Chemistry of a Car Crash

Not even ten seconds later, Maddie had received a text from Molly.

Sorry bout Roxie :[

Maddie giggled to herself. it’s alright. Alex took care of her for me ;]

I know. I saw.

taylor left with jack. So come over. I’ll invite zack.

Maddie looked up from her phone and over at Alex. She had the biggest smile on her face, making her look a little silly.

“What?” He asked cautiously.
“Call Zack,” She said getting up off the bed, “I’m going to get ready.”

---

“Are you coming or not?” Maddie said standing at the kitchen counter with her car keys in hand.

“We’ll stay here,” Molly smiled and looked over at Zack.
“Don’t make babies,” Maddie grinned.
“Oh like you haven’t,” Molly said and rolled her eyes.
“Bitch!”
“Love you too!”
“Well Taylor should be home soon with Jack, so just ignore them when they come in,” Maddie instructed.

“Got it.”
“Alright, be back in a few,” Maddie said and headed out the front door with Alex trailing behind.

“Maddie?” Alex asked as soon as they turned to corner.
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”

She took her eyes off the road and caught herself in his brown eyes, “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” He asked raising his eyebrows.
“Yes,” She said turning her eyes back on to the road, “Why?”
“I dunno,” He shrugged, “You just seem different.”

“Can I ask you something?” Maddie whispered quietly.
“Sure.”
“Is Roxie and ex of yours?” Maddie said with seriousness to her voice. Alex knew the answer to this question and he shifted his weight around in his seat. Maddie took notice that she had just made him uncomfortable.

“Alex ……” She said slowly, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No,” He snapped, but backed off quickly, “We need to be honest in this relationship,” He took a deep breath, “Roxie and I were together for about three weeks. During those three weeks, well actually from day one, she was a bitch to all of my friends, including Jack. I tried to brush it off and kept telling myself that it was nothing,” He said and could feel a lump growing in his throat. Maddie watched and felt bad for even asking about her because it looked like it hurt him to talk about it.

He stayed quiet for a minute, “And one day I caught her making out with the guy from The Maine.”

“I’m sorry Alex,” Maddie said as she pulled into the parking space in front of Block Buster.

“I never should’ve trusted her in the first place,” He said and shook his head, “But now she’s after you and I can’t have that.”

“You can’t keep her from spreading rumors Alex,” Maddie sighed.
“I know and that’s the hard part of all of this.”
“I’m only going to believe what you tell me,” She said holding on to his hand.

“People make mistakes Mads,” He said and looked down at the floor boards, “She was a mistake.”