Biker Class (25 page)

"W-what... what happened?" she finally gathered the courage
to say. Melanie saw out of her peripheral vision that he bit his lip. Now was
the moment of truth. Was he going to open up and talk about it or not?

"Um," he muttered, running a hand through his hair,
scratching his face, "she, uh... she left."

"Oh," Melanie mumbled, pretending that this was the first
she'd heard of this. "I'm sorry. Uh... do you—do you know why?"

When he didn't reply for a while, she was positive that he'd stopped
talking and the conversation was over. But then he surprised her by speaking.

"I, um, don't know why, really. Well... I think it was
all my dad's
fault. They fought all of the time when I was
about sixteen. I tried to ignore it... ya
know,
tune
it out... but that only works for a little while. When they do it
all the
time
, even when you're around and right there in front of them, it's hard
to block it out. And
..
.
one
day... I saw something that was the last straw." Melanie was deathly
quiet, not missing a word. His voice became a whisper. "I was in my
room... listening to music and looking at motorcycles on Google... and I heard
a thud. At first I thought it was just a drum in my music or something like
that, but then I heard it again. And—and again. So I paused the song and
listened. It sounded like something hitting the wall.

"So I got up and went to go see what it was. It was getting dark
outside, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't anyone trying to break in. When I
was going down the hallway, following the sound, I found out that it was coming
from my parents' bedroom.
The door wasn't closed
,
it was halfway open
. And, um... I leaned against the wall
and listened, and I heard arguing.
Again
. But it was different this
time. Dad sounded...
angrier
. And Mom sounded—sounded
more
scared
. I listened again, and I heard what sounded like a scream. I got
really worried so I pushed open the door."

Melanie forgot to breathe. She was listening so intently. When he
didn't continue, she whispered, "Jake? W-what happened next?"

She heard him breathe in deeply and release it in a heavy sigh.
An
extremely
heavy sigh.
"She was on the floor,
covering up her face. Dad was standing over her, his fists balled up. One of
his hands
were
in the air, but he stopped when he saw
me. Mom looked out between her fingers and saw me and gasped. Dad just looked
scared, like he'd been caught. She got off of the floor and walked towards me,
and her hands went away from her face... and
..
.
and
her cheek was really red with blood pouring out of her
nose."

Melanie couldn't stop herself from gasping. A cloud chose right then
to cover up the sun, darkening the world for a moment.

"Oh my God," Melanie bit her lip, closing her eyes tightly. Jake
continued as if she hadn't of spoken.

"She said, 'Jake' really quiet. I was just standing there,
frozen. I couldn't believe what I just saw. I mean
,
I
knew it was bad, but... I had no idea it was
that
bad. My dad has always
had anger issues... but I just never—anyway, I got my mom and shoved her
behind me and faced my dad. He was looking back and forth between us like he
didn't know what to do. I screamed at him, 'What the hell are you doing?
'.
Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and was staring
at his hands. Then my mom did something I would never expect. She wiped her
nose on her sleeve and
walked over to him
. She sat down on the edge of
the bed beside him and
hugged him
. Remember how I told you she's so
forgiving and nice? Yeah, she'd forgive anyone.
Even when
they didn't deserve it.
And my dad
sure as hell
didn't deserve
it."

"Oh, Jake," Melanie breathed, turning her head towards him.
He was still staring at the sky, but his eyes were elsewhere. She couldn't tell
what was the blue reflection from the sky and what was the blue from his eyes.
"I'm
so sorry
."

He shrugged. He still didn't look at her. "It's done. It's
passed. Nothing we can do about it now."

"And
..
.
and
..."
Melanie didn't know whether she should continue, but she wanted so badly to,
"... she left?"

Pain welled on his face. She felt so helpless, not knowing what to do.
"Yep. I went inside one day, after I got done working on my new bike...
and she wasn't home yet. I'll spare you the details, but me and my dad fought,
he stormed out, I got my stuff, and
..
. I left."

"So... you don't live with your dad anymore?"

"Hell no!" he exclaimed, almost a little angrily.
"Especially now that he lives with that little skank he calls a
girlfriend."

"That was two or three years ago, right?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"Have you seen your mom since?"

Silence.
An incredibly long one.
The longest yet.

Melanie was still watching his face, and it was stone cold. "No.
No I haven't."

"Well, why not?" Melanie demanded before she could stop
herself. "She was leaving your dad, not you! Why in the world haven't you
guys seen each other? Why aren't you living with her?"

"I don't know!" he yelled suddenly, loudly, clapping his
hands over his face. The amount of frustration, the anger, the confusion built
up in his voice was incredible. It was like he had been holding it in for years
and was finally releasing it. Which he probably
was.
"I don't know, okay? She never called me! She never even TRIED to
communicate with me! She just... disappeared! I... I thought she cared about
me! I thought we were a—a team, ya know?
Me and her
against Dad, against the world!
And when she leaves, she doesn't tell
me! She doesn't visit me! She doesn't do freakin' ANYTHING! And I can't help
but think... what did I do? It
..
.
it
had to be partly my fault, too." He was breathing heavily by now, fighting
back the tears that were threatening to spill. Jake was out of breath. He said
quietly, sadly, "... My fault, too."

Melanie sat up slowly, watching him, brows furrowed and determination
etched into her features. She fought back the sadness welling inside of her as
well. He refused to look at her, staring at the sky hopelessly. The look on his
face was enough to make her heart drop out of her chest.

"Jake," she said softly. His eyes stayed where they were.
"
Jake
." Still nothing. "JAKE!" He finally looked at
her, tiredly. She actually allowed for her eyes to sink into his, meaningfully.
"You... you know it wasn't you're fault, don't you?" He looked away
from her again, not responding. "Don't you?"

"I don't know. Do I?"

"You should!" she commanded, more forcefully that he'd ever
thought could come out of her mouth. "Jake, you didn't do anything wrong!
How could you think that any of it was
your fault
?"

"I don't know, Melanie!" he yelled, sitting up as well.
"Then why does she act like I don't exist? If she cared about me at all,
then—"

"You don't know that!" she told him forcefully, shaking his
shoulder. "You don't know what her reasoning was! Maybe... maybe she's
trying to protect you or something!"

"Psh, protect me form what?" he demanded. "
Protect
me from what
?"

"I...I don't know!"

"Exactly."

"But, Jake, my point is that you can't blame yourself for what
happened between your parents! You've... you've got to have closure."

"Closure my ass," he hissed, rolling his eyes.
"It's—"

"—
not
your fault," she
finished for him. "Look at me, Jake!
Look at me
." He groaned and
rolled his eyes and, annoyed, looked to her. His eyes were growing red, she
noticed. "When my parents divorced, you'd have no idea how many times I
asked myself if it was my fault! He left, they had a court date and signed the
divorce papers, had a nasty custody battle, and I didn't know what to do! And I
didn't know what parent I wanted to stay with because I didn't know if it was
because of me or one of my parents... and whatever parent's fault it was if it
was
their fault, I didn't want to stay with them! I was so confused and
..
. I felt like my whole world was falling apart."

His eyes were shining and he blinked profusely as he watched her stare
intently at him, her eyes shining as well from memories of a painful past. Jake
couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had been wondering where her dad was.

"But you know what?" she continued softly, a single tear
falling down her cheek. "I had to come to terms with myself and realize
that what happened between my parents was their business and
..
.
and
I just happened to be in the middle of it."
When he backed away from her trying to hide how he was wiping at his eyes, she
muttered, "It's
not your fault
, Jake. It's not." He looked up
at her, eyes even redder against the blue of his irises. She gave him a watery smile.
She whispered one more time, almost too softly to hear, "It's not."

They sat there for neither of them knew how long, staring at one
another thankfully. She gave him one of her full-fledged smiles, laughing
almost in an exhausted way. Melanie wiped her eye, embarrassed, as did Jake.
Before they knew it, they were both laughing. Why, they didn't know.

"Thanks," he whispered. He'd never talked about this to
anyone, especially his friends.

"No problem," she smiled uneasily, scratching the back of
her neck. What an oddly dramatic conversation.

"You know," he began, watching her with an intensity that
made her self-conscious, "you remind me a lot of her."

"Of who?"

"My mom," he answered simply.

Melanie looked around uncomfortably. "Um, thanks?"

"I
mean
," he elaborated, smiling genuinely,
"you're nice. And nurturing. And you care about other people before
yourself. Like her."

"Does that make you feel better?" she asked, curious.
"Because you know that I'm never just gonna abandon you, Jake. I might
just be your tutor, but—"

"Is that all you are?" he asked, staring at her in a soft
way. It made her heart thump.

"W-what do you mean?"

He licked his lips in a thoughtful way, his eyes casting to the floor
then locking with hers again. "Well, I don't know about you, Melanie,
but... you're more to me than just my tutor."

She was dreaming. She had to be. This couldn't be real.

"Huh?"

He was drawing closer to her, Melanie's heart pounded painfully in her
chest. She didn't know what to do! She'd always planned for this moment, but
the situation had been different in her mind. He would have been trying to come
onto her (she hoped that wasn't what he was doing now) and she would have to
reject him of course, because she was a self-respecting girl. But... this was
different. This wasn't part of her plan. She hadn't planned on him looking so
helpless, so genuine... and she hadn't planned on feeling
happy
when he
starting leaning towards her, either.

Was she feeling happy?

…Yes. Yes, she was.

Could she push him away? When he was so vulnerable? When he actually
seemed like he wanted to do it because he wanted to, not because he wanted to
sleep with her? And when she wanted to badly as well? What was she to do?

The answer was obvious, but she couldn't believe it would be the answer
she'd choose. But she wanted to.
So badly.
But they
were sharing everything right? So she couldn't help but voice her doubt.

He was about a foot away from her, moving in so very slowly.

"We... we shouldn't be doing this," she muttered, but her
eyes told him otherwise.

"I know," he answered, looking back and forth between her
eyes and her full lips. They were still slowly closing the distance. The
clearance was a foot.

"I...I don't know if... if this is a good idea," she said
weakly. Clearance: 10 inches.

"Completely understandable." Open space: 6 inches.

"Maybe—maybe we should o-or shouldn't..."

"You're probably right," he whispered, eyes halfway open as
they drew nearer. Melanie could feel his hot breath fanning her, and her heart
rate increased (if that was possible). Space amount: 2 inches.

Their eyes were slowly beginning close, mouths opening slightly in
anticipation. The feelings surging through them were new to both of them, and
with Jake being as 'experienced' as he was, that was saying something.

"I... um..."

Clearance:
zero
.

It was like a long-awaited treat that a five year-old was receiving
after hours of waiting. Their soft lips pressed together at last. They kissed
slowly at first, their mouths moving in sync with one another. Jake's hand reached
around the back of her neck and his thumb stroked her cheek. Melanie had no
idea that he was capable of kissing so gently, so...
softly
, like he was
scared she was breakable. She had at least expected it to be rough, considering
that he was who he was. But to both of their surprises, Melanie was the one who
made advances. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened it ever so
slightly.