Give Our Rights Away, Arise And Seize The Day

After having to explain why there is a broken mirror in her bathroom and pay for the damages, Maddie was starting her early morning to New York in a bad mood. Although she was happy she was going to surprise Pete after all of that, she worried about the fact that she cheated with Brendon. She planned on telling him as soon as she got there, nothing would stop her. She hopped out the taxi after paying the driver and walked to the level she needed to be on.

“Good morning Maddie,” Hannah greeted her.

“Hey, what have I missed?”

“Here are the notes from yesterday’s meeting that you missed,” she began to hand her stuff from behind her desk. “You have pending shoot days they need you to confirm today and the mail from the last time you were here.”

“Thanks, I’ll get started. Where can I find Pete?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry,” she asked confused. She quickly got out of her chair and followed Maddie when she began to walk away.

“Pete, where is he,” she asked again.

“You’re asking for Pete?”

“Yeah, is he in his office,” she started to walk towards the closed door.

“He’s in today?”

Maddie turned around. “He said he would be in today. He didn’t come in yet?”

“Pete has a meeting,” she started as Maddie opened the door to an empty office.

“How long will he be,” she asked, sitting in his chair to make herself comfortable.

“Until he gets here? Not for another week or two,” Hannah said hesitantly. She knew it was coming so she backed up a couple of steps and hid her head.

Maddie looked at her confused. “What do you mean a week or two? Where is he?”

“He’s in California,” she peeked over.

“Did he just go down there,” Maddie began to raise her voice.

“He hasn’t been here since last month,” Hannah turned her back.

Maddie breathed in deeply and rubbed her face. “You’re kidding, right?”

“At this point, I wish I was,” she didn’t turn around.

“FUCK,” she slammed her fist on the desk. “How could I be so stupid?!” She propped up her elbows and rubbed her face again. Hannah slowly left the room to leave her alone. Maddie was angry that she not only believed him, but that she had spent two hours preparing herself to tell him the truth. She took in one more breath before pulling out her cell phone and dialing his number.

“Hello beautiful,” he sang through the phone.

“Hey, where are you,” she pretended nothing was wrong.

“I’m in my office..”

“Nope, try again.”

“Um…okay, I’m in my office,” he played stupid.

“One more try.”

“I’m in my freakin’ office!”

“Sorry, you lose,” she began to raise her voice.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m sitting in your office, you idiot!”

“Oh,” he sighed into the phone. “Maddie, liste-”

“No you listen,” she cut him off. “I knew something was up when you said you couldn’t cancel any work or meetings you had this week. This was the icing on the cake. Why you lied to me, I have no clue, but you bet your ass that you’ll be sorry when I get back home tomorrow.”

“I did have meetings, I really did!”

“And you had to lie about your locations because…”

“’Cause…they were originally planned in New York, but quickly switched to LA at the last minute.” She sensed him lying, but she didn’t want to pick on it at the moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I’ve been really busy and it must have slipped my mind. I really am sorry.”

Maddie sighed. “Okay. Just please, next time any of this happens, let me know right away instead of pissing m-“

“Who’s on the phone,” she heard a female voice in the background, followed by Pete shushing whoever spoke.

“Oh hell no,” she raised her voice. “Who the fuck is with you?!”

“It’s no one, honestly.”

“Don’t you bullshit around with me again! Who the fuck did you stay home for?!.”

“It’s no one, please, calm down,” he tried to reassure her.

“Don’t you fucking dare tell me to calm down! You are done! The second I get home, all your shit is gone. Don’t call me, don’t text me, don’t do anything! Just delete my number and continue screwing the broad you have right now!”

“Maddie, baby, please don’t be like this!”

“No Pete, I warned you about this. It was your last chance and you just blew it!” She hung up her phone and threw it against the wall.