With a spring in his step, and a renewed outlook in life, a new buoyancy in his step. Chance decides that the best way to a girls' heart, is to have a little fun.
And that's exactly what he intended to do with his date with Melanie Larson.
After all, it is character building, relationship building, and raises a good laugh when things get a little too stressful.
Thing is.... no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find Melanie anywhere. It's as if she'd vanished from the face of the earth. He circulated everyone, asking them where she was. Only Alexa could give him a decent reply.
"Um, she's.... busy," she replied, doing her stretches on the barre in the gym, "I think..... last time I saw her."
Time was ticking onwards, and Chance was chomping at the bit to get to his next venue. After all, he likes to be early. Punctual guy that he is.
What he didn't know, was that Melanie was having a mini crisis.
Being the only one in the group to be wearing glasses, she was feeling very self conscious, and was hiding away, trying to decide whether or not to ditch them and try contacts.
Sadly, however, she found that after swimming and a few bouts in the hot tub, they stung her eyes a lot. Also, when she tried painting, they seemed to hurt her eyes. So she opted for her glasses after all.
She was so deep in thought that she barely heard Chance calling for her.
Grabbing the first thing that came out of the wardrobe, she hurried out, only to find he was quite a distance away. Picking up speed, she followed him, taking in the cool night air, and the chirping of the crickets.
Turning the corner, Melanie gave out a delighted whoop, as she realised where they were.
The Modern Shopping Complex.
A favourite haunt of hers.
Some of the shops were closed, but the restaurant was open.. as was the H&M store.
They were a little early for the restaurant and neither of them were actually in the mood to do any clothes shopping.
Instead, they decided to have a little fun instead.
Chance, feeling a little naughty tonight, decided to sneak up on Melanie, with a water balloon in hand and a wicked grin on his face.
Although we'd loved to have pre-warned her of what was coming, we stayed tight-lipped and hoped/wondered what her reaction would be.
Would she take it laughingly, or curse his brains out, threatening to blacken one - or both - of his eyes.
"Look!!!!" he yelled, pointing nowhere in particular, "over there! I see something!"
"What? Where?"
She peered out into the darkness as behind her, he took careful aim.
"I don't see...."
Sploosh!!!
She shrieked as the impact burst the balloon, showering her with freezing cold water. Dripping wet, she turned to him.
"You rotten bugger!" she gasped, shaking off the drops, "I'm gonna get you for this!"
Gleefully, Chance crouched, waiting, his pearly teeth gleaming in the light from the toy shop.
"Bring it on!" he yelled, "I dare ya!"
"Yeah, too right I will."
With that, the two of them bolted across the empty car park, shrieks of laughter echoing and bouncing off the walls. The small group of passers by, either chose to ignore them or they just rushed past, not wanting to be on camera as these two raced about the tarmac.
As some of our tv crew had to stay in the van to guard the expensive equipment, there was a supply of blankets, quilts....
.... and even more to Melanie's advantage....
.... pillows, stored away.
How on earth she knew where they were, we'll never know, but she'd vanished into the back of the van and brought out two. One for her, one for Chance.
"This is payback for soaking me!" she squealed, as she tossed one towards him and started pounding him across the head and shoulders with hers.
"Hey! No fair!"
"I'll give you who's fair, sonny, I've had plenty of practice with this. So you can't hurt me.... nyah!"
Which was true enough indeed. From early on, after having pillow fights with Averyelle, she learned quickly enough on how to keep her glasses from flying off her face.
Oh those girls are very devious indeed. And here we thought we were 'safe' with them.
Melanie turned to the camera and grinned evilly, tipping a sly wink our way.
They stopped short just to catch their breath, and Melanie dropped to the floor, patting the tarmac beside her.
"Check out the stars," she said wistfully, "it's a clear sky tonight."
Chance shrugged noncommittally, and proceeded to join her.
It was sweet, seeing the two of them, sitting cross-legged there, chilling out...
... until Melanie, with a second wind, got up.
"Wanna go shopping?" she asked, nudging his foot.
"Nah, I'll stay here," came the reply.
"Aw c'mon, you lazy devil."
Reluctantly, he eased himself up and stood before her.
A cheeky grin spread over his face.
"I've got something better to do," he chuckled.
"What's that?" she asked, curious and mystified at the same time.
"I've a secret," he whispered.
Melanie leaned in, listening.
Uh oh.
Oh yes....
Gossip time once more. Since his date with Averyelle, he's been soaking up all the antics of the townies and storing them away for future gossiping.
Nobody was safe.
Melanie giggled as he whispered in her ear and punched him playfully, pulling fake shocked faces at him.
"Chance!" she gasped, pretending to be offended, "where on earth did you hear that?"
"I have my sources," he sniggered.
He then started to brag about his wealth, which, sadly, set Melanie off.
"I don't care if you're loaded," she said angrily, "I'm only here for Mr Right!"
She then stormed off, leaving Chance feeling a little guilty.
But, it soon blew over anyway as he tried to patch things up by showing her a few of his moves....
... and almost doing himself a mischief in the process.
Then they decided to pop into the H&M store, where Chance was browsing around some really odd looking clothes.
"Who on earth wears these?" he muttered, much to the annoyance of the cashier.
Melanie had other things on her mind though, as she walked up to him and gave his cheek a gentle caress.
Well, after glancing at his watch, Chance turned to Melanie.
"Hungry?"
She nodded.
"A little."
"Fancy going to Rodolfo's?"
Nervously, she bit her lip.
"Are you sure," she asked, glancing across, "they're terribly expensive and seats are hard to come by."
"Nah, it's okay. Besides, it's Wednesday night, apprentice chef night. That's when they allow the public the opportunity to sample their food. I hear their dessert chef can work miracles with oranges."
"Um, well."
"Go on. Be a devil. Live dangerously."
"Um, okay.... as long as I get to check out the kitchen."
"Any reason why?"
"Last restaurant I went to, I ended up being ill with food poisoning for a whole week. It wasn't a nice feeling at all."
"Ah, ok. I'm sure Rodolfo won't mind you popping in."
"He won't?"
"Nope, he's a good friend of the family."
"Oh wow."
With that, they walked into the restaurant where they were greeted and taken to their table. Melanie insisted on having one within eye distance of the kitchen.
Excusing herself, she wandered into the cooking area, where she looked around for a little while, before going back to the table.
By then, Chance had ordered the meal, allowing himself the spaghetti and spicy meatballs, and ordered the citrus omelette with orange sauce.
The waiter was a little snooty and curled his nose up whilst he wrote down the order, but Chance still chatted amiably regardless. He'd been having so much fun that there was nothing that would spoil the rest of the date.
Starving, as soon as the meal was placed in front of Melanie, she started shovelling it into her hungry mouth, whilst Chance, for a change, ate politely.
But the evening was not about to end there. Chance still had a few tricks up his sleeve, as he caught on that Melanie was a sucker for pranks.
"Hey, is that who I think it is?" he said, nudging her and pointing across the room.
"Huh?"
"Over there... look!"
Dropping her fork, Melanie turned, just as Chance scooped a handful of food from his plate and aimed.....
Just as she turned back, she was pelted in the face.
Shrieking at the top of her lungs, she wiped her cheek and licked her fingers.... laughing.
"Oh yummy," she said, giggling, "garlic..... that should keep the vampires at bay!"
It was so good to see the two of them enjoying themselves.
Suddenly, Chance blew Melanie a kiss.
"Will you knock it off?" she said, wiping away the remains of the food fight.
"I'm serious here Mel." he replies and does it again.
"Ohh, I'm flattered!" she croons, stroking her cheek playfully.
With the meal finished, it was also, almost the end of the date too. They stepped outside and firstly, Chance started flirting outrageously with Melanie. She thumped him playfully, before finding herself being drawn under his spell.
Chance then suggested giving Melanie a back rub.
"You're not going to nip me are you?" she said wickedly, "or put something cold down my back?"
"Hell no," came the reply, "but you HAVE given me some really good ideas there."
"Don't you dare!"
With expert hands, he massaged her shoulders and gently pounded her back.
"Any better?"
"Oh wow. Yeah. You're good with your hands!"
"I'll show you what else I'm talented with too!"
With that, Chance drew Melanie into his arms and kissed her passionately.
"Oh Chance, you're give me all hot flushes here!"
And so ended another fun filled date with Chance and Melanie.
"That was one awesome Dream Date," Melanie said happily, pulling Chance into a hug, "I'd love to do that all over again."
Next date scheduled is......
Alexa Blake!!!!** Side Note here** Melanie DID wander directly into the kitchen, carrying a can of juice (no idea where that came from) and stood staring at the chef on duty)Also, when I asked him to kiss Melanie tenderly, he pulled one hell of a face on him , as if to say "What... again?"
Also, as soon as they sat down, the first words out of Chance's mouth were of Serafina. Good job Melanie took it all light-heartedly
