That morning when I woke up, I first was kind of disoriented on where I was, but then I remembered that I was in Donatello's room. The bed didn't seem as pressed down as it was earlier so I knew he wasn't in the room. I got up and made my way back down the ladder and felt the cool floor touching my bare feet. The room was still kind of dimmed since Don didn't turn the lights on, but light was coming through the room's entrance from the main area. I stretched and let out another deep yawn as I walked to the room's entrance. In the main area, I saw that Raph and Mikey were sitting on the couch watching television, Splinter and Leonardo were practicing some katas on the opposite side of the room and Don seemed to be working on something at his computer. I didn't want to get anyone's attention so I started to tiptoe quietly towards Leo's room, seeing that all of them were distracted anyways. But then again, they WERE ninjas and I think all of them were aware of my presence.
"Ohayo, Melinda. Did you sleep well?" Splinter asked warmly, there was no teasing in his voice at all, but more with concern as he looked up at me from the area of the lair he was. I glanced over and felt his eyes on me as well as Leo.
"Y-yes, M-Master Splinter," I stuttered, I hate to be on the spot like this.
"Well I know Donnie did," Michelangelo yelled back and started to bust out laughing on the couch. My face went completely red. I heard Raph grumble loudly to Mikey.
"Knock it off, you goofball," Don replied back at Mikey. He didn't even look at me. I was surprised that all of them knew I had stayed in Don's room some. I felt myself grow nervous so I quickly retreated into Leo's room. I groaned some as I walked in; I felt my stomach so tight from the embarrassment. It wasn't what they thought! I just needed some rest and I felt bad for yelling at him! I then let out a sigh and felt myself being distracted by my deep thoughts. I knew how much I loved the touch of Don's arms around me. His body wasn't as warm as a human's body probably because of him being cold blooded, but it felt so right and good against mine. I shook my head to clear my mind of these thoughts because how silly it was for me to think such things! I mean Don was really nice to me, but I had no clue if he even had the same amount of interest that I had in him. I wanted to tell him so bad how much I cared for him, but I couldn't do it.
Last time I told a guy that I liked him, he completely ignored me and became hateful, and I didn't want to ruin what I had with Don. My eyes lifted up and I saw Lea in the room, lying down on Leo's bed. She seemed to be reading some book on Bushido; I figured that it must have been one of Leo's books. I was really shocked on how neat the bed was made up. It was almost perfect and it wasn't the same how she made up. I looked at her confusedly. She was reading the book, but I knew her mind seemed to be off somewhere else. I mean really FAR off! "I guess Leo made the bed up for us," I giggled some; I noticed my voice alerting my presence kind of startled her. Because she looked up at me as if she didn't know that I was in the room.
"Well no, actually. Leo slept in here earlier this morning," She smirked at me, she seemed way too happy. I looked at her questioningly.
"He did?" I asked. I looked at her kind of sadly. "With you?"
"No!" She giggled. "I got up looking for you and he was awake. I felt bad for making him sleep on the couch so I made him sleep here for the rest of the morning while I slept on the couch."
"Oh, I am surprised that he let you. Leo seems to be way too strict in his ways," I sat down on the floor beside her and pulled my knees to my chest. For some reason I seemed to be very trouble about this entire situation. I mean I should feel happy for my friend, but I felt kind of sad seeing her growing close to Leonardo. I knew she was even if she didn't admit it. I could tell by her facial expressions, the way she talked and just the look in her eyes. It was one that I had experienced seeing all too well when I had friends in high school. She had a crush on Leo or maybe even loved him.
"So, where WERE you last night?" She said. I snapped out of my trance and looked over at her to see that she was smirking at me last night.
"I couldn't sleep. I kind of yelled at Don yesterday and then I felt bad for yelling at him. I don't like yelling at people, it really bothers me so I got up and went to talk to him. He let me stay in his room," I said quickly.
"That was sweet of him. So I guess he made you sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor huh?" She said as she sat up on the bed, putting the book to her side.
"No, that was what he wanted, but I didn't want to kick the poor guy out of his bed. So I let him sleep in the bed with me," I said, my felt my voice shaking. I started to remember the way I felt inside as Don held me close to him. How I longed for him to hold me again like that.
"Ooooh, so both of you slept in the same bed together?" Her eyes got wide and a huge smirk appeared across her face. "Mel, that is soo cute!" She squealed. "See! You two would be so cute together."
My eyes went wide and I got up from where I was and walked over to my bag to sort through my stuff to find some clothes to wear that day. She seemed WAY too happy about Don and I. I mean she always had been positive about Don, but she was BEYOND that today. "Aw, knock it off, Lea. Nothing's happening and NOTHING will happen between us," I said, I felt my face growing hot as nervously sifted through my bag, trying to keep my eyes from her.
"Aw, Melinda. Well I am sure something would happen if you let it. I think Don really likes you a lot. Remember what I told you earlier? Even Mikey AGREES with me. He cares about you a lot," Her voice softened. "If only you knew what he was going through when you were with Saki…"
That really hit me, my eyes went wide. Not just about Don, but her bringing up Saki again. "That's what YOU think, sis. Besides I-I am not sure about him or not," I said, trying to get defensive. I got up and walked to the bathroom to change my clothes, keeping my eyes off everyone else in the main room and just focusing on getting to the bathroom to change my clothes, getting some refuge from everything.
Later on that afternoon, around noon, Don was up in the garage working on the Battle Shell; I decided to go up there to see what he was working on. Plus Lea kind of encouraged me. When I got up to the warehouse, I saw that the driver's door was open and Don was sitting in the seat, working on some sort of control console on the dashboard. I could hear him grumbling to himself. I stepped towards the van quietly, trying to be sure not to bother him, but I accidentally stepped on some piece of scrap metal on the ground and it made a noise. "Mike, I thought I TOLD you to leave me alone," I heard Don say as I saw him get out of the driver's seat, but his expression quickly seemed to change when he saw me. He appeared to be surprised. "Oh sorry." He said as he got back in the driver's seat. I could hear him snipping wires and messing around with different latches.
"It's okay, Don. You're busy. I can come back," I said. I noticed when he first replied he seemed to be kind of frustrated from being interrupted that I didn't want to bother him.
"No you can stay if you want," He said, he never turned to look at me. He seemed so drowned in what he was working on. I stepped closer so that way I could at least see him as I talked to him. I watched him work; he kept on working as if I wasn't really there. I kind of felt myself grow uneasy, feeling like he didn't really want me there. There was a long pause of silence between us. All I could hear was him grumbling under his breath and more clunking around inside the vehicle as he was cutting wires and reconnecting them. "So, uh, what are you working on?" I finally asked. I wasn't too sure if he was waiting on me to ask him a question or if in fact he didn't really want to talk.
" I am re-triangulating the degree of the vertex at which I need the missile launcher to be on the Battle Shell," He said as he finally got out of the vehicle and stood as he looked over at me. I looked at him and then looked up at the revealed missile launcher located on the upper left side of the van. I then watched him walk over to his worktable to look at a piece of paper. I walked over to examine on what he was working. My eyes grew wide seeing different equations. Equations, some I have never seen before and some that I have! He noticed that I was looking and then spoke again, "This is just some rough computation to figure out what basic angle I need. See I have to figure in altitude, velocity, and the magnitude. Then I have to compensate for other factors as well such as wind speed to configure the exact amount of thrust the missile needs to go a certain distance. This can be differentiated by normal to windy days. Then I have to figure how many missiles I can put in the launcher that won't weigh the truck down either," He spoke as he pointed to the paper. I nodded my head and looked down at his computation. Man, this guy was smart! I mean really smart! Albert Einstein smart! I think he had looked over and saw the confused look on my face because he then said, "Oh, sorry. Ugh, basically I am trying use different polynomial equations to come up with the degrees."
"No, I get you. You're using sine, cosine and tangent since you're dealing with a basic triangle diagram," I replied. My mind still amazed on how much he had done. I looked up at him and this time HE had the wide-eyed expression, which made me cringe because I thought I had said something totally wrong or stupid.
"You know about sine, cosine and tangent?" He asked. "So you understand my equations?" He seemed to be almost in shock, which still kind of threw me off.
"Ugh, yeah," I said, I looked down, away from him, feeling really embarrassed. "I took Calculus in college."
"Oh really?" Now he sounded excited. "How did you do in that?"
"I uh…failed," I said and sighed hard, I kept my eyes down from him.
"Oh," His voiced sounded a little disappointed. "That's okay. That stuff is pretty intense. You know if you ever want to try again, I can always tutor you." He smiled softly.
"Nah, it's okay, I don't like Math," I said again and sighed hard. I felt so dumb for even speaking about his project. There was no way I WAS smart enough to be with this guy. He was so beyond me. "Anyways, I was just going to see what you are up to. I am going to go back downstairs and see what Lea is up to." I quickly said, wanting to get out of there! I felt myself dieing of embarrassment!
"Alright," Don replied as he turned and went back into the Battle Shell to finish his project.
Well for the rest of the day till that evening, I really didn't see much of Donatello. He stayed up in the warehouse, practically the entire day till around 5pm! Just in time for dinner! Splinter was cooking some fried race, and some different types of sushi. I guess they are lucky for their friends Casey and April to get some food for them! Michelangelo was in the kitchen, helping Splinter and I could hear Splinter constantly yelling at Mike about something, which made Lea and I giggle like crazy on the couch. Don had walked in from the elevator that led to their warehouse and made his way across the main area towards the kitchen. I looked over at him slightly as he walked by, but then looked back at the television. I grew sad inside from seeing him, thinking about earlier. Minutes later I heard Mikey call out, "Dinner's ready!" Lea and I got up and walked to the bathroom to wash our hands then moments later we walked back down to the kitchen, I was in the front. As we walked into their kitchen, which was also their dining room. All 4 turtles sat around their table. There was an empty chair at one end, and then on the left were Leo and an empty chair then Raphael. On the right side was an empty chair across from Leo, then Don and then Mikey. Master Splinter smiled at us warmly as we entered, he was still standing up.
"I am honored that you could eat with us tonight," He smiled at us. "Luckily, Leonardo managed to find 2 more chairs for you. Please sit…" He motioned to the table. I looked over and hesitated. I was kind of nervous to just walk over and sit beside Donatello, that would look too obvious, but then again I didn't want to sit beside Leonardo and I knew that the front chair was probably Master Splinter's. I was hoping that Lea would take first choice or Master Splinter, but he was waiting on us and I think Lea was waiting on me. Finally I think Master Splinter knew that we were nervous to even move. "Melinda, why don't you sit over beside Donatello and Lea you may sit beside Leonardo," He said as he walked over in front of us and motioned us to the table. Was he trying to set us up? I felt my body growing all nervous as I smiled and walked over to the chair beside Don that was empty. I knew all of their eyes were on me. Don got up from his chair and stood near my chair and pulled it out for me. "Yeah, here you go. You can sit beside me," He said as he held the chair out for me. I smiled at him. I felt myself being warmed up to by his kindness and I felt my stomach doing flip flops by my tension. I sat down and muttered a "thank you." I noticed that Leo had gotten out and done the same thing Lea, but he bowed slightly at her too. I also noticed that there was some pause, hesitant eye contact between each other. I looked at them curiously for a moment, but then had my attention taken by Michelangelo.
"Oooh. You can sit beside me, Melinda," He said teasingly to Don. I heard him then let out an "umph." So I figured that Don must have elbowed him. Dinner remained pretty quiet. The only thing interesting that happened was that Mikey and Raph had started a quick foot fight, but Splinter had quickly calmed them down. Then Mikey started to play with his sushi rolls and made them out to be like animals. He started to make animal noises and made them crawl around the table and even on Donatello's plate! I couldn't help but to bust out laughing!
After dinner, the 4 turtles had weapons practice in the main area of the lair. Master Splinter had invited for Lea and I to watch. Both of us sat down on the outer edge of the lair to look on. Splinter stood to the side to be a monitor. The bouts were Leo versus Raphael and Donatello versus Michelangelo. At first, I felt my eyes linger onto Donatello as he fought. I felt so happy and at peace when I watched him. I was amazed how skillful he was with the bo staff. He twirled the bo staff around with one hand and exchanged it over to the over hand behind his back before he got in a fighting stance. I then I realized that I was basically gawking at him and I quickly diverted my eyes away. What was the use looking at him? I mean Don was nice at me and despite what Lea had told me earlier about how much she and Mikey thought that Don likes me, there was no way that I had a chance with him! I took a quick glance over to what Raph and Leo were doing. They were already going at it with full strength!
"Aww, bro. I think you're going soft on me," Raphael teased as he kept blocking all of Leo's attacks. He then blocked a high attack and kick Leo swiftly in the chest, knocking him backwards.
"Leonardo, focus on Raphael," Splinter commented sternly as he looked on.
I noticed that Leo's eyes seemed kind of go wide as if he was shocked that Raph had knocked him back. He then nodded his head at Splinter and got back in a fighting stance. I noticed for a brief moment that his eyes had swiftly made a glance over to where Lea and I were sitting. I could see that he had looked over at her before returning his gaze back on Raph. I was kind of startled by this. Was he doing poorly because she was there? Was there REALLY something going on between them two? I smiled some to myself as I looked over and saw Lea look at Leo briefly as he made eye contact with her, then diverted her eyes off of him. I smiled to myself seeing the hesitant eye contact that they had. How it seemed almost a few weeks ago that they wanted to tear each other's throats out and now they seemed to be uneasy among one another as if they had crushes on another. I felt happy for my friend, but then I envied her.
"So, Leo. Are we going to fight or what?" Raphael asked as he stood there. I noticed that he had grown impatient for the waiting time.
"Fine, Raph. Let's make things more challenging," Leo smirked as he put his left sword in his right hand as well and used his free left hand to turn his bandana around backwards, blinding him. He then put his sword back into his left hand. I watched with curiosity.
"Oh, Raph's going to get his shell kicked!" Mikey laughed as he and Don walked over to where we were to look on. Mikey had walked over and saw on the edge as well, but further away and Don stood beside him, about 3 feet away from me. "Isn't that right, DONNIE?" Mikey nudged his brother really hard, making Don shift to the side some to where he was closer to me.
Don cried out some as he was startled by Mike's sudden push, but then regained his balance and stood now only about a foot away. "Well I don't know," Don said back teasingly to his brother.
"Well, Raph. Are you going to fight or what?" Leonardo replied back to his brother, teasingly as he gripped his swords tighter. I looked over and saw that Lea was completely looking at Leo. I am not too sure if she was doing it intentionally this time or not. I smirked some and looked on. Raph let out a growl as he charged at his brother and made couple quick swipes with his sais, but Leo had somehow managed to disarm him about 5 seconds later, then swiftly kicked Raph hard, knocking him to the ground. He let out a cry as he jumped and pounced on Raph, putting his right katana to Raph's neck. "Who IS not focused, Raph?" He smirked and then got up quickly from Raph. He gave a slight bow to Raph, before putting his swords away and putting his bandana back around.
"Very good, Leonardo," Splinter commented.
Raph growled out some and got back up. "You were lucky that time, bro." He mumbled.
"You ALWAYS say that, bro," Mike teasingly said.
"You WANT to fight me next?" Raphael growled out at his younger sibling.
"I don't know, bro. Can you handle 2 losses in one night?" Mike replied back and laughed again.
"No we are done for the evening. I am going to retire to my bedroom. I suggest all of you do the same shortly," He said as he bowed to his students and us. He then walked onto his room, using his walking stick for support.
I looked up at Lea confused. "But it's only like 9:30," I said.
"Don't worry. Sensei tells us that. Usually we stay up later anyways," Donatello whispered to me as he leaned over.
The rest of the evening till around 11pm, we watched television. Raphael had gone to his bedroom around 10pm so that left Don, Mike, Lea, Leo, and I. We all crowded around the television and watched some late night television. Mike, Lea and I sat on the couch while Leo and Don sat on the floor nearby. Unfortunately Mikey got the remote first since he practically ran over there to get it so we were forced to watch the late night television shows. Then around 11pm, Leonardo kind of forced us to go onto bed. At first Don and Mike groaned, but Leo just crossed his arms and stood there, looking sternly at them.
"Well I HAVE to sleep on the couch so I need my sleep. Besides you 2 need to get more rest than you do," He said sternly over to Donatello and Michelangelo. I kind of giggled again hearing Don and Mike groan out loud again together.
Lea and I exchanged glances, we kind of felt bad for forcing Leo out of his room. "Leo, why don't you take your room? Lea and I can sleep on the couch tonight." I said as I spoke up for us, I kind of watched Mikey out of the corner of my eye, drag on to his room.
"No. I will not have you 2 sleeping on the floor. The couch is fine for me. Go on to the room," He said again sternly, but I knew he was just trying to be nice.
"Alright," I said. " I didn't want to argue with him. Goodnight Leo and Don." I watched Don turn to leave to go up to his room. My heart ached to follow him, but I knew I couldn't. I stood there and watched some uneasy eye contacts come once more between Lea and Leo.
"Well goodnight, Leo," She said. I noticed that there was a small hint of sadness in her voice.
He smiled at her warmly and nodded his head. "Night." Then he turned to walk back to the couch to place his blankets and pillow back on which were piled in the floor.
Once back in Leo's room, I walked over and changed into my pink short sleeved night gown once more then walked over quietly to my blanket and pillows. Lea walked in and changed into her night clothes as well, then made her way over to her bed. I sat down on my blanket, but my eyes were staring at the door.
"Sis, you alright?" Lea asked me, which kind of startled me.
"Yeah, I am fine," I sighed as I turned my face away from the door and let out another sigh to act like I just was really tired.
"Sis, why don't you just tell him already?" Her eyes on me again. I knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. I figured she had suspected that something was up about him and I.
"I can't tell him. Sis, I just don't think I am really the type he's looking for. Besides I don't want him to ignore me like this other guy did years ago," I let out another sigh and pulled my knees up to my chest as I sat there.
"Mel…" Lea pressed on. I knew that there was deep concern in her voice. "Listen to me. I really do think Don likes you. I can tell it and so does Mikey. Don's just really shy around you. Nothing's going to happen between you two unless one of you takes the plunge first and it may as well be you. It would make him feel a whole lot better. Besides I don't think Don's the type of guy to act like that other guy did around you. If you don't act quickly, you may miss the opportunity." I felt her staring right at me. I knew every word that she was saying was true, but I grew so scared of even telling him that I felt my stomach start to knot just thinking about it! But I also could tell him that she was not only talking to me but also to herself. I heard her let out a sad sigh.
"Hey, Lea," I asked as I looked over at her from where I was sitting on the floor.
"Yeah?"
"Do you like Leo? You know what I mean." I said as I kept my eyes down. I heard some slight noises of discomfort from her and then there was a long pause as if she was unable to answer that question.
"No…I don't," She said, I could hear a slight shaking in her voice.
I then turned my face right to her to where I could meet her eyes with her. "Truthfully, sis? I mean you know I am here for you and you can tell me."
She looked at me this time she grew quiet till finally she sighed and said, "Yeah, sis, I do. But I am not sure if it is like. It's a deeper feeling sis. Deeper than I have ever felt before about someone. It's almost like I can't describe it." She let out a soft laugh and then laid back down on her bed. "But anyways, let's get some sleep. Remember what I said, sis."
"I know," I said smiling some as I laid down as well on my blankets. "I'll try my best to tell him tomorrow.
Morning came and I must have slept in again because I looked to see that Lea wasn't in the room and I could hear talking out of Leo's room down in the main area, which meant everyone was up. I got up and put on my black jeans and a pink short sleeve shirt that I had packed and brushed my hair. I was actually quite happy to myself after talking to Lea and knew that some point of the day I would tell Don my feelings towards him. As I walked to Leo's room's entrance, I heard another voice downstairs. It sounded like April's. I figured that she must have stopped by to see what the guys were up to. I never really grew too close to April. I wasn't quite sure who she was or who Casey was. Lea had stayed with her a lot, but I hardly spoke to her. To me she seemed just like a really good friend to the turtles. I walked out of the main area and saw that Splinter was talking to Lea on the couch about something. Mikey and Raph were watching television and Leo was practicing some solo katas. I looked over at the computer table and saw Don talking to April as she sat in his chair. I wasn't quite sure on what was being said, but they were talking lively among one another. Don seemed very happy as he talked to her. I edged closer out of the doorway to try to listen on what was being said, curious. Luckily for me, I don't think anyone knew that I was standing there. I could hear Donatello exclaiming about some computer program that he had developed. He seemed very thrilled as he explained to her the program and seemed very happy. I heard April exclaim "Aw, Donny! That's great!" She got up from the chair and hugged him tightly.
I felt my heart crushing the instant I saw that. I couldn't believe what I just saw! I felt my whole body shaking as I stepped backwards into Leo's room once more. My breathing became heavy. I felt my knees growing weak so I collapsed to the floor and immediately the tears came! I was crying so hard that I really wasn't making a noise at all. I was so angry inside that I felt my hands balling up into fists. I was so wrong! THEY were so wrong! CLEARLY Don had a huge interest in April! I mean she HUGGED him and he was so happy talking to her! How could I compare to her? She seemed to be a few years older than me, probably around Lea's age. She was MUCH thinner than me and she seemed to be way smarter. I mean she was using all these big words around Don and he JUST seemed so happy to be with her! I knew that everything that I felt inside was false hope and it was all a pretense to think that Don even cared for me the way I thought. I crawled over and shoved my head into the pillow and cried hard. I screamed hard into the pillow but it muffled my cry. "Donnie! No! Please, don't leave me! Please don't leave me!"