Out Of The Storm

 “Jonah, just fold! You know Jake has you beat.”

I glance at Matty as he throws his cards down on the table in defeat. I turn to Jonah grinning.

“Go on, Jonah. What are you going to do? Do you really want to risk it?” I taunt as he continues to stare at his cards, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“Don’t do it, Jonah. Don’t fold. He’s got to be bluffing,” Ben chimes in from my right, I keep staring at Jonah and wait. He looks at me one more time and throws his cards onto the table.

“I fold,” he sighs as the rest of us laugh. I place my cards on the table facing up; the moment he sees them, Jonah throws his arms up dramatically whilst cursing.

“Seriously? I would have fucking beaten you!”

I laugh out loud pulling the money towards me. “But you folded, so this is all mine,” I gloat, picking up my beer bottle and holding it up towards him. “Cheers.”

Jonah groans as he takes a sip of his drink and pulls out his phone.

“Hey Jake, does Mel have Facebook again?” he asks frowning. I shake my head.

“Not that I’m aware of, why?” I ask feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket.

“I just had a friend request from her; she might have been hacked.”

I take another sip of my drink as Ben looks at his phone.

“I have one too.”

“And me,” Matty chimes, waving his phone in front of us. I pull mine out of my pocket and look at it as it vibrates again. I have a friend and relationship request from “Melissa Taylor”. I quickly open the app to check it out. There, in the profile picture are Mel, Robyn, Brooke and Lauren. All smiling and looking like they are having the time of their lives. Mel’s in the clothes she was in when I dropped her off at the harbour a few hours ago so the photo must have been taken tonight. I look up at my friends and shrug.

“Seems legit. I’ll message her and ask,” I reply as I open the text app.

“You don’t have to, Brooke’s gone live and tagged her,” Matty laughs. He turns his phone around, and we can see Brooke looking at the camera.“Hey Robyn, what did you learn from watching Coyote Ugly all those times when we were kids?” Brooke asks as the camera moves to show Robyn taking a sip of her cocktail.

“To never give up on my dreams,” Robyn replies smiling.

“What did Mel learn from making us watch it a million times?” Brooke asks in the background as Robyn starts grinning from ear to ear, pointing in front of her.

“That.”

The camera pans around and Melissa comes into view.

There she is standing on top of the bar singing, “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” into a microphone, like a true rockstar.

Jonah, Matty and I burst out laughing as Ben shakes his head whilst rubbing his face and groaning.

“This is all your fault, Jake,” he sighs, with a big smile on his face. I use my phone to go onto the live feed myself and watch as people start commenting, whilst Mel continues to sing her heart out. The most common comment seems to be various versions of “Mel’s back!”.

I look up at Ben and smile.

“Was this a regular occurrence?”

“Whenever she went out you could guarantee the landlords would let her sing as her voice brought others into the bar,” he says before looking at the screen and laughing as Mel starts dancing. “You really do have a lot to answer for Jake, I never thought I would see her like this again,” he says as he looks at me. I smile back and watch my girl dance and sing her heart out, quickly typing out a comment. 

Jake Martins: Sounding great and looking even better, princess! xx 

“Hey, Jake’s online!” I hear Robyn shout before the phone turns and we see Brooke looking at the screen.

“Sorry, boss, we‘ve lost all control. She’ll have a sore head in the morning,” Brooke laughs. I quickly type out a comment to reply.

 Jake Martins: I’d be disappointed if she didn’t. LOL.

As I watch the screen, I hear the music end, and it sounds like the whole pub erupts, cheering for Mel. The camera moves so we can see her walking over to the table with a big grin on her face, her cheeks flushed from the performance as her friends cheer for her louder than anyone else in the bar.

“Oh shit, were you recording me?” Mel curses as she approaches the table.

“No, I went live everyone was watching, especially the boss,” I hear Brooke laugh.

“What? You’re going to get me into trouble!” Mel curses as she opens her bag, and the screen goes blank as Brooke ends the livestream. I laugh as I place my phone on the table, which instantly starts ringing. I look down at the screen and smile as I answer.

“Hey princess, looks like you’re having fun.”

Jonah and Matty both start cheering which I know will cause Mel to blush.

“Yeah, I am. How’s the poker game going?”

“Great. These three are out of money, and I’m up,” I laugh as Jonah flips me off. I quickly return the gesture before heading out of the room and into the kitchen for some privacy.

“I’m pretty good at poker as well, you know,” she whispers down the line seductively.

“Oh really? Fancy a game when we get home?” I ask grinning to myself, already thinking of all the ways I plan on making her scream later.

“Depends, what are we playing for?”

“Clothes or favours?” I suggest knowing my girl won’t expect anything else. I swear I hear a small moan slip past Mel's lips and know she's already turned on.

“When will you be finished there?” she asks.

“Whenever you’re ready, don’t rush we have all night,” I reply. As much as I want to get her home and into bed. I genuinely don’t want her to rush her first night out in years.

“To be honest, we’re about to call it a night anyway. These three suckers are all working so I get to spend a lazy Sunday with you.”

I smile to myself as I hear the excitement in her voice. Mel never used to take time for herself during the summer. She worked day in, and day out at her family’s surf school. However, I put a stop to that as soon as she would let me and now we have one full day off together a week. I walk back into Matty’s lounge, where I find Ben pulling on his coat.

“Looks like things are winding down here as well. Shall I pick you up where I dropped you off?” I ask.

“Please, babe. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Mel says happily.

“I’ll be there in ten,” I reply eagerly hanging up as I hear Mel giggling.

“Somebody looks happy, you getting some tonight, boss?” Matty laughs hitting my arm playfully.

“More than you’ll be getting any time soon,” I reply pushing him back.

“I’m going to ignore this conversation and walk out of the door. Night everyone,” Ben calls as he leaves us all laughing. I say bye to the guys and rush out after him.

“Hey, Ben wait up!” Ben stops next to his car and turns to face me as I jog up to him. “I was wondering if you fancied a BBQ soon. Mel misses seeing you every day, and she hasn’t seen Jen for ages either,” I say smiling.

“Yeah, I’m missing seeing her every day too, but she doesn’t need me as she did, not now she has you,” he says smiling fondly.

“She still needs her uncle, Ben. She’s worried if she asks you around more you will think she’s doing it to be nice.” I know that Mel and her uncle aren’t always great at communicating how much they need each other. Sometimes I have to jump in and do the talking for them.

“I’ll organise a family BBQ as soon as possible. I’ll get the lads there too. Until then I’ll pop down the beach to see her or the house a couple of times,” he says. I smile and squeeze the top of his arm.

“She’ll be made up to see you,” I reply before saying goodbye and heading to my car to go and pick Mel up.

“How much did you see?” Mel asks nervously from the passenger seat.

“Enough. Was a hell of a show you put on. You should sing publicly more often,” I answer as I pull away from the harbour. “Ben says you used to sing all the time,” I add, glancing at Mel who is quite tipsy.

Her long red hair hangs over one shoulder as she fans the back of her neck, obviously feeling warm from the alcohol's effects. I reach up, pull my hair out of its top bun, and hand her the bobble. She smiles, thanking me quietly before pulling her hair up into a messy bun.

“Yeah, I did. It was good to be back at it, to be honest,” Mel replies, smiling to herself.

“Well, maybe you should do it more often, princess. You have a hell of a voice. I love listening to you sing.” I reach over, take her hand and bring it up to my lips to kiss her knuckles quickly.

“You’re biased, though,” she giggles, smiling. I glance back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Did you not notice how many peo