The Darkness's New Friend

Act II, Scene I

The very next morning, Madelyn had slipped into the shower to get cleaned up for the morning. She slipped back out and put on her purple bathrobe so she could get some clean clothes. That's when Iris and Cupid 'poofed' out of her. However, they almost gave Madelyn a heart attack.

She jumped out of her skin and commented, "Cheese sauce, you guys! I'm not used to fairies 'poofing' in whenever they want!"

"Sorry, Maddie," Iris apologized, "I guess we were just excited to get to work!"

"Yeah," Cupid added, "After all, this is my first time away from my job."

"That reminds me," Madelyn brought up, "How come you're not doing your job?"

"Well, Iris is my girlfriend and I wanted to see how hard she has it," Cupid answered.

Madelyn nodded as there was a knock at her door.

Madelyn raised an eyebrow and asked, "Uh, did you guys give out my new address?"

"We gave it to your Dad, in case he tried to locate you," Iris answered.

Madelyn told the person behind the door, thinking that it was her father, "Hang on, Dad. I just got out of the..." That's when Madelyn opened the door and discovered a man standing there. He was tall and had a muscular chest. He had short black hair, blue eyes, wearing a short sleeved white undershirt with a black cross on it, a black leather jacket, black jeans, and black shoes. The fairies went into their fish disguises. Madelyn finished, breathing out a bit, "Shower." She paused and asked, "Richie?"

Richie answered, blushing a bit, "H - hey, Madelyn."

Iris whispered to Cupid, "Any idea who this guy is?"

Cupid answered, whispering, "Of course, I 'poofed' him up! His name is Richard Howard Dean and he's Madelyn's best friend. They've known each other since pre-k and that's why Madelyn calls him "Richie". He has a crush on Madelyn but due to her always occupied with her ailing mother, she cannot return these feelings." He paused and started to finish, "But now that she can..."

Iris got his train of thought and just nodded.

Madelyn asked, swiping a piece of her hair out of her face, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Richie stammered, "W - well, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang later on today? Y - you know, after you get dressed."

Madelyn raised an eyebrow kind of awkward like as she looked down and saw that she was wearing just her purple bathrobe.

She blushed and started to stammer, "Y - yeah, well…. I kind of got in late last night after a tutoring session and…."

He asked, still red in the face a little, "Oh, you were tutoring someone?"

"Yeah," she answered, "And she just could not get it."

"Oh," was Richie's only response. The more he was staring at her in her bathrobe, the more he was undressing her with his eyes. He looked up at her eyes and changed the subject, "Wait, weren't you on CNN for some reason or another?"

"Oh, that," Madelyn answered, trying to search for a cover-up, "That was just someone's bad joke on me. I'm no damned alien."

"I hope not," Richie told her, "Otherwise, I would be asking you to take me to your leader."

Richie kicked himself for that comment but Madelyn just smiled at that. After the day she had yesterday, she needed something to laugh at right now.

Madelyn asked, joking a bit, "Come up with that one on your own, did you?"

Richie laughed at this in an uncomfortable way and told Madelyn, "Well, I'll see you later then."