Merry Go Round

4 ~ The Little Things

The Little Things

*Zach*

Taking Madelynn with me to the lake may have been the best thing I ever did. I never thought that one action could make two people so close, but obviously it was a huge step. Two weeks after I had taken her to the lake we were closer then, dare I say, I've ever been with anyone.

At all.

She was like my best friend, but something more, rolled into one. We stayed at the coffee shop a majority of the time, just talking about things that we've never really told anyone before. She told me that she just wanted to finish the book she was writing, because ever since her first one was released she had been having writer's block. I told her about my dreams of not having everything, but just enough to have it all.

"Like a family?" she had asked with a small, dreamy smile.

"Yeah," I chuckled at the look on her face. It was obvious that while she may be an introvert, she still had hopes and dreams. "But not yet. I'm still young, I need to be settled and prepared hopefully. I am only twenty after all."

It was a conversation of metaphorical things, and I couldn't really tell if she meant them for us or not, but in truth I wouldn't have minded. No, we hadn't done anything, but I could imagine waking up beside this beautiful girl every morning. I could imagine little miniature Madelynn's running around a house that was just the right shade to express us. I could imagine loud family dinners and the struggles of having a first child.

"I think I want to see the little things before I get to the big things," I had remembered her saying.

"The little things?" I had asked.

"Yeah," she had sighed as she looked into her cup. "Sometimes, people lose sight of the things that mattered before they went into their big dreams. They forget about carefully selecting what to buy because money was short, they forget about the sky just as they sky is rising or falling, because they are always too busy to notice. I want to learn to see the little things, so when I get to the big things, I don't lose sight of them."

It was in that moment that I fell. I fell hard too. It wasn't a crush, and it wasn't a mistake when my heart sped up.

I was in love with Madelynn Richards.

* * *

"Here you go," a waitress handed me my cup of coffee, simply setting Madelynn's tea down as she gave me a flirty smile.

"Thanks," I disregarded her, wanting to get back to our conversation about my reading Madelynn's book.

"Anything else?" the waitress continued, continuing to smile at me. She looked nice, and pretty even, what with her black pixie-cut and petite frame. I had eyes for another woman though.

"No thanks," I smiled quickly before looking back at Madelynn, who had an impassive look on her face as she sipped her tea. If I didn't know her, I'd even say she looked kind of scary, which must be the reasoning for the waitress giving her one glance before scurrying off. "You look awfully scary at the moment," I teased.

"Do I?" she asked innocently, looking at me with wide blue eyes that looked more friendly than the hooded gray eyes she had when the waitress was here. "I didn't mean to be."

"What did you mean to be then?" I asked, chuckling as I sipped my coffee so I wouldn't burn my tongue.

"I meant to be menacing," she growled playfully as she made claws with her hands. "Halloween just passed after all, some people still need the candy scared out of them."

I laughed loudly, my head tilting back at her comment. I've seen that look before, I've even made it for the same reason. That was no doubt a look of jealousy. I remember when we were walking through the park near my merry go 'round sculpture, I hadn't noticed she wasn't next to me, and when I saw her she was scowling at a guy trying to flirt with her. Funniest face, bad situation.

"I'll let it go," I shrugged with a smirk on my face, and by the embarrassed look on her face I could tell she knew what I meant. I had come to realize that Madelynn wasn't one to blush, but she made this look where her eyes went wide and her lips pressed together, and it was obviously her embarrassed face.

A silence fell around us in a comforting cloak, and I just stared at her face as she struggled to open a sugar packet. The comfortable silence was broken, though, as a phone went off. A simple ring-tone played, causing Madelynn to freeze.

"I-" she started, but I shook my head and smiled at her. "I'm sorry," she mumbled once more before standing up and walking just outside the doors to the café. I watched her as she quickly answered the phone, and her face paled. I watched her lips mumble words, but there was a scared expression on her face. What was going on?

I wanted to just stand up, walk outside, and wrap her in a hug because the look on her face makes my heart pound harder out of anger. Who would cause that beautiful girl to make a face so broken and just down right terrified?

I had labeled Madelynn as an apathetic person, someone who didn't really care about others. I also labeled her an unemotional person who smiled because she was supposed to and made jokes to make people think she was okay. Deep down, though, I knew she cared about me. I knew that you could see how emotional and passionate she can be, but only if you get to know her. It's what made me realize that I had taken her genuine smiles for granted. Every smile she gave me, and every laugh I heard, it was a gift.

That look on her face was hell.

She didn't say anything for a while, she simply stared blankly ahead of her with the phone pressed tightly to her ear, as if she had to hear the words being said no matter how horrible.

Finally, though, she pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the ground. She took several deep breaths before walking steadily back into the café, that deer-in-headlights look completely wiped from her face. Her eyes were forlorn and lacking emotion, just like when I had first met her on the merry go 'round.

I wanted to ask who had called her, what was it about, and what it was that could possibly make her look so lifeless, so...dead.

I couldn't bring myself to do it though, because I knew that she wouldn't ask if it were me.

"I'm sorry," she said, a painstakingly fake smile plastered on her face as she put her brown leather messenger bag over her shoulder. "I really need to be going. Something came up and it can't wait. See you soon?"

She didn't wait for me to answer her not-so-question like question before she was walking out of the door, gone before I could even ask when soon was.

I looked down into my cup, but something caught my eye. On the table in front of me, the sugar packet the Madelynn had struggled to open earlier was ripped open. It was ripped into two piece, with sugar all over the table, and her once warm tea no longer radiated steam. The table felt empty.

Who was that on the phone?