After my incident at the hospital the other day, my dad made me lay low for a few days. He made me cancel my tutoring sessions for the week, which was fine but I was getting restless and bored in my room. For the third day straight I was blaring my music and laying across my bed on my stomach trying to make the day go faster. I heard the faint beep of my phone and wondered who could be texting me.
I'm coming to kidnap you from the solitude.
A few minutes later a rock hit my window. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to be romantic," I said, putting my foot out my bedroom window. Ashton's strong arm's wrapped around me, helping me the rest of the way.
He laughed. "Good thing you're a smart girl, Mads. You've been in that room a long time. I figured you needed to kidnapped."
I pulled my beanie farther over my head, so none of the little hair I had was showing. "You know me so well."
We ended up at the mall food court without even discussing where to go. It was our place in a way. "So Calum told me what happened the other day at the hospital, how you almost collapsed or something after chemo. He said it was pretty bad."
I choked on my taco at his words and realized that neither of us had gotten a drink. I needed to find water fast, but I just kept choking.
"Oh my god, I'll get you water!" Ashton backed up in his chair, running into a girl with a tray of food that she ended up throwing into the air and fell onto the ground with a splat. He gasped and I was still choking, needing water. "Oh no. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, thanks. I, uh, think your friend needs more help than me," she replied sweetly.
"Oh, Mads," he suddendly remembered that I was choking on my food. He rushed back to Taco Bell to get me a glass of water.
I took big gulps from the glass until it was gone. "Thanks," I whispered quietly.
When Ashton was sure I was fine, he turned back to the girl that was trying to somewhat clean the mess that he caused. "I'm so sorry. Can I buy you some new food?"
"It's really fine," she tried to push him away, to get him to go away. I knew Ash wasn't going to let up though. He was going to buy her new food, get her name and possibly her number.
"No. It's not fine..." he trailed off, gesturing for her to introduce herself. I almost laughed out loud, but I kept it in and continued to eat my taco.
"Ellie," she hesitantly said. She walked over to the trash can and Ashton followed her like a puppy. I could tell he was developing a crush on this girl and I didn't blame him. She was pretty but she wasn't like the normal girls he went after. She had wavy red hair, her nose was pierced and she was dressed in leggings and a band t-shirt. To me, she seemed kind of bitchy but of course Ashton wasn't going to give up easily.
"I'm Ashton," I heard him say loudly. The kid did not have an inside voice. I tried to ignore the fact that he completely ditched me to follow some girl around. I saw him walk with her to Panda Express, which had the longest line out of everything. I slumped down in my chair because I finished eating and now I just had to wait. Why did he have to mention Calum and cause me to choke? Everything would be fine if he stayed on a different topic. That should be common knowledge: don't talk about cancer with the cancer patient.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" My head shot up at the somewhat familiar Australian accent.
"I, um. I'm feeling a bit better. Thanks," I stammered.
Calum cracked a smile. "Good. You sitting alone?"
"Right now, yeah. I was eating with Ash but he kinda ditched me to buy lunch for some girl." I pointed to Panda Express, which Ellie was just ordering her food.
"Hmm. Mind if I sit?" he gestured to Ashton's seat.
I bit my lip and swallowed a lump in my throat. "Nope."
"So do you like not go to school or something?" I narrowed my eyes, noticing his scrubs again.
"Oh, no I do. I'm a senior. I only go half days though so I can do my intership at the hospital. It's such a great opportunity since I want to go into nursing. I actually need to head there in a bit. I usually stop in at the mall to get lunch before because they have better food here than the cafeteria at the hospital or school, but it's probably not the best idea," he said.
"I don't know about school food anymore, but mall food is way better than hospital food," I agreed. He laughed and I wanted to bottle up the sound so I could listen to it whenever I was sad.
Ashton walked up to the table with Ellie in tow. "Hey, Cal. I thought you had to get to hospital," he said, his tone pushing him out in a way as he pulled up a chair for Ellie to sit.
"Uh, yeah. I should get going. Nice to see you Madison," he looked right into my eyes as he said this and I held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary.
"Bye," I said a moment after he had already walked away, taking too long to recover from his lingering stare.
"I'm Ellie," the girl introduced herself even though I already knew her name.
"Madison," I said, unenthusiastically. I was annoyed and just wanted to go home. "I'm gonna call my dad to pick me up ok, Ash? It was nice meeting you, Ellie." I stood up from the table and pushed in my chair, screeching it across the tile ground on purpose.
"Mads, wait. I can drive you home," Ashton called after me, but as I turned around I saw that he didn't stand up from the table. Ellie looked extremely awkward at the table with her full tray of chinese food in front of her.
I shook my head and turned back around, storming to the front entrance. I knew he would rather spend time with this new girl than me. I was only his student and some dumb cancer patient. I tried keeping my tears in as I dialed my dad's number but they fell anyway. I hung up my phone, sliding it back in my pocket when my dad didn't answer and sat down on a bench. I hugged my arms around myself and tried to control my sobs.
"Madison?"
"What are you still doing here?"
"I actually didn't have to leave yet, so I looked around the mall a bit. Are you, uh, ok?" He sat down extremely close to me on the bench, so close that our knees were almost touching.
"I decided didn't really want to be around Ash and that girl anymore so I told him I'd call my dad to pick me up, but he's not answering and I can't call my mom because she'll get pissed that I was out. I mean my dad will get mad that I'm out too, but not as much as her. I just wish I could drive, but that's never going to happen."
"Don't say that, Madison." I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn't sure why but I liked how he always called me by my full name and not Maddie or Mads like other people. "I can give you a ride quick. I bet your house isn't too far," I couldn't help thinking that his voice was my new favorite sound and this was the beginning of something as he took my hand and helped me stand.
hi. i hope everyone has had a better day than me, but i wanted to get this update up since i had it done (: please vote and comment. and yay for madison and calum. xx zoe
