Guardian Angel

Chapter 17 - Melody

"I'm going to the library in the city centre today." Melody locked her front door and put the keys in the pocket of her jeans. "That's on your way to work, right?" She smiled at the blond haired boy next to her.

"Are you trying to ask me if you can get a ride?" Max cocked his head and his lips curled up into a smile. "Because that's not even a question, okay?" He walked towards his bike, parked in front of Melody's window.

"I didn't know if you were in a hurry." Melody shifted her weight from one leg to the other and waited until she could sit down on the carrier. She wrapped her arms around Max' waist and let her head rest to his back.

"I'm never in a hurry if I get the chance to spend a few more moments with you." Max whistled while he started riding and Melody couldn't help humming along with him.

Sometimes she had the feeling that she was dating Max for years already. In reality she had only met him a couple of months ago because she had thrown a door to his back on his very first day of work.

He had quickly become her safe heaven. He was the calm in the eye of the storm. He was the steady rock in the furious waves. He was the hand holding her still when the wind tried to blow her away.

She knew that she meant the same to him. She was that one person in the world who didn't judge him because he was only a mail boy even though he had the brains and capacity to do more. She accepted that she would never be able to take all of his pain and sadness away. She knew that she couldn't completely fill the hole his mother had left in his heart.

"Why are you actually going to the city centre today?" Max stopped his bike in front of the huge library. "Do they even have access here to all the articles you need for your research?" Although he didn't judge, Melody couldn't help swallowing and she scratched the back of her neck. Max wasn't the only one who had become an important part of her new life.

Melody was just not sure if she was ready to introduce Max to Daniel and the other way round. Melody wasn't sure if she would ever be ready to introduce the guys to each other.

Max was her boyfriend, her safe heaven, her calm and her hold, but her heart always skipped a beat when Daniel managed to challenge her in a way she had never even thought possible.

"I needed a change of scenery." Melody swallowed and she shrugged her shoulders. Even though she didn't think that Max was the kind of boy to be jealous, she didn't want him to see her around Daniel. "Those same books, those same walls and those same people every day are not really inspiring."

"I get it." Max nodded and he leaned towards her to press a soft kiss on Melody's lips. "Well, have loads of inspiration then and see you..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Melody! I thought you would only be here at ten?" Daniel had his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His dark curls twirled around his handsome face and his eyes were glimmering in the early morning sun. "If I had known you'd be this early too I would have brought you breakfast." Daniel shrugged his shoulders and Melody felt her cheeks heating up.

"I wasn't sure if Max could bring me, so..." The palms of her hands were sweating and she folded them behind her back.

"I don't think we've met yet." Daniel held out his hand and his eyes met Max' for a short moment. "I'm Daniel, a friend of Melody."

"Max, her boyfriend, but if you are a friend of her you probably already knew that." Max shook Daniel's hand firmly, but he wasn't smiling and he had his eyes squeezed a little.

Maybe Melody should have told the boys about each other. She had never told Daniel that she had a boyfriend and she had never told Max about Daniel. She should have known that keeping them apart for the rest of her life was not going to be possible.

"So, you study psychology too?" Max was clearly not in a hurry to get at his work and he parked the bike against one of the old grey walls.

"No, Melody is helping me out with a friend of mine." Daniel kept on smiling. "He's struggling with some problems and I'm afraid things might end badly, so she's giving me advice on what to do and on how to do it." Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "We couldn't find anything useful in the media centre of the university, so we thought that maybe giving the central library a chance was a good idea. Thanks for dropping her off, by the way. I've heard she was doing great with her health lately, but a couple of weeks ago I might have been the reason she stayed at school for much longer than she had planned. I promise, it won't happen again."

Max cocked his head, clearly thrown of guard a little and Melody couldn't blame him. All this time Max had thought that she had been completely honest with him about everything and now he was finding out that she had been lying about who she had spent her time with and how much time she had actually spent with that guy.

"Daniel and I didn't meet long before I met you." Melody swallowed. She felt like she was owing Max an explanation, but she was afraid that not one explanation would actually be good enough to explain why she had never talked about the one friend she had during the last few months. "I didn't want to make you jealous." She bent her head and stared at her feet.

"Do I have a reason to be jealous?" Max turned his head towards Melody, a playful smile brightening up his face.

"No, of course not..." Melody spoke softly, way softer than she normally did, but she hoped Max wouldn't notice.

He had nothing to fear.

Daniel had made it pretty clear that he appeared and disappeared whenever he wanted to and even though he was pleasant company and not bad to look at, Melody wouldn't want to give everything she had with Max up for an on and off relationship with Daniel. If he even wanted to be in a relationship with her. He could be flirty at times and sometimes he gave her the impression that he wouldn't be against being a little closer to her, but maybe he was just like that with every girl crossing his path.

"Well, I think I have to go again." Max stared at this watch and he grabbed the bike again. "It was nice to meet you, Daniel. Maybe you can come over for dinner some time? A friend of Melody is a friend of mine and I'd love to get to know you better."

"I'm not sure if Daniel wants that..." Melody shook her head, remembering all too well what had happened when she had tried to invite him for a simple drink. "We only meet in libraries and such." She licked her lips. Even if Daniel would want to come over, she wasn't sure if she wanted him to. She wasn't sure if inviting him into her home and personal life was a good idea. For her.

"I'd love to." Daniel interrupted her and Melody let out a sigh. "What about tomorrow?" Daniel cocked his head and Max mirrored his movement. For a moment the two boys stared at each other and if Melody could make a hole appear right under her own feet she would have done so.

"Tomorrow is perfect." Max nodded. "Melody will tell you where she lives, if she hasn't done that already. I really have to leave now. I don't mind spending a few extra minutes with my girl, but I'd rather not get fired for it." With a smile on his face he drove away and Melody's eyes followed him as long as possible to avoid having to look at Daniel.

"You didn't tell me you had such a handsome boyfriend." Daniel stood next to her. He had his hands in the pockets of his jeans again, but Melody could feel his breath against her ear. "I hope you won't get in trouble with him for not telling about me. I didn't know he didn't know you were going to spend the morning with me."

Melody swallowed before she turned around and then she shrugged her shoulders. "I only know him for a few months now and I just didn't get the chance to tell him every little detail about my life so far."

"And here I was, thinking I was more than just a little detail." Daniel winked and he shook his head.

"To be more than just a little detail you can't come and go whenever you want."