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"Your car is terrifying Matthews," Madison sighed as she exited the car.
She was surprised it was still upright, with all its rumbles and bangs. The entire interior was exactly how she had pictured it - dirty.
"Not all of us have perfect mustangs," Eric mumbled under his breath.
Madison rolled her eyes and let herself out of the car, looking up at the Matthews house. She had only been to the house once before, a very long time ago; back when children's birthday parties consisted of everyone in their class, and sometimes their school. Eric was quick to pass her on the sidewalk and lead the way up to his house. She appreciated it, as she didn't know why she had begun to lead the way.
The Matthews' House was beautiful, with a well-manicured lawn and enormous trees framing it. The house was both grey and brick red, with light brown shingles on the top. It was a big house, housing a family of 5, and had many windows and peaks to signify different rooms. Eric led her past the front door and to the right, to which she raised her eyebrows at. He seemed to be taking her through the side door, which she thought was strange. The side of the house was very spacious, with a nice ivy-covered fence, treehouse, and a love seat.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Eric shouted as he swung open the door.
Mr. and Mrs. Matthews were both in the kitchen, Amy cooking dinner and Alan reading a newspaper at the assumed dinner table. Madison admired the quaintness of the kitchen area, and the floral wallpaper.
"Hello Eric, hello Madison?" Amy greeted, her inflection going up at the end of Madison's name.
"I'm-" Madison began.
"She's here to study, move pops," Eric cut off, shooing his dad down a few inches.
Alan gave him a dirty look but obliged, scooting to the other side of the table.
"Well is she staying for dinner?" Amy inquired, continuing to chop carrots.
"Yeah I guess, we've still got a lot of studying," Eric said nonchalantly.
This entire situation was escalating quickly. First, she was just supposed to teach him study tricks, then she was suddenly in his car on the way to his house, and now she was going to have dinner with his family? Her head was spinning.
"So, study tips?" Eric asked, pulling her out of her trance.
"Oh," Madison mumbled plopping down beside him at the table, "Yeah."
--
"You stole my brownie Eric!" Madison giggled, lightly slapping him on the arm.
"What else was I supposed to do? You left it on the table!" Eric defended, leaning out of her reach.
"Not take it?" Madison laughed heartily.
An hour had passed and they were currently eating dinner, swapping stories about growing up with each other. Amy, Alan, Cory, and Morgan all listened, amused at the interaction. Cory had never seen his brother hold a conversation with a girl for so long without making out with her. Madison fell silent as the conversation shifted to Cory's day, and she fumbled with the fork in her hand. There was no reason for her to still be there, they had wrapped up studying forever ago. She wasn't necessarily outright confident in Eric's ability to pass his test, but one more studying session the following day would definitely cement it. Something felt like it was shifting in them, their relationship changing. Maybe they could be friends.
"At least she didn't just ditch you at a school dance in front of everybody."
Madison clued back into the conversation as it seemed to be coming back around to her. It was Eric who had spoken, and now all the eyes were on her.
"What?" she inquired.
"You ditched me at the turnaround dance," Eric clarified.
Silence passed through the room as Madison just stared back at him. She couldn't tell if he was actually upset or if this was more teasing. His expression didn't falter, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"You danced with someone else," she plainly remarked, eyes dropping to her plate.
"Whirley, it's a dance, you're supposed to dance with everyone! It's a social event," Eric argued.
"Eric, you're supposed to dance with your date first," Amy chastised.
"I did dance with her!" Eric defended.
Madison felt the tears coming to her eyes and softly placed down her fork. She lightly dabbed the edges of her mouth and rose from the table, effectively cutting off Amy, Alan, and Eric's current argument.
"Thank you so much for the wonderful dinner Mrs Matthews, but it's getting late," Madison mumbled, sliding on her coat.
"Let me drive y-" Eric began.
"No, it's fine. I live only a couple blocks down," Madison fibbed, knowing she lived a lot farther but Jess lived close.
The Matthews' protests were silenced by Madison abruptly opening the side door and stepping out into the cool air. She let out a beginning of a sigh before going quiet, startled at the appearance of a familiar figure standing on the other side of the fence. Mr. Feeny.
"Mr. Feeny?" she inquired.
"Miss Chirley," Mr. Feeny greeted, eyes filled with concern.
She went to explain her situation when the door opened behind her again.
"Whi- oh hey Mr. Feeny, Whirley, what's wrong?" Eric questioned.
A thought popped into her head, an escape plan of sorts.
"Mr. Feeny, I think Eric and Jason would be better suited with a senior advisor," Madison choked out.
Mr. Feeny seemed unconvinced, and gave her his signature stare. The night air cooled her burning cheeks as Eric stared at her, a questioning and slightly hurt expression on his face. Her eyes were practically pleading for Mr. Feeny to just go along with it.
"If that's what you see fit Miss Chirley," Mr. Feeny sighed, "I'll have them reassigned on Monday."
Madison let out her breath that she had been holding and aggressively turned to leave, but was stopped by a rough hand grabbing her upper arm.
"Wait! Feeny! Don't I get a say in this?" Eric protested, keeping Madison in his hold.
"I'm sorry Mr. Matthews, this is out of my control," Mr. Feeny responded plainly.
Madison managed to wiggle out of his hold and took her chance, almost bolting down the path. She couldn't believe she was in this situation again - crying over Eric Matthews and bolting away from him. God she was such an idiot.
