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ONCE Melanie, Paul and the rest of the cast got off their flight, the hallways and streets were flooded with teenagers asking for selfies or an autograph. Melanie happily obliged, making her way over to a few fans in her leopard print onesie, waving at them.
"See Paul? Told you I'd need makeup." Melanie pointed out, sticking out her tongue playfully.
Paul rolled his eyes, "You don't need makeup to take pictures with fans." He told her before pausing, then continuing, "You don't ever really need makeup."
Melanie smiled, "Thank you.", which made Paul's heart completely melt, and proceeded to walk over to the fans.
He was always completely in awe of her. She was kind, sarcastic, sexy, elegant, and classy. She was truly a blessing. Paul always thought she had an old soul, one that's lived many lifetimes before. If Melanie was reincarnated, he thought she would have been Princess Nefertiti. He thought it was fitting since her name means "the beautiful one has come", and just like Nefertiti, she was beautiful. The moment she came into their lives (God bless Nina for that), he had a different outlook on life. Surely the human race couldn't be all bad if Melanie was around. Or maybe the universe just created her to make people happy and spread positivity. Paul had no clue, but he was glad that the beautiful goddess had came into his life.
Snapped from his haze by the sight of Melanie's hand waving in front of his face, he quickly put himself together, clearing his throat.
"Hey! What happened to you? You were like, in a trance or something." The brunette asked, her eyes looking into his.
Paul quickly came up with an excuse other than "I was staring at you because I'm in love with you", settling on, "Huh? Oh, um, I'm just tired."
Melanie nodded her head, linking their arms together and putting her head on his shoulder. "C'mon you sleepyhead. Let's go to the hotel."
Paul was thankful that vampires or werewolves or heightened hearing didn't exist because if Melanie had or was any of those things, she'd be able to hear his heart beating a thousand times a second, loud and clear. It was like this every time he was around Melanie, which was a lot, which also didn't make it easier to hide his feelings for her. Ian was onto him, and he knew that sooner or later he'd have to admit it to him just to stop his incessant nagging about it. But Candice, Nina, and Kat? He didn't know what to do about them. They believed that he was in love with her, which is true, but he couldn't tell them. Melanie is Nina's best friend, they share everything together — Candice and Kat were her friends too. Telling them would be like telling Melanie and he couldn't have that. He didn't want her to know. Everyone knew Paul loved Mel, sure, everyone loves Mel. But being in love with her? That was the one thing he couldn't tell her.
When they arrived at the hotel, everyone immediately checked in and went to their rooms. They were exhausted, except for Mel. She's a complete night owl. If she could, she'd sleep all day and stay up all night. So when 2 am rolled around, she was busy watching her collection of movies she brought with her. The High School Musical series, the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson and the sequel, and her three personal favorites. Clueless, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Cool World. Melanie was a bit of a geek, she loved her fantasy movies and tv shows, but she also loved older movies.
When Paul is woken up by Melanie singing along to High School Musical, he drags himself out of bed and towards the door across from his room. Everyone had to pick who they wanted to have a joining room with, and Melanie immediately called dibs on Paul.
Everyone knew they loved each other, beyond platonic ways, but both of them were completely oblivious to one another's feelings.
Paul walked through the tiny hallway between their rooms and knocked on the door, causing Melanie to jump. She had a mouth full of popcorn when she reached for the door handle, seeing the 'it's 2 fucking am why are you up right now watching high school musical' look Paul had on his face only making her laugh which then made the popcorn fly out of her mouth and onto the floor.
Her hand flew to her mouth and covered it, trying to contain her laughs even though she knew it wouldn't work. "Sorry, did I wake you up?" Melanie was trying her hardest to be serious but couldn't stop the giggles that came every time she spoke.
Paul gave her a look, one which she knew all too well. Melanie waking Paul up in the middle of the night was kind of something that happened on a regular basis. They've been best friends since The Vampire Diaries started, so when Paul would stay over at her apartment or vice versa, she'd always wake him up at some ungodly hour to talk about the most random things. Do you think horses can dream? I'd like to think so. Did you hear that? Jesus. I swear on my entire life that a ghost lives here and is haunting me. I mean, what did I even do to deserve being haunted? Was it because I was in Spring Breakers? Cause I know that was a very edgy movie and ghosts don't like that kinda stuff- Oh wait. That's God. I'm thinking of God, cause like all the stuff I did in that film is probably considered a sin. Never mind Paul you can go back to sleep now. And every time she did so, he shot her a "are you fucking kidding me" expression to which she always laughed off.
Melanie closed her laptop and put it back in it's case before she plopped down onto her bed, looking over at Paul and patting on the spot next to her.
Paul's facial expression didn't change, or at least not until she started pouting. This woman was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it. He sighed and hopped onto the bed right next to her, their faces incredibly close to the point where both of them wanted to kiss one another, but knew in their minds that the other would reject it so they pushed the idea away. The pair both turned on their backs, staring up at the ceiling which had numerous paintings of the constellations on it.
"Hey Paul?" She said, turning her face to look at him.
Paul's eyes remained on the ceiling, "Hm?"
"Sorry for waking you up." The girl sighed, getting under the covers as Paul did the same. Melanie inched closer to Paul and rested her head on his chest, the sound of his steady heartbeat relaxing her to the point where she could fall asleep any second.
Paul knew this action was totally platonic and not romantic in any way, but the feeling still made him dizzy. He wrapped his arm around his best friend and kissed her forehead before closing his eyes and whispering, "It's okay."
