Serendipitous: Louis' Story

Idiota

Melina's jaw dropped as she recognized the situation. It happened every year. Several people in the city were "arrested" and escorted in an actual police car to the American Cancer Association head quarters in Chicago with a bail set out for them, often times varying, in which they had to make calls from the office and try to pay off their bail, in order to be released. But twenty thousand! How did she get twenty thousand! Last year Kent had only gotten a mere thousand!

"Eva!" Melina groaned in frustration as her best friend had been volunteering with the ACA since she was a freshman in high school. It had to be her!

Melina tried to contain her anger as she was literally put into the backseat of the police cruiser.

Lucy waved at her from the window, laughing all the while.

~~~

"Eva!" Melina said immediately as she entered the ACA headquarters only to see her best friend sitting down already.

"Hey!" Eva chirped as she happily got up to hug her best friend.

"Twenty thousand?" Melina yelled as she pulled away from her best friend. "Twenty thousand! Where the hell do I get twenty thousand from?"

Eva arched her brow. "Oh you know exactly how to get twenty thousand for this charity event. It's just up to you." She kissed Melina's cheek before sitting her down at the seat she had been occupying just a minute ago.

Melina's eyes widened as her jaw dropped once more. She knew exactly what Eva was implying. Who wouldn't? "Eva!"

"You can be here for ten minutes or all day. It's up to you." Eva shrugged, taking Melina's cuffed hand.

Before Melina could say anything, Eva cuffed her to the table. "Eva!" Melina yelled extra loud as her so called best friend walked away, waving her hand as she went. Looking around, her jaw dropped when she realized that no one was cuffed to their seat, just her. She resisted the urge to yell Eva's name though as she noticed that some of the other prisoners like her were well dressed and busy getting donations for their bail.

After calling both her old high school coaches and the little league team head coach she worked with during the summer, she had gotten three hundred dollars.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Melina groaned. Three hundred dollars with nineteen thousand and seven hundred to go. With that thought she rang her best friend.

"I hate you,"

"L.O.V.E. who's afraid? My best friend. Bye,"

Melina's jaw dropped as the other end hung up on her. Glaring at the phone she mentally cursed her best friend with all the Spanish words that she'd learned from being around her family. "FML."

~~~

"Ethan!" Melina almost squealed, not quite but almost.

Knowing just that, Ethan Townsend couldn't help but laugh. "You're welcome Melina, anyway, it's really no big deal. My uncle will be excited to write this on his tax returns anyway." He said as he put away the company credit card while holding the phone to his ear using his shoulder.

"But five thousand! Ethan, I could just-" Melina stopped as she was about to say kiss you.

Ethan softly chuckled. "It's fine Melina Hanas. No hard feelings from me, I promise. It's my fault for being too late anyway..."

~~~

Melina blinked as Ethan's words hit her like a freight train. "I'm sorry?"

Ethan scratched his nose, a nervous habit, before looking up at her with a small smile. "I tried so hard to remind myself you were like the little sister I never had, with our age gap and all. But you weren't my sister and I couldn't fool myself long. You were always there to be our number one fan at all the games. Then you and Eva had no problems telling us what we needed to work on. I began to want to be better. Watching you play made me want to be better, would make me smile as I really remembered why I loved the game. There's an effortless appearance as you play. You're a natural on the field and you always look like you're having so much fun that I wanted to be a part of it. You just drew me in..."