Melina lives with her family in the wall between a set of Muse houses in London.
They have enjoyed many months at a time of the house to her left being empty until Her Bean and his puppy Kal come home.
#2 Borrower 8/12/2020 - 16/12/2020
#1 Borrower...
Melina groaned her head throbbing as it always did after she cried. She had hidden in the wall knowing that her bean could find her if she went to her room. She had humiliated herself in front of the one person she wanted to impress, and he laughed at her. Hanging her head in her hands she startled when a warm arm wrapped around her. Knowing by the size that it had to be a borrower she turned her head and saw her mother's kinds eyes. The care in those eyes drew her into her mother's embrace as another wave of tears fell.
Sniffling and hiccupping she heard her mother's soft voice asking, "Your brothers are worried about you, what happened?" She thought about it for a second catching her breath she snuggled into her mother "I embarrassed myself by snoring in front of my Bean, and he made me so angry and upset by laughing at me." She hiccupped again and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "Why do I feel like this mum, When I'm around him I am scared and nervous, his size when he is standing makes me want to run. But when I not around him all I do is think about him. It's so frustrating." She scrunched up her hands as even now the feelings felt like they were going to burst out of her.
Her mother frowned as she looked down in a moment of thought. Then started talking "Melina, you're in a very awkward situation. Before when you were just observing him, you controlled the situation whereas now you are not in control." Her mother looked across the hall as a smile tugged at her lips causing her to laugh "You should have seen your father and me when we were getting to know each other. We were in a larger community then, and I had been secretly in love with him for years. When he finally noticed me, and we started dating all my fantasies were smashed. He would frustrate me so much when he didn't act a certain way or do something like I had imagined he would. That we would fight all the time. Still, when I was not around him, I missed him so much."
She turned to Melina with warm moist eyes she said "My sweet daughter, even though this will never be a traditional friendship you have to learn to trust him first. Then as you learn to trust the fear will go away, and in its place will be something very special. So far according to your brothers, he had protected them and treated them with kindness. So, I believe he will do this for you too. Why don't you write all your feelings down in your journal so that when you're with him you can forget about them and focus on building a friendship." She then hugged Melina. "Come now it's time for dinner." Sniffing again she gave her mother a weak smile "Thanks, mum." Together they walked back to their kitchen.
The following morning Melina woke really early, the sky was still dark as she moved out of bed. She didn't want to get caught sleeping again. However, she did want to talk to Henry, she wanted to be as brave as her brothers were. So instead she crawled through the vent and sat underneath the bushes to the side of the vent. Deciding to fill in the time before he arrived, she pulled her journal through the vent as well as her small pencil and wrote. She filled the pages with her thoughts and feelings as her mother told her to do. After an hour she heard the sliding door to the garden open and out walked her bean.
For a split second, she reconsidered as she took in the absolute enormity of him as he strode towards her. "Be brave Melina!" she scolded herself and instead began to wonder what it would be like to sit on his shoulder and be carried around that high in the clouds. Would she be able to see as far as she could from his windowsill? Knowing he would not be able to see her sitting in the bushes she allowed herself to observe him. He was wearing a grey sweater and dark grey sweatpants; his hair was tousled with sleep curls sticking out at odd angles and his beard looked now like it needed a trim. He still had the dark circles under his eyes, but he wore a large grin.
As he came closer, she was unable to really see his face but his sandals were right in front of her. She watched as his knees descended and he sat cross-legged in the grass. He placed a large plate on the grass in front of him, it held a mountain of scrambled eggs, Rashers of Bacon that were twice the length of her body and a large misshapen slice of bread. What held her attention what not the food but the small plate that sat beside the bread. It was the size of a postage stamp, perfect size for her. It had three small pieces of bacon that had been cut just to size and three pieces of scrambled egg. Alongside the plate was a knife and fork small enough that Melina could fit them in her tiny hands.
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Her face held wonder as she looked up at her bean. His smile was radiant as he looked into the vent, she watched as his face changed from exuberant to frowning in disappointment realising that she was not in the room. His shoulder slumped in defeat until she said "Good Morning Henry" startled he almost upset the plate of food as he looked down to the bushes. Moving out so he could see her she sat on a rock and looked up at him. If she could spend the rest of her life making his face change back to that radiant smile, she would be a happy borrower.
His eyes sparkled with joy as he replied, "Good morning to you too, I thought maybe you were still upset with me when I saw your room empty. I bought your breakfast, I hope this is ok " He picked up the small place carefully between his pointer and thumb and handed it to Melina. It really was the perfect size for her, she asked as she picked up a fork "Where did you get this?" she saw his face go red as he rubbed the back of his neck chuckling as he said "there is a lot of things you can find on online. Delivered right to your door."
What Henry didn't tell Melina as he watched her look down in awe at her plate was that there was now a large dolls house sitting next to his bed, with enough cups, plates, and furniture to fit out three borrowers dwellings. After embarrassing her yesterday he had spent the rest of the day looking online to find things that he could give her to make up for it.
They sat in silence both eating, rather than facing the wall Henry had turned around to face the garden. His mind lost on trying to understand the borrower world. If she knew the world he lived in, the flights, countries he visited, galas and events full of people, lights and fans. He sighed and shut his eyes and breathed even just thinking about it caused him anxiety. He loved the storytelling and would do anything for his fans, but he was in reality a quiet man. Sitting here listening to the birds feeling the grass beneath him, this bought him peace.
Melina was having her own small panic; she was right now sitting only inches from her bean. But her heart was thudding, even though he was sitting she still could not see his face properly all she could see was his large thighs and a large foot once again inside a sandal. His toes poking out. She wanted to see his eye's, the expression in those baby blues was mesmerising. Caught in her thinking and her frustration she heard his deep voice carry down to her " I was wondering, do you like movies?" it was an interesting question "We don't really get a chance to watch movies, Henry. The Tv is too big to operate and when it is on its hard to take in as the screen is too big." She heard the gentle rumble of his humming away, the sound she associated with him thinking.
If you give me an hour can you and your brothers meet me in my living room, I would love to show you what I do. Melina smiled at the thought of seeing what her bean was passionate about so she said, "I can't speak for my brothers, but I think they would be excited. See you then?" his face looked down enough that she could finally glimpse his baby blues. His smile made her stomach clench is a good way as he nodded. She stood and stepped back into her room as she watched him stand and walk away.
A/N Thank you for reading this chapter, I have a surprise for you Chapter 8 will be uploaded this afternoon :)
As always if you love this please vote and I love comments :)
