Chapter 3

Melissa woke up to the heavy breathing beside her. She struggled to open her eyes and when she did she saw that she had fallen asleep on Jackson's shoulder.

Wow, that was a long night, she thought to herself.

She didn't get up immediately though. She liked how they were and she wished that they could stay that way forever. She wanted to stay by his side forever.

She looked up at him and saw that he was sleeping pleasantly. He looked so peaceful and it made him more attractive.

"After all these years how do you not see that I'm in love with you?" she whispered so as not to wake him up. She laid her head on his shoulder again.

"Don't you know that having a one-sided love hurts a lot? It pains me to see you go out with other girls and have your heart broken. But luckily you always have me to be there for you when that happens. I wish I could tell you what's in my heart, but it's really difficult for me. You might think that it's easy to say 'I love you' but it's not that simple for me. I guess I don't want us to change," she continued.

"I know that I might not be as pretty as all those other girls that you've dated, but my love for you can make up for that. It does sound a bit clichéd, but I love you so much that my heart can't contain it."

There I told him. Now the next step is to make sure that he's awake and conscious when I say it, she said to herself.

She just stared at him for a moment and something inside of her made her lean in closer to him. Now their noses were touching and all she wanted was to kiss him. She leaned in closer and closer very slowly so as not to wake him up and then the word "Mel" escaped from his mouth. She was so close that she felt his breath when he said it.

She quickly shot back to where she was sitting. Her heart was racing and beating so hard that it could have jumped out of her chest.

I hope he didn't hear what I said, she thought to herself. God, why did I have to say it out loud?! I could have thought it in my head like right now! I'm such an idiot!

"Mel?" Jackson asked again as he started to open his eyes and stretch his arms while yawning.

"Yeah, I'm here. Did you have a good sleep?"

"I think that was the best sleep I've ever had," he said and Melissa smiled. She was glad she was part of it.

"Really? Or are you just saying that to flatter me so you can talk me into making the coffee today," she said with a suspicious smile on her face.

"Well... both," he said with a smile.

As she got up to start the coffee maker, she said as naturally and coolly as possible, "So did you happen to hear anything before you woke up?"

"Nah, why? Did you hear something?"

Right then Melissa was thanking whatever heavens were looking out for her. She had such a huge smile on and she forgot that Jackson was there until she saw him looking at her with a confused expression.

She quickly came up with something to say and said in a scramble, "I think that the... uhm... neighbor's cat across the hall was scratching at our door again."

As she placed the two mugs full of fresh brewed coffee on the kitchen counter, Jackson walked towards the coffee and said, "To be honest, I don't really care anymore. The neighbor doesn't really do anything anyway."

They were enjoying their coffee in silence and then Melissa said, "Listen, I was thinking about the reunion thing. I can't believe it's in a week."

"Yeah, I know. I really can't wait. It'd be such a surprise to see everyone. I wonder if they've changed."

"Yeah, me too. Okay, so I wanted to ask if maybe you'd like to be... I dunno... my date?"

Jackson just looked up from his coffee and into her face. They looked into each other's eyes for a second and then Jackson said, "I'm so flattered, Mel. Of course."

They laughed over his answer.

Melissa was glowing on the inside. She was so glad that she actually took a step forward. That was a major step for her.

Yay me!