redefine | calum hood

fifteen

Fifteen

Calum

I woke up the next morning, seeing Maddie still fast asleep. She slept the whole night, not waking up once, and she was a lot more relaxed now. As she slept, I scrolled through my phone after taking a quick picture of her. A couple of minutes later, she started to stir and woke up, "Morning, Mad," I greeted. She mumbled and huffed, letting her head fall back down on my chest. I rubbed her back after putting my phone down, letting her try to wake up a little bit. "Want to go get breakfast?" I asked. She softly nodded, then sat up and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. We both went down and I pulled out some cereal for her to eat. We were silent as she ate her cereal and I made some coffee for everyone, though they were still asleep. "How about we go shopping this week?" I suggested.

"Why?"

"You need stuff," I explained.

"You don't have to get me anything,"

"I'm going to, you need things and I want to get them for you, you deserve it," I said. She didn't say anything, just quietly ate her cereal. It was clear she was uncomfortable talking about herself, which upset me, but I moved on. "Want to see the house today?"

"Sure," she nodded.

"You're going to love the house, and if you don't tell me so we can get a new house," I said and she nodded. We finished eating as everyone started to get up, then Maddie went upstairs to get changed as Michael came down.

"How is she?" Michael asked and I sighed.

"Better I guess, she slept all night,"

"Well that's good,"

"She just seems so defeated,"

"I know, but she'll get better," he reminded me. "It's a low point, she will get better over time,"

"I know," I nodded, "I wish we never sent her back,"

"We didn't have a choice, we had to," Michael argued.

I decided to drop it, "Do you want to go see the house with us?"

"When?" he asked.

"Our realtor will be there at noon,"

"Alright, I'll see if Crystal wants to come," he said and I nodded. THe rest of the morning I spent getting some work done and letting Maddie have some alone time. But once it was closer to noon, the four of us were off to the new house. Maddie kept her eyes glued on my phone that had the address in, making sure Michael was following them. Only problem was Michael had taken a different way into the neighborhood, which freaked her out.

"It's just a different way to get into the neighborhood," I promised her right when I saw the GPS rerouting. "The way it wants us to turn isn't at a light, this way will be quicker," I promised, which made her relax. When he made the turn, the GPS rerouted and he followed the rest of the directions. When we made it there, she gave me back my phone and we got out of the car to the larger house. "Like it?" I asked and Maddie nodded.

"It's big," she commented, making us laugh.

"Seven people are living there," I reminded her.

"Hey guys," Elizabeth, our realtor, smiled when we walked up to the porch.

"Hi Elizabeth, how are you?" Michael greeted her with a smile.

"I'm good," she smiled. "Who did you bring along today?" she looked at Maddie.

"This is Maddie," I introduced her.

"It's nice to meet you Maddie," Elizabeth smiled.

"You too," Maddie quietly said, much different than her outgoing personality.

"Let's go see the house," Elizabeth unlocked the door. We all went in and she started giving the tour. Maddie stayed glued to my side the whole time as we went around the house, seeing every room and every feature. "It also includes a pool," Elizabeth opened the back door to show the backyard, which included a patio and a pool along with a yard. "Isn't it gorgeous?" Maddie quietly nodded. We went back in and upstairs, looking at the different rooms. "You'll probably have this one, and I can be right across the hall or next to you," I told Maddie as Elizabeth went to show Michael and Crystal the master bedroom. Ashton and I already knew we had no chance of getting the room, so it came down to SIerra and Luke or Michael and Crystal, and there have been arguments between Luke and Michael about it.

"I don't know how to swim," Maddie mumbled as she hugged herself tightly.

"That's alright, we can teach you," I offered, but she shook her head.

'No, that's embarrassing. I don't want anyone to know,"

"Then maybe when they're all gone one day I can teach you privately," I said. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, a lot of people don't know. Have you ever been swimming?"
"No,"

"Then how would you know how to swim?" I questioned and she shrugged. "No one will make fun of you, I promise,"

"Alright,"

"Do you like the house?" I asked and she nodded. "Would you want to move here? Or should I look for a new one?"

"I like it," she nodded.

"You sure?" I asked and she nodded with a small smile.

"I am,"

"Alright," I nodded. "Then we'll sign the papers and hopefully move in soon," I said and she nodded, "You ok?"

"I'm just really tired,"

"You are?" I raised an eyebrow and she nodded. I felt her forehead and sighed when I felt it was a little warm. "You're running a fever,"

"I'm cold though,"

"We should get going," I mumbled, putting an arm around her. We finished up looking at the house again, then went home so Maddie could rest.