Cigarette Smoke // FILLIE

Three of Us

m i l l i e

       I quickly pull out my phone and text Maddie that we're here after remembering her habit of blasting music while up in her shared "study" with Kenzie, her younger sister.

And by 'study' I mean it's practically a lounge that they just call a 'study' because it makes it sound like a more productive space than it actually is.

The room includes bean bags, two comfy couches, a flatscreen TV, and a bar that Maddie and I use to do homework at.

"Is anyone home besides her?" I hear Finn ask from behind me as I stare at my phone, waiting for a response.

I shake my head, "No, her parents are over at a friends house and her sister is hanging out with her boyfriend. It'll just be the three of us."

Just as I finish my sentence the front door quickly opens and reveals Maddie in her full glory as she gestures for us to come inside; we oblige while greeting her as I usually would.

"You guys wanna come up to the study? I was just chillin' up there, hope you like loud music, Finn. But hey, who am I kidding when I've been to one of your gigs?" Maddie jokes, teasing Calpurnia's past performances at parties where at times you could feel the drums in your chest from how loud it was.

He only smirks slightly in return, "Gotta give the people what they want, right?"

The blue-eyes girl points a finger to him with a grin, enjoying his intriguing way of conversing with others as I have.

Nevertheless the tall teenager is soon following Maddie and me upstairs and past her bedroom to the fairly large study room I described earlier.

"I have to admit, Ziegler, this 'study' is a lot more like a lounge than anything having to do with work." Finn mentions as the three of us enter the room while Maddie instantly goes to sit back down in her spot on a nearby bean bag.

"Yeah, we kinda just call it that for my parents sake. Feel free to make yourself comfortable." She insists while gesturing towards the couches as she swipes through her iPad, that is connected to the JBL speaker, before turning down the volume so that it's more of background music if anything.

I watch as Finn lowers himself to the ground and uses the couch as a back rest so that he's still leveled with Maddie. Me, ok the other hand, pull over another bean bag and set it beside Maddie so that the three of us are in a triangle-like seating.

Once Maddie's done messing with the music, she sets down the iPad beside her and faces the curly haired boy who sits with one leg bent towards his chest and the other stretched out across the carpeted flooring.

"So, seeing as I'm sort of the third wheel in this situation and it might make it kinda awkward, I've actually come prepared with an ice breaker." Maddie announces as she quickly sits up and rushes to the bar while bending down to grab something below the counter, followed by the sound of clanging glass, before coming back out with three Budlight beer bottles.

Her grin says it all as she hands each of us a bottle and sits back down in her spot comfortably.

I glance to Finn to see his reaction; funnily enough one eyebrow is cocked humorously and the boy is actually wearing a sort of smirk I haven't quite encountered before.

"I would usually question something like this, especially with how trusting your parents seem to be with you, but I'll let it slide this once." He mutters lowly, giving Maddie an almost unnoticeable wink that puts shame to my own from earlier today.

Probably thinking the same thing, Maddie turns to me with a teasing smile that makes me roll my eyes playfully while smiling.

A good thirty minutes pass of us drinking beers and simply talking amongst ourselves until a playfully friendly aura seems to settle within the room.