Page 45 of Defended
Part of him was worried about jumping in too deep too quickly. Especially because he knew he had a little bit of White Knight syndrome. But he liked swooping in to the rescue... as long as it was merited, appreciated, and not being used to manipulate him.
He studied Melody's text. It didn't seem like she was fishing for an invitation over.
This morning they'd decided to see each other next week, but...
Do you want to go home after you're done? I don't have plans this evening if you'd like to have dinner with me instead.
Kawan looked at the message for a long moment before hitting send. When he did, he felt almost defiant, although the only person he was defying was himself. He wanted to shield her from her roommate. That was a good impulse to have. It was also the kind of thing that had let his last girlfriend manipulate and take advantage of him.
But if he had never met Krissy, he would have had no problem extending the invitation.
And Melody wasn't Krissy.
Thank you, but I should go home after this. Hopefully she'll have cooled off and we can actually talk.
He hoped for her sake that was true. This was better anyway.
Okay, sweetheart. Please call me if you need anything though.
I will! Thank you.
And that was that.
He ignored the small niggle inside of him that wanted to push for more immediately. They'd talk more this week, and then he'd see her again next weekend, and that would have to be enough for now.
In the meantime, he'd buy some things for their next scene. There were a lot of different ways to be a little and a Daddy, and he wanted to give her more of a taste than he'd been prepared to last night.
* * *
All the way home,Melody ran through all the rebuttals she had for Peggy's arguments. A lot of them narrowed down to 'I appreciate your concern, but this is what I want, so you need to accept it,' because Peggy didn't get a say in her sex life or who she dated, damn it.
While yes, she wanted her friends to like her boyfriend... well, the truth was right now Peggy was basically her only close friend and Peggy could be abrasive. Unwelcoming to new people. The one time Melody had tried to bring Lisa home from the lab for dinner, thinking that maybe the three of them could hang out, it had turned into the most awkward, quiet dinner ever. Lisa and Melody had both tried, but afterwards Peggy had told Melody that she didn’t like Lisa at all and didn’t want her to come over again. And that had been that, because Melody felt like Peggy should feel comfortable in her own home.
She tried to remember the last time she'd been out on a date. It had been a while. Another grad student she'd met at a conference... Chad. They'd gone out to dinner last year. Peggy hadn't seemed to have an opinion one way or another about the guy. But it hadn't lasted past two dates either, so she hadn't had much of a chance to.
There just hadn't been enough of a spark for them to try to make time for each other. They'd planned to go on a third date but they couldn't find a day that worked for both of them and then the texts had fizzled out. Melody didn't consider it ghosting, more like the slow withdrawal and eventual death of a relationship that never was.
But with Kawan, she felt the spark that she and Chad hadn’t had. She wanted tomaketime for him.
Right now she really wished she were on her way to his house to have dinner and then see what happened next. She had a feeling that would just make everything worse with Peggy though. Despite the fact that she wasn't a confrontational person, outright avoidance of conflict never solved anything.Especially if she avoided Peggy in favor of a guy.
Chicks before dicks though. Sort of. She wasn’t going to end things with Kawan just to make Peggy happy, but she wasn’t going to neglect Peggy for Kawan either. That was the compromise she’d decided on while she was in the lab today.
Her hands were shaking a little as she unlocked the door. She really did hate confrontations. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and walked in. And blinked. There was a pile of clothes in the middle of the main room.Herclothes.
“Peggy?” Melody’s voice was shriller than usual as confusion and a touch of anger swirled around inside of her. What was Peggy doing dumping all of her clothes in the middle of the room?
Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn, and she saw Peggy coming out of Melody’s room, a box in her arms. There was an odd expression on her face, challenging, but also almost gleeful. Unlike Melody, Peggy seemed to relish confrontations. She didn’t say anything though, just walked down the hallway, box in her arms, eyes on Melody’s face. Anxiety rippled and Melody’s stomach churned.
“What is all this?” Melody finally asked, gesturing at her clothes. She clenched her jaw against her anger, keeping her voice reasonable.
“I’m helping you out,” Peggy said. Malice threaded her voice as she reached Melody and dropped the box between them, like a barrier. It hit the ground with a clatter and Melody automatically looked down. Her chest tightened when she saw familiar frames and trinkets piled inside of it.Herphoto frames and trinkets. “If you’re going to date a pedophile, I don’t feel safe living with you. You’re out.”
Melody’s head jerked up as she looked at her best friend, the woman she’dthoughtwas her best friend, in utter shock. “You can’t kick me out!”
“I damn well can.” Peggy’s face was hard, but it softened just a little as she looked at Melody, her voice turning coaxing. “You don’t have to go though… just don’t date that creep, and you can stay. It’s that easy.”
Emotions bubbled inside Melody, a chaotic mix that made all of this feel very surreal. She reached for the arguments she’d prepared, even though this wasn’t at all how she’d expected their conversation to go. “You don’t get to choose who I date, Peggy.”
