It's Easy to Make Things Complicated

[Melanie Lusner]

Melanie sat at the desk in her room, scribbling on a paper quietly. She was trying to get a head start on a project for her Calc class. Techno music bubbled through the ear buds in her ears as she worked continuously. Her room was calm, as there was no one else there. At least for the time being.

She barely heard the soft knock on her door. It was only because the song just ended, and there was a brief silent pause between the next songs. Melanie wouldn’t have heard it otherwise. She unplugged her iPod to turn it off and answer the door.

It opened to reveal a smiling Damien. His expression was gentle and sincere. “Hey, Mel,” he greeted.

She grinned back. “Hi.”

“Whatcha’ up to?”

“I was working on a project in my downtime,” replied Melanie.

“Oh,” he answered. “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to walk with me, but if you’re busy that’s totally fine.”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll go with you. I need a break anyway. I shouldn’t be working on vacation; this isn’t due for weeks.” Damien grinned happily.

“Great. Grab your coat?” She did, and then he crooked an arm so that she could hook hers into it. They walked down the hall in silence until they reached the door out.

“So… I was with your brother yesterday,” he began.

“Was he okay?”

“Yeah. Well… he was sad. Like always.” Melanie sighed but had to agree.

“Do you know why?”

“At first it was because he felt he had no purpose, and that his ‘life was going downhill’. Then I mentioned Jade and he got worse.”

“It kinda makes me sad, too,” she murmured. “They’d be so much happier…” Melanie trailed off.

“I know. He told me that it had to be this way because he was afraid he’d damage something that they already had. Then he said that even if she felt the same, he wouldn’t want to risk hurting her. Jared really cares for Jade. To the point where he’ll let himself be miserable if he thinks it’ll make her happy.” Light snow began to fall again outside where they walked.

“She means a lot to him,” mumbled Melanie. “I mean, I’d give anything to have something like that. Love someone the same way.” Damien was quiet now, and all that could be heard was their footsteps in the snow.

[Damien Grace]

Damien knew the feeling. Sometimes he wondered if he’d ever find anyone like that. In the end, he’d just accept that he’d have Melanie, and that was always good enough. Melanie was his best friend.

She interrupted his train of thought. “Where are you taking us?”

“Huh? Oh….” Damien looked around. “This way.” He steered her to the left. Soon they came upon a snowy clearing, surrounded by birch and pine trees.

The area couldn’t be seen from the resort because it was so far away, and you wouldn’t be able to find it on your own unless you knew where you were going. The trees shaded the ground from heavy snowfall, so it was covered in only a thin crunchy layer, and a bench, miraculously untouched by the frost, sat under one of the birches.

By now, the snow had stopped falling, and the air was quiet except for maybe a few birds and slight wind. Melanie went to sit on the bench, and he followed her.

“Damien?” she asked quietly.

“Hmm?”

“Do you think that Jared’s going to be okay?” Melanie’s voice was small, and she sounded afraid. It broke his heart so much that he didn’t want to answer.

“I don’t know,” he murmured gently. “I honestly don’t know.” Melanie frowned and pulled her coat tighter around herself. Damien knew it wasn’t the answer she wanted, but he had to be honest with her. It was what she needed.

Melanie leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of her body on his. It was nice. It was nice to be with Melanie today.

[Melanie Lusner]

She wasn’t sure if she liked Damien being honest with her or not. The truth hurts, that’s for sure. Being a Sheer, you had to learn that quickly.

Laying her head on Dey’s shoulder calmed her. Melanie could feel the slow rise and fall of his shoulders when he breathed. It was gentle and soothing. There was a long silence before someone spoke again. She wondered what Damien was thinking about. He was so reserved sometimes that it was difficult to tell.

He finally spoke, but in a whisper. “Mel?” She looked to him, but he didn’t look back. He didn’t even say anything else. Melanie was about to ask him what he wanted to say, but he turned to her at that moment.

Damien’s blue-green eyes stared into hers, revealing something she hadn’t noticed before. Curiosity. He was looking at her funny, like he hadn’t ever before. And then that’s when her best friend did something that she never saw coming. Something she’d always remember.

Damien cupped a hand on the side of her face and kissed her. The kiss was short because after a few seconds, he pulled away suddenly, staring at her with a look of incredulity. He began stuttering.

“I...I’m sorry. I sh-shouldn’t have—” Melanie understood his curiosity then. She felt it, too. So she interrupted his sputtering by wrapping her arms around him and kissing him back.

She felt snow falling on her hair again. Melanie found it terribly cliché, until she remembered that there were enough trees here to shield her from any snow falling. So what was…? It was Damien. As they were kissing, it began snowing just above them only. His powers were betraying him once again.

They were kissing for a long time. It registered in her mind that she was making out with her best friend. Did… did she love him? Melanie wasn’t sure now. She was confused, but happy, but disoriented all at the same time.

This time Damien pulled away slowly. He had an incredulous look on his face again. Melanie had a small smile on hers. “I think…,” he started. “I-I don’t know. I think I might be in love with you.”

[Damien Grace]

Damien felt so confused. He didn't know what was right anymore. Melanie just stared at the ground, looking as disoriented as he felt.

"Jared is going to kill me," she murmured quietly.

"Kill you? He'll murder me first." Damien frowned. Jared never let any guy near his little sister. The only reason why he could, was because Jared trusted him.

"We... we could just not tell him." Melanie met his eyes now. "We don't have to tell Jared."

"And keep this a secret? I don't know if that's safe," he mumbled the last sentence.

"If Jared refuses to tell Jade how he feels, than I don't see anything wrong with hiding this from him." Melanie had a bit of a point, even if it was a little crazy. There was no telling what would happen if they got caught.

"O-Okay. We should... we should probably get back to the resort." Melanie nodded, and they both stood up. It was getting late. They'd probably be having dinner soon.

It difficult to distract his mind on the way back. All Damien could think of was this secret that they now had. What if Jared found out? They were still good friends, so he couldn't be that mad, could he?

It was just so easy to make things complicated.