Speak Now

Chapter Five

“Why don’t we talk about this upstairs?” Alfred lightly touched Madeline’s shoulders. She quickly shook her head, running a hand through her bangs. “Yeah, yeah, I think that would be good,” she said suddenly feeling lightheaded. Julchen wrapped her arm around Maddie’s waist, propping her up as they walked. Julchen’s guilt increased as she laid her grief-stricken friend on the bed, and for once in her life she didn’t know what to say. Julchen looked to Alfred for help but he looked as confused and distressed as she felt. She took a deep breath and figured she might as well try her best, “Maybe it is a good thing having Alfred so close to Francis; maybe Alfred could convince Francis to leave Alice for you!”

The look of panic that crossed Maddie's face made Julchen wonder if she had said something she shouldn’t have. Alfred coughed into his hand, “I kinda like that idea dude. And I think I could actually pull it off!”

He struck his infamous hero pose and Julchen noticed a faint blush on his cheeks but decided it’d be best to ignore it. Julchen took in a deep breath. “Look Birdie, I don’t zhink Francis is a good guy. He’s broken a lot of girls’ hearts, und he can be a bit of a player at times. However, maybe jou vill be zhe vone to change him. Und since zhis is vhat jou vant -”

Julchen was suddenly interrupted by Madeline. Julchen’s eyes went wide, “I’m so sorry Birdie, I-I didn’t mean to make jou cry!”

“No, no,” Madeline wiped her tears on her arm, “it’s fine. It’s not bad tears! I’m happy!” Madeline beamed. A slight blush crept across Julchen’s cheeks, “O-oh okay, if jou mean zhat… -ahem- But I vas being serious vhen I said I’m doing zhis for jou. Francis und I may be friends, but I don’t zhink zhat highly of him. I mean come on, no vone can match zhe awesomeness zhat is Julchen!”

Julchen struck a pose this time, making Madeline giggle. Julchen, Alfred and Madeline spent the rest of the night planning how they were going to break up Francis and Alice.

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Madeline woke up with something really heavy on her stomach. She made a face and tried pushing the weight off. The object landed with a thud, then she heard a shout of pain and some unrecognizable German. Madeline snickered to herself and went to get ready as Julchen and Alfred bickered on the floor. The light hearted air betrayed the turmoil everyone in the room was feeling but no one spoke about it and tried to keep in good spirits. They’d come to the conclusion that it would be a challenge for Alfred to spend all of his time with Francis while in France, but Alfred was still willing to try. And at some point, Julchen had gotten a hold of room service and had a little too much beer before they all passed out.

When Madeline walked out of the bathroom, Alfred was standing in her way, holding her phone, “It’s gone off three times since we got up.”

Madeline looked at the screen of her iPhone. Her eyes lit up, “Oh, it’s my publicist! Just give me a minute, eh? I’ll see what she wanted.”

She gave him a smile as she brought up her publicists personal phone number in her contact list. Just then, a really loud German song - all she could make out was the words Disco Pogo - began to go off in her hand. Madeline just looked at Julchen, who shrugged in response. She answered, “Hello?”

“Yes, yes. Oh, really. Yeah, that works out just fine, that actually works a little better for me, eh. Yes, yes, thank you. I’ll be sure to fax it over as soon as it’s done. Okay, thanks, yep, bye.”

“Who vas zhat?” Julchen asked, mouth stuffed half full of bagel.

“That,” Madeline said, walking over and grabbing a bottle of carbonated juice from the fridge, “was my publicist. My deadline’s been pushed back a month. And she arranged so that I don’t have to come into the office and hand it in; I can just fax my manuscript to her.”