Chapter 20: Recovered

(Jared's POV)

What the hell happened in there?!

I had managed to get Mel on her feet and started to walk her through to my car parked in the back parking lot. I didn't want to ask her about what happened, I figured she'd tell me when we were out of here.

With Mel in the car, I jogged back inside to explain to my boss that I had to go…I hated ditching the diner when it was busy, knowing that the servers who were working today would need to pick up all of the tables I would have worked as well as their own.

But I can't just leave Mel like that.

I drove us back to my place – I could tell that Mel would rather not run into her parents or anything and have them asking her questions.

We were both silent in the car, I could hear the breath hitching in Mel's throat and it killed me…I wanted to find out what happened damnit. What could have made her like this?! One minute I left her sitting at the bar smiling and the next she's gone and I find her in the corner of the back room crying her eyes out. Is it me? I glanced over at Mel; she was facing away from me out the window, her legs curled up on the seat almost in a fetal position. Oh god, what if it is me?!

I couldn't stop worrying all the way to my apartment – I pulled up into my parking space and went around to open the passenger side door, I tried to look into her eyes as she stepped out but she wouldn't even lift her head to look up at me…

I realised as we walked up the stairs to the third floor that Mel had never been inside my apartment before – in the years I've known Wanda and Mel they've never been round, we've always met either at the diner or at their house…god I hope it's tidy at least.

It wasn't . There was empty soda cans and food wrappers everywhere – not to mention dust on every surface…crap. The one time I have Mel over and it's dirty. She didn't seem to notice, or she did and she didn't care – she just wandered in, plopped down on the couch and put her head in her hands…I must have done something bad…

I hurriedly tidied as much as possible – throwing away empty cans and moving all the dirty dishes into the sink…note to self – clean more.

It only took a couple of minutes so soon I was sat down stroking up and down Mel's back until she finally leaned back and looked at me – she didn't look pissed at me, which is good I hope, she just looked scared…

'Mel…what happened?' I didn't want to break the silence but I had to, I had to know! It was driving me crazy! I couldn't look at her tear stained face much longer without my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. What if this is it?

She managed to choke out one word, but it was all I needed, a sigh of relief echoed in my head that I wasn't the reason she was like this – although it was closely followed by a string of curse words.

'Oh god, what the hell did he do to you?!' I didn't really leave her anytime to answer, I stood up so I could get the phone out of my pocket and punched in Ian's number…shit, I didn't even see that bastard come into the diner. Why the hell would he go after Mel.

And it all clicked…I had seen and heard enough from the football weekend that Burns wanted to be more than friends with Wanda…and who better to go after than her best friend. Shit. Could he be more crazy? I had already heard all of the stories about him from Ian but I never thought he'd stoop this low.

As my phone rang and rang I knelt down in front of Mel and used my hand to wipe away the tears and to linger on the side of her face as she leaned into me. 'I'm so sorry Mel...I should have seen him come in.' I felt her head shake on my shoulder as her arms moved round to hold onto me.

Ian's phone went to voicemail…I tried to keep my voice controlled but even I wasn't convinced, 'Ian it's me, we've got a problem and it's pretty fucking big – call me back man.'

I threw my phone on the floor and pulled Mel into my lap so my back was leaning against the coffee table behind me. I started to stroke her hair as she buried her face in my neck and started to explain what happened.

After she had finished I was too angry to move, and I didn't want to do anything that might upset Mel even more – she hugged her closer to her, it seemed that she didn't want to move either.

I don't know how long we stayed that way on the floor but I do know that my legs started to ache and I had to stand up soon – Mel's stomach growled which made us both laugh and start to get up and move towards the kitchen.

Mel jumped up to sit on the counter top by me and looked around the room 'I know I shouldn't be because of everything that's happened, but I'm glad I can spend some time with you…I like your place by the way.' I smiled up at her – it wasn't much in the way of nice, but I knew she meant it…

'Thanks, and in a messed up sort of way I'm happy you're here.' A small blush rose to her cheeks as I took her hand in mine – she tugged me closer as she slid off the counter to her feet again.

'Thank you for looking after me…' She wiggled her hand free from mine and moved her arms around my neck to hug me for the third time today...I am a lucky guy.

Now that she was safe and calm and we were alone, I ran my fingertips down the sides of her body to wrap my arms around her lower back and pull her close to me.

I kissed her shoulders and neck which made her laugh…I'm so glad to hear that laugh…she leaned back so she could look at me, her brown eyes still slightly watery with previous tears - making my heart ache.

I pressed my lips to her forehead, to her nose, to her cheeks – she laughed again as she leaned up on her tip-toes so we were close to the same height. I saw her eyes dart from mine to my mouth, but I was wary to kiss her… she was so upset before, I don't want her to think I'm taking advantage of her…

Mel closed the gap between our mouths and kissed me softly before I could think of any other reason why this would be a bad idea - it was all I needed to throw caution to the wind and return the kiss…I can't count the times I've wanted to kiss this girl…

I ran my hands across her lower back and the sides of her body again, wanting to feel every inch of her – she seemed to want the same as she arched her back to press our chests together, eliminating all space between us yet again.

I felt like I was dreaming, here was the girl I've always wanted, probably the love of my life, in my arms, kissing me so passionately I felt like nothing could stop this moment from happening.

I led her back so she was leaning against the counter again, she moaned slightly as I ran my fingers under the hem of her shirt – touching the smooth sensitive skin of her lower back.

Her teeth grazed my lower lip quickly followed by her tongue as she pushed my lips apart with her own. Her own hands were now in my hair, tugging me closer to her with every kiss.

I felt lightheaded after what felt like hours of our tongues and mouths caressing each others – I pulled away from her lips and rested my forehead against hers, our breaths collecting together in the small space between us.

Gently moving her hair off of her shoulder I began to kiss my way down her neck to her collarbone, slightly nibbling at her over-sensitized skin, enough to cause a rush of pleasure but not enough to mark her.

I was rewarded with a few slight moans and sharp intakes of breath as I worked my way down, my hand followed down the opposite side of her body skimming the light fabric of her shirt.

I kissed my way down her chest until I was stopped by the first fastened button, I kissed the lowest part of skin I could reach and stood up again, looking into her face – her eyes were closed and lips parted, giving her barely any time to focus again I returned to kissing those perfect lips.

We were all tongues and hands pawing at each other – her hands moved down my arms to reach the bottom of my t-shirt which she tugged up, I lifted my arms for her to remove it completely. She moved her arms around me to feel my skin under hers…I'd never felt anything like it – sure I'd had girlfriends before, but this was amazing, my skin was tingling with the contact, I felt like I could rip off her clothes right here…but I can't – that would be taking advantage…

Shit, why did my mind have to butt into this…I'm surprised it had any blood left to still be running – another part of my body seemed to need it a lot more right now.

I continued to kiss her but only lightly, I began to place my hands more carefully on her back rather than the roaming they did before. Soon enough Mel noticed and realised what I was doing…she broke the kiss and sighed deeply – burying her head in my neck and kissing me lightly as we caught our breath.

She eventually leaned back and hopped up onto the counter again – we stayed there for a while just staring at each other, both flushed and immensely turned on…I could tell she remembered what I said to her the other week – I wanted to try and stick by what I said about doing this relationship the right way…the last 30 minutes were amazing but we didn't have to rush.

I could hear my phone ringing from across the room and looked over my shoulder breaking our eye contact, sure enough my screen was lighting up and it was buzzing around like mad on the coffee table. I leaned up to give Mel one more quick-kiss and turned towards my phone. I hated how cold my arms felt without her…

Ian…great…now I have to re-live this afternoon again - although I'm sure he doesn't want to hear about what just happened. I gave Mel the one-minute signal with my finger and moved towards my room on the other side of the apartment before I answered…this would probably be a long phone call…

(A/n – Jelanie yay! What do you think?)