Title: Learn to Fly: Chapter Six, Garden Groupie
Rating: PG-13 [language, references to drugs]

Summary: Melanie can't handle partying with the band, so Dave takes her home.




His hand closed over hers, keeping Mel from walking away from him. Had he hesitated for even a moment, she would have bolted, he could tell. That was how they played the game. He pushed her, she ran, he caught her. One day... one day he wouldn't let her go, that he was certain of.

"I'm not asking you to be," he finally said, pulling her back to him.

Mel's eyes looked up into his, trying to gauge what she was seeing. Passion was certain, the rest not so clear. Why could she never read him as well as she did most other men?

"No? So this is just a onetime thing? How is that supposed to make me feel any better?" she retorted.

"It's not. It's complicated," Dave stated. "I don't want this to be a onetime thing. I want to see you again and again. And I would never ask you to be the 'other woman.' Not in any lifetime."

"Then what are you asking?" Mel demanded, twisting her arm in an attempt to get him to release her hand.

"Just don't walk away. Because I'll walk right after you. I'm not letting you get away," Dave stated.

"Huh. Funny. I don't recall you having any say over whether or not I 'get away.' I don't belong to you," she said, finally managing to get him to let go of her hand. "You have no power over me."

"Don't I?" he asked, before his arms wrapped around her, pulling Mel to him.

Once again his mouth sought hers. She attempted to resist, her hands on his chest, pushing against him. But he did not let up, not until she started to respond to the kiss. Ever so slowly her lips softened and Mel kissed him back, though a voice in her mind screamed not to. Her slight intoxication managed to quiet that voice enough for her arms to slip over Dave's shoulders. He smiled as she pressed up on her toes to kiss him better.

Pulling out of the kiss, he grinned at her, "No power over you, eh?"

"None at all," she replied through half-lidded eyes.

This time Mel kissed him. The movement alone surprised Dave, especially as she chose to kiss the corners of his smile. Not about to be out done, he lifted her up, pivoting them so as to set the petite girl up on a nearby retaining wall, putting them at equal height. Dave wasn't all that tall, just barely six feet tall, but Mel couldn't have been more than a few inches over five feet, if even that. Mel giggled against his mouth at that movement, before pushing away from him.

"I will not be your garden groupie," she declared. "I don't even like you."

He pouted, "That's rather too bad. I'm rather fond of you. Even after you ruined my paintings."

"Yours?" she repeated. "What makes them yours? Besides you're the reason they were ruined."

"How's that?" Dave asked, his hands travelling up from her waist slowly.

"You said things you shouldn't have," Mel replied, her eyes closing because of his touch.

"Because they were true?" he questioned, his mouth now near her ear.

Mel didn't say anything. Instead she pulled abruptly from him. Concern instantly filled his eyes, but Dave barely had much chance to react before Mel was vomiting into the flower bed. Falling to her knees, she held her stomach with one hand and her hair back with the other. She couldn't even feel Dave's hand on her back, rubbing it softly.

When the retching stopped, Mel remained as she was, almost as if she were afraid moving would make the spasms return. Tears were running down her red cheeks. Embarassment filled her, she couldn't remember the last time she had puked at a party and never because of drinking only two beers. Surely there was more to it, but she didn't care. She was just embarassed and felt like shit all at once.

"T-take m-me h-home," she stuttered. "P-please."

Dave hesitated a moment, until she started to move slowly as if she wanted to stand up again. His arm slipped protectively around her, his goofy grin gone.

"Let's get you cleaned up first. Then I'll take you home," he assured her.

"No. N-no inside. J-just g-go n-now," Mel demanded.

He was going to argue, but found some logic in what she was saying. That and he didn't want to push her any more. Nodding, Dave started to guide her around the side of the house, up towards the driveway.

Easing her onto the front steps, he said, "Wait right here. I'm going to go get keys."

She nodded, though she hated the thought of being left alone, even for a moment.

"I will come back. I promise."