Crossroads of Life

~POV: Brian~
I stared at the door long after Madison slammed it in my face.

“There really is no making up for what I did is there?” I asked Matt finally, turning to look at him.

“Dude, she was nearly killed and you was about to marry the woman who did it,” Matt pointed out. “You really did ignore her.”

“I know,” I groaned. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve been resentful towards her since she was brought home. I know she’s my sister and all and I do love her, but I can’t help but feel resentment that our parents chose her.”

“She wants nothing more than to have a good relationship with you,” a voice behind us said. We turned to see it was Korklan. “Ever since I met her, your relationship is all she ever talks about. I honestly don’t see the point in why she keeps trying.” He pushed himself off the wall and walked toward us. “You’re lucky I don’t beat the holy hell out of you right here and now. That woman in there does not deserve a single thing you gave her. None of it, but yet you did it anyway.”

“You actually think I enjoy torturing my own sister?” I snapped. “I don’t see where this concerns you anyway. You’re nothing to this family but my sister’s coworker.”

“I’m also her best friend.” he said, not backing down.

“Big whoop,” I said lowly.

“If I hear you do anything else negative to her,” he said.

“What? What are you going to do?” I challenged.

“We won’t need to arrange a match for what I’ll do, because all the rules a match calls for, I’ll be breaking them.” His eyes blazed as they stared into mine. I didn’t back down, and neither did he.

“Matt, let it go,” Madison’s voice said from her door. “Are you ready to go?”

“I was on my way over here to ask you the same thing.” he replied, turning to face her. She nodded and indicated the bag on her shoulder.

“Have fun Big Matty, see you soon.” she said. She just glared at me and started walking away, but then stopped.

“I can’t,” She muttered finally. She turned back to me and wrapped her arms around me.

“I love you Brian, I don’t care what people say, you are my brother, and I do love you.” She turned and walked down the hall.

“What the hell was that about?” Matt asked, turning to look at me.

“The last time she talked to Jimmy, she said the same exact thing to him, to leave her alone and let her live her life.” I replied, watching my sister leave. “He died a few months later. She doesn’t want to go through that again.”

“Ooh,” Matt said, nodding his head.

“I really don’t want to keep being an ass to her, but I don’t know how to stop myself.” I muttered.

“Just stop.” Matt replied, walking down the hallway.

“Easy for you to say,” I murmured lowly so he couldn’t hear me.

~POV: Matt~
Madison was silent for the rest of the night. On the way to the hotel, during check in, and even when we went to the gym. She just ran on the treadmill with her headphones in her ears.

“What’s going on with her?” Randy Orton asked as he tapped up his wrists.

“She’s in a bad mood,” was all I replied.

“So, any luck finding anything for her?” Randy asked as he grabbed a set of hand weights.

“Not really, there’s nothing near my company, so I guess I’ll have to go a little closer to the house.”

“There’s a place down the street from my house. It’s a great neighborhood, close to Sam and me. It’ll be pretty good for them and I think they’re leasing.”

“Really, why don’t you see if Samantha will give them a call and ask.” I said. Randy nodded and we fell silent. I looked up to see that Maddy was still on the treadmill, but she wasn’t running. She had her head on the control pad, her legs were spread so they were on either side of the conveyor. I looked over to Randy, who was watching her as well.

“Take her upstairs,” he muttered to me. I nodded and set the weights down. After shutting off the treadmill, I picked her up and carried her out of the gym.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, her arms wrapping around my neck.

“Upstairs to your room so you can get some sleep.” I answered. “Where’s your key at?”

“Back pocket,” she replied, letting her head fall on my shoulder. “I hate my brother,” she muttered, tears falling from her eyes. I sighed as I got the key from her pocket and got her into the room. I laid her down on her bed and went to stand up, but her hand on the back of my head stopped me.

“Stay with me,” she pleaded. I sighed and kicked off my shoes and climbed into the bed beside her.

“Wanna talk about what happened?” I asked her gently. “What was with the arguing and then leaving with an ‘I love you,’ to Brian?”

“He’s my brother, I do love him,” she replied. “Plus remember I told you about my friend that just passed?” When I nodded, she continued. “The last thing I said to him was to leave me the hell alone and let me live my life. The only thing I could think about when I found out was that last day. I don’t want to go through that again.”

“I understand that.” I said, rubbing my hand on her shoulder.

“Joey, you know you’re my best friend right?” she asked suddenly.

“I am?” I asked in reply, trying to lighten the mood a little. It worked a little bit because I saw her smile and heard a little chuckle.

“You’re a goof,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder. “You know, Mike offered to let me go live with him,” she said thoughtfully.

“Why don’t you go then,” I suggested. “Get to know your birth father and all that.”

“Then all that searching you’ve been doing for me would be for nothing, and I still have Leana coming with me.”

“Talk to her about it, I’m sure she’ll understand.” I said.

“I guess I can go visit down there since we don’t have a place in St. Louis yet,” she said.

“It won’t hurt nothing will it?” She shook her head and sighed.

“I guess I’ll talk to Mike about it tomorrow,” she replied. I nodded and we went silent. Soon I heard a soft snore. Looking down at her, I saw her eyes were closed and her breathing was even. She had fallen asleep on my shoulder. When I tried to move out from beneath her, she stirred and snuggled closer to me.

Taking in a deep breath, I let it out in a sigh as I looked her face over. She was beautiful, I noticed that the first night I saw her at Gateway. Her lips were the perfect shape for her face and her eyes took my breath away. Her long lashes framed her cheekbones and she looked at peace.

Not wanting to wake her, I let my thoughts override me.

~7 Years Earlier~ ~POV: Normal~
“Hello, I’m Madison Haner,” the girl said, walking up to the guy standing by the wall.

“Matt Korklan,” he replied, holding out his hand. “So, I can take it you’re not from around here.”

“No, I’m not,” she admitted sheepishly. “I just transferred here from Ohio Valley.”

“Really? Why? That’s a great place to study.”

“I don’t know, I guess it just reminded me too much of home and I needed an escape.” she
replied with a shrug. Matt stood and nodded his head, having Madison walk with him.

“So, you look young, how old are you?” Matt asked as they walked down the path.

“Seventeen,” she answered.

“Really, seventeen and on your own in a strange new place? Gusty, you must want this real bad.”

“My parents are very supportive,” Madison replied, kicking dirt with her feet. She didn’t add her not so supportive brother Brian, who threatened to disown her if she went. Madison knew there was nothing he could do, so she went anyway.

“How old are you?” Madison asked.

“Twenty,” he replied. They walked a while longer, talking and getting to know each other. Madison admitted she was from California and Matt explained he grew up here and that he was going through college.

“What about you, you’re seventeen aren’t you in high school?”

“No, I graduated early,” Madison replied. “I mean, whoops.”

“No, that’s impressive. When did you graduate?”

“Last year, when I was sixteen.” she answered. “Regular classes bored me so my parents got me into advanced classes that gave me high school credit.”

“That’s really impressive,” Matt replied, nodding his head.

“That doesn’t freak you out?”

“No, that shows that you’re a girl who cares more than what goes on her body. There needs to be more girls like that in my opinion.”

“I know, people are so materialistic these days.” Madison agreed. “It makes me sick to see how many people go around getting plastic surgery done and what not.”

“Me too,” Matt replied.

~POV: Matt~ ~Present Day~
That was how our friendship started. There was no doubt in my mind that she was an intelligent person for her age. She had graduated from high school two years early, and was working on becoming a wrestler. Not only did I notice that she was intelligent though, she was way mature for being seventeen. I was a twenty year old college student having an age level conversation with someone three years younger, and it didn’t seem it at all.

That was the day I found my best friend yes, but it was also the day I found the woman I knew I would want to take a relationship with to the next level. It was the day I found the love of my life, and the woman I wanted to make my future wife. The only problem, however, was she had a lot going on, and she didn’t feel the same way. She never told me, but I could just tell.

Watching her sleep so soundly, my heart skipped and raced, thinking about how I wanted nothing more than to be able to press my lips to hers, but also knowing how off limits she was as well. This felt too right, and I was getting too comfortable.

I knew I had to stop my feelings, the only problem with that was, I didn’t know how, I didn’t have the strength and most importantly, I didn’t want to.