THE CELEBRITY
MEL
By that Sunday evening, after the appraisal and after Jason and her father had had their fill of football, Mel was dying to have her hands on Jason. Dying. Desperate. She couldn't remember the last time she lusted after him quite so hard.
She felt like a teenager again, with a crush on a boy. She was giddy and excited and she knew it had everything to do with the way she felt inside. She felt free. So free. Like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She'd had closure where she needed it and she was free to love Jason--totally and completely.
Mel couldn't keep her eyes off of him. It was like meeting him for the first time and, in a way, she guessed she kind of was. He and her father had grown attached at the hip in less than 24 hours. They talked nonstop. They exchanged vulgar jokes, traded military stories for onset stories and more or less left Mel and her mother to socially fend for themselves. But Mel couldn't help herself. She watched every move he made, hung on to every word he said, and fantasized nonstop about him. Surely the way she felt about him in this moment wasn't healthy. Or maybe it was. She didn't know and she didn't care.
Dinner was brutal. Susan had cooked and, for the time being, Mel had been excited about the food. Her mother was an amazing cook and how Mel didn't inherit that gene was beyond her. But she hadn't had her mother's cooking in ages and she was all over it until the four of them sat around the dinner table together.
Mel sat next to Jason and struggled to keep it together. She could smell his aftershave, his deodorant, the fresh scent of his shirt. She glanced over and watched the veins flex in his forearm as he held his fork. His tan, caramel skin was so smooth, his tattoos so strategically-placed. She was disappointed how his sleeve hid the rest of his arm and she longed to reach out and touch him. Just--just to touch him. That was all she needed. Really...
"Melody?" Her mother's voice shook her out of her trance and she could feel the blood rising to her face in embarrassment. "Are you okay? You've barely touched your dinner."
All eyes were on her, including Jason's sparkling green ones and she felt herself start to swoon for a moment before she caught herself. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Guess I'm just not as hungry as I thought I was."
"You need to eat," Jason said to her. Oh, that voice. That deep, rich voice... "You've barely eaten all day."
"And you're so quiet," her mother continued observing. "Normally you're sitting here having a battle of wits with your father but you've hardly said a word. Is everything okay?"
She glanced around the table and smiled in embarrassment. She felt like she had the words, "Fuck Me, Jason" written across her forehead. She wanted to crawl under the table and die. Or maybe end up with her head between his legs. 'Oh my god, shut up!' she screamed to herself. "I'm fine," she said, attempting another smile. "Everything's good. Just, uh, enjoying the company."
Susan nodded. "Well...okay..."
Dinner couldn't be over fast enough.
-------------
Mel pulled her night shirt over her head as she watched Jason dress for bed. She nearly hyperventilated and died. His bare chest. His bare arms. His bare legs--he wore shorts to be and she loved it. God, how could a man have been made to be this beautiful? And how could she possibly be so lucky to have him? It should have been a crime.
She took the opportunity to slide her underwear out from underneath her night shirt quickly while his back was turned. He'd been adamant about not having sex in her parents' house, but dammit, he wasn't getting by with this that easily. Mel felt like she was on a manhunt and she was GOING to have him. She didn't care what he said about it.
Her heart sank when he pulled on a pair of pajama pants over his boxers and a long-sleeved shirt over his tank top. She could feel the devastation on her face. "What are you doing?" She asked.
Jason smiled at her across the bed. "Your dad wants to have a beer and watch the highlights from today's game before bed. I told him I'd join him."
"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Um, okay."
"We won't be up long, I promise."
"Okay..."
And before she could say another word, he was out of the bedroom.
Disappointed, she sighed and turned out the light, crawling into bed alone. Just as she began to feel sorry for herself, something dawned on her and she had a revelation. Jason's father hadn't been around growing up, so he rarely had any opportunities to do any male bonding with any type of father figure. Her own father was treating him like a son--and Jason was smitten with him. Mel smiled in the dark at the thought and she was instantly okay with Jason leaving her to go to sleep by herself. As far as she was concerned, if he wanted to stay up all night hanging out with her father, she would be okay with it.
Either she had dozed off for a bit, or time had gone by faster than she thought, but the next thing she knew, she felt the bed move beside her and instantly felt the warmth radiating off of Jason's body. Her eyes snapped open and she smiled into the dark.
His arm had just made it around her stomach in a spooning position, when she turned herself over underneath it to face him. She could practically see him smiling into the dark. "I thought you were asleep," he said in an almost whisper.
She could smell the beer on his breath and even that turned her on. Was she that deprived? "I waited for you," she whispered.
"I said we wouldn't be up long."
"I dozed off for a bit, I lost track of the time."
"But you're awake now."
"I am." She let her hand run up his arm and she smiled as she realized that he was back in the tank top. Instinctively, she let her foot run up his leg and she smiled. Shorts, too.
"What do you think you're doing?" He teased her.
"Just checking."
"For what?"
"I almost attacked you at dinner," she revealed.
"I know," he said. "I could feel you watching me."
Mel was embarrassed. "Was it that obvious?"
He chuckled. "Little bit."
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize."
"It's embarrassing."
"It's embarrassing that you're attracted to me?"
She giggled. "No." Then she moved her face closer to his. She could feel his breath against her own lips.
"This is dangerous territory," he whispered. She closed her eyes to take in his breath on her face.
She didn't care what he had to say. She inched just closer and let her lips brush against his. To her excitement, he responded, and she went in for the full kiss, kissing him slowly, steadily, and deliberately.
She loved kissing him. It was one of her favorite passtimes. She could have kissed him nonstop, forever. He was the best kisser she'd ever kissed. He had the perfect lips, the perfect tongue, and every move he made with both was so incredibly sensual. Merely kissing him made her tingle all the way down to the tips of her toes.
And then she felt his erection through his shorts. She smiled, her lips still against his. "You want me," she whispered.
"I always want you."
"But right now--you REALLY want me."
He laughed quietly. "I always REALLY want you. But not right now. Not in your parents' house."
"We can be quiet," she whispered.
"No."
"I promise, we can be quiet. So quiet no one would ever know." She pleaded with him. She wasn't ashamed. She wasn't above begging at this point.
Softly but firmly, she pushed his shoulder back until he lay on his back and let her hand travel down to his shorts. She grinned. Still hard.
"Mel, no," he hissed. "They're right down the hall!"
Sitting up in the bed, on her knees, she pulled the front of his boxers down, exposing him. "Then you'll just have to make sure you're really...really...quiet." And then she swung a leg over him and inserted him into her, her shirt falling down over her waist as she slowly slid herself down on him. She nearly orgasmed right there.
Her eyes used to the dark, she saw his eyes close and his jaw fall limp as his head fell back on the pillow. He let out a long, quiet breath and she knew that she had him. He wouldn't dare deny her now.
Sitting up straight, she pulled her night shirt over her head and she rode him slowly--very slowly--partially to avoid any creaking noises the bed might make, but mostly to savor the way he felt inside her. She couldn't get enough of him. He was warm, hard, and he was big--it was no wonder she never failed to get off with him.
As she rode him, she watched him bite his lip and squeeze his eyes shut. She heard a soft grunt escape from his throat and she held her finger to her lips. "Shh," she smiled. She took her finger from her own lips and covered his with it, touching him softly, when he opened his mouth and took the tip of her finger between his teeth and bit down lightly but firmly. The act made her grin seductively and it instantly excited her, her expression turning more serious.
Letting her chest collapse against his, he wrapped an arm tightly around her body and his other hand held the back of her head firmly in place as he took her mouth with his. He kissed her hard and she had to break it suddenly so she could breathe. As their breathing nearly synchronized, short, shallow breaths, he turned his face hard into the side of hers and held her tightly in place as she continued to ride him. His breathing warmed her cheek and tickled her ear in such a way that drove her insane. His short, shallow breaths had turned into long, deep ones and the more he seemed to want from her, the tighter he held her.
She more she rode him, the more control she was losing. Her head collapsed on his shoulder and her lips met his neck in brand new excitement. He turned his head into hers, causing her to raise hers again. "Melody," he whispered breathlessly into her ear. "You feel so fucking good."
Smiling deviously at her victory, she dared pick up her pace just a little. Testing for a moment to make sure the bed didn't make a sound, she reached down and slid her hand up his tank top, feeling the hills of muscle under her fingertips. She bit her lip and took a deep breath as she felt his warm skin and his tight muscles and then she whispered to him, "Come on, baby. I know you want to."
Pulling her back down against him, he whispered into her ear, "I want to fuck you. Let me fuck you."
His words sent shivers down her spine. "If you promise to be quiet. Real quiet."
"I promise, baby, I'll be so goddamn quiet," he whispered. "So quiet."
Relaxing her body, he wrapped his arms around her and rolled her over onto her back. She felt his body tremble as he began to thrust slowly into her, his head dropping close to hers. "Yeah," he breathed as she arched her back for him. "That's it."
Reaching her arms underneath his, her nails dug into his shoulders for a moment before her head collapsed back on the pillow. Reaching down between them, she reached between her legs and let her finger rub against her clitoris while he fucked her. She instantly felt it throughout her body and his head dropped close to hers again. "That's it, gorgeous," he breathed quietly into her ear. "That's how you come for me. Come on, baby. Show me how you come."
Jesus, if he was gonna keep talking like that, she couldn't guarantee she could be quiet any longer. But she fought. She fought hard. And as she came, her orgasm violent as she grabbed a fistful of her own hair and bit down hard on her lip to keep from making a sound, she could feel herself pulsating around his dick and it only excited her more. It took him several more thrusts before he came right behind her and it only caused her to come one more time, directly behind the first one.
He was the only man who had ever been able to give her multiple orgasms. Ever.
After they'd calmed down, she found herself wrapped in Jason's arms once again, facing him as his arm rested against her shoulder, stroking her hair. "I love you so much," he whispered. "And that was hot as hell. But don't you ever put me in a position like that again."
"Please," she teased him. "As if you didn't want to."
"Oh, I wanted to. I also don't want to die at the hands of your father. My headstone would read, 'Here lies Jason Kamealoha. Gruesomely dismembered in his sleep for fucking the old man's daughter--and getting caught.' And that's if I even HAVE a headstone after he's done with me."
Mel giggled before she asked, "You've never done the whole 'meet the parents' thing, have you?"
"No," he said quietly. "I never did stuff like that unless I was serious. And I've never been serious about anyone but you."
"Take me to Hawaii," she whispered.
"You wanna go to Hawaii?"
"I want to see your life. I want to know where you grew up. I want to be a part of your world."
"You are my world."
"Take me home," she whispered.
Kissing her forehead and then kissing her lips, he pulled her a little tighter and pressed his nose against hers. "Okay," he breathed against her lips. "I'll take you home."
-------------------
'Right after a pit stop in LA,' is what he should have finished that statement with the previous night.
Jason had apparently gotten the call the next morning sometime after breakfast. "I got the audition," he said to her.
Mel grinned and hugged his neck. "That's fantastic, I'm so proud of you!"
He smiled at her and then dropped the bomb. "I have to go to LA."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
Her heart sank instantly. "T-tomorrow? But-but I'm tied down in Tulsa for at least another week."
"I know," he said, somberly.
"I just--I mean, I can't--"
"It's okay," he said, gently. "Whenever you finish up here, you can just meet me there."
"In LA..."
"I have a place there."
"I don't want to live in LA."
"It's actually Malibu, if that helps."
Mel shrugged silently, disappointed in the idea of a week without him and being so far away from him.
"I know you don't like LA," he said gently. "But a lot of my work is there. And like I said, I live in Malibu so you don't even have to go into LA if you don't want to. And as long as we're together, that's all that matters, right?"
Looking up at him, she nodded and gave a weak attempt at a smile. "Yeah," she agreed. "That's all that matters."
"It'll only be a week, right?"
She nodded again.
He smiled. "We can do that. It'll go by faster than we know it."
-----------
A couple of hours later, when her parents had left the house for a shopping trip, Mel said to Jason, "I want to go to dinner tonight. Just you and me, alone. Before you leave in the morning."
He smiled. "I would love that."
"Tulsa makes me nervous."
Jason frowned. "This is your home."
"It used to be my home. Before I was scrutinized and judged and spied on."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "It's like that?"
"It will be."
"Fuck 'em. Who gives a shit about all those people? They aren't us. They aren't Taylor or his brothers. They don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. Those of us who know the truth are the only ones that matter. Let them talk."
Mel blushed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I kinda wish you got hounded a little more around here so that nobody would notice me. That's bad to say, I'm sorry."
Jason chuckled lightly. "You're a little crazy, you know that?"
She shrugged and looked up at him innocently. "It makes me fun."
Suddenly, he bent over and threw her over his shoulder. Laughing, she looked around, wide-eyed. "Oh my god, what are you doing?!"
He smacked her ass loudly as he carried her up the stairs, cave man style. "To put you in something that'll knock those assholes' socks off and make me very uncomfortable during dinner."
"You don't have to carry me!" She giggled. "I can walk. Why do you always insist on carrying me everywhere?"
"I can't help it, you're just so compact," he answered matter-of-factly.
Mel sighed in defeat.
--------------
Later that night, Mel sat across from Jason at McGill's 19 in the Hard Rock Casino in Catoosa. She'd dressed for dinner, as intended. It felt nice. It felt a little too nice for their location, but she didn't care. She'd spent the past several weeks in nothing but jeans and blouses and it felt good to get dolled up for no apparent reason.
She'd been pleased with her selection and she couldn't believe she'd forgotten that it was stashed in her closet in her old room. It wasn't an old dress, but the first time she'd left Taylor, when she'd had her first miscarriage, she'd randomly thrown a plethora of clothes into her suitcase that she had lifted out of her closet, hangers and all, and the dress had been one of them. How it hadn't made it back home, she had no idea. But she'd never worn it before and she felt like tonight was as good a time as any. It was black with a fitted skirt the fell mid-thigh length with a fully-beaded nude bodice starting at the waist. It was high-backed and high-necked with capped sleeves and a V-neck plunge that split the black beads in half down to her sternum. The dress was so supportive that she didn't even need double-sided tape. There were times when being small-chested had its advantages. This was one of those times.
After they'd ordered their dinner and were sipping on drinks, Jason rested his arms on the table and looked around the room. "So. Catoosa, huh? You just keep taking me further and further into the sticks, don't you?"
Mel giggled at him. "This isn't the sticks. We're in the Hard Rock Casino, it can't be THAT bad."
"Well. It's a nice place, I'll give you that."
"I've never been here before," she said. "But everybody talks about it." Then she reached across the table and took his hand. "Besides, we've never actually had a romantic dinner before."
He smiled across the table at her. "We haven't, have we?"
She shook her head. "And it's kinda quiet in here tonight, so. At least we seem to have this section to ourselves."
"Yeah. I like that," he said. "Have I told you tonight how absolutely gorgeous you are?"
Mel blushed and smiled at him. "Um, at least three times already. At least."
"Well, I'm saying it again."
"Well, um, thank you." Then she grinned wider. "You act like you've never seen me dressed up before."
He shrugged and then, to Mel's surprise, he started to blush. "Well...you were never technically...mine...any other time, so. And now that you are, yeah, I wanna dote on you a little bit. I'm proud of you."
"I'm gonna miss you this week," she said softly.
"It'll, uh, it'll be fine," he said.
She narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Are you not gonna miss me?"
"What? Of course I'm gonna miss you. I'm just trying not to miss you right now. I'm still here, you know."
Jason Kamealoha, always the voice of reason.
Then he looked in her eyes and continued, "Why don't we stay here tonight?"
The suggestion surprised her. "Here? At the casino?"
He smiled and picked up his drink. "Sure, why not? We can hit a couple of slots, have some drinks, have a quiet room to ourselves. We'll be apart for the next week, why not spend tonight together?"
Mel searched his eyes in thought and then she nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Okay. That would be nice."
He flashed his signature award-winning smile at her as he turned up his drink.
After dinner had come and gone and they sat with another round of drinks, Jason took a deep breath and rested his forearms on the table. "So, uh, my publicist has been down my throat for weeks now," he said.
"About...?"
"About us. About going public."
Mel looked across at him, confused. "Are we not public already? I mean, I'm pretty sure the entire country is aware--"
"Well, yeah, but you know how Hollywood is. Nothing is for real unless it's 'confirmed.'"
"So basically your publicist wants to squash the 'are they or aren't they' questions."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"Okay, what?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"About going public?"
"Yeah."
"Because I want to make sure you're okay with it first. I don't wanna go throwing statements out there that involve you without making sure it's okay."
Mel smiled at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Go ahead. I don't mind."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Go for it. I mean, we ARE together, right?" She winked at him as she turned up her own drink.
Jason blushed, his smile giddy as he fished his phone from his pocket. He held it in front of him and then he stopped and stared at his phone. "What?" Mel asked in alarm. "What is it?"
He looked up at her and smiled. "Uh, nothing, I just--I've waited so long to send this message, I--I never thought I'd see the day. I've dreamed about sending this message."
Standing from her seat, Mel walked around the table and sat herself on Jason's knee. It wasn't proper dinner etiquette, especially for how they were dressed, but she didn't care. What they did was nobody's business but theirs and if Jason wasn't embarrassed by it, then neither was she. She kissed his cheek and rested her head against his. "Go ahead and send it," she encouraged him. "Ooh, but take our picture first. We look good tonight."
Smiling, he held his phone out in front of them as they were both startled by their waiter's voice. "Would you like me to take a picture of you?" He asked them.
Glancing at each other, Jason said, "Yeah, sure, that would be great."
Standing away from the table, Jason held her close as the waiter snapped their picture before doing his normal duties at the table. Requesting the check, the waiter was gone once again and Mel resumed her spot on Jason's knee. "Make sure you send that to me," she said. "But go ahead and send that message first." She turned her head and smiled at him. "I'm kind of excited, too."
It took Jason two seconds to text to his publicist to go ahead and confirm their relationship and then he slid his phone back into his pocket. "You ready to get out of here, gorgeous?" He asked quietly.
"Ready to try your luck at a couple of these machines?"
"I'm actually ready to try my luck in one of these rooms, but we can make a couple of pit stops first."
As they stepped off the elevator onto the casino floor, they passed a jewelry store, in front of which Jason halted to a stop. "Wait here a second," he said.
"Jason, no--" Mel objected.
But it was too late. He'd disappeared into the store and Mel stood there nervously. She felt completely awkward and the couple of minutes he spent in the store felt like a couple of centuries. She had an idea what was going on in there and her nerves were shot. She felt her independence slowly but surely chipping away, bit by bit and she almost wanted to run. Finding the happy medium was becoming increasingly difficult. Jason wanted to take care of her and be the man in the relationship and Mel wanted to do everything on her own, including buying her own jewelry. Her mind went to Taylor for a quick moment. That part of her life had been slightly easier with him because he normally just gave in and let her do what she wanted, however and whenever she pleased. Jason, on the other hand, was a little more insistent. It was an adjustment, starting a brand new relationship with a different person. Though she felt like she'd known Jason for a lifetime, she felt like she was still learning brand new things about him every day. A lot of the tricks she'd been able to pull with Taylor, weren't flying with Jason very well. She'd been having to change a little, bit by bit, accordingly, but in a way, she didn't mind. Jason brought out the best in her and she knew it. She found herself more and more willing to let him take the lead in whatever situation they found themselves in. She trusted him. That was a huge difference between her past and present relationships, she'd realized.
As he came out of the store, her body stiffened anyway. Allowing him to take control once in awhile didn't make some instances any less nerve-wracking. Handing her a small, black velvet box, her heart began to pound. "Here," he said, smiling. "I just saw it in the window and I couldn't help myself."
Looking up at him in uncertainty, she opened the box and felt relief wash over her just a little when she found that it wasn't a ring. Instead, she gazed at the rose gold necklace in the box and she heard herself gasp a little in spite of herself. "Jason," she breathed.
"I know. I know," he confessed. "I know about you and the whole--gift thing, but like I said, I couldn't help it."
"It's gorgeous..." She didn't lie. It was absolutely pleasing to the eye.
Taking the box from her hand, he gently removed the necklace and handed the empty box back to her. "It's described as a starburst design, but I didn't see it that way," he said of the pendant with the pink stone and the rose gold bursts surrounding it that were lined with tiny diamonds. As he stood behind her, fastening the necklace around her neck, he said quietly into her ear, "Do you remember the very first picture I ever sent to you? When we first started talking on the phone? Of the sunrise in Oahu?"
"You remember that?" She asked.
"Of course I do," he said, his hands on her shoulders, his mouth close to her ear. "I had to send it to you, I thought of nothing but you that morning as I sat and watched it. That was the first morning my sun rose with you. You're the sun in my sky, Melody Banks. And whenever you wear this, I want you to always remember that."
She reached up and touched the pendant around her neck, the pink moonstone center smooth against her fingertips. "I still have that picture," she whispered. Turning around, she looked up at him, her heart filled with emotion. She didn't like gifts. But when they were filled with meaning, like the necklace she now wore around her neck, she couldn't help but melt. "Thank you. I love it. I'll wear it every day."
Jason blushed as he smiled at her. "Well, I mean, you don't have to wear it EVERY day..."
"But I will."
"If that's what makes you happy."
"It does." Looking around, then back up at him, she suggested, "What do you say we skip the casino and just get our room?"
"Are you tired?"
She shook her head. "No, I'd just rather be alone."
He nodded. "I think that's the best idea I've heard all night."
As they made their way back to the elevator to go to the main lobby of the hotel, they were stopped mid-way by a shorter, balding man in a perfectly tailored suit, flanked by two other suited men who sported radios on their belts and earpieces in their ears. Neither of them looked near as stunning as Jason did in his tie-less suit.
As the couple halted in front of the trio, the balding man smiled at the pair. "When someone told me you were in my casino, I had to come down and see it for myself," he said, holding his hand out to Jason. "Dale Cooper, General Manager of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Mr. Kamealoha, I presume."
Hesitantly, Jason shook his hand. "Uh, that would be correct. And, uh, this is my girlfriend, Melody Banks."
"Ms. Banks," Dale smiled, taking her hand and kissing it. "Only one of Tulsa's finest. There isn't anyone in this hotel who isn't familiar with you, either, my dear."
Mel glanced up at Jason uncertainly. She wasn't used to getting treatment like this in Tulsa. Everyone knew her, but everyone know Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, too, and everyone was so used to them that their presence anywhere was virtually a nonissue. Walking around Tulsa with Jason, however, had become a completely different ballgame. She could understand being stopped anywhere else, but in her hometown, the feeling was foreign.
"So what brings a man of your status into our fine establishment this evening?" Mr. Cooper asked him.
"Um, dinner," Jason answered hesitantly.
"Ah, yes. I heard McGill's. Was everything to your standards then?"
"Uh, yeah, it was great..."
"Wonderful! I see you've found our casino. Which one of our fine tables grabbed your attention tonight?"
Jason glanced down at Mel and she shrugged. "We didn't play. We thought about it, but we really just--"
"Oh, but you must, I insist! You a gambling man, Mr. Kamealoha?"
"Call me Jason," he said warily. "And no, not really."
"Well, Jason, you really must make an appearance at one of our tables, at least! Would you prefer Blackjack, Roulette, Poker...how about a rousing game of Texas Hold 'Em?"
As Dale Cooper desperately attempted to use Jason's celebrity for his own benefit in a disgustingly shameless display of obvious begging, Mel began to notice the flashing. Little by little, the camera flashes began to increase until a crowd stood around Jason and Mel, trying to get what they could get out of Jason. She instantly had a flashback of being in the mall with Taylor when they were sixteen and the swarm of teenage girls that surrounded them, scaring the shit out of her. They'd chased them out of the mall and Mel attempted to break up with Tay that day because of it. Obviously she had grown up since then and she was nowhere near afraid of the crowds anymore, getting more and more used to being followed around by cameras, but it didn't make her any more comfortable with it. Instinctively, she moved closer to Jason, unsure exactly where to direct her eyes, trying desperately not to look into any of the cameras.
On the other side of Jason, Mel couldn't help but flare her nostrils in disgust at Dale Cooper as he posed for pictures beside Jason, boasting to the small crowd that Jason was his own personal guest at the hotel that night. Mel could sense the tension in Jason, but he held it together, plastering a smile on his face and playing the cameras the way he knew he should, knowing that one wrong move could make or break the nature of his publicity.
As Jason gave in to signing autographs, Mel stood a few steps behind him, not really sure what to do with herself. Suddenly, amidst the crowd, Dale Cooper suggested to his suited security team, "Boys, why don't you escort Ms. Banks away from this crazy crowd and see if you can make her more comfortable until Jason can join her, okay?"
She tensed up when she felt a hand on her elbow and Jason instantly turned around and glared at the three men. "Don't you dare touch her," he said, pointing to the guard that had Mel's elbow. "She's not going anywhere, she stays with me." Stepping toward them, he took Mel by the hand and pulled her closer to him, muttering to the guards within earshot of Mr. Cooper, "You can look at her all you want, but don't you EVER touch her again or I'll break both of your arms, you got that?"
Pulling Mel by his side and going back to his business with his fans, he smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "Hey, you wanna help me?" He asked her.
She looked at him, confused. "Help you?"
"Yeah. You can help by taking pictures so I don't have to keep tiring out my arm."
Mel giggled and became Jason's fans' personal photographer for the night. She had to admit, Jason made fan interaction fun. Even when approached involuntarily, he was gracious and never rude. Always appreciative, he interacted with every single person, whether it was autograph or picture and Mel stood right along with him, acting like his personal assistant. She'd never found fan interaction fun like this before but there was a first time for everything. Jason made life in general fun and she could only be grateful that she was a part of his.
---------------
The next morning, sneaking into Mel's parents' house wasn't an option. Her parents were wide awake and functioning when she and Jason took the walk of shame through the living room, neither one of them asking a single question. That was until her mother met her upstairs as Jason showered. "Where in the world were you last night?"
"I'm surprised you didn't see it all over the news," Mel said sarcastically.
"It's in the paper, actually. Front page."
"Are you serious?! Already?"
"Jason's a hot ticket, Melody."
"So why did you ask?"
"Just curious, I guess. You didn't call."
Mel sighed. "Jason got called unexpectedly yesterday. He's gotta go back to LA today so we decided to spend the night out last night."
"Are you not going with him? This is awful short notice."
"No. I have some things I have to take care of here. But I am going at the end of the week."
"To live?"
"Uh, I don't know. We'll see, I guess."
"So you and Jason...have virtually no plans?"
"We go day by day. It works for us."
"Doesn't that scare you? Not having a plan?"
"A little bit, I guess. But we'll work it out."
"You hate LA."
"I know. Except that he lives in Malibu, so..."
"That's still pretty much LA."
"I know."
"Don't get yourself trapped in a situation you can't get yourself out of, Melody. If there's ever a point where you're not happy, you let him know it. Don't settle."
Mel laughed. "Have you ever known me to not let anyone know when I'm not happy?"
Susan raised an eyebrow.
Mel huffed, "Well I'm not with him anymore, am I?"
"I'm just being the mother here, telling you the things mothers are supposed to tell you. You do what you want with it."
"Duly noted."
Several hours later, Mel stood with Jason in the terminal at the airport. "I wish you didn't have to go."
"I wish you didn't have to stay," he said.
"I know. I can't believe the house already sold, it's the craziest thing ever. I JUST put it on the market. I gotta take care of that, I gotta do the 3CG thing..."
"Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "I'll be fine."
"This week will fly by," he said. "I'll blow up your phone every damn day."
"You better," she smiled, slipping her arms around his neck. "If you don't blow up mine, I'll blow up yours."
"I'll be waiting by the phone," he smiled. Then he grew serious. "You don't have to wait the whole week, you know. The faster you get things wrapped up here, the faster you can come home to me."
Mel searched his eyes. "Home?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Home. With me. I need you, Mel. I can't be without you."
"I love you," she whispered.
He kissed her forehead and looked down into her eyes. "Look, I gotta tell you something. But don't freak out, okay?"
Mel's body tensed up. "Awful convenient you start a sentence like that right before you're about to board a plane."
"Just--just don't freak out. But today, while you were in the shower, I called and arranged for a moving company to come to your house..."
"Uh-huh..."
"To pack you up and move you to Malibu."
Not only was Mel's body tense, she now stiffened in his arms. She had to put some thought into this before she reacted. She wanted more than anything to be with Jason every hour of every day but they hadn't even remotely discussed living together. Not long term, anyway. The new apartment in New York didn't count, in her mind. Malibu was where Jason kept a residence when he wasn't on location. It was close to his agent, his trainer, the movie studios...long term, this was where Jason needed to BE. And now he wanted Mel to be there, too.
"I, uh, I haven't even packed up the house yet. I don't know what I'm keeping, what I'm not keeping..."
"It's okay," he said. "You bring as much or as little as you want. Hitch the entire house, yard and all, to a trailer and haul it, I don't care. You do whatever you want. But I want you to be okay with it. If you're not, you just say the word. I just want to help you."
"You--you've never lived with anyone."
"I know."
"And now you just want me to--"
"Yes. I want you in my bed, taking up my favorite recliner, laying on my beach, chilling your champagne in the fridge where my beer is supposed to be. I want you to invade my space. I can't WAIT for you to invade my space. I NEED it. I need your perfume to embed itself in all of my clothes, I need to kick your panties out of my way on my bathroom floor, I need you to misplace my keys when you pick up behind me, and I need to find your bikinis drying out on my deck. I need you. I need LIFE. Please move in with me."
He needed say no more. She pulled him close and kissed him passionately as they heard him call his flight. "That's me," he said.
"I'll be home the very second I finish what I need to finish here. I'll be as fast as possible."
"Not fast enough," he winked at her. "I love you, gorgeous." He kissed her one last time before he boarded his plane.
Taking a deep breath, Mel smiled to herself and touched her necklace before turning around to leave the airport. Upon turning around, she found herself surrounded by cameras. How she hadn't noticed them before, she had no idea. She was beginning to wonder if she and Jason would ever have a private moment ever again.
MEL
By that Sunday evening, after the appraisal and after Jason and her father had had their fill of football, Mel was dying to have her hands on Jason. Dying. Desperate. She couldn't remember the last time she lusted after him quite so hard.
She felt like a teenager again, with a crush on a boy. She was giddy and excited and she knew it had everything to do with the way she felt inside. She felt free. So free. Like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She'd had closure where she needed it and she was free to love Jason--totally and completely.
Mel couldn't keep her eyes off of him. It was like meeting him for the first time and, in a way, she guessed she kind of was. He and her father had grown attached at the hip in less than 24 hours. They talked nonstop. They exchanged vulgar jokes, traded military stories for onset stories and more or less left Mel and her mother to socially fend for themselves. But Mel couldn't help herself. She watched every move he made, hung on to every word he said, and fantasized nonstop about him. Surely the way she felt about him in this moment wasn't healthy. Or maybe it was. She didn't know and she didn't care.
Dinner was brutal. Susan had cooked and, for the time being, Mel had been excited about the food. Her mother was an amazing cook and how Mel didn't inherit that gene was beyond her. But she hadn't had her mother's cooking in ages and she was all over it until the four of them sat around the dinner table together.
Mel sat next to Jason and struggled to keep it together. She could smell his aftershave, his deodorant, the fresh scent of his shirt. She glanced over and watched the veins flex in his forearm as he held his fork. His tan, caramel skin was so smooth, his tattoos so strategically-placed. She was disappointed how his sleeve hid the rest of his arm and she longed to reach out and touch him. Just--just to touch him. That was all she needed. Really...
"Melody?" Her mother's voice shook her out of her trance and she could feel the blood rising to her face in embarrassment. "Are you okay? You've barely touched your dinner."
All eyes were on her, including Jason's sparkling green ones and she felt herself start to swoon for a moment before she caught herself. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Guess I'm just not as hungry as I thought I was."
"You need to eat," Jason said to her. Oh, that voice. That deep, rich voice... "You've barely eaten all day."
"And you're so quiet," her mother continued observing. "Normally you're sitting here having a battle of wits with your father but you've hardly said a word. Is everything okay?"
She glanced around the table and smiled in embarrassment. She felt like she had the words, "Fuck Me, Jason" written across her forehead. She wanted to crawl under the table and die. Or maybe end up with her head between his legs. 'Oh my god, shut up!' she screamed to herself. "I'm fine," she said, attempting another smile. "Everything's good. Just, uh, enjoying the company."
Susan nodded. "Well...okay..."
Dinner couldn't be over fast enough.
-------------
Mel pulled her night shirt over her head as she watched Jason dress for bed. She nearly hyperventilated and died. His bare chest. His bare arms. His bare legs--he wore shorts to be and she loved it. God, how could a man have been made to be this beautiful? And how could she possibly be so lucky to have him? It should have been a crime.
She took the opportunity to slide her underwear out from underneath her night shirt quickly while his back was turned. He'd been adamant about not having sex in her parents' house, but dammit, he wasn't getting by with this that easily. Mel felt like she was on a manhunt and she was GOING to have him. She didn't care what he said about it.
Her heart sank when he pulled on a pair of pajama pants over his boxers and a long-sleeved shirt over his tank top. She could feel the devastation on her face. "What are you doing?" She asked.
Jason smiled at her across the bed. "Your dad wants to have a beer and watch the highlights from today's game before bed. I told him I'd join him."
"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Um, okay."
"We won't be up long, I promise."
"Okay..."
And before she could say another word, he was out of the bedroom.
Disappointed, she sighed and turned out the light, crawling into bed alone. Just as she began to feel sorry for herself, something dawned on her and she had a revelation. Jason's father hadn't been around growing up, so he rarely had any opportunities to do any male bonding with any type of father figure. Her own father was treating him like a son--and Jason was smitten with him. Mel smiled in the dark at the thought and she was instantly okay with Jason leaving her to go to sleep by herself. As far as she was concerned, if he wanted to stay up all night hanging out with her father, she would be okay with it.
Either she had dozed off for a bit, or time had gone by faster than she thought, but the next thing she knew, she felt the bed move beside her and instantly felt the warmth radiating off of Jason's body. Her eyes snapped open and she smiled into the dark.
His arm had just made it around her stomach in a spooning position, when she turned herself over underneath it to face him. She could practically see him smiling into the dark. "I thought you were asleep," he said in an almost whisper.
She could smell the beer on his breath and even that turned her on. Was she that deprived? "I waited for you," she whispered.
"I said we wouldn't be up long."
"I dozed off for a bit, I lost track of the time."
"But you're awake now."
"I am." She let her hand run up his arm and she smiled as she realized that he was back in the tank top. Instinctively, she let her foot run up his leg and she smiled. Shorts, too.
"What do you think you're doing?" He teased her.
"Just checking."
"For what?"
"I almost attacked you at dinner," she revealed.
"I know," he said. "I could feel you watching me."
Mel was embarrassed. "Was it that obvious?"
He chuckled. "Little bit."
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize."
"It's embarrassing."
"It's embarrassing that you're attracted to me?"
She giggled. "No." Then she moved her face closer to his. She could feel his breath against her own lips.
"This is dangerous territory," he whispered. She closed her eyes to take in his breath on her face.
She didn't care what he had to say. She inched just closer and let her lips brush against his. To her excitement, he responded, and she went in for the full kiss, kissing him slowly, steadily, and deliberately.
She loved kissing him. It was one of her favorite passtimes. She could have kissed him nonstop, forever. He was the best kisser she'd ever kissed. He had the perfect lips, the perfect tongue, and every move he made with both was so incredibly sensual. Merely kissing him made her tingle all the way down to the tips of her toes.
And then she felt his erection through his shorts. She smiled, her lips still against his. "You want me," she whispered.
"I always want you."
"But right now--you REALLY want me."
He laughed quietly. "I always REALLY want you. But not right now. Not in your parents' house."
"We can be quiet," she whispered.
"No."
"I promise, we can be quiet. So quiet no one would ever know." She pleaded with him. She wasn't ashamed. She wasn't above begging at this point.
Softly but firmly, she pushed his shoulder back until he lay on his back and let her hand travel down to his shorts. She grinned. Still hard.
"Mel, no," he hissed. "They're right down the hall!"
Sitting up in the bed, on her knees, she pulled the front of his boxers down, exposing him. "Then you'll just have to make sure you're really...really...quiet." And then she swung a leg over him and inserted him into her, her shirt falling down over her waist as she slowly slid herself down on him. She nearly orgasmed right there.
Her eyes used to the dark, she saw his eyes close and his jaw fall limp as his head fell back on the pillow. He let out a long, quiet breath and she knew that she had him. He wouldn't dare deny her now.
Sitting up straight, she pulled her night shirt over her head and she rode him slowly--very slowly--partially to avoid any creaking noises the bed might make, but mostly to savor the way he felt inside her. She couldn't get enough of him. He was warm, hard, and he was big--it was no wonder she never failed to get off with him.
As she rode him, she watched him bite his lip and squeeze his eyes shut. She heard a soft grunt escape from his throat and she held her finger to her lips. "Shh," she smiled. She took her finger from her own lips and covered his with it, touching him softly, when he opened his mouth and took the tip of her finger between his teeth and bit down lightly but firmly. The act made her grin seductively and it instantly excited her, her expression turning more serious.
Letting her chest collapse against his, he wrapped an arm tightly around her body and his other hand held the back of her head firmly in place as he took her mouth with his. He kissed her hard and she had to break it suddenly so she could breathe. As their breathing nearly synchronized, short, shallow breaths, he turned his face hard into the side of hers and held her tightly in place as she continued to ride him. His breathing warmed her cheek and tickled her ear in such a way that drove her insane. His short, shallow breaths had turned into long, deep ones and the more he seemed to want from her, the tighter he held her.
She more she rode him, the more control she was losing. Her head collapsed on his shoulder and her lips met his neck in brand new excitement. He turned his head into hers, causing her to raise hers again. "Melody," he whispered breathlessly into her ear. "You feel so fucking good."
Smiling deviously at her victory, she dared pick up her pace just a little. Testing for a moment to make sure the bed didn't make a sound, she reached down and slid her hand up his tank top, feeling the hills of muscle under her fingertips. She bit her lip and took a deep breath as she felt his warm skin and his tight muscles and then she whispered to him, "Come on, baby. I know you want to."
Pulling her back down against him, he whispered into her ear, "I want to fuck you. Let me fuck you."
His words sent shivers down her spine. "If you promise to be quiet. Real quiet."
"I promise, baby, I'll be so goddamn quiet," he whispered. "So quiet."
Relaxing her body, he wrapped his arms around her and rolled her over onto her back. She felt his body tremble as he began to thrust slowly into her, his head dropping close to hers. "Yeah," he breathed as she arched her back for him. "That's it."
Reaching her arms underneath his, her nails dug into his shoulders for a moment before her head collapsed back on the pillow. Reaching down between them, she reached between her legs and let her finger rub against her clitoris while he fucked her. She instantly felt it throughout her body and his head dropped close to hers again. "That's it, gorgeous," he breathed quietly into her ear. "That's how you come for me. Come on, baby. Show me how you come."
Jesus, if he was gonna keep talking like that, she couldn't guarantee she could be quiet any longer. But she fought. She fought hard. And as she came, her orgasm violent as she grabbed a fistful of her own hair and bit down hard on her lip to keep from making a sound, she could feel herself pulsating around his dick and it only excited her more. It took him several more thrusts before he came right behind her and it only caused her to come one more time, directly behind the first one.
He was the only man who had ever been able to give her multiple orgasms. Ever.
After they'd calmed down, she found herself wrapped in Jason's arms once again, facing him as his arm rested against her shoulder, stroking her hair. "I love you so much," he whispered. "And that was hot as hell. But don't you ever put me in a position like that again."
"Please," she teased him. "As if you didn't want to."
"Oh, I wanted to. I also don't want to die at the hands of your father. My headstone would read, 'Here lies Jason Kamealoha. Gruesomely dismembered in his sleep for fucking the old man's daughter--and getting caught.' And that's if I even HAVE a headstone after he's done with me."
Mel giggled before she asked, "You've never done the whole 'meet the parents' thing, have you?"
"No," he said quietly. "I never did stuff like that unless I was serious. And I've never been serious about anyone but you."
"Take me to Hawaii," she whispered.
"You wanna go to Hawaii?"
"I want to see your life. I want to know where you grew up. I want to be a part of your world."
"You are my world."
"Take me home," she whispered.
Kissing her forehead and then kissing her lips, he pulled her a little tighter and pressed his nose against hers. "Okay," he breathed against her lips. "I'll take you home."
-------------------
'Right after a pit stop in LA,' is what he should have finished that statement with the previous night.
Jason had apparently gotten the call the next morning sometime after breakfast. "I got the audition," he said to her.
Mel grinned and hugged his neck. "That's fantastic, I'm so proud of you!"
He smiled at her and then dropped the bomb. "I have to go to LA."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
Her heart sank instantly. "T-tomorrow? But-but I'm tied down in Tulsa for at least another week."
"I know," he said, somberly.
"I just--I mean, I can't--"
"It's okay," he said, gently. "Whenever you finish up here, you can just meet me there."
"In LA..."
"I have a place there."
"I don't want to live in LA."
"It's actually Malibu, if that helps."
Mel shrugged silently, disappointed in the idea of a week without him and being so far away from him.
"I know you don't like LA," he said gently. "But a lot of my work is there. And like I said, I live in Malibu so you don't even have to go into LA if you don't want to. And as long as we're together, that's all that matters, right?"
Looking up at him, she nodded and gave a weak attempt at a smile. "Yeah," she agreed. "That's all that matters."
"It'll only be a week, right?"
She nodded again.
He smiled. "We can do that. It'll go by faster than we know it."
-----------
A couple of hours later, when her parents had left the house for a shopping trip, Mel said to Jason, "I want to go to dinner tonight. Just you and me, alone. Before you leave in the morning."
He smiled. "I would love that."
"Tulsa makes me nervous."
Jason frowned. "This is your home."
"It used to be my home. Before I was scrutinized and judged and spied on."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "It's like that?"
"It will be."
"Fuck 'em. Who gives a shit about all those people? They aren't us. They aren't Taylor or his brothers. They don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. Those of us who know the truth are the only ones that matter. Let them talk."
Mel blushed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I kinda wish you got hounded a little more around here so that nobody would notice me. That's bad to say, I'm sorry."
Jason chuckled lightly. "You're a little crazy, you know that?"
She shrugged and looked up at him innocently. "It makes me fun."
Suddenly, he bent over and threw her over his shoulder. Laughing, she looked around, wide-eyed. "Oh my god, what are you doing?!"
He smacked her ass loudly as he carried her up the stairs, cave man style. "To put you in something that'll knock those assholes' socks off and make me very uncomfortable during dinner."
"You don't have to carry me!" She giggled. "I can walk. Why do you always insist on carrying me everywhere?"
"I can't help it, you're just so compact," he answered matter-of-factly.
Mel sighed in defeat.
--------------
Later that night, Mel sat across from Jason at McGill's 19 in the Hard Rock Casino in Catoosa. She'd dressed for dinner, as intended. It felt nice. It felt a little too nice for their location, but she didn't care. She'd spent the past several weeks in nothing but jeans and blouses and it felt good to get dolled up for no apparent reason.
She'd been pleased with her selection and she couldn't believe she'd forgotten that it was stashed in her closet in her old room. It wasn't an old dress, but the first time she'd left Taylor, when she'd had her first miscarriage, she'd randomly thrown a plethora of clothes into her suitcase that she had lifted out of her closet, hangers and all, and the dress had been one of them. How it hadn't made it back home, she had no idea. But she'd never worn it before and she felt like tonight was as good a time as any. It was black with a fitted skirt the fell mid-thigh length with a fully-beaded nude bodice starting at the waist. It was high-backed and high-necked with capped sleeves and a V-neck plunge that split the black beads in half down to her sternum. The dress was so supportive that she didn't even need double-sided tape. There were times when being small-chested had its advantages. This was one of those times.
After they'd ordered their dinner and were sipping on drinks, Jason rested his arms on the table and looked around the room. "So. Catoosa, huh? You just keep taking me further and further into the sticks, don't you?"
Mel giggled at him. "This isn't the sticks. We're in the Hard Rock Casino, it can't be THAT bad."
"Well. It's a nice place, I'll give you that."
"I've never been here before," she said. "But everybody talks about it." Then she reached across the table and took his hand. "Besides, we've never actually had a romantic dinner before."
He smiled across the table at her. "We haven't, have we?"
She shook her head. "And it's kinda quiet in here tonight, so. At least we seem to have this section to ourselves."
"Yeah. I like that," he said. "Have I told you tonight how absolutely gorgeous you are?"
Mel blushed and smiled at him. "Um, at least three times already. At least."
"Well, I'm saying it again."
"Well, um, thank you." Then she grinned wider. "You act like you've never seen me dressed up before."
He shrugged and then, to Mel's surprise, he started to blush. "Well...you were never technically...mine...any other time, so. And now that you are, yeah, I wanna dote on you a little bit. I'm proud of you."
"I'm gonna miss you this week," she said softly.
"It'll, uh, it'll be fine," he said.
She narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Are you not gonna miss me?"
"What? Of course I'm gonna miss you. I'm just trying not to miss you right now. I'm still here, you know."
Jason Kamealoha, always the voice of reason.
Then he looked in her eyes and continued, "Why don't we stay here tonight?"
The suggestion surprised her. "Here? At the casino?"
He smiled and picked up his drink. "Sure, why not? We can hit a couple of slots, have some drinks, have a quiet room to ourselves. We'll be apart for the next week, why not spend tonight together?"
Mel searched his eyes in thought and then she nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Okay. That would be nice."
He flashed his signature award-winning smile at her as he turned up his drink.
After dinner had come and gone and they sat with another round of drinks, Jason took a deep breath and rested his forearms on the table. "So, uh, my publicist has been down my throat for weeks now," he said.
"About...?"
"About us. About going public."
Mel looked across at him, confused. "Are we not public already? I mean, I'm pretty sure the entire country is aware--"
"Well, yeah, but you know how Hollywood is. Nothing is for real unless it's 'confirmed.'"
"So basically your publicist wants to squash the 'are they or aren't they' questions."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"Okay, what?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"About going public?"
"Yeah."
"Because I want to make sure you're okay with it first. I don't wanna go throwing statements out there that involve you without making sure it's okay."
Mel smiled at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Go ahead. I don't mind."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Go for it. I mean, we ARE together, right?" She winked at him as she turned up her own drink.
Jason blushed, his smile giddy as he fished his phone from his pocket. He held it in front of him and then he stopped and stared at his phone. "What?" Mel asked in alarm. "What is it?"
He looked up at her and smiled. "Uh, nothing, I just--I've waited so long to send this message, I--I never thought I'd see the day. I've dreamed about sending this message."
Standing from her seat, Mel walked around the table and sat herself on Jason's knee. It wasn't proper dinner etiquette, especially for how they were dressed, but she didn't care. What they did was nobody's business but theirs and if Jason wasn't embarrassed by it, then neither was she. She kissed his cheek and rested her head against his. "Go ahead and send it," she encouraged him. "Ooh, but take our picture first. We look good tonight."
Smiling, he held his phone out in front of them as they were both startled by their waiter's voice. "Would you like me to take a picture of you?" He asked them.
Glancing at each other, Jason said, "Yeah, sure, that would be great."
Standing away from the table, Jason held her close as the waiter snapped their picture before doing his normal duties at the table. Requesting the check, the waiter was gone once again and Mel resumed her spot on Jason's knee. "Make sure you send that to me," she said. "But go ahead and send that message first." She turned her head and smiled at him. "I'm kind of excited, too."
It took Jason two seconds to text to his publicist to go ahead and confirm their relationship and then he slid his phone back into his pocket. "You ready to get out of here, gorgeous?" He asked quietly.
"Ready to try your luck at a couple of these machines?"
"I'm actually ready to try my luck in one of these rooms, but we can make a couple of pit stops first."
As they stepped off the elevator onto the casino floor, they passed a jewelry store, in front of which Jason halted to a stop. "Wait here a second," he said.
"Jason, no--" Mel objected.
But it was too late. He'd disappeared into the store and Mel stood there nervously. She felt completely awkward and the couple of minutes he spent in the store felt like a couple of centuries. She had an idea what was going on in there and her nerves were shot. She felt her independence slowly but surely chipping away, bit by bit and she almost wanted to run. Finding the happy medium was becoming increasingly difficult. Jason wanted to take care of her and be the man in the relationship and Mel wanted to do everything on her own, including buying her own jewelry. Her mind went to Taylor for a quick moment. That part of her life had been slightly easier with him because he normally just gave in and let her do what she wanted, however and whenever she pleased. Jason, on the other hand, was a little more insistent. It was an adjustment, starting a brand new relationship with a different person. Though she felt like she'd known Jason for a lifetime, she felt like she was still learning brand new things about him every day. A lot of the tricks she'd been able to pull with Taylor, weren't flying with Jason very well. She'd been having to change a little, bit by bit, accordingly, but in a way, she didn't mind. Jason brought out the best in her and she knew it. She found herself more and more willing to let him take the lead in whatever situation they found themselves in. She trusted him. That was a huge difference between her past and present relationships, she'd realized.
As he came out of the store, her body stiffened anyway. Allowing him to take control once in awhile didn't make some instances any less nerve-wracking. Handing her a small, black velvet box, her heart began to pound. "Here," he said, smiling. "I just saw it in the window and I couldn't help myself."
Looking up at him in uncertainty, she opened the box and felt relief wash over her just a little when she found that it wasn't a ring. Instead, she gazed at the rose gold necklace in the box and she heard herself gasp a little in spite of herself. "Jason," she breathed.
"I know. I know," he confessed. "I know about you and the whole--gift thing, but like I said, I couldn't help it."
"It's gorgeous..." She didn't lie. It was absolutely pleasing to the eye.
Taking the box from her hand, he gently removed the necklace and handed the empty box back to her. "It's described as a starburst design, but I didn't see it that way," he said of the pendant with the pink stone and the rose gold bursts surrounding it that were lined with tiny diamonds. As he stood behind her, fastening the necklace around her neck, he said quietly into her ear, "Do you remember the very first picture I ever sent to you? When we first started talking on the phone? Of the sunrise in Oahu?"
"You remember that?" She asked.
"Of course I do," he said, his hands on her shoulders, his mouth close to her ear. "I had to send it to you, I thought of nothing but you that morning as I sat and watched it. That was the first morning my sun rose with you. You're the sun in my sky, Melody Banks. And whenever you wear this, I want you to always remember that."
She reached up and touched the pendant around her neck, the pink moonstone center smooth against her fingertips. "I still have that picture," she whispered. Turning around, she looked up at him, her heart filled with emotion. She didn't like gifts. But when they were filled with meaning, like the necklace she now wore around her neck, she couldn't help but melt. "Thank you. I love it. I'll wear it every day."
Jason blushed as he smiled at her. "Well, I mean, you don't have to wear it EVERY day..."
"But I will."
"If that's what makes you happy."
"It does." Looking around, then back up at him, she suggested, "What do you say we skip the casino and just get our room?"
"Are you tired?"
She shook her head. "No, I'd just rather be alone."
He nodded. "I think that's the best idea I've heard all night."
As they made their way back to the elevator to go to the main lobby of the hotel, they were stopped mid-way by a shorter, balding man in a perfectly tailored suit, flanked by two other suited men who sported radios on their belts and earpieces in their ears. Neither of them looked near as stunning as Jason did in his tie-less suit.
As the couple halted in front of the trio, the balding man smiled at the pair. "When someone told me you were in my casino, I had to come down and see it for myself," he said, holding his hand out to Jason. "Dale Cooper, General Manager of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Mr. Kamealoha, I presume."
Hesitantly, Jason shook his hand. "Uh, that would be correct. And, uh, this is my girlfriend, Melody Banks."
"Ms. Banks," Dale smiled, taking her hand and kissing it. "Only one of Tulsa's finest. There isn't anyone in this hotel who isn't familiar with you, either, my dear."
Mel glanced up at Jason uncertainly. She wasn't used to getting treatment like this in Tulsa. Everyone knew her, but everyone know Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, too, and everyone was so used to them that their presence anywhere was virtually a nonissue. Walking around Tulsa with Jason, however, had become a completely different ballgame. She could understand being stopped anywhere else, but in her hometown, the feeling was foreign.
"So what brings a man of your status into our fine establishment this evening?" Mr. Cooper asked him.
"Um, dinner," Jason answered hesitantly.
"Ah, yes. I heard McGill's. Was everything to your standards then?"
"Uh, yeah, it was great..."
"Wonderful! I see you've found our casino. Which one of our fine tables grabbed your attention tonight?"
Jason glanced down at Mel and she shrugged. "We didn't play. We thought about it, but we really just--"
"Oh, but you must, I insist! You a gambling man, Mr. Kamealoha?"
"Call me Jason," he said warily. "And no, not really."
"Well, Jason, you really must make an appearance at one of our tables, at least! Would you prefer Blackjack, Roulette, Poker...how about a rousing game of Texas Hold 'Em?"
As Dale Cooper desperately attempted to use Jason's celebrity for his own benefit in a disgustingly shameless display of obvious begging, Mel began to notice the flashing. Little by little, the camera flashes began to increase until a crowd stood around Jason and Mel, trying to get what they could get out of Jason. She instantly had a flashback of being in the mall with Taylor when they were sixteen and the swarm of teenage girls that surrounded them, scaring the shit out of her. They'd chased them out of the mall and Mel attempted to break up with Tay that day because of it. Obviously she had grown up since then and she was nowhere near afraid of the crowds anymore, getting more and more used to being followed around by cameras, but it didn't make her any more comfortable with it. Instinctively, she moved closer to Jason, unsure exactly where to direct her eyes, trying desperately not to look into any of the cameras.
On the other side of Jason, Mel couldn't help but flare her nostrils in disgust at Dale Cooper as he posed for pictures beside Jason, boasting to the small crowd that Jason was his own personal guest at the hotel that night. Mel could sense the tension in Jason, but he held it together, plastering a smile on his face and playing the cameras the way he knew he should, knowing that one wrong move could make or break the nature of his publicity.
As Jason gave in to signing autographs, Mel stood a few steps behind him, not really sure what to do with herself. Suddenly, amidst the crowd, Dale Cooper suggested to his suited security team, "Boys, why don't you escort Ms. Banks away from this crazy crowd and see if you can make her more comfortable until Jason can join her, okay?"
She tensed up when she felt a hand on her elbow and Jason instantly turned around and glared at the three men. "Don't you dare touch her," he said, pointing to the guard that had Mel's elbow. "She's not going anywhere, she stays with me." Stepping toward them, he took Mel by the hand and pulled her closer to him, muttering to the guards within earshot of Mr. Cooper, "You can look at her all you want, but don't you EVER touch her again or I'll break both of your arms, you got that?"
Pulling Mel by his side and going back to his business with his fans, he smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "Hey, you wanna help me?" He asked her.
She looked at him, confused. "Help you?"
"Yeah. You can help by taking pictures so I don't have to keep tiring out my arm."
Mel giggled and became Jason's fans' personal photographer for the night. She had to admit, Jason made fan interaction fun. Even when approached involuntarily, he was gracious and never rude. Always appreciative, he interacted with every single person, whether it was autograph or picture and Mel stood right along with him, acting like his personal assistant. She'd never found fan interaction fun like this before but there was a first time for everything. Jason made life in general fun and she could only be grateful that she was a part of his.
---------------
The next morning, sneaking into Mel's parents' house wasn't an option. Her parents were wide awake and functioning when she and Jason took the walk of shame through the living room, neither one of them asking a single question. That was until her mother met her upstairs as Jason showered. "Where in the world were you last night?"
"I'm surprised you didn't see it all over the news," Mel said sarcastically.
"It's in the paper, actually. Front page."
"Are you serious?! Already?"
"Jason's a hot ticket, Melody."
"So why did you ask?"
"Just curious, I guess. You didn't call."
Mel sighed. "Jason got called unexpectedly yesterday. He's gotta go back to LA today so we decided to spend the night out last night."
"Are you not going with him? This is awful short notice."
"No. I have some things I have to take care of here. But I am going at the end of the week."
"To live?"
"Uh, I don't know. We'll see, I guess."
"So you and Jason...have virtually no plans?"
"We go day by day. It works for us."
"Doesn't that scare you? Not having a plan?"
"A little bit, I guess. But we'll work it out."
"You hate LA."
"I know. Except that he lives in Malibu, so..."
"That's still pretty much LA."
"I know."
"Don't get yourself trapped in a situation you can't get yourself out of, Melody. If there's ever a point where you're not happy, you let him know it. Don't settle."
Mel laughed. "Have you ever known me to not let anyone know when I'm not happy?"
Susan raised an eyebrow.
Mel huffed, "Well I'm not with him anymore, am I?"
"I'm just being the mother here, telling you the things mothers are supposed to tell you. You do what you want with it."
"Duly noted."
Several hours later, Mel stood with Jason in the terminal at the airport. "I wish you didn't have to go."
"I wish you didn't have to stay," he said.
"I know. I can't believe the house already sold, it's the craziest thing ever. I JUST put it on the market. I gotta take care of that, I gotta do the 3CG thing..."
"Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "I'll be fine."
"This week will fly by," he said. "I'll blow up your phone every damn day."
"You better," she smiled, slipping her arms around his neck. "If you don't blow up mine, I'll blow up yours."
"I'll be waiting by the phone," he smiled. Then he grew serious. "You don't have to wait the whole week, you know. The faster you get things wrapped up here, the faster you can come home to me."
Mel searched his eyes. "Home?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Home. With me. I need you, Mel. I can't be without you."
"I love you," she whispered.
He kissed her forehead and looked down into her eyes. "Look, I gotta tell you something. But don't freak out, okay?"
Mel's body tensed up. "Awful convenient you start a sentence like that right before you're about to board a plane."
"Just--just don't freak out. But today, while you were in the shower, I called and arranged for a moving company to come to your house..."
"Uh-huh..."
"To pack you up and move you to Malibu."
Not only was Mel's body tense, she now stiffened in his arms. She had to put some thought into this before she reacted. She wanted more than anything to be with Jason every hour of every day but they hadn't even remotely discussed living together. Not long term, anyway. The new apartment in New York didn't count, in her mind. Malibu was where Jason kept a residence when he wasn't on location. It was close to his agent, his trainer, the movie studios...long term, this was where Jason needed to BE. And now he wanted Mel to be there, too.
"I, uh, I haven't even packed up the house yet. I don't know what I'm keeping, what I'm not keeping..."
"It's okay," he said. "You bring as much or as little as you want. Hitch the entire house, yard and all, to a trailer and haul it, I don't care. You do whatever you want. But I want you to be okay with it. If you're not, you just say the word. I just want to help you."
"You--you've never lived with anyone."
"I know."
"And now you just want me to--"
"Yes. I want you in my bed, taking up my favorite recliner, laying on my beach, chilling your champagne in the fridge where my beer is supposed to be. I want you to invade my space. I can't WAIT for you to invade my space. I NEED it. I need your perfume to embed itself in all of my clothes, I need to kick your panties out of my way on my bathroom floor, I need you to misplace my keys when you pick up behind me, and I need to find your bikinis drying out on my deck. I need you. I need LIFE. Please move in with me."
He needed say no more. She pulled him close and kissed him passionately as they heard him call his flight. "That's me," he said.
"I'll be home the very second I finish what I need to finish here. I'll be as fast as possible."
"Not fast enough," he winked at her. "I love you, gorgeous." He kissed her one last time before he boarded his plane.
Taking a deep breath, Mel smiled to herself and touched her necklace before turning around to leave the airport. Upon turning around, she found herself surrounded by cameras. How she hadn't noticed them before, she had no idea. She was beginning to wonder if she and Jason would ever have a private moment ever again.