Chapter 25
The evening of Melissa’s highly anticipated date with Gabriel had finally come. Friday-a day of the week so beloved songs had been composed and performed in its honor-arrived at the end of a week that, though peppered with tests and papers to prepare for, proved an uneventful school week. In the busy days leading up to their date, Kevin Anderson and his followers were silent. Melissa was grateful for their reticence, even if it were temporary. It gave her time to revel in expectation of her weekend plans with Gabriel.
As the designated time of their get-together rapidly approached, Melissa was anxious. Alexandra and Daniella had come and gone earlier in the day and offered Melissa a sufficient pep talk and their fashion expertise. They helped her select an ensemble that highlighted her physical attributes. The advice and support of her two best friends was indispensable. Together, they had managed to bolster her ever-fluctuating confidence and did nothing short of hold her hand as she dressed.
After they left, however, Melissa began scrutinizing her appearance in her full-length mirror with less than kind eyes. Though she felt satisfied that her reflection looked as attractive as it possibly could, her overly critical, anxiety-riddled mind presented an opposing viewpoint. She blamed her negativity on hunger; nerves had kept her from eating a complete meal all day. She grazed on fruit, drank a glass of milk, nibbled on half a bagel, but never actually sat and ate a meal at any point of the day. The combination of her nervousness and low blood sugar clouded her perception of herself, etched at her fragile self-image. It also made her head ache and her stomach churn.
But her overall excitement trumped her hunger and worry-induced symptoms. She turned from the mirror and took a slender glass bottle from her dresser. Then, after misting herself with a spritz of her favorite body spray, Melissa took a deep breath, shut her bedroom light and moved to the top of the staircase. Her palms were slick with sweat as she steadied herself and held the railing and descended the steep steps. Her hand squeaked as it traveled the length of the wooden banister.
“Dad!” she called out once at the bottom of the steps.
“In here!” he replied from the family room.
Melissa walked down the short hallway, across the living room and through the dining room before entering the most frequented room in the house.
Her father sat at the wobbly desk that occupied the interior wall just past the entrance to the family room. He was seated in a faux-leather office chair, partially reclined, one hand on the mouse while the other held a can of Budweiser beer. A dual-tone beeping sounded from the computer speakers and alerted him that it was his turn to act in his Internet poker tournament.
“Hey Dad, I’m going,” she began.
“Just a sec, honey, I’m in this hand,” he said distractedly.
“I’m going out with Gabriel. He’ll be here any minute,” Melissa responded impatiently.
Her father slapped his hand down onto the desk, clearly unhappy with the outcome of the hand.
“Dad, focus here. Gabriel will be here any second. Do I look okay?”
“You look fine. Do you have money?”
“Yes Dad.”
“Do you have your phone?”
“Yes.”
“And the pepper spray I got you?”
“Yes Dad. But I highly doubt I’ll need to pepper spray Gabriel.”
“Look, I like the guy as much as a father can like his teenage daughter’s boyfriend, but you never know. After the whole thing with that Anderson clown, I don’t want you taking chances.”
She watched as her father’s face turned an angry scarlet at his mention of Kevin Anderson. He worked to compose himself before chiding, “You’re lucky I don’t tag along as a chaperone,” then smiled impishly.
Melissa leaned down and kissed her father on his smooth-shaven head.
“Bye Dad. Love you.”
“Love you, Missy. Have fun. Be home by midnight.”
“Fine,” she agreed.
With a few moments to spare, she ambled toward the front door.
As she did so, the doorbell chimed.
Melissa nearly sprinted to the front door. She couldn’t manipulate the knob fast enough and nearly cursed before opening the door. When she finally did, Gabriel stood at the threshold.
Even in the shadowy light provided by the exterior fixture, Gabriel was exquisite, his every feature superb. He smiled admiringly at Melissa.
“You look beautiful,” he complimented.
“Thanks. You do, too,” she fumbled then blushed at her gaffe. “I mean, you look great. Come in. I just need to get my jacket.”
Melissa held the door open as Gabriel entered her home. Once he was inside, she walked to the hall closet and snatched her coat from a plastic hanger. Before she maneuvered it on her body, Gabriel took it from her and held it so she could simply slide her arms in the sleeves.
His gesture gave her goose bumps. They covered every part of her skin his hands brushed against; every inch he touched came to life.
“Hey Gabriel,” her father called from the family room, promptly interrupting her multisensory experience.
“Hi Mr. Martin,” Gabriel called back.
“Have fun and be safe. Her curfew is midnight. Not a moment later,” her dad warned.
“Yes sir. She will be home on time. I promise.”
Melissa and Gabriel walked out together to his waiting Ford Explorer in the driveway. The engine was still running. Gabriel opened the passenger side door for Melissa.
“The movie starts in half an hour so we’ll have plenty of time to get our tickets and popcorn and find seats,” Gabriel began.
“I hear this movie is really scary. I just want to warn you, I’m a big chicken when it comes to horror flicks.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” Gabriel offered jokingly.
“You think I’m kidding. The last time I went to the movies with Alex and Melissa, I kept a napkin over my face and peeked out from behind it.”
Gabriel laughed then seemed to notice that Melissa’s expression was earnest.
“If things get too intense, we can leave. I promise. Or we can see another movie if you’d like,” he offered. “I just want you to have a good time.”
“That’s so nice of you, really, but I checked the time clock and the movie is a little less than an hour and a half with credits” she reasoned. “So really, it’ll only be an hour and change of terrifying scenes for me to deal with. I think I’ll manage.”
“Wow. You’ve really got this all worked out,” Gabriel smiled.
“Yep,” Melissa answered touching her index finger to her temple and rolling her eyes. “I’ve got an exceptional mind for planning,” she said mocking herself.
“You’re really silly, has anyone ever told you that?”
“Not recently, not since I was, like, five years old.”
“Well you are; pretty, but silly.”
Melissa’s pulse quicken at the compliment. It didn’t slow until Gabriel pulled onto Route 9 and drove toward the neighboring town of Darling. The movie he and Melissa were to see was playing at the Regal Cinemas at the Darling Galleria.
Turning in to the entrance of the mall, Gabriel asked Melissa “I was thinking, maybe after the movie we could go out for a late dinner. What do you think?”
“That sounds great. Honestly, I was too excited to eat earlier,” Melissa admitted as a crimson flush spread across her cheeks.
“That makes two of us,” Gabriel confessed then reached across the console and took Melissa’s hand in his.
She felt her heart beat wildly and goose bumps dimpling her skin again.
After finding a parking spot, Gabriel and Melissa walked, holding hands, to the theater and bought their tickets. They chose a movie about a young woman who suffers the misfortune of demonic possession.
Nestled in theater seats, they positioned their bodies as closely as possible. With fingers entwined and shoulders touching, the film began. T
errifying and horrific images flashed on the screen from the start. Satanic forces had assumed proprietorship of a teenage girl who went on a ritualistic murdering spree.
Typically, Melissa would have found the movie too intense, too frightening and would have opted to leave. With Gabriel beside her, the focus was not on what was projected but on the person next to her. Melissa could not concentrate on the movie, even if she wanted to, it would have been an impossible feat.
Her insides quivered excitedly as Gabriel’s thumb stroked the soft skin on the underside of her wrist. Melissa longed to feel his lips on hers but intuited that it was not the right moment.
Mercifully, after the opening and closing credits were extracted, the movie was a little more than an hour and a half. Melissa and Gabriel left the cinema with all the other movie-goers and walked out to Gabriel’s Explorer.
“Are you hungry?” Gabriel questioned.
“Amazingly, yes,” Melissa answered.
“And what’s so amazing about that?”
“Well, I can’t imagine how anyone would want to eat after seeing that movie. I mean, the possessed girl ate a human heart for heaven’s sake!” she returned.
“That was pretty gross. I can’t imagine I’ll be eating any rare meat tonight, that’s for sure,” Gabriel joked.
“Yeah, I’m thinking salad or anything without meat for me,” Melissa kidded back.
The drive from the movie theater to a local franchise restaurant opposite the movie theater on Route 9 was short.
As they walked in, Melissa noticed that the restaurant was crowded and very loud. Background music blared and diners were forced to shout conversationally to compensate. The combination was distracting, deafening.
To add to the already suffering ambience, a rowdy group occupied the stools at the bar. A collection of men and women clad in professional attire had assembled for happy hour and remained long after it had ended. Melissa and Gabriel exchanged glances as she silently hoped they would be accommodated far from them.
They were ushered to a table away from the loud group at the bar. Melissa was thankful until she realized their table was in the center of one of three dining areas. After they were seated, the hostess handed them their menus and told them a server would be with them shortly.
Melissa glanced at her wristwatch. Time raced at an unprecedented speed. Two hours into their date, Melissa and Gabriel had yet to spend time alone together. Peeved by this last fact and determined to spend some time talking to Gabriel, she silently vowed to order the simplest to prepare and quickest to consume meal the restaurant offered.
A server arrived and rattled on about drink, appetizer, entrée and dessert offers. Though she recognized that the waiter was doing his job, Melissa wanted to scream. She did not, however, but waited patiently until he finished the specials list before ordering a Caesar salad and diet cola. Gabriel took her cue and ordered the same meal she did.
After meals were served and consumed and the tableware was cleared, Gabriel and Melissa waited impatiently for their bill to arrive. They then paid and left quickly.
Stepping out into the crisp and comparably quiet fall evening, Melissa felt relieved; the best part of their date was before them. As they climbed back into Gabriel’s SUV, though, the clock on the dashboard warned that their time was limited.
Gabriel seemed attuned to their pressing time constraint and did not ask about a future destination. Instead, he drove to the East Fallkill Recreation Center.
Following the familiar long and winding driveway passed tennis courts and baseball fields, a concession building and a football field, Gabriel drove to the exact location Kevin Anderson had taken Melissa to. Instead of being filled with a sense of dread, however, Melissa felt electrified.
“At school, I overheard that this place was pretty quiet, private. I know what most people do when they come here so let me say up front that I am not going to try any of that with you. You have my word,” Gabriel began.
Slightly disappointed, Melissa followed with, “Oh, yeah, of course not.”
“I came here because I want to be alone with you, where it’s quiet and close to your house. If this makes you uncomfortable, we can leave,” Gabriel said sounding nervous.
“No, no. This is fine. I’m fine,” Melissa fumbled. “Actually, I’m better than fine.”
“Me, too,” he agreed. “Oh, and by the way, I set the alarm on my watch so it will beep at ten minutes before midnight. I don’t want to risk bringing you home late for two reasons.”
“And what are they?” she asked playfully.
“First is that frankly, your dad scares me a little. And second, if you were to be late and your dad decided not to kill me, he would definitely ground you and that would ruin our weekend plans.”
“Gotcha,” she asserted.
“Are you sure this is okay, Melissa? Cause if this place freaks you out, we can go.”
“No, really Gabriel, I’m fine. I trust that you’re not going to, like, maul me or something. I mean, considering everything that’s been going on, the only reason I haven’t had a breakdown or something is because of you.”
Melissa blushed deeply at her admission and was thankful for the concealment of night.
Seconds fled into minutes and minutes hurried into an hour as time rushed by. Melissa and Gabriel chatted about everything yet nothing at all. She observed how she was not the only person engrossed in every word being spoken. Gabriel was outwardly intent and focused as well. He seemed to savor the fleeting moments as she did.
As time sped on and midnight fast approached, Gabriel took Melissa’s hand in his and brought it to his lips. Pressing his full, soft lips to the top of her hand, her pulse quickened. Her stomach flipped and stirred and she felt a foreign sensation. She shivered and felt goose bumps emerge on every inch of her skin.
Gabriel brought her hand away from his mouth and rested it on the center console, still enveloped in his.
“Melissa, I feel so much for you,” he confessed. “Feelings I’ve never experienced before, feelings I never knew I had.”
The sincerity of his admission, the unabashed truth of his words made Melissa’s eyes moisten with emotion.
Gabriel continued, “I’ve never loved anyone in my life, Melissa, but I can honestly say that I’m falling for you.”
“I feel the same way,” Melissa said in a voice trembling with affection.
Still holding her hand in his, Gabriel turned to face Melissa. He gently pulled her hand toward him and almost sent her into cardiac arrest as her heart raced madly, uncontrollably. Her mind swam with apprehension. She feared her inexperience would hinder his romantic effort. The thunderous palpitations of her heart did not help matters.
With one hand in hers, Gabriel lifted his other. It trembled slightly as it touched her cheek. Melissa recognized his tremor as nervousness as well. Encouraged, she brought her face closer to his, in expectation. Gabriel tilted his head to one side and slowly moved his lips to meet hers.
As he drew nearer, Melissa felt breathless. She felt the world spinning on its axis. She was lightheaded, giddy as he pressed his lips to hers chastely. His mouth was warm, his lips soft and supple. She delighted in their heat. Her heart continued to pound fervidly, threatened to escape the containment of her ribcage. She was completely unprepared for the euphoric sensation his lips inspired. She felt high in every sense of the word.
Then, with an unceremonious trio of beeps emitted from Gabriel’s wristwatch, Melissa and Gabriel were brusquely reminded of the time.
Their kiss ended. It was time for her to go home.
Unhappily, Melissa accepted that their evening was over as Gabriel turned on the headlamps of his Ford Explorer and began navigating the curved pathway out of the East Fallkill Recreation Center.
The drive lasted less than ten minutes, ample time to deflate the emotions that surged and swelled moments ago. Gabriel turned onto Blackstone Drive before stopping at number fifty. He pulle
d into the driveway and switched off the headlights.
Dreading the valedictory portion of their every encounter was something Melissa had become used to. This night was no exception. In fact, it proved more difficult than usual. They acknowledged their feelings for each other, and sealed them with a singular kiss.
“I guess I have to go in,” Melissa said dejectedly.
“I’ll miss you,” Gabriel affirmed.
“I’ll miss you, too.”
“I’ll call you in the morning. We can talk about our plans for tomorrow night. I was thinking maybe we could just hang out at my house. I can cook you dinner,” Gabriel offered.
With spirits buoyed anew, Melissa smiled at his suggestion. “That sounds like a great idea. I can’t wait. I can make something if you’d like.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’d love the opportunity to showcase my culinary skills…for my girlfriend.”
Melissa took great pleasure in hearing Gabriel refer to her as his girlfriend.
The outside light flickered. Her father was awake and summoning her.
“Looks like I've got to go,” Melissa said as she gestured to the flickering fixture. “My dad is so subtle.”
Gabriel climbed out of the driver’s seat and came around to open the passenger side door for Melissa.
“He just cares about you. And I do too. What I mean to say is,” Gabriel stalled momentarily.
“I love you, Melissa.”
“I love you, too,” she replied suddenly electrified, enlivened.
“Goodnight Melissa”
“Goodnight,” Melissa said and gave Gabriel a peck on the cheek and dashed inside.