Melissa stood as the breeze off the ocean caressed her face. The warm water covered her toes as she walked barefoot along the beach. Even being in this beautiful environment, couldn’t stop her from thinking about her and Nick’s fight.
“Hey.” Julie said as she stood next to her.
“Hey Jules.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better.”
“What happened?” Melissa told Julie about the conservation between her and Nick.
“I don’t understand why he would say that to me!”
“He’s just being protective. Jonathon is the same way.”
“But to tell me that I should just act like nothing happened. I can’t do that Jules, I will never let a man treat me the way that…” Melissa stopped herself before she said his name.
“The way that Adam did?” Melissa looked down at the sand. “Mel, Adam was an ass and you didn’t deserve any of what he did.”
“I know that Jules, but it took me a long time to believe that. He had me so brainwashed that I didn’t know who I was. I don’t want to be like that ever again.”
“Have you been completely honest with Nick about Adam?”
“No, he just knows that he was an ex that treated me badly.”
“Don’t you think it would be good to tell him the whole truth?”
“Why Jules? Adam is no longer in my life, so why even mention it to Nick?”
“It might help explain why you feel like you have to protect yourself.”
“Adam has been out of my life for over a year now; I’m not going to let him ruin my relationship with Nick. He has done enough.”
“So what are you going to do about Nick?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you can’t stay out here all night. It’s getting cold and you don’t have much clothing on.” Julie stated grinning.
“Ha, Ha!” Melissa said as they headed back to the beach house.
As they approached the beach house, they saw someone sitting on the steps. Once they got closer, Melissa realized it was Nick. He was sitting with his head in his hands.
“Talk to him Mel.” Julie whispered. “Be honest, it’s the only way.”
Nick looked up when he heard voices. He saw Melissa and Julie walking arm and arm towards him. He needed to fix things with Melissa, so he decided to wait for her to return. He knew he was wrong and shouldn’t have said what he did. It was just the whole situation scared him. Melissa means everything to him and he would rather die before anything bad happen to her. Nick stood once Melissa and Julie reached the steps.
“I’ll be upstairs, if you need me.” Julie said as she hugged Melissa.
“Thanks Jules.” She replied hugging her back.
“Nick.” Julie stated as she climbed the stairs.
“Jules.” He softly replied not taking his eyes off Melissa. He took a step closer to her. “Mel, can we talk?”
She walked past him and ascended the stairs. “Save it Nick, I don’t want to hear how wrong I am for standing up for myself.” He quickly followed her and then stopped her as they reached the deck.
“No, I want to talk about how wrong I was. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.” Melissa kept her back to him as he continued. “I’m so sorry for everything I said. From the very beginning, I knew you were independent and it is one of the things I love about you.” He touched her shoulder and made her look at him. “You are my everything and I can’t help but be protective.” He reached for her hand and enclosed in his. “If I lost you, I don’t know how I would cope.”
“You haven’t lost me.” Melissa said squeezing his hand. Nick quickly pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
“I’m sorry Angel.”
“I know you are.”
“You forgive me?”
“What does this tell you?” She asked as she pulled him in for a kiss. Nick returned the kiss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He entered his apartment and closed the door. He laid his jacket on the chair and then entered the kitchen. He returned with a beer and then sat down on the sofa. As he sipped his drink, he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He flipped it on and looked at the pictures he had taken. He smiled to himself thinking how much fun he was going to have.
“You haven’t changed one bit Mel. You still have that feisty nature that I love!” He smiled to himself as he flipped through the pictures.