a little less talk if you please | melanie

The morning sun filtered through his curtains blinding him. He was laying on his stomach in his bed, a splitting headache pounding in his temple and his mouth was drying from dehydration. He groaned and rolled over on to his back, feeling the heat of another person in his bed. It was in that moment, without even looking to see her, that he remembered leading Melanie from NYSA last night. His face drained and his mind started reeling. What the hell happened? Judging by him nakedness and her bare shoulders, he guessed a lot.

Brax stood up and pulled on the first pair of black sweat pants he could find. He looked down at Melanie and, without waking her, left the room on the hunt for some water and an aspirin. Maybe when he came back he will have found that this was all a strange dream. He didn't count on it though.

@accaila

The sound of a door closing woke Melanie from a deep sleep. The hangover pounding against her temples let her know that she had been drinking the night before, but she wasn't sure why someone was in her room. Rolling over and opening her eyes, she realized that she wasn't in her home. The room was completely unfamiliar and she was certain she had never been here before. That was when she realized that she was completely unclothed, the ensuing panic attack reminding her of what had happened the night before.

Oh my Gods. She thought to herself, grabbing the nearest shirt and walking through a door that she assumed led to a bathroom before sitting on the floor. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she sat there, trying to figure out what was going on and hoping that Braxton would leave so that she could do the walk of shame all by herself.

Braxton heard rummaging in his room that reminded him of her presence. Strangely enough, despite the complete shock and the weird unnerving feeling, he didn't feel all that guilty about it. Like it was a long time coming, all their flirting at camp had led them to this moment. He just didn't understand why, after years of ignoring her and hating her, this is the result that came of it. He grabbed the two glasses of water and entered his room again, expertly holding both cups in one hand. He knocked on the bathroom door, "Mel?" He said loudly enough for her to hear, "I got you some water..." What exactly else was he supposed to say to her?

Well, at least he didn't sound mad. That's the only consolation that Melanie had as she stood up. Taking a second to look at herself in the mirror, she realized that she was wearing his shirt as well. Of all the cliche things that could happen this morning, it had to be that. Sighing, she realized it was too late to worry about things like that and opened the door to reveal a shirtless Braxton. Gods, the man was hot. Even she had to admit that, despite everything that had happened between the two of them.

"Thanks." She said sheepishly, not quite meeting his gaze before walking over to the bed to sit down.

He didn't know whether or not to be concerned. This was a completely foreign landscape to Braxton. And after years and Taze bragging, he still wasn't sure he knew how to handle this situation at all. He sat on the bed next to her and took a drink of his water. He couldn't help but give her a sideway glance, "You know you bought me that shirt." He said suddenly. The grey shirt was plain looking for the most part. But he knew that on the tag Mel had written that he needed to stop dressing like a hooligan. She gave it to him a few days before the battle happened at Camp. There had always been a running joke that Brax needed to stop dressing in the dragon t-shirts from his middle school days but that he couldn't afford any regular clothes. Mel got that for him as a kind of joke.

Melanie frowned slightly, looking down at the shirt for the first time. She had known she was wearing one of his, but not THAT one. "I didn't think you would still have it." She finally said, her voice wavering slightly between two warring emotions. "I thought you had thrown everything away from Camp. At least, that's what I heard you did." This conversation she could handle, even if it was a bit odd of a time to be having it.

The water felt good against her dry throat, which she hadn't even realized was aching slightly until then. She finally worked up the courage to look at Braxton, actually seeing him for the first time in forever. He was a little bigger now, more hard than he had been at Camp, but she could still see the boy she had met at camp years ago etched into his features. Maybe older and a little wiser, but Brax was still there.

Braxton grimaced, "I threw away almost everything. There were some things that were more important than others..." He didn't mean for it to sound like something she had gotten him was important, but that is exactly how it came out. Which honestly wasn't far from the truth. In the other bedroom he had a ton of unpacked boxes full of pictures he didn't want to look at. But one picture was still hanging on his wall underneath a poster. Despite his outward hatred towards Mel, there were just some things that were never going to change, "Are you okay?" He asked her, worried that they had crossed a line and surprised at how okay with it he was.

"To be honest, I don't know. I'm so confused. Or maybe it's conflicted." She said honestly, turning to where she could face him fully. He was worried and she could tell, but she wasn't sure her words were coming out right anymore. "Everything has been turned upside down in less than 24 hours and I can't think straight."

She took another drink of water to buy herself some time to think about what to say next. Thinking about it, she realized she probably spent too much time with Zane now adays, because she knew she had to answer him honestly. Lying would have probably been easier. "I don't think I regret anything that's happened though. Do you?" It was a loaded question if she had ever heard one, but now it was out in the open.

Braxton was taking a long drink of his water, much for the same reason that she was. To buy himself some time. Did he tell her he was bothered? Wouldn't that be a lie if he did? He glared into his water and shook his head, "Actually I don't." He didn't know what was going to come from this and, honestly, he couldn't think about that right now. He stood up and bent over, reaching into the bottom draw of his dresser and pulling out a pair of jeans, "Here. You left these at the beach the day before the attack. I don't know it they'll still fit or not..." The girlie jeans looked really small to him, but the Melanie was a small girl, "Put them on and we can go check on Tavie."

"Aye, aye Captain." She said with a smile and a halfhearted salute, taking the jeans and heading into the bathroom. Luckily for both of them, she hadn't gained much weight since then. They were snug and maybe a little short, but they would do until she could go home. Thankfully she had also grabbed her shirt and other necessities from the night before on her way in. Though it might amuse her and maybe Braxton, there was no way in Tartarus that she was wearing his shirt all the way to the hospital.

Running her fingers through her hair quickly and wiping off her face, she made her way back out to the bedroom. "Alright. I'm ready when you are." For what, she wasn't quite sure, but she hoped they both were.