Twenty-one

It was late and I was hanging out with Dylan in his room, listening to some music on my phone softly while I read a book and he went through some of the papers that had been graded by my teachers, assessing my work. I felt bad because he was sitting at the end of the bed while I was leaning against his pillows, but he didn't seem to mind too much. I had to hold back the laughter that bubbled up in my throat at the expression on his face as he tried to read my loopy, messy handwriting. I wasn't even really sure why he was reading over my homework, but he seemed very interested in it and had asked me a few questions concerning what I'd written, which made me smile. He glanced up at my from the notebook paper in his hand and cracked a grin.

"What're you smirking at?" he asked, making me laugh.

"You look so confused," I said.

"Well, I feel like I'm trying to read Greek or something. Do you seriously write like this?"

"My brain thinks of things too quickly for my hand to follow," I told him, giggling. He shook his head and came over to sit by me.

"I'm sure that's what it is," he leaned over and kissed me lightly, his fingers brushing over my jaw. I hated that he was hurt because he couldn't wrap his arm around my shoulders and I couldn't lean against him as I sat next to him, but I tried to shove that away because it sounded extremely selfish. We broke apart and Dylan turned the book I was reading over so he could see the title, and he grimaced. "I hated Dracula."

My mouth fell open and I put my hand against my heart. "How can you hate this book?! You can't be human!"

"You're such a nerd!" Dylan chuckled and I rolled my eyes playfully, smacking his knee. I liked it when we could be like this, just both of us alone discussing nothing of serious importance. Norma and Norman had started to give us some privacy, which was refreshing. We no longer hid our relationship so much, either, and we never sat far apart when we were together like we'd had to before; instead we'd hold hands underneath the table or Dylan would come up behind me and set his hands on my hips and talk to me as I did something. Our relationship wasn't exactly in the open, but we didn't have to act like we didn't have feelings for each other.

I noticed something bright outside, something that looked like the headlights of a car. I tensed and Dylan furrowed his eyebrows, following my gaze outside his window. I was tired of people interrupting my life and all I wanted to do was hide up here with Dylan and never leave, but I forced myself to my feet and walked to his window slowly, chewing on the inside of my lip to relieve some of the nervousness that was building up inside of me. Lately any car that had come by meant trouble.

Dylan stood next to me so our arms were touching and he stared hard at the black car that pulled up to the motel. "That guy came here earlier today."

"What?" I asked, looking over at him. He nodded.

"Yeah, I was taking out the trash and that car pulled up, and the guy in it asked about Keith Summers and left when I told him that he was dead." The hand that was free from the cast holding Dylan's injured arm clamped into a fist. I soothingly took his hand and laced my fingers with his, staring at the car. The man climbed out gracefully and walked towards the motel. I looked upon the scene suspiciously, angry when my view was cut off by the walls of the motel.

"What was he like? What'd he look like?"

"I couldn't see most of him because he barely took his sunglasses off and he had his window rolled up most of the way, but he had blonde hair and he looked at least forty. He was…weird. I—I don't know, really. We only talked for a second but I didn't like him even from that."

I bit the inside of my lip and looked at the motel without really seeing anything. A guy had come asking about Keith Summers…that couldn't mean much good. I glanced over at Dylan and saw him staring at me, and I felt heat rush up to my cheeks. "What?" I asked, thinking he was picking out my flaws. He just smiled.

"Nothing."

"No!" I groaned, grinning. "I hate it when people do that! What is it?"

"Nothing!" Dylan insisted, laughing. I rolled my eyes and lightly pushed him, my fingers on his hard chest. Of course my push barely moved him, and it just caused him to bring his arm around my waist and pull me towards him. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him, feeling his smile against my lips. We'd been so somber just moments before, but he'd pulled me straight from that, and I was thankful for it. Most of my life had been spent being sad and withdrawn, and I needed someone that could summon happiness from me, no matter the situation. Once again, I found myself longing to move in with Dylan. The peacefulness of consistent privacy, the ocean constantly ebbing and flowing and making everything a thousand times more serene, and the feeling of protection that came from being around Dylan.

His fingers moved underneath the sweater of his that I was still wearing, his hand cool against the skin of my waist. Dylan's lips left mine and he pressed them to where my jaw met my neck, lightly kissing. We were being gentle with each other, and it was a nice change from the usual ferocity that we kissed with, like we were never going to see each other again and we needed the feeling of as much of each other that we could get. I was always the one to stop first, though, even though I longed fully for him. I stopped thinking about that and focused on my breathing, which was getting uneven. He seemed to always have this effect on me.

Dylan rested his forehead against mine and lightly kissed the skin between my eyebrows. I exhaled slowly, a smile making its way on to my face. I could feel the words that I'd been debating about saying on my tongue, but I swallowed them like I used to swallow my gum in school so the teachers wouldn't make me spit it out in front of the entire class. No, now was not the time, and he would probably see me as a stupid little girl that was too emotional. Later, when I was sure he felt the same, I'd tell him.

XXX

I heard my mom screaming. My dad was yelling too, but he didn't seem terrified. Instead, his voice was alight with the power I knew only came when he was harming someone. My brother's eyes were scared and he pushed me towards the door of our house, grabbing a coat for me and him from the rack that stood next to our door. I was older now than I had been when this had actually happened, and I realized that I was dreaming, because my brother was about my age too. Helping me with the sleeves, he walked beside me outside, cool rain running through his dark hair.

I could feel myself shaking and I wanted to go back into the house and help my mom, but I knew it was useless. When my dad was in one of his rages, the last thing you wanted to do was get him even angrier, and the entire family knew that. It was best to let the family member deal with him on their own. I breathed out of my mouth heavily, wishing that my hair wasn't sticking to my neck from the rain that was pouring down. That was all it ever seemed to do in White Pine Bay: rain.

"You do your homework?" he asked me as we walked together down the street with our hands in our pockets. His eyes weren't sunken in like they were the very last time I saw him and his hair was cut short, which was my favorite way to see him. I shook my head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why should I do mine if you never do yours?"

"Because," he said, throwing his arm over my shoulders. "You're going places, sis, and I'm not."

"Don't say that," I scolded, even though I knew it was true. My brother wasn't very smart and he knew it as did everyone else, but I always tried to make him feel more intelligent when he was around me. I didn't want to lower his self-esteem any more by calling him stupid, like our dad did.

"Don't tell me what to do." His voice took on a harsher tone and I winced, and my dream changed. I was now in his truck (the same one that I drove) with him, a book balanced on my lap, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. My brother looked over at me and he looked like he'd just swallowed something sour and my heart dropped at his disdain expression. He looked like he could barely stand to see me.

I stayed still when he shoved my arm off of the armrest so that he could have the whole thing even though he really didn't need it, and I tried to control my breathing before I leaned forward just the tiniest bit, testing my luck. My brother's arms tensed and his muscles popped out, but he didn't say anything. I leaned forward even more and closed my hand around a CD, gingerly pulling it from its place underneath the radio. Suddenly, before I could do anything to defend myself, I felt the back of my brother's hand hit me hard across the face. I yelped and dropped the CD, reeling backwards with my hands over my nose, which was throbbing.

"Don't touch my stuff!"

"Okay!" I shouted, fighting back tears. They just infuriated him more, and I didn't want to make him any angrier. "Fine! I'm sorry!"

"God, you're such a bitch, Melanie!" I knew that I was just dreaming, but his words stung and they brought back so much pain. He was never like this, hitting me for stupid things, but my mind had decided to bend my brother into someone worse than he really was. I wanted to wake up, but I couldn't. Even though he was driving he hit me one more time—this time with a fist—and my lip broke open with the impact. I cried out in pain and tears started to stream down my face.

"Melanie?"

I shot up and my chest heaved. The room I was in was very dark and I felt myself start to panic, more cold sweat forming above my brow. I felt tears on my cheeks and I hastily wiped them away with the heels of my hands, not wanting to show weakness. Someone's hand touched my cheeks and I shrunk away from them, but their voice stopped me.

"Melanie, what's wrong?"

Dylan.

I tried to sigh with relief but instead choked on a sob. I hadn't had a nightmare like that since I was at the women's shelter, and it hurt just as bad now as it did then. I didn't want to cry in front of Dylan or wake Norman or Norma, but the tears came faster than I could stop them and shaking breaths were released from my mouth, forming incompressible words. I felt through the darkness for Dylan's warm, solid, safe body, and I curled into his chest once his arms wrapped around me.

"Nightmare?" he asked quietly, his voice caring. I nodded and felt his rough lips against my head. I knew that this shouldn't be affecting me so much, but I hadn't really had to relive anything that my family had put me through until tonight and that, coupled with everything that had happened lately, seemed the break me. I needed to cry, and I was. "Shh, you're alright. It's over. It wasn't real. You're safe, Mel."

"I—I'm sorry," I stuttered, trying to wipe my tears away from my face and calm down. Dylan shook his head and brushed his hands through my hair, his touch helping me breathe easier.

"It's fine. Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head and leaned back into him, glad that he was with me. I listened to his heartbeat and tried to match the rise and fall of my chest to his so that I'd return to breathing normally. My heart was still fluttering, but I was gradually calming down. For some strange reason I felt heavy with fatigue, the adrenaline that had gone through me when I'd gotten hit ebbing away, and I felt like I'd actually been in my dream and had to go through the beating that my brother had given me. I closed my eyes and let Dylan trace patterns into my back.

When I was finally able to talk I pulled away from Dylan's chest and instead reached for his hand, holding it tightly. "I'm sorry I woke you up." I said it in a calmer voice than I expected to. "It was just…it was just bad."

"It's okay, we all have those nights." Dylan lightly kissed my lips and pulled away, one of his legs sitting protectively out by my side. I nodded and let him lie me back down, his arm pulling me towards his chest, where I felt safest. I felt tears behind my eyes but I fought them, not wanting to seem so weak. I'd cried way too much and I needed to get control of myself. I took a steadying breath and closed my eyes. One of Dylan's arms was under my head and the other was around my waist, his fingers trailing up and down my arm soothingly. I breathed out of my nose heavily, trying to control my racing heart.

The memories and the dreams that plagued me scared me more than the Sheriff or the thought of being arrested. I missed my family occasionally, but that was more the idea of a family, not them as themselves. I wanted to see my brother, but the thought of him made me quake with fear. I didn't miss my dad because I didn't know him well enough before he died to really miss him. I missed my mother, but only the times that she wasn't screaming at me about how worthless I was. I melted into Dylan's side, trying to forget everything about my past. He murmured calming words into my ear and I listened to him without really hearing what he was saying, instead focusing on his voice and just the sound of it. Sleep found me again a short while later, and I slipped into unconsciousness again.

A/N: I'm so sorry to everyone that it took me forever to update! I've been really busy at school and outside of school with state testing (which I know that everyone just loves), play rehearsals, voice lessons, and the nerd in me that wouldn't let me put down the books Divergent and Insurgent for even one second while I was reading them (if you haven't read these books I highly recommend them!). I also went to the formal that my school holds every year last night, which is why I didn't have time to update on Friday, as per usual. But, I'm back, and I'm going to try and write as much as I can this weekened even though I'm still busy!

So this was sort of a free chapter where I took the space when Dylan wasn't on screen and gave him and Melanie some private time together. I'm always nervous about posting things like this, so please tell me if I did okay in portraying everyone and setting up the scene. I also included a bit about Melanie's past, which I hope you all enjoy! If you liked this chapter and how I didn't follow the show so closely, please tell me in a review and I'll be sure to try and write more of them! If you hated it, please tell me why so I can improve my writing! Thank you for reading! xx