Chapter 4

"Should I?"

"Yeah. I mean, I understand you were be tired, I know I'm not that easy but neither are you!"

Oh God! Did I drink that much? To not remember what I did? No, it can't be … What we did? Fuck! Well, at least I don't have a hangover or something…It takes a lot to get me hung over, just like Ollie…"What are you talking about? Jack, what the hell did we do?"

He laughed. "Chill out Mel! I'm only kidding! You fell asleep while watching TV, so I took you upstairs to sleep in my bed so you were more comfortable… But I swear I didn't touch you!" He insisted as soon as he saw the look on my face.

"And how did you take me there? Are you a magician or something like that and you didn't tell me Jackie Bear?" I had a mouth full of pancakes. I know it's impolite but I was relieved that I had done nothing stupid. 'Cause if I had, I wouldn't be able to blame the drink, I hadn't even been close to be drunk.

"You know what I meant!"

I laughed and ended up choking. "Yeah I know. Anyway, where is Bobby? Did Ollie show up?"

"Bobby, Angel and Ollie went to work. Bobby and Ollie came back early this morning, just like I had told you! Ollie checked on you and went home to get some sleep. He also said that you should be home by lunch time. Oh and I slept on the couch."

"Aww I'm sorry for making you sleep there, you could have left me on the couch. I wouldn't have noticed any difference, I'm a heavy sleeper."

"I know you are. You didn't even hear Bobby screaming."

"Why was he doing that?"

"Well, when they got here, Bobby didn't see me on the couch at first and went straight to my room. He saw you there instead of me, he started screaming at me and asked what I had done. If Ollie hadn't stopped him, he'd have punched me in the face, 'cause he thought we had …you know. He only calmed down, because Ollie went upstairs and checked if you were dressed and shit."

"Hell no! Did I miss that?" I rolled my eyes.

He started laughing and nodded yes. I finished my breakfast and washed the dishes, but only after arguing with Jack about that. He didn't want me to do it.

"I think I should head home now."

"I will walk you there." Not that I didn't like him doing that, but it sounded like we lived far away from each other!

"Alright."

When we got to my door, I said goodbye. "Bye Jackie Bear! Thanks for everything."

"No problem. See ya Melody Melanie." He smiled and turned to go away.

"Melody Melanie?" I frowned.

"Yeah. Well, you have a nickname for me, it's only fair if I have one for you too."

"But Melody Melanie?"

"I'm a musician! What did you expect?"

I laughed. "Actually, it sounds good."

"It's one of my better creations." He admitted before walking away.

Don't you dare fall for him! It's just a nickname! I got inside the house and headed to the bathroom to take a shower while listening to some music.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Jack's POV (Point of View)- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I looked at Mel, she was sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. I had the weird impression that her neck would break, and that position would cause her a lot of pain the next day. I decided to take her upstairs and lay her on my bed.

I had no idea what she'd think about it. I don't know why, but every joke I make about sex (I'm a guy, I can't help it!) or something of the sort, she backed off. Something must have happened and I wondered what.

While carrying her up the stairs, I noticed that even for a tall girl, compared to the other ones, she was light but didn't seem to be anorexic or stuff. She seemed healthy, though Ollie told Bobby, who told me, that when her parents passed away, she stayed three days without eating or sleeping. We never talked about it, Ollie asked us to not mention anything, he knew his little sister wanted to be strong and everyone should help her be that.

I never had anyone to talk to about my feelings after Ma died. Bobby had his own way to show affection, and let's say that wasn't the best of all, it was just Bobby's way. He'd mock of me if I came up to him and said. "Hey Bobby, I wanna talk about my feelings, will you listen to me?". Angel was too busy banging Sofi around or discussing their relationship, which always ended up in sex. And Jerry had his wife and his daughters to care for. I don't judge them for it, but its times like that, that I miss Ma even more.

I laid Mel in my bed and covered her with my blankets, her neck looked so much better on the pillow! The most incredible thing is that she barely moved while I put her there, which made me laugh inside.

I took my boxers and went to the bathroom to get changed, she seemed to be fast asleep, but I didn't want to take any chances. I went back downstairs and found out that I was also sleepy, so decided that it was finally time to call it a night.

I lay down on the couch, turned the TV off and kept staring into the darkness, soon I was having one of my crazy dreams.

I heard Bobby and Ollie coming in, they didn't care about being silent. Ollie went to the kitchen while Bobby went upstairs, I didn't move.

All of sudden I heard Bobby screaming.

"Jack! Where the hell are you? Jack? Jack! What did you do? You sick bastard!"

He came down and turned the lights of the TV room on, to find me sitting on the couch, wearing nothing but boxers and with a confused expression.

"Bobby, shut up! Why are you screaming?" I tried to keep my voice down.

"You know what you did! Damn Jack, don't you think? You're gonna hurt her! She doesn't need that right now! What the hell were you thinking?" He kept screaming.

"What the hell are you talking about Bobby? And for God's sake keep your fucking voice down! You're gonna wake up the whole damn neighborhood!"

Bobby closed his fist and made a movement to punch me in the face, I could do nothing else but put my hands in front of my face to try to protect myself. I've done this my entire life and it never worked. For some reason, I kept trying to believe that people would give up on beating the shit out of me. The punch never came, when I opened my eyes, I saw Ollie holding Bobby's hand in the air.

"For God's sake Bobby! What do you think you are doing?"

"I got it Ollie. I won't let Jack do this to her, we should protect her and not give her more pain you dick-lips!" Bobby tried to have a go at me again, but Ollie held him back.

"Stop Bobby! Chill out man! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Jack slept with Mel!" My eyes grew and so did Ollie's.

"What? No fucking way Bobby! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" I desperately tried to convince him otherwise.

Ollie let go of Bobby and ran upstairs to my room.

"Jack I swear to you, I'm gonna…"

"Stop!" I yelled. "I said we didn't do anything! She just felt asleep on the couch while we were watching TV and I decided to take her to bed, so she'd be able to sleep comfortably!"

"You better not to be fucking lying to me." He said waving his finger dangerously to my face.

Ollie came back after two minutes or so.

"Chill out Bobby. Mel is ok. She's sleeping like a rock, as always! And she's completely dressed, it didn't happen. Good for you Jack!"

"What kind of guy do you think I am? I'd never to something against a girl's will, especially Mel's!"

"I'm gonna get some sleep." Bobby went upstairs to his bedroom, not saying goodnight or anything like that. I was used to not hearing kind words.

"Jack, I'm going to have some sleep at my place. Tell Mel to come home by lunch time and thanks for watching over her. I know you wouldn't do something to hurt her."

"Of course not. I just don't understand why Bobby got so damn freaked out!"

"He knows how much I care about her Jack. And you know how hotheaded Bobby is, plus he's drunk. Mel just pretends to be this strong tough girl, but inside, she's as scared as a lost puppy, she just needs her time. She still suffers a lot with our parent's death, she has this insane idea of being responsible for all that."

"What you mean Ollie?"

"Look, I don't think I should be the one to explain this to you. She'll do that herself when she's ready. All I ask is for you to be there for her, she likes you Jack."

"I like her too. Don't worry, I'm gonna help her get trough it." I smiled, I really meant it.

"I know you will Jackie, she'll help you too." He took off and left me with my own thoughts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -End of Jack's POV- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After taking a relaxing bath and getting changed, I heard Ollie coming in.

"Mel?" He yelled to make sure I'd hear him.

I turned the music off and went downstairs. "Hey Ollie. How are ya big brother?" I kissed him on the cheek.

"Good and you?"

"Fine. Did you have fun last night?"

"Yup. What about you?"

"Yeah, Jack's teaching me how to play guitar!"

"Really? That's so cool! I know how much you always wanted to learn it!"

"Yeah. So how was work?"

"Ah, same shit!" He growled which made me laugh.

Ollie brought food from a restaurant during the week. He had only an hour of lunch time and I couldn't cook, so this was the best option for all of us.

"Ollie, I'm thinking about getting a job."

"What? No Mel…"

"Why not?"

"You don't need to work, we have enough money and I work. Our financial status is pretty good! You don't need to worry about that. Do you need money for something?"

"No, it's not for the money! I need to do something Ollie, I can't stay here all day!"

"You can stick around with Jack."

"Jack has his own things Ollie, he doesn't need to baby sit me, I don't need to be watched over!"

"I know you don't Mel, but I don't want you walking around Detroit by yourself."

"Do you want me to stay in here like in a cage?"

"No!"

"So? What's wrong? I'm gonna try to get a job in some store or something like that, and work during the day!"

"Mel, I think you shouldn't. You have no experience. You don't know the people from here. Someone is probably going to drag you to some strip club, promising easy money and shit."

"So you think that I'll work in a strip club, huh? Is that what you really think Oliver?"

"No Mel! Look…"

Ollie stopped to think for some time.

"You can stop thinking now, I can already smell smoke!" I sarcastically said.

"Ah shut up!" He threw a napkin at me. "Alright. You can work, but promise you'll tell me about it before accepting it."

"Fine!" I replied annoyed. Sometimes, older brothers suck!

After eating, Ollie and I always talked, then he went to work and I cleaned the mess, that was the deal. After doing my job, I decided to call my best friend in NY, I haven't talked to her since one day before the moving.

"Hello?"

"Andy!"

"Mel! How are you? Did you finally decided to bless me with the grace of your voice? You sick bitch! I was worried about you! I tried to call you, but your cell phone was probably turned off!"

"Hey! I'm sorry, yeah it's…I'm sorry! I meant to call before but…"

"Quit the excuses and tell me the news!"

"Right, so I finally met the Mercers…"

"Oohh the Mercers…"

"Yeah, the Mercers. They are very nice, you should see them with Ollie, they really treat him like a brother!"

"Aaahh how is Ollie Lollie?"

"Eew Andy! Can't you just pretend that you don't have a crush on my brother?"

"No! I can't help if he's hot! Man, you're so damn lucky! You're surrounded by guys!"

"I know!" I chuckled.

"So, tell me about them!"

"Well, Bobby's the hothead and the oldest as you already know. He seems to be tough but by experience, I can tell he isn't like that, at least not to people close to him. Then there's Angel, he got out of the Marines and works here now. He's nice and let's say, the most social of them! He gave Sofi an engagement ring but didn't set a date, which is driving her crazy! Jerry is the family man, he's got a wife and two girls and it's the most reasonable of all. And then there's Jack…"

"What about him?"

"It's the one that I am closer to, he has a band, he plays guitar, sings and…"

"And?"

"He's really handsome!" Andy brushed into laughter. "What?"

"The guy is already chasing you down? Damn Mel, are you made of honey or something?"

"Shut up! I didn't say that!"

"Yeah right, just you can't see that Mel!"

"We are friends Andy, just friends!"

"All right, keep saying that to yourself…you may start believing it."

"Screw you! So what is your news?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you something…David has been looking for you."

"No shit! What did you tell him?"

"Get away, you dumb-ass!"

I laughed "What else? Did you tell him I moved?"

"Yeah…was it wrong?"

"No, it's ok."

"He came up with the same shit, talking about being drunk that day blah blah blah. He said that he misses you and that he'd…"

"I got it," I cut her off, "I don't wanna know more about him."

"Yeah right, you have Jack to think about now!"

"Jeez!"

"What does he look like?"

"He's tall, really tall I mean, he's like 10cm taller than me! Really messy dark blonde hair, green eyes, deep voice, he has lots of tattoos around his body, muscular…"

"Wait!" She cut me off. "I need to breathe! This guy must be a Greek God! Hey, how do you know that he has lost of tattoos on his body if for what I heard it's even colder there than over here?"

"Huum…well" Shit! She's gonna mock me forever! "I've seen him, shirtless."

"Yooooo!!!!! And you tell me that you're just friends!? Go fool someone else Mel!"

"No Andy! It was a misunderstanding! Bobby told me the wrong way to the bathroom and I ended up in his room!"

"How appropriate!"

"I'm serious!"

"I believe you! Hey, I gotta go, hope talk to you soon and leave that freaking cell phone on!"

"Alright! But just in case, you should have this number… Ok, I'll let you go! Bye Andy!"

"Bye bye Mel! It was nice to talk to you and go get that Jack boy!" I laughed and hung up.

I missed her, we have been friends since we started school. She lived three blocks away and spend all of our free time together. We did have our arguments and stayed away from each other for a while. Our last fight was when we were 15, I mean a real fight. We didn't see each other for about two months, until we realized that both of us were wrong. Now we are more "civilized"!

It was time to get out of this lazy life, I had to do something. Tomorrow, I'd start my search for a job.

…

When Ollie got home, I was laying on the couch listening to loud music, as always.

"Hey lazy ass!" He smiled at me.

"Ollie stop calling me that! I'm gonna search for something tomorrow!I" I got up.

"I'm just kidding little Mel! But even if you get a job, you're still a lazy ass and you know it!"

I punched him hard on the arm, but he made a face like he had felt nothing. I hate it when he does that! I started punching him harder and soon we were doing out little training.

When I turned 13, Ollie came to NY and signed me into a self-defense training gym, he said that it was about time for me to learn how to kick asses and I liked the idea.

Since then, everytime I saw him, we practiced, he showed me some tricks (he was a pro, to say so!) that would help me not only on the streets but also in the little tournaments we had at the gym. It's obvious that he always won, but I didn't make it any easier for him.

"You give up?" He said to me when he locked my arms behind my back and my legs with his. I lay with my face glued to the floor. I mumbled something, he didn't understand and bent forward, to hear better.

"What?"

Ollie forgot to keep a hold on me. I knew he was going to do that, so I managed to get away from him. Now I was on top of him holding his arms. If he wanted to, with a simple move he could get rid of me, but he didn't.

"I said: never." I giggled and got up. "I won! I won! I won!" I did my little victory dance. "Aham, aham… yeah! Yeah!"

Ollie laughed and went upstairs. "I'm gonna take a shower, stay down here, 'cause Jack will probably come."

"Why?"

"Well, I asked Bobby to bring me some papers, but he's not likely to do that. He's probably gonna send Jack."

"Fine." I sat on the couch, turned the radio off and the TV on. I was watching Smallville when I heard a knock on the door. Shit! I hate to be interrupted while watching Smallville!

"Who is it?" I yelled, not taking my eyes off the TV.

"It's Jack!" I still didn't move. "Mel, are you going to let me freeze out here?"

"Ah Jack, wait a couple of minutes! I'm watching Smallville!"

"What? Are you gonna let me freeze out here just because you're watching some freaking show an…"

He stopped yelling when I opened the door, grabbed him by his collar and dragged him indoors.

I looked to the TV seeing the commercial was on. "First, never call Smallville a "freaking show". Second, you should wear warmer jackets. Third, you need to learn how to be a little more patient!"

"Alright! I'm sorry! Look, Bobby sent me to bring some papers to Ollie." He handed me a yellow envelop. I took it and put on the coffee table.

"Anything else?"

He smiled to me. "Yeah, I have something to tell you."

"Go ahead. But do it quickly 'cause it'll be back soon." I pointed to the TV and sat down. He laughed and did the same.

"My band will have a gig at some party in two weeks time!"

"Really? That's awesome Jackie Bear!" I squealed.

"It's a small thing, but at least we're gonna get paid!"

"That's really good! I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks Mel! We're gonna start rehearsals from now on, so I'm gonna be away every afternoon."

"Oh…" I really didn't have much to say about that. "It's back!" I squealed and turned back to the TV.

"You know…"

Shut up Jack! I'm watching Smallville! Oh My God!!!! Tom Welling shirtless!!!!! I started to cool myself with my hand like if I was hot. It didn't stop Jack from speaking.

"…I was thinking, would you wanna come to this party… with me?"

"What?" I asked distracted.

"No." Ollie's voice came from the stairs.

"Ah come on Ollie! I'm gonna be there! I'm gonna play with the band." Oh that was what he was talking about! Iturned my attention back to the TV.

"No."

"Why?" Jack insisted, which made me stop watching TV and I started to really pay attention to what was being said.

"Because Jack, you're gonna be out there playing, drinking and having fun with your little fans. You're gonna be too busy to watch over Mel!"

What? Do I need someone to watch over me at a party? … I don't think so! "Jack doesn't need to be there to watch over me!" I was trying to be calm, but was clearly failing. "I can look after myself! I'm tired of you saying that I need someone by my side all the time, I DON'T NEED THAT!" I stormed out of the living room.

"Mel! … Melanie!" I heard Ollie calling but didn't stop.

I locked myself in my room and laid on the bed. Why is he acting like such a bitch? Damn, I'm 18, I know self-defense and I'm smart! I'm not a dumb little chick! First it's the job thing, now the damn party! Is he trying to keep me in here like a porcelain doll? He won't succeed! God knows how much I love Ollie, but I can only hate him right now!

I opened my door, making as little noise as possible and made my way to the bathroom, meanwhile listening in to their conversation.

"…I'm not like that anymore Ollie! I just wanna have her there, to watch me play!"

"And while you're gonna be up there, she's gonna be around those drunk bastards all by herself! I've been to those parties and you have too, you know this isn't a good place for her!"

"She's not a kid anymore Ollie! Let the girl have some fun, I'm gonna be there. I won't let anything hap…"

I didn't want to hear more of this crap. It was really sweet of Jack to try and convince Ollie to let me go and Ollie was being a jerk! Screw everything! I just wanna take my shower!

When I finished, I headed to my room to get changed and remained there after that. I heard a light knock on the door.

"Mel, can I come in?"

Yeah, now he comes in here all sweet! Shit! I hate this mood… it can't continue forever… "Yeah."

He opened the door and sat on the edge of my bed, staring into my eyes.

"What?" I was getting uncomfortable with that.

"I don't know what to say… I mean, I just wanna take care of you, I don't wanna and won't let anything happen to you."

"I know Ollie, but you can't keep me in here all the time like if I am a scared little bunny! I appreciate what you're trying to do and I understand that's hard for you. I mean, before everything happened," I could already feel tears forming, ready to come out, "you only had to worry about yourself, that was it! But now you got to worry about me and… and… I didn't mean to ruin your plans, I didn't mean any of this to happen! And now I'm here, crying like a baby!" I couldn't control the tears anymore.

He rested my head on his chest and hugged me tightly. "You didn't ruin anything Mel. You can't imagine how happy I am for having you near me. Yeah you're my responsibility now, I know you're already a big girl, but having you here is the best. I now it's kinda hard, but I wanna stay with you as much as I can, because all those years I wasn't there for you. When Jack almost died, despite him, I could only think about you, I couldn't stop thinking it could be you on that creepy bed. I'd never forgive myself."

"I'm here Ollie, no shot… I'm safe."

"And I wanna keep you like that."

"I know. But you need to let me live! I'm not a porcelain doll, you know that! And remember, you're still supposed to be the coolest older brother ever!" I smiled, I couldn't stand this depressing mood anymore.

He said nothing, just pulled me even closer to him.

"You guys made me miss Smallville! Tom Welling was shirtless and I missed it! Do you even realize how bad that is? You two are both assholes who made me miss Smallville!"

"Hey! It wasn't my fault! I'm not that dude, but I'll let you look at me shirtless, what do you think? Good enough?"

"Ew man! You're my brother! That's gross! Get out of here!" I pulled away from him.

He laughed, muffled my hair and got out. I came to a conclusion about something: my tears weren't over at all! They were actually coming out much more easily than usual, not a good thing.