Before Everything

Chapter 14

"Well, then Madeline Johnson, shall we go trick or treating?" He gave me a grin. And we walked out hand in hand.

~~~

My heart was thumping in my chest and my mind was racing. When we finally reached Sophie, he let go of my hand and the warmth that came with it left me.

"Come on Mikey! Let's start there." Sophie grabbed Mike's hand and started dragging him towards the houses on the opposite street.

I just giggled at the scene in front of me. Seeing that little Sophie had Mike wrapped around her little finger. It just made me miss Ty, even more, I wondered when he is coming home.

"Hey Mads, you coming?" I didn't even notice that I had stopped walking. While I walked towards them, again I couldn't help thinking about how every time he called me Mads, my stomach was full of butterflies.

"You okay?" Mike asked me and gave me a concerned look.
"Yeah I'm good, just had a memory of my older brother," I said a little distantly making it sure that I didn't really want to talk about Ty.
Luckily, Mike caught on and didn't push it.

"So I think it's best if we just look at Soph from afar and don't interfere with her trick or treating because she takes it very seriously." Mike gave me a very serious look that made me burst out laughing and soon he joined me. Soon little Sophie walked up to us with a smile and showed us the candies that she got. Then she ran to the next house.

Mike and I just followed her around watching her from afar. There was a comfortable silence between us until Mike broke it.

"Mads, have you ever done something that you regret?" His question caught me off guard and I just stared at him. He was just staring ahead of us with a distant look.

"What do you mean?" I asked him unsure what to except.
"I mean, if you had a chance to start your life all over, would you take the chance and fix every mistake that you've ever made?" His piercing eyes stared intensely into my eyes.
"It would be nice to take the chance and stop myself from all embarrassment that I've ever been through." I chuckled a bit. "But I don't think I would do it." I continued.
"Why not?" He asked curiously.
"Because isn't life about making mistakes and learning from them?"
"You're right, it is." He looked thoughtful.
We stayed quiet for a while.

"So... any luck with convincing your father?" I asked him and I carefully watched his reaction hoping that I didn't trigger anything. Mike just ran his hand through his hair and let out a loud sigh.

"To be honest, I haven't told him that I want to become a doctor."
"Why haven't you?" I asked a little surprised.
"I don't know how to tell him that I don't want to follow his footsteps. I mean he's been planning this ever since I was a little kid." He ran his hand through his hair again and I could see that he was getting stressed.

I don't know what I was thinking but I just grabbed his hand and laced our finger together.
"Well, just remember that I'm here for you if you ever want to talk and I also fully support you." I squeezed his hand gently.

He was baffled for a second and then he gently squeezed back. For a while, we were standing there in the middle of the street staring into each other's eyes. Then the moment was cut short when Sophie shouted for us.

"Mikey and Maddie, are you coming?!" She waved from the other side of the street. I was about to let go of Mike's hand but he squeezed it tighter and tugged at it. That action made me blush and I just hid my face behind my hair. Why did he make me feel like this? He made me feel so alive. So we walked hand in hand and as cheesy as it sounds, holding his hand felt so right.

We continued chatting about some silly things and some were also pretty deep subjects.
"Mads, do you think robots will ever take over the world?" He asked me and he sounded so serious that I just started laughing and we were just laughing like two idiots.
"Seriously, you did not just ask that," I told him still laughing.
"Okay okay, then let me ask you something deeper." He was chuckling as well.
"Okay, go on, shoot Michael Blevins," I told him with a teasing tone.
"Do you ever feel lonely, even when in a crowd?"