Ex's Can't Be Oh's

Growing up Madeline was part of a very close knit family. Her mother and father still loved each other dearly after several years of marriage and had vowed to spend their entire lives that same way. By the time Madeline was thirteen she had a stepfather named Paul; her substitute to the father who left without a word when she was six. Even at six years old Maddy still blamed herself for her father’s sudden departure and it hurt like hell. Her mother had constantly informed her that it had nothing to do with her and that Madeline was the apple of her father’s eye; which must have been why he visited never.

Paul was always known as dad in the Granger household, Madeline once even went as far as asking to have her name changed so that she shared his surname. Afraid it would seriously upset her real father Maddy’s mother rejected the idea and persuaded her to keep the surname she had.

From the day her father left she found it hard to trust people and let them in. Madeline built a brick wall around herself and her feelings that people had to knock down brick by brick. Once they had Maddy came out of her shell and was actually a very sociable girl, until you hurt her and the wall went straight back up again this time with reinforcements firmly in place.

No one had ever managed to get back through the wall and that was fine with Madeline because as far as she was concerned if someone could hurt her once, they could definitely hurt her twice.

“It’s not Zack’s fault I’m like this you know,” Madeline sighed softly and Alex stared at her in silence, encouraging her to continue without his words. “When my dad left I decided that it was best if I didn’t trust anyone until I knew them really, really well,” she continued as she picked at a thread from one of her cushions.

Alex nodded and watched her closely, “That’s why none of your friends knew anything about you?”

Even though Alex’s question had been a rhetorical one, Maddy answered, “Yes exactly. I thought that if I refused to let anyone in then no one could hurt me like he did.”

It made sense the more Alex thought about it.

“But you let me in, eventually anyway,” he grinned and Madeline smiled sadly.

“You didn’t exactly give me much choice,” she said bitterly and Alex suddenly wished he hadn’t said anything. “You and Jack, between you, you broke me down until I had no choice but to be your friends, you knew too much about me.”

They fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence and Alex shifted nervously while Madeline continued her assault on the cushion.

“My mom always said that I should see a psychiatrist,” she added after five minutes of total silence. Alex nodded slowly when she looked up at him, “It probably would have helped but I don’t like speaking about my problems.”

It was almost as though she was telling Alex how lucky he was that she was talking to him and he quickly nodded at her with a smile, “I don’t think anyone does.”

Madeline smiled back softly and continued, “Anyway, you managed to weed your way into my life and with you came Zack, which was fine I didn’t mind because I liked him a lot.” Alex almost laughed as she said this, a hint of a sarcastic smile on her face, “But I seriously should have known better than to totally let my guard down and love him, that was just plain stupid.”

“I thought it was quite sweet,” Madeline laughed so quietly that it was almost inaudible and Alex grinned at her pleased with himself, “no seriously, it was adorable.”

Madeline nodded as silent confirmation for Alex before continuing, “Well I thought it was stupid especially when he broke my heart.” The silence that fell over the duo this time was far more uncomfortable than any they had had before that moment, “So I left, I packed my bags and left, making sure that I fixed my own little problem on the way.”

Alex leant over and hugged Madeline just as the fresh flow of tears escaped from between her eyelashes. He soothed her gently, rocking her back and forth against his chest as she sobbed and hiccupped. Usually Alex tried to avoid all kinds of female emotions but this time was different this time he wanted to stay and make sure his friend was okay.

“He knows what an ass he was,” he whispered in her ear and she shuddered at the sudden breath on her exposed lobe. “I mean seriously, he started playing really badly after you left and we considered kicking him out of the band.”

Madeline laughed quietly, “You should have, would have made my year.”

Alex joined her laughing softly as he pulled away from her and looked at her closely, “Are we okay now?”

Madeline thought about it carefully before nodding slowly, “We’re okay,” she confirmed and Alex whooped loudly before bringing her back into another tight hug.

“Thank god because if I had to listen to you mope for one more day I think I would have gone insane.”

Madeline pushed back away from him and slapped him on the arm as hard she could before she stood up and skipped into the kitchen, greeting the home’s occupants warmly as she went. Alex watched over the Madeline with a lopsided grin.

“What the hell did you do?” Cassie asked in a harsh whisper to which Alex replied with a shrug.

“I sat down and spoke to her like a human being, and she was honest with me,” he grinned at Cassandra who sighed in relief, “We’re friends again.”