Chapter Five- 'She Fell in Love In
LA To The Sounds Of A Guitar...'
"Yo, Daydream Believer!" Zac yelled at Ike. "You missed the cue, pick up the pace! I'm not paid fifty bucks an hour for kicks." Isaac snapped out of it. Man, Zac could scream loud. Maybe that was why he was asked if he could do a duet with Steve Tyler...
"Okay, from second repeat, with the 'riff, and bring it down to seventy, to get it right." Taylor instructed.
"Make it ninety, let's keep Dream-Boy on his toes." Zac said. Isaac gave him evils.
He couldn't help it, this 'fling' with Melissa was going as far as, dare he say it, love. And there was no way she wasn't giving him signs back. He might as well tell her sometime, before he did something goofy and scare her off. Or try to hurt her. He shuddered to think that he might.
"One, two, one, two, three, four..."
Concentrate. Ike told himself, trying to focus. But he couldn't. What it actually possible that he could falling in love with somebody who he held hardly any common ground with? And no, he didn't just like her because she was beautiful. She was clever, emotional, friendly and knew how to compliment. Him, a good kisser? Now that was a stretch. Okay, opposites attract. But he wasn't even the same species now. Don't think about that, don't think about that. Ike told himself. There was no way in hell he was going to let himself believe that.
"Oh my...Ike!" Zac threw a piece of crumpled paper at his brother's head.
"Hey!" Ike said, turning around.
"You missed it again! What is wrong with you?" Zac studied Ike's eyes for any signs of what his emotions were. What he saw, he didn't like. "Oh no!"
"What?" Tay asked.
"Ike's in love!" Zac had to say that so loud.
"I am not!" But he was, and he was a lousy liar in front of his brothers. "Okay, maybe a little..." Now Tay and Zac were all over him.
"It's Melissa, isn't it?! You love the Goth-chick!" Tay yelled, acting like he was deducting ten years off his life.
"She aint a Goth! She's cool!" Zac protested. "Ike, Ike, you are so going soft for her man!"
"He goes soft over every girl though." Tay pointed out.
"But not like this! Okay, a little like this..." Isaac wanted to throw them out the window, but he didn't know if it was because they were being annoying, or that they were exactly right.
"Okay! I love Melissa! You got that? I love my girlfriend!" Isaac let those words kick in. He loved this girl, no, wait, woman like no other. Man, that felt so good. Tay and Zac cheered like they had just been told they were going to Disney Land.
"So, how are you going to tell her?" Tay asked him, grinning.
"Without you in the same country, that's for sure." Ike said, starting to smile a lot now.
"My big brother's growing up!" Zac said in a sappy voice, then bear hugged Ike so hard he fell onto the sofa.
As Ike managed to get his breath back, Tay and Zac had already started singing dramatically, acting like they were the ones in love.
"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza-pie, that's amour! When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine, that's amour! La la la, la la la la la...!" This was getting really heavy. Obviously Melissa would act a little differently to this when he told her (like she was actually out of pre-school), but, he couldn't help but worry.
"Ike, why aren't you singing?" Tay said, flopping next to him.
"Telling you two is great, well, sort of, but what if Melissa don't feel the same?" That stopped the celebration.
"How can she not?" Zac pinched Ike's cheek. "He's so cute! Okay, tell me, does she want chocolate or strawberry sauce on you, cuz she's gonna eat you up when you tell her?!" Tay thought for a second.
"Chocolate, goes with your eyes." Zac burst into giggles and couldn't stop. Man, it was like he was in love with her, not Ike.
Taking a deep breath, Ike buzzed Melissa's apartment, and waited for an answer.
"Mr. Sanders, no! I'm not playing it too loud!" Ike laughed.
"Uh, Sweetie it's me." She gasped.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Honey! I thought you were my neighbour! Come on up." Ike opened the door and thought all the time on the elevator and walking along the corridor what he's say. Nope, nothing. Oh well, he'd have to wing it.
Melissa was already waiting outside the door. She wrapped her arms around him and, while kissing, she managed to open the door and shut it behind them. They sat on the sofa, still kissing. Melissa's apartment was still a sort of mess, what with her guitar on the stand in the middle of the floor, piles of magazines and clothes. But still she said it was her room-mate's fault.
As they unlocked, Melissa laughed. "You have no clue how long I've wanted to do that."
"Didn't we see eachother last night?" She shrugged.
"Yeah, but I missed you. You want something to drink?" She got up and for the first time, Ike saw she was wearing only a pair of boxers and a T-shirt.
"Uh, yeah." He walked up to her, still panicking about what he'd say. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"Oh no. I wear this around the house, more comfy. Are you Okay? You're all tense up." She kissed him on the cheeks, then got out a bottle of Sunny D. Pouring out two glasses, she could still feel him watching her.
"What?"
"Nothing." Ike pretended to look at something else. "I just got some stuff on my mind. Hey, guess what?"
"What?" She handed him a glass.
Ike tried to think of where to start. "You know when you see people holding hands, all kissie and you think 'wow, they must be so happy'?" She nodded, confused. "Okay, uh..." Nope, this was not working. He couldn't just say it out like he did last time.
"Ike, what is it? You're staring at me funny, I feel like a chocolate cake in a baker's window. Come on, tell me." She pouted. Ike smiled and pushed her lip back in.
"You are making this so hard."
"What am I making hard? I haven't done anything!"
"Well, if you were ugly, and not so beautiful, I wouldn't be so shy!" She burst out laughing.
"Sorry, I'll fix that..." She ruffled up her hair, then grabbed a bottle of ketchup and poured it on herself. "Better?" Ike was laughing so hard, had to just let it out.
"Okay, I love you!" Melissa stopped laughing. She suddenly looked too shocked to be happy.
"You love me?" She said that in a quiet voice.
"Uh, yeah, I, uh..." She took a long mouthful of her drink. After swallowing, she looked either frightened or about to pass out. Any of the options would make Ike's heart crush. No, not bad enough. Like she ripped it out, waved it in front of his face, ate it, regurgitated it then spat it in his face. That bad.
"Okay, you love me? Not as in loving guitar solos, or Twinkies or those 'ickle bunny-rabbits, but..."
"But real love. Yeah. Oh man, this is not the face I like, I am so sorry..." She kissed him hard again. When she finally got off him, she hugged him harder than Zac. And that was saying a lot.
"I love you too Baby! Man, didn't I scare you?" Ike nodded, a little dazed. "Awww, I just like to annoy."
"Mmm-hmm, among other things." As they sat back onto the sofa, just amazed in the idea that they didn't admit it to one-another a long time ago, Ike's phone rang.
"Lemmie guess, a bailout call in case I didn't agree?" She smiled as Ike answered it.
"Uh, not now, I'm busy...uh, yeah..." He shook his head as he was talking. She grabbed it off of him.
"Hiya! Sorry, he's mine." She heard Zac laughing.
"Okay, so he asked for backup, sue me! Awww, how cute..." Melissa rolled her eyes at Ike, still smiling.
"Yep, and don't expect him home tonight, cuz he's staying at my place!"
"Okay, I did not want to know that! I'll tell mom and dad he crashed at a friends cuz he was tired..." She grinned.
"You bet he's gonna be tired after I'm done with him! You know, after some sinful fun." She knew Zac didn't need to know about his brother's love life, but she loved to be cruel.
"Okay, I'm gonna hang up. Tell Ike he's a sick, sick boy!"
"Yeah, I'll do that while making love..." Zac screamed and hung up. Or he could have thrown the phone across the room. Whatever does the job. Melissa laughed evilly.
"You are the devil." Isaac said plainly, grinning.
"Then that makes you Satan's lover." He leaned forward and kissed her nose.
"Mmm, ketchupie..."
Melissa looked Ike straight in the eyes and asked him- "Are you sure?"
Isaac smiled. "Certain."
"I mean, I don't wanna be the cause of the corruption of the Hansons' now..."
Isaac laughed hard. "Melissa, you've missed the boat there!"
Melissa mentally slapped herself. Why was she so worried? "Sorry, I'm just making sure..."
"Melissa, I'm not only absolutely certain I'm ready, I've been waiting for this for a hell of a long time. Now, please, stop worrying. Mom told me about the birds and the bees a long time ago, just don't make any comments, notably on sizes," Melissa laughed, "and we'll be fine."
Melissa sighed happily. A few hours ago she was so tired, but now she couldn't sleep. She wasn't hungry, she wasn't overexcited, she wasn't annoyed with the fact she couldn't spread out on the bed as much and she didn't have too much on her mind. It was more she had too little on her mind. Why wasn't she considering over how she'd have to leave soon enough? Why wasn't she thinking whether or not she could continue to see Ike? This was weak, she had nothing to worry about. Usually it would pile on so hard she couldn't see straight, but tonight, it was just plain and simple, like it used to be. Like when Connar was alive.
Last night was the best, she couldn't have changed a thing. After meeting this young virgin boy who had never broken the law, she had felt as happy as when she was with Connar. And that was a lot. Melissa rolled over to watch Isaac breath softly, just feeling so amazed with who she was sharing a bed with. It was both exciting and weird. Not just the celebrity-part of it, just him really. The crazy curly-haired Mmmbop boy who obviously didn't play the guitar or sing was now asleep next to her. Granted she was proven wrong about not being talented, she still thought there was no way they'd have anything in common. But they did.
Melissa closed her eyes as she felt tired all of a sudden, her mild thinking was more in-depth than planned and it had sent her to sleep.
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