Melina hated it. She just hated it when she and Lucia and Nara headed up to the northern region every other week to gather more crap to sell at the store. But she wasn’t about to spend the entire weekend alone, and she knew Lucia wouldn’t want her to either. So she made sure the rat had plenty of food and water and allowed herself to be dragged along on those inevitable antiquing ventures.
It should be Ari and Lucia making this trip right now, she thought miserably to herself. And I should be with Nara until they get back and I get to go home with Ari so we can make a nice dinner together and then fuck like rabbits.
But there she was with Lucia and Nara. And she was bored out of her fucking mind.
As they were dressing and having breakfast the following morning after arriving at the motel, Lucia turned to her and said, “Melina, why don’t you just relax in the hotel room while Nara and I go shopping? That way you can be in a more comfortable place without having to be so bored. You’ve got your laptop so you can do your writing, you’ve got your iPod, so how ‘bout it?”
“That’d be fine with me,” Melina replied.
“Just don’t answer the door without looking through the peephole first. And make sure they identify themselves as hotel staff,” Nara said.
“Yes, boss,” said Melina, taking a bite of her bacon.
“And no loud music either,” added Lucia.
“Yes, boss,” Melina said, bringing a forkful of scrambled eggs to her mouth.
And so Melina spent the majority of the day alone while the others shopped. She did a lot of thinking, too. Maybe too much thinking. She thought about her old life with Ari, then the one before that back in The States. It seemed like they were two separate lives apart from the one she was living now.
That night she lay awake, sandwiched in between Lucia and Nara since they hadn’t been able to get a room with a double bed, and stared at the headlights of passing vehicles that streaked across the ceiling from time to time.
Where were people going at two in the morning? she wondered.
“Got enough room, Sugar Bella?” Lucia asked as Melina got into the seat behind Nara. Nara had insisted upon driving them back home since Lucia had driven them up.
“Yeah, plenty,” Melina answered as she fastened her seatbelt. She looked at the other half of her seat and then behind her. The SUV was packed with a lot of stuff this time around.
“Ok, last call for bathroom stops,” said Nara. “Melina, you feeling ok back there, or do you think you might be sick again?”
“No, I should be done puking for the day, thank you,” said Melina.
Lucia and Nara laughed, but Melina didn’t think it was funny. It wasn’t funny at all. She was knocked up with a madman’s child which was making her sicker and sicker each morning, while she listened to endless chatter from Lucia all about the value of life and how things happened for a reason.
Yeah, right, Melina thought bitterly. I lost my husband and then I got raped because I deserved it. What other plausible explanation could there possibly be?
But for some strange reason, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to book an appointment for an abortion. Her only guess as to why was because Lucia really seemed excited by the idea of them having a child together.
Both Lucia and Nara warned her that carrying the child and especially giving birth to it would be hell, but very worth it in the end. She still wasn’t so sure it would be worth it, but she was also still unsure as to what she wanted to do about it. She only knew she wasn’t supposed to be pregnant now with a kid she was to raise with Lucia. She was supposed to wait a few more years and raise a kid with Ari.
Was this what they meant when they said life wasn’t what people planned it to be?
She listened to her iPod on the drive home and tried to get back into her writing for as long as her laptop’s battery life would allow her to. But it was easier said than done. It seemed all she wanted to do was simply gaze out the window at the passing scenery.
Had Ari enjoyed this picturesque landscape as well?
Ari.
It seemed like she’d been gone forever and it also seemed like just yesterday since she’d seen her smiling face and heard her high-pitched, bubbly laughter. Her voice had always been such a turn-on to her for some reason. It may not have been considered sexy by most, but it had been to her.
And she was still gone… never coming back… never going to speak to her again or laugh with her or smile or…
Melina squeezed back the tears. She hated to remember Ari as much as she longed to think of her and remember their short time together. It only made her miserably depressed.
Forget about her, she tried to urge herself. She’s gone forever, and if you let yourself remember her too often, you’ll only be a sobbing wreck. Ari would want you to move on and get on with your life till you both can be together again on the other side.
But was there an “other side?”
She dozed off wondering about that.
Melina helped Lucia unload the SUV the next day at the store and spent the day helping her with various odds and ends around the place. They worked well together. In some ways, not even she and Ari had made such a good team because Ari was so picky with just about everything. But part of what she had always loved about Lucia was that while Lucia may still not take any shit from anyone and knew when to put her foot down firmly, she was much more relaxed and easygoing than Ari had been. Ari had been the serious type, but Lucia really knew how to laugh and joke and make work a little more interesting.
Later on that night in bed, they spent the last hour of their day cuddling and talking, as usual. Melina was starting to find that she was looking forward to this time of day when they would carry out this little ritual of theirs.
She had never expected any intimacy between them. It was simply something she hadn’t thought of since the loss of Ari. She also assumed that while they may be attracted to each other, it would seem strange to them after starting off as mother and daughter-in-law.
Wouldn’t it?
But that night they didn’t remain what Melina thought would be the world’s only non-intimate couple.
It happened rather suddenly. Lucia managed to get Melina laughing about something and a moment later she pulled her tightly against her. Melina enjoyed the feel of the older woman’s body against hers. Soon their hands began to wander and their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss.
“Are you sure you’re ok with this?” Lucia asked in the darkness.
“I think so,” replied Melina.
“I don’t know much about this woman thing,” Lucia said. “So you’ll have to teach me.”
“There isn’t really anything to teach. Just let it come naturally.”
Melina turned so that her back was against the front of Lucia, then she took Lucia’s hand and guided it down and under the thin fabric of her panties. She placed her fingers on her most sensitive spot and then Lucia took over from there until Melina climaxed for the first time since losing her beloved Ari. She truly never thought she’d feel any such feelings like love, joy, and passion ever again. But there she was, moaning in ecstasy as the spasms rippled throughout her young body.
“Wow,” Lucia said once Melina’s breathing became regular again. “I felt the whole thing. It was amazing how that little spot got bigger and harder and then throbbed as you came. I hope it was good for you.”
“It was very nice.”
“So I did a good enough job then?”
“You must have. I came, didn’t I?”
“And I hope to have that honor many more times, Princess Melina.”
The following Thursday night Melina and Lucia met Nara at a restaurant they went to every few months or so which had a good selection of both Italian and American food.
“I’m sick of Italian food,” Melina complained.
Lucia laughed as Nara said, “Well, you’re in Italy. What do you expect, Chinese?”
“Actually, yes. That would be wonderful,” Melina said in a snobby tone.
“Ah, the pickiness and moodiness of the impregnated,” said Lucia.
“Yeah, I remember what it was like,” said Nara.
“At least you planned yours,” Melina snapped.
“No, I didn’t, Meli,” said Nara.
Melina was surprised. “You didn’t?”
“No, I was fifteen, remember? That’s not usually something you plan at that age.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forget how young you were.”
“They do have seafood here,” Lucia said.
“At least the whole day hasn’t gone down the shitter.”
“Hey, come on. Watch your mouth, will you?” said Nara.
“Yes, boss, though I doubt anyone who may’ve overheard me knows what I said,”
“That’s what you probably thought when you didn’t see me come up behind you in school when you were trying to explain to Ariella that you needed to borrow her effing computer for a few minutes before you knew enough Italian to get your point across.”
Melina almost spit a mouthful of soda out as the memory of that day caused her to crack up with laughter.
Even Lucia and Nara laughed at that point, happy to see Melina laughing once again after being so depressed for so long.
“So what happened with the lady you were seeing?” Lucia asked Nara a short while later as they were enjoying their appetizers.
“We just didn’t work out.”
“And the guy before her?”
“We didn’t work out either.”
“Maybe you just need a hermaphrodite or a transvestite then,” said Melina.
“Yeah, that’s something you would say, Melina,” Nara said with a flash of a sarcastic smile.
Lucia simply smiled and shook her head with amusement, then said, “The last guy seemed kind of shy from what little I saw of him.”
“Yeah, and I’ve had it with the shy guy shit. They’re no fun. Especially in the bedroom.”
“Watch your mouth,” Melina mocked.
“There you go,” said Lucia. “You just need to get yourself an aggressive man. That’ll really liven things up for you.”
“Why not just stay alone forever?” Melina offered.
Lucia laughed and Nara flashed another one of her sarcastic smiles in Melina’s direction.
“On the subject of computers,” began Nara, “I just got a new laptop, but I’m having trouble loading some software and things like that. Think you could come over and help me out some time, Melina?”
“Yeah, I could do that.”
“In fact, I was thinking that while it may never be like before, maybe you could spend the weekend hanging out with me for old-time’s sake.”
“Ok,” said Melina. “When?”
“Well,” Nara said, glancing from her mother to Melina, “would Saturday be ok? I thought I could pick you up late in the morning and bring you back late Sunday afternoon.”
“Sure. We could do that as long as Lucia doesn’t need me around for anything.”
“I always need you around,” Lucia said with a wide smile, “but I can stand to let you go for a day, my dear one.”
The truth, however, was that she was not at all happy with the idea of Melina spending the weekend with Nara. An occasional weekend was better than her always being with Ariella, but she still didn’t like it. After all, hadn’t that been the whole point of killing Ariella in the first place?
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