it has always been him • m.g

Chapter 25

Madeleine's POV:

"You know," Martin takes a long time to speak. "Since we're now both single-" he starts saying but gets interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"Let me get it, I'll be right back," I tell him and run to the door.

I open the door and stop right in my tracks. I freeze. I can't speak.

"Hi," he says awkwardly.

"J-Justin?" I say. What is it with my ex boyfriends suddenly starting to appear at my front door?

"That's my name," he says and laughs shortly, and stays smiling.

"Smooth." I finally relax a bit and get back to my normal self. He looks down and chuckles, then looks back up and stares at me. "What?" I ask.

"Nothing." he shrugs it off and keeps smiling.

"Why won't you stop smiling?" I ask.

"I don't know." he pauses. "I'm happy to see you." he looks into my eyes and I do the same. I get uncomfortable and look away but don't answer. "Can I come in?"

"Why would you come in?"

"Because I have to talk to you." I stare at him.

"You're talking to me right now."

"Let's say I have to have a long talk with you."

I don't know if I should invite him in or not. Martin's here, what if they see each other?

I also think it's weird for him to be in my house, I mean, he's my ex boyfriend. I know I invited Matt in, but it's different. Me and Justin had a different relationship.

Two parts of my mind are debating and thinking of why I should and why I should not invite him in, but I finally make a decision.

I move aside for him to walk in.

"What do you mean by 'long talk'?" I ask after closing the door. He sighs.

"I know you were dating Grayson Dolan."

"How?" I ask.

"How do you think?"

"Did you send Matt over here?" I ask after a few seconds.

Oh, and my ex boyfriends are friends.

"Not exactly," he says. "He got in a fight with him. He saw him cheating. He told me everything. I told him your address. He didn't know whether to let it slide or come tell you. I encouraged him."

"What do you call encourage?" I ask. He takes a deep breath.

"Okay, let's just say I forced him but not in a violent or anything-bad way."

"Why did you want him to tell me?"

"So that he wouldn't hurt you any more than he already has. You deserve to know."

"That," I make a pause. "Is actually funny for two reasons: first, Matt told me the exact same thing as you just did and second, don't you remember why we broke up?" I say. He looks down.