Run After Melody

You momentarily consider kicking Keith in his balls, but you don't have the time to get into it right now. You need to chase down your **** friend before she does something stupid. With one last glare, you run toward the doorway, listening to Keith's annoying laughter as you do. Before you leave, you whip around. "Hey, cunt stain!" You shout. The entire bar turns to look at you, including Keith. You point at the douche bag. "Max Headroom called. He wants his fucking hairdo back." You flip him the bird with both hands, then rush out the door after your friend.

The rain has thankfully subsided at some point since you left the dorm. This is especially fortunate, as you left your umbrella back in the bar. You can't go back for it now, though, so you turn toward the direction you originally came from. Sure enough, Melody is running along the sidewalk, stumbling a bit as she tries to maintain a straight line. She is not doing a very good job of it, so you catch up with her pretty easily.

"Melody!" You yell as you close in on her. "Wait up!" She seemingly doesn't hear you (or she is purposely ignoring you) and presses forward. This time, however, she catches her foot on an uneven piece of the sidewalk. Unable to properly balance herself, she stumbles forward several steps in an effort to delay the inevitable. Thankfully, you are close enough to grab hold of her arm, but her forward momentum proves to be too much to stop. The best you can do is twist her toward the relatively soft grass to your left so she doesn't eat a face full of pavement. it works, but you cannot let go of her arm in time to save yourself and she pulls you down onto the grass with her, landing with a pair of wet splats.

"Ugh, gross." You grimace as you realize your shirt and pants are covered in mud and grass clippings. You slowly turn to look at Melody who is just lying on the ground motionless. "Melody?" You ask as you reach out and grab her shoulder "Are you okay?" She responds sharply and violently by wrenching her shoulder away from your hand.

"Go away." She hisses angrily. "Jus' leave me alone, okay?"

"C'mon, Melody." You try to comfort her. "It's just me, okay?"

"Thass the problem!" She exclaims and she whips around to glare at you. Then her anger dies in to sadness and she buries her face in her hands. "I dunna want anyone to see me like this. Ex-pecialy not you."

"You don't have to put up a wall with me. You know that." You move back to her and slowly, carefully draw her into a hug. She tenses up, but doesn't push you away. You momentarily forget the gross wet mud coating both of you as you hold her close.

"...Yer not suppos'd to see me cry..." She mumbles into your shoulder. Her arms slowly raise up and wrap lightly around your torso. "I'm notta little girl..."

"You don't have anything to prove to me." You tell her simply. After a moment, she stops fighting you and just nods.

"I'm sorry ya gotta put up wit my drunk ass." She apologizes, wiping away some tears with your shirt.

"At least it's an adorable ass." You joke, hoping it's not too soon. Thankfully, it's not and she laughs a bit with you. The sound of her laughter is like music to your ears and a panacea to your soul. "How do you feel?"

"Still tipsy. Kinda muddy." She responds. "Did you hafta toss me into biggest mud puddle you could find? I'm not gonna wrestle fer your amusement, ya know."

"A momentary oversight." You promise her. You disconnect from the hug and stand up on your feet. You offer the redhead a hand and she gladly accepts it as you help her up. "C'mon, let's get out of here."