The Mute

17 | seventeen

Ace Black

It's been a month and a half since Mel left for her cottage trip. She came back home yesterday, two weeks before school starts. Her mom and Dimitri wanted to make sure both she and Isaiah had everything they needed for school, so they came back home earlier than expected. When Mel told me the news, I was excited and wanted to see her right away, but she said she was super tired and didn't want me to come over because she was most likely going to fall asleep if/when I showed up. So we decided to meet up today.

I waited a month and a half, what's another day? Apparently, agony. Knowing that Mel was 20 minutes away from me and I couldn't go see her, drove me insane. I missed her a lot this summer and I'm hoping she missed me too. I think it's weird how much I missed her. Almost everything reminded me of her which made me text and call her a lot. I felt like I was being clingy, but she didn't seem to mind.

I literally didn't go to bed until four in the morning. I somehow managed to wake up at 9:45 and was ready to leave at 9:51. I drove to the café and arrived there earlier than Mel. She told me to order and that the bus came later than she expected. I volunteered to pick her up, but she refused to take up my offer. I looked up from the table and smiled.

"Hi!" Mel exclaimed, sitting down. "Sorry, I'm late. The bus was late. Then there was a guy back there who asked to pet Percy."

"Look at you talking and stuff," I smiled.

"I know, right! You and Percy helped me a lot," Mel nodded.

"How did I help you? I haven't seen you in more than a month," I asked.

"Well, people normally don't call me. And you called me a lot. Which helped," She explained.

"I'm glad I helped," I chuckled.

Mel sighed and placed both her hands on top of mine, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Precious," I smiled, bringing her hands up to my face, and kissing them.

She giggled, "How was your summer?"

"Boring," I grumbled. "Except for the time when a squirrel tried to kill Jay."

"What?" She laughed. "How did that happen?"

"He was throwing acorns at it, and even though both River and I told him to stop. He kept doing it, which made it mad because in its nest were some baby squirrels," I sighed.

"Never make a mama squirrel mad," Mel shook her head.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "What about you?"

"It was fun! There were a lot of bugs, though," Mel mumbled. "AND my aunt came up unexpectedly, so I had to spend a weekend with my cousins."

"Is that a good or bad thing?" I asked.

"Eh," Mel shrugged. "They liked Percy, but they got mad when I explained that they couldn't touch him. And I also think Faith has a crush on you, now."

"How does she even know me?"

"She saw your name on my wrist. Then she asked if she could see a pic of you. Then when I was texting you, she would ask me a bunch of questions about you. And I would also have to lock my door if I was on the phone with you. Well, also because Dominic and Mason kept barging into my room and woofing like dogs."

"I don't like your cousins-"

"I think they're annoying," Mel shrugged. "But they're still family."

"Yeah, but they're kinda mean to you," I sighed.

"Yeah, but I don't get along with a lot of people my age," Mel retorted.

"True," I nodded. "Anyway, enough about your evil cousins. Let's go for a walk."