For most of the next day, Melody felt as though she was sleepwalking through her classes. Her head was stuffed with cotton, like the day after she'd swiped a bottle of wine from her father's cellar out of curiosity. She'd learned a new word that day from the castle chef. Hangover.
And that was exactly how she felt now. Her mind was dulled from a combination of fatigue and regret, only this time there had been no wine involved. Only a pirate and a bonfire and some incredibly stupid decisions.
She'd been at the beach, talking with Harry until after midnight when he finally convinced her it was time to get back. He'd walked her home and Jane had already been asleep when she snuck back in.
She and Jane had different classes on Tuesdays, which meant her roommate couldn't grill her on where she'd been until they both finished class sometime in the afternoon. So Melody slogged through the last of her classes and came back to the room, making her best attempt at studying. After seating herself at her desk thinking studious thoughts, books piled high around her, she had high hopes of getting something done.
The only problem was, Melody would be halfway through a sentence when she'd suddenly remember the bet with Harry. She'd silently curse herself for being stupid enough to trust him with her locket, then she'd attempt to get back into the reading again, before she'd repeat the process five minutes later.
By the time 3 o'clock rolled around, the only thing she'd actually accomplished was to doodle some very violent looking shapes – arrows and explosions, sunken pirate ships, and angry emojis all over the margins of her notebooks. She'd just about given up studying altogether when Jane slipped in the door.
Jane was still unloading her books onto her desk when she started the conversation Melody knew she'd being dying to have all day. "You were out late last night."
"Yeah, I couldn't get settled last night after I finished my homework. I ended up walking down to the beach to see if I could find you guys."
"I take it you found someone, then?"
Melody toyed with the idea of not mentioning anything involving Harry, but realized that wasn't how friends acted. She needed to practice opening up a little.
"I ended up talking to Harry for a while, then he walked me back here."
Jane looked up from her books then, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"And?"
"And what?"
"And you didn't kill him?" Jane sank down in her desk chair. "You were out until way after eleven at least. And that's just when I fell asleep. That's more than a while. Are you guys friendly now?"
Melody tried to keep the heat from her cheeks at the memory of just how friendly she'd wanted to be. Thankfully, the farthest it had gone was holding hands. Seas, what had she been thinking last night?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
She reached nervously for her locket and blew out a frustrated breath when she remembered for the hundredth time. She'd actually let him have it. What in the deep blue had she been thinking?
"Mel?" Jane prompted.
Right, Jane had asked a question.
"Um, friendly? Well, I don't know about that. He's actually a great singer, so we have music in common," she paused, trying to figure out how to describe the entire interaction and avoid the embarrassment of revealing her very poor decision-making. "He seemed different when we were alone. He was, it was like we actually…"
Why were words so hard?
Ugh. She decided to just spit it out. All of it. Maybe Jane could actually help her make sense of some of the thoughts churning around in her brain.
"I held his hand, Jane. It was so weird, I actually wanted to hold his hand. I don't know what I was thinking."
Jane's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "You punched him in the face and held his hand on the same day?"
Melody grimaced. Jane had just summarized everything that was wrong with yesterday. He rubbed her forehead with an agitated hand wishing she could just massage it all away.
Then, Jane pressed her lips together, looking more thoughtful. "Well, you do have a lot in common. You said he likes to sing and you both love the ocean. And holding hands feels nice, so why not?"
"But that's just it, Jane. I was going to turn around. I saw him alone at the beach and I was still pretty upset. I was going to walk right back here, but when I heard him singing, I had to listen."
"Your name is Melody. I don't know what to tell you," she laughed.
"I just," she scrubbed at her eyes to try to find some clarity. "I was so beyond angry yesterday, but for some reason, it all evaporated out there on the beach."
"Geez Mel, you're sounding like you think he love spelled you or something," Jane said, laughing.
Melody paused, crossing her arms over her chest as she thoroughly considered that possibility.
Jane pressed a hand to her forehead and shook her head. "Did you see him at all today?"
"We don't have any classes together on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"Do you want to see him?" she asked.
Melody narrowed her eyes at her friend. What was she getting at?
"Don't overthink it, Mel," Jane prompted. "Just answer the question honestly."
She exhaled a long breath, closed her eyes and really thought about the answer to Jane's question. She was angry with herself. She was at a loss for what had flipped the switch in her mind from anger to 'lets hold hands' but underneath all that, there was a curiosity. The pirate had somehow ignited a curiosity in her and so if she had to answer honestly, "I guess I wouldn't mind seeing him again."
"But you're not blabbering on and on about how perfect Harry is or how handsome he is." Jane pressed her lips together in an attempt to keep a straight face. "So, it's safe to say that he didn't love spell you. I would say that the most logical conclusion is that maybe you got off to a bad start with him because of your family history with pirates, but that you found something in common and now you kind of like him. That doesn't seem so strange to me."
"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds perfectly normal," Melody admitted, albeit grudgingly.
"That's because it is!"
"Not for me, Jane. I mean, the only other person I've ever held hands with had fins." She thought back to Alex, the young merman she'd met in Atlantica who'd been her first crush. "This is all strange to me."
"We have that in common then, I mean, not the fins but I've only ever dated one person, too. Carlos was my first boyfriend." Jane had a dreamy look then and she wondered what Fairy Godmother thought of her daughter's boyfriend.
"You guys are sweet together." Mel smiled, looking at Jane's side of the room plastered with photos of the two of them.
"Being with Carlos gives me perspective I've never had before. It makes me appreciate all the little things I take for granted."
Melody thought back to her conversation with Harry last night. About all the things she'd taken for granted. Things that weren't so little at all, like having a mother and a father that loves you, a real home you can always go back to, and safety and security without having to steal or scrape for what you have.
"You have a point," she said. "After our conversation last night, I definitely feel like my world view shifted a bit."
"And it doesn't stop there, either. Carlos teaches me something new every day. Maybe Harry has something to teach you, too."
The two were quiet for a bit, before Jane suggested they study for an hour. After the hour was up, they could take a trip over to the athletic complex to meet the guys.
A nervous flutter embedded itself in her chest. No. No, she wasn't ready to talk to Harry just yet.
"I don't know," Melody said. "Something about last night just feels wrong."
"Could it be you're embarrassed? I mean, about the change in feelings?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "Besides, I don't want to seem like I'm stalking him."
Jane rolled her eyes. "Seriously? If me and my roommate just happen to stop by after R.O.A.R. to see my boyfriend, that doesn't mean a thing. We can just talk to Carlos and see who else might make an appearance. Maybe Jay, maybe Lonnie, maybe Harry. Totally not stalking."
Melody sighed, contemplating her options. In the light of day, maybe she'd see that last night had been nothing at all. It was just a conversation on the beach. Maybe she could even explain to Harry that she'd made a mistake and wanted her locket back.
"Alright. Let's see what we can crank out in an hour."
The hour had passed and she and Jane were sitting down near the tunnel, backs to the wall, with their noses in their history books trying to finish up the chapter before tomorrow morning. The heat of the day was just beginning to fade and the sun's rays were coming in at an angle, illuminating the crimson flowers blooming in the rose garden.
Carlos, as usual, was the first to spot them, his voice carrying over the many conversations going on in the garden. "Hey ladies, how's the studying going?" he asked.
"Could be better," Jane said, standing to greet him with a hug. "How about practice?"
"I actually did alright today. With Harry out, there was one less person to humiliate me," he bent to scratch Dude behind his ears. "Right Dude?" They laughed as Jay came up behind him, bag slung over his shoulder.
"Oh, is Harry okay?" Melody asked, attempting to be casual.
"I haven't seen him all day, he was out late and gone early this morning," Jay answered, "but coach seemed to know he'd be missing practice, so it must have been planned. Why?" Jay crossed his arms and smirked. "Thought you'd get a couple more good sucker punches in this afternoon?"
Jane snorted as she tried too hard to hold in her laugh.
Melody snickered and made a concerted effort to zip her lips before more questions spilled out about Harry. She didn't want to seem so interested in the pirate's whereabouts.
"You guys want to head to my room?" Jay offered. "We were talking about ordering pizza and trying to slog through this history assignment."
Jane looked at Melody, offering an encouraging smile.
"Why not?" she said, noticing how much easier this whole socializing thing was getting already.
Room seven on the boys' side was much different this time without Harry's presence. She actually had a mind to look around at the layout. Off to the left, was Harry's side which was relatively organized, very unlike the bunk set against the back wall. This bed was laden with snack wrappers and stray papers. Blankets lay twisted and hanging off the side of the mattress and boots and belts were hanging from open drawers. Jay's side was off to the right, next to the small kitchenette which consisted of a tiny fridge, a sink, and about two feet of counter space. The room was small, but what Auradon U lacked in housing, it more than made up for in quality of education. At least, that's what everyone said.
Jay got on the phone and called for pizza while everyone else found a place to sit and got out their books. Melody plunked her backpack down on Harry's chair so she could dig out her history book, but the cursed zipper was sticking again. She battled it for a good minute until the zipper finally pulled free. The chair swiveled and her backpack flew open as it fell off the chair. The bag's contents spilled across the floor, books, pens, laptop and… Oh seas.
Harry's hook slid against the tile with a scrape, coming to rest at Carlos' feet.
He bent to pick it up and frowned at Melody. "How did you get this?"
Jay was off the phone with the pizza place and stood to take the hook from Carlos. "He never goes anywhere without his hook."
Her cheeks were on fire. All three of them were looking at her for an explanation. She prayed her words would come out in a logical order when she needed them most.
"We made a bet. Me and Harry. He said he could go longer without his hook than I could without my locket."
"When was that? No one's seen him all day."
The heat was creeping up her neck and she knew by now she was probably as red as her mom's friend, Sebastian.
"Last night," she squeaked out. "I came to the beach and everyone else was already gone."
"That's why he was out so late," Jay said, a tiny smirk tugging at his cheek.
"I cannot believe he trusted you with his hook," Carlos said. "He's never even let me hold it, and believe me, I've asked."
"So, does this mean you guys are cool now or what?" Jay said.
"I guess, so. I mean, we had a good talk," she said, finally feeling her heart slow to a normal rhythm.
Thankfully, this very vague explanation of last night's events seemed to satisfy everyone and she packed her bag again, all except the history book. Four of them had already finished reading the assigned chapter on the history of Westerly and Sherwood Forest, which meant they just needed to answer the questions on the study guide. They were on number twelve of twenty and surrounded by plates of half-eaten pizza when the door opened.
Uma was first in, despite the fact that it wasn't her room. "Well would you look at all these golden students hard at work."
Harry and Gil strode in behind her, heading to their sides of the room.
"Hi guys," Carlos said. "Missed you at practice today, Harry."
"Don't lie to him Carlos, you were totally relieved to have a day off from being humiliated in the assigned duels today," Jay teased.
"Well, there's always tomorrow, mate," Harry called, crossing the room to where Melody sat. He put his bag down on his desk which she was currently occupying. "'Ello, lass," he said. "Made yourself right at home did yeh?"
She'd been avoiding his eyes, nervous about what she might feel after last night, but she couldn't avoid him any longer as she was in his chair.
"I can move," she managed, much more timidly than she intended.
Gil smirked at Harry from across the room just as Uma flashed him a similar look. Harry answered with a quick raise of his eyebrows and Melody had no idea what any part of that silent conversation meant.
"Seriously though, where were you, man? You could have left a note." Jay was standing with his hands on his hips, scolding Harry like a parent.
"It was my fault, I needed their help on a project," Uma said. Then she looked around the room, as though daring anyone else to question further. When no one spoke, Uma leaned back against the wall.
Uma, Gil, and Jay launched into a conversation, while Carlos and Jane began a debate about the history question they'd been working on.
Harry leaned in close to her, wiggling his eyebrows as he spoke. "Did yeh miss me, lass?"
'No' would be rude. 'Yes' would be desperate. So she twisted his question with humor instead. "Yes, I missed you. But I think my aim is improving."
His brows scrunched together as he was processing what she'd said, then his lips slowly spread into his broadest smile. She had to smile back it was so contagious.
Her joy was instantly erased when she noticed a dark splotch near his left eye. Not just the shadow of his usual thick eyeliner. No, this shadow was something more.
She stood from her chair, standing close to inspect his face. She reached out a hand to push the hair back, away from the eye in question. And she hadn't noticed it last night, but beyond the edge of his typical eyeliner, splotchy purple bruising had begun to spread.
Guilt flooded her then. She'd never done anything like that. Stolen locket or not, he didn't deserve a black eye over it.
She traced the bruising with her fingertips. "Harry, I'm sorry… I - "
But he pressed a finger to her lips, cutting her off. "It's naethin' lass. I got what I deserved for bein' dishonest."
"No," she insisted. "You didn't deserve this. I am so, so sorry."
It was then that she realized everyone in the room had gone silent, she looked over her shoulder to confirm the fact that everyone was watching them.
Harry peered over her shoulder at their friends. Then he grabbed Melody's hand and interlaced their fingers.
Melody looked at him wide-eyed, fighting the immediate urge to shake his hand off.
Instead, she stared down at their hands, frozen in place. She hadn't expected to pick up right where they'd left off at the beach. But it seemed they were now at touching hands level. Not only that, they were at touching hands level in front of their friends.
Did she even want to hold his hand? She actually had to pause and think about that, thinking about how it made her feel. His hand was warm through his fingerless gloves, his grip was sturdy, and it felt… nice. Just like Jane had said.
Maybe letting him hold her hand wasn't horrible. And it didn't have to mean anything else. If he was just being flirtatious Harry, then why not play along?
"It was a misunderstandin'," he said. "I took summat very important to yeh and I would have reacted the same."
"That doesn't excuse this," she said, looking up at the bruise she'd caused.
Then Harry leaned in, and she could see that mischievous glint back in his eyes again. "Yeh could always kiss it and make it better," he said.
She rolled her eyes, pushing him playfully and he threw his head back and laughed. Then, he whirled around, slid into his chair that she had vacated, and tried to tug her to sit in his lap.
When she put up some resistance, he let her hands go immediately. A shadow flashed across his smile and was replaced with humor in his eyes so fast, she thought she might have mistaken the expression. Then he called across the room suggestively. "Well, if yeh won't sit with me, lass, I'll find somebody who will!"
And with that, Gil launched himself at Harry and sprawled across his lap. Then, Harry stood up, lifting Gil bridal style and whirled him around the room.
Everyone laughed and any tension she'd felt about seeing Harry had long since evaporated and she completely forgot to ask for the locket back.
Because as she stood by smiling, laughing with her new group of friends, Melody began to wonder how she'd lived without this. A roommate she could talk to. Friends she could laugh with. Even Harry's bright, carefree sense of humor seemed like something to cherish now. And Melody was sure something had shifted. It seemed the pirate was beginning to exert some kind of pull on her. She did want to see him again. She wanted to see him more than she wanted to finish her homework, and that thought terrified her.
