Madison's Journey

Chapter 12

The next morning, Madison woke up surrounded by kittens, George above her head, and Mary at her feet. They opened their eyes, yawned and stretched their tiny legs. She started petting George, who immediately began to attack her hand. When Mary saw what was happening, she pounced on George and suddenly they were fighting on her head. Madison laughed and threw the covers off. “I guess that’s my cue to get up.” She didn’t have any plans for the day. After her grueling schedule over the past few months, she was happy to have a day to relax and do nothing but play with her kittens. Both Lisa and Mrs. Fernie had sent her home with leftovers so she didn’t even have to worry about cooking dinner or lunch. In fact, she was pretty sure she had enough leftovers to last the rest of the week. The kittens followed her out of her room and Mary began attacking her bunny slippers as she walked to the kitchen to grab some juice.

“Mary, what are you doing?” She looked down at her feet and giggled when she saw Mary on top of her slipper biting one of the bunny’s ears. “Good thing that’s not a real bunny.” Madison laughed and picked Mary up. She snuggled her close to her chest as she proceeded to attack her hand. “Okay, okay. Here,” she put Mary down beside George, who was playing with one of their mouse toys. “Go bug your brother.” She watched them play fight but was interrupted by the sound of her text tone on her phone.

‘Morning, Mads. Just wanted 2 thank you again 4 last nite.’ It was Colin.

‘My pleasure. What r friends 4!’

‘R we friends?’

She thought about that. They weren’t friends, not really. He was the brother of her best friend, and she was just his kid sister’s annoying friend. ‘Well…we aren’t enemies. R we?’

‘Lol. Nope. Definitely not.’

She wasn’t sure what it was, but she had a feeling that there was a missing half to his message.

‘Hey, Col. If u need 2 talk, u can call me. I’m just hanging out with Mary and George.’

‘Thanks, Mads, but I’m ok.’

‘K.’

She spent the rest of the morning chasing kittens and puttering around the house doing chores. She was just about to heat up some of Lisa’s lasagna leftovers when her phone beeped. It was Colin again.

‘Hey. Do u want to go 4 a drive?’

‘Oh, when?’

‘Now.’

‘Um, ok. sure.’

‘Be there in 10.’

‘K.’ Madison looked down at her clothes, she was still wearing her pajamas. “Guess I’d better go change.” She had just enough time to throw on a pair of jeans and a sweater before she heard Colin knock on her door. 

“Hey.” Colin’s eyes were filled with sorrow as he looked down at her.

“Hi. I just need to grab my purse and coat.”

He waited at the door, and then lead the way to his car, not uttering a word. He opened her door and she climbed in. She watched him walk to the driver’s side and hop in. She smiled when he turned towards her. “Did you eat? Want to pick up some burgers and go park and talk somewhere?”

She nodded. “Sure. I was actually just about to heat up lunch when you messaged, so I’m starving.”

He nodded, and his lips curved into a small sad smile. He started the car, and they were both silent as they went through a drive thru and then drove to the lake. It was snowing and cold, so they stayed in the car with the heat on. They ate silently for a few minutes before Colin finally spoke, “Is this weird?”

“What?”

“Me, calling you to go for a drive? Us having lunch in my car? Just you and I, together, I guess. I mean, you’re Amy’s friend not mine.” 

She took a bite of her burger to give herself time to think about his question. “I don’t know. I mean, yeah, I’ve always been Amy’s friend, but we’re older now. Maybe you and I can be friends too. There aren’t rules for this sort of thing, are there?”

“Well, no.” He took a sip of his drink. “But I don’t think my sister would be very happy to share you.”

She grinned widely and shook her head. “No, she’s never been good at sharing, has she?”

Colin burst out into laughter, and Madison could see the muscles in his face relax slightly. “Do you remember the time I took a chicken nugget off of her plate and she broke my pinkie finger?”

“Oh, my god, yes. Your mom and dad didn’t know what to do. But if I remember correctly, your finger wasn’t actually broken.”

“Okay, true, but it sure hurt.” They both laughed and continued eating. “So, you and Derrick, eh?”

She looked up startled, not sure what made him bring that up. “Yup.”

He nodded, silent once again, staring at the burger in his hand. “Be careful, Mads.”

“I will.” Silence fell over them once more as they continued eating. After a couple minutes, Madison decided to break the silence and ebb her curiosity. “Hey, Col, can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah,” he replied, not looking up.

“What are you going to do? Have you talked to Carissa about the options yet?”

He didn’t speak right away, and the questions hung between them as they ate the last of their meals. Colin crinkled up his burger wrapper and threw it, and the rest of his garbage, in the bag they had come in. She did the same and then looked straight ahead at the snow falling gently onto the windshield, waiting.

“Well, she thought about not telling her parents and just getting rid of it, but she can’t do that. You know?” Colin shifted in his seat so that he could face Madison. She turned her head to look at him and nodded. “She was going to tell her parents the same day I did, but she chickened out, and now mom and dad are freaking out and they want to talk to her and her parents, but they can’t and I just…I just…” Madison could hear the tears in his voice. She reached over and grabbed one of his hands.

“Are you going to get married?”

He sighed, and she could see the misery on his face. “I don’t want to. I’m only seventeen. We’re only seventeen, and honestly, Mad, I’m not in love with her. I like her a lot, but I can’t imagine being with her for the rest of my life. We were just fooling around, you know?”

She nodded, her face somber. “What are your parents saying?”

“Well, they were pretty mad at first.” He chuckled and so did she. “Understandably, I guess. But they aren’t angry anymore. They know mistakes happen. They just want to know what her parents are thinking. They said they’ll support whatever decision Carissa and I make, but they don’t want us to get married.”

“Thank God.” Madison spoke without thinking.

“What?”

“Sorry, I didn’t…I mean. I’m just glad they aren’t pressuring you, ‘cause I don’t think you should get married either. Especially if you don’t want to.”

He smiled, thankful to have her support. “Yeah. I’m worried that her parents will try to force us to get married, but I think my parents would stop that.” She nodded. She knew they would if it wasn’t what he wanted. “Thanks for listening, Mads. You know, you’re a great listener.”

She smiled, pleased with the compliment. “Thanks!”

Colin returned her smile. “Okay. So, I’m not quite ready to go home, I know it’s a bit cold, but do you want to walk for a bit?”

She wasn’t ready to go home either. “Yeah, sure, maybe we can work off some of these burgers.”

He laughed, and they got out of his car and began walking. Neither of them spoke, they just walked in comfortable silence. She peered over at him, thinking about how nice it was to be there with him. She was enjoying his company and friendship. She felt like they were two people who needed a friend and she was glad he was hers. They walked along the old abandoned train tracks that ran parallel to the lake. Usually the tracks were overrun by weeds, but today they had a nice blanket of white snow on them. Madison looked around and sighed. “It sure is pretty here, isn’t it?” The trees were covered in a layer of white snow. “It looks like Christmas, doesn’t it?”

“Um, well it is Christmas.” He smirked and she playfully hit him on the arm.

“You know what I mean.”

His eyes danced with laughter. “I do, but I like teasing you.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know that.”

He grinned at her, and then picked up his pace a bit. “Hey look, I forgot about this place.” They were at a tunnel where the train used to run through. “The guys and I used to come here all the time.”

Madison shot him a questioning look. “To do what?”

“Drink beer of course. It’s quiet and out of the way.” He leaned against the wall of the tunnel and grinned at the look on her face. It was one of slight disapproval. “What? You don’t approve?”

She flashed him her ‘I’m so innocent’ smile. “I’m too good a girl for that.”

They both laughed, and then he turned to her, his smile replaced with a serious expression. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Shoot.”

“Where’s your mom?”

Madison’s eyes grew wide and a quiet gasp escaped her lips. “What? Why…what do you mean?”

Colin knew from her reaction that something was up. “Well, I just mean, you spent Christmas with us, and Amy told us that you had Christmas Eve with the people you babysit for. Your mom wasn’t home last night, and I didn’t see her today, and Amy mentioned that she hasn’t seen her for a while.”

“Oh, um.” Madison leaned against the tunnel wall, across from Colin, careful to avoid eye contact with him. She didn’t know what to say, she was surprised as she didn’t think anyone had noticed that her mom wasn’t around. “She, um, works a lot, usually in the evenings. And if she isn’t working, she’s with one of her boyfriends.” Her voice was strong as she glanced up at him. She hoped she sounded as convincing to him as she sounded to herself.

Colin took a moment to study her before he responded. He sighed and then nodded, “Okay, that makes sense. But if something was going on, you know you could talk to me, right?”

She smiled brightly at him. She knew that he wasn’t completely convinced that everything was alright, so she tried her best to sell her story. “I know. Thanks, Colin. But really every thing’s good.”

His eyes stayed focused on her for a moment, then he moved away from the wall and turned towards his car. “Should we go back and head home?”

She nodded and fell into step beside him. They chatted about school on the drive back, and by the time he parked in front of her house, the stress from before seemed to have melted away. He walked her to her door and surprised her by wrapping his strong arms around her. “Thanks, Mad. I really do appreciate the listening ear.”

“You’re welcome, Colin. Any time you need to talk, I’m here.”

“I know.” He turned around and starting walking down the path. “See yea later, Mad.”

“Bye, Col.” She watched him walk out of the yard and closed the door with a heavy sigh. She was starting to feel the weight of her secret weighing down on her. She leaned against the door and watched Mary and George wrestling each other on the floor. “Well, that’s the life. No worries, no problems. I wish I were a cat too.” She giggled and plopped down beside the kittens.