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"Eric, this is ridiculous," Madison snickered, watching her idiot boyfriend.
Eric glanced up from his overflowing box of miscellaneous goodies, a lopsided smile on his face. It seemed as though he was getting an even bigger head these days. Ever since Mr. Feeny had gotten a surprising amount of money from the old clutter in his attic, Eric had decided he was going to do the same. With the actual junk in his room.
"You're acting like you have little faith in me," Eric accused, mock offended.
"You're wrong," Madison hummed, "I have no faith."
"Hardy har har, now can you please grab that box?" Eric asked, gesturing to the other miscellaneous box.
As Eric scooped up the first box and a large painting, Madison trudged over to her new job. She scrutinized the box, and realized that carrying it down the stairs was going to be a lot harder than expected.
"Eric-" Madison began, before realizing him and his filthy white shirt were already down the stairs.
Guess she would be figuring it out herself.
The staircase seemed to be extra small as she staggered down it, the box balanced precariously in her arms. She heard Eric and his parents conversing, but was too focused on her lopsided box to hear.
"Eric, Mr. Feeny's collectibles are from all over the world," Amy argued.
"Woah woah woah," Alan interrupted, "Amy, Amy, woah woah... I think Eric might be on to something here, hmm?"
Madison peered around her box, seeing the smug look on Eric's face.
"You know, the garage and the attic, it might be chocked full of undiscovered treasures," Alan continued, and Madison clued in to the new support of Eric's idea, "Why don't you uh... clean them out, see what you can find."
She had to admit, it was pretty clever.
"Wait wait, clean out the garage and attic? You guys would let me?" Eric questioned.
Madison let out a sigh at his response, dropping the box beside his on the counter. She had a feeling she was getting roped into this clean out stuff too.
"Whatever makes you and Kyle happy," Amy answered, prompting Madison to wrinkle her nose.
Who the hell was Kyle?
"So you're roping your girlfriend into this too huh?" Alan joked, acknowledging Madison's presence.
Eric smiled, running over to her side and throwing a dirty arm around her. She tried to smile back but was more worried about his dust getting on her shirt.
"Well, she's always over here anyways," Eric responded, "Might as well put her to work."
"How come you guys never hang out at your place Madison?" Amy inquired, "Don't think I don't want you here but you've met us a million times but Eric has only met your parents once."
Eric and Madison shared a look, both coming to that realization as well. Madison never brought Eric over because they just naturally always ended up at his place. She hadn't even thought that much into it.
"I guess you haven't met my sister either," Madison murmured, "She's home tomorrow night, you could come for dinner?"
A flash of what looked to be nervousness passed over his face, but was quickly replaced with his smile.
"Sounds good to me, free dinner," he joked, squeezing her a little tighter.
--
"If any of you embarrass me I will never speak to you all again, understood?" Madison announced, standing defensively at the door.
Eric was, at that very moment, walking up the driveway to the door. Pete, Corinne, Anna, and Andrew were standing awkwardly in the living room, waiting to welcome him. Madison noticed the way Anna smirked but chose to ignore it for the moment. There was more pressing matters.
"Eric!" Madison greeted, swinging open the door.
He was wearing the red sweater she loved so much, and his leather jacket. Ugh that jacket.
As she allowed him in, she realized it was the first time he had ever actually been inside the house. And suddenly, like usual when a new person entered her home, she was self-conscious.
"Eric Matthews, it is great to finally meet you," Anna introduced, stepping forwards to shake his hand almost as soon as he got his jacket off.
"You must be Anna, Madison's told me a lot about you," Eric returned.
Madison awkwardly stood behind him, allowing him to make his round through the family. Corinne and Anna were overtly bubbly to him while Pete was reserved. Andrew, like usual, was just awkward.
"So dinner is going to be ready in a couple minutes, make yourself at home," Corinne mused, turning to saunter back to the kitchen.
"C'mon, I'll give you a tour," Madison said quietly, pulling Eric by the hand towards the stairs.
She normally wouldn't pull Eric out of a social situation, as he thrived there, but she didn't want to put herself in the embarrassing situation of sitting in the living room with her father, sister, and sister's boyfriend. And maybe she wanted to rebel a little bit, bringing him up to her room. Giggles passed through both their lips as they ascended the stairs and turned to enter her bedroom. Eric couldn't remember the last time he had been brought into a girl's bedroom.
"Woah," Eric sighed, looking around the room.
Eric allowed her to slowly walk in and plop down on her bed, fiddling with her fingers, as he surveyed. It was overwhelmingly Mads. Books scattered about with pages of poetry stuck to the walls, line drawings he could only assume were her own framed and nailed in interesting patterns, an enormous desk with stacks of papers and fancy pens; even the smell was her - apple and cinnamon.
"So?" Madison giggled, noting his dazed expression.
"Your room is so cool," he complimented, finally coming to sit beside her.
She gave him a tightly lipped smile as he sat, dipping the bed towards him and pulling her closer. The sounds of her family milling about downstairs were just background noise as Eric sat beside her. No matter how close they were, he still sent her heart running.
"Thanks," she whispered, lightly bumping her side into him.
Eric suddenly stopped, looking down at her. What was this weird feeling in his chest? He felt like he couldn't breathe, his heart was beating loudly in his chest, he couldn't even think straight. Was this a panic attack?
"Whatcha thinking?" Madison prodded, moving her face closer to his.
"I-" Eric croaked, feeling the words that first came to his head get stuck.
Madison raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"I think... we should go to prom together," Eric replaced his original thought with the next best one.
Her eyes lit up, a smile crawling on to her face.
"Eric Matthews I would love nothing more," she giggled.
"Kids! Dinner!" Corinne shouted, "You better not be in her room!"
"Coming!" Madison shouted back, rolling her eyes.
Madison hopped up, turning and extending her hand for his. Eric took a moment to respond, just taking the opportunity to look at her. He chuckled with her as she guided him back to the door, ready for dinner. However focused he was on impressing her family, his brain continued to put that thought into the forefront of his head.
