*A Friends to Enemies to Lovers Romance*
Madalynn Reese never expected to see Liam Tucker again. Not after all of these years, and not after he broke all of their promises. But when she heads off to her dream college and runs into her ex-childhood b...
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Seven years ago...
I looked at my bedside clock. It was past ten, and I hadn't heard my mom or John for a while now, indicating that they were finally sleeping. Slipping off my bunny slippers, I grabbed my boots and put them on, tucking the legs of my sloth pajamas inside of them.
I went to my window, pushing the sheer curtains to the side and slid it open. Peering down, just like promised, there was Liam standing below with his dad's ladder pushed against the house. I grinned, giving him a small wave.
"I've got a hold to it. Climb down!" Liam whisper shouted. I nodded, crawling out of my window and carefully climbing onto the ladder.
As soon as my feet were placed correctly, I held on tight, making my way down just as I had done several times before. When I got to the bottom two steps, Liam grabbed me by the waist to help.
"I think I got it from here." I teased.
He grinned, shrugging and taking me by the hand. "Come on, this way!"
I followed him into the woods behind our houses where we had a treehouse his parents had set up a few years back. They never knew it, but it became our hideout on more than one night.
I followed Liam up the ladder, entering the tree house. A blanket was spread out on the floor where Liam and I would often lay to watch the stars through the plexiglass that was cut out in the middle of the wooden roof. There were also two bean bags for us to sit on, a plastic bin that held after school and late-night snacks, and a shelf in the corner for books and music.
I sat down on the blanket, wrapping my arms around my legs and rested my chin on my knees. Liam reached into our snack bin and handed me a bag of Doritos, but I shook my head. He paused, assessing me, before putting them back in and tossing me a Twinkie as he threw himself onto his bean bag.
"It's a Twinkie kind of night, I see. Talk to me, Maddie."
I sighed, sitting up with my legs crossed now as I opened my delicious, cream-filled snack.
"I don't really want to talk about it. Not tonight."
Liam stared at me for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and forehead creased like he was reading my thoughts. Liam always had a way of making me feel like he knew exactly what was going on in my head. It should have been scary-- having someone know you better than you knew yourself, but it wasn't. It was comforting knowing there was someone who understood me, even when I didn't.
"I know exactly what you need." He said, eagerly sitting up.
"Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"Some Jimi Hendrix of course!" I laughed, as he went to the C.D. player and skipped to track four where Foxy Lady began to play. He took a seat by me and held out his hand. Knowing exactly what he was asking for, I handed him half of my Twinkie. We sang as we ate, unattractively spitting out pieces of spongey goodness as we did, because we couldn't be bothered with waiting to swallow when Hendrix was playing.
