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The mall was deserted, and her shift had ended nearly thirty minutes ago, but Madeline kept finding jobs to do. Ryan was already gone, his shift ending at the same time hers had. He'd offered her a ride, but she'd declined. She didn't want to be home.
Scott was staying at Linda's, thus beginning her parents formal separation. Twelve months from now, they'd be divorced. Madeline didn't know which parent would have primary custody, probably her mom, considering none of the kids wanted to be around Linda.
She finally decided to lock up at nearly ten o'clock, considering where she could go. Andrew was at home with the kids, and so was Bonnie, though she trusted Andrew with them more than her mother. She couldn't call Simon, not after she'd freaked out on him the week before.
Simon hadn't tried to call her, and she knew she'd screwed it up. She'd felt something for Simon the first night she met him, trying to keep him at arm's length as they continued sleeping together. But he'd made it so hard, calling her baby, kissing her forehead and giving her his hoodies. She'd memorised his closet by that point, finding it curious when sweaters and hoodies and even shirts she'd never seen before started appearing just for him to give them to her. She thought it was sweet, regretting how cold she was to him. But Simon could not figure out her feelings, it would ruin everything. Turns out she'd done that without even telling him.
Finally making her mind up, dialling a number from the business phone. "Hey, I know this is really weird and you can totally say no, but can I stay at your house tonight? Thank you so so much, I really appreciate it. Yeah, I'm at work, just closing up. Okay, thanks again. See you soon,"
Maddie stood out in the parking lot for about fifteen minutes before a car pulled up. It was nearly July, so she figured she wouldn't need a sweater, oh, how she was sorely mistaken. By the time she was inside the car, she was shivering. Kate looked her up and down. "There might be a sweater in the back you can have,"
She nodded gratefully and looked in the back seat. It was the sweater she'd given back to Simon when he'd come over. But Maddie was freezing, eventually slipping it on. "Thanks for letting me stay over tonight,"
"No prob," Kate dismissed her. "Sam's over with her girlfriend, so you're stopping me from being the third wheel," the drive to her house wasn't long, and the two girls found things to talk about. It had been a long time since Maddie had someone to talk to.
Kate was fun, she was easy. Maddie felt like they could talk to each other without bullshit, and that comforted her.
When they got there, they were greeted by Sam, who Maddie knew from the cheer squad, and her girlfriend Deena, who she'd seen hanging out with Kate, Simon and Sam, but had never actually spoken to.
"Hey," she smiled. Sam was nice, she was fun to talk to. It was easy to see she was friends with Simon, they were both easy going and funny. "Hi, I'm Maddie. You're Deena, right?"
