8:23 p.m
Jeffery's Skating Ring

"Can I get an order of chili and cheese fries. With a burger and a large drink." Melanie ordered gripping the counter for dear life. She didn't understand why she agreed to come skating with the rest of the crew, but here she was trying not to embarrass herself. Especially not in front of all the male workers running the kitchen.

"And what's your drink?" He asked grabbing the large cup from the bottom. Something Melanie silently thanked him for. She had a hatred for people who touched the rim of your cup. She just felt it was dirty for you to place your hand where someone's mouth may go possibly.

"A Dr.Pepper." She answered fingers slipping a little. Taking one of her skates she scooted it completely until she heard it hit the wall. This should hold her until it was time to get her food.

Filling the cup to the brim the anonymous guy topped her drink and handed it to her, but not before repeating her order. "So that's a chili and cheese fry, a burger, and a large drink." He started looking up at Mel from the register.

"Yep." She answered again giving him a fake smile.

"$9.43."

Reaching into her back pocket Melanie pulled out a wrinkled ten dollar bill that she had found in her car earlier. At first she decided that she wouldn't eat at the skating ring, but Melanie doubted that. The moment she smelt the food she already had planned in her head what she was going to order.

Handing her back fifty-seven cent Melanie rolled over to the pick up window and waited. There were a few people sitting in the dinning area, conversing and eating. Out the corner of her eye Melanie could see a young couple sitting at a booth. They seemed to be in their early teens years and by the look of them they were on a date.

Melanie couldn't help herself from saying aww. She thought it was the cutest thing in the world. She watched as the couple laughed, talked, and the girl occasionally stole some fries. In a way Melanie tried not to see herself and King in their shoes. But she couldn't help it. Her mind had replace the teens with them and in a way she started smiling.

Did she miss him?

"Wassup."

Why was Melanie hearing King's voice? Had her mind completely erased the children's voice and replaced them with their own. But soon her ear relayed the correct answer to her.

"How your mama and brother been?"

Yeah Melanie was sure that was King. Turning her head around Melanie eyes met King's body. He was standing there dapping one of the employees down. He had reached over and gave him a small hug. Melanie tried her hardest not to make any noise or move because the last thing she needed was for King to see her.

"Hold on a second." The boy said turning away from King leaving him to look at his phone. Melanie was praying that the boy wasn't going to do what she thought he was. "Here you go ma'am." The boy added handing Melanie her tray with her food on it.

And as if on cue King turned his head towards the mystery person the boy had called. The second he realized it was Melanie his eyes immediately drifted back to the boy. Melanie head shot back in disbelief as if what the fu**. It was as if he did it like he had an attitude or was like oh well.

But I guess Melanie had earned that since she too rolled her eyes when ever King made contact with her. Holding her tray tightly Melanie slowly skated over to the exist. She wanted to turn around and address him but then she thought for a second.

What if he looked at you like that because he knew you would come back and say something? Or maybe your reading into it too much, She thought to herself as she glided down the hump.

Shaking her head from the thought Melanie skated over to the table that they had reserved. Well not so much reserved but it had so much stuff on it that people were bound to pass it up. Safely skating to her seat Melanie placed down the food first and soon sat down. Honestly her feet were screaming from wearing the heavy skates but she didn't want to complain. Today was all about Jasmine.

Digging into her food immediately Melanie had realized that she had forgot to ask for a side of ranch. Debating on getting up Melanie ears lit up when she heard a tray hit against the table. Her eyes followed the sound and lo and behold it was King. He had sat his tray down and had now skated around into his seat.

Melanie kept her head down as she picked up a fry with her fork. The voice inside her head was steady repeating how awkward this was but she remained calm. She had wished Mariah or anybody rolled over here and started talking to her. But frankly everybody was out enjoying themselves. Mariah and Deezy were racing eachother, Jasmine and her friends were skating together, and Dray and Breylynn were currently playing laser tag. Which only left Melanie and King.

To eat

Unwrapping her burger Melanie mentally slapped herself when she realized that she forgot to tell the guy no tomatoes. Picking off the tomatoes she placed them on the side while she took a sip of her drink. But something caught her eye. In the middle of the table closer to her was a small container filled of a white liquid. Taking a second Melanie's brain clicked as to what it was.

Ranch.

She knew for sure that she hadn't ask the boy for any ranch. And she knew it didn't mistakenly just get over there. Looking over at King she watched as he scrolled through his phone eating his fries too.

Had he given her the ranch?

If so Melanie wanted to say thank you, but she knew right now wasn't the perfect timing. Taking the ranch to herself Melanie opened the top. Pouring some over her fries Melanie save the rest for her burger. Grabbing her phone out of her back pocket Melanie placed it on the table. Logging in with her free hand Melanie pressed the Netflix app and patiently waited for it to load.

Pulling her Airpods out she took one out, closed the case, and placed it back in her front pocket. Maybe a couple episodes of You would keep her busy until she was ready to skate.

_________

♫ The dash, a digi', the schedule busy ♫
My head in a hoodie, my shorty a goodie
My cousins are crazy, my cousins like Boogie
Life is amazin', it is what it should be

It had been years since Melanie went skating and she wasn't the best. She thought Deezy had came to her rescue earlier, but instead he mushed her head and kept it pushing. Melanie had swung at him but she almost fell face forward so she settled on getting him once they left. Using the wall for support Melanie rapped along to Drake.

Jasmine and three of her friends had skated by her right when Lil Baby part came on. Her and Melanie had both hit the woah to the beat. Laughing at them Jasmine and her friends skated off leaving Melanie back alone.

Slowly getting along Melanie decided that she was tired of holding onto everything for support. Pushing herself off the wall Melanie held out her hands for balance as she began to move her feet. Moving them side to side Melanie felt herself getting the hang of it. But unfortunately Melanie went tumbling down hitting her butt hard.

Groaning in pain Melanie rubbed her butt. She was embarrassed but she couldn't help but to laugh at herself. Dusting her hands off Melanie tried to help herself up but failed.

"Need some help?" He asked causing Melanie's head to shoot up.

Above her was King holding out both his hands for her. He had skated over to the side out of everyone's way. At first Melanie was hesitant but she desperately wanted to get up off the floor. Resting her hands in his King pulled her up but a little to hard. Melanie had went flying into him but he made sure he caught her.

King couldn't lie it felt good to hold Melanie again. Even if it was for a second but that second felt like hours to him. Releasing her he made sure she was stable before speaking again.

"I would have let the guy help you up but he to busy flirting with Jasmine." He explained pointing to the guy wearing the bright yellow shirt. And to the tea the guy was leant against the wall talking to Jasmine. When in reality he was suppose to be in the middle watching for anyone who might need his assistance.

"Wait til Deezy find out." Melanie added laughing.

The room had went back silent again except for the loud music and the people conversation that were skating past them. Melanie stood there playing with her fingers while King stood there looking in the opposite direction.

"You mind if we skate and talk?" He asked holding out his hand as if he was presenting something.

"Sure." Melanie replied sliding her hands on her shorts just in case any more trash had been on there.

"Want me to help you out?" He suggested laughing a bit.

"I would appreciate that." Melanie answered tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

Grabbing her hand King led them slowly as Melanie used her other one for balance. Melanie couldn't lie and say that she missed King's touch. She missed having him around actually and all their silly moments. But this right here felt good.

A second had only passed before King broke the silence. "Mel I'm the last person you want to talk to but I need to talk to you. And no I'm not asking for your forgiveness but I am asking for you to listen. I'm a man out here making little boy mistakes and I apologize. I apologize for knowing your feelings and still acting against them. But most importantly I apologize for disrespecting you and our relationship. But know I still love you Mel and that's something I can't get rid of." King confessed gripping her hand a little tighter.

He had been wanting to text her that now for the past two months but he knew words didn't mean nothing. He wanted it to be face-to-face and personal because what he was saying was really true. King wanted his girl back and if that took time then he would wait. He understood what he did wrong and was ready to repair it. But not until she was ready and trust was established again.

Melanie wanted to say something but she couldn't. She felt like if she accepted his apology then that would show her as weak. And being weak behind a man was something she wasn't doing again. And she wanted to say she knew King's heart but at the end of day you were to trust no one.

"I appreciate your apologize but-."

"You don't have to answer right now and that's cool. I just wanted you to hear me out and say that I was sorry." He interrupted swooping in front of them. Grabbing her other hand King continued to skate while talking. "What I did was wrong and I know that but damn I miss you. And I know that's not my punishment or an excuse for what I did. But Mel I promise on everything I love that nothing happened between Nikki and I. No matter what she comes up with in her mind. And that may not seem like a valuable excuse for me getting drunk but you gotta' trust me on this one."

Melanie thought about Nikki's post. Did he know that she was pregnant? Her lips wanted to spill the tea so bad but they couldn't. Not now. She needed to know more first.

"I miss us too King but I just don't know where we're suppose to move on from this. I feel like if I accept your apology you'll go out and do the same again." Melanie explain tripping a little bit. King caught her guiding them around the corner. Melanie was shocked at how good he was.

"I know I broke your trust and that's something I will earn back. And I'm going to fix us one step at a time until things are better than before. So if taking it slow is what you want then that's what going to happen. Melanie I never want to hurt you again as long as I live. And that's a promise but I'm willing to fight to get you back." King justified hisself starring into Melanie big brown eyes. Even in the dark the girl was the most beautifulest thing to him.

She rocked his world.

Melanie pondered for a second as she made sure not to embarrass herself again. Maybe things would be good if they just took it slow. Not saying that they were back together or anything, but more of fixing the situation. Contemplating with the voice in her head and the feelings of her heart Melanie spoke too quickly.

"Working on things are fine with me King."

Before Melanie knew it King had almost squealed like a little school girl as he pulled her close to him. Melanie could feel him squeezing the life out of her as she laughed. "King your about to make us fall." She warned quickly grabbing his shirt for support.

"My bad Mel." He apologized pushing them back apart. "It just feel good to have you back." He said giving her a genuine smile.

King felt like everything was back to normal and he could breathe again. He had his baby back and right now that was all that matter to him. No more Nikki. No more drama. And no more messing around.

Do right by her this time, he thought to hisself as watched Melanie sing along to the song blasting through the speakers.