YAY! I love all my reviewers! as a present, there's gonna be some Reid and Mel-ness in this chapter. btw, i know this is a super long chapter, but i havent updated in a while, so i thought I owed y'all one. lol.
As Mel drove from the barn to the Spenser dorms, she couldn't help but look in the rear view mirror every few seconds, expecting to see the darkling again. When she pulled into the parking lot next to Tyler's Hummer, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked into the dorms. She trudged up the stairs to Reid and Tyler's room. She opened the door to see Tyler halfway through pacing the length of his and Reid's dorm room. When he caught sight of her, a look of relief took over his face.
"Thank god!" he said, crossing the room and wrapping Mel in a bear hug. Tyler and Mel had always been close, almost like brother and sister, ever since they'd met as little kids. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm okay. I just want to know who sent that darkling." Mel said, letting go of Tyler. "But I might have a guess."
"I'm trying to find out, too." Tyler said, "but I'm as stumped as you are. Who do you think would send you a darkling?"
"Where's Reid?" Mel said, looking around. "I bet he knows who sent the darkling..." Under her breath, she added, "I'm going to kill that jerk."
"He's in the shower..." Tyler said, stepping back, "Did you just say you're going to kill him?"
Just then a tall, blond Reid walked in, only a towel wrapped around his waist.
Even though having Reid two feet in front of her in only a towel made Mel blush so hard she resembled a tomato, she was still incredibly angry at him. Her eyes shifted to pitch black and an unseen force pushed him so hard he hit the wall behind him.
"What the hell is your problem, Baby Girl?" Reid shouted
"You sent a darkling after me, Jackass!" shouted Mel
Reid's eyes widened, "Someone sent a darkling after you?" He gripped her shoulders, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He looked her over in genuine concern. Mel wiped his hands off her shoulders.
"Don't pretend like you don't know." Mel said, crossing her arms.
"You think I sent the darkling?" He said, "I'd never do that to you! Who did this to you? Who the hell sent a darkling after you? I'm gonna kill him."
"Wait...you didn't send the darkling?" Mel said, a bit confused.
"Of course not! I-!" He shut his eyes and exhaled then opened his eyes again, this time there was only burning anger, "I wouldn't do that, trust me. But we're gonna find out who did." Reid's eyes shifted to Tyler, "You know about this?"
Tyler slowly nodded, backing away from both Mel and Reid, who were two entities burning with uncontrollable anger.
Mel concentrated on inhaling and exhaling. Reid not wearing any clothes and being about two inches away really didn't zen her, surprisingly.
"Okay, first off, I texted Caleb and Pogue before I came up here, so their probably gonna be here in about two seconds, so Reid, put some freaking clothes on!" Mel said, still concentrating on getting her breathing under control." And Ty, You might want to clean up this room, it looks like a tornado hit it."
She crossed over to their closet and pulled out a dark gray t-shirt and pair of black skinny jeans for Reid to wear and threw them at him. He smirked.
"Whats the problem, Baby Girl? Pogue and Caleb wont care if I'm just wearing a towel. " he said, putting the clothes next to him on his bed. His smirk greatly resembled the Cheshire cat. "Do You have a problem with me being half-naked?"
Mel glared at a spot on the wall just above Reid's head. "Yes, but that's besides the point!What do you think Caleb will do to you when he sees that his little sister is in the room with his half-naked best friend? You don't think he will beat you bloody?"
He laughed then went into the bathroom to change. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Tyler began staring at Mel. He looked as if he was trying to hold back a laugh.
"What?" She demanded, throwing an icy glare at the youngest son of Ipswich. "I'm really not in the mood right now, Simms, so out with it!"
"It's nothing, Baby Girl, just, well, your face went really red as soon as Reid walked in the door, and He pretty much just admitted that he liked you. You guys are in such denial." Tyler lounged on his bed, totally at his ease. Mel's eyes sparked with magic and his sheets and covers were magically yanked out from under him, tossing him onto the floor.
"Jeez, Mellie!" he said, using the name he'd called her when they were little kids. "I was just joking!"
Reid re-entered just then, wearing the t-shirt and jeans she'd thrown at him, as well as a black ski cap.
"Caleb called, he says to meet him at Nicky's in an hour. He says for you to stay with me and Baby Boy until then, Mel." He said, sitting down on the computer chair in front of his desk.
Mel rolled her eyes, her brother was always going to be overprotective. "Whatever."
She snatched her bag from the floor and went to go change. She put on a blue mini dress and a pair of knee high boots.
Twenty minutes later she was pulling into the parking lot at Nicky's bar, climbing out of her car along with Reid and Tyler. Tyler ordered cokes for the three of them as Mel and Reid gravitated towards the pool tables. Mel loved to watch Reid and Tyler play pool. They cheated a lot, but hey, people who were easy enough to be played deserved it. Mel's gaze found Tyler, who was standing at the bar, talking to her friend Corey Wilcox, a senior girl with light brown hair that fell in waves to her thin shoulders. She smiled, promising herself that she would help them get together, Tyler deserved to have someone.
Mel set the balls up into the triangle and looked around to see who would be easy to hustle, when all of a sudden she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and smelled what seemed to be stale beer.
"Hey, babe!" Aaron Abbott said with a leering grin. Mel put on an a fierce glare that would have had a spartan warrior crying for his mommy.
"Aaron, I'm almost positive you're gonna need that hand later,seeing as you guys are in a committed relationship and all, so If I were you, I would let go." Mel said through clenched teeth.
"Let her go, dickwad!" Reid said easily, although he looked about ready to snap his pool stick over Aaron's thick skull. Aaron's grin only got bigger.
"How 'bout a bet, Garwin?" He asked slyly.
Mel rolled her eyes. No matter how many times Reid took Aaron's money, he always kept coming back for more. Just then, Mel's favorite song, Dance,Dance by Fallout Boy came blasting through the speakers. In a sudden bout of courage, if not just to get away from Aaron, she grabbed Reid and pulled him out to the dance floor and started dancing, and the energy was electric. Mel loved to dance, and the way her body moved betrayed her years of lessons before she'd gotten sick of taking dance class and begun riding horses.
"You dance divinely,mister Garwin!" Mel laughed in a fake snooty accent. Reid snorted and put his hands on Mel's hips as they moved to the music.
As the song ended, Mel saw Caleb walk in with Sarah, Kate, and the new guy. They all sat at a table near the Foosball tables.
Mel and Reid walked back to the pool tables, where Tyler was beginning his and Reid's usual scam. Mel drifted over to Caleb, Sarah, Kate and the new guy's table when Pogue, who'd wandered in a little later then everyone else, came over and began placing bets with Reid and Tyler on what kind of panties the waitress was wearing. Rolling her eyes, she sat down next to Kate.
"Hey, Mel!" said Kate, bubbly and full of energy, as always."I love your dress!"
"Hey!" Mel smiled in greeting. She turned to the new guy, who still gave her a bad feeling. Something was very off about him, she just couldn't put her finger on it. The way he smiled at her brother and Pogue, there was something sinister about it...almost hungry.
"Have you met Chase Collins yet?" Kate asked, gesturing to the new guy.
"Yeah, you just transferred in, right?" Mel asked, taking a sip from her Coke. Mel still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong, but there couldn't be.
I'm just being paranoid She thought to herself He's just a transfer student! But still...
"...and you remember Sarah, right?" Kate was saying, which brought Mel out of her daze. "Hello? Earth to Mel, I swear she's such a space cadet sometimes!"
"Oh, yeah, she was at the party, hi!" Mel smiled at Sarah. Mel, Kate and Sarah began chatting about what classes and teachers they were going to have when school started up again, and Pogue,Caleb, and Chase got up and began an intense game of Foosball.
"Okay," Sarah piped up, an incredulous look on her face. "What just happened here? We were all just sitting here having fun together, and now we're sitting here watching them have fun!"
Mel shrugged, taking advantage of Caleb's absence to steal his soda. "It's not a big thing, Caleb and Pogue can't resist Foosball, it's a guy thing."
"Yeah," Kate nodded. "You know, boys and their toys." Sarah smiled and shook her head.
"Uh-uh, gimme a quarter, I'll show you what girls do."
Kate handed Sarah a quarter and she immediately crossed over to the jukebox. Kate and Mel gave each other mystified glances, which morphed into appreciative grins as the first chords of "I Love Rock'n'Roll" belted out of the speakers. Kate and Mel laughed as they watched Sarah pull Caleb out onto the dance floor. Kate turned to Mel, a mischevious smile on her face.
"Why don't you go ask Reid to dance, Mel?" She said, nudging her with an elbow. Mel rolled her eyes and was about to make a witty comment, when she heard a commotion coming from over by the pool tables. She looked over just in time to see Reid shove Aaron.
"Lovely." she muttered, downing the rest of her Coke and rolling her eyes. Caleb went over to Pogue, so Mel went over to them.
"...Ried and Tyler, let's go." She heard Caleb finish,"Gimme my jacket."
The new guy, Chase,drifted over to them, handing Caleb his windbreaker. "You want some help?" he asked.
"No, we're fine," Caleb told him "Stay here with the girls-That would mean you, sis."
Mel smirked and pushed past him.
"See, this is how our relationship works. You tell me to do something, and I ignore it." she shot over her shoulder, stepping out the back door of Nicky's, wondering what the hell Tyler and Reid had gotten into now.