Chapter 2
Melanie
“Can I help you?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
“You sure are. I’ve been watching you and it looks like you’re here all alone. You must need some company.”
“I’m good on the company part. I know you’ve been watching me. You aren’t very slick about it at all. You know it’s not nice to stare, right?”
He chuckled at me and introduced himself as PJ. I didn’t know him, but he was the third one to come and try to talk to me while I waited on my ride since touchdown. I didn’t think I was letting off a vibe that told the world that I wanted some company, but I could be wrong because PJ was now here and didn’t appear to be leaving any time soon.
I was close to taking a cab and if I thought I had the cash on me I would have. Mom could always pay for it when I got there. If they hadn’t already said that they were on their way, my brother and his friend Carl, then I would have already left. Guys like PJ were getting on my nerves, but there was nowhere else to wait but inside. Outside had been even worse. The heat made it sticky and my irritation had gone up a lot faster.
“So are you from around here?”
He was talking again and I realized as he sat down next to me that he wasn’t going to take the hint, so I might as well try to start a bit of a conversation with him. It would at least make the time go a little bit faster until Scott got here. I was going to kill him when he got here. He was always late.
“Yeah, I’m from here originally, but I haven’t been home in a while.”
“What brings you here?”
That was another question with a lot of different answers, none of which I wanted to share with a complete stranger. “Things just got weird and I wanted to come home I guess.”
“You single?”
I sighed to myself and looked out the tall, floor to ceiling windows in hopes that Scott would appear and this guy would go away.
“Yes, I am.”
That was something new and I still wasn’t used to being single again. I’d been with someone for almost two years now, so being alone was something new and I should have kept that excuse for PJ because it seemed to work mighty well.
“We should get together soon. I’ll be here for a week before I have to go back to the office.”
I caught a glance of something on his finger that made me want to talk to him even less. He didn’t have a ring on his finger, but he did have a curious tan line on a certain digit. It told me that he had a little wife at home and possibly some kids that he wasn’t thinking about. I didn’t want a man like him. I apparently had already had one and it hadn’t worked out that entirely well as far as I was concerned.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea PJ, I doubt your wife would like it.”
He looked around like cameras were going to come out like on that cheating show and I watched him bounce out of the seat so fast.
“How do you know about her?”
“I didn’t, not really, but I do now. You have a good day PJ.”
I smiled at him and he didn’t smile back at me. He didn’t seem to like my humor, but I was glad for some peace and quiet finally. I hadn’t wanted to do that, but there was no way that I was going to entertain the idea either.
PJ was about to say something that I wasn’t going to like. I could see it in his face, but he stopped when he saw Scott walking up. Scott was a big guy and no one really messed with him because he was a scary guy as well. I was happy to see him and I was thankful that he showed up when he did, even though it was his tardiness that left me with waiting with the likes of PJ anyways.
“Hey Scott. Are you ready?”
He said he was, while he eyed PJ who was still looking back and giving me a dirty look. I don’t know what was going through his mind, but I was glad that I didn’t have to stay here by myself and find out. The place was packed, but there was something about the guy that had turned me off to it all and made me shiver inside.
“Is this guy causing you any trouble?”
I looked back at PJ and told him no. “No big deal. It was just some married guy that was trying to find some tail while he was away from his wife. Feel sorry for her.”
He just looked at me like he wanted to cover his ears and say la-la-la over and over again so he couldn’t hear me.
“Would you stop please?”
“What?” I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“You know, talking about guys trying to get some tail with my sister.”
He made me laugh because he was so uptight about it. The way he acted, I would have thought that I was fourteen still. He was so protective and I couldn’t help but wish that he’d been around a week ago when I found out about Dustin. That would have been helpful, but he was a thousand miles away and I was meant to deal with it on my own.
I hadn’t done so well with it, but in my defense, well it was a lot to take.
“Well he didn’t have a chance, so don’t worry about it.”
He looked worried and that made me smile a little bit more. It was hard to tell, but I knew that he cared, even if he was more comfortable thinking that I was not a girl at all. His friends had flirted with me last time I was down for the summer last year and it had been hilarious to realize that my brother was so freaked out by it.
“Let’s get you home.”
I giggled again. My brother was content to hide me away at home, just like dad when he sent me to boarding school across the country. Some things never changed and the men in my family were one of those things.