Biker Class (38 page)

"See? Not just women can clean. Look at what a good job you
did," Melanie nodded her head wisely. Jake just grumbled, throwing the rag
and cleaner into the bucket and plopping down on the couch. He couldn't believe
it, but he was actually
sweating
. Heavy duty cleaning actually
was
kind of hard. Melanie finished her drink and rose from her chair, going to the
kitchen and coming back with another drink. She sat it down in front of Jake on
the coffee table.

"There ya go," she smiled. "Well-deserved."

"Well, yeah, I'd hope so!" he almost snapped, snatching up
the drink and chugging it down within a matter of seconds. Melanie laughed as
he sat it down, breathing heavily.

"Do you want another one?" she giggled.

"No, that's fine," he said bitterly, still not in the best
of moods. He felt so degraded. Cleaning
wasn't
manly, and Melanie wasn't
going to make him say that it was. Plus, he was tired, and it was
not
fun.

"Thank you," she smiled sweetly, kissing his cheek. Even
though he was still a little ticked off at her (himself, mostly, for putting
himself in this position), the smallest of a smile tugged at his lips. He
struggled to keep it down. It was so faint that she almost didn't see it.
Almost.

"Sure," he muttered.

"No, really. It looks awesome. Thank you, Jake," Melanie
said in such a sweet voice that it should have sounded fake, but it just came
off as cute instead.

"Yep." She kissed his lips this time, sweetly. When she
pulled back, he grinned at her and stared into her eyes. Chocolate brown met
stunning blue. "I don't like cleaning," he stated.

"Then I would suggest that you not forget any more
anniversaries," she smirked.

"Hey, smirking is my thing, not yours," he smiled smugly,
doing exactly what he'd said. "Although, I have to admit, I never thought
it'd be your kind of thing. Ya know, since you're so painfully innocent and
all."

She scowled. "What's your point?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like you when you're cute and all,"
he said, but then got a glint in his eye, "but it's kind of sexy."

"Is it, now?" she
rose
her
eyebrows.

"It is," he smirked.

"Hmm," she tapped her chin teasingly. "I'll have to
keep that in mind."

"Will you, now?"

"I will," she smirked.

He kissed her playfully, smiling. To his surprise, she didn't pull
away after a while. If anything, she seemed to be egging him on. She kissed
back, less innocent than before, not only wrapping her arms around his neck,
but
pulling him to her. That fact that he was shirtless
didn't help either of them. Her hands ran up and down his chest, down to his
abs, and up to his shoulders. Jake was careful where his were, holding back
quite a bit, keeping his hands in one place, and she noticed.

"It's okay," she whispered in his ear, and he met her eyes
to make sure. She smiled. Her lips met his again, and his hands wandered around
her back. Melanie shifted positions and began kissing his neck, her hands
resting on his chest. He took deep breaths, keeping himself under control. He
had to keep himself in check, making sure that he didn't force her into
anything that she wasn't ready for. That's why he let her make most of the
moves. His heart jolted when she moved to his lap, practically straddling him.

"Melanie," he whispered.

"Hmm?" she asked against his neck.

"I don't know... if we should be doing this," he managed to
choke out. The hormonal college guy inside of him said, '
Who
the hell cares? She's all over you!
'.
But the good
gentleman inside of him said, 'She might be getting carried away. You don't
want to make a mistake. This is a huge step for her.'

She stopped what she was doing and leaned back so she could see his
face, a little offended-looking. "What?"

"I just mean... ya know..." he looked at their position
pointedly, and for the first time, she seemed to realize what they were doing.

"
Oh
..." she breathed, hopping off of him quickly and
sitting awkwardly where she was. "I'm—I'm so sorry, Jake. I don't
mean to get you excited like that... I just sometimes get carried away
and—and I don't realize I'm doing it." She hung her head. "I
know this must suck for you."

He
rose
his brows. "What do you
mean?"

She blushed furiously. "You know! You used to... ya know... all
of the time, and ever since you started seeing me, you haven't. It's been a
year, Jake, and
I'm
still holding out on you. You've
had to go a year without... ugh! I'm so sorry."

He laughed, even though what she was saying wasn't completely
incorrect or irrelevant. "You have nothing to apologize for, Melanie. When
you're ready, you're ready, and that's it. When you're not, you're not, and I'm
not gonna make you."

"But—but you must be so frustrated sometimes! This isn't
the first time that's happened..."

Jake flashed back to when Melanie first told him that she loved him,
and then he remembered all of those times in her bedroom when he'd wanted a
simple kiss and she'd get fidgety. Then there was that one time when her mom
wasn't home the night of graduation...

That almost went badly. Or well, depending on what point of view you
looked at it from.

"Um... well yeah, sometimes I have to keep a check on myself, but
it's worth it," he told her honestly, saying it aloud to convince both
her, and to reassure himself. As he looked at her troubled face, his heart
thumped in reassurance. It was definitely worth the wait.

"Jake... I just feel so bad... and it's our One Year Anniversary.
I'm sure you were under the impression that we might be... maybe..."

"Hey," he raised his hands defensively, "I wasn't. I
didn't even remember it, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," she recalled, the situation at hand the only
thing keeping the scowl off of her face. "Still—"

Knock knock knock
.

A sound at the door interrupted her. Her brows furrowed.

"Wonder who that is," Jake said thoughtfully. Rachel never
knocked when she came in, since it was her place, too, and all... but maybe she
knocked because she was afraid she'd walk in on something?

"Let's find out," Melanie replied just as curiously, opening
the door in a friendly way. Jake watched from the couch, quickly pulling his
shirt back on. He almost had a heart attack when Melanie suddenly shrieked,
slamming the door closed and bolting it shut behind her.

"Melanie! What's wrong?" he demanded, at her side within two
seconds. He motioned to look through the
peep hole
lens in the door, but Melanie stopped him.

"No! Don't!"

"Why not?"

"I—I don't know what we should do, Jake..."

"Melanie, who is it? Why are you freaking out?"

She seemed to have a debate with herself, her eyes shut tight with
hands running through her hair. "I just... I don't... you might get
hurt..." Finally, she opened her eyes and stared directly into Jake's. She
whispered, "It's Lawson."

Jake's blood ran cold. It felt like fifty million sharp ice cubes had
been dumped into his bloodstream and were scraping at his vein walls, making
him bleed even more sharp ice.

"Get behind me," he breathed, almost so quietly that she
couldn't hear him. "Now."

Why would Lawson be there, at Melanie's doorstep? He had to have known
that Jake was there, too... his bike was clearly parked out in the front. Did
he want to pick another fight with Jake? Did he want to screw Melanie? Did he
want to jump in and shoot both of them with a gun? What could he possibly want?
And how could he possibly know where Melanie lived now?

They hadn't seen the man in almost a year. They'd almost forgotten
about him completely. Why did he have to come back and completely ruin
everything they'd built and accomplished since he'd left?

A million thoughts ran through both of their frantic minds as Jake's
cold and clammy hand closed around the doorknob. In what felt like slow motion,
he pulled open the door, Melanie tucked protectively behind him.

Surely enough, there stood Lawson, the man they'd grown to think of as
less of a man and more of a creature. He stood there in a pair of clean,
un-ripped jeans and a red collared shirt. He was
clean shaven
,
beard totally gone, and his face was void of any dirt. And what surprised them
most? There was no whiff of alcohol or any other kind of undesirable substance
on his person.

His eyes lacked a certain luster they used to have.

"Well, uh, hi," he grinned, unsure, hands stuffed in
pockets. Jake glared at him with all of the strength he possessed, also trying
to keep himself from launching onto the man and giving that red shirt tons more
red all over it.
Both Melanie and Jake just stared, silent,
mouths nearly agape.
"I'm sure that this is kind of unexpected... and
the last thing you probably want to do is see me."

"You've got that right," Jake hissed, struggling to keep
himself from yelling in the man's face, even though Lawson deserved it.

"W-what do you want?" Melanie managed to squeak from behind Jake,
forcing Lawson's eyes to cast to her.

Lawson smiled at her, but this action shocked both of them. His teeth
were...
whiter
. Still not white, considering
all of
that
drug and drinking abuse would take decades to get off... but they
actually looked somewhat
clean
. And most of all, the smile wasn't
perverted or suggestive. It was just a smile. A normal, regular old smile.
Almost guilty in some way.

"Hi, Melanie," he muttered, scratching the back of his head,
which she just now realized had a nice, clean haircut. "I know that there
really isn't any way that I can apologize for what I did... and what I tried to
do... but—"

"Whoa,
wait
. Did you say...
apologize
? As
in—in
apologize
?" Jake stammered.

"Yeah," Lawson answered feebly, looking down down at his
feet. "I don't know what to do besides say that I'm sorry. I was a gross,
horrible, perverted-minded man who was hanging out with people younger than me
to try and stay young. I was in denial, drinking and abusing drugs... to try
forget that my high school glory days were over and that I was about to try and
face real life
... which
I wasn't prepared for—at
all. So I hung out with people younger than me who made me feel feared and
important. Well... at least that's what my therapist says, anyway."

Melanie and Jake almost fainted right then and there. "
Therapist
?"

He smiled and nodded solemnly. "Yep, therapist. I got help. And I
feel much better. Can you not tell?" He spread out his arms and did a
three-sixty, motioning to his hair and clothes. "Better, huh? And I don't
smell like a walking whore house anymore."

"Is
..
.
is
this
some kind of bullshit joke?" Jake demanded, eyes narrowing, not believing
his ears. He'd known Lawson for years now. Getting help is what he thought was
girly, stupid, weak. It's the last thing he would ever do. What in the world
would make him go see a 'therapist'? Most importantly, how in the world did he
get off all of the crap he was doing? Jake voiced this aloud.

"I'm totally serious, dude," he nodded. Jake growled at the
term of endearment. Lawson's hands quickly went up defensively. "Sorry.
Tell me, why would I come all the way out here, cleaned up, being
nice
,
if I just wanted to pick a fight? If
that's
what the
Old Lawson wanted, I'd just come out here and do it. You know he'd just get to
the point."

"
He
?" Jake clarified disbelievingly. "You mean
you
.
You
are
Lawson."

"Not the Old Lawson," he corrected him with a chuckle.
"I'm a new me. The Old Lawson wouldn't even lie, because he thought even
lying
about being changed was being a sissy. Am I right?" Jake stayed silent. Melanie
just gaped, starting to see what he was getting at. "If a fight was what I
wanted, I'd be fighting. If
she—
" he looked over Jake's
shoulder to Melanie "—was what I wanted, I'd tell you. And I'm not.
I came to say that I'm sorry, and all of that's a part of my past now.
Hopefully forever."

Jake just couldn't believe this. It was like an alternate universe!
What was going on? What in the world would make him change?
Why
did he?
He'd seemed perfectly content with his supposed 'former lifestyle'.

"What—why—
how
?" Melanie managed to
stutter, standing her ground behind her strong boyfriend.

"You wanna know the truth?" he asked. "This might sound
kind of stupid... and even less believable than everything I've told you so
far, but... it was you guys."

"
Us
?"

"Yeah. Well, that, and a flying fist hitting my head. That's what
it took to make me realize that what I was doing was so...
wrong
.
And unnecessary.
And just plain
stupid
.
Of course, I didn't realize all of that right off the bat. It took a few visits
to the therapist to drill the truth into my head. Rage kind of forced me to
go... but what surprised me was that I wasn't as opposed to the idea as I
thought I should have been. And in the end, I guess that's what made me end up
going."