"I can't see you tonight. I have go out with James" Melani said into her phone
"That's fine Mel, I have to close up the shop for Jay anyway, then Lucas and I were going to hang out. I'll see you tomorrow at school ok? Or maybe we'll run into you two" Bradin responded
"Sounds good. See ya tomorrow" she said
"Bye Angel" he said before hanging up
Bye my love she thought as she hung up the phone
Melani and James walked along the promenade hand in hand. They had just gotten back from a movie. Melani wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around her, she was just thinking of Bradin "MEL" she heard, bringing her back to reality
"Yeah hun?" she said
"Did you hear a word I just said?" he replied
"Sorry, my mind was somewhere else, homecoming you know" she smiled weakly
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close "We'll have fun, just like last year, I promise"
Mel's stomach did a flip-flop as she remembered last year's homecoming. The two had won king and queen and appropriately had gotten totally wasted and had sex; something Mel wasn't keen on repeating. "A huh" she responded, trying to shake that image
He kissed her on the forehead as one of his friends walked over "Hey dude" he said, hitting knuckles with him
"Sup Dude? Hi Melani" he replied
"Hi Tanner" Melani responded aggravated
"Wow, someone's happy tonight" he responded "So James, whatcha been up to?"
"Nothing really, what about you?"
"Just getting what I can if you know what I mean" they both laughed
Melani sighed disgusted and rolled her eyes
"She seems like a joy to be with" Tanner responded then in an obnoxious tone said to her "It's ok Mel, someday soon I'll let you spend a night with me, if that's alright with him"
"She's all yours" James said laughing. She shot him a glare and pushed his arm off of her
"Dude don't let her push you around like that" Tanner said "Unless she's totally got you warped"
James glared at her "She wishes she did" he said as he tried to put his arm back around her, but she moved out of the way "Stop being a bitch Mel" he said "Or I will let him have you, and I'll just stand aside"
"Remember that whole conversation we had about me not being an object?" she said angrily "This definitely goes against it"
"Too bad, you're my girlfriend, you do what I want to do. That's how it's always worked and that's how it's going to be, Tanner's girls do it and so will you"
"Keep on dreaming" she said smartly. As soon as the words came out of her mouth she knew she would regret them. A second later she felt his hand hit her and blood trickle down from a fresh cut on her forehead. She put her hand up to the place where the blood was coming from and wiped it away
"Don't talk to me like that Melani" he said angrily "We're going, we'll see you later Tanner" He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the promenade.
Just in of sight was Nikki Westerly and her new boyfriend Cameron. "Cam, that's Bradin's friend Melani. We have to tell him" she grabbed his hand and ran toward her house.
"BRADIN!" Nikki screamed as she ran into the house "BRADIN COME QUICK"
Bradin ran down the stairs at the shout of his little sister "Oh man Nikki, what's wrong?" he said, out of breath from running so fast
"We saw Mel out at the promenade" she said
"She was probably with her boyfriend, big deal" he said, quite frustrated
"He hit her Bradin, I saw it with my own two eyes! She said something to the guy she was with and he hit her! She was bleeding and everything! Then he grabbed her and dragged her away with him!"
"Nikki, just forget about it. She doesn't want anyone to know about it, you two just need to pretend like it didn't happen" he looked at the two
"I'm not going to forget it happened!" she yelled "She's getting hurt. You act like you care about her, if you really did, you wouldn't be doing this!"
Bradin sighed, he knew how subborn Nikki was, and he knew she wouldn't listen to anyone but Melani "Fine, I'll call her and let her tell you"
He pulled out his cell phone Hello? Hey Mel, it's Bradin, whatcha up to? Nothing really I just got home, what about you? Nothing. Listen, Nikki needs a girls perspective on a situation, I was wondering if you could help her? Sure Brae, I'll be there in like 10 minutes ok? Sounds great! Thanks Mel, see ya lata Bye Brae, see ya in 10 click.
"She'll be here in 10 minutes, now follow my lead you two, don't say anything until I signal you to."
Melani knocked on the glass of the back door to the beach house. Bradin motioned for her to come in "Hi guys" she said smiling
"Ouch, Mel what happened to your head?" he said, seeing the cut
"I scratched myself, it's the hazard of having long nails" she laughed
"No you didn't" Nikki blurted out, she quickly placed her hands over her mouth as Bradin glared at her
"What Nikki?" she said confusedly
"Nikki and Cam saw you at the promenade tonight" Bradin responded
She kept her gaze at Nikki and Cameron "You saw me with James and Tanner?" she said
"You were around Tanner? This is so typical of him" Bradin said angrily
"Tanner and James are best friends, of course I'm around him, but he didn't hit me, James did" she clarified "How do you know Tanner"
"He made my summer miserable, enough said" he replied
"I know that feeling." she sighed"Nikki, I need you to listen to me ok?" she walked over to her and sat down next to her on the couch and took Nikki's hands in hers "You need to forget about what you saw ok? It's just something I need to deal with"
"Mel, you can't let him hurt you, what if…" she started
"I know all those what ifs Nikki" she interrupted "I've dreamed about all of them. You know when you're doing something bad, but you have to keep doing it, its like that. I know what I'm doing is getting me hurt, but I need to do it so other people don't get hurt. Trust me ok?"
"I just don't want anything to happen to you Mel, you're the one person I can go to here"
"I promise, if things get really bad I'll stop, but for now, promise me you'll forget about it. I promise I'll try to get out of it as soon as I can if you promise this for me"
Nikki thought about it for a minute, switching between looking at the hands in hers and the cut on her friend's face. "I promise" she said "But remember, you promised too"
"I'll remember Nik" she hugged her friend as she got up "I should go, I'll talk to you all later" Nikki and Cameron nodded as they made their way to Nikki's room to get some DVD's. "Hey Brae, remember when I said I wanted to finish what we started last night" she whispered as she walked by him on her way out
"Yeah" he responded
"My mom's out for the night at a function for work and my dad's on a business trip to LA. Come over when everyone here goes to sleep any maybe we will" she winked at him as she walked out the door