Matters of the Heart

Chapter 0.16

|| Madison ||

"Ugh, tonight is gonna be so much fun!" Kayli squealed excitedly as we entered my apartment after an afternoon at the nail salon.

Today marks the thirty first of October, aka Halloween and there are going to be multiple parties thrown on campus tonight and Kayli managed to rope me into going to one that's being hosted by one of the frat houses.

"And we're gonna look so, so cute as well!" She squealed.

"Okay, save some of that excitement for later," I giggled as I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of iced tea and then poured some into two glasses for the two of us.

"Thanks," She said as I handed her one of the glasses before we took seats on the couch. "So..."

"So?" I questioned.

"You and Calum... Have there been any developments?" She asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Um, no," I shook my head with a small laugh.

Sure, after what happened two weeks ago Calum and I have been a lot closer and have been hanging out a lot more but that's it really.

"Ugh, you mean to tell me you guys still haven't declared your true love for each other?" She asked dramatically, causing me to laugh.

"Kayli, for all I know he's probably not even remotely interested in me in that way so -"

"Um, shut up," She scoffed. "He's totally into you! You're really trying to tell me that the two of you walking across campus hand in hand like, every day is a totally platonic thing? Girl, even Priscilla asked me if you and he are a thing because it's mad noticeable to anyone with two functioning eyes that he's got the hots for you!"

"It's just..." I trailed off. "Ugh, I don't even know, Kayls. Like, I really want to believe that he likes me back but also I don't want to because if he doesn't then it'll just totally suck and my heart will physically bruise at the rejection. And if I bruise, I'll fucking sue."

"Now you're just being dramatic," She laughed. "My cupid senses are on high alert and they're telling me that there's something brewing."

Having a big fat crush on Calum really, really wasn't the plan. But like...I just can't help it.

"Ugh, I don't know," I sighed. "I mean, I've never even had a proper crush on anyone before so like, I don't even know how this is supposed to work."

She frowned. "Wait, no crushes? Does that equate to no boyfriends?"

"Exactly that," I nodded.

"How the fuck even? Mads, you're a total babe! Boys are flanking you left, right and centre! I mean, have you seen how Jeremy Carsten's from creative writing is always staring at you? And that kid with the blonde hair from our photojournalism class is always trying to talk to you! And not to mention, you're fucking hot, Mads."

"I don't know how to understand attention from boys okay," I groaned. "I mean, I literally had my first kiss at the end of last year and since then I've only kissed one other boy who I didn't even realise had apparently been flirting with me or whatever for six months! So ya, I'm a total newbie at all of this."

"Well luckily for you Cal is experienced," She said with a cheeky grin. "I mean, don't get me wrong, he's not like, a total slut or anything and I know for a fact he hasn't seen any girls since starting college but high school gave him enough experience to go out into the big bad world and keep a girl happy."