Speak Now

Chapter 13: My date is (almost) jeopardized

A/N Luke Benward is my choice for Adrain!! Yay or nay?
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You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.

-William W. Purkey
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My mother walks in soon after I finish my hair. It hangs around my shoulders, caressing my cheeks, as if relieved they could be free for once.

"Madeley."

My mother joins me in front of the mirror, and for a while we stare at our reflection. I'm amazed at how sharp our similarities are. Same dark curly hair. Same intense grey eyes and full lips. Same troublemaker smile.

"You look so lovely, darling." She leans  to kiss my forehead, before pulling back to study me.

"How was your day? Did you sleep?"

"Yeah" I reply,"And then Adrian came over to keep me company."

A knowing glance passed my mother's face,"Is that the boy you are going out with? What about the other one?"

"Tristan?" I ask,"Oh he's just my partner for our history project."

"Hmm"

Mom caresses my cheek,"Don't you go breaking hearts, Madeley."

Her tone surprises me. Does she think I'm playing with both both of them? 

The idea alarms me. I'd never thought my mom would assume something like this. But then I had two guys visit me, and I'd been out with one and I was going out with the other now.

A sick feeling erupts in my stomach and I turn to Mom, trying to explain that it was nothing like that. But no words come out.

"I-"

"Shh..." She smiles," Well, your date would be here any second. Get changed into something nice but decent."

She winks at me, before trudging put the room, her heels tapping in a rhythm on the wooden floor. Her perfume still lingers in the air, and her words,  and the meaning behind them cloud my mind.

Sighing, I pull out my outfit from my wardrobe and begin to pull it on.

♡♡♡♡

When I check my phone before heading downstairs, there are seven texts from Kyla, telling me to recount EVERY DETAIL.

I send her a few emojis.

And then I see an unknown number. Curious, I open it.

Hey Maddie
Compiled our report yet? Missed you at school. Text me when you've finished ;)

Tristan, I think as I remember him getting my number last night.

I decide to text him later, and head downstairs. Adrian's soft voice lingers in the stairway and I pause. I didn't know he'd arrived.

"....no trouble at all." He says,"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs Prince."

I freeze. There is no way my mom will tell him about my recurring nightmares. No way. But I eavesdrop, pressing myself against the adjoining wall.

"Ah, well Maddie hasn't been the same since it happened you know." My mom says,"Some days the nightmares aren't too bad but then once in a month there is a nightmare unlike any other. Sometimes I think she is at the verge of remembering but I don't press her too much."