Melody's Muse ✓

23. Love sucks

Cole

Melody takes my arm as we head towards the doors, and Mr. Carter sees us as we pass by. "Where are you two going?" he asks.

"We were headed out." I give Mr. Carter a hopeful grin. "Any chance you'd let us spend the rest of the night alone? I'll get Mel home safe, I promise."

"Well..." Mr. Carter rubs the back of his neck and sighs.

Melody gives Mr. Carter her best puppy-dog eyes. "Please? We'll be careful."

He lets out a deep sigh before nodding. "Alright, make sure she's home by one," he finally says with a slight chuckle. We walk with Mr. Carter to the elevator. A soft chime and a glowing arrow pointing downwards lights up. "By the way," Mr. Carter says as he steps in and turns around, "that was very sweet, Cole, what you did for Ms. Aria back there. I'm happy she has you."

I raise my eyebrows. That's rare, a genuine compliment from him. "Thank you, Mr. Carter."

He gives me a smile and small wave as the doors slide shut. I glance at Melody, it looks like she's trying, but failing, to hide a giddy grin - I can't help but smile as well.

I realize it's been hours since we've had some quiet time alone. I take advantage of the peace to finally get a proper look at her outfit. We were talking on the phone this morning and she suddenly had to go. Apparently her mom sent a whole team of people to get her ready for tonight without warning her and Melody did not sound happy about it. 

"You look amazing by the way." Don't get me wrong, I've always thought Melody was pretty, but she's a different kind of pretty right now.

She's wearing a long and flowy silver-ish gold-ish dress with tiny diamonds and sequins. Her light makeup makes her eyes look even more round and doe-like, while her lips and cheeks are a subtle soft pink. Around her neck is a thin gold necklace with a tiny music note pendant. Her hair is in a soft looking bun. Probably one of those "effortless" hairstyles that actually take a ton of effort that the sorority girls are always talking about.

Her cheeks turn red and she giggles. "Not too bad yourself, Cole. I've never seen you dressed like this."

My feet are getting sore from my dress shoes, and I feel like I'm being strangled by my tie. I'm never going to get used to dressing like this. "Actually," I say with a smirk, "you have. The first night we met, I was wearing this exact same outfit."

She wrinkles her nose. "I wasn't exactly focusing on your outfit that night."

I recall our awkward three second encounter. I can't say I remember what she was wearing either. "Fair enough." Just as I press the button with the up arrow, I hear someone call my name. Jake is coming down the hall towards us.

"Hey Cole, leaving already?" He gives me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "People are looking for you. The executive committee is supposed to socialize a bit with everyone, remember?"

I groan. "Can't I just sneak away?" As if on cue, the elevator doors suddenly slide open. Part of me is incredibly tempted to just hop in and leave. The freedom is tantalizingly close.

He chuckles deeply. "I'd love to bounce too but you already know Luke would give us crap for it."

Luke's a nice guy and all, but sometimes I wish he wasn't so nice. He made that policy to reduce the chances of anyone feeling left out. "Ok, ok," I grumble. I watch in pain as the elevator doors slide shut.

A girl wearing a glittery black gown and tall black heels comes from around the corner. "Oh there you are Jake." She approaches him and he wraps his arm around her waist. "Hi Cole," she greets me cheerfully.