Thick and Thin | NaNoWriMo2016 |

| 2. Madison |

As I walked in through the door of Avenue B, I was winded by the sweet aroma of coffee beans and soy milk. The place was unusually crowded for a weekday, but that was a no brainer considering finals were done and essays were being handed in. I looked around the room; a mix of different styles and groups together really made Avenue B a melting pot of different identities, that was one of the appeals to the place. Maddie was in her usual spot, a small corner of the room just under the fairy lights that hung from the ceiling, an unneeded edition to the shop considering enough light came from the windows. She was in her usually chic attire, always dressing to impress. Her light grey sweater was somehow comfortable, yet approachable and her skinny jeans appealed to her figure well. Her feet were crossed underneath the table as one brown, leather boot folded over the other. A burgundy scarf dangled from her neck as she sipped her steaming, hot latte; probably pumpkin spice no doubt.

I slid into the chair that was beside her, "I ordered your favorite," a warm smile upon her, glossy pink lips.

"Iced Chai." She winked, batting her mascara eyelashes. Chai was actually her recommendation when we first came here, and ever since then it has been the go to drink; mainly, because I don't know what the hell else to order.

"Evan! The usual!" I heard behind me, as Andy, the barista through the week, called my name.

As I sat back down, my tea in hand, I found Maddie fiddling with her iPhone as she always did, social media seemed to be her life. "How was your day?" I asked as I kissed her cheek before I sat beside her. I sipped the black tea through the straw; I always thought it tasted like water down pepper, but that might have just been me. "Lousy. I did however get a passing grade on my U.S. History exam. You?" She answered, as she multitasked sending out a tweet.

I never really liked talking about my day, but who does? I hardly ever spoke about my achievements while in school to her. I disregarded telling her that I passed my exams with flying colors, each teacher more impressed than the next, but I didn't want her to feel belittled. "It was alright." I drank another peppered tea sip. Finally, putting her phone down she looked at me with those crystal clear blue eyes, they always made me forget the world around me, "My parents asked when we'll be coming up. I told them that we'd be there a few days before the holiday, spend some time just before Christmas."
Her parents hated me.

I couldn't blame them, Maddie was raised in a different outlook on life than I was. They wanted their little girl to get her degree, settle down with a pretentious, arrogant lawyer or business man; probably a son of a family friend. That way she would be taken care of the rest of her days, with a nice mansion size home, that her parents would deem worthy to spend Christmas in with their grandchildren. I was too much of a nobody to date their daughter, raised on the wrong side of town and couldn't even afford a car. They tolerate me because Maddie does; I can't blame her though, a girl this beautiful and born into a successful family deserves better than a street rat. Although, somedays I wonder why she is with me, why am I worthy of her attention? I always thought it was because I was something her parents would disagree with and always having being told how to dress and act, she needed a little rebellion in her life; which resulted in dating me. It made sense, the usual young adult thing to do is go against your families values the second you have the chance. I fell hard for her and I'd like to think she did the same, otherwise she'd date a biker or a druggie guitar player with no ambition. "Whatever you want to do, that's good with me."

Her phone went off with another message, which she grabbed quickly and started typing away, "Alright, looks like we're going to try and leave in a few days days or so, should only take an hour or two to get there. Mom says hello by the way," No she didn't. "You excited?"

"Extremely." I lied, hiding the apprehensive tone in my voice with another shot of Chai. A strand of blonde hair fell in front of her face, she always was the prettiest to me imperfect, not so cookie cutter the way her parents made her. She brushed the strand delicately behind her ears. "I love you." I found myself saying. She blushed, always taken aback by the sound of it. "I love you too." She leaned in and her soft lips pressed up against mine, the moment was almost perfect. A slight smile curled upon my lips as we continued there, mouth pressed to mouth, under the illuminations of string light above. An acoustic guitarist had just started his set as the room filled with the sounds of indie rock. And just for a second I was happy, in all it's entirety.