Page 51 of Defended
Chapter 17
The difference between living with Kawan and Peggy was night and day. Melody hadn’t even realized how much of the home burden she’d assumed while she was living with Peggy until it was no longer there. The past week had been a revelation, in more ways than one.
She was so much more relaxed. She was no longer the only one keeping the living spaces clean, no longer making all the meals, no longer walking on eggshells to keep someone else happy. Of course, she didn’t want Kawan to regret offering a place to stay while she searched for a new apartment, but she didn’t feel like she was on edge just because of that. Yes, she wanted him to be happy with her, but she wasn’t full of anxiety and worrying that he wasn’t.
Peggy had always made it very clear when she was unhappy with something, which she was on a regular basis.
She doubted that Kawan would hesitate to make it clear if he was unhappy, and so far he hadn't done so. It was a whole week without having to listen to any negativity. No daily list of complaints that she had to tune out, no snide gossip about people she didn't know, interspersed with cutting judgments on those people, and not a single statement that she had to brush off or feel bad about.
The difference made her entire day better, from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep.
Without having to expend energy on placating Peggy, on smoothing Peggy's blunt edges, and on taking care of the food at the apartment, Melody felt more alert and energetic than ever. She was getting a ton of work done during the day, getting more sleep at night, and still had plenty of time to daydream about Kawan.
Daydream was about all she was doing, because other than some seriously panty-melting kisses and heavy petting, he wasn't doing much more than that. Something gentlemanly about not taking advantage of her situation, blah blah blah. Even after she indicated that she would really be one hundred percent okay with him taking advantage of the situation.
There was also something kind of hot about being denied though.
Yeah, she was a bit of a headcase.
But she was also happy.
Mostly.
A very small part of her still felt a little guilty about the fallout with Peggy for some reason. Or maybe she was just feeling guilty about how relieved she was to be away from Peggy. It was hard to sort out her feelings toward the other woman.
She'd been there when Melody had needed her. Had been one of Melody's main sources of support for so long and even now there were times when Melody unthinkingly pulled out her phone to text her or would see something and think 'Oh, I need to tell Peggy about that later!'
But at the same time, Melody was happier than she'd been in a long time.
Thankfully, she had Kawan to distract her. Not just him, either; she was spending more time with other women. Katherine had come into the lab on Wednesday and ended up going out to happy hour at the end of the day with Melody and Lisa—just the ladies of the lab. Ella and Sienna had been texting her all week. She'd told them that she and Kawan wouldn't be coming to Black Light that weekend, but she’d made plans to go out with Sienna next week. Ella would be in California with Connor for a few weeks, but they’d see each other again when she got home.
Melody knew very well that if she was still living with Peggy, she wouldn't have made those plans. She would have had to hurry home to make dinner for Peggy on Wednesday, and she wouldn't have wanted to tell her friend that she'd gone out with other friends. She wouldn't have felt okay making plans with new friends without inviting Peggy along, and she would not have felt comfortable introducing Peggy to Sienna and Ella.
In some ways it felt like she'd gone through a breakup and was on the rebound.
Except that Kawan was definitelynota rebound.
And it wasfinallyFriday.
Which meant she was a bundle of nerves. Packages had been showing up to his house all week, but he wouldn't tell her what was in them. He just whisked them away to the second guest room, which had also been locked all week, and told her that she'd find out 'soon enough'. Melody had a feeling that 'soon enough' was today and her imagination was running wild.
After all, they were going to be 'exploring' this weekend. She wasn't entirely sure what that would entail, but she knew she was looking forward to it. All week long, in the very little free time she had, she'd been reading all her favorite books and then daydreaming about what 'exploring' they might do.
"Earth to Melody, come in Mel..." Lisa's sing-song voice knocked her out of the daydreaming she was currently doing. The blonde laughed when she saw Melody's expression. Grinning, she pointed at the slide in Melody's hand. "I know the day is almost over, but I thought you might want to do something with that."
"I do," Melody said, giving herself an all body shake. "Thanks. I'm just... super distracted right now."
"Everything okay?" The slight look of concern on Lisa's face touched Melody. While they'd been working together in the lab for a while, this was the first week that Melody had really tried to bond with her outside of it since that first dinner she'd invited Lisa to hadn't really worked out. That Lisa hadn't written her off completely was kind of a miracle, when she thought about it.
"Yeah, just looking forward to the weekend." Even as she said the words, she felt a blush spread across her face.
Lisa laughed and winked at her. "Hot date? I'm jealous."
"Please," Melody said, snorting a little. "Like you couldn't have a hot date if you wanted." Lisa was gorgeous, in the girl-next-door kind of way that drove men nuts. She was also smart, funny, and friendly. There was no doubt in Melody's mind that if she wanted a guy, she merely needed to indicate her interest.
"Well, thank you," Lisa said easily. That was another thing—Lisa was confident. She didn't try to downplay anything about herself or fish for compliments. Melody wished she had half the other woman's self-assurance. "And you're right, I probably could, but I don't just wantahot date, I want a hot date with therightguy. So far I haven't met him yet." She said it matter-of-factly, not sadly, which made Melody smile.
"Not like it's easy to find time right now either," Melody commiserated.
