‘Becky!’ Amanda shrieked desperately. Becky had gripped her arm once again just as she was about to walk out the door.
‘Please stay!’ Becky pleaded. ‘For me’
‘I need money!’ Amanda exclaimed irritated. ‘For me!’
Suddenly the sound of the doorbell stopped them from arguing. Becky, who was the closest to the door, jumped straight to it and swung it open. I gasped at the view.
‘Hello!’ J waved wildly at us. ‘How are my girls?’
I couldn’t believe my eyes as he walked towards me, all tanned up with nicely cut hair. I was falling in love all over.
‘I thought you were coming back tomorrow?’ I choked up the words.
He smiled genuine at me. ‘Surprise.’
‘One down, 4 to go’ I heard Becky mutter under her smile.
‘You knew about this!’ I cried out. She put her finger to her lips to hush me up. ‘I’ll explain later’
J drew my head back to him and kissed me softly. ‘The best is yet to come’
I watched as J embraced Liz tightly and smiled to myself.
‘Alright!’ I clasped my hands. ‘Tell me about this later!’
Before I could take one step forward, Becky jumped in my way again. ‘Not so fast’
‘BECKY!’ I hissed.
‘Don’t you get the point?’ She asked me, her eyes gesturing to Liz and J.
‘No’
‘How slow can you be?!’
‘I could be faster if you would get out of my way!’ I exclaimed shoving her as hard as I could. I began dashing towards the door, but suddenly my feet were glued to the ground. I stood motionless looking at Ritch who was standing in the doorway. His eyes were soft blue, just like before. No more filled with hatred.
‘Ri-…what….I mean, how-‘
‘I came by to help Autumn move’ He explained taking a step in.
‘Does she know?’ Becky burst out with laughter. Ritch surprisingly smiled too. His white teeth looked so fresh against his darkened skin.
‘But I did bring you a gift from Brazil’ He continued. I looked back at Becky amused. Ritch stepped aside and revealed Scott standing lazily behind him. I shrieked with excitement and ran up to him. Hugging him so tightly, he almost fell over.
‘I love surprises!’ I exclaimed excited. Scott released himself from my grip and laughed heartily.
‘A gift from Brazil?’ He asked Ritch. Ritch shrugged with laughter. He turned to me and gave a long look before walking upstairs.
‘Come in’ I replied to the knock absently while trying to move the box towards the exit.
I heard the door creak open and without a word someone stepped in.
‘Becky, I’m not leaving yet’ I exasperated, figuring it was her.
‘I know’ I heard a men’s voice. My head shot up in the air. Ritch laughed at me, maybe for the first time in weeks.
‘I came by to help’ He explained his presence.
‘Yes, you told me you would’ I nodded. ‘I just didn’t think it would be today’
‘Well, you’re almost done’ He pointed at the lost box and nodded at the empty room. I sighed and continued tugging my things towards the door. He came up and helped, with just one hand, he made it seem so easy to lift that weight.
‘I wanted to thank you’ He blurted out just as we were out in the hallway.
‘For what?’ I asked innocently.
‘For knocking some sense into my head before.’ He laughed at himself.
‘If it wasn’t for you, I would still be scheming to break those two up’
‘Maybe I would be too if it wasn’t for you’ I told him truthfully.
‘Me?’ He looked surprised.
‘When I saw you so hurt, I realized I wasn’t alone.’
‘Glad to help’ He chuckled and let the box down to the floor. ‘We make a good team.’
‘We do!’ I agreed. ‘A team of rejects.’
‘Nicely put!’
Amanda, Scott, Liz and J were seated on the couch in the living room just chatting away. I smiled to myself and just kept hoping everything else would go so smoothly.
‘Argentina was the best!’ Scott proclaimed.
‘No, Brazil!’ J argued ‘Skimpy bikinis’
‘J!’ Liz slapped him upside his head. ‘Is that all you care about?’
‘No’ He denied. ‘I also care for you in a skimpy bikini.’
Liz smiled satisfied at him. J grinned back at Scott who rolled his eyes.
‘Becky, you’re making me nervous, staring at us like this’ Amanda told me.
‘I’m just waiting.’
‘Aww, are you waiting for your surprise?’ She cooed.
I grumped at her and turned away. Ritch and Autumn walked down the stairs, laughing slightly.
‘Everyone here?’ Liz asked.
‘Missing one couple’ Amanda replied. The lads exchanged looks between each other, which made me just more nervous.
‘Melanie!’ I yelled on top of my lungs hoping she would come down without asking questions. Seconds later I heard footsteps on the stairs.
I stopped in my tracks at the sight of 7 people in my living room.
‘A party?’ I asked with a raised eyebrow. ‘And I wasn’t invited.’
‘You’re the main guest’ Becky replied with a sly grin.
‘Am I?’ I looked at the others for answers; Liz and Amanda just shrugged while the lads just looked lazily at me. What a party.
I took a seat between Becky and J and listened to what they had to say about skimpy bikinis. After some time the mood began tiring me. I slid off the couch and began walking back upstairs. Just then the doorbell rang. I looked back at everyone but they seemed untouched by the fact that someone was at the door. I groaned at them and continued walking upstairs. The door rang again.
‘Mel!’ Everyone shouted together.
‘Why me?’ I cried out, stomping back downstairs.
‘We’re in the middle of something!’ J stated.
‘Right’ I mumbled and dragged myself to the door.
I opened it lazily and began walking away untouched when suddenly it struck me. I turned back fiercely to the door and gaped at what I saw.
‘Hi’ Abs waved hesitantly. I took few steps towards him and looked back at the group situated on the couch. All eyes were on me, not so much surprised as mine.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked him almost in whisper. I didn’t know whether anger was rising up or just happiness.
‘I want a second chance’ He replied straight to the point. I couldn’t come up with words to answer that.
‘What you said in the hotel’ He continued. ‘If I only knew how much you meant it. You told me you needed me…., but before we left to America you told me you didn’t want to depend on anyone’ He sighed heavily, tilting his head to the side. ‘When you said that I was your one desire, was it the truth?’
My eyes began to fill up once again. I hated being put on the spot like that, but at that moment everything around us disappeared. I nodded my head a yes.
‘When we left to South America, Sean-‘ He stepped aside and Sean ran in like a gust of wind. Becky ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Sean pulled apart and waved at me. ‘He told me his point of view. Scott just added his opinion.’
‘Yes I did’ I heard Scott exclaimed happily.
‘I told them all to come here, hoping that maybe your friends would help me persuade you.’
‘Persuade me?’
‘To give me another chance, to give me back what we had…’
‘What we had was just a fling, is that what you want…?’
‘All I can offer you is my heart, what comes of it is your choice.’ He replied softly.
I could feel the tension grow behind me. He was right, their presence did make a difference. I turned slowly around, my eyes catching Autumn’s. She looked at me expressionless before breaking into a smile. Out of the all the people, her opinion mattered.
I turned back to Abs who was just as I left him.
‘And all I can offer you is me…’ Abs broke into a wide grin, in seconds I felt his arms embracing me tightly. I heard clapping fading away in my head as his lips met mine making all the bad memories go away, clearing the way for a new beginning of a new story.
