18 Going On 30 || h.s. au

three

YEAR ELEVEN
HOLMES CHAPEL, ENGLAND
HALLOWEEN

It was spring of year ten when Tommy Dalton asked Maddie to be his girlfriend and she said yes. Tommy was ecstatic, he finally got the girl he had been pining after for so long. Maddie... sure, she was...happy. She appreciated Tommy's attention and affection. Sometimes when she was with him, she found herself laughing and smiling- enjoying herself.

But every time he told her a joke, she thought about how Harry had a funnier joke. Every time he gave her a compliment, she thought about how it would sound more genuine coming from Harry. Every time Tommy forgot that she likes strawberry ice cream better than chocolate, she knew that Harry would never, ever forget that.

Over the summer, Tommy made sure he spent as much time with Maddie as he could, which was...a lot. Every time they would go out, the next time Harry and Maddie were together, she would spend half an hour complaining about something he did that was annoying or how he was on his phone during the whole movie. 

At first it amused Harry, making him slightly happy that she was so miserable in her relationship, but he felt bad that he enjoyed her misery because he always wanted her to be happy. The first few times she complained he thought it was funny, but now he's sick of it.

He's sick of hearing how someone as undeserving of Lainey as Tommy is could treat her as anything less than a princess. He's sick of seeing her in such a rut every time they're together because she's still irritated from something Tommy said earlier that day.

It's not that Maddie didn't have feelings for Tommy at all, she did. He was sweet to her, he said she was pretty, he was nice to her mum when he met her. But there was certainly a longer list of cons in Maddie's head than pros, for example how there's been more than one occasion when he forgot to show up to a date that he planned.

More than once has Maddie had to call Harry to come pick her up when she's been forgotten, and each time he's never failed to make her forget about her lowly boyfriend and cheer her up with a bit of strawberry ice cream and ABBA.

As Tommy and Maddie's relationship went on, the more annoyed she became when she saw his name on her phone. It seemed like a chore going out with him, but Maddie was too kind to give up just yet. He had his flaws, but Maddie's so good at forgiving them at the cost of her feelings being collateral damage.

Tommy always seemed to make it up to her, begging for her forgiveness for forgetting their date and promising it would never happen again. It always did, though.

So, Maddie wasn't surprised when she walked in on Tommy and Hannah Pierce making out at the annual Halloween party.

"Maddie, wait!" Tommy called after her as he chased her out of the room, frantically running a hand through his blonde hair. "I'm sorry!"

She ignored him, swiftly running down the stairs and pushing her way through the costumed crowd to get as far away from him as possible.

A million feelings were running through her head. Mostly anger, mostly hurt. How could he?

"Maddie, stop." Tommy finally caught up to her on the front porch of the house they were at. "Let me explain."

"Explain what, Tommy?" She yelled through gritted teeth, yanking her arm out of his grip and taking a step back from him. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"I'm sorry... I don't.... It won't happen again, I promise. Let me make it up to you." He pleaded with her pathetically, stepping closer to her.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Tommy."  She yelled. "You know what, I'm sick of this. I'm sick of you screwing up and begging for forgiveness. I've given you so many chances, so many times when you could've shown me, your girlfriend, some decency, but you didn't. Don't bother making plans just to abandon me again, we're done. I'm done with this." She exploded, turning her back to him and walking off down the steps of the porch to leave the party for good.