𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒, justin foley ²

𝟢𝟣𝟢, 𝗁𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗏𝗂𝗌𝗂𝗍

𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 . . . 𝖠𝖢𝖳 𝖮𝖭𝖤
season three, episode four
𝟢𝟣𝟢, 𝗁𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗏𝗂𝗌𝗂𝗍

MADDIE STOOD in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of coffee that morning while her parents went back and fourth about a vase of flowers. The social worker was coming through today to review their home and evaluating it to make sure it was a good fit for Justin. They were stressed about it, but Maddie knew they would do just fine. Their home was the perfect place for him.

"Do the flowers make it seem like we're trying too hard?"

"A little." Matt nods. "Are we flower people? I feel like we're not flower people. Maddie, do you think we're flower people?"

Maddie chuckles and turns over her shoulder, walking over to her parents. "You guys are going to drive yourselves into a wall. Everything is fine. You guys are amazing parents and the perfect people to take Justin in. God knows it's a million times better than wherever he would be if he went into the system."

Maddie takes a sip of her coffee. "Oh, and we're definitely not flower people." She pats her dad's shoulder and walks up the stairs toward her room.

Maddie sips on her coffee as she trots up the stairs toward her room to finish getting ready when she passes Justin as he leaves the bathroom. "Ready for your big day?" she asks, shimmy-ing her shoulders toward him.

Justin shakes his head. "Maddie, we need to talk."

Maddie stands up straight and looks at him, brows furrowed. He grabs her arm, leaning to her ear. "Bryce was shot."

A chill runs down Maddie's back at his words and she immediately stiffens. Her ears drain out and she feels like she can't breath. Then she hears a crash. She jumps and looks down at the spilt coffee and shattered mug on the floor.

"Shit." Maddie curses and leans down toward the cup, picking up the broken pieces.

"What was that?" Her mother calls out. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine, Mom. I just... uh, tripped and dropped my cup. It's all good." Maddie stammers through her shaky words.

"Be careful cleaning it up"

Maddie gathers the larger pieces of the cup in her hand and looks at Justin. "What the fuck?"

»--•--«

"So, you and Justin had a relationship in the past, correct?"

Maddie sits across the table from the social worker with her hands in her lap and her back straight, acting as innocent as she possibly can.

"Uh..." Maddie pushes her hair behind her ear awkwardly. "Yeah, we, um... we dated in the past, yes."

The social worker nods and jots something down in her notebook.

Maddie leans forward. "Is that going to effect his chances of getting adopted? Because Justin's a really good kid and deserves a safe and loving home."

The social worker shakes her head. "No, it shouldn't effect the process. We just ask to understand a little bit more background." Maddie nods, letting out a sigh of relief. "Miss Jensen, do you think that your past relationship with Justin will affect him living here in any way?"

Maddie shakes her head almost immediately. "Absolutely not. Justin's like my best friend and he always has been. I've known him since, like, the sixth grade and he's a really good kid, he's just been through a lot. Which is why I think it's the right decision for him to live here with us."

The social worker writes something down again. "And do you guys share any interests?"

Sex. That was her first thought, but Maddie knew it would be too inappropriate to say aloud. "Uh, yeah. Uhm, well we both like sports. I was a cheerleader for a while so I always cheered him on."

The social worker smiles and nods. "Good."

Maddie smiles at her sweetly as she continues to ask questions. Every question she asked made Maddie more and more nervous, which is why she was glad when the questioning finally came to an end.

Maddie now stood with Clay in the kitchen, listening in on the social worker questioning with Justin.

"Clay tells me you're both into robots."

"Uh, yeah, totally. Alien Robot Killers is— it's awesome." Maddie chuckles lightly at Justin's lie, quickly putting the back of her hand over her mouth to silence herself.

"And Madelyn says you two have been friends for a while? You two must get along quite well."

"Yeah, Maddie's... well, Maddie's amazing. She's been there for me through everything." Maddie smiles to herself.

Despite how much time had passed of what went down between them, Maddie knew she would always be there for him. She truly couldn't imagine what her life would be like without him.

"And Matt and Lainie are so happy to have you."

"They saved my life. All four of them." Justin says.

"Well... parental rights are being resolved, but there was mention of a Seth Massey in your file. Has he been in contact?"

Maddie's ears perked up at the mention of Seth's name. Maddie hated that bastard for everything he put Justin through and she hadn't heard his name since Justin ran away.

She hoped he was rotting in a jail cell somewhere or overdosing on heroine.

Justin answers falters. "Yeah, I haven't seen him since I ran away last year."

»--•--«

Justin and Clay retreat back to the out-house after the social worker leaves, while Maddie goes upstairs to grab her things. Maddie was supposed to be driving them to school today, but she needed to grab her things first.

After throwing her backpack over her shoulder and lacing up her Converse, she skips down the stairs and makes her way outside, knocking on the door before pushing it open. "You guys ready?"

Maddie stops by the door after noticing Clay's facial expression. "Uh, Clay, you good?"

Clay sighs. "Tyler asked me to and Tony to get rid of another gun." Maddie gets chills throughout her body for the second time today. "Because he was quote 'done with it.' And we think he may have it at school."

Maddie looks at Justin before they both look at Clay. "Fuck. You don't think that he—"

"Look, I don't want to, but..." Clay looks at his phone before stuffing it into his pocket. "Jessica's watching him the next two periods, but we gotta get there."

Clay walks right by Maddie and all she can do is stare at Justin, dumbfounded. "What the actual fuck is happening right now?"