A Room With A View

Chapter Fifty-Eight - Madeline/Brian

December 4, Monday

Madeline

Outside, it was pouring buckets and pitch black. Madeline traced a raindrop down the window with her finger. She tried to guess which way it would slip. She was wrong every time.

Her laptop lay discarded on the couch cushion next to her. She'd been searching apartments4u.com when an email blast had arrived to tell her that Wish Upon A Star was being cancelled. Everything that could've possibly gone wrong that week had gone wrong. Len had called asking if Madeline wanted to check out a club that night with her and Alina, but Madeline didn't feel like she was in a clubbing mood. Besides, who goes to a club on a Monday? Just the overtaxed finance boys looking to spread their wealth around, Len had said.

Madeline quirked a smile. Len had probably wiggled her eyebrows as she'd said it.

In addition to everything else, they'd been asked to take a week's break from rehearsals because the stage manager had a family emergency. They were early enough in the process that it didn't make too much of a difference, but Madeline had been looking forward to the show taking her mind off things. Now she was stuck in her apartment, already feeling like a ghost in the Watley.

Brian's light flicked on across the way. He was home.

Without thinking, Madeline switched off the tv and pulled her rain jacket from the hook on the door. She slipped it over her shoulders and raced through the hallway toward the elevator. She'd have to take it down to the lobby in order to run over to the elevator in Brian's tower, which was annoying, but it would take a maximum of five minutes. Madeline could wait five minutes.

She was huffing and puffing by the time she reached Brian's front door. Madeline could still feel a dark stain clogging her emotions, but she slapped a smile on her face. Fake it 'til you make it, right? And besides, Madeline was a trained actress. She'd been fooling those close to her for years.

Madeline knocked, just once. She always felt too rude and insistent if she knocked more than that.

Brian's footsteps shuffled along the hardwood on the other side of the door. Madeline rolled her eyes. Two minutes home and he was already wearing his slippers.

"Hey," Brian said. He brightened when he saw that it was Madeline.

"How are you?" he asked, his face turning into concern.

Madeline waved a hand between them, brushing away the conversation. "I'm fine. But grab your raincoat, we're going out."

Brian raised an eyebrow. "Mads, it's as if the heavens have opened up out there. We're not going outside."

"No, come one. Puhleeze." Madeline pulled on Brian's hand. He didn't put up much of a fight.

"Fine," he sighed. He shook out his already damp raincoat and shrugged it on.

"Where are we going?"

Madeline grinned. "On an adventure."

********************
Brian

"On an adventure," she said, her eyes sparkling. And Brian knew he was lost. He would follow wherever she led.

"Alright," he said, but Madeline was already halfway down the hall. Brian nearly had to skip to catch up. Plus he was still wearing his slippers. They were just a week old and made of suede with an interior sheepskin. Brian had seen them in Lord & Taylor and had been taken with them.

Brian's cheeks warmed. He had been in Lord & Taylor for clothing research. His latest Charlene Proibo character was a Lord & Taylor employee who ended up having a rather carnal connection with a CEO in the dressing room.