Strangers - ruel van dijk

Chapter 11

MELISSA'S POV

when I read that message I felt my heart sink and a lump in my throat. I keep telling myself I shouldn't be sad, we are nothing. He probably doesn't even like me like that. I take in deep breaths to fight back the tears until I think I have control. I take a pillow from the bed and get a hoodie since I had no blanket or anything and sit on an armchair in the corner and curl up in a ball. I just sit there with a million thoughts rushing through my head. Ruel comes out the bathroom and noticed I'm sitting on the chair.
Ruel: "What are you doing over there?"
I don't answer.
Ruel: "Melissa..."
I'm afraid if I try to speak, he will hear the upset in my voice and I don't want him to know.
Ruel: "if you don't want to sleep with me I will sleep on the floor, you can have the bed."
I take a deep breath in and gulp and say
Melissa: "just go to sleep ruel, I'm fine"
I look over at him as I say this and he is stood there only in his boxers. My mouth opens slightly as I gaze at the sight.
Ruel: "is something wrong, you suddenly seem... I don't know, like somethings bothering you."
I snap out of my stare and turn back around and say
Melissa: "no, no. I'm fine."
I hear him sigh then give in and climb into bed. He switches off the lamp but there was still a bit of light in the room, he must of gone on his phone. I wonder if he's seen the message. What will he respond to it. I lay there for ages just thinking. I had no clue what the time was but I drifted off after a while.

RUELS POV
I don't know what's up with Melissa. I was quite excited to sleep in a bed with her. She looked hot. I decide to go on my phone and scroll through my notifications.
I had a message from Kylie, I wanted to see her while I was in France but, wait... she called me babe. What the hell. Why would she do that. She's never been like that before. The message read "so babe, what we doin tomorrow?"
I hadn't planned to see her, she just presumed We would hang out.
I wanted to go and explore with Melissa tomorrow so I text Kylie back and say
"Sorry I'm busy tomorrow"
I was about to ask if she wanted to come to the show tomorrow night but she called me babe and I don't know why. I don't know if she's gonna act weird. Also, I don't want Melissa to think we're dating and push her away. I really like Melissa.
WAIT. WHAT IF- WHAT IF MELISSA SAW THE MESSAGE. That would explain why she was sad. I lay their in silence thinking about it for a bit and it makes Total sense.
I Will talk about it tomorrow Melissa and hopefully sort it out.

The next morning I woke up really early for some reason, I get up to go to the toilet and when I'm done, I walk over to Melissa. She was still peacefully sleeping and looked adorable curled up in a ball. I feel so bad that she was sleeping on a chair the whole nights I decide to gently pick her up bridal style and carry her over to the bed. Her head layer on my chest and I wanted to just hold her there but I didn't want her to wake up and freak out so I tucked her under the covers and then go over to my bag and get out some joggers. Still shirtless, I go over to the bed and sit beside her and go on my phone for about an hour until she finally wakes up. Her sleepy, half shut, eyes looked at me and it made me so soft. I hated but loved that feeling. She mumbled in a croaky voice
Melissa: "why am I here, ho-how did I get here" she looked so confused but she didn't seem mad.

MELISSA'S POV

I stared at ruel, in awe of his shirtless body. Oh shit he is hOt.
Ruel: "I uh, I carried u over here cause that chair didn't seem very comfy."
I smiled slightly then planted my face back in the pillow. Oh shit, I only have pants on under this hoodie. Do you think he saw anything. I wouldn't be mad if he did, I think to myself.
Suddenly I remembered what happened last night and sat up instantly. I look over at him smiling at me and just stood up. My head went dizzy for a bit but I didn't want to be in bed with him. He looked confused when I rushed to get away from him but I just walked to the bathroom and locked the door. I wanted to see what he had to say about it but I didn't know how to ask him without sounding like I like him. I've already made it pretty obvious I was annoyed about something.
Ruel: "hey Melissa can you come out please."
I didn't say anything. I heard him sigh.
Ruel: "I think I know what's bothering you, maybe. But please come out. Whatever it is we can talk about it. I don't want something to ruin what we have..."
My heart sank, he made me so happy and he actually cared about me so much.
I slowly unlock the door and open it to see him standing right outside.
Ruel: "can you tell me what's up?"
Melissa: " I jus- it was-" I sigh and try to speak properly "it was just, a message I saw on your phone."
Ruel: "from kylie?"
I look at the floor and nod my head.
Ruel: "trust me, I was as shocked as you were to see she called me babe. I don't know why she did that but I'm not gonna meet up with her. I don't know what's up with her but it's weird. Plus, I don't want her to get in the way of us."
He put his hand on my cheek and pilled up may face so our eyes met.
Ruel: "I like you, Melissa.."
I smile a big smile and it fills like a weight has been pulled off my chest. He pulls me into a hug and I get a swarm of butterflies when I realise I am touching his chest. Shirtless.