Staying Grand For You ~ICONic Boyz~

Chapter Twenty

Candace Miller

Why? What did I do to deserve this? Because I wasn't crying and I was trying to not think of my dad's death, did I deserve to lose Mikey?

 "Candace, please. Come on." Madison said again.

 "No." I said again. I had my arms crossed over my chest and hadn't moved since I'd changed my pants and sat on the bed.

  "Come on."

 "No." I sounded like a stubborn two year old, but I didn't care. I was not going to Albivi's.

  "Candace," He sighed.

 "Madison."

 "I don't want to go alone."

  "Then don't go."

 "You know how bad that will look? If we both decide not to go after Mikey sees... that." He paused. "To him, we're either making out or having sex right now."

  I can't believe that all of this came from me being on my fucking period. Thanks so much, Mother Nature! You just ruined my life!

 "In reality we couldn't be having sex because I'm on my... but Mikey doesn't know it. And he doesn't know what was really going on and how I meant to cover my butt and grabbed your hips instead and..."

  "I'm really sorry, Candace. I'll fix it, okay?"

 You've done a great job of fixing problems so far, huh? I thought sarcastically.

 "If we show up at Albivi's together, it won't help either." I said aloud.

 "Fine." Madison sighed. "I'll go alone."

Vinny Castronovo

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go back with Candace and Madison." Mikey said as we watched the two walk from the park, Madison pressed firmly to her back.

I think we all knew Mikey was trying to reassure himself that there was nothing going on between them

 We watched Mikey walk after them, disappearing.

 "You don't think Candace and Madison have a... thing, do you?" Jason voiced our thoughts.

 "She wouldn't do that to Mikey..." I said, but I couldn't keep the doubt from my voice.

 "Candace wouldn't." Louis shook his head, always so confident about her, claiming to be her long lost son.

  "But would Madison?" Thomas asked. No one answered.

 We all loved Madison to death, and we trusted him with our life and all our secrets, but when Madison wanted a girl, he usually got her. I just prayed that Candace wouldn't fall for his charm. If I couldn't have her, then I wanted Mikey to get her, if anyone.

   "Let's go to Albivi's." I said, heading in the opposite direction.

***

 Why was Mikey so upset? And angry?

 Oh, God. What had he saw?

 "Mikey. What's wrong?" Nick asked, setting his pizza down. Mikey shook his head, biting his lip.

 "Bro, you can tell us anything." Jason said.

   "What did you see?" I asked.

 "Here, tell us what to do and Chris and I will demonstrate." Bianca said. Chris was he friend that was also at the restraunt.

  Mikey was okay with that. "Chris, wrap your arms around her waist tightly and press yourself against her." They looked uncomfortable with that position but did it anyways. "Now, Bianca, grab his hips." Candace did that? "Now turn your faces towards each others..."

  It was a pretty... nasty picture.

 "You're kidding." I said to Mikey.

 "Just like that." Mikey shook his head.

  "Maybe you're jumping to conclusions," Louis tried.

   "That's what I saw, Lou. I don't know but... I guess she doesn't like me after all."

  "Candace wouldn't kiss just anyone, Mikey." Nick said. She kissed me...

 "I know but feelings change." He sighed. Yeah, they really did. We sat in silence for a few moments.

   The bell rang, signaling a customer. The customer happened to be Madison.

 "Mikey, can I talk to you?" He seemed out of breath, like he'd ran here.

  ''Sure, go ahead."

 Madison sighed. "Look, you don't understand what you saw, okay? It wasn't what you think."

  "Then what was it?" Mikey said in an unbelieving tone.

 "She... I can't say it with everyone around."

  "If you can say it to me, you can say it to them."

 "But Candace doesn't want everyone to know."

  "We don't have secrets, remember?" Nick said.

 "Fine. You really want to know? I'll embarrass Candace and everything just so you aren't mad at her. She's on her period. She bled through her pants and I was trying to hide it. Okay? Happy?" Madison threw his hands up.

  Ew! Every one of the guys got a disgusted look on their face and I could tell everyone was uncomfortable.

  "I didn't know," Mikey said quietly, looking guilty.

 "No, of course you didn't. She doesn't want everyone to know about it! You know, I hope you feel like the biggest asshole right now. She's gone through enough this week without crying over you again! Just because you didn't know the whole story!"

  "Then why was she grabbing your hips?" Mikey countered.

 We just watched, unable to do anything about it.

  "It was before I told her about bleeding through. She was uncomfortable that I was so close and was trying to push me away. Why? Because it's you she loves and cares about!"

  "I'm sorry." Mikey looked horrible. Sad and guilty and mad at himself.

 "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." With that, Madison stormed out of the restaraunt, looking as pissed off as ever.

  "I screwed up." Mikey groaned, face in hands. ''She'll never forgive me. I'll never forgive myself."

 We all looked at Bianca.

 "What?" She asked.

  "You're the girl here," Louis stated.

 "Mikey, go talk to her. Explain everything, and don't be afraid to suck up. Be sweet, and a gentleman. Listen to her, and never give up." Bianca gave a few more tips.

  I knew Candace better than she knew herself, and I knew how violent she could be. Mikey was in some deep crap.

  God help him when he walks through her door.