“My daddy doesn’t like you.” She gave a sheepish smile as if that would take the sting out of her words. Well, it helped a bit to know that the feeling was mutual. But I also knew that family is everything to her. And that I messed up, big time.
“Yeah, well…I’m not in this relationship for your father.” I grinned and turned to face my girlfriend of six months. She sighed “John please, you aren’t making this easy on me.” I snorted; I never made things easy on anyone. To invite trouble and to make life harder on others was my calling. Was. Melody had a way of twisting a body all around until they were better people than they were before she met them.
“Sorry, Mels, but your dad has an obvious problem with my skin color.” Her eyes narrowed. Why can’t I just keep my mouth shut? “He wasn’t the one with that issue.” Ouch. That brought up a slew of memories best left forgotten. But if I forgot them, then I wouldn’t remember how I met Melody…hmm interesting catch 22 there.
“John, are you even paying attention to me?” Uh oh…she’s using the irritated voice. Whenever I hear her speak in that voice; nothing good ever comes out of it. “I’m definitely paying attention Mels.” “Well then, what did I say?” Crap. “Ok I didn’t hear that last part, but we were talking about how much of a butthead I was to your family.” She bit her lip. And my gaze is immediately drawn to her mouth. I love that mouth.
“John, this isn’t working.” No, no, no, no. I don’t want to hear that. Not from my Mels. “What isn’t working?” Trepidation begins to build in my chest until it feels like a rock where my heart should be. “You and hanging out with my family that is what’s not working. Maybe if you meet my mom things will be different.”
I cannot stop the sigh of relief at her words. For a moment I really thought that Mels would abandon me. Everyone else had, but Mels, she’s different. Her eyes soften and I know that she’s not as angry with me as she was before. I love her eyes. They are chocolate eyes. And it may not be very manly to admit this, but I love chocolate.
“John, we’re in this together. I’m not going to give up on you because you threw up on my father, and then proceeded to insult my paternal grandmother. Although, in a couple of weeks from now I’ll probably be laughing about what happened.” I grimaced. Yes Mels, laugh at my pain. “Your dad is scary Mels.” She smiled. “I know, plus he never likes any of my boyfriends. Give it some time and maybe he’ll come around. ” Her hand crept to cover mine and I stare at our intertwined fingers. Brown and white, I smile at the contrasting colors before turning my attention to my fingers.
Dude I need a tan. I’m so white my knuckles are sparkling in the sun. I kiss her brown fingers tenderly and she squeals “Ewww! Please tell me you brushed your nasty teeth!” I simply grin at her causing her to squeal some more and pull her hand away. After a moment she turns serious. Serious Melody is just as scary as irritated Melody and I know I’m going to dread what she has to say.
“You need to go back in there. Apologize and make normal conversation. Notice the stress on the word normal, John.” I smirk, “I can be normal Mels.” Now it’s her turn to snort as she sashays into the house of doom. Since I love my Melody I just shake my head follow her.