A New Neighbor (A Josh Hutcherson Story)

Chapter 9- Josh's POV- Finally

I am so mad at her. I didn’t even say anything that bad. “I don’t understand how this is going to work.” Ugh, she is such a drama queen. Well, a drama queen with the most beautiful blue eyes, and soft brown hair…I’m a mess.

After me and Madi’s break up, I have not been thinking straight. My thoughts have been flying from Madi to me, then to the fact that I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, and then back to Madi. I have been crying and acting like a total baby…it’s annoying. My stomach grumbles and I give in, wiping my red face. I walk over to the door of my mom’s room, where I have been sleeping on the floor. I open it just a smidge and peer out, making sure that Madi is nowhere nearby. After making sure that the coast is clear, I walk over to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich.

I plop myself down on the couch, and turn on the T.V. I flip through several channels before giving up and turning to Spongebob Squarepants. I eat my sandwich in seconds, and enjoy a few minutes without any troubles…and then Madi walks in.

She looks extremely tired, her eyes red and puffy, like mine. Her face is splotchy, and her hair, although in a bun, is a mess. She still looks amazing though… I start to miss her ability to pull off  a look like that, and feel guilty about what I did yesterday, but when I look into her eyes with regret, she just simply turns around and walks into the kitchen.

I feel heartbroken, and the pain that a broken heart gives off, is brutal. As I watch Spongebob and Patrick blow bubbles and say extremely stupid things, I decide to aplologize to Madi. I get up and brush myself off, walking to the kitchen. I stop short of the entryway by the fridge, and look around the corner. Madi is folding a red and white-checkered blanket and putting it into a woven basket. After she completes that, she grabs the basket and heads in my direction.

I race for the living room, and jump onto the couch. I hold my breath as Madi passes me, using my acting skills to pretend that I was still watching T.V. As soon as I hear the door shut behind Madi, I release the breath that I was holding, and walk to the kitchen. I wonder what the basket was for…Just as that thought surfaces, my mom walks into the kitchen.

“Hey sweetie! I’m just going on a walk around the lake with Mrs. Jones. I’ll be back soon.” she says, walking out the door.

As she leaves, and random idea sparks in my head. I decide to bake Madi an apology cake. She liked the milkshake I made for her earlier, and a chocolate cake is…almost, the same. After completing the batter, I pour it into a cake pan and put it in the oven. To pass the time, I decide to watch more of Spongebob, and eventually fall asleep.

I wake up to the sound of the oven beeping. It feels like I have been sleeping for hours, but it has only been 45 minutes. Oh, the wonders of naps. After taking out the cake, I frost the words, “I’m sorry, Madi. I love you,” on it. After my piece of art is complete I place a food cover over it and walk over to the window by the living room.

I sit down on the window seat and look out at the lake and at…Madi? I see her in the distance and it looks like she is setting up a picnic, but for whom? She puts the checkered blanket I saw earlier on the ground and sets up candles. Once she is done, she stands back to look at her masterpiece. For whatever reason she did this for, it looks amazing.

I see Madi head back for the house, so I turn around, but just before I do, I see Connor and Jessie walking towards the picnic site. Oh, she must have set the picnic up for them. That is so nice of her, caring about my brother, even though she probably hates me now.

I hurry back to my cake and take the cover off. I position myself awkwardly by the island where the cake is at, and wait for Madi to enter the house. I hear the door open, and my heart races faster and faster. As she walks in, I prepare myself for the worse, but put on a smile, for her sake…

“Hey.” I say, as I walk over to her and take her hands in mine.

“Wh-What’s going on?” she asks, seeming a little confused.

I sigh, “Madi, I overreacted last night. I’m so sorry-I didn’t mean to get frustrated at you. I shouldn’t have said anything, and I’m just, I’m really sorry. I love you…”

I stare at the ground, waiting for her response, and then look up at her beautiful eyes for a split second. We stand in silence for a moment and then I finally lift my head, looking into those eyes once again.

She smiles at me, finally, and I feel a sense of relief appear inside of my heart. I reach out and pull her into a hug, never wanting to let go.

“I’m so, so sorry.” I whisper in her ear.

She hugs me back and whispers, “I’m sorry too.”

I frown, upset with her words. How could she think that she did something wrong? It was all me…

“Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong. Your perfect.” I say, and then I kiss her. I missed her lips so much, and I can’t seem to pull away, but as always, ours moms came to save the day. I pull back quickly as they walk in, and smile, for real this time.

Connor walks in, gloomy as ever. I wonder what went wrong on the date… I see Madi rush over to him and follow him to his bedroom. I try to go too, but Madi holds me back. I see why, though. She is a girl and she will know why Jessie did what she did…if she did do something. This is just too complex…

I wait for a while on the couch thinking. I think about how much pain I went though last night. Without Madi, I was sleep deprived. I couldn’t wrap my mind around not being with her…and that was only one night. What will happen when I leave for my movie? It’s just around the corner, and I don’t know how I will survive without Madi.

Thinking about this makes me want her more and more, and soon I cannot wait any longer. I walk over to Connor’s room and open the door, walking in towards Madi. Connor is nervously yapping away into his phone, so I just decide to take Madi away.

As we leave Connor’s room and shut the door, I quickly place my lips on Madi’s, not being able to wait any longer. I slip my tongue into her mouth, hoping she realizes what I want, and I feel her smile against my lips. She pulls away and I follow her into our room. Success, I think. Success.

 *Sorry it was short. I'm sick :( So, what did you think? Josh is such a sweetie. <3 I know I re-wrote a lot from Madi's POV, but I'm just so tired, ya'll. I know that's no excuse, but seriously, I'm sick and in high school. Not the best combination... ;) I'll try my best to upload a long chapter for chapter 10 to make up for this one. 

I want to thank all of my fans for voting and commenting on this book. It really means a lot to me. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day (today), I will see one of your sweet comments and it will seriously make my day. So thank you all so much :) Please keep voting and commenting!!

So, the reason I edited the end of chapter 7, is because I was a complete idiot and didn't notice that it didn't match that same time period in Connor's POV. This is what high school does to you. Just a warning for all you junior highers ;) Haha, be prepared ;D So I chose which ending I liked best, and then re-wrote the other one. I hope you don't hate me now...;)

Teaser: Going back home.:( And what about Josh's movie? How is he going to go months without Madi?? :O

Update: MAYBE sometime this week. But again the HS thing...if not, then this weekend for sure :)*