Falling Dumb Into Desire

Using my rearview mirrors as a guide, I carefully backed into the empty parking spot, ignoring the impatient sounds of the people honking their horns behind me. Finally, after what felt like hours, which was actually a few tedious seconds, I had expertly parallel parked just in front of my girlfriends' place of work. Sighing quietly, I dug through the change in my drink holder and scrounged up a couple of quarters before I turned off my car and got out.

I slipped the quarters into the parking meter, giving me a half an hour credit, and then went inside the air conditioned Starbucks where Madison worked. Once inside, I instantly spotted her at the counter, taking orders from the customers, and giving orders to her coworkers. A smile spread across my face at the thought of her ordering other people around, when she was such a soft spoken girl.

The smile still on my face, I approached the line and waited patiently for the person in front of me to finish ordering. Not yet noticing me, Madison quickly rang up their order and told them the total before she took their money, and gave them back the appropriate amount of change. As the person in front of me moved aside to wait for their order, Madison gave a few more commands over her shoulder before she glanced back to me.

She opened her mouth to hand out her usual, practiced greeting, but then stopped short when she realized who I was.

"Oh, hey Kennedy." She smiled shyly. "What are you doing here?"

"Ordering two Carmel Mocha Frappachinos." I replied with a soft smirk. "With Java chips, please."

Madison laughed softly before she told one of her coworkers my order. "Two Frapps?" She asked as she punched some buttons on her cash register. "Is it that hot out there?"

"The other one is for a pretty girl I know." I said, nodding my head slightly. "I was hoping that she could join me for a drink, and then maybe a late lunch afterward at the deli next door."

"Kenny baby, I'm not done for another five minutes." She replied.

"I can wait." I pointed out. "John told me that he had to drop you off this morning." I said. "So ... I came by to pick you up."

"And somewhere on the drive over, you decided that a late lunch would add for a nice touch?" She teased.

"Well, yeah, you know how it goes." I grinned. "I was just pretty much winging it." I admitted.

"Kennedy Brock, you're a goofy boy." Madison whispered with a small smile that lit up her eyes like nothing else. "$7.36."

I pulled a ten dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it over to her. "Keep the change."

Madison laughed quietly to herself as she took my money and then nodded to the line where I was to wait in order to receive my drinks.

"I'll join you in a couple of minutes, babe." Madison said as she waved me off, and then greeted the next customer in line.

Glancing over my shoulder, I let my eyes linger on my girlfriend a few seconds longer before I turned my attention to the line I was supposed to be in. The smile was eventually replaced by a small frown when I was stuck with a group of young, middle school girls, who chatting animatedly and nonstop about something I could honestly careless about. I was thankful when they left, and I received my drinks. I made my way through the café and found an empty table in a quiet corner of the room.

As soon as I sat down, I looked back to the counter, but Madison was nowhere in sight; instead I recognized Jenny Stewart, another one of our classmates we had graduated with, fulfilling the position Madison usually ran during the day.

"I almost thought I was going to beat you to a table." Madison's quiet voice reached my ears, causing me to turn my stare up to her.

"I know." I sighed, pushing her drink and her straw over to her side as she sat down. "I saw you over there giving orders ... you should have told your coworkers to step it up, miss Assistant Manager."

"I was kicking ass and taking names this morning," Madison replied lazily, "but then I got tired, because the process is pretty redundant. The two people running the blenders ... I had to train them this morning, and they were doing pretty good until I let them go on their own." She added, rolling her eyes slightly with a soft pout.

I couldn't help but find the expression cute on her face.

"Do you need to go straight home after we grab something to eat?" I asked as I slid the straw into my own drink. "Or can we go off somewhere ... and have some fun?" Madison responded by raising an eyebrow, giving me a questioning stare. "G-rated fun." I added.

Madison finished taking a drink, and then licked her lips slightly as she set her drink back on the table. "Umm ... I need to be home by 7:30 so that I can go with John and my auntie to this play."

"A play?" I asked. "What kind of play?"

Madison shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Every other month, though, my Auntie takes the two of us to some sort of play. We've done it ever since John and I were little."

"I've never heard about these plays." I said.

"Do you think that John is the type of boy who would willingly admit the fact that he likes to go to plays?" Madison laughed softly.

"Well ... not really." I admitted.

Madison giggled quietly to herself before she grabbed her drink in one hand, and stood up, holding her free hand out to me. "Come on, mister, let's go grab our late lunch; I'm starving."

Sipping slowly on my drink, not wanting to get a brain freeze, I slipped my hand into her, intertwining our fingers, and stood up. Holding tightly to my hand, Madison led me through the building. She said her goodbyes to her coworkers and friends, and then pulled me out into the hot, Arizona summer afternoon. Luckily, though, the deli was just the next building over, and we were soon greeted by another blast of cool, air conditioned air.

The older gentleman standing behind the counter greeted us with a warm smile, and to Madison, a friendly wave.

"Hello Madison," he smiled, "what can I get for you today?"

"Hey, Danny, can I get a turkey wrap please?" Madison replied.

"Of course you can, sweetie." 'Danny' said, before he turned to me. "And for you?"

"I'll have a pastrami sandwich." I said quietly. "American cheese and a little bit of mayonnaise"

"Coming right up." He said before he started off around his little kitchen, pulling out all the necessary ingredients.

Madison had left me with her drink, explaining that she needed to use the restroom, leaving just Danny and I in the front. I saw Danny peer at me over the top of his bifocals a time or two before he finally spoke up.

"I take it you're Kennedy." He said. "Madison has been swooning over you these past couple of weeks now."

"Yeah." I replied quietly. "She talks about me a lot?" I asked shyly.

"Mhmm." Danny said, nodding his head as he wrapped up one of our orders. "Whenever she comes in to get her turkey wrap." He added with a quiet laugh.

I bit my lip, glancing at the door that led to the bathrooms before I looked back to Danny. "She's an amazing girl." I said quietly.

Although Danny didn't look up at me, I saw the upper corner of his lips pull into a smile. "Mhmm." He repeated.

Not knowing what else to say to him, I stepped back from the counter, and instead went to claim a small table to us. Before long, Madison joined us once again, and reclaimed her drink, sucking on the straw generously before she gave me a cute smile. I stuck my tongue out at her in response, and then got up to pay for our food when Danny announced that it was ready. While we were eating, Danny left us alone to pay attention to his new customers.

"So, Kenny baby, where are we going after this?" Madison asked as she carefully pulled the paper wrap off of her food.

"Bowling." I smiled.

"Kennedy Brock, I haven't been bowling since our junior class trip." She laughed. "I'm kind of rusty."

"You'll be fine." I assured her before I took a bite of my sandwich.

With that, we ate a majority of our food in silence, either one of us caught up in our own thoughts. Finally, when I had just a couple of bites of my sandwich left, I wiped my mouth off on my napkin, and cleared my throat slightly, getting Madison's attention.

"I'm taking a trip to Sedona next weekend to visit my grandparents." I said quietly. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me." I said timidly. "You know ... since you were such a big hit at the anniversary party." I added with a soft laugh.

"Sedona?" Madison asked excitedly. "I'd love to go with you. When did you say you were going?"

"Next weekend."

The smile on Madison's face faded away at my answer. "Oh." She whispered. "Next weekend I have to take Jesse to one of his games." She mumbled. "I'm sorry Kenny, maybe some other time."

"But," I paused momentarily, frowning to myself, "can't your mom or dad take Jesse to his game?"

"They don't like driving him to his out of town games." She muttered. "I'm the only one Jesse can count on." She added sadly.

"What about John? Or your Auntie?" I asked. "Maybe one of them can take him. I really want you to go with me, Maddi." I whispered.

"Well," Madison thought to herself, carefully thinking things through, "I can ask John to take him. And if he says okay, I'll go with you."

"Okay." I said softly, forcing a reassuring smile.

Madison returned a small smile, and then went back to her food, probably to keep me from pushing the subject any further. As I watched my girlfriend, I couldn't help but feel a bit bitter toward her parents. They were two full grown adults, capable of driving their own son around to his baseball games. Hell, they should want to do it, want to spend time with their kids. Instead, they were relying on Madison to do everything.

I hoped that Madison wasn't forced to grow up too fast ... we wouldn't turn eighteen until the end of the summer. We still had to take the time to enjoy being kids.