(652) - 793 - 8856

Chapter One

"Jordan , he never showed." Madelyn complained as she picked at the day old manicure she had gotten specifically for the event. "He never even called to cancel, instead he just stood me up."

There was a pause as Madelyn dipped her chocolate smeared spoon back into the remaining half pint of Ben & Jerry's that sat between her criss-crossed legs.

"It wouldn't have even bothered me if he would have called, but he didn't. That's the real problem here."

She set the spoon back into the ice cream turned soup and reached for the merlot that sat at the ready, patiently listening to her best friend's apology and advice.

"I'm so sorry girl, if I had known he was going to be another pompous self-entitled frat boy I never would have set you two up." Jordan replied earnestly, "Do I need to go hunt him down? I'm not opposed."

Madelyn laughed, almost choking on the thick wine in her mouth. "Jordan, you are a pompous frat boy," she replied, after swallowing.

His harrumph was audible in the background. "We aren't all pompous jerks Maddie, hence why I'm on the phone with you like a good friend instead of getting smashed next door."

"Thanks," she mumbled, glaring into the open pint of ice cream. "Jordan, I sat there for three hours. Three hours receiving looks of pity from every waiter and customer that walked by. It was humiliating."

"I can't begin to express how sorry I am, or how badly I want to beat his ass, but that won't change anything. You can't beat yourself up over something you had no control over, especially not on finals week."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll see you tomorrow after my Child Development final, which I need to go study for," Madelyn complied, getting up to put her drink and frozen dessert away.

"I'm always right," Jordan retorted, before his voice softened, "We'll go to lunch right after your final, my treat. Just focus on crushing the test, that way you can rub it in my face later."

A small laugh escaped her downtrodden expression. "Night, Jordan."

"Night, Mad Dog."

______________________________________________________________________________

Books were open all around Maxwell as he frantically flipped between pages. Finals were going to be the death of him. Papers were strewn about and review videos played on repeat through his phone, lost amid the mounds of work.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his Poly-Sci induced madness.

"Come in!" he called quickly before turning back to what lay in front of him.

"Dude, what the hell?" A voice questioned from the doorway, too shocked to enter any farther into the room.

"Don't ask, Kaden. Did you bring coffee?" Maxwell asked without looking away from the book.

Carefully making his way across the boobytrapped floor, Kaden set the extra-large black coffee down next to his roommate.

"How long have you been doing this?" he asked, looking around the room, concerned.

"At least 5 hours, and I have another 4 and a half ahead of me," Maxwell replied, taking a large gulp of the caffeinated drink.

"Um, no. You have a date tonight, remember? Jordan's friend, some girl named Marrilyn or something."

"Shit," Maxwell exclaimed, finally looking up. "Madelyn, her name is Madelyn, but damn I forgot all about that. Dad's really harping on me about my grades this semester and after his call earlier I totally forgot. I'll have to call and apologize."

"Don't just sit there, do it before poly-sci sucks you back in. Otherwise, you'll forget and the poor girl will hate you forever," Kaden exclaimed tossing Max his phone.

The dialing tone was loud in the quiet room as Max waited. The voicemail box took his message, as Max had no time to try and get in touch with her again.

"Hey Madelyn, it's Maxwell. I'm sorry this is so last minute but I'm going to need to postpone dinner, I have a final first thing tomorrow. I hope you get this, text me, bye."

"Well that was lame," Kaden said, after Maxwell had ended the call.

"I just don't have time," he replied, ending the conversation.

"Whatever," Kaden responded, "call me tomorrow - it's guys night at BDubs."

Maxwell nodded, impatiently waving his hand at Kaden as he exited the messy room. It was going to be a long night. Thank god for coffee.

______________________________________________________________________________

That was hell, he thought as he exited the lecture hall. Almost 10 hours of studying and he still only knew half the material. Canceling on Madelyn hadn't even been worth it.

"Yo Max, how'd it go?" Kaden asked, rushing up to his best friend's side.

"Horrible," he replied, grimacing.

"Whelp," Kaden stated, "I can't have been worse than the Geology final I just took. Who the hell knows when geodes were first discovered? Not me. Come on, lets go get drunk and wash our miseries away."

"Jesus, Kade. It's only three in the afternoon."

"5 o'clock somewhere my friend, 5 o'clock somewhere," he replied, swinging his arm around Maxwell's shoulders.

"Get off," Maxwell complained, shoving his friends arm off. "Let me make a call first, Madelyn hasn't called me back since I cancelled last night."

"Bros before hoes, Max - but I guess this time I'll allow it."

The familiar dial tone emitted from the speaker of Max's phone as he glanced down, reading over the 10 digit number. As the call went to voicemail for the third time that day, Max opened her contact, double checking the number Jordan had typed in against the one he had called. (652) - 793 - 3856

"Dude, she"ll call when she wants," Kaden sighed exasperated. "Give it up."

"Yeah, okay. I can just try again later," Max complied, returning his phone to his pocket. But he couldn't get those 10 digits, or the guilt of canceling an hour before, out of his head. He just prayed she would answer his attempts later, or maybe even call first.