Deciding on You || a.i. (Book 2)

30 | Ashton

All I got was a f*cking text message from Michael on Maddie's phone, telling me to come to a certain dorm at the nearby university. He didn't tell me what the hell was going on, or anything. Needless to say, I'm worried sick.

It's a goddamn college campus. I know what shit goes down on college campuses on the weekends, and it's not good. For all I know, she could've left Reagan and Michael's sight for two seconds, left her phone somewhere, and is nowhere to be found.

I shift the weight on my feet outside the door, waiting for Michael. I don't even know if I'm at the right goddamn building.

I tug on the door for the fifth time, hoping it'll budge, just as Michael comes to push it open.

"Dude, what the hell is going on?" I ask, rushing past him and into the building.

He cracks a smile and I furrow my eyebrows. "Maddie's just as obsessed with you as you are with her, that's what's going on," he says.

"What?" My heart does somersaults, but my stomach still feels like it has a fist clenched around it.

"It's kind of weird," he vaguely says, "Also, Reagan's friends don't like me."

I follow him down the dimly lit hallways, past all of the dorm rooms and RA bulletin boards no one reads. I have no clue where we're going, and he's acting so casual about this.

Bad things keep happening this year, so that's always my first thought. I'm still jumping to conclusions as we speak. What if Ethan's friends with someone here, and he was at whatever little get together they went to.

"I like you, and I hate everyone," I say quickly, still trying to pick up the pace. "You're probably just being stupid like usual."

"Are you getting me mixed up with you?" He laughs. "You're the stupid one."

"Okay, but what is going on with Maddie?" I try again. I don't have time for his bullshit.

"You'll see," he says.

He stops abruptly, and I have to backtrack because of how fast I'm walking. Michael knocks on a door with two notecards taped on it to show that some guys named Andy and Clayton live there. That doesn't make me any less worried.

Some random guy, maybe Andy or Clayton...I don't know, opens the door, and Maddie is immediately right in front of me. She's sitting on a bed with her head rested on Reagan's shoulder, her eyes closed.

You'd think that'd relieve me of my worries, but it doesn't. I still don't know why I'm here, and the ratio of guys to girls in this room is 9:3. I scan the room, trying to figure out which guy I am going to have to hold myself back from hitting this time.

"Is this the man of the hour?" Another random dude with long, brown hair asks of me.

"Yep," a girl says, and I look over to see the girl from the party Reagan took me to. I can't even remember her name.

I force a smile and wave at her before awkwardly running my fingers through my hair. The entire room is looking at me now, and Reagan nudges Maddie awake.

As soon as she opens her eyes she gasps and tries to jump out of her seat. She merely slides off though, and ends up falling right on her ass and starts giggling.

Now, I know exactly why I was needed. Now, I can try to breathe.

"Maddie," I chuckle lightly, and I take a step toward her and reach out to grab under her arms. She scrambles to her feet.

"See," she says, her voice much more high-pitched than usual. She pushes her hair out of her face before pressing a hand to my chest, glancing back at Reagan. "You juss can't hate him."