Cole

I hand Luke and Jake glasses of water across the kitchen island before taking a seat. I tiredly rub my palm against my jaw as Luke hands us binders identical to the one open in front of him. I skim through the pages of finance records. It's color coded and everything - how the hell does he have time to do this? I wish someone had warned me about how much work being vice president was going to be before I accepted the position.

"Can't we use the den for this?" I groan and rub my lower back. Whoever bought these stupid bar stools apparently had no understanding around the shape of a human's spine.

"The event committee is using the den for their meeting right now," Luke reminds me.

"Fine," I sigh and open the binder.

When we combined forces with ADPi for the winter formal, I thought it meant that we'd have less work to do. But oh boy, was I was sorely mistaken. The preparation work has somehow doubled.

We barely get through figuring out the catering budget before something catches my attention.

"Do you hear something?"

We all pause. It sounds like there's some sort of commotion down the hall. It's not really out of the ordinary though. The event committee's meetings can get a bit out of hand sometimes, especially with Chris as their head. That guy doesn't exactly scream leadership or cooperation. Something is different though, I think I hear a female's voice. I swear to god, I'm going to lose it if that's Laura.

Curiosity gets the best of us and we head towards the noise.

"If my cousin says it's important, then it's important!"

Is that Alyssa?

We reach the entrance of the den and look inside. That is definitely Alyssa. She's almost a foot shorter than Chris, but she's stepped right up to him and is yelling straight at his face. Her normally pale skin is flushed, and her pupils are so dilated that her bright green eyes appear nearly black. The rest of the team looks absolutely terrified as Chris and Alyssa's equally stubborn personalities chaotically clash.

"For the last time, I said he's in a meeting," Chris growls back. "For god's sake Alyssa, just come back tomorrow, it's so late."

"No!"

Just as it looks like Alyssa is ready to start swinging, Luke rushes past Jake and I and steps into the den. He lightly touches Alyssa's shoulder. "Alyssa? What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I'm looking for Cole," she says, suddenly seeming much calmer when she sees Luke. Understandably, Chris doesn't often bring out the best in people. "My cousin needs to talk to him."

I follow Alyssa's line of sight towards the side of the room. My eyes widen when I spot her. I didn't even notice Melody cowering in the corner of the room, hiding partially behind a houseplant. I don't blame her, Alyssa can be pretty scary when she's mad.

"Mel?" I say softly as I enter the room.

She glances over at me and cautiously steps out from behind the plant. Her eyes dart around the room and her cheeks turn pink when she notices everyone is watching her. I try to avoid eye contact with the guys as I walk over to Melody. They're cool for the most part, but they can also be annoyingly judgmental sometimes.

"C'mon," I murmur and place my hand on her back, quickly leading her out of the den.

-----

"That was... quite an entrance," I chuckle as we enter my room.

I'm glad I cleaned up a bit in here this morning. I smooth out my grey covers and gesture towards the bed. She takes a seat while I sit at my desk's chair and roll it closer to the bed. She gently swings her legs back and forth with her hands tightly clasped on her lap. My bed is high, and she's so small that her legs don't completely reach the floor.

I notice her subtly scanning the room. There's not a whole lot to look at. I have a desk, chair, hamper, and bed. Decorations are kept to a minimum for the most part. A couple of photos here and there, and some posters. I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed. I've never seen her room, but based on the rest of the apartment, I'm sure it's incomparable to mine.

It feels a little odd seeing her here. It's been longer than I would've liked since the last time I had a girl in my room.

"Yeah, um, sorry for interrupting," she apologizes meekly.

I simply shrug. "Don't worry about it." If anything, she did me a favor. I was bored out of my mind downstairs. There's a reason I'm not an accounting major. I glance at my watch, it's almost midnight. "So, care to explain what you're doing here this late at night?"

She purses her lips and looks at me hesitantly. "I was worried when I saw your text this morning. It's not like you to cancel on such short notice and with no explanation."

What did I send again? I quickly check my phone.

Cole: can't come over today.

Melody: oh, ok. Could I ask why?

I clearly didn't reply. Thinking about it now, I don't even remember seeing her text or sending mine. I drank too much after getting home last night, and everything was sort of a painful blur this morning. There's just been this annoying, cloudy fog hanging over me all day.

"Oh, sorry." I grimace and rub the back of my neck. "I just wasn't feeling up for it today."

She nods. "I understand."

"So... this was your solution? You couldn't have just called or something?"

Melody's face turns pink. "Alyssa's, actually," she mumbles. "We were talking on the phone, and I was telling her I was worried. She showed up at my place half an hour later and pretty much dragged me into her car and drove us here."

I laugh dryly. "Sounds like Alyssa. Sorry that you made the trip, but I'm fine."

She chews on her lip. "Are you though? Yesterday seemed pretty... rough for you."

I try to stifle a groan as I feel my headache coming back. I've been trying to forget about it since I got home last night, the last thing I want is to talk about it. Lazily walking over to my desk, I use a key to unlock the bottom drawer, revealing my reliable stash. I pick up a half empty bottle of whiskey. I'm almost certain it was full before last night.

"Drink?" I ask.

Melody shakes her head. "Oh um, no thanks. I'm good."

Suit yourself. I haphazardly pour myself a glass and sit back down. I absentmindedly stare at the glass, slowly swirling the amber liquid around.

"That's just how my family is, there's nothing to talk about." I shrug before taking a long drink.

She reaches forward to rest her hand over mine. I didn't even notice I had balled it into a tense fist on my lap. "It doesn't have to be like that," says. "It shouldn't be like that either."

I feel numb to the warmth and softness Melody's words and touch normally bring to me. It's scary in a way, but my mind is too fuzzy to care.

"What are you even trying to accomplish?" I snap. "This is none of your business, just drop it, Melody."

Melody flinches but doesn't let go of my hand. Her lip quivers as she looks at me with glassy eyes. "I have my mom... that's it," she murmurs. "I'd do anything to have what you have, Cole. Please don't take it for granted."

My anger softens and some of my pent up tension fades. I quickly place my glass on my nightstand and sit next to her. "I'm... I'm sorry Mel, that was unfair of me. I know I should be grateful for them."

Melody lets go of my hand and flops onto her stomach. She props her chin up on her palm and fidgets with the sheets a little before sighing. "Then again, maybe that's just me being naïve. Romanticizing the idea of a big happy family."

"Hey, don't say that," I mumble, gently stroking her back.

She scoots forward to rest her head on my lap and looks up at me with glassy, nervous eyes. "Could you tell me about them?" she whispers. I open my mouth to object but she continues, "C'mon Cole, drop the tough guy act. It's ok to feel insecure sometimes." Her tone is tender, but her words are a little painful, like being poked with a butter knife.

"I'm not insecure," I retort. Has she even met me?

She takes my hand and clasps it tightly with hers. "You're Cole Flynn, the notoriously super charming and confident frat boy, I know, I know," she giggles a little. "But I can see through it, Cole. You're covering something up and it's hurting you."

I gulp and keep my mouth shut. I don't trust my voice to stay steady.

She lightly trails her fingers along the back of my hand in slow, random patterns. "You can talk whenever you're ready, no rush," she says softly.

My heart palpitates and my stomach begins threatening to feel sick. Melody gives me a small, encouraging smile though, and the numbness to her slowly dissipates. I feel the tension in my muscles slowly relax. I absentmindedly start to comb my fingers through her hair. It's splayed out over my lap and almost unbelievably soft and smooth.

I take in a deep, steady breath. "I grew up with ridiculous standards." I grimace. "Both of my parents are lawyers, and you saw Trisha and Isabelle."

Melody stares at me intently and nods.

"Living in Trisha's shadow was disheartening. My parents thought she was so perfect, making someone average like me look like shit," I mutter. "It didn't affect Isabelle though, she easily stepped out from behind Trisha's shadow and created her own path. How was I supposed to compete with them?"

Nothing I did was good enough. It felt as if mom and dad took every possible opportunity to criticize me. I'm sure they gave up on me at a certain point, and I eventually gave up on them too. An eye for an eye or whatever.

"But why does it have to be a competition?" Melody tilts her head curiously.

"Ask my parents that," I snort. "Apparently there's a competitive gene I missed out on."

I'm only half joking. The trophy case they keep in the living room got so full that they had to get another one. I probably have three basketball ones in there, at most.

Melody purses her lips and looks up at me thoughtfully. "I guess I could say the same about my mom and I."

"It's different with you though, isn't it?" I point out. "You're actually talented and accomplished, just like my sisters. I, on the other hand, am useless."

Melody quickly sits up on her knees and takes my hands in hers. "No, don't say that Cole," she states firmly.

"I'm the black sheep of the family," I shrug. "My parents don't care about how I feel. My grandparents left me next to nothing in their will compared to Trisha and Isabelle. They said I didn't deserve it."

It was nearly a year ago. Not exactly what you want to hear from your grandma when you go to visit her in hospice. It didn't matter though, I was so over this whole family thing that I couldn't care less about it. Mom and dad had to twist my arm to get me to fly home to visit and stay for the funeral.

Melody's lower lip trembles and I see her eyes well up. "That's awful, Cole," she sniffles. A stray tear slips out and trails down her cheek.

"I'm really not worth crying over, Mel," I chuckle softly and use my thumb to brush her tears away.

I hand her a box of tissues, and she takes one out and lightly dabs at her eyes. She buries her face against my shoulder, and I feel the soft warmth of her cheek against my neck. It takes some hugs and words of reassurance to try and get her to calm down and stop crying. It's almost comical, being the one comforting Melody when she's the one who came here because she was concerned about me. Once she's calmed down, I lean against the wall and stare blankly at the ceiling.

So maybe I am a little... insecure.

Melody sits there patiently as I muster up the will to continue. I reach over to my night stand and down the remaining whiskey. "I guess you're right, Mel. I didn't want to show that their words and actions got to me, so I built up a wall around myself to hide it. I built myself a new identity," I murmur. "Act like I was confident and on top, and nothing could hurt me."

"But it stopped becoming an act, right?"

"Yeah... I guess it shaped me as a person. I can't say that I necessarily dislike who it shaped me into, though," I laugh. Confidence and charm, who wouldn't want that?

Melody laughs and pushes me. "Well, you do need an ego check every once in a while." Her amused grin softens and she looks at me sympathetically. "I don't think it would hurt to try talking to your parents about this."

"It won't be easy," I mutter, running my hand through my hair. It's been years since I've had a real conversation with them.

"I never said it would be easy," she points out, giving me a gentle, playful nudge.

I can't stop the corner of my lips from tugging upwards. "Yeah, you're right. They don't fly back till tomorrow night. I'll try to get lunch or something with them."

It's probably gonna be a huge pain in the ass, but Melody's right. What do I have to lose?

"That's great." Her smile softens and she rests her head on my shoulder. "But don't forget, you're a good person, Cole. No matter what they say, I know you have a kind heart."

"Thanks Mel." I pull her into a hug. "I don't think I've ever told anyone about all of this. I feel surprisingly better." I still can't believe I actually shared all of this.

Maybe feelings don't suck as much as I thought they did.

Melody grins. "I'm proud of you Cole. Growing up isn't that bad, huh?"

I get that unfamiliar, warm and fuzzy feeling inside again, but it doesn't last long. My stomach lurches a little as my mind suddenly forces me to relive last night's events. How terrible of a person I was towards Melody when all she wanted to do was help.

Melody somehow seems to sense something is off. "Everything ok?" she asks and quickly pulls herself back.

I rub the back of my neck and look down at the covers. "I uh, really appreciate what you did last night, Mel. I know it must've taken a lot." I'm still in disbelief that she willingly put herself out in the spotlight - literally, the piano was under a spotlight. I don't deserve to have someone as kind as Melody in my life. "I'm sorry for being so rude and curt with you."

Mentally taking myself out of conversations is the only way my family is tolerable. Melody was clearly concerned, but I didn't even look at her, I just couldn't. I don't know whether it was out of shame, embarrassment, dissociation, or God knows what else.

She places her delicate fingers on my cheeks and gently tilts my face back up. Her eyes are warm and her lips are pulled into a soft, gentle smile. It's a look of understanding and kindness.

"It was my pleasure, I'm just glad you're ok," she whispers. I hear a muffled buzzing noise. Melody takes her phone out of her pocket and glances at it. "I should head home, it's getting late. See you at my place tomorrow?" She hops off the bed.

"Yea- oh, uh... actually, I can't," I mumble.

"Hm?" She turns back around and looks at me curiously.

I give her a sheepish smile. "It's a... a frat thing. I'll see you on Saturday instead?"

She looks at me hesitantly but nods. "Yeah... sounds good..."

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Mr. tough guy isn't so tough after all 😛

Thanks for reading!