fixing a broken smile

chapter 16

Derek had left come the next school week, and Maddie hadn't realized how much she was going to miss him until it really sunk in that he wouldn't be crashing on her floor anymore for the foreseeable future. She was walking down the hallway of her school, trying to think of something to do since she had a free period right now, when she was suddenly yanked to the side and pulled into an empty classroom. She gasped out as the door was shut the second that she was pulled into the room. She was about to scream for help when she noticed that it was just Isaac. "Sorry, it's just . . . I wanted to get you alone, but you keep avoiding me." he told her when he saw how frightened she was.

She lifted her head, about to make another excuse as to why she was avoiding him, when the words died in her throat. "Oh, my god." she gasped out when she saw his face. His right eye was swollen completely, his lip busted like her's had been countless of times before. "Isaac, oh my . . . no. Wh-what happened?" she asked him as she hesitantly reached up to him, pausing briefly as her finger tips just barely touching his bruise. He winced from the pain, but he didn't dare move away from her touch. "I'm so sorry." she told him as if it was really her fault for being the one to hurt him.

He didn't see how any of this could be her fault. She hadn't been the one who had beat him down. She hadn't been the one to really hurt him. She had only hurt him by avoiding him, but then again, that was probably his own fault. "It-it's not your fault, Maddie. Really. You didn't hit me, he did." he told her, not wanting her to blame herself for this. He had been the stupid one and didn't wash the dishes right. He hadn't been able to focus that night, and granted, it was because of her, but he wasn't about to tell her that part of the story. Though, in all honesty, he didn't plan on telling her any of the story as long as he had a say on the matter of it all.

She just shook her head at him, knowing that on some level it was her fault. Maybe if she hadn't been avoiding him, she could have helped him out like all of the times that he had helped her before. "I shouldn't have been avoiding you like I was. I was just . . . I felt so ashamed of myself with the way I just . . . threw myself at you that night." she confessed to him. She acted on impulse as she reached up and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, taking comfort in his arms as if it was a normal thing. She knew that she had no right to take comfort from him holding her, but she had missed having it so much. "I'm so sorry, Isaac. Is there anything that I can do to make it up to you?" she said into his shoulder.

He looked back down at her in surprise, but for once his surprise didn't last long. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he buried his face in her hair for a long moment. He breathed in deeply, taking in her missed scent. All she had to do was stay right here and let him hold her, and then all would be forgiven between them. "It's okay, Maddie. I-I'm not mad at you. I never was." he told her softly, not wanting to be loud and ruin the moment that was going on between them right now. He was afraid that if he spoke too loudly, reality would hit them hard once again. Only this time, it would hit them so much harder then the last time. He still thought about her question, regardless of how he just needed her embrace. He hadn't just pulled her in here to see why she was avoiding him, he had really wanted to actually ask her something. "But, um, there-there is something you can do." he said out awkwardly to her as he pulled away from her hold on him.

She wiped her teary eyes and looked up at him confused, not knowing what he could want her to do for him. She'd do it in a second regardless of what it was, but she couldn't imagine what it could be. "Will, um, will you go to the Winter Formal with-with me?" he asked her nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. He saw her expression and felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. "Not, um, not as a date. As friends. We'll go as how ever you want us to go as, just, um, I really just wanna go with you, Maddie." he added on, not wanting her to feel as if he was cornering into going with him. He knew that she wasn't ready for any kind of date, and he wasn't going to push her for one. He had just really wanted to go with her, and he didn't know how to ask her any other way. Maddie blushed at the thought of going to the up coming school dance with Isaac alone. She hadn't even planned on going to the dance at all. If anything, she was just going to stay home and hide away in her room for the night watching movies and eating junk food alone.