THE MATCHMAKER ➢ JB MZ

nine

"WHEN IS HE GOING to like me?" vanessa exclaimed. all she wanted in life was for joey birlem to date her, and maddie hadn't gotten anything done. vanessa was slowly losing faith in maddie.

"don't worry vanessa! i already convinced him to give you a chance, i just have to make him go through with it," maddie explained to her, and the other two girls desperately wanting to know. maddie realized it would be harder than she thought trying to set the two up, but she was almost there.

she wanted to feel proud of herself for almost getting joey and vanessa together, but she couldn't help but feel upset. she didn't want to see joey with another girl, and she couldn't figure out why. it just felt weird.

everything seemed weird to her, and even joey.

vanessa seemed satisfied with maddie so she didn't bombard her with questions. they've gotten closer, believe it or not, and are actual friends now. they all thought maddie was funny and cool overall, so they decided to keep her around.

right now, they were all on the way to school. maddie somehow scored a ride with the girls this morning. eventually, they made it extra early since vanessa hated arriving late.

"i'll see you guys later. i gotta go talk to joey and you know, initiate the final step!" maddie said to the group while they cheered.

"bye maddie!" they all said in unison, this time with vanessa.

so before homeroom, maddie tried finding joey. she was finally going to talk to him about dating vanessa, something that she had been holding off for two days. vanessa would ask how it was going, and all maddie had to do was stall.

maddie searched around and finally she found joey, with charles only. she wondered where his other friends were, especially greg. greg seemed to be everywhere she was and he never missed a single thing.

"hi joey," she said with a smile.

charles knew that was his cue to leave. he waved to both of them and backed out of their conversation.

"hey maddie," he replied. "what's up?"

"not much," she responded. she didn't want to have a dry conversation so she decided to get right into it. "can we talk?"

"yeah, of course," joey laughed. "you don't have to ask me every time, just start talking and i'll respond."

maddie laughed at that, but she couldn't stop thinking about how cute he was. she always loved being around him but now, she wanted to be around him more than ever.

"are you going to give vanessa a chance?" she asked him. soon the smile once on his face, disappeared. maddie watch his expression change which only puzzled her.

"why do you keep asking me about vanessa? why do you want me to be with her so bad?" joey questioned, and maddie didn't know if she wanted to give out the real reason. it seemed too soon.

"well, i don't know," maddie muttered.

"yes you do know, maddie."

"why do you sound so mad? i was just asking." it got quiet for a moment.

"why do i sound so mad? well maybe because i don't want to date a girl who's obnoxious and obsessive, when there's the perfect girl right in front of me," he didn't realize the words coming out of his mouth. it only got more silent from then on. maddie was shocked.

joey likes me? she thought. joey likes me!

maddie smiled. "you think i'm perfect?"

"no," joey answered. "i think you're much more than that."

she tried to keep herself from blushing like crazy, but it was too impossible. then, she remembered greg. greg marks.

"but greg said-"

"greg as in greg marks? what did he say?" joey started to get annoyed right when he heard maddie utter greg's name. he was always starting trouble, left and right.

"he said that you liked vanessa," maddie informed him. "and that the whole 'she's obsessive and she scares me' thing was just you playing hard to get."

joey shook his head. "i swear that's not true. if greg told you, it's not true."

"aren't you and greg friends?"

"all he does is start trouble, even with his friends," joey sighed. "i can't stand him one bit."

"so i probably shouldn't listen to greg from now on?" maddie asked jokingly.

"that'd be a good idea." the two looked into each other's eyes for a minute. maddie was lost in them, and joey just couldn't stop thinking about kissing her. he didn't just want to kiss her, he felt like he needed to kiss her.

then all of a sudden, a teacher, an old one at that, walked through the hallways. coincidentally she yelled, "get to class you two!"

their moment: ruined. they both sighed.

"i'll see you in first period?" asked joey.

"of course," she responded, her heart beating out of control.

they both walked their separate ways. maddie, what are you doing to me? joey asked himself as he made it to homeroom. that would be on his mind for the rest of eternity, he swore he'd never get over it.

joey's phone went off. expecting it to be a text from vanessa, he was surprised that it was from lucas. they barely ever texted, they just talked in real life.

lucas: hey joey.

lucas: sorry for leaving the lunch table like that the other day.

joey knew lucas would apologize sooner or later, so when he saw these text messages he felt relieved.

joey: it's okay man, dw about it.

lucas: thanks.

lucas: it's just greg told me that maddie liked me so when i found out that he told you the same thing, i kinda got mad.

lucas: but it's alright, if you like maddie. go for it.

joey: wait, really?

joey: greg has been bothering me this whole time. he keeps starting things.

lucas: fr.

joey: but thanks bro.

lucas: np.

joey turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. now he really couldn't stand greg and he just wanted to drop him more than anything right now.

but as much as he wanted to drop greg,

he just wanted to kiss maddie.

a/n

HI GUYS. i can't say this enough but i love g-

okay we all know. but anyways, i ship them so hard sigh. too bad i'm cliche and that teacher ruined the moment.

but leave a vote and some comments it is greatly appreciated!

by the way sorry for the late updates like i already finished writing this book but i just keep forgetting wattpad exists so you get the picture.

but i will be updating this more often so yeah peace!