"Why are all these rules about me?" He narrowed his eyes as he flipped through the pages of the notebook.
I bit down on my lower lip trying to come up with a good answer to that question. There was none I could think of. How exactly would one even go about telling someone they're an idiot? That the rules were for my own safety and mental well-being? That—
"Looks like someone has a little crush on me, huh?" His outrageous statement instantly pulled me out of my thoughts. My eyes went wide as I turned to him, completely incredulous.
He had a huge smirk on his face and as soon as he saw me looking, he winked, "I don't usually go for the obsessive type, but—"
"As if! You're an idiot!" I guess that was one way of telling him. Then again, he had kind of asked for it. "If you had half a brain that notebook wouldn't have any rules in it!"
Unsurprisingly, he pressed his lips together, the corners still pulled up in a smile and nodded along to what I was saying.
"Sure, sure, whatever you say, babe." He drawled out the words in amusement, rising his eyebrows suggestively.
This was not going well.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" My voice was getting a bit too loud for comfort. I wasn't exactly happy he could probably see how much his teasing had affected me.
"Will do, princess." Just as I'd feared, his voice sounded way too amused. He was absolutely not taking me seriously.
"That's not any better!" I felt my gag reflex approaching critical level.
On the other hand, it seemed like Maddox was having the time of his life trying to suppress his laughter. Leaving that notebook out here was a huge mistake. Was he ever going to let me live this down?
With a frustrated groan, I snatched the notebook from his hands and stormed into my room. I could hear him laughing in the living room, saying something unintelligible. It was probably good I couldn't hear what he was saying because I was close to committing murder.
Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to remember the basics from the one meditation class I took. Perhaps the exercise would have worked better had the reason for my turmoil not been living-it-large in the other room.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, these light headaches were becoming a part of my daily routine. Taking a few more moments to prepare before going back out there, I nodded to myself in silent encouragement. After grabbing a sheet of paper and two pens, I stormed back into the living room.
Maddox was still on the couch, the same smirk still on his face, but he had now upgraded to holding a beer in his hand.
In a way, it was incredible how he managed to completely surprise me, all the time, no matter how prepared I thought I was.
"Maddox, it's like 1 PM!" I couldn't keep the shock from my voice.
"Yeah, which makes it the afternoon." He said, raising his beer bottle at me. I just stood there, my hands crossed over my chest and a frown on my face.
"What, you gonna call the Beer Police on me?" He teased and chuckled at his own joke before taking a long sip.
"You bet I would, if they existed." I muttered, hopefully too quiet for him to hear but nonetheless, a smirk popped up on his face.
"What did you say?" He asked, giving me only a sidelong glance.
I raised the blank sheet of paper and pens, "We need to have the rules listed." Nice save, I suppose?
He shrugged, patting the place next to him on the couch.
A shudder ran through me at the thought of being in such close proximity to him right now. I made my way to the opposite side of our living room table and sat on the floor.
He chuckled and shook his head before leaning back into the couch, comfortably. "Mm, so soft and cozy."
I decided to ignore him and just placed the sheet of paper between us along with sliding one pen to his side of the table.
"Since you were a big baby about the rules I wrote down," There was a mischievous smirk on his lips when I said that, "We're going to work on a list of rules together, and add them along the way. Fair?"
He seemed to be contemplating my words for a bit before responding, "Yeah, sounds fair to me."
"Alright, I'll start." My previous list did include a lot of traits I disliked about Maddox in general; but in terms of being practical I knew it should be shorter and more universal. Thinking back on the last two days a few things immediately come to mind.
#1. No being loud at night or early morning — unless previously agreed on with the other person.
#2. The person grocery shopping needs to always carry their cell phone with them in case of emergency.
#3. No walking around shirtless, or in the nude.
#4. No harassing our neighbours.
"Well you're certainly not lacking inspiration." Maddox stated as he watched my hand scribble along the paper. It was probably a good thing he did because I was getting a bit carried away.
"Fine, your turn." I turned the paper toward him and he took it in his hands to read over what I wrote.
At one point I heard him chuckle and I blushed slightly as I could guess which rule he was looking over.
"Didn't know you felt so strongly about my clothing choices." He muttered, confirming my suspicions.
"Or lack there of." I let out a sigh before adding, "It's distracting." From the fact that you're an incredible asshole that I absolutely can't stand.
"Hm, interesting." He nodded before taking his pen and writing something on the paper.
When I tried to peek at what he was putting there, dreading the worst, he hid the paper from me clicking his tongue a few times.
After a few moments, he let out a satisfied sigh, looked over his list once more, and slammed it onto the table.
#1. No being loud at night or early morning — unless previously agreed on with the other person.
#2. The person grocery shopping needs to always carry their cell phone with them in case of emergency.
#3. No walking around shirtless, or in the nude. Aimee can walk around shirtless all she wants. Or nude.
#4. No harassing our neighbours. Unless they're hot.
#5. Twice a week there will be a mandatory game night.
#6. Communication is key, so no hiding away during a fight.
I stared blankly at the rules he added, both confused and surprised. The things he wrote onto the existing rules were, of course, ridiculous. But the two rules he came up with himself, were actually pretty good. Though, they were slightly confusing.
"What's this about?" I pointed to rule number five, raising one eyebrow.
He nodded, a self-satisfied smile showing off his pearly whites, before leaning closer to me. "Well, I'm gonna go insane if you keep being so uptight, so we're going to have a little game night to loosen you up."
I gasped in shock and automatically covered my chest with my hands — a reflex that proved fatal.
Maddox laughed, his head slamming against the back of the couch before his amused eyes settled on me. He leaned in even closer across the table and I found myself leaning back toward the TV.
"What kind of dirty things were you thinking?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and licked his lips — a gesture that made him look uncomfortably hot, "It's just a regular game night. I'll even let you pick the first game."
I bit down on the inside of my lip, hoping to stop myself from blushing. Then, I reached out to him and pushed him back to the couch. For a moment I considered protesting the rule but that would make the whole thing useless. I knew he'd be quick to get rid of my rules as well and he clearly knew that he'd put me in a tough spot.
With a chuckle, he stood up and walked to the fridge — no doubt getting himself another beer.
"By the way, first game night is tomorrow." He yelled from the kitchen and I cringed at his words, staring at the sheet of paper in front of me with horror.
Maybe this rule list wasn't such a good idea after all.