"I followed you, and besides I love french food. This was a good choice," Crystal looked around the restaurant.
"Oh, hi, I'm Crystal, and you are. . . " Crystal introduced herself to Melody. She could see Chase didn't want to do it.
"I'm Melody, Chase's girlfriend."
"Oh it is so nice to meet you!" replied Crystal much to Melody's surprise.
"Aren't you the girl Chase is cheating on me with? Why are you so happy to meet me?" Melody is now very confused.
"Heavens, no, I would never go out with Chase."
"Why? Is he not good enough for you?" Melody started to get defensive.
Chase knew that Melody deserved an explanation. "Mel, I can explain."
Crystal sat down at the table, "You see Chase is my half-brother."
"I thought you were an only child? And I thought your dad died before you were born?"
"I'm very sorry, but I lied to you about some of my family life, it hurts, so I want to just forget about it," Chase hesitated about going into it, but knew that Crystal would tell her if he didn't.
"Well, you see. . .," Crystal was interrupted by Chase.
"I'll tell her. When my mom got pregnant with me, my dad decided he wasn't ready to be a father or take on the responsibility of being a father, so he left us hanging. Then a couple years later, he got another pony pregnant and she had Crystal. Crystal and I used to play together when we were younger, but then my dad stopped bringing her around. And basically I haven't seen her in like, oh, seven years, maybe."
"Yeah I think that's about right. Then we moved over here, cause the neighborhood we lived in turned into a bad part of town. I recognized the playground that we used to play At for hours. I looked through my dad's old letters that Chase's mom had written to him. I was very curious about where they lived and I found all the info I needed in the letters. Your mom was keeping him up-to-date on his only son."
"Well, why didn't he ever write her back, or send me a card, or a phone call. So did he leave you, too?"
"No, he didn't leave, actually he ended up marrying my mom, and they're still married.
"What did I do to make him leave?" Chase looked as if someone had just stabbed him in the stomach. His eyes filled with tears. Melody moved next to him to hug him.
"Nothing, I really don't know why he left."
Melody knew how he felt. She didn't have a father in her life either. She could relate to the pain he was in, cause she had experienced the same pain. She didn't know what to say, so she just hugged him.
"Chase, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I didn't know the whole story," apologized Crystal. "Are you mad at me?"
"Of course not,"
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned back in her chair, "I understand if you never want to see me again."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're my sis, and I do want a relationship with you." He smiled at her.
"Just don't mention your dad,"
"Don't you mean our dad?"
"As far as I'm concerned I don't have a dad. I have a wonderful mother and I wouldn't trade her for the world. And don't tell him that you found his long lost son. If he ever cared about me, he would have never left. Agreed?"
"I promise, I won't say anything."
"Well I'll leave you two alone to celebrate," Crystal got up and hugged Chase and Melody, and began to walk away.
"Crystal, wait, why don't you stay and hang out with us tonight?" suggested Melody. She hated to see her leave.
"I don't want to intrude, you know a 5 month anniversary is pretty important."
"Oh come on and join us," insisted Chase.
Crystal turned around, smiled, and sat down at the table and began to butter the rolls. "I have been starring at these rolls for so long, and I'm so hungry. So did you guys see that new movie that's coming out. It looks so funny."
Melody and Chase looked at each other and realized that she was going to be talking the whole night.