My Savior | First Love Series

Chapter 23

"I'm in distress!"

I check the time on my phone before glancing at my best friend who's staring at me expectantly. "You've been in distress for thirty minutes now."

"Exactly! Why haven't you asked me what's wrong yet?"

I laugh as a cookie flies my way. Madaline has been complaining for a while about something that fell on deaf ears. I was listening at first when she went on a rant about how Jackson said he didn't like gold fish. She calls it a heinous crime. I figured it wouldn't be best if I mentioned that I didn't like gold fish either. Or cheez-its. When her rant turned into something else, I tuned her out so I could focus on finishing a homework assignment.

Madaline groans in annoyance, her body flopping back onto her side of the bed. I merely glance at her before focusing back on the math problems in front of me. It requires most of my brain cells, the numbers and letters sitting next to each other confusing me to wits end. She sighs loudly again, the sound floating to my ears in seconds. My pencil rolls to the side as I drop it and look at her, waiting for her to spit out whatever it is she needed to say.

"What is it, Maddy?"

"I'm dying!"

"How or why are you dying?" I ask, giving her my full attention.

Madaline rolls over to my side, laying her head on my shoulder. "I thought me and Jackson were doing good. We talk more and hang out more..."

"What's the problem?" I ask, genuinely confused. It sounds like they're doing okay to me. Jackson's cool exterior has melted some, and it all started with Maddy. As they started to hang out more, and as he started to hang with me, he got comfortable day by day. There's also all the smiles he gives Madaline and the looks of comfort.

"He hasn't made a move! I've flirted a couple times, and then he says something back that sounds flirty- but that's all!"

I hum, thinking about everything that she's told me. Jackson seems confident enough to make the first move, but he doesn't seem like the type of guy to make a serious decision if he isn't sure. Him and Madaline have been hanging out more if they're not with the group, but that doesn't mean one person doesn't want to take it slow. The person being Jackson. I'm not an expert, so advice would sound terrible coming from me.

"I don't know, Maddy. You know I've never been in a relationship or even liked someone. Not until now, and I was close to messing that up too."

"Yeah," Madaline laughs, lifting her head up from my shoulder, "we did say we were bad at this."

"Definitely," I sit up from my spot, pulling her along with me towards the door, "snacks and just dance can help."

I drag her out the room and down the stairs, our hands locked with Madaline stumbling behind me. Her parents are in the kitchen when we enter, their smiles now directed towards us. I wave at them to be respectful before raiding their kitchen. They probably wouldn't care- as they've told me many times, but if I'm going to be the reason they need to restock, then I can continue to be polite. Madaline rolls her eyes, motioning to the pantry. Her parents laugh at the exchange, and I happily go over to get some snacks.

"Want cheese puffs?" I ask, turning around with a pack of pop tarts in my hand.

"You know me so well, beasty."

I pretend to gag at the name, but still grab the puffs. After filling my arms with more snacks, we move to the living room. Madaline sets up just dance while I lay down the snacks. She hands me a controller and puts on gangman style. I laugh because she picks it every time, but we always have so much fun.

The song starts to play as I grab a pop tart, my points already going in the negatives. This time it's Madaline that laughs, her points going up by tens.

"You're slacking, Nolan! Start gangman styling it up!"

"Stop with these terrible phrases!" I dramatize as I move beside her.

Madaline just laughs again, her focus on the dance and she's murdering it. We move around each other as we dance, and I think she might've hit me in the eye. She'll never admit it though. The song ends and I stumble to a couch as Madaline's wining score pops up on the TV. I boo her, making her turn round and poke her tongue out at me.

"Bring me my crown, peasant!" she tries to call for me.

"Eat a dry biscuit," I reply before picking up another pop tart.

Madaline ignores me and plops down on another couch with the bag of puffs. We silently agree to take this small break before starting again and testing our lung capacity.

"I told Julie that I like Scarlette," I bring up, casually.

The puff, that almost went into Madaline's mouth, falls back into the bag as she lets it go. Her expression shows shock for a solid minute until she lets out a loud gasp. I nod my head in confirmation and she gasps again- the reaction making me shaking my head with a smile while telling her parents that we're fine.

"When?" she finally asks.

"The other day?"

"Why am I just finding out today!?"

"I forgot to tell you," I tell her, honestly. "Right after it happened, mom called us down to help her with dinner and it was like that for the rest of the night."

"How awkward was it?" Madaline asks, all too knowing. I just give her a look, letting her know that it was very awkward. She smiles and moves over to me, passing me the bag of puffs. "Well, I'm glad you told her before things got too far."

"Me too."

"Well, I guess hanging out tomorrow with the group will be pretty pretty awkward."

That catches my attention. I didn't know anything about us hanging out tomorrow or any time soon. Madaline nods and tells me about the plans that were made on the same day I told Julie about everything. Apparently, Madaline, Jackson, and Scarlette were on call for a while and decided to hang out again. As in the entire group and if you don't come, someone will hunt you down.

The conversation drifts to Madaline and how she's going to act when she sees Jackson tomorrow. Madaline said she's not going to push too much in case it's too much for her 'day one crush.'  I try to convince her that Jackson feels the same she does. We're alike in being oblivious. But I won't say that out loud.

After Madaline hypes herself up over time, we get back into just dance with pop tarts and cheese puffs. It goes on like that for a while. Us doing dances then taking breaks to not die and feed ourselves junk food.

It gets late when the Versaces ask me if I'm staying over for dinner. I told me not tonight and maybe some other time. Things may be weird with my parents right now, but avoiding them forever is impossible and they're still my parents. They take me home a little after that and Madaline makes me promise that I'll text her.

After promising her a thousand times, I wave bye to my second family and enter my own home. I smell my favorite food coming from the kitchen and soft music playing, the sound floating around the house.

"Nolan? Is that you?" my mom asks me from the kitchen.

"Yes," I call back while kicking off my shoes.

"Come help me with dinner, sweetie. It's your favorite!"

I feel a sense of deja vu and slowly make my way to the kitchen where my mom waits for me. Inside, I see my dad with his arms crossed over one another and an unusual expression etched onto his face.

"Oh, boy..." I mutter to myself as I walk all the way in.

I think I just got hit by deja vu twice.