Dimension shuffler

Chapter 10: Relationships - The best kind of filler

"I'm coming too, you can't stop me."

"We can stop you and we are."

"It's too dangerous, you can't go."

"Drez never goes on missions but now he is and I'm not allowed."

"Chico, pipe down! Melody will take care of you."

Chico crossed her arms and muttered under her breath., "That's why I want to go."

Stephen spoke up, "You two wait outside, I'll catch up." Drez and Paz left and Stephen turned to Chico, "Look, I know you're not comfortable with Melody still but we're going to try and wipe any data we can from Andre's systems, that's why we need Drez on site. We won't be able to keep an eye on you and if you get caught, Andre wins." Chico looked to the ground. "Melody has proved herself trustworthy time and time again. Get to know her. Maybe you'll find something in common."

"You ready yet or do I need to drag you out?" Paz yelled from outside.

"Sorry Chico. I have to go." Stephen rushed to the elevator. "I'm coming. I'm coming."

The room was suspiciously quiet. Very quiet. Too quiet. Melody wasn't around. Where was she?

After a few minutes of hunting for suspicious activity, Chico soon found Melody in her temporary room watering some plants.

"Oh! Uh... hello." Melody responded quickly to Chico's presence.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked.

"Well, I know you're not too fond of me so I thought I'd keep to myself and you wouldn't need to put up with me if you didn't want to. You're a responsible girl, right?" Melody smiled.

Of course she was responsible. At least Chico thought she was. "I just..."

"Just what?" Nothing seemed to deter this woman.

"Don't get up to anything fishy, all right?"

"Fishy? Me? No, of course not. You saw how things turned out last time I built something. I'm your guest. I live by your rules. If that involves staying out your way, well, so be it."

Chico caught a glimpse of the room when she decided to leave. A few weeks ago, it was nothing but a storage room. Now it was a cleared out storage room with a bed and a plant in it. It almost made Chico feel bad for Melody.

Almost. Not quite. "Goodbye!" Chico shut the door behind her as quickly as she could.

That face was always so cheery and happy. Nobody could do her any wrong. If Chi-err-somebody ruined her work, she'd just breathe and pretend it didn't happen. She was as good as gold too. She did everything that was asked when it was asked of her. If you said jump, she'd jump, maximum height a-given. And everybody had fallen for her 'goody-two-shoes' act. Even Stephen, who was originally as sceptical as her. It was aggravating. Nobody that perfect is trustworthy. She probably had some secret lab under her bed where she was stealing Drez's tools to build a machine to conquer the world!

Chico stopped to think about her thinking. What was going on with her? A few weeks ago she would've happily welcomed any new guest. Since Melody showed up, she had been treating her  like rubbish. Where had the real Chico gone? She had been such a jerk. Turning back to the door, she knew what she had to do. Well, more wanted really. Nothing was forcing her.

"Melody?" Chico didn't open the door fully.

"Hmm? What is it?" Melody walked over to the door and opened it fully.

"I haven't exactly been treating you very kindly since you arrived and I wanted to..." It was here. This one word wold dictate whether she had a friendship with Melody. She could still turn around and uphold her, albeit wavering, beliefs. "...apologise."

"Hey. There's no need to apologise. I didn't expect any of you to warm up to me as fast as you did. I didn't even expect you'd let me stay. I'm willing to cast aside the past few weeks if you are."

"Sure. I guess that'd be nice."

"Wonderful." Melody squealed with glee. "There's so many things I've wanted to do with you! You know, Paz is a bit 'no fun allowed' for it."

Chico giggled. She may be suspicious but she meant well. "What first?"

"I thought we could do some painting or how about origami?" Melody was actually getting excited. She may be an adult but she definitely had the mind of a teenager.

Chico finally opened up to Melody that afternoon. All her paranoia and suspicions melted away. The once cold and stale relationship they held became a work of art which is more than can be said for the cake Melody baked. The afternoon was filled with painting, playing, laughing and bonding.

The two were trying to figure out what to do next when a wild Stephen fell from the top of the elevator.

"Ow! Oh hey! Things didn't exactly go to plan." He had fallen on his face.

"Get back out here #50, I know you're there." Andre's voiced boomed down the elevator.

"Yeah, we're going to need some help. And this time it's a bit more than a defenceless man in a lab coat. Now it's a defenceless man in a lab coat in a massive death-mech." Getting up, Stephen rushed back outside to go help his friends as Drez returned in.

"We'll need to do this again sometime!" Chico said to Melody as she went up with Stephen.

"Definitely." Was Melody's response.