Ex's Can't Be Oh's

The heat of the apartment building hit Madeline like a brick wall; she hadn’t realised how cold she actually was. As she and Jack ascended the long staircase that led to her front door Madeline thought about her options. She could always dash straight to her bedroom and pretend that her worst nightmare wasn’t sat seven feet away behind a very thin wall, or she could face her demons, apologise for her rude departure before excusing herself to her bedroom where she could sleep it off.

Even as she stepped over the threshold Maddy still hadn’t made up her mind.

“Is she okay?”

Madeline watched the back of Jack’s head as he nodded and scoffed loudly, “You know I can hear you, I’m upset not deaf.”

Cassie looked taken back as her best friend shook her head slightly before squeezing past Jack’s lanky frame and shutting herself in her bedroom. Several sets of eyes landed on her as she stood stone still in the middle of the room, an exasperated look on her face.

“I thought we were okay,” she muttered as several small noises echoed out from Madeline’s room. With a groan Cassie looked over at Zack and glared, “This is all your fault, she was fine until you showed up.”

Zack merely rolled his eyes before pulling out his BlackBerry, “You invited me remember, I asked you if it was okay with Maddy and you said yes,” he almost spat and Cassie hung her head down in shame. “Don’t go blaming me for your screw ups.”

As much as she hated to admit it Cassandra knew that he was right, it was all her fault that Maddy was upset and now she wasn’t sure how to fix it. Normally when she had upset her Cassie would just pop out and go to Madeline’s favourite sweet shop, pick up forty dollars worth of her favourite candy and hand it to her with her best I am so sorry smile.

Funnily enough she didn’t think that was going to cut it this time.

“What are you going to do?” Alex asked softly and Cassie shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

“I have absolutely no idea, could one of you go and talk to her please?” she asked looking between three of the four guys. Rian shook his head vehemently as Alex prepared to stand up, only to be stopped by Jack.

“I’ll go; she’s already spoken to me a little so I think its best,” he said clearly and without even so much as a confirmation from anyone else he had left the lounge, closing the thin like cardboard door behind him softly. He stood outside of Madeline’s bedroom for several moments before he heard her mumble something through the wood.

“Jack if you’re going to come in will you just do it instead of standing outside my door like a stalker,” she asked although Jack knew it was rhetorical.

He placed his hand over the door knob and twisted it letting himself into the neatly decorated room. He smiled as he looked around noticing all of the objects that Madeline had kept from her years in Baltimore. This room was so far from the bright pink and black room that she had had as a teenager. Painted a very light pastel green with one wall decorated by a sheet of fairy lights it was so much more grown up. Her queen size bed was covered by more than a dozen cushions and at least three comforters, her soft cream carpet felt plush between his toes and despite the fact he knew Madeline was quite a messy person it was spotless, as though no one had ever even breathed near it.

After a few minutes getting accustomed to his new surroundings Jack took a seat beside Maddy, his back resting against her lime green headboard, “So green’s your favourite colour huh?” he asked stupidly in order to break the ice and as Maddy smiled and nodded he breathed a sigh of relief. “How are you feeling doll?”

At the use of her old nickname Madeline sighed happily; maybe Jack hadn’t changed after all. “I’m good,” she answered with a small smile, “better than I was ten minutes ago anyway.”

Jack nodded and followed her gaze towards the television. Pretty Woman played out onto the screen and as they settled down into a comfortable silence to watch Madeline’s favourite film Jack found himself thinking of the last time he had seen his best friend.
Nothing was normal that night, Madeline was in tears and no matter what he did Jack could not comfort her. He felt completely useless and as he pressed play on her DVD player he smiled; her favourite film always did the trick. It didn’t matter how blue she felt or how under the weather she was, the romance between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere never failed to bring a smile onto her pretty face.

It was the hopeless romantic inside of her she said. It was the optimist that she kept locked away who enjoyed the film so much and hoped to god that she could be as lucky as Vivian.

Even though he didn’t think that Vivian was at all lucky, Jack always kept quiet. She was a prostitute for crying out loud, how is that lucky?

His attention was refocused as Madeline shuffled about a bit before laying down completely and turning onto her side so that she was facing his upright body. She stifled a yawn and brushed the hair away from her eyes before they closed and failed to open again. Even though he hadn’t actually spoken to Madeline about what happened he was sure that they had made progress.

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As Madeline awoke the next morning she took note of the snoring frame that lay beside her. Stifling a giggle she shuffled out of the bed and stood up, stretching out towards her ceiling. She was still dressed in the clothes she had worn the night before but she shrugged it off and exited her room, making a quick stop at the bathroom.

Apprehensively Madeline pushed open the door to the lounge and stepped through the thin gap as quietly as she could. Without so much as glancing up from the floor Maddy made her way into the kitchen and headed straight towards the refrigerator, acutely aware of the other person in the room.

Grabbing the carton of milk Maddy looked up at the rooms other occupant, silently praying for it to be anyone but Zack.

“Morning.”

Madeline sighed and repeated the word in greeting, mentally cursing the gods.

By busying herself around the kitchen as she made her breakfast Madeline gave Zack an opportunity to observe her. Physically she hadn’t changed a bit, although she did appear slimmer than she ever had before. Emotionally she looked worn out and he knew it was down to his arrival on her doorstep but even though he knew he was hurting her by being there, there was no way he was leaving just yet.

He leant back slightly as she took a seat opposite him at the breakfast bar with her bowl of Count Chocula, her spoon dangling precariously from between her lips. He blushed slightly and looked away too quickly when she glanced up at him, making a point not to look back in her direction for the duration of her stay in the kitchen.

While Zack concentrated on her blank kitchen wall Madeline took in his new appearance. She had seen him briefly in magazines and on the television but it was still odd to see his newly dyed hair and even more muscled physique. While Zack had always been the more physical and ‘buff’ of the four boys he had never been as fit as he was just then and Maddy soon found herself mentally scolding herself for thinking such a thing.

She finished her cereal quickly and reached over for her iron supplement before taking a swig of her orange juice and swallowing the two together. With her empty bowl now placed in the sink Maddy left her glass on the counter before tiptoeing out of the kitchen and back into her bedroom.

Quickly pulling off her old clothes she replaced them with new ones without taking her eyes off of Jack’s sleeping form; the last thing she wanted was for him to wake and see her in the nude. She slipped on a pair of flip flops and exited the room and building, heading straight towards her favourite haunt.