Like a Train Wreck - 11. Chapter 11: Beats As One

Melanie's blue corvette convertible pulled up along the sidewalk in front of the apartments. "This better be worth it."

She climbed out of the car and looked down at her sandles and hugged the leather trench around herself, snake skin purse held close. "Plus ... I look tacky as all hell!"

Melanie shut her car door and locked it, walking to the double glass doors and giving a tug to find them locked. A weird and frustrated expression appeared and then she saw the button, assuming it was maybe a door bell or intercom of sorts.

She pressed the button that had Sterling's last name on it, she at least knew that. "Hey, lady, this is Sterling's friend." Tell a little lie, she was always on fire.

Nancy had already placed her red heels in the closet and had started taking her jewely off as she prepared for comfort within her home when the voice came through the intercom.

Guess the girl wasn't given the code? Nancy made her way for the living room and pressed the button. "Okay, I'll buzz you in." She said, pressing the button.

Melanie heard the buzz. "Fucking cold!" She grabbed the door and hurried into the welcoming warmth of the building. The lobby was actually small, carpeted, a soda machine, the row of mail boxes and access to the stairs and an elevator. She pressed the button.

The doors opened and she walked in and quickly pressed for the third floor, having noted the number beside Nancy's name.

The elevator chimed on the dialed floor upon reaching it and she stepped out and quickly moved around the corner, scanning the apartment numbers until she came upon the right one and gave it a knock.

"Just a quick in and out, maybe a dramatic story." She mumbled and grinned.

Nancy opened the door. "Hello." She said, making an odd face. "So ... you're one of Sterling's friends? He's never mentioned you."

Her head tilted to the side. "Oh well it's a friendship in the making." Melanie smiled. "You see we were assigned as partners on a project and I think I accidently left my copy here."

Nancy nodded. "Really?"

"Yeah and you see despite the partnership the assignment is graded individually so I don't want to fail even if he does." She stopped herself. "Oh, I didn't mean that like it sounded."

Nancy shook her head. "It's okay, I am sure you didn't. You sound really nervous."

"Well I am because if I don't make this grade my dad is going to ground me for two months and I don't mean make me sit in my room and do nothing kind of grounding. He has military background, it can get very brutal. So ... if I could just come in and see...?"

Sterling eyed Jaemin and then stepped onto the elevator. "What are you doing here?" He asked, the hint of anger in his tone as the doors closed.

Jaemin lifted his hands, covered in fingerless black leather gloves. "Hey he wasn't in my house when ever ... this happened." He then looked curious. "What did happen anyway?"

"He tried to overdose on some kind of pills. The label was torn off, I don't even know what they were for." He stared at Jaemin and crossed his arms. "You still didn't answer my question."

Jaemin slowly shook his head. "You know, this information ..." He chewed on a tooth pick as he stepped closer to Sterling. "You're a danger to him, I can't allow that."

"I'm a danger? I'm not the one obsessed and freakin stalking him.".

"What would you have been doing if he hadn't willingly befriended you? Tell me that? And even so, tell me all the dirty fantasies that have gone through your head since then?"

Jaemin closed the distance, became intimately close. "Doesn't make you any better than me, does it? In fact it wasn't with me that he tried to kill himself."

"I won't lie ... I've had thoughts." Sterling reached up and shoved Jaemin away from him.

Jaemin laughed and stumbled back, tossing the tooth pick to the ground. "The way you say it now, they aren't just thoughts anymore." His eyes widened. "No ... it happened and within his mind your face became Brad. You were no longer safe because you got the ultimate gift."

Sterling made a face at Jaemin and when the elevator chimed at the first floor, he was quick to step out of it to head for the cafeteria, wondering if what Jaemin said was right, tear away his unusual way with words and it all made sense.

He gave in to Miracle without any comfort or assurance that abandonment would never happen, he didn't think to address the psychological factors at all, he just wanted to feed Miracle's hunger for the physical comfort he seemed to need, now he wondered if that was a horrible mistake.

Jaemin stepped out and pocketed his hands into his black leather jacket and cought up with Sterling. "Hey, we can go on a mini date. Have some burgers and soda, in the hospital cafeteria. That would be romantic." His eyes then widened and he grinned. "Or we could take our goods to the morgue, feast off the latest autopsy victim."

Sterling looked up in annoyance. "Are you serious?" He asked as he reached the counter.

"No, I may be twisted but I'm not that disgusting." He grinned and looked at the woman that came to the register and smacked on his chewing gum. "Hiya..." He looked down at her name tag. "Theresa, you do tarot cards too? That would be fun while we eat!"

Theresa stared at them, not amused, in fact the woman looked so worn out from life, she looked like she was nearing retirement.

Jaemin waited, bored and impatiently until Sterling got his food. "We should take the stairs, I insist because there is more to talk about."

"Really? I don't think there is." Sterling turned away from the counter and started walking. "As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing to Miracle."

"I'm nothing to him? Yet I knew the secret of what happened to him?" He stopped. "Well there was the fact that I walked in on it, scared them all away."

He moved in front of Sterling. "And I held him in my arms as he cried but didn't utter a single word. He didn't need to for his cries spoke the depth to which his pain existed." Sterlings drink was then yanked out of his hand.

"I rubbed those bruises that while there and how they must of hurt, his skin was so delicate, soft to the touch." He lifted the cup up to sip from the straw, staring at Sterling.

Sterling looked away as those words filled the air, the tone in Jaemin's voice, the way in which he used his words, he had some way of always making it seem so passionate. "Do you want to know what Miracle asked me about you?"

Jaemin grinned devilishly as he backed into the door of the stairwell and pushed it open, back stepping into the small room. "Throw it at me." He said before falling in line to walk with Sterling up the stairs.

"He asked me if it was possible to love someone yet hate them so much at the same time and if it was shallow if it was just for their looks."

Sterling looked at Jaemin. "He was watching you when he asked me that. Said the darkness turned him on, so if you're little obsession is entirely sexual, I wouldn't feel insecure if I were you."

Jaemin didn't say anything until they reached the top of the fourth flight of stairs. "He'll feel more because there will be more ... once my obstacles are out of my way."

And that was when he turned around and back handed Sterling across the face. The food was dropped and scattered in a mess every where as Sterling stumbled back into the wall, nearing the edge of the stairs.

All it took was a simple side kick from Jaemin, planting his leather boot into Sterlings chest to send him flying and tumbling down the stairs, unconcious by the time he reached the bottom.

"And now you're out of my way." Jaemin grinned and walked out of the stairwell to catch the elevator to the seventh floor.

Miracle's eyes slowly opened, the room was dark except for the flourescent light above his bed and the first thing he saw was a face, noticing the glare of light of Jaemin's eyebrow ring lightly glaring off the light above him and as his vision became clearer he noticed those hypnotic eyes, lined with the dark eyeliner that only made the color pop in it's effect and finally he was able to see him clearly.

"Jaemin?"

"Yes, it's me." Jaemin said as he reached over and ran a hand over Miracle's forehead and into his hair.

"How did you know I was here? Where is Sterling? My parents?" Miracle started to look around, alarmed.

"You know I follow you sometimes, remember? If it weren't for me, that night could of been much worse, as if it wasn't bad enough as it was."

Jaemin continued on.. "I stayed outside Sterling's, I was really alarmed when the ambulance arrived, shocked even. I had no idea what happened. Sterling? He just turned around and walked back inside the house. I waited to see if he was going to go, all his lights went out and he never came."

"He never came?" Miracle looked confused, hurt even. "I was right then."

"I'm sorry to have to tell you." Jaemin reached down to take his hand. "Your parents were asleep in the lobby, that's how I was able to sneak in here."

"I can't believe it..." Miracle looked up at Jaemin. "God, why did he have to find me? Why couldn't I have just..."

"Shh...don't ever say that." Jaemin pushed himself to stand up and sat on Miracle's bed and ran his hands along Miracle's cheeks and through his hair. "What happened anyway?"

Miracle looked up at him, appreciative of the love and affections. "My parents wanted to imprison me, so I went to Sterlings, I wanted him to take the pain away, I gave myself to him and then ... after he fell asleep, I tried to over dose."

Jaemin went quiet, wanting his already made theory to appear thought up on the spot. "I think I know what happened. You slept with Sterling and then his face became Brad to you. Kind of, in a way. Am I somewhat right?"

Miracle made a face as he toyed with the sheets. "Kind of, for me ... for the longest time I always viewed Sterling as the unpopular one and he was. It was because of me that he became stronger, it's what he always said, what he always told me."

"Why?" Jaemin asked, continuing to rub Miracle's head.

"He said it was to protect me, so in that way I felt used, he became more because of what he perceived as my weakness yet he still had one thing that he lacked and that was a social status, it didn't change and ... it's probably silly to compare things to movies but in all movies the outcasts are always looking to get lucky."

"That's not silly, in fact given how things played out, it sounds pretty damn accurate."

"In what way?" Miracle looked up at Jaemin.

"Your beauty, you're coveted by many but only I see you for all that you are." Jaemin dragged a finger down his arm. "A beauty to behold and a pleasure to the eyes and with that beauty, you should use to your advantage, it gives you power, something that I think you have lost sight of."

Jaemin then slid his hand up Miracle's chest to rest over his beating heart. "Your love, most are blinded by what they see on the outside. Whether you know it or not, that too is a gift because it tells you who really cares because your true love can break beyond the barrier of the outer and connect with your inner."

Jaemin then leaned forward to press his chest against Miracle's so that their hearts could beat against each other, bringing their faces intimately close. "Two hearts come together to beat as one."

Miracle didn't know what to say, all he could do was stare at Jaemin as tears spilled down his cheeks, watching the blackness of Jaemin's eyeliner as it did the same.

"Your messing up." Miracle smiled after finding the first words he could manage.

"It's because you do that to me." Jaemin whispered and leaned down, brushing his lips against Miracle's in the lightest of kisses before he pulled back. "I'm sorry if I've been a jerk to you."

"It's okay." Miracle's face tensed up. "Just ... don't let me burst into tears because that seems to be my trade mark."

"We'll get it as a tattoo for you." Jaemin smiled and grabbed a tissue to carefully clean his face, trying not to wipe off any eyeliner that might be left.

"As much as I enjoy this closeness." Miracle laughed a little and toyed with Jaemin's hand. "You should probably move back to the chair in case the evil dragon and his queen come walking in breathing fire."

Jaemin smiled. "Shouldn't I just run away altogether?" He asked, sliding off the bed and into the chair.

"No, I need them to understand why I need at least you in my life. I need you to tell them that it was you that saved me when I was attacked. I am hoping they will appreciate that"

Melanie walked around within Sterlings room. "Ugh ... boring." She walked to the bathroom and stepped inside. That was when she spotted the orange bottle.

"Hmm." Her eyes narrowed on it and her head tilted to the side. "You know what, my lucky star? I think I just might get to be Queen of Karma for a while."

She grinned and grabbed a handful of tissues and used that to carefully pick up the bottle and tucked it into one of the safe pockets in her purse. She headed out of the bathroom and stopped by the aquarium.

"Did he even feed you?" A bottle of blue nail polish was taken out and the top was removed as she tilted it over and the dark blue liquid spilled forth within the water.

"Happy drinking." She dropped the bottle into the aquarium along with the lid before heading out. "I found what I needed, bye lady!"

And she was out the door before Nancy could even catch her.

Would Sterlings poor fish survive in time for someone to rescue them?