Falling in Love + other Conditions of Living

Chapter 8

© kelliekook

For what must have been the tenth time that evening, Madison checked her appearance in her bedroom mirror. Her whole body tingled. From nerves or excitement? Madison wasn't really sure, but it seemed to be a mixture of both. 

The prospect of tonight had been all she could think about for the past three days. Was this a sign he wanted things to be serious? Were they going to take things to the next level? Were things moving too fast between them? How fast did she want them to move? Did she want this to be serious? 

She was beginning to remember why she'd preferred casual dating all these years. Feelings were hard.

Madison stumbled back from the mirror and slumped on her bed, she really could have benefited from some motherly advice right about now. Her mother had always been good with setting things straight and putting Madison's world back in order. 

She glanced at the clock and did the math. It would only be around lunch time in Santorini, but she'd still be lucky to get through to her parents. Reception was always patchy and they didn't like her calling anyway due to the expense. She supposed she'd just have to wait until their usual Skype call on Sunday.

There was always her sister - Harper - of course! Why hadn't she thought of her earlier?

She reached for the phone on her bedside table when it suddenly dawned on her why; Harper was on her honeymoon. Madison glared at the phone for a minute, she could technically still call her. They were only in Byron, after all. This could be considered an emergency and she could really use her sister's advice...

Madison bit her lip before exhaling in defeat. No, she couldn't call. This was silly, she was a grown woman now, she should be able to act like one and deal with her own propensity to over-think her feelings.

She just needed to breathe, relax and think positively. Tonight was going to be what it was going to be -- a lovely night with a man she was beginning to truly care for. Simple.

She checked the time on her phone; still another ten minutes before he came to pick her up, he hadn't told her where they were going on account of it being a surprise. She smiled at the thought of it, that tingling sensation spreading throughout her body again.

Madison shook her head and scoffed, men.

With a sigh she pushed herself off the bed, walking down the hall and into the lounge room to put on some music. Noise would help to distract her from her thoughts.

Tossing aside Rachel's classical music collection of CDs Madison fumbled through the small collection of her own. They really should invest in some speakers with a USB connection or iPod dock, sometimes living with Rachel was like living ten years behind the rest of the world.

There wasn't much of course, what with iTunes and the beauty of iPods, she'd stopped buying CDs years ago so all that was really left was an old assortment of music she'd mostly stolen from her dad's collection.

She smiled at her classic favourites; Bob Dylan, Joy Division, The Clash, Cat Stevens, The Cure -- they were all there. A testament to a phase she went through as a teenager and her father's influence during that time. After some short deliberation she decided to go with one of her his favourites,  Mona Bone Jakon by Cat Stevens. 

The nostalgia was strong as she slid it into the DVD player and heard the opening chords of 'Lady D'arbanville' -- if she closed her eyes she could see her father singing along to it in the car on those early morning school trips. She laughed to herself and skipped through a few tracks. She stopped on 'Trouble', her favourite, and let it play as she cleaned her teeth again before adding another coat of lipstick.