Calling Home (open)

Saturday, beach trip, after breakfast

Melissa had woken up to the sound of the girls getting ready for breakfast and just stared up at the ceiling. Not moving or saying anything, not really wanting to get up and face the day or, more like, get up and face Doug. After a few minutes, she rolled over and grabbed her phone from out of her backpack on the floor next to her. There were already 5 messages from him and she sighed. Texted him back that she was going to take a shower and would meet him downstairs in an hour, then looked at the time. It wasn’t going to take her an hour to get ready but she needed to do something first.

She went to the bathroom, got a shower, dressed, did her hair. That took about 20 minutes as she was timing herself carefully so she would have time. By the time she got back to the room, all the other girls were gone, perfect. She pulled out her phone again and tapped on the number. It rang once, twice then a male voice that sounded a little scratchy, like he had been awake but was working on his first cup of morning coffee, said. “Hey, Mel.”

“Hi,” The girl returned the greeting. “I didn’t wake you, did I?

“Nah, I’ve been up a little while. Getting together to play soccer with some friends,” The boy paused. “What’s up? I mean I’m happy to hear from you, but, aren’t you supposed to be on a beach trip or something.”

“I am.” She paused. “Can’t I just call my older brother to say hi?”

“Well, of course, you can but it’s not even 9 AM, on a Saturday.” She heard him say.

Melissa’s older brother Adrian was two years older than her, a junior. He was the Morrison’s biological son and the two of them had formed almost an instant bond when she first arrived at their house when she was eight. He had the patience of a saint, which, at times in the past had been a saving grace for her. He had helped her through a lot. While Mel was close to her sister Valerie; Valerie and she had a bond over shared experiences. For being related; the two had little in common and Valerie had her own issues to deal with because of what had happened to both of them as children. Melissa never wanted to burden Valerie with things but her older brother she could always talk to and it had gotten to the point where he knew her pretty well.

“I just …” What could she say? That she had screwed up, again? As much as the abuse wasn’t her fault; it hadn’t been that much of a push for Doug to convince her it was.

“Why don’t we just talk?” Adrian said. She could tell he knew something was wrong but he also knew not to pressure her. “So, how is it? How’s the beach?

“The school is really nice. I’ve met some pretty cool people here.” She sounded like she was giving a report. “The beach is great. They have their own private beach and their own beach houses.”

“Well, damn. Maybe, I should transfer schools.” He joked.

That got Melissa to breathe a laugh and smile’ maybe the first real smile she had had in days. “Seriously, I ...uh… am getting used to it, I suppose.”

“Uh, huh.” Her brother’s way of saying, yeah, right. So, Melissa decided to change the subject.

“So, is Val there?” She wouldn’t mind saying hi to her older sister while she was on the phone.

“She’s out shopping with Mom. Back to school, stuff.” He said. “She has a date tonight.”

“A date? Really?” It wasn’t that her sister couldn’t get a date but Valerie was very introverted. ‘With who?”

“His name is Jeff. He’s a new kid. He moved to that house across the street that the Miller’s used to live in.” Adrian went on to explain. “He seems really nice. He’s all into books and science.”

“Sounds like a perfect match.” Melissa was happy for her sister but she felt a twinge in her gut at the same time.

“So, are we going to not talk about why you really called?” Adrian asked her.

“I….I just wanted to say hi.” She sighed. “And don’t ‘uh, huh’ me, again.”

“Well, I don’t believe you but when you’re ready to talk you know I’m always here for you, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” She spoke softly. “I have to go get breakfast.”

“I’ll talk to you later, sis.”

“Bye, Adrian”

With that, she pulled herself together and went to meet Doug. Breakfast was uneventful. Melissa barely said anything and mostly picked at her food but she ate some, enough, and downed about 3 coffees in the process.

On the way out of breakfast, Doug was stopped by one of the chaperones. He and a few of the football players, really Doug’s entourage, were given the keys to one of the school trucks and sent back to the school for a few supplies that were needed for tonight. Doug had no choice but to agree and he couldn’t insist on taking Mel along because that would have looked strange. So, acting like a concerned boyfriend, he asked what she would be doing. She said she was thinking about helping the theater kids out and he was good with that. Really, he wanted to know where she would be and that was his way of telling her she had permission to do what she said without it being obvious but Melissa got it.

With Doug gone she took a deep breath and headed over to where the setup and such were going on. She said a quick hello to Courtney, who seemed to be busy fixing something but then kept walking. It wasn’t long before one of the cheerleaders called her over. “Mel, Hey. Can you help us over here?” Melissa nodded and set off working.