𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 & 𝐂𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬 | 𝐕.𝐇

２２

vinnie's pov

"Maddy, I need to talk to you," I tell her but Jack moves to stand in front of me.

"Dude, give her a break," he tells me.

"Maddy, let's just get you into bed," I hear Ryland say.

"Maddy—"

I watch as she pulls herself to stand up but suddenly collapses, "fuck," I push past Jack and lift her off of the ground and onto my lap.

She was completely limp in my arms making my heart race, "Don't just stand there, do something!" I tell the others.

Jules grabs a towel off of the towel rack and holds it under the water for a few seconds then drops on her knees and places it on Maddy's forehead.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?" I ask her.

"We'll explain it later," she mumbled, not looking at me.

"Hey, hey Mads, you're okay," she stroked the side of Maddy's cheek.

"What happened?" I hear Maddy's croaky voice.

"You passed out for a second. You're okay though, we'll get you into bed and you can have a sleep, okay?" Jules tells her.

Maddy turns her head slightly and looks up at me, "why are you here?"

I look at her for a moment then at Jack and Ryland in the doorway then back at her, "because I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Maddy,".

"Dude, this isn't the time," Ryland rolls his eyes.

"Why are you even here?" I ask him.

"Because while you were making out with some girl, I was looking after your friend after she got her head fucking smashed into a wall!" Ryland yelled.

Everyone was quiet. Maddy slowly sits up and turns to look at me with what I'm reading as disgust and disappointment.

"So...so you get mad at me for apparently doing stuff with someone but then you go and actually do stuff with someone else?" Her words were slow and somewhat slurred but they pierced my heart all the same as if she was yelling.

I open my mouth to say something but I couldn't. I had no clue what to say.

"Forget about it, Vinnie," she says and moves away from me then tries to stand again. Jack takes her arms and helps her up and into the room. I watch as he helps her onto his bed and cups her cheek, rubbing his thumb under her eye.

Fuck. I'm an idiot.

I stand up and leave the bathroom and watch as Jack and Maddy talk— well, Maddy cry and Jack wipe her tears away.

"Can I just have five minutes to talk to her?" I ask again.

"Vinnie, with all due respect, I think you've done enough tonight," he tells me.

"Bro, you barely know her! Stop acting like some hero, because I haven't heard her say that she doesn't want to talk to me yet. It's been all you guys speaking for her," I say as I throw my arms up.