Age Gap

Page 12

Chris stared at his chips in awe. Maddy looked at him hoping he'd say something. Finally he blinked.
"H-he just offered us free chips." Maddy nodded.
"Yes" she agreed in a voice that suggested that Chris was slow.
"We got free chips because he thought we were a couple and.... we're not" Maddy just looked at him. She took off her Jean jacket and placed it across her lap.
"Maddy this is disastrous, what if he poisoned them. What..... What if he spat in them." Maddy leaned forward and began laughing. God he was being so ridiculous. Chris looked at Maddy in mock disgust.
"Maddy this is serious. We could be being poisoned. I can't take you back, nope I'm just going to have to eat your chips for you." He smirkied and grabbed her chips then sped off. He weaved his way through family's and dog walkers with Maddy hot on his trail. He ran behind the park onto the fields. He thought he'd lost Maddy when she ran behind him and jumped on his back.
"Gimme my chips you meanie" she yelled.
"I will never surrender" he yelled back. With that he threw he chips as far away from him. After a moment he grabbed Maddy and shrugged her off and flipped around their positions. She lay underneath him breathing harshly as shock entered her system. She stopped when she looked up. Chris looked down at and despite realising their position couldn't find it in him to move. Her red face began returning to it's pale complexion after he lessened his weight on her.
"Well.... as entertaining as this is... I'm uh.... uh I'll get off you now." He got off her and fell backwards landing upright on the grass.
"It's a face" maddy suddenly said after a comfortable silence. Chris didn't reply, unsure what on earth she was going on about.
"The cloud looks like a face Chris" Maddy said pointing up at the cloudy sky. Chris stared at the cloud in question, personally he felt it looked like a deformed flower but he didn't say so.
"If you say so Maddy" a slight breeze rippled over them as they began talking about clouds.
They stayed there until it became dark. They stayed there until the park became deserted. They only moved when Dave rang up demanding Maddy come home. Even then they didn't want to leave. Chris felt like the normalcy was what wanted him to stay but in truth he was beggining to find a true friend in Maddy that he never thought existed. Maddy felt like she could pretend everything was ok whilst she was with Chris. No dad in a coma, no overbearing uncle and no school. Most importantly she felt safe with Chris and not just because he could most probably kill anyone that would try to harm them. No, it was because he didn't mind that she was a burden on him. She had found a friend and she knew that she wouldn't lose him.