Eight

Madison

“Madison, hey,” a familiar male voice called from behind her. “Wait up.”

She turned to find Scott waving at her. All the air left her lungs, leaving Madison breathless. Usually, when she saw him, she’d had time to prepare. But to meet him in the street by chance just like that, Madison was caught off guard. He was looking glorious in basketball shorts and a loose tank top, a cool sackpack strapped to his back. Her eyes roamed the length of his bare, muscled arms up to his shoulders, collarbone, chin, mouth… And those eyes… they were the darkest green in the soft light of the street lamps.

“Hey,” Madison managed to mumble. “What are you doing here?”

“I just came from the park,” he said, catching up with her. “There’s a basketball court there, so we go play sometimes. Didn’t expect it to last this long, but we ended up with a tie and had to do a re-match.”

“Did you win?” Madison asked with a smirk.

“Of course.” Scott winked. “Want to walk home together? Your house is on the way to mine.”

Did she want to walk home with Scott? Yes, please.

“What are you doing out so late?” he asked, and gave her a subtle once-over that made shivers spider-walk from her heels up the back of her legs and all the way up her spine to her nape. “Not playing basketball, I guess,” he joked.

“Book club night.” Madison smiled shyly as she started walking. “The discussion got a bit more heated than anticipated and we finished late…”

“Oh, which book?”

“Northanger Abbey. We’re reading the classic version alongside a modern retelling that stirred a literary fire.”

“The retelling, is it any good?”

“Why? You enjoy reading Jane Austen?”

“Hey, I might be a dude, but we’re not all like Mark Twain. I love Jane; I don’t want to ‘dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone’ every time I read Pride and Prejudice.”

“So have you read it many times?”

“Ah, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that a book lover has to read it more than once.”

Scott was walking her home, and now, on top of looking gorgeous in his sporty clothes, he was quoting Jane Austen at her. Could a guy get any more perfect? Madison bit her lower lip so forcefully she almost drew blood. How was she supposed to get over him? But I need to… I have no choice. Scott doesn’t want me, he’ll never want me. He has Haley… why would he ever spare me a second glance?

“So,” Scott continued, “is Pride and Prejudice your favorite Austen novel?”

“Nah, I’m more of a Persuasion kind of girl. I identify better with Anne Elliot than Elizabeth Bennet.”

Scott gave a slight double take. “Not searching for your Mr. Darcy, then?”

You are my Mr. Darcy.

STOP IT, her conscience raged inside her.

Madison cleared her throat to hide her internal battle. “It’s not about the hero, but the leading lady. Lizzy is too fierce, and I’m not. And my family… they can be pushy, just like the Elliots.”

“You mean they persuaded you to break off an engagement with the love of your life?”

Madison giggled. “No, it’s more of a modern-day issue.”

Scott raised his eyebrows interrogatively.

“My dad wants me to become a lawyer to join the family business,” Madison explained.

“Ah, and you don’t want to?”

“No, never have.”

“What would you want to do?”

Madison stared up at the night sky, wondering why she was pouring her heart out to Scott. She never discussed her plans and dreams for the future with anybody, so why open up to him? You know why… Yeah, she did. But what good could come of it?

“I’m sorry,” Scott said. “You probably don’t want to discuss your entire life plan on your way home on a random Monday night.”

“No, it’s not that.” Madison turned to look at him and found his bright green eyes trained on her. It made her knees go soft. “It’s just that when you ask someone what they want… I mean, I doubt there’s a harder question to answer, right?”

“Touché.”

“If I had to tell you my biggest dream, it’d be to be a writer. To live in a small, remote cottage on the beach on the coast of Maine. Somewhere cold, with a view of a lighthouse, and only the sound of waves as a companion.”

“Sounds tempting…”

“You like to write, too?”

“Yeah, I love it.”

“Fiction, poetry…?”

“A bit of both. You?”

“Mostly fiction… I like stories.”

“So what’s stopping you from following that dream?” Scott challenged.

“My father would never accept it. The only other Smithson who refused to be a lawyer is my cousin Ethan…”

“I’m sure they didn’t burn him at the stake.”

“No, but his father told him Harvard was no longer free for kids who didn’t play the good little lawyer. So you see why I’m worried about becoming a penniless writer with so much debt on my shoulders. I would have to find a more reliable source of income. A job I could actually stomach that still had to do with books…”

“Like?”

“Like becoming a teacher, or working at a publishing house, or even a publishing startup.”

“Seems like a good plan.”

“More brave than good. I’m not sure I’ll ever find the guts.”

“Would you rather do a job you hate to make your dad happy?”

“No, I’m just saying that whatever I do, someone is going to be disappointed, and it won’t be easy either way.”

“No,” Scott agreed. “Nothing worthwhile ever is.”

Did that apply also to love? Madison wondered, and then she shifted the focus of the conversation away from herself. “Have you always wanted to be a doctor?”

Scott smiled. “So Haley has been talking about me?”

“She has.”

I also might’ve had this little stalking habit of knowing everything about you even before you met her. But let’s ignore the details, shall we?

“Anyway, being a doctor has always been the dream for me. A real stethoscope was my favorite toy as a kid; I never considered anything else…”

“What kind of doctor do you want to be?”

“Neurosurgeon.”

Madison tried hard not be impressed. “Why?”

“The brain is the most fascinating organ in the entire human body; it can do the most extraordinary things…”

Or turn perfectly normal human beings into silly, lovesick girls who’d give up everything for a kiss from the boy they loved. No, bad Madison. Scott is Haley’s boyfriend… and even if he weren’t, he’d never be interested in you.

“I bet your parents are happy about you becoming a neurosurgeon,” Madison said.

Scott’s lips parted in a foxy grin. “They’re not too cross about it, but the academic is going to be challenging enough for me.”

“I’ll take your word for it, science books are the only kind I avoid. Oh…” Madison stopped abruptly; she’d almost walked right past her building. She was so comfortable talking with Scott she hadn’t been paying attention to the road. “We’re here. Thanks for walking me home.”

“No problem.” Scott smiled again. “You think Haley is still up?”

Oh. Oh. So that was why he’d walked her home. Scott wanted to catch Haley before she went to bed, probably only to give her the most romantic goodnight kiss and then go home.

“She was when I left earlier, can’t say for now. You want to come up and check?”

Yeah, Madison, invite him up to see a girl who’s not you. Smart move.

Why was she torturing herself like this? Was she really so desperate to spend five more minutes with Scott that she’d even put up with seeing him with Haley?

Yep!

For Madison, loving Scott from afar, spending time with him was like poking a wound or scratching away a dried scab. Nothing good could ever come out of it, but she couldn’t control the impulse.

“I should probably text her.” Scott unlocked his phone’s screen. “It’s pretty late.”

He typed a quick text and they both waited to see if Haley would reply.

“She must be already in bed,” Scott said after a while. “I’ll catch up with her tomorrow.”

Madison was about to insist for him to come up when she remembered the whole “Haley kissing David at the masquerade” drama. Maybe her best friend wasn’t ready to see her boyfriend and have “the awkward talk” with him.

“Yeah, right. Now that I think about it, she mentioned she was having an early night,” Madison said. “This is goodnight, then.”

“Night.”

Scott pulled her into a quick goodbye hug, turned on his heel, and jogged away into the night. Madison stood there at the bottom of the steps of her building, dumbfounded. Her skin burned in all the spots where it had just connected with Scott’s. Her nostrils filled with his scent of clean soap mixed with a sheen of light sweat, probably from the game. And her eyes trained on the tall figure quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Haley

Haley stared at Scott’s text, aghast. Fear paralyzed her even if the message only said:

Hey… you still up?

She gaped at the simple line of text while keeping her phone on the lock screen. If she didn’t open the text, he wouldn’t know she’d read it, meaning he’d think she was asleep, meaning she wouldn’t have to reply or, worse, talk to him. Via text or in person, it didn’t matter. Haley was so utterly terrified of the next time she’d have to talk to her boyfriend that her first irrational instinct was to postpone the moment. Even if she knew she was only making things worse.

The entrance door opened and then clicked shut, signaling that Madison had gotten home. Haley and Alice had said goodnight a while ago, but Haley was still wide awake. She was in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to draft an I’ve-kissed-your-brother-but-it’s-not-a-big-deal speech in her head.

Long, gut-wrenching conversations weren’t her thing; she was more about short, direct communication. But how else could she explain to Scott all the layers of her feelings? Make him understand how much she loved him… and how little she cared about his brother.

Maybe it didn’t have to be so complicated. How about starting with a simple goodnight text? Haley unlocked the screen and typed:

Hey

I just got out of the shower

U still up?

Walking into my room right now

I need a shower, too

How was the game?

We won :)

Uh-huh

#TeamScott

Haley paused, undecided on what to type next. She was #TeamScott. Every cell in her body wanted him. David didn’t matter, he’d been a summer fantasy almost a year ago and a real-life jerk for the past six months. He was mean and cruel, and this was only his latest stunt to try to ruin his brother’s life. Haley wouldn’t let him. She needed to make Scott understand. Her phone beeped again.

I was just outside your building

Wanted to kiss you good night in person

Now you’ll have settle for an emoji

:*

Haley’s heart contracted with a little pang.

If we’re using emoji…

I ♥ you

I ♥ you too

Goodnight

:*

Night

:*

She had nothing to worry about. Scott loved her, and he would believe her.

***

Haley wasn’t feeling nearly so confident the next morning when she had to decide how and when to face her boyfriend. She used every possible excuse not to talk to him, in person or over the phone. Texts were okay for now. Haley had convinced herself that since she couldn’t break the news with a text, it was perfectly normal not to mention the kiss in them. It wasn’t like lying by omission.

She avoided him all of Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning, as she read Scott’s early morning texts, she was ashamed to feel so completely relieved he’d be too busy to see her until later tonight. He had sent her a good morning kiss followed by a string of cute complaints:

Morning

:*

I’m so over the emojis

The real thing is so much better

Seems like forever I haven’t seen you

And today I’m busy all day

I won’t be home until later tonight

Going downtown to interview at Massachusetts General Hospital

For a different pre-med program

They’re going to give me the tour of the hospital afterward

So it’ll take a while

Enough to give Haley a few more hours to prepare for her confession. But she couldn’t postpone it any longer. Tonight, she must tell him.

Haley picked up her phone and hit reply.

I miss you too

Good luck for the interview

But you don’t need it

They’d be crazy not to pick you

Call me when you get back

I need to talk to you tonight

There’s something I have to tell you

Love you

:*

Haley had roughly eight hours to prepare herself. She should draft a speech and perhaps rehearse it on Alice. In normal circumstances, she would’ve asked Madison for help, since she was the best of the three of them with words, but she couldn’t ask her friend to play Cyrano de Bergerac for her and Scott. Haley complimented herself on the literary quotation—totally learned from the Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah movie Roxanne.

Help or not, she had a job to do. Haley jumped off the bed and sat at her desk. Feeling particularly romantic, she decided to leave her laptop off for once and write the speech the old fashioned way using pen and paper.

Her decision proved a bad one for the environment. By the time she had a speech that satisfied her, the floor of her bedroom was littered with crumpled sheets of discarded drafts. But Haley was happy with the final result. After hearing her words, Scott wouldn’t be able to turn her down. Now all she needed to do was to shower, make herself look pretty, and wait for her boyfriend to call.