The Danger of Staying in Love

Chapter 3

I AM SO SO SO SO SO SOOO SORRY THAT I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Maddy's P.O.V.

"Knock, knock."

Jonah sticks his head into my room.

"You know, you could actually knock for once."

"Nahh." He steps the rest of the way into the room, and plops himself down on the bed. "Hey." He kisses me softly. "What do you want to do tonight?"

My gaze wanders over my MacBook, which has movie times open for tonight.

"Wanna come see Catching Fire with me and the girls? Oh and Seth too."

"I thought Seth was one of the girls."

"Shut up." I toss a pillow at his head, but he ducks, and grins his crooked smile. "Do you want to come or not?"

"Sure."

When we get there it's just starting to rain. I spot Emma's mocha curls bouncing under her daisy umbrella.

"Hey!"

"HEYYY GIRL!!" Emma throws her arms around me as if she didn't see me just yesterday. "And hey Jonah. Congrats!"

"Thanks. I hope you guys don't mind me crashing your movie."

"Not at all," Olivia had materialized with Allie, Bridget and Seth. "But we'd better hurry or else there won't be anywhere for us to sit. On the bright side, then you won't be crashing our movie, cause there won't be any movie for you to crash."

We all hurry inside, and by some small miracle, we're able to find seven seats together, just as the screen opens to a shot of Katniss, hidden amongst the woods. Everyone quickly settles into their seats as the movie starts.

I love Catching Fire. The tribute parade is just about to start, the part where Finnick comes up to chat with Katniss.

"I don't like jewels, and I have more money than I need. What do you spend yours on anyway, Finnick?"

"Oh, I haven't dealt with anything as common as money for years."

"Then how to they pay you for the pleasure of your company?"

He pauses, and it's completely silent, the entire theater hanging on his every word.

"With secrets." He licks his lips. "What about you, girl on fire? Do you have any secrets worth my time?"

"No, I'm-"

"Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly time!"

Oh no.

There's no way that could be anyone else's ringtone but mine.

"Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly-"

I grab my jacket and sprint out of the theater, frantically trying to shut up my dumb phone.

When I get out into the hall, I finally click answer call, and press the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Maddy?" A tear-filled voice asks.

"Eleanor?"

My ordinarily happy-go-lucky friend sounds as worse as I've ever known her. I can hear her choked sobs as she try's to talk.

"Are you alright? Is it Louis?"

"No, it's-" she cuts herself off with another round of sobbing.

"El, tell me. What's wrong?"

"I...we....me and Louis," I can hear her swallowing her tears. "We...."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jonah's P.O.V.

58 minutes have past since Maddy ran out the theater. I hear the grumbles of protest as I inch my way out of the theater, since there's only like 10 minutes left in the whole film. It took me a while to find her. She was pacing back and forth in the theater hallway.

"Babe? You okay?"

Her head snapped up.

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"You look like you've just seen a ghost." I slip my arms around her. She leans her head onto my chest, and I can feel her relax, her breathing slow. After a few minutes. She turns her face up to mine.

"Um, can I stay at my dorm tonight?"

"Why?" She's been staying over at my place since the beginning of the year, when I moved to America.

"So Emma can stay over. Seth and Allie are staying at Olivia's, but she doesn't have enough room for the three of them."

"No problem. See you tomorrow?" I lean down to kiss her again.

"Of course." People have begun to stream out of the theater, and she quickly finds Emma. As they walk out, Olivia comes up next to me.

"Where are they going?"

"Isn't Emma going to sleep at her dorm?"

She gives me a strange look. "No, she's supposed to staying at my place. We thought Maddy was going to stay with you. Did I miss something?" She pulls her phone out to check her messages.

"Oh right. I'm...just confused."

And I am. But not in the way Olivia thinks. If Emma's not going to be at the NYU dorms, why is Maddy going there?

And why is she lying to me about it?