it! The taste of her cherry chapstick."
Of course this is on Claire's playlist.
I laugh and begin to dance with him.
For a while, I'm actually enjoying myself. Even though my fridge has already been broken into and my cake is gone. I think it's mostly because Mason is making sure I'm having fun, just like he did when we were kids.
And then the upbeat music changes to a soft slow tune.
People around us grab into each other like we're at a school dance.
I grab my arm awkwardly but Mason isn't phased.
"Can I have this dance?" He teases.
(I highly recommend listening to the song while reading this part)
I roll my eyes and take his hand. He pulls me closer and I'm flush against his chest, my cheeks turning bright red.
He guides one of my hands his shoulder and the other one to his hand, while he uses his other hand to cup my my waist.
"Are we going to waltz now?" I tease him.
He smiles softly.
"All I knew
This morning when I woke
Is I know something now
Know something now I didn't before."
I hum along softly to the song, letting the words out under my breath, "And all I've seen Since eighteen hours ago Is green eyes and freckles and your smile In the back of my mind making me feel like."
Mason is staring at me, like he never wants to look away. His eyes flickering across every feature, and for that second, I don't want to hide.
"'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello"
And your eyes look like comin' home All I know is a simple name. And everything has changed," Mason seems to never get embarrassed seeing as how he sings to me a lot, and I don't mind, "All I know is you held the door You'll be mine and I'll be yours
All I know since yesterday Is everything has changed."
No one else is here but us, frozen in time, staring into his eyes, then glancing down at his lips.
"And all my walls Stood tall painted blue
But I'll take 'em down, take 'em down And open up the door for you."
When I sing the words I feel like I'm speaking to him, telling him the truth. I want him to know me. I want to let him in. Let him save me.
I don't need saving. I'm letting him mess with my head.
I shake my head and try to push Mason away, I know how much trouble this could get me in.
But he doesn't budge.
"Mason, just stop, just leave me alone. You have to leave me alone." I realize when his thumb swipes across my cheek that there's a tear.
"I'm not going anywhere, Mel," he whispers, "not again."
I fall into his embrace once more, laying my head into his chest and singing softly, "Come back and tell me why I'm feelin' like I've missed you all this time."
"And meet me there tonight And let me know that it's not all in my mind."
I look up at him.
And all I want is to be impossibly closer to him, to feel him hold me for one last night.
He leans down, his eyes flickering over my face.
Mason's hand comes up to cup my cheek.
And then he leans in.
I've never kissed anyone before. I've never felt someone else's lips on mine, and I always thought that I never would.
But I did.
And I suddenly forget how to breathe. Because it's Mason, and he's all I've ever wanted, and the fireworks I'm seeing behind my eyelids have been there the whole time.
Everything has changed.
He's holding me like he never wants to let me go, and I don't want him to. I want to feel this bliss forever.
But eventually he pulls away.
He's smiling widely and I just know that my face is on fire.
"Mason..."
"Happy birthday, Mel," he tells me, leaning down to me ear so I can feel his eyelashes tickle my cheek, "I do like the taste of your strawberry chapstick."
I smile nervously, "It's Claire's."
What's going to happen now? I don't understand what that meant.
He laughs, "I lov- of course it is. Come on." He says as another song begins to play.
He's acting like nothing happened.
But I feel like my whole world has been flipped upside down.