Saving Madeleine

Chapter Seven

CHAPTER VII

Madeleine's POV

The door bell rang at around 4:30, making my heart race.

Grabbing my broad rimmed straw hat, I hurried down the stairs. I smoothened out my yellow and white sundress and quickly slipped on a matching pair of yellow sandals. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Standing on the porch was Ethan, a breathtaking smile on his face and a bouquet of pretty red roses between his hands.

It has been a week since I had dinner with Ethan. After that, we went out for quite a few times. Not a date, mind you. One of the most memorable ones was the night we went to the movie theatre.

I had opted for a horror movie, but Ethan was reluctant and wanted to go for a comedy. I clearly remember our conversation even though it was a few days ago.

"Are you scared?"

"No! Obviously not." He shrugged immediately to save his man pride, but I could feel the palm of his hand suddenly become sweaty.

The corners of my lips twitched, as I tried my hardest to hide a smile. "Then what's the problem?"

"I just thought... Fine." He said, unable to think of an excuse.

Almost 30 minutes into the movie, Ethan was clinging to me and hiding his face behind my shoulder, scared.

"Fuck, Madeleine. I shouldn't have listened to you."

"Aww is big scary Ethan scared?"

He sat up straight and looked at the screen, his fingers still lightly shaking. "What? No! It's just incredibly cold. I'm just-"

Just then a scary face popped up on the screen making him squeal. He rose up from his seat and pulled me out of the theatre as everybody stared at us.

He didn't stop until we were out of the theatre. I pulled my hand from his large rough ones. He turned around startled as I laughed my head off.

"Y-you sq-squealed." I stated, trying to stop laughing. But the fact that the big hulk-like Ethan was a scaredy cat underneath made me laugh even more.

I laughed so much that I didn't even realise when Ethan's large hand clamped over my mouth and dragged me to a corner behind a potted plant. The tips of his ears and cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Now listen missy. This stays between us." I nodded, biting my fingers to hold back a laugh.

He smiled suddenly, making me stop laughing as I looked up at him. "W-why are you smiling?"

"Because you look cute when you laugh."

My stomach churned as I thought about that small moment which happened just a few days ago and I couldn't help but smile wider at Ethan, who was now standing at my doorstep.

He wore a light turquoise shirt which didn't look too tight or too loose on his body, along with a pair of khaki shorts. He grinned back, creating somersaulting butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

He stretched the bouquet towards me, still smiling. "Hey. You look beautiful."

Taking the bouquet from I smiled. "You too.", I said. He cocked his eyebrow. Realizing my mistake, I added "I-I meant that you look handsome."

Placing the roses in a vase, I asked "Where are we going?"

"To a place."

I slapped his arm lightly as I got into the car.