Chapter 13
“Wow.”
“Is that a good wow or a bad wow?” I asked in anticipation. I had just come out of the bathroom. I had dried and straightened my hair, put on makeup, and while Isaac was in the shower, I had successfully found a killer outfit in the store across the street. It was pretty simple: A long, light yellow skirt with tiny white flowers on it that had long slits on both sides, teamed with a little tight white sweater. I had found a fake daisy and put it in my half-up hair to finish it all off.
“That is a wonderful wow. You look gorgeous,” Isaac got up and kissed both my cheeks, smiling.
“Well, we’d better go so we won’t be late,” I suggested, blushing slightly.
We quickly exited and hurried to the parking lot to retrieve the car. On the way there, I remembered again that it was my birthday, and without even getting presents or just a simple “Happy Birthday” it was already the best birthday of my life and it wasn’t even over yet. When we got to Medieval Times, we hurried in where we had about 10 minutes to mill around. I looked at the merchandise they had and pointed out the daisy headband. I thought about buying it but after learning that it was “only 14.99” I decided it was too rich for my blood. Isaac whispered to me that he had to go to the restroom and left for a few minutes while I watched these two little girls crowning and re-crowning each other princesses. When Isaac came back, they called for the people carrying the yellow cards to enter the jousting court.
“This is so neat already!” I said excitedly as we were led to second row seats in front of a pit filled with fog. The workers who were all dressed in what looked like authentic medieval styles had already entranced me.
Twenty minutes after entering, we were served bread and soup as the night began. We watched as our night came out. He was a gothic looking man of about 20, dressed in elaborate yellow clothes and on a horse covered in a yellow material.
The whole show was entrancing. Our knight won contest after contest and won a pink carnation in each. The first carnation was given to me and Isaac whispered to me that he was jealous. I just winked at the knight and told him he should be. Later, after we had eaten most of our meal, what looked like the “King’s messenger” came up to us.
“M’Lady, the King has invited you and your guest to join us in his quarters. You have been chosen to become the princess for the night,” he said to me in an old British accent.
“What do I have to do?”
“Just follow me,” he took my hand and helped me up and then led me to the front of the court where the “King’s quarters” were. There, the King and Queen greeted us.
“So you’re our special princess. Well, here’s what we’re going to do,” the King started to explain. He told me that in a few minutes--after the jousting--I would be led out onto the floor where I would be made a princess and then give a kiss to the winning knight. Soon, it was time to go, but the Queen stopped me before I left.
“What is a princess without her flowers?” she smiled, removing the paper crown from my head and replacing it with the dried daisy crown I had seen before. I smiled and thanked her before being led out onto the floor by one of the other knights. I noticed Isaac had disappeared and I guessed that they had given him a different role. Suddenly the announcer started speaking.
“Tonight, the lucky knight will be privileged with the prize of a kiss from the lovely princess Melody! But first, she has to look like a princess, doesn’t she?”
The crowd answered back with a roar of “Yes!” and a lady came out with a scepter, and another crown. She took the daisies from my head and replaced it with a fake diamond tiara and handed me the scepter.
“Now! Will the Yellow Knight please approach?” the announcer pointed at the gothic man and he headed towards us. “A kiss on the cheek is more than enough prize to risk your life so, isn’t it? Anyway, on with it!”
I laughed a little and gave the very handsome man a kiss on his cheek and he thanked me quietly and told me I made a wonderful princess.
“And now for one last surprise!” I heard the announcer, but I didn’t see him. I looked around and I was alone in the spotlight. I couldn’t see anything but the light shining in my eyes and what was in the light, which was me. Then, suddenly, Isaac appeared, smiling, microphone in hand.
“Melody Wilson, you are the most beautiful princess of all, and what I’d really like to say to you is Happy 18th birthday. You deserve the best,” he smiled when the surprise washed over my face. I leaned over and hugged him.
“You mean this is all your doing?”
“Yep, I knew it was your birthday all day, so I arranged this,” he smiled.
“Thank you very much. Both of you have shared a beautiful moment with us all. And thank you all for coming to Medieval Times!”
With that the lights went out and Isaac and I were rushed off the floor. Once in the backstage area, I was greeted with a round of “Happy Birthday” from the whole cast. Then, each gave me a hug and congratulated me for becoming 18. I thanked them all and then turned to Isaac who I kissed passionately.
I tried to think of something wonderful to say. Something that would echo in his mind and make him think. But as the tears came to my eyes, I forced out the only words that came to mind.
“Thank you.”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
After I had officially “Thanked” Isaac later that night with a few kisses, we fell asleep in each other’s arms. When I woke up the next morning, I already had something on my mind. I looked up and saw Isaac was already awake and watching me sleep.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Hey.”
“Isaac, I was just thinking,” I started.
“Thinking! You just woke up and you’re already thinking! Man, I’ve been awake 10 minutes and I’m not even thinking yet,” he laughed.
“Well, I’m smarter than you,” I kidded. “Anyway, I was thinking that we hadn’t made the most important call of all. The most difficult call.”
I saw Isaac’s face try to deny it, but his eyes wouldn’t lie. He knew what I was about to say.
“We have to make the call to Jake,” I said quickly. Isaac rolled over and started to leave the bed. “No, Isaac, we have to do it and you know it. There’s no getting around it. I’m going to have to face the music and you’re going to have to explain what you’re doing. We have to do this, and I don’t even want to wait another minute. It’s 10:00 right now, so we should call. He’ll already be at work.”
“Fine,” he agreed finally. I nodded and went over to the phone. After taking a deep breath, I dialed the office.
“Hello?” Jake sounded gruff and angry. Not the kind of guy I particularly wanted to deal with, but it sounded better than homicidal.
“Jake?”
“Melody Wilson, where the hell are you?”
Hello, homicidal.
“Jake, before you get too upset, please listen,” I started, but was cut off when he started yelling.
“Melody, I’ve had to turn away six groups! SIX! Because I have no clue as to where a lot of the equipment is and how to use part of it! I can’t find the files, the bills are rolling in and I don’t know how to get to the money! I’m screwed and in shit about up to my neck and you’re saying not to get upset?”
“Jake! Stop now or I will hang up right now,” I waited as he got quiet, yet he was still grumbling. “Now listen. For the past two weeks, I was torn away from my only love other than music: Isaac. I tried it your way, now I’m trying it mine. Isaac and I love each other and we are both of legal age.”
“That’s why you’re not here!?” Jake yelled again and I could almost see his blood pressure rising.
“Stop it Jake! Yes, that’s why I ran away! You tried to take away my happiness and it almost killed me. I was almost suicidal because of your ‘policy’ about no love in the workplace. I had to break up with the most wonderful guy I had ever met because you thought it would hurt the business and then I had to lie about why I did it! You hurt me, you hurt Isaac, and you hurt every person that had to be around me for those two weeks. To prove to you that I will never, ever take that kind of crap from you again, I ran away.”
“Ran away?” he snickered. “What kind of stupid-ass, immature, selfish action is that?”
“The kind that got your attention, Jake,” I said quickly. “I do have your full attention, don’t I?”
“Yes,” came his grave reply.
“Now listen. I love Isaac so much that I am willing to give up the partnership. I’m willing to throw it away because I know that Isaac and I have something special that could last. Maybe not, but that’s beside the point. I don’t know exactly what will happen to him and me, but I do know that I can’t just let your stupid-ass idea ruin something that could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime relationship,”
I paused and looked at Isaac and he took the phone quickly, having listened on the speaker the whole time, and spoke, “And if you can’t accept that, not only do you lose Melody, you lose me, Taylor, Zac, and most importantly, your business. What you did is not only wrong but also against the law and I will help Melody to prosecute it.”
There was a long pause where I heard nothing from the speaker and then suddenly a long sigh. “Oh God. What have I done?” he mumbled. “I’ve wrecked everything.”
“Yes sir, you have, and if you don’t do anything about it, everyone and their grandmothers will sue you until you owe them more money than you could earn in 1000 years,” Isaac threatened.
“I will....I’ll fix it, somehow,” he cleared his throat and coughed a bit before going on, “Can I talk to Melody?”
“She’s listening,” Isaac replied coldly.
“Melody, please forgive me. I guess I only did this because, well, because I kind of had a crush on you myself. Don’t get me wrong--not as a lover, but as a friend and in a fatherly way. I was so impressed by you and everything you could do at half my age. You have done so many things for me and I repay you by trying to be too protective. I guess just wanted the best for you and with the musicians I’ve seen, I was scared you’d get hurt. I guess if you love Isaac, though, I can trust you to make your own decisions. Please, please consider coming back.”
“I’ll consider it Jake, but I’m not promising anything. I’ll call you back in a couple of weeks. Consider this my vacation,” I smiled and then hung up without saying goodbye.
“You did good, Mel. I’m so proud of you,” Isaac smoothed back my hair.
“Me? You’re the one scaring the crap out of him! I’m so impressed Mr. Tough Guy!” I laughed. “Hey, Disney World is open. Whaddya say we get dressed and go and visit Mickey Mouse?”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
i have a healthy dose of mail, but I can always use much, much more...
Chapter 14
Chapter Index