Melody's mind raced as she stood by the bus stop, waiting for Emilio. She had never waited for a bus so late in the day, and she knew that it wouldn't take long for it to get dark. She felt so self-conscious, normally she didn't care about what she looked like but tonight she couldn't stop thinking about it. She wore something simple, a navy blue tank top and a pair of black skinny jeans underneath her grey hoodie. It took everything in her not to turn around, the voice of Emilio rang in her head. She could stay only for a while, and at least said that she experienced going to a party. It was also a chance to see Mateo once in a while, since he had for whatever reason stopped replying to her texts. A part of her thought that he was just really busy with work and other things, but she also thought that somehow she was the problem. That he didn't want to speak to her for whatever reason. 

She could only feel her heart try to beat out of her chest as she had gotten onto the bus and saw Emilio sitting close by. She instinctively sat next to him, hoping to somewhat calm the anxiety that was racing throughout her.

"Hey stranger," Emilio said, smiling ear to ear as Melody sat beside him, "you ready to party?"

"Sure…" Melody said, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"Hey," he placed a hand on top of hers, causing her to stop and look up at him, "You're going to be fine. It's just people."

"Yeah…" Melody sighs. "I know." He moves his hand back to his lap.

"Stick with me, you'll be fine. No one will bother you."

"Okay…"

"And Mateo is supposed to be there too. So you won't be alone," He said, pulling out his phone to scroll.

"Have you talked to him recently?" Melody mustered up. The rocking motion of the bus as well as Emilio's reassurances calmed her down a bit. Emilio didn't even look away from his phone.

"Not really. Figured he got really busy. Kind of surprised hearing him wanting to go to this party." Emilio quickly slips his phone back into his pants pocket before looking back at Melody. "But then again he never really turned down an opportunity to go to a party."

Before she knew it Emilio signaled the bus to stop and they got out, making their way to wherever the party was. Emilio knew the way, and Melody had no other choice but to trust him. And she did trust him, for the most part. But there was always something off about him, something Melody took for him just being really friendly and brushed it off. He was friendly. He was nice and kind, just like Mateo.

She could hear the music blasting throughout the neighborhood, and then they finally made it. There were a few people outside, chatting, and drinking, but not too much for her to ring her alarm. It was still early. She would only be there a little while. That's what she told herself. She instinctively followed Emilio inside the house, where he quickly greeted a couple of boys that stood close to the door. While they chatted Melody zoned out and felt overheated, even with the door and windows wide open, and took off her hoodie and tied it around her waist. When she focused in it seemed as though Emilio was done and motioned Melody into what seemed like the living room. The music was even louder in this room, but not loud enough to drown out the conversation that was going on in the corner of the room. Melody looked on to see two dudes chatting while they were rolling something up. She sighed.

"Lets sit right here," Emilio said, cutting through the music, pointing at the sofa that sat between the stairs to the upstairs of the house and the entrance of the kitchen. As Melody sat down on the worn-down sofa, she could only look around. "Not bad right?" he said, tapping her shoulder to get her attention.

"No, not really." She shook her head. Then she took a second to think about all of the faces she's seen so far at this party. She couldn't recognize any of them from school.

"Plus if anything, you'll see a lot of people who don't know you, so don't think you have to act a certain type of way." He said, shrugging his shoulders, while Melody nodded along.

"Yeah, I guess if you put it that way…"

"Hey," He leaned in closer to cut through the noise, " You want something to drink? I could get you something."
"No, not really," she shook her head.

"Hey, you don't feel overwhelmed or anything?" he said, resting his arm across the back of the couch.

"I don't know." There was a pause.

"Hey, don't get weirded out but, have you ever tried letting your hair down?"

"What?" Melody said, feeling herself shrink.

"I mean, I always see it up in a ponytail or in a bun, I thought maybe you should try a different style or something."

"No, not really." Melody sunk into the couch. She felt self conscious, she had always put her hair up, even now she had put it into her usual ponytail. It wasn't really something she thought about. It was up and out of the way, that's all it mattered. But was it just laziness? Now she wondered, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let it down every now and then outside of the apartment.

"Just something to think about…" Emilio sighed, getting up from the couch and adjusting his jacket. "I'm going to get us something to drink, don't wander." Melody could only watch as he scurried away into the kitchen. It didn't take her long to feel lost, like a fish swimming among sharks. Everyone there kind of just did their own thing, it felt as though she didn't exist. As though she didn't belong there.

And while she contemplated pretending to be busy on her phone, Emilio quickly took his seat back next to her with drinks in hand.

"A sprite," He said, handing her the bottle. She remembered that she had told him that she liked that drink a while ago. She was a bit surprised that he remembered something seemingly so random.

"Thank you," Melody said, holding the chilled beverage. How long was she going to be there? While watching the condensation of the bottle drop onto the stained carpet, she also wondered, when was Mateo supposed to come? She could tell that Emilio was probably getting bored of her. "I'm sorry if I'm taking up your time here?"

"What?" Emillo asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm here for you. I'm not going to leave you to fend for yourself. Friends stick together."

"Yeah, you're right," Melody said, cracking open her bottle of sprite to take a sip. "Thank you."

"Thank you for coming. You don't regret coming, do you?"

"I don't know yet." Melody shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess time will tell then," he said, stretching his arms across the back of the couch.

They had talked for a couple of minutes about mostly random things, anime, work, and the incoming school year. Most of which melody thought was just enough to pass the time. It didn't take long for Melody to figure out that this really wasn't fun for her, and would rather be anywhere else. She didn't know anyone there other than Emilio, and she was growing tired just being on some random person's couch waiting for Mateo, who probably wouldn't come.

"I think I'll give this ten more minutes until I go." Melody declared.

"Really? You sure you don't want to wait for Mateo to come?"

"If he comes in ten minutes, but if not then it is what it is." Melody said, shaking her head. She had to stay strong, she really didn't want to take the bus much later than what it already was anyway. A part of her wanted to be glad she could say that she did this, but the majority of her thought that she should have never come at all. She watched as more and more people filed in and filled up the rooms. One dude made it his mission to fist bump everyone attending the party. It was weird for Melody, but she kind of liked taking part in that.

"Did you see he had on a Peekaboo Darling T-shirt?" Emilio asked, looking over Melody into the kitchen.

"Really?" Melody said, taking a quick look inside the kitchen to where the boy was. It was another show that they had talked about. It didn't take long to spot. "Cool."

"I thought so too." Emilio said, smiling. "We should watch season three together sometime."

"Yeah," Melody said, chuckling, "Whenever that will come out."

"You want me to take the bus back with you?" Emilio switched to a more disappointed expression.

"You don't have to," Melody said, glaring at the time on her phone. There were just five minutes left.

"I don't want you to feel unsafe."

"I think I can manage," she took another swig of her sprite. "But you're free to do what you want."

"I brought you here, so I'll take the bus back with you. Is that okay?"
"Yeah that's fine." Melody watched on uneasily as more and more people filled the room, it seemed oversimulating to her. She checked the time again, and got off of the couch.

"Time to go?" Emilio said, watching her and getting up alongside her.

"Pretty much," Melody said, taking a step toward where she thought the front door was. But something was off. Something was very wrong. As she added her weight down on her leg, she could feel it give way, and she felt herself falling. And she would have fallen if not for Emilio catching her mid fall.

"Woah, are you okay," He said, grabbing Melody and pulling her back up and placing her back on the couch.

"I… don't know." she mumbled. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. All Melody thought of was her family. She wanted to go back home to her sister, and her niblings. But she was losing control of her body.

"What?" he leaned in closer, "What was that?"

"I…. I. Don't…."

Then nothing. Melody couldn't remember anything. Nothing that she said, nothing that she did or was done around her. She couldn't remember the strange words said to her as Emilio whispered in her ear. She couldn't remember the sound of the party goers roar in excitement over whatever commotion that was going on. She couldn't remember the frantic ramblings of the person that was driving her home. The only thing she remembered was her waking up in her bed in the early hours of the morning. She knew that she went to the party, because she was still wearing the same clothes she had on the night before. As the sun peeked through the blinds and tried to blind her, she reached past an empty plastic cup for her phone and underneath it was a note. 

"Key underneath mat"

Melody jumped up from her bed and raced to the front door. And underneath the mat in front of the door was her spare key for the apartment. Someone else was here. Did Hana know? Did her niblings awaken in the middle of the night? How could she be so stupid to allow some random person into the apartment? She quickly grabbed her key, quietly shut the door, and made her way back into her room, making sure not to awaken the rest of the family who was loudly snoring in Hana's room. She sunken down into her bed. What happened last night? How did she get home? But then something clicked. Why not check her phone? There could be texts between her and Emilio or even Mateo that could explain things. As she scrolled through her contacts she quickly felt her heart sink. Neither Emilio nor Mateo's numbers were saved to her phone anymore. Both of them were blocked and seemingly months of texts were gone. Did she do it, or was it the actions of somebody else? And will she ever get the reason why?