Love Again ✔

11. Scared

Rose:

Maddox and I have been getting closer lately and I'm really happy about that. He's the sweetest and kindest person I've ever met, and he treats me with so much gentleness that my heart swells whenever I see him. Which is a lot.

He's picking me up in a few minutes so we could grab some lunch and I don't know why I feel so giddy as I put on a pair of light blue jeans and a light pink sweater. I used to hate getting out of this room. Now I find myself looking forward to meeting Maddox outdoors just as much as I do when we meet here. It's like, whenever we're together, my mind just forgets about the threats that could hurt me. Because somehow I know that Maddox would never let anything hurt me at all. I trust him.

A part of my brain rings in my head a warning, trying to grab my attention at the promise I've been living by for months now. Not to get too attached, not to get too trusting. But it's already late, and I refuse to let my mind take me down that road. Because Maddox is good. And that's not an assumption, it's a fact.

My phone rings as I adjust my hair in french braid, and I instantly smile as I read the caller's name. "Hey, M-mama."

"Hey, baby!" My mother's sweet voice yells at the other end and I giggle at her enthusiasm. "I missed you so much! You haven't called me in forever."

I roll my eyes because that's not true. At least not entirely. We do talk often, because she always feels the need to make sure that I'm alright, and I don't blame her after the long year she spent watching her only daughter break and crumble into nothing. Yet, ever since Maddox and I have started hanging out, I have been rather occupied.

"Leave my poor girl alone, will you? You're smothering her!" My step father's loud voice joins the call and I grin. "How are you doing, my sweet girl?"

"I m-miss you, Eddie." I say. "How's little Leo doing?"

"Your brother is a little devil, I tell you." Mom complains, but I can practically hear the smile in her voice. "You were so much calmer at his age. I wonder whose fault is that."

Eddie snorts. "If you're saying the devil in him is because of my genes, I'm not cooking dinner tonight."

I laugh, my heart filling with warmth as I picture my family around the dinner table bantering playfully as usual. "I'm sure it's not y-you, Eddie."

"Damn right, it's not me. I raised you too and look how wonderful you turned out to be." Eddie reminisces and I can't help but love him even more.

My father died when I was four years old, and sadly, I don't remember much about him. Mama married Eddie four years later and he became the best father a girl could ever dream to have. Sometimes I think he loves me more than he does my mother, and he proudly admits that to me too.

"I m-miss you guys so much." I admit, feeling nostalgic because I haven't seen them since I came back to campus.

"We miss you more. Come visit us soon. Your brother keeps asking about you all the time, you know?" Eddie says and I promise myself that I will go back home and stay for a couple of days, as soon as I can.

"You sound happy, my Ella." My mom comments and I instantly feel my cheeks heat up. "Everything going well at school?"

"I-I met someone." I confess nervously.

Mama gasps through the phone. "Oh, my god. Are you serious?"

"Is it a He?" Eddie asks grumpily, his protective side taking over. "Because I can drive to your school faster than I can go to work, my girl."

I laugh. "Yes, it's a h-he. But it's not like that. W-we are just friends. But he's wonderful, Eddie. He makes me happy."

I hear him sigh and my mother sniffle at the same time. "I knew coming back to school was a good decision. See? You made a good friend!"