fixing a broken smile

chapter 11

Maddie had actually dressed up for this 'big surprise birthday event to remember for years to come' that Stiles had insisted that she go along with them for. She had even not worn leggings with her dress this time. She deemed her legs good enough to leave bare, if only for one night. Her bruises were nearly gone, and you couldn't see them until you were specifically looking for them. Her hair was left down in actual curled ringlets and she was wearing a bit more then just cover up for the bruises. She still wore her preferred shoes, those being flats, but at least they were dressy looking and matched her dress.

The only thing actually missing?

Stiles and Scott, who, according to her phone? Were suppose to be here over a hour ago to pick her up. She thought about calling them, and she had ended up doing just that, but both of her calls to them had gone right to voicemail. After that, she had ended up just waiting on the front porch for them, and that was where she was still currently waiting for them. She knew deep down that she had been stood up by her best friends, but she didn't want to believe it was true. She didn't want to believe that the two people she counted on had let her down like they had. She knew that she told them every year not to worry about her birthday and not to make a big deal out of it, but she had secretly loved that they did it for her anyway. She never thought for a second that they would back out like this.

A few more minutes had gone by still with no sign of Stiles' jeep with him and Scott inside of it with their 'big surprise' for her. She sighed, wiping her teary eyes, and got up from the step that she was sitting on. She made her way up the stairs towards her front door. She went to walk inside of the house, but instead, nothing had happened. She had completely forgotten that she had locked it on her way out. She usually just spent the night at Scott or Stiles' on her birthday, and her dad knew that. It was probably the one time he let her sleep somewhere else besides her own bed. She didn't even think to have her house keys on her either. "Hey birthday girl!" she heard be shouted out from behind her. She spun around, gasping as she thought that Stiles and Scott had finally shown up. She felt her heart race, something that she wasn't use to feeling, at the sight of Isaac standing there all dressed up nicely at the end of her walkway.

She took slow steps toward him, her confusion clear on her face as she got closer to where he was standing. He held his arms behind his back, hiding something behind him, and his bike was right behind him. He wasn't wearing a suit, but he was still wearing a nice dress shirt with a jacket instead of his sweatshirt like he usually wore. He was even wearing semi new clean black pants. His sandy blond curly hair wasn't combed back or anything, but he had gotten it cut slightly shorter. He had a big nervous smile on his face as he still hid something behind his back from her. She wiped her eyes again, hoping that he couldn't see that she was starting to cry. "Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked him as she stopped in front of him.

He didn't say anything to her at first. He just smiled at her as he revealed the bouquet of flowers from behind his back to her. Her hands flew up to her mouth, covering her lips as a gasped slipped through them on accident. They weren't overly huge, but instead it was just the perfect size. "It's your birthday, right? I, um, I thought that we could do something." he said to her nervously before he actually took the chance to realize that she was all dressed up for something. He felt his heart drop then. How could he be so stupid to think that she wouldn't have already made plans for her birthday? For all he knew, Stiles and Scott were coming to get her right this second. "Unless, um, you've already made plans? Cause if you have? It's totally fine. I completely understand." he told her as if it was really nothing.

She lowered her hands down from her mouth and wrapped them around herself as a gust of wind hit them. She shivered slightly, but before she could tell him that she was plans free, he had jumped forward toward her. He slipped off his coat, and like the night at the parent-teachers conference, he wrapped it around her shoulders. She looked up at him with a small smile as he adjusted the coat to make sure that it stayed on her shoulders and that it was on enough to warm her up from the cold night air that was hitting them. "Thank you, Isaac." she said up to him softly. He gave her a shy smile in return, causing them both to blush. "And it's a no to your question. I'm free and at your mercy it would seem like tonight." she told him as she tried to keep smiling, but he could see the sadness behind it. He vowed then to get a real laugh out of her again by the end of the night.