The Pact

“I finally did it. It’s over.” Maggie looked up from the book she was engaged in and came eye to eye with her best friend.

“What is it that you exactly did?” she asked readjusting her glasses.

Brendon pulled the chair across from Maggie and took a seat, titling his head studying the book in her hands.

“A Confederacy of Dunces? You really are a nerd,” he commented returning his attention to her.

She huffed and looked back down at her book, continuing to finish reading the last chapter of it. “So are you going to me what you did? Or are you just gonna sit there and watch me read?” she retorted.

“Oh right right. I broke up with her,” he said proudly, leaning back in his chair, and crossing his arms over his chest with that famous smirk plastered across his face.

Maggie eyed him curiously and set her book down. “Broke up with whom?”

“What do you mean ‘broke up with whom?’ I broke up with Nichole.”

She started to laugh and shake her head. “You broke up with her? That’s not what I heard.”

“What did you hear?” he asked, setting the chair back on all fours and leaning forward, his elbows on the table with arms crisscrossed.

She sighed, regretting opening her mouth instead of just going along with his lie. “I was in the bathroom and I overheard her saying that she had just broken up with you.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. “Okay fine. You caught me. I didn’t break up with her, she broke up with me.” He sounded sad when he admitted it.

Maggie reached her hand out to grab his, squeezing it with a comforting touch. “I’m sorry, but Nichole wasn’t a very nice person to begin with. To be honest, I’m kinda glad y’all aren’t together anymore,” Maggie confessed.

“Really? I never thought she was mean,” Brendon said.

“Yeah well, she probably never gave you a bloody nose in gym either.”

Brendon chuckled. “Oh I’m sure it was an accident.”

Maggie gave him a serious face. “Yeah you’re probably right. I’m sure her laughing down at me and telling me to watch were I was going meant it was an accident,” she said sarcastically.

“Oh you’re so funny when you’re sarcastic. Sometimes I wonder how the hell I became friends with the valedictorian of our class,” he said watching as Maggie wiped her glasses clean.

“Well if you hadn’t been late for the bus the first day of school freshman year, then you wouldn’t have sat next to me and we wouldn’t have become friends. I’m happy you were late though. I definitely needed a friend like you to get through these torturous years of high school.” She smiled at him.

He plastered a huge smile on his face. “Awe Maggie. You’re gonna make me cry. I think you’ve helped me more these four years than I have you. I mean I’ve never tutored you in anything; if it weren’t for you I probably wouldn’t be graduating this year.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, it was nothing.”

“I need to repay you back,” he said looking around the cafeteria.

Maggie wore a scared face. The last time Brendon “repaid her back” she ended up having an asthma attack. She politely shook her head, declining the offer. “No, that’s okay. No need to do that.”

“Oh come on Maggie. I promise it won’t end in you having an asthma attack,” he said wearing a hopeful smile. He started to look around the room again, keeping his eyes on each table as if judging the people sitting at them. “How about I hook you up?” he suggested.

“What?”

“You know, like get you together with someone. There’s gotta be a guy in here that wants to jump your bones,” he said turning his head in different directions.

She started to laugh hysterically, causing Brendon to suddenly look in her direction with a concerned look on his face. “Why are you laughing so loud?” he asked.

Maggie slowed her laughing, wiping away the tears from her eyes. “Be-because you’re hilarious. No guy in this entire school would want to jump my bones; not even drunk, not even the nerd herd wants to. Face it, I’m just gonna be alone forever,” she said shrugging her shoulders.

Brendon frowned at her statement. “Why would you say that? There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Brendon…have you looked at me? I’m not exactly a supermodel. I have freckles on my face,” she said pointing to her cheeks and nose. “Braces on my teeth, frizzy hair, glasses, and jelly rolls that keep on rolling. I’ve just gotten used to the idea of being alone,” she said putting away her book.

He gave her sympathetic smile. “You’ll find that someone Maggie. He’s out there somewhere.” She smiled back at him. “Let’s make a deal.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “A deal? What kind of deal?”

“Don’t look so scared, it’s not a horrible deal. Unless being stuck with me ‘til death is horrible to you.”

She repeated his words in her head, unsure of what he meant. She shook her head confused at his statement. “What are you talking about?”

“Okay, if we’re both single by the time we’re thirty, let’s make a pact that we’ll marry each other,” he said crossing his arms over the table.

Maggie wondered why this sounded so bizarre to her, because after knowing Brendon for four years she should’ve been used to the nonsense that came out of his mouth. Why would he make this silly pact when they both knew, out of the two of them, he would be the one to be in a relationship.

She shrugged her shoulders and decided to go along with it. “Okay, but what are the conditions? Where will we meet?”

He smiled when she agreed to the pact. “We’ll meet at the park near the bus stop we met at freshman year on May twenty fifth two thousand and seventeen. We’ll meet whether we’re engaged, currently in a relationship, or married, though I assume we’ll invite each other to our weddings, but we can’t bring our significant other. We’ll talk and catch up and in the end we’ll say if we’re single and I’ll propose if we are.” He extended his hand out. “Deal?”

She smiled and sighed. “It’s a deal,” she said shaking his hand.

========================================---| |---================================

Five years later

“Maggie!”

Maggie let in her overly excited younger sister into her apartment and gave her a hug. “Syd, it’s so good to see you!” she replied back.

They both headed to the kitchen table where Maggie had put out two cups of hot tea, something both sisters enjoyed when they got together.

“So what’s new with you Sydney?” Maggie asked taking her seat.

“Oh nothing. About to start college and I am freakin’ out! Is this that how you felt when you were starting college?” she asked before sipping on her tea.

Maggie laughed at her sister and nodded her head. “Yeah a little. I think was more afraid of what other people would think of me. It’s like a whole other level compared to high school. By the way who’s taking her of Savannah?” she asked.

“Mom. She finally agreed to it so I wouldn’t have to pay for daycare, hopefully she can handle a two year old. Speaking of mom, she told me you were seeing someone. Tell me about him,” her sister said wanting to learn more.

Maggie smirked. “I don’t know. He’s super sweet and everything. Really handsome and smart. We’ll see how things go,” she said shrugging her shoulders.

“Maggie why do you do that?” her sister asked.

“Do what?” Maggie asked puzzled at her sister’s question.

“Think that you’re not good enough for someone. It’s like you don’t have any confidence to keep a relationship. I mean, you lost the glasses, the braces, tamed your frizzy hair, and lost all that weight; on top of that you’ve got this amazing personality and you’re hella smart. What more can a guy ask for?” Sydney commented.

Maggie sighed not knowing why. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just not used to this person yet. I’ve always been that nerd with the low self-esteem.”

“Well if this guy doesn’t work out, you still have seven years,” she said.

“Seven years? What are you talking about? Why seven?” she asked not understanding her sister’s comment.

“You know, that pact you have with Brendon. Remember you told me about it. I think it’s sweet. You two would make a cute couple.”

Maggie started to laugh. “Oh that. No that’s not gonna happen. He was just joking; that pact was voided when it was made. I’m more than sure he’s already found someone and has completely forgotten about it,” she said, though in the back of her mind, she’d hope he hadn’t.

========================================---| |---================================

Seven years later

Brendon lethargically opened the door to his apartment. It was another long day in the studio and he was becoming tiresome of his everyday routine. He loved being in the band, singing in front of thousands of people, but after twelve years of it, he was ready to settle down.

“Macy, I’m home,” he called out to his girlfriend.

He looked near the sofa and noticed her luggage sitting there. He wondered if he should’ve’ remembered that she was going somewhere, but failed to recall her ever mentioning so.

“Macy?” he called out to her again.

He saw her come out of their bedroom with one last bag rolling behind her. “Brendon. You’re home early.”

“Yeah it was a shorter day at the studio. Where are you going? Did you tell me you had travel plans, because I don’t remember,” he said taking a seat on the couch, hoisting his feet up on the coffee table.

She shook her head. “No. I wasn’t planning on telling you,” she said in a low tone.

He turned his head towards her. “What are you talking about?”

“Brendon, I’m leaving you. I can’t take this anymore.”

He stood up. “Take what? I haven’t done anything,” he defended himself.

“That’s it. You haven’t done anything. We’ve been together for three years and nothing’s changed. In fact, things have gone downhill. It’s like you’re not even here anymore, mentally,” she explained.

He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head angrily. “What do you want me to do? Put a ring on your finger? Quit the band? What? Tell me what you want me to do.”

“I would love it if he got married, but I don’t want to force it on you. I just feel like ever since we got together things haven’t moved forward. I feel as if you’re stuck in the past somewhere. Like you’re in love with someone else. I’m tired of competing with her.”

Brendon had nothing else to say and neither did Macy. When she realized he wasn’t going to stop her, she grabbed her bags and left. He plopped down on the couch letting out a yell of frustration and burying his face in his hands.

Just when he’d given up hope on everything in his life, he turned towards the end table and noticed the picture of him and Maggie from their graduation. He reached for it and traced his finger on the smooth texture of glass cover. He smiled at their funny poses and how happy he looked. The only time he ever truly felt happy was when he was with Maggie.

He took his phone out of his pocket and hesitantly looked down his contacts and found her name. He could hear the little voice in his head telling him to press the call button, and when he finally got the courage to he did.

“Hey Maggie.”

May 25, 2017

Brendon sat at one of the picnic tables available at the park. He picked the one that was shaded under a big tree, to keep them cool from the summer heat. Now that school was out, the park was filled with screaming and laughing children running around the playground. He didn’t realize it, but he had been waiting for this day for years.

He kept his eye out for Maggie, looking at every dark haired woman that passed by, but then thought maybe she had changed her hair color – she had changed so much since the last time he saw her. Then he finally spotted her, but she wasn’t alone. She held the hand of a small girl, who was also holding hands with an older one. He thought there was no way Maggie was a mother to two children already.

She waved at him as she walked towards him, pushing back strands of hair that blew in the light wind. The smile on his face never left.

“Hey!” she said taking a seat across from him.

“I see you got a handful there,” he said motion his head at the playground.

She turned back to look at the two girls she had left. “Yeah, I’m babysitting today.”

He felt relieved. “So it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other,” he said.

She let out a small chuckle. “Oh it’s only been four years. Not that long.”

She might’ve changed physically, but she still kept her personality, the part he loved most about her.

“So are you still in school?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I got my masters, but I’m taking a break from getting my PhD, I have a lot on my plate. What about you and the band? How’s that going?”

“It’s going good. We just finished recording. Probably go on tour in a few months.”

Maggie placed her hands on the table and Brendon noticed the ring on her left ring finger. He felt his heart drop and mouth go dry. He felt stupid for thinking she wouldn’t have found someone, for going through with the pact they had made.

“So are they both yours?” he asked.

“Who?” she asked confusedly.

“The two girls you dropped off. Are they both yours?” he asked again.

She lowered her face and then looked at him and smiled. “No, just the little one. The other is my sister’s. I told you I was babysitting.”

He nodded his head understandably. “I see. I’m glad you found someone.”

“Me too.” She felt the awkwardness around them and decided to just break the ice. “So is this the part where we reveal our relationship statuses?” she asked.

“Yeah sure. I’ll go first. I am recently single,” he said embarrassed.

“Really? I’m surprised.”

“Don’t be. I’m not. So when’s the wedding? When do I get to meet the lucky guy?” he said staring at the ring.

Before she could answer they were interrupted by gleeful yells of a little girl. “Mommy!”

Brendon and Maggie turned their direction to the small girl running towards them. She was laughing all the way to the table. Brendon noticed how much the girl looked like Maggie; same dark curly hair, freckles across her nose and cheeks, and the same smile.

“Brendon this is my daughter Molly. Molly this is my friend, Brendon. Say hi,” she said placing Molly on her lap.

Molly shyly waved at him and said hello. “Well it’s nice to meet you Molly,” Brendon said shaking her small hand.

Maggie whispered something in Molly’s ear and set her back down on the grass and watched her run back to her cousin, Savannah.

“She’s adorable. She’s the spitting image of you. I don’t think I see much of your fiancé in her and I haven’t even seen him.”

“That’s what everyone tells me, but I think she looks a little like him. Definitely has some of his personality and traits already.”

“So what were we talking about before? Oh yeah so when’s the wedding?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know,” she answered.

“Oh you two haven’t planned it yet?”

“Not yet. He hasn’t asked me to marry him.”

“Then what’s with the ring?” he asked.

“You don’t remember?”

Brendon was completely baffled. “Remember what?”

“You gave me this ring before you left with the band,” she explained.

“Wait I’m confused. Are you engaged or not?”

“Not until you ask me,” she said hoping he’d get the hint.

“But I thought…I mean.” He was starting to put the pieces together. “Molly’s my daughter isn’t she? It was the time you came to Cali four years ago right?”

Maggie smiled and nodded her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” she whispered lowering her head.

Brendon reached across the table and lifted her head, pressing his lips against hers. This wasn’t the reaction she was expecting from him, but welcomed it. They both smiled at each other when they broke the kiss.

“Margaret Elaine Edwards will you marry me?” he asked still leaning across the table.

She let out a sigh of relief and nodded her head. “Yes.”