Melissa stared at the ceiling with her eyes wide open. She couldn't sleep able she hadn't been able to in a long time. She tried letting the hypnotic sounds of Tori Amos "1000 Oceans" lull her to sleep, but it wasn't working, especially not with Carter's moniter buzzing with static. She had no idea how her sister was sleeping through it.
Every once in a while, she thought she heard Taylor's voice, quiet and soft, but he was definitely singing. She tried to make out the words, but it came back fuzzy, missing a lyric every few seconds. "Just lay down and let your worries sleep. Don't think now.... Cause you know, I'll love you and never let go. And you know, that I'll you forever, I'll love you and never let go... Just cry out. Yeah I've cried those tears before... I can feel it now, as your teardrops hit the floor... Cause you know... I'll love you forever...never let go... I love you..."***
And then there was static again, combined with the soft snore of her sister and mumbled words from Zac. She laughed, wondering how the hell Carter slept through all of that all the time. It was amazing to her. She sat up in bed and adjusted her blue flannel pants and blue tanktop, then she grabbed an orange overshirt from the floor. She assumed it was Zac's but she didn't care.
Meli tiptoed past Carter, knowing Carter probably wouldn't hear her anyway. Then, she went through their library and onto the balcony. She stopped in front of Taylor's bedroom door to hear him humming the same tune, this time without the words. His bedroom door was open, but the screen to the balcony was closed. She assumed he finally realized how freaking cold his house was, and decided to let in some heat.
She knocked and slowly pulled open the screen door when he stopped humming all of a sudden. "Hey." She whispered lightly. Taylor sat up in bed. He was wearing boxers and a sweatshirt, another sign that he was freezing. He blushed slightly, the moonlight from the backyard hitting his eyes and making them sparkle like only Tay's eyes can.
"Hi." He smiled. Then, he looked down at his moniter and then back at her apologetically. "Did I wake you up?"
Meli shook her head. "I couldn't sleep. I heard you and..."
"Oh." He blushed again and pushed his hair away from his eyes. "You can come in if you want." He motioned her inside.
Meli hesiated before sitting down on the bed next to him. She pulled her knees up to her chest and smiled shyly.
"You don't match."
"I know."
"You always match." Taylor observed politely.
"Only when you see me." She looked down. "What song were you singing? I've never heard it before."
Taylor blushed for the third time. "Just something I've been fooling around with. Isaac and Zac were helping me."
"Oh yeah." Melissa nodded. "I remember when we were really little you guys were thinking about writing and performing music. Why didn't you ever do that?"
"Well, remember that one year when Mayfest was closed because of the tornado warnings that were going on?"
"Not... really."
"Yeah you were pretty young. Zac was too. That was the day we were supposed to perform. Some really cool rock stuff from the 60's. We were going to do 'The Longest Time' and 'Johnny B. Goode'. But then Mayfest was canceled and that was it."
"Oh, that's right. Carter used to think that if you guys went to that Mayfest, you'd be famous now. One of those really cute boy groups in the magazines."
Taylor laughed. "Hardly, we'd have written our own stuff and played our own instruments eventually."
Meli nodded. "Without a doubt. Do you regret it though?"
"I don't know. If we would have ended up famous... I would have missed out on a lot of this stuff. Like, you and Carter. We'd be away too much..."
Meli smiled suddenly at the mention of her name before Carter's. It didn't happen very often.
"But what if we were famous? Think of all the chicks I'd have?"
Melissa laughed and pushed him over. He fell back onto the bed with his head on the pillow. He smiled up at her, loving the way she looked right then, at that moment. She looked playful and carefree. Her pajamas were mismatched and her hair was down, not back in a bun like all the preps he knew when he had tried highschool for a year. He hated them all.
For that one moment, Melissa didn't look like one of them. And from that moment on, she didn't look like them. Taylor yawned and looked over at the moniter. He thought he heard Tori Amos coming from Meli and Carter's bedroom, and he could definitely still hear Zac mumbling in his sleep, but he heard something else now. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Melissa leaned towards the moniter.
"That... thumping noise."
"I dunno." Curious, Meli left the room and went back into her own room. After laughing for a while, she came back.
"What was it?" Taylor asked, wide-eyed and no longer tired.
"Carter." Melissa giggled and sat back down on his bed. "She was sleepwalking. But she found a wall and just kept walking into it, over and over."
Taylor laughed.
"Yeah, I pushed her towards her bed and she just got back in and covered herself back up." She shook her head. "She's so crazy. Were you around the time that she stepped on the rake?"
"No!" He laughed again. "She stepped on a rake? Was she sleepwalking?"
"No. That's the funny part. She went downstairs to the basement to get something and she stepped on the rake. It came up, hit her in the face, she took a step back, kinda dazed, and then stepped on it again."
Taylor laughed loudly. He'd forgotten how great at telling stories Melissa was. That was probably what attracted him to her. When they were alone, and she didn't have to impress anybody, she told some great stories. He had always loved listening to her.
Meli smiled almost shyly and looked down at the floor. "I guess, I should probably go back nextdoor. I don't wanna keep you up all night." She stood up.
"NO!" Taylor grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She plopped back down on the bed. "Don't go."
"Uhm. Ok..."
He blushed. "I mean, I'm not tired anymore, and you said you hadn't been sleeping. So... why don't we figure out a way to waste some time." He grinned.
"Uhm... Tay..."
"No, not that!" He blushed again, this time turning a deep shade of red. "I was thinking something along the lines of... pranking your sister."
Melissa's lips widened into a huge smile. "Wow, even at 2 o'clock in the morning, you're brilliant. Whatcha got in mind?" She smiled the entire time he explained his plan to her. It would only be a few hours until he'd have the last word.
***You probably all know that this is "Never Let Go" By Hanson. If you haven't heard it, get on Napster and download it. It's amazing and might make you cry.