Kisses Beneath The Aurora

Anything Else?

Jonathan nodded as if that made perfect sense.

"That actually sounds peaceful," he admitted with a laugh. "Social media's exhausting."

Melanie smiled a little.

“Anyway,” he said after a brief pause. “it's a pleasure to meet you, Melanie. So, what are you doing here?”

She shrugged. “Came here to enjoy myself, I guess.”

“Right.” He looked down for a second before returning his gaze to hers. "Did you come alone?”

"No. I came with a friend.”

"Oh, okay." He nodded. "Me and my friends came here because we're having a bachelor's party. One of my friends is getting married tomorrow." He laughed. “Actually, he's supposed to be celebrating responsibly, but I'm pretty sure he's forgotten he's getting married. He has totally gotten his ass drunk.”

“That bad?” Melanie laughed.

“Oh, absolutely,” Jonathan nodded seriously. "Ten minutes ago, he tried to convince the DJ to let him make a speech about true love."

“What happened?”

“The DJ threatened to call security.”

Melanie burst out laughing, and Jonathan grinned.

"See? I told him it was a terrible idea."

"Did he listen?"

"Of course not. He's getting married. He stopped listening to people six months ago."

Melanie laughed again, and somehow, they just kept talking.

Mostly because Jonathan never seemed to run out of things to say.

He was surprisingly talkative. Once Jonathan started talking, he just kept talking. He told embarrassing stories about himself, cracked jokes, and every now and then, he'd say something so ridiculous that Melanie couldn't help but laugh.

To her surprise, she found herself relaxing, really relaxing.

She listened as Jonathan talked, occasionally adding a comment of her own. Somehow, she found herself enjoying the conversation.

Jonathan was nice, funny, and easy to talk to.

More importantly, he didn't ask her uncomfortable questions.

Before she realized it, she hadn't even noticed how much time had passed.

It wasn't until she pulled out her phone to check the time that her eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh."

“What?” Jonathan frowned.

"It's late."

He pulled out his own phone and let out a low whistle.

"Wow. We really talked that long?"

“Apparently,” Melanie laughed.

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke. Then Jonathan smiled.

"Well, it was really nice talking to you, Melanie. I had a good time."

"Me too," she admitted.

Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Um... this might sound weird, but..." He laughed nervously. "Could I maybe get your number?"

“Sure,” Melanie said, grinning.

After exchanging numbers, they said their goodbyes, and Melanie headed back inside the club.

It didn't take her long to find Beth on the dance floor. She was extremely drunk, swaying wildly to the music while dancing with a random guy.

Melanie sighed and pulled her away.

"Hey!" Beth frowned.

"Beth. It's time for us to go."

Beth immediately yanked her arm free.

"I'm not leaving anytime soon, babeee!" she slurred.

The strong smell of alcohol hit Melanie's nose, and she found herself wondering exactly how many bottles of whiskey Beth had managed to drink.

Honestly, she wasn't even surprised. After reminding Beth to be careful and promising to text her once she got back to campus, Melanie left the club alone.

By the time she returned to her dorm room, it was very late.

Melanie was so exhausted as she opened the door.

The night had started terribly. But somewhere along the way, it had become... nice.

Beth had been right. For a few hours, Melanie had laughed. She had talked, and, most importantly, she hadn't thought about Noah. Maybe that was enough.

She kicked off her shoes, collapsed onto her bed without even bothering to change her clothes, and the moment her head touched the pillow, she fell asleep.

* * * * * *

The weekend was over, and by Monday morning, the hallways were crowded again. Students moved in and out of classrooms.

Melanie leaned against a locker while Tiffany talked nonstop about Drexter.

Drexter this. Drexter that. Drexter, Drexter, and more Drexter.

Honestly, Melanie was impressed. She hadn't known it was possible to talk about one person for fifteen straight minutes without needing water.

She listened absently, nodding every now and then while her mind drifted to anything else that wasn't related to Drexter Grayson.

"Melanie? Melanie?"

Tiffany snapped her fingers in front of her face. She stared at Melanie with narrowed eyes.

"You weren't even listening!"

"Sorry," Melanie admitted. "I got distracted."

Tiffany looked offended and was about to say something when she suddenly spotted someone across the hallway. Her eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh! Drexter's here!”

"He is?" Melanie asked, sounding uninterested.

“Of course he is!” Tiffany hissed. “Oh my gosh. What do I do? Should I go talk to him?”

She grabbed Melanie's arm. “Oh my goodness, he's so, so hot.”

"Tiffany, you need to calm down. I don't think it's necessary—"

"f**k!" Tiffany gasped. She whipped her head back toward Melanie.

"He's looking at me, Melly! Oh my gosh, he's looking at me! How do I look?"

Melanie stared at her. "What?"

"Melly," Tiffany repeated urgently, "how do I look?"

Now Melanie was annoyed.

"You look exactly like you always do, Tiffany. Can you stop acting like a child?"

"I'm not acting like a child!" Tiffany protested. "And what do you mean I look like I always do? Is that good or bad?"

Melanie clenched her jaw as she spoke, “You look fine.”

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Tiffany said, crossing her arms.

Melanie fought the overwhelming urge to scream. At this point, her sister was driving her insane.

"Check if he's still looking at me," Tiffany whispered.

“I should check?” Melanie blurted. Surely she'd heard Tiffany wrong.

"Obviously."

"But why?"

"Because I can't look!"

"Tiffany, that makes absolutely no sense."

"It makes perfect sense. It's girl code," Tiffany said. “I can't believe you're a girl and you don't understand girl code.”

"Wait. Let me pretend I'm busy first.”

Before Melanie could protest, Tiffany pulled out her phone and began pretending to scroll.

Melanie's left eye twitched.

"Why do you have to pretend?” she groaned, and with a sigh of defeat, she turned.

Drexter stood on the other side of the hallway, talking to a girl. He wasn't looking at Tiffany. In fact, he hadn't spared her a single glance.

For a second, Melanie considered telling Tiffany exactly that.

Then suddenly, Drexter looked up. His eyes locked onto Melanie's.

He didn't smile or frown either. He simply looked at her, and Melanie stared back.

There was no expression on his face. Nothing to give away what he was thinking. Just those brown eyes fixed on hers.

After what felt like far too long, Melanie looked away.

She turned back to Tiffany, who was still pretending to check her phone.

"Well?" Tiffany whispered. "Is he looking?”

Melanie hesitated. Then, she glanced back.

Drexter was still looking at her, not at Tiffany.

She quickly turned back.

"Yeah," she said with a shrug. "I guess."

Tiffany let out a muffled squeal.

"That's it. I'm going to talk to him. Maybe get his number. What do you think?"

"That's a terrible idea."

"I'm doing it anyway," Tiffany grinned. “And you're coming with me.”

"What? No. Absolutely not." Melanie's eyes widened.

Immediately, Tiffany's expression softened into one Melanie knew all too well. The look, the manipulative, pleading look.

"Come on, Melly," she said sweetly. "All I'm asking is for you to walk with me. That's all."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Remember when you went on your first date with Noah?" Tiffany smirked.

"You were nervous," she continued innocently. "You begged me to come with you because you were too shy to go alone."

Melanie glared at her.

"And I did."

The smug look on Tiffany's face made Melanie want to strangle her. This girl always found a way to get what she wanted.

“Fine,” she muttered through gritted teeth.

Tiffany clapped excitedly.

"I love you!"

Before Melanie could change her mind, Tiffany grabbed her arm and dragged her across the hallway toward Drexter.

They approached Drexter and the girl he was talking to. To Melanie's surprise, the girl turned out to be Ashley.

"Hey, Drexter," Tiffany greeted with a bright smile. Then she noticed Ashley and her smile faltered.

"Oh." Tiffany tilted her head slightly. "Didn't realize you were busy."

Ashley crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Tiffany.

Tiffany flashed her a sweet smile that didn't look sweet at all.

"Do you mind giving us a minute? I need to talk to Drexter."

Ashley's expression hardened. For a brief second, she glanced at Melanie before turning back to Drexter.

"I'll talk to you later."

Drexter gave a short nod.

Once Ashley walked away, Tiffany's smile returned immediately.

“Sooo, Drexter,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder, “how have you been?”

“Good,” he answered flatly.

Tiffany either didn't notice his tone or chose to ignore it.

"Oh! I'd like you to meet my twin sister, Melanie." She gestured toward Melanie.

Drexter didn't spare Melanie a glance. Not that she even cared.

"So," Tiffany continued cheerfully, "which department are you in?"

Drexter exhaled through his nose. "Can we skip to whatever point you're trying to make?" he asked. "I have a class to get to."

"Oh, I was just trying to have a conversation."

"Why?"

"Because... that's what people do?" Tiffany laughed awkwardly.

"Not with me.”

The sheer rudeness of his tone made Melanie's jaw tighten. Was it physically impossible for this guy to be nice?

"Oh. Right. Well..." Tiffany cleared her throat. "I was just wondering if maybe we could exchange numbers? You know, as friends?”

Drexter stared at her for a long moment.

"No."

“Oh.” Tiffany's smile fell.

"Anything else?" he asked.

She opened and closed her mouth.

"Um... no."

"Good."

And just like that, Drexter walked away.

Tiffany stood there, staring after him.

"Why is he behaving like that toward me?" she asked quietly.

Melanie folded her arms and snorted. "Because he's rude."

"No, he's not."

Melanie turned to look at her and said, "Tiffany, he literally just rejected you and walked away."

"He didn't reject me. He's just... difficult."

“That's another word for rude.”

"Maybe he was having a bad day," Tiffany sighed.

Melanie almost laughed. "A bad life, more like."

Before Tiffany could say another word, the intercom came on.

"Attention, students. Miss Whitney is requested at the Vice Chancellor's office immediately. Miss Whitney, please report to the Vice Chancellor's office."

A second later, the bell rang through the hallway. Students immediately began moving toward their classrooms.

"I can't believe he treated me like that. Do you think he secretly likes me?" Tiffany groaned.

“After everything that just happened, that's your conclusion?" Melanie stated flatly, rolling her eyes.

"Well, some guys act mean when they like someone," Tiffany frowned.

Melanie shook her head and rubbed her temples.

"I have class," she said quickly.

"But Melly—"

"Bye, Tiffany."

Before Tiffany could mention Drexter's name for the five hundredth time that morning, Melanie hurried away as fast as she could.

Because if she had to hear "Drexter this" and "Drexter that" for one more second, her ears were going to start bleeding.

Honestly, didn't Tiffany ever get tired?