Never Alone

8 : 3 5 | A M

Madeline Pierce leaned against the wall of the college with the kind of posture that suggested complete and utter defeat. She had spent the duration of the past ten minutes scouting the car park for her boyfriend but was still coming up short. Part of her knew that this was absolutely ridiculous, that her agitation was simply a figure of her imagination for, in all honesty, she didn't really have a reason to be worried. He would be here. Of course he would. It was the first day of college. He wouldn't miss it. He couldn't. But Maddie was irrational in all sense of the word, worrying about every little thing was what kept her breathing and conjuring up the worst possible scenario was what she did best. 

"I'm just really worried, Jess," Maddie said softly, having to keep her hands tightly fisted so that she wouldn't resurrect the nasty habit of biting her nails down to the bone. It was something she always did when she was nervous, biting her nails, and nothing set her nerves on fire more than Elliot Davis. She was constantly anticipating his presence, always looking for him in a crowd as if there might just be an off chance that he would be there. She was always looking for new ways to make him laugh because he got her giggling without even trying. He was the perfect guy for her. Sweet. Funny. Talkative in a-little-bit-more-than-a-chatterbox-way. A joker. Kind. Caring. Sensitive. A bit of a day dreamer and a little bit geeky. And he was all hers. She had struck gold with him, she knew that. She had found the kind of guy that populated ninety percent of fiction and zero point one percent of reality.

And she couldn't be luckier.

Or happier.

To have him.

Standing next to a lovesick Maddie, was Jess, a small blonde ball of fire that spent her days wearing black clothes, reading, and obsessing over every good looking guy that she had had the pleasure of laying eyes on. After being Maddie's friend for a couple of years, she knew all about the brunette's tendancy to over analyse everything. She had a habit of letting everything slide under her tan skin and allowing it to hide there like some sort of bacteria, eating away at her nerves until she had nothing rational left.

As the friend, Jess felt that it was her duty to reassure and put her mind to rest to the best of her abilities, even if what she was saying wasn't the truth. Because, quite frankly, this was Madeline Pierce and, without reassurance, Maddie would, without a doubt, collapse from an epidemic of worrying. So, putting on her best smile and impersonating every fictional (not at all necessary to the plot) female best friend from her books, Jess said: "Don't worry Mads, it'll be okay," and just for good measure added a: "Your boyfriend's a geek. He won't miss the first day of school." From what Jess had heard from Maddie, he probably would. If the guy ran away from home, she highly doubted that he would show up to college. But, those thoughts were not what Maddie needed to hear right now so she hadn't said them. 

"I don't know Jess, he ran away from home. What if he doesn't have a place to stay, or...or he's somehow starved to death because he didn't bring his wallet with him? What if he got attacked by thugs and is dying in an alleyway somewhere? What...what if..." Maddie was still incredibly uncertain, bottom lip sucked in between her teeth as she bounced anxiously on the balls of her feet. The nerves were coming back at full force, like butterflies that had outgrown her ribcage. Like butterflies that were slowly fluttering up her throat and threatening to burst out of her mouth in a colourful display of vomit.

She couldn't help it. She had quite literally been worried sick ever since she had heard of Elliot's great escape.

The thought of Elliot out on his own terrified her and she wasn't entirely sure why. The pair of them had been inseparable ever since they were six and it was...wierd to think of him in a place where she wasn't. That and Elliot wasn't exactly street smart, that was more her half of the deal. He was constantly in his head, not truly taking note of everything that surrounded him.

She could just picture him getting run over by a car as he fantasised about another one of his Marvel characters.

But, what bothered her most was where he was.

Wherever he was.

Because he hadn't come to her first.

And Maddie wasn't sure why but that hurt.

A lot.

"Look, there he is Mads! He's getting out of that car with Shawn!"

He hadn't come to her first.