𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨, 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘆

32

the next morning maddie woke up still in daniels arms. he was still sound asleep including jack, gabbie, lav, corbyn, and christina. jonah went up to his room after everyone fell asleep last night. very quietly, maddie got up from the couch and went into the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. she checked her phone and the time said 8:37 am. while making her breakfast, eben came into the kitchen. "hey e."

"hey mads. whatcha making?" asked eben. she looked up at him.

"what do you think? the same thing i make every morning." she said sarcastically. eben laughed.

"are we the only ones awake right now?" he asked. maddie nodded and headed outside in the backyard with her coffee and avocado toast. eben followed. "hey can i tell you something? i haven't told anyone and i honestly trust you the most."

"of course!" she smiled at him as they both sat down on the chairs by the pool.

"alright. so the other day, more like a couple months ago, i met this girl at the beach." maddie smiled at him happy he's finally happy.

"eben that's amazing! what's her name?"

"paige." he answered. maddie's smile dropped.

"um.. what's her last name?" he looked at her confused.

"connor, why?" she put her hand over her mouth.

"that's my ex best friend.." she felt her eyes get watery. eben frowned.

"oh. well if you want me to stop talking to her-"

"no don't do that. i'm happy you're happy," she smiled, "i'm going to go bring my plate inside, did you want like a water or anything?"

"no, i'm alright." he smiled. maddie just nodded and went inside quickly. a rush of emotions went through her body. she'd do anything to become friends with paige again. brooklyn, absolutely not, but paige was definitely a better person than brooklyn was. maddie was closer to paige and they hung out a lot more. she remembered all the late nights they spent watching scary movies and laughing about things that weren't even funny.

she put her plate in the sink as small tears filled her eyes. she went upstairs to hers and daniel's room and closed the door, hoping to never come out again. she didn't blame eben, of course. he's one of her best friends. it wasn't his fault. maddie put on one of daniel's hoodies and turned on the tv, clicking on netflix. while watching outerbanks, she falls asleep again. dry tears on her cheeks.