Would You Go Out With Me?

CHAPTER-12

‘ “ I don’t know I really do think a bear could cause substantial damage to a building. It doesn’t seem impossible you know. “

“Maddie?”

She turned to face him, the tiny cross earring on his ear dangling as he tilted his head.

“I mean obviously like a, weaker building you know,” his palm took a flatter stance, shaking ever so slightly to convey the weak foundation of the fictional building he was describing,” Not like a skyscraper or something like that.”

Maddie switched between his sheepish grin and the still air- borne palm, trying to connect the wide apart dots in her brain.

“Huh?”

His smile fell a second before he shook his head, hair falling onto his eyes before he pushed it out of his face, ”Oh no never mind. I’m just..just being dumb me again. Dumb Shaun. Forget about it.”

“Aww no don’t say that”, her eyes steered to her mobile screen, freshly done nails typing as discreetly possible. It wasn’t as discreet as Maddie would have liked, and her brows furrowed at Sarah’s question.

‘What do you mean how’s the date? I don’t know!!! I’m the one who said yes but I absolutely did not wanna come here and it’s so awkward but it’d also be so rude to leave. Idk ’

‘Okay’

‘Okay?’ What did ‘Okay’ mean? It’s not like she was expecting an escape route, not that she’d follow through one anyway. But why did she just respond with an ‘okay’? Whatever happened to supportive friends?

Maddie didn’t have time for anyone to answer her whats & whys anyway, Shaun’s faint ‘What do you wanna do?’ floating into her ears.

‘What does he mean ‘What do you wanna do?’ We’re in a movie theatre; there isn’t a lot to do.’ Outside she said,

”Snacks? Let’s get some snacks. Before the movie starts’, she murmured ,”I eat like a pig anyway”.

Shaun guided her to the lines, ”No, no. I’m sure you don’t”, he chuckled, his touch on the small of her back, light.

“Yeah you’d hope so. Your wallets gonna be in trouble otherwise”.

His chuckle turned to a full throaty laugh before Shaun turned to smile at her, ”That’s not going to be a problem”.

Maddie grinned right back at him, ’Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.’

‘It’s so bad. Idk what to do’

‘Send send. Why won’t you send? Ah!’ It had only been ten minutes and while the lines had moved only half an inch, the awkwardness in the atmosphere seemed to lather on every second.

Maddie had checked her phone about fifty times, twenty five out of which had been SOS texts. She hated how rude she was being but what she hated more was being there. She didn’t know why. She had been excited about it. Very excited even.

‘Yeah two days ago I was. I didn’t even wanna get dressed today.’ Maddie wanted to pretend she was aloof, but the worst part about pretending, is that the only person you can’t convince otherwise – is yourself.

She opened Sarah’s chat for the fifty- first time, ’Where are you?’

“Maddie!”

“What? What?”, she sensed Shaun’s questioning stare at herself and changed her tune, ”What are you guys doing here?”

Sarah and Mike flashed their fakest smiles at the couple; Shaun didn’t know that, and Maddie wished that she didn’t.

“What do you mean? It’s a movie theater, we’re here to watch a movie!”, Sarah waved her hand around. She looked and sounded like a really bad live version of Barney and Maddie cringed at the sight.

Maddie introduced the trio and Shaun nodded his greetings and in the blink of an eye, Mike was standing right next to her.

“Well what can I say Shaun? I’d say you got a pretty dumb date here huh”, Mike threw an arm around her shoulder.

Maddie slapped it away, ”Well I wish I would’ve been able to say the same to your date Mike”.

Mike glared at her before turning to Sarah, and Maddie felt her heart race when she heard the term ‘abort-mission’.

Sarah squeezed her way in between them, making small talk with Shaun before he excused himself to place their order. Maddie felt beyond confused, neither of her friends making her privy to anything.

“Give us your heels”, Sarah whispered, the urgency in her tone startling Maddie. The tight smile on her face had dropped the minute Shaun had turned his back towards them.

“What?”

“Give us your goddamn heels woman! We don’t have time!”, Mike hissed.

Maddie stared at their faces, her balance shaking as she slipped her shoes off, handing one to each of them. She tugged at Sarah’s arm, ”What are we doing?”

“Hey you guys want anything?”, Shaun gaped at their panic stricken faces, card in hand wavering.

“Oh no dude we don’t wanna be rude no please”, Mike didn’t take a breath while he spoke,” We’re not gonna interrupt your date”.

Sarah snorted, ”Please! As if!”. The duo shared an unknown look and unbeknownst to herself, Maddie shrunk away a little.

Shaun turned back, not thinking much about the odd behavior of his date’s friends, after all, they were dissipating the very awkward tension in the air. They had added their own awkwardness to it though, but he didn’t mind it that much.

Maddie itched further for an explanation but Mike and Sarah mostly ignored her.

“Ready Sarah?’’

“Ready Mike.”

“ OH MY GOD is that Mikasa Ackerman?”

Many heads in the crowd, including Shaun’s whipped to random directions, eyes searching for the mentioned being off their own free will. And just as Mike had shouted, Sarah turned to her best friend, ”Maddie run!” ‘

"‘ Maddie’s heartbeat pounded in her ears and she felt light-headed, very lightheaded.

“I can’t believe you made me run barefoot all the way from the theater to your car!”

Mike and Sarah blinked back at their friend, who was cradling her hand to her chest, her hair – a wild mess. They didn’t say anything, staring as Maddie did right back at them, her breath slowly moving back to normal. And suddenly, there was a wide smile on her face and a moment later, Sarah’s car erupted with a wave of laughter.

“ He kept talking about ‘Build-a-bears’ for some reason! I don’t even know why?”, Maddie wiped the tears away from her eyes, her mouth still letting out squeals of laughter.

Sarah clutched at her stomach, ”Oh my god stop! Stop. My stomach’s hurting. Stop please”, beads of tears running down her face.

And they did manage to stop, regaining their composure. Well, for a moment at least. In the slightest whisper ever, Mike broke the silence, ”Why are we still holding her shoes?” ‘

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“Thank you Mrs.-“, the door shut right on her face, and Maddie let out a sigh. Heaving herself to the top of the stairs, she stood in front of the familiar white door, unable to enter.

She couldn’t bring herself to open it. Luckily for her, Mike opened the door from inside.

“Anything?”

Maddie didn’t hear him, eyes roaming all over the room she was so scared of now. Could she go inside? Was she allowed to? She hadn’t felt very welcome. Not in the room, nor in the person’s life. ‘Is that really true though?’

“Maddie?”

She looked up and before Mike said anything, held up two fingers and the piece of paper wedged between them.

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‘ “No for real I don’t even know why I went on that date”, Maddie spoke, exhausted from laughing,” I don’t think I even liked him that much”.

Her words weren’t very loud, especially not when said next to the loud laughter Sarah and Mike hadn’t managed to control yet. It didn’t matter anyway, it was more like a conversation with herself. She thought they couldn’t hear her.

“Actually, I don’t think I even like boys in the first place”.

Silence.’

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“This is it?”, Mike handed the note back to her and Maddie plopped on the floor.

“Yeah. She didn’t even say anything else. Shut the door right on my face”, Maddie twirled the paper in between her fingers, hoping desperately for a miracle.

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‘ Once the rudeness of their actions dawned on them, the sobered up trio decided to apologize to Shaun and Maddie bought him a box of chocolates.

“I’m gonna leave this at his door and text him an apology”, Maddie announced as Sarah drove them to her place.

“Here”, Sarah handed her a pen and paper,” A note’s a lot more personal”.’

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“Well I’m calling him then”, Mike said aloud, fidgeting with his phone,” He ought to know something right?”

Maddie didn’t respond, running her fingers across the curved handwriting on the note. ‘It’s weird. I thought you hated your cursive writing.’

‘ Hey mom,

Gonna spend the day at Maddie’s. See you later

- Sarah ‘

Flicking the note across the room, Maddie muttered, “It’s personal alright’.