The Fallout | ✓

10 - bad idea

M A D D O X

It's only when the doorbell rings that I realize just how quiet and empty the house is without Hazel and Ian.

I sit up from the back porch where I've been spending the last hour or so searching on Ian's laptop for another side job and head inside.

Lou and Derik had put me in contact with one of the neighbors who owns a garage that I could work in and the pay isn't so bad but seeing as I want to move out before my sister gives birth, one job won't cut it.

I move toward the door not thinking much about who's behind it other than probably a delivery person. Ian has been spending way too much time shopping online for their kid and I won't put it past him.

I don't exactly know what a newborn would need other than milk and diapers but it's not like I have any knowledge in that department either.

But when I open the door I'm shell-shocked to find that it's Quincey standing before me not a delivery person.

If my eyes didn't pop out of their sockets when Lou hugged me, I sure as fuck think they're about to now.

Q U I N C E Y

I knew this was a bad idea.

What the hell was I thinking when I came here? This is stupid—nothing is going to come out of this other than embarrassing myself.

"Er—wrong house," I go to turn around when his voice floats right into my ears.

"Wanna come in?"

My cheeks heat and my stomach clinches. I close my eyes and squeeze them before I turn to face him, thumb between my teeth, "Yeah."

His eyes downcast down my face for a moment before quickly meeting mine. He sidesteps without a word and with one more internal prayer I go inside.

I hear the door shut and my heart suddenly flips at the realization that we're alone, Maddox is no longer intoxicated like last time and he's standing so darn close to me right now.

"Is no one here?" I breathe out. Most lights are off and the space is dim and it feels so closed off and... Intimate I guess.

"Haze and Ian went out to shop for the baby. I was sitting outside in the backyard earlier. Do you wanna stay inside or you wanna go there?"

I shrug a shoulder, my fingers tingling with nerves, "I don't really mind."

He hums and steps in front of me and I follow him toward the sliding doors leading outside. He settles on the wooden porch step where a laptop is sitting, the screen lightening up so much of the night darkness. Hesitantly, I sit down after him and look twice to make sure I've kept a respectful distance between us.

This is all too nerve-racking and I'm not exactly sure where Maddox and I stand now but we have definitely not crossed the personal space length.

Silence lingers in the air between us and it's almost too suffocating to bear. I'm not sure I had a well thought plan when I came here— it was all on a whim which is just so isn't me.

After a minute I watch him from the side of my vision as he reaches for a pack of cigs. He places a stick between his teeth and shields it with his palm as he uses the lighter to set it off, the light of the fire reflecting a warm glimmer on his face and reminding me of the danger this man could cause to me at any given moment.

I look out front at the dead plants sitting in old planter boxes and at the fence keeping the forest separated from the yard and I exhale a quiet breath. I've known Maddox smoked ever since he was thirteen. It wasn't far from his brand of wreckage and no matter how many times I've tried to force myself to accept it then— I still get bothered by it. But it's not like my place to speak. It wasn't then and it sure as heck won't be now, so I keep my words buried down and my lips sealed.

"Please tell me you've tried it at least once before."

My head whips in his direction so fast I might end up with a whiplash, "Tried what? Smoking?"

"Yeah," His lips tug, my heartstrings tighten, and as the wind brushes his newly cut hair to the side I can hear just how fast my heart is flipping in my eardrums.

My brows pull together, "Not that I remember, no."

"No?" One of his brows lifts, and his eyes drop in a way that makes me think that he might be tired but I'm probably mistaken because I'm sure his voice carries the tone of taunting.

"Yeah no, is there something wrong with that?"

He exhales the smoke he had inhaled before his lips go onto a full-blown smile, his head tilting on one shoulder as he looks at me and makes me forget all the words that were sitting on the tip of my tongue.

I break from his gaze, swallowing the lump that had risen and my vision blurs a little as I realize just how startling the amount of emotions I still carry for this man it frightens me how much I'm willing to go and the things I'd for him even after all the hurt he had injected into my life.

I'm not supposed to fall back into my old patterns—they've proven just how stupid I was to trust somebody with myself and how disastrous it is for my well and mental being.

"I—I think I need to use the bathroom," I say once I've collected myself enough to speak.

I don't wait to hear a response from him and I don't look him in the eyes as I stand up from the porch and head inside.

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this chapter has got to take the cake so far.
Or u can just give it to me... I won't mind tbh

Also—just noticed we're ten chapters in and ik that's not a lot but given my history w my imaginary writer's block, it is for me

Thank you a ton for reading
I hope you enjoyed this one

lots of love and confetti,
—faith

August 21, 2023
MON - 5:36 PM