Chapter 21

Roman had just finished setting his alarm to make sure that he called Jo at 8:30 tonight. Today was her long day since after school she went right into gymnastics followed by dance class. This way with him not calling her until 8:30 it gave her a chance to do her homework, shower and eat dinner before she talked to him and went to bed. He looked up at the door and sighed as he set his phone in his lap, he had hoped that Melanie would be back by now but she wasn't, so he changed into his workout clothes and sent her a quick text.

Leati: Morning Lalelei I see you are an extremely early riser :) I am going to see if Seth and Sasha want to work out do you want to join us?

He set his phone down and smiled as he reminisced about his and Melanie's conversation they had last night over their ice cream.

They had walked until they found a bench to sit on that overlooked the water.

"You know I don't think Sasha has ever told me how you two met."

Melanie smiled as she got a faraway look in her eye. She pushed her spoon into her ice cream and set the dish in her lap.

"We met when we were in the third grade. I was always quiet when I was a kid, didn't have many friends but that never bothered me because I was always a bit of a loner anyway. That year I had been having problems with one girl in particular, she was 3 times the size of the rest of the kids in our grade with long stringy blonde hair and had 3 times the attitude of anyone I had ever met. One day while the class was outside during recess; her and her little friends were chasing me around the playground, she got mad because they couldn't catch me, so she reached out and yanked one of my pigtails to make me stop running. She pulled it so hard that my head snapped back and my feet flew from underneath me. As I was lying crumpled on the ground, her and her 2 little friends all circled me and started kicking me, and calling me names. All of a sudden I hear this squeaky voice yell from behind them to leave me alone. We all looked in the direction of the voice to see a little girl clad in overalls with unruly dark brown hair and glasses. The ring leader looked at her and in her annoying, nasally little voice demanded to know who she thought she was talking to her that way."

Melanie gave a small laugh before glancing at Roman "Now you know Sasha has a smart ass mouth, always has and always will, she looked at her and said she was going to be her worst nightmare if she didn't leave me alone, keep in mind in the third grade Sasha was probably up to your knee caps and the girl she was mouthing off to was probably up to my damn shoulder." Melanie said as she started laughing hysterically. "Instead of backing off, the bully made a huge mistake. She pushed her, she pushed Sasha hard, so hard that she fell on the ground and rolled backwards from the momentum of the push. Sash immediately got back up and when she did, she decked her."

Melanie began to chuckle as Roman laughed along. "That was the day I got into my first fight, because once Sasha hit her, all hell broke loose, her little friends all started to get involved, and I couldn't just stand there as they beat up the person who had come to my rescue. Long story short all of our parents had to come to the school and they were furious. Suffice to say my parents and the bully's parents were the angriest of them all."

"I mean come on Mel, no parent is going to be happy to get the call that their third grader was in a fight, I mean I would be pissed if I got that call about Joelle."

"Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh, but that wasn't all it was." She said laughing. "Not only is it bad when you get a call that your third grader was in a fight, but it is even more embarrassing when you get to the school and find out your daughter was fighting her cousin."

"Wait Sasha hit her cousin?!"

"Nope, she hit my cousin" she chuckled. "My parents and my Uncle Ric were mortified" she said as she looked at Roman's shocked face. Once he got over the initial shock he began to laugh so hard that he started to cry.

"Wait…wait" he gasped in between breathes "Let me make sure that I understand this" he said as he wiped his tears "Charlotte was your bully in elementary school, and Sasha punched her in the face?"

"Yes and Yes. In the interest of fairness though, Charlotte and I have never gotten along. The first memory that I actually have of her, was when she intentionally pushed me off a swing...we were 3."

Roman shook his head "I'm not going to lie, I honestly can't believe you two are even related, I mean she is just so...she is just such a...a..."

"Raging bitch" Melanie finished as she picked her ice cream up and shoved a spoonful into her mouth.

"I was going to say horrible person but if the shoe fits" he said as he shrugged. He looked over to Melanie and started chuckling "I can't believe you guys got into a fight in the third grade."

"Well believe it" she said with her mouth full of ice cream. "Ever since that fight though Sasha and I have been damn near inseparable, she has always had my back and I have always had hers. I can't imagine my life without her."

Roman nodded "Something tells me that the feeling is mutual, it's crystal clear that Sasha thinks the world of you."

"Well that goes both ways. She is more than my best friend she is more like my sister if anyone knows me inside and out it is her...and Steph." Melanie said as she looked over to his partially eaten ice cream. Roman looked at her and raised his eyebrow. She covered her mouth as she laughed.

"You look like Dwayne when you do that."

"Well considering he is my cousin I guess that's not a bad thing." He said as he extended his ice cream cup to her. He laughed as she excitedly dug her spoon into his sundae.

"I love ice cream" she hummed as she rocked herself back and forth.

"No kidding" he laughed as he continued to hold his ice cream out to her, urging her to take more.

She paused before holding up her hand and shaking her head "No I'm good, but thank you for offering"

"If you want some more you can have it. Mel I'm not going to deny you ice cream, hell to be honest at this point I can't imagine I could deny you anything."

She slowly leaned her head away from him, looking him straight in the eye as she quietly challenged his statement.

"Hmph."

Roman was visibly perplexed "What does Hmph mean?"

Melanie shrugged her shoulders but didn't verbally respond.

Roman eased himself closer to her on the bench "You don't believe me?"

Melanie looked down into her cup of ice cream as she spoke and purposely side stepped his question. "I'm just saying that is an extremely bold statement to make."

Roman shook his head "It wasn't a statement"

Melanie lifted her head but still didn't look at Roman as her voice conveyed the confusion that was etched all over her face "Then what was it?"

He arched his finger and placed it under Melanie's chin as he turned her head to be level with his own "Lalelei…that was a promise"

If Roman would have blinked he would have missed the flash of sadness that passed through her eyes.

"You shouldn't make promises, you can't keep." She whispered

Roman couldn't help it; as soon as she uttered her final word he gently pulled her face towards him, not missing the small gasp that was heard escaping her lips as he slowly angled his head and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

Melanie closed her eyes and melted into the contact, she felt his warm breath on her neck and his soft lips near her ear. She stilled and held her breath as the foreign feeling of anticipation filled her.

"You'll see I always keep my promises." he whispered as chills rippled down her spine.

Melanie was vaguely aware of their close proximity, she knew her brain would normally be spitting out the million and one reasons why she should be on physical and emotional lockdown, but the only signal from her brain that she could easily comprehend at the moment was the fact that she needed air, fresh air, she needed to breathe in something other than his intoxicating scent that was turning her brain and every other coherent thought she may have had into mush. She put her hand flat against his chest, ignoring the electric feeling that traveled through her fingertips and through the rest of her body as she did so and pushed at his chest. She fully intended to gently push him away from her but she forgot he was built like a Mack truck, so instead of him moving she was the one who ended up being pushed further down the bench.

She knew she needed to do something before the situation escalated so she gave her best attempt at sounding annoyed "Jesus it's called personal space Anoai, you should try respecting it." Even as she said it she knew it was a weak explanation, she just prayed that he didn't see right through it.

Roman noticed the flush that had set on her cheeks and he let out a soft laugh. He could tell she wasn't really irritated with him, not even close. "You look nervous Lalelei why is that?"

Damn, this was not the direction she wanted this conversation to go, she thought to herself "I'm not; I just really like my personal space." She countered as she made a mental note to keep her next few answers short and sweet.

He tested out the waters and again moved closer to her. "You sure that's all that is?"

She slid away to widen the gap between them "Yup"

She heard him laugh again before he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her directly against his side.

"Okay now do me a favor and look me in the eye and say it, once you do that then maybe I might actually believe it."

She quickly glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye. He smelled so damn good, and it also didn't help that his mouth was turned up in that smug yet sexy ass smirk of his. She didn't know whether she wanted to smack it off of his face or kiss him senseless. Unfortunately for him this time Melanie was slightly annoyed with his antics, so she went for what she considered to be the happy medium, she narrowed her eyes and flicked Roman's nose and pointed her index finger up at him. "You're trying to box me in a corner Anoai and I don't appreciate it."

Roman's smirk fell; he had pushed her too far, he knew instantly that she was actually a little frustrated with him so he immediately loosened his grip on her. "I would do nothing of the sort" he said seriously. "Besides, no one puts baby in the corner" he said as the corners of his mouth twitched up and he fought the urge to smile.

Melanie covered her mouth with her hand as she suppressed a giggle "Did you just quote Dirty Dancing?"

Roman nodded his head as his smile broke through completely. Melanie threw her head back and broke out into a fit of laughter. She squirmed out of his arms and walked to the nearest garbage to dispose of her empty ice cream cup. When she walked back to the bench she was still laughing as she sat down next to him on his right side. Even though she was laughing and seemed to be distracted, she still made sure to put more than enough space in-between them, but that didn't stop Roman from moving himself closer to her again. Melanie sighed as she regained her composure and leaned forward away from the bench placing her arms on her legs as she fixed her gaze towards the water.

She knew it would only encourage his behavior but she couldn't help it, she smiled in spite of herself "You just don't give up."

"I thought persistence was a good thing?"

She ran her hand through her hair and moved her hair over right shoulder giving him a clear view of her entire facial profile. "In most instances yes, but in this case the jury is still out, especially since there are quite a few extenuating circumstances involved." She mumbled as a reminder more to herself than to him.

Roman heard the last part of her sentence loud and clear along with the double meaning behind it. He mentally scolded himself as he sat there next to her in silence before sighing and copying her seated stance, leaning forward away from the bench with his arms on his legs, the only difference was his hands were laced together.

Out of her peripheral vision Melanie's eye wandered to his sleeve. It wasn't that she never noticed it before but there was never a good opportunity to ask about it. Up close it seemed so intricate. Before she realized it she had taken her hand and was tracing the tattoo lightly with her fingers. She had traced from his wrist all the way up to the end of his exposed skin from under his light gray t-shirt.

Roman's breathe hitched at her soft touch and for a brief moment he allowed himself to wonder if she noticed the effect she had on him. He tried to stay perfectly still as her fingers traced his arm. The urge that he had to take her in his arms and kiss her until neither one of them could breathe was strong but he knew that he couldn't do it or else he would risk pushing her away. Instead he just watched her examine his arm as she traced each line of his tattoo with the tips of her fingers. After she traced all of the tattoo that she could see on the outside of his arm she took his large hand in her substantially smaller one, and flipped it over so that his palm was facing up as she traced the inside of his arm. After she had traced his entire tattoo she looked up into his eyes and asked him,

"What does your tattoo means?"

Roman licked his bottom lip and smiled at her "You see this right here?" he said as he purposely flexed his arm and pointed from the inside of his bicep to just below his elbow. Melanie bit back her own smile and nodded "This is the Fala mat. They represent what my ancestors used to worship on. This right here" he said as he pulled his shirtsleeve up and exposed part of his shoulder. "These are spearheads, they represent armor."

"Like a shield?"

He gave her a lopsided smile and nodded yes, "Exactly"

He ran his hand along the outside of his arm "These are all basic tribal designs, but certain patterns have to be laid out in a particular order to have just the right meaning for your family, it's like a puzzle that has to be put together, everything has to fit together just right." He turned his hand over so that it faced palm side up. He pointed to the Polynesian turtle that was on the inside of his wrist. "This is my favorite part of this entire tattoo, it represents Joelle, it reminds me of my purpose in this world to make sure that she is always protected, loved and taken care of."

"Any particular reason why she is placed on the inside of your wrist?"

He nodded "You see when people see this tattoo they see it as something that's dangerous, or mysterious because they don't know what it means, they don't see that this entire tattoo is filled with what's most important to me. My family, my heritage and most importantly my daughter, she is the reason for everything that I do. I keep her on the inside of this arm because this arm keeps her protected, it keeps her safe, it provides for her, but it is also where I am most vulnerable. If you see the inside of my tattoo you see the inside of me, and that's not a side that I show to many people."

Melanie wrapped one arm around his bicep and placed her free hand on the Polynesian turtle before sliding her hand into his as she laid her head on his shoulder. He put his face in her hair and inhaled. He committed to memory the fact that it smelled like vanilla and strawberries before he laid his cheek on top of her head and gazed out onto the water.

"Le, Thank you for trusting me enough to share this with me."

Roman was brought back to the present by a knock at the door. He opened it to see Seth dressed and ready to go work out. He grabbed his phone and realized that he had a missed message.

Lalelei: Morning Leati, not really I just couldn't sleep anymore so instead of lying in bed wide awake I decided to work out. Also not for nothing but I don't remember exchanging phone numbers with you, so you want to tell me how I ended up with your number stored in my contacts and you ended up with mine? Anyway Sasha and I are already in the gym so I will see you when you get here. Plus I really need to talk to you about something important.

Roman frowned as he and Seth made their way out of the room and down the hall. Well that doesn't sound good.

A/N

Happy Wednesday My Lovelies! Hope you Enjoy these updates!

Not-that-kinda-gurl - Merry Birthmas! :) lol

LoveReadingAboutWwe - Patience my pretty little friend lol :) *Insert Mr. Burns finger tap*

Also just a note the description about his tattoo was taken from his interview on Superstar ink - Its AMAZING so go check it out. Just figured I would put that out here so you didn't think I was a plagiarist lol :) It just felt wrong to me to change his words for what his tattoo meant.