It was 4 am when Melinda stood up and went to the living-room.
"Hey, what's up?" Jim suddenly asked.
"Nothing…" she lied.
"So why aren't you in bed?"
"I can't sleep… I'm too scared."
"Wanna talk a bit?"
"Wow… You are girly. I thought we could go on with what we started when we arrived" she smiled.
"Hey, I'm not girly. I just thought that you might not be ready to do that. I mean after what happened today."
"I'm trying not to think about it" she tried to kiss him but he blocked it. "What's wrong?"
"I don't think we should do this, you know. That's part of the process."
"No, it was my fault. I should have been mare careful. Maybe I chose a wrong word when I said that I don't want to think about it. I can live with it. I'm strong."
"Okay" he whispered and kissed her. Melinda undressed his chest while he put her PJ off. Then they went to the bedroom where she put the rest of his clothes off, too.

In the morning Melinda woke up because her call rang. The caller ID told her that it was her boss.
"Hello?" she said.
"Good morning, Miss Gordon. Did you watch on your alarm clock recently? It's 11 am and I'm waiting for you. I need you to get my suites from the dry cleaning. I expect you here in 20 minutes" he hung up.
Melinda ran into the bathroom, got dressed, wrote a note to Jim who was still sleeping in her bed and went to the dry cleaning.
Jim woke up by the mailman knocking at the door at 1 pm. He got up and opened it.
"Morning" he said sleepy.
"Good morning, I have a packet for Miss Gordon."
"Okay, I'll take it."
"Okay, here it is. Bye."
"Bye" he closed the door.
"Melinda?" he asked into the flat but he didn't get an answer. He went through the apartment. Suddenly he noticed a piece of paper.

Dear Jimmy boy,
My boss called and I have to go to work now. I'm sorry!
I'll call you later :)
I love you!
Kiss, Mel

Jim thought about what he could do. He didn't want to go to work. So he called in sick and cleaned up the living-room because there was popcorn everywhere. Then he tidied up the bed room, cooked lunch and switched on the TV. Because there was nothing on he decorated the apartment a bit.

Meanwhile Melinda went through streets. She was lost in thoughts. Then she went home. When she opened the door her eyes lit up. She looked around. There were roses and candles everywhere. Then she saw the table in her dining room. It was decorated with roses and candles, too. She smelled the smell of lasagna. A quiet moving song came from the CD-player.
'Wow' she thought.
"Jim?" she asked in the empty room.
Suddenly she heard the shower and went to the bathroom. She opened the door.
"Hello?" Jim asked skeptically while he turned off the shower.
"Hey" Melinda said smiling.
"Hey hon, you're back."
"Back is an understatement" she answered and gave him a little kiss. "Hey, is there room for me in the shower?"
"Sure. What happened today?"
"You know what? No chop talk. Let's take a shower."
They took a shower together.

40 minutes later they were sitting in the dining room and ate the reheated lasagna. They didn't dry themselves. So the whole apartment was wet but they didn't care. Melinda sat on Jim's lap. They fed each other with the lasagna.
"Hmmm. This is the best lasagna I've ever eaten. Where did you learn to cook?" Melinda asked.
"Thanks. You know, when I was young I used to cook for my mom. We took turns with it and I got practice."
"Cool. I wish I had a childhood like this…"
"What happened?"
"My mom never understood me. We always had arguments."
"And your dad? What did he do?"
"He left when I was nine. Sometimes he came and then he left again. Sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. Last time I saw him was when I was eleven. I…" tears were running down her cheek.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey…." He wiped off her tears. "It's okay. Don't cry…"
"You know, I should be over it but I'm not."
"No, you shouldn't. He hurt you. Come here" he hugged her and stroke her back. After a while she stopped crying. Jim cleaned up and washed the dishes. Melinda sat on the couch. Jim sat down next to her.
"Jim?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"What for?"
"For being you. You always know what to say. And today is a really bad day-"
"What happened?"
"I got fired because I was late at work. My dream of having my own store will be a dream forever."
"d**n. You got fired because of me."
"What? Why?"
"If I hadn't slept here you wouldn't have been late today…"
"No, I wanted to quit anyway. But I wanted to save some money before in order to open the store. Now I don't even know how to pay my bills."
"Well, you could move…"
"But I'd have to pay the other apartment, too?!" she interrupted him.
"I didn't end my sentence."
"Sorry."
"We could move together. My apartment is big enough."
"I love that idea" she smiled.
"Do you just love that idea?"
"I love you" she kissed him.
"I love you, too. So? Wanna move together?"
"Sure, but is it okay for you?"
"If it wasn't okay for me I hadn't made you that offer! Of course it's okay for me. No, actually it's more that okay for me. You are the most important person in my life. I'd love to have you living with me in my apartment."
"How do I deserve a man like you? God, I love you… Come here…" she grabbed his shirt and went him to her bedroom. First she undressed herself and then Jim. He carried her up and tossed her on the bed. They kissed each other wildly. They couldn't stop because they wanted each other so badly. Neither Melinda nor Jim were thinking about protection…