Appledale

"Hello Again"

Melanie's voice, soft-spoken and normally pleasant to listen to, pierced Davids ears as he slowly turned around to face her. It had been three years since David laid eyes on Melanie Howard. All the memories he'd long ago blocked away in his subconscious suddenly reemerged with full force the second he saw her standing in the doorway of his dining room, tucking and errant hair behind her ear.

A few people from the party seemed to feel the tension that had suddenly bubbled up. Some waked to another area of the house, while three party-goers had their eyes focused straight on David, gauging his reaction to the unexpected guest. These three were Chelsea Russell, her sister Alyse, and David's childhood friend Peter Morris. All three knew why this moment was tense and surprising to their host, and all three's emotions fell somewhere between shock and amusement at the scene they were witnessing

In what seemed more like 3 hours than 3 seconds, David responded to Melanie's greeting. "Hello Melanie, you were the last person I expected to see tonight, but I'm sure you knew that..." He mumbled it more to himself than to his visitor. They both looked each other over, noticing the subtle differences three years had made. David had laugh lines around his eyes, and the sun-bleached blonde throughout his caramel colored hair had faded, showing once again he was no longer the laid back beach bum she once knew. Her first realization of that was his new address, in the prominent Appledale community. His place was large and his car new. David noticed that the once stick-thin Melanie had grown into her 5'8" frame. Instead of all knees and freckles, she had a curvy body and makeup on her face in place of the slight sunburn and deep tan she used to wear. His brother had been right, she would only get better with age. Thinking of his brother brought a sharp pang of nostalgia and grief, so he quickly looked towards his three nosy friends to help ease the situation.


David's friends graciously rescued him from the disaster that inevitably would have taken place had he and Melody started a real conversation. They bombarded her with “How are you's?” and asking what had she been doing all this time. Melody knew what they were doing, but it almost relieved her, prolonging the discussion she would have to have by the end of the night. Plus, it wasn't just David Cabot whom she hadn't seen in three years, but her other friends as well. At one time Alyse Russell and herself had been very close, and to talk to her again gave her nerves a tiny bit of relief.

“I couldn't believe it when you walked in the door. You look gorgeous!” Alyse said while guiding Melody from the entryway of the house to the backyard patio where only two other people lingered. Alyse looked to see the couple's identity and decided they were invested enough into their own conversation that she could say whatever she needed to.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Melody laughed. “I know I can't believe I'm here either.”

Her friend smiled and obviously wasn't satisfied with that and sat waiting for more.

“A lot has changed in three years and yet it hasn't. I ran away and have always felt drawn back here, it's just something I needed to do before I drove myself insane with asking 'what if' and wondering about all of you, especially David."

“He was a mess for awhile. Some of us actually thought about contacting his parents back in Massachusetts but he got a little better and then one day, it was like he became a different man. Buried himself in work and he became a big success.”

“What does he do now? Obviously surf lessons didn't pay for all this.” Melody guestured to the large house and even larger backyard. They sat on the balcony in cushy chairs surrounding a large tone table. It was later in the evening without much lighting, but Melody could see beyond the large pool just a few feet away. There was a huge area of land with tree after tree, undisturbed, which was a luxury for this part of the state.

“He took over John's business.” Alyse said softly, knowing that was a sore subject.

“Oh” Melody replied a little dazed, her hands trembling a little when she set down her wine glass.


After a few moments of silence, Melody smiled at Alyse, a small sign to show that she was okay, trying to bring back the light mood again, “Who knew David would be a successful businessman? I guess when you think about it, he was always able to get people to take lessons from him instead of the hotels, great charisma. I guess now he's just focused on making money instead of finding a way to be near the ocean at all times."

Alyse laughed, telling Melody just how well David was doing. “It's amazing, he took a semi-successful business and turned it into a powerhouse. He makes much more money tan he lets on. He has vacation homes everywhere. Everywhere. Melody was pleasantly amused even though she never imagined David as a rich businessman, she was happy for him. He deserved it.

----

Alyse, who was a carefree young woman when Melody knew her still appeared to have that same spirit, but she too seemed a part of this community. Her blonde hair was perfectly disheveled, still wearing “Hippie” clothes, but these were bought in a high end shop, not a salvage from a thrift store. She had a ring on her finger, and seemed very happy. As the hours went on they sat outside as Alyse updated Melody on her life, telling her about her new husband Alex who swept her off her feet when she went back to college, and about her sculpting, which she always loved to do and now devotes herself full time. Alyse was careful to keep the topic on herself, she wasn't ready to upset her old friend, and she was afraid of what she might hear, because of the effects it could have on David.

It wasn't too much longer when they noticed the party had dwindled considerably. Taking a final sip from her wine glass, Melody gave her friend a forced smile. “Well, I guess I can't stall any longer. I'll be in town for awhile so I'll see you again.” They exchanged phone numbers and hugs before Alyse went searching for her belongings. Melody rubbed her palms together and tried to blame the shiver that went down her spine on the weather. It was 80°.

“Ya know, you could have called. I would have made less of an ass out of myself.” David whined as he closed the back door. Melody had been looking out at the backyard and turned around with a smile.

“When did I ever make things easy for you?”.

“True”. He said it with a resigned sigh but his face held a grin.