Dominating Hearts

Chapter 19

I woke up to the pungent aura of Tristan's scent and my phone blowing up like crazy.

After ignoring the ringing of my phone for about the fifth time, I got tired of Shawn Mendes getting cut off every time I rejected the calls.

Eyes widened in horror, I took in the amount of texts and phone calls Alex had sent my way, before discovering that my long-time best friend , Caden was the one who had shaken me away from the land of dreams.

"What is it?", I groaned, as I pressed the phone to my ear, once I'd picked up his call.

Since my curtains were closed, and the room was yet dark, I was still sleepy, and not yet fully awake. I flopped back onto my bed, bringing close Tristan's jacket to cuddle with me, as I wrapped the comforter around my shoulders.

"What is it? What is it? Have you checked your twitter?",Camden bellowed in my ear.

I cringed as his loud voice disturbed my peace,  my eyebrows furrowed.

"What the heck is the problem, Cade? Why are you freaking out on me on such a lovely morning, jeesh."

And then I stopped for a moment. This hadn't happened in months. Caden being annoying by calling me in the early hours of the day, before ranting about some scandal I'd slept through.

I swear, he can give the cheerleaders a run for their money.

"I've missed this", I spoke softly, interrupting Caden mid sentence, not hearing a word he'd uttered.

"And then- wait what?"

A few seconds passed, as we both fell silent.

"Me too.", Caden sighed, "Why did you do that, Mady-Bear, why did you withdraw yourself from me, why did you shut me out? Why did you pull up your walls so high, that not even me, your child hood buddy could climb through to get to you. Why? What happened? Tell me, please! It's killing me.

Suddenly you start dating Alexander King out of all people, you start keeping secrets from me, you push me out! Tell me what happened, let me please be there for you, darling."

My heart broke as I heard the hurt and desperation in his voice. Was I really doing the right thing by shutting out my bestfriend, my other half, the only one who ever understood me, who stood by me all through my grieving for my dad, all through my first period pains, all through my awkward pre-teen moments, and my highschool years.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Cade. I didn't even think of what I must have put you through, that was so selfish of me. Oh lord, I'm so sorry."

And then I broke down, as my voice cracked up, and my breaths came in small gasps, tears streaking down my face .

On the other side, I heard sobbing too.

"I'm coming over in a few", he said as he hung up the phone.

I cried. For my poor mother, for Caden, for Jen the super nice nurse at school, for my dad, for myself.

It seemed whenever I'd stopped crying, a new reason to be sad would pop up in my mind and the waterfalls would start up again.

I don't know how long I stayed there crying until I heard the knock on my window, Caden's voice echoing, as he asked me to let him in.

I quickly stood up, throwing back the blue curtains. I was shocked by the sunlight, streaming right in, and blinding me in the process.

"Oh god.", I mumbled through my mess.

Pulling open the latch, I let Caden in, and he did, sliding in swiftly, his hair a mess and his eyes wide and red.

I instantly attacked him with a hug, my arms around him, as I sobbed in his chest, while he in my hair.

Leading us to the bed, Caden mumbled a few incoherent words, as we pulled away.

Slowly I dragged my right hand down his cheek, wiping away the tears.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, oh Caden."

He leaned into my touch, mumbling a few words over and over again.

Leaning close to him, I finally caught onto them.

He was murmuring the words 'why' over and over again.

My heart clenched in my chest. I couldn't do this to him, not him, not Caden.

I decided.

I couldn't leave him alone with no explanation whatsoever. When I passed away, he would know the reason then, and feel betrayed. After all, I had the chance and I didn't even let him say his proper goodbyes.

I decided, I'm going to tell Caden about my health issues, to help him adjust and get used to the idea of his best friend dying. Then again, who could get used to that.

"I will.", I whispered, "Tell you the reason, yes."

"Really?", he glanced up to me, hopefully.

"Yeah, but first you have to tell some about that scandal or whatever you were going to tell me about on the phone."

"Oh, that. Right well, um, the thing is pictures of you with Tristan O'Neil are all over twitter and Alex is mad that you ditched him at the party to um, back stab him by partying with his enemy."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, in my defence he looked like he was having way too much fun with having Ashley wrapped around him, so I walked away to give them space and get some fresh air, where I bumped into Tristan, and yeah you know how much claustrophobic these parties make me."

"Yeah, I remember.", he chuckled.

"But", he held up a finger, "aren't you supposed to like drag away Ashley by her hair for even touching your man?"

I burst into laughter at his words.

"Well, um you'll know why I didn't do that. That pushing-you-out story, and that Alex thing is related."

"Okay then.", he muttered as he settled back into my bed, before shifting me closer to himself.

I took his hand for moral support, as I took a deep breath and started my story from the beginning.

"Well, it started last year, in our junior year...."

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Caden fans, hope you liked this!

So yeah, what do you think will be Caden's reaction to the BIG REVEAL.
Do you think Maddison would tell him the whole truth?

Let's see your answers in the comments section.
Till then,
☮️