It's Only Love

Chapter Fourteen

"You are such an idiot!"

John sits meekly at his kitchen table as Madeline strides from the fridge to the door, over and over, in an electrified rage.

"I've got an ex-boyfriend on my doorstep at midnight--Ritchie and Mo are off parking somewhere--not even home yet--and he's going on and on about how I need to control my bloody boyfriend--like I'm the one who sent him to kick in the damn door!"

"I didn't kick in the door!"

"You kicked it, though!" Her nostrils flare, but she takes a deep breath. "John--John--you can't do stuff like that."

"I just thought--"

"Oh, did you?" But Madeline is getting tired. She sounds like her mother, she realizes.

"He hurt you," says John quietly.

Madeline sits down and puts her head in her hands. She sighs. "John, I can take care of myself. You know that." But she knows that he likes feeling as though he protects her. And she realizes that that's the problem. John wants to be the protector, not the equal.

"Madeline...I'm sorry," he says. "I really am."

She traces patterns on the table and finally says. "I...I should tell you. You know I've been looking for a university to go to."

"Yes...why?"

She bites her lip. "I decided not to go to Leeds. I'm going to University of Alabama."

His face falls. "In America."

She rubs her neck awkwardly.

"I won't see you anymore."

"It..." She sighs. "John, we both know it wouldn't have worked out, anyway."

"You said so. You said we could try. You never thought..."

"It's us, John. It's both of us. We can't both be the dominants here."

He's quiet for a moment. Then his mouth sets in a determined line.

"You're right."

Madeline arches her eyebrows, surprised.

"I just need to know one thing."

"Yes?"

"You're not going to America to run away from me...are you?"

She smiles. "No. It's not your fault. It's the place I really, truly want to go."

He grins. "Good luck, then."

She returns the grin and says, "Goodbye, then."

She walks out the door, glad that it wasn't so hard to explain to him that they didn't work. She's glad he understands.

What she doesn't know is that John doesn't understand at all. And he's just waiting for the moment to bring her back.