If This Was A Movie [M. Manheim]

15- Just a Joke

Milo's POV:

3 hours after the conversation, we went to the same restaurant where Madelyn and Jordyn met, Balthazar. I walked in with Jordyn right beside me, holding hands with her.

After quickly realizing that Madelyn and Evan weren't there yet, we asked for a table. Jordyn and I sat on one side of the booth, waiting for the two.

"Why did you suggest a double date?" Jordyn asked me.

"So that she didn't have to go out with him tonight alone." I answered.

"Who is he?" She asked, but I had the feeling she already knew who he was. There was something about her body language that told me she was hiding something. She was really tense, and she seemed nervous.

"Evan Lennon. Her ex-boyfriend." 

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, but why didn't you just let her go on the date alone?"

"So that she doesn't have to go through him possibly trying to get her back, or manipulating her. And I really don't trust him. He seemed like he was trying to be nice to me earlier, instead of that kindness coming naturally." I explained.

She nodded once again, and then spoke up again. "Yeah, I guess." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I really don't trust Madelyn either, though. You know, with the whole stalking thing. She stopped though, right?" 

I nodded. "I only got that message. After telling you, I stopped worrying about it."

Jordyn smiled at me. "So I helped you? I made you feel better about the situation?" 

"Yeah. You did." I tightened my grip on her hand for a split second and shot a smile back at her.

She laughed quietly as I looked down and thought about Madelyn. And Evan. 

Why did I even ask if they wanted to go on a double date with us? Madelyn is just a stalker, a creepy one too. I thought. And she is with Evan, so obviously creepy people attract each other. Or at least they do.

I only snapped back into reality because I saw a blonde girl sit in front of me. I looked up at her, and we smiled at each other. Beside her, a brown haired guy sat down. 

Evan. I wanted to scowl at him, but I fought the urge to. 

I just nodded at him, and looked around the restaurant. 

Then Evan spoke up, which was just great. He said, "So how have you guys been recently?" 

Jordyn looked at me to see if I was going to answer. When I didn't, she answered. "I've been good. A few potholes here and there, but I've gotten past those." She shot a look to Madelyn after saying that phrase, and it confused me. Why was she looking at Madelyn like that? Was there something I was missing?

After a lot of small talk, we finally talked about a certain topic as we got our food.

"So that movie you guys are doing, how's that coming?" Evan asked Madelyn and I.

"It's going well. Filming's practically done. The people who edit the movie just have to finish making final touches, and I think the director has other things to do as well so that we can get the movie out." Madelyn answered.

"Damn, filming was quick. Like 1 and a half months? 2 at the most." Jordyn stated, looking up at me.

"Well, actual filming doesn't take long." I told her.

"Especially when you've got people as talented as Milo and I." Madelyn said. I smiled at her, and she gave me one too. "But this movie is shorter than most movies. The runtime is estimated to be just barely an hour long." 

I nodded. "She's right. The movie is quite short, so making it doesn't take long. Which is why the trailer is coming out in 3 weeks." 

"Wait. Really?" Madelyn asked me. 

I nodded again, and smiled excitedly. "Yeah it is. It's going to be awesome. You did great, Madelyn."

She smiled widely at me, appreciating the compliment. "Thank you." She said. "You did too."

I thanked her, and then Evan spoke up again.

"Good job, you guys. I'm sure you did amazing. Was filming stressful?" He asked us, squeezing Madelyn's shoulder and smiling.

"Not really." Madelyn shook her head.

"There were some nights I had that were stressful, but a lot of those didn't have to do anything with filming." I answered.

"What, did you have like a stalker or something?" Evan laughed while taking a sip of his Mr. Pibb, trying to play it off as a joke, but something told me that his words weren't a joke.

I felt my expression drop and I looked at Jordyn. She was the only one I told. She just shook her head at me like she didn't know what he was talking about. I looked back at him and questioned, "How do you know about that?" 

"What stalker?" Madelyn asked, looking at everyone who sat in the booth.

Evan just shrugged and shook his head. "It was just a joke, man."

"No it wasn't." I told him. "That was a pretty spot on "joke"." 

I could see Madelyn looking at Evan, who was looking at Jordyn, with a look of betrayal on her face. I turned to look at Jordyn's expression, and she looked like Evan just revealed something that shouldn't have been said.

"What's going on?" Madelyn questioned.

"Are you hiding something?" I asked him.

Evan shook his head again. "No. I'm not your stalker, Manheim. God." He sighed and rolled his eyes.

I laughed it off awkwardly. "So then how did you know about it?"

"What fucking stalker?" Madelyn asked, still being ignored. I couldn't pay attention to her right now, I was so furious with Evan.

"I didn't know. I made a joke, thinking that you guys would laugh." He answered.

"Well clearly, we're not." I said. "That's a pretty big joke, Evan."

"It was just some dark humor, calm down." He sighed.

"But-" I started, before Jordyn looked at me, giving me a look that told me to drop it. So I did.

"Are you going to answer my question or not?" Madelyn spoke up.

"What was your question?" I asked her.

She sighed in exasperation, and asked Evan to let her out of the booth. He did so, and she walked out of the restaurant.

"Madelyn!" I tried to shout for her. She didn't listen and continued to walk, and so I followed her.

A/N: we hit 1,000 reads!

i just want to say that im grateful and that this number is really hard to believe honestly. i'm happy to tell you that i have the rest of the story planned out, and i'm going to post a chapter every day, or at least try to every day until it's finished.

i was also thinking about adding a few bonus chapters of stella and lexie?? lmk if you would like to see those in the future after the story is completed. 

thank you for clicking on my story out of the other ones you saw. it means a lot. <3