We'll Always be Together

It was another day in the cafeteria for Maddison Taylor and Jonathan Toews. Maddie was already in her seat, eating her packed lunch her mother made her that morning. Even though Maddie knew it wasn't "cool" to bring her lunch to school once she hit middle school, she couldn't say no to her mother and her mother wanted to make sure she ate an appropriate lunch-turkey sandwich, carrot stick, grapes, water, and a strawberry yogurt. Maddie's mother was a fanatic about staying active and eating healthy. Once Maddie started sixth grade, Mrs. Taylor made Maddie run two miles after school with her and do sit ups and pushups before bed to keep her blood circulated.
Maddie took another bite of her sandwich and scanned the cafeteria for Jon. Even though Jon was older than Maddie, they shared the same lunch period because they were both in junior high. There was only twenty minutes left of lunch and this was the time Jon came to get Maddie to go with him to the court yard. They agreed upon sitting with their own friends while they ate, but spending time together during court yard. Maddie's best friend, Lauren frowned as Maddie began to panic. Maddie hoped that Jon didn't forget about her, but could he?
"Maddie, what's wrong?" Lauren asked. Maddie looked over at her only to see the juice from her peach drip down her chin. Lauren was concerned for her friend. Earlier she had seen Jon in the hallway with another girl, kissing. Lauren knew Maddie and Jon were simply friends, but she wondered if Jon ever told her about that other girl.
Maddie fumbled with a response. She knew she needed to grow up. Jon had his own friends and she had her own, besides she saw him every day besides the days one of them had hockey practice after school. And that should be enough.
"Maddie?" Lauren asked again, catching Maddie zone out. Lauren snapped her fingers in front of Maddie's face to try to get her out of her trance.
"Oh", Maddie said shaking her head, "I was just ugh...I was looking for Jon but it seems like he's not coming." Maddie put the other half of her sandwich back in the baggy and decided to finish it later. Her mother always told her to not eat if she wasn't hungry anyways.
"Maddison", Lauren said apologetically, "He was with that girl earlier, right before lunch. He's probably with her", she hinted. Lauren didn't want to be the one to break the ice, but she couldn't stand the way Jon used her, only paying attention to Maddie when none of his friends were around. When this happened, Maddie placed Lauren on the back burner too.
"What girl?" Maddie perked up her head and started looking around the cafeteria hard. Her eyes burning holes through people in her way of view, "He didn't tell me-", she started to say.
"Maddie", Lauren said, suddenly feeling bad. She knew she shouldn't have said anything about it, "Just forget about it." Lauren tried to shake it off but Maddison just couldn't.
'How could he not tell me?' Maddie asked herself, feeling portrayed, 'I thought we we're best friends.' She grabbed her lunch and decided to go find him, confront him; then changed her mind. If Jon wanted to talk to Maddie about it, then he'd bring it up himself.

Maddie held her stomach and leaned over in her driveway. Her mother made them sprint down her whole road at the end of their run. Her mother patted Maddie’s shoulder and smiled.
"Nice run, sweetie", Mrs. Taylor told her, "Dinner will be ready in an hour." Mrs. Taylor walked back inside to start the dinner for her family. Maddie twirled around when she heard Jon yell her name from his drive way. She glared at him, but of course he couldn't see it from the distance.
"Wanna come shoot some hoops with me?" He yelled over at her. Jon felt bad for not hanging out with Maddie after lunch. But his new girlfriend, Mellissa insisted on going to the library and hiding between the bookshelves. According to her, all the new couples go there to make out. If they get caught, then it's bad luck, if not then its good luck.
"No", Maddie yelled over her shoulder and heading inside. Not only was she exhausted from her run, but she was still mad at him. If he wanted her to forgive him, he'd have to apologize.
Jon was stunned by her response. He knew that she would be mad for not going to see her during lunch today, but it's not like he forgot that often. And she shouldn't be mad at him. Two days prior Maddie said she would come over to watch a movie with him but never did, instead going over to Lauren's for a sleepover.
Jon dropped the basketball and ran over to Maddie. Catching her arm at the last minute and gently twirling her around. "Maddie please, I'm sorry."
She shook her head. She knew she shouldn't be mad at him. It was the first time it happened. But for some reason she was more mad at the fact he was dating someone and hasn't told her. Or maybe he doesn't have to. Maybe that's something you only tell your best friends that are in your class. But wouldn't he want her to tell him about something like that?
He noticed Maddie's eyes start to water and he grabbed her hand, placing it in his. He didn't want to just ditch her like that, but he sort of had no choice. "I promise to never do it again, Maddie. I swear." He brought up his other hand to do their pinky promise, but she just shook her head.
A lot of things were going around Maddie's head. For some reason she hated this girl he was seeing, and she knew it wasn't right for her to judge someone she didn't know. She slumped her shoulders and spoke quietly, "What about...that girl, Jon? Why haven't you told me?" She asked him. Her voice was soft and vulnerable. Like she was hurt and she couldn't protect herself.
For some reason it never hit Jon that Maddie would be upset about him not telling her things about his love life. He assumed she didn't care or didn't even want to know. "Maddie", he sighed and brought his hand up to her cheek. It was soft and hot, he assumed she just got back from her run. "I didn't think you cared about who I was dating."
Maddie felt like she got stabbed. Best friends are supposed to tell each other everything. That's why they got anklets to prove it. "But we promised", she reminded him.
"Promised what?" He asked her. He didn't know what she meant by 'promising'.
"To tell each other stuff", she informed him. Maddie rolled her eyes when she remembered how they got to promise that. It was him who made the promise, too.
Jon sighed and shrugged his shoulders as if to surrender, "I'm sorry, Maddie. I just...wasn't thinking." He spoke the truth when he said this. Honestly he didn't know if he really liked Mellissa that much. But she was one of the hottest girls in his class, and all his buddies forced him to say yes when she asked him out. "Her name is Mellissa. And I want you to meet her." He thought by saying this it would make up for it.
Maddie smiled at the suggestion. "You're a butthead", she joked hitting the side of his head playfully.
"Well you're a little booger", he joked and wrapped her in a headlock, giving her a noogie.
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Jon happily called Maddison after his driving test. He just turned sixteen and he was excited as ever to finally get to be more mature. Maddison would be the first person he would call, and then one of his buddies on his hockey team, Jordan to deliver the news. Jon felt obligated to call Melissa, even though they were in another fight. It seemed as though Melissa and Jon would fight over everything. Whether it’s where to go on a date, Melissa thinking Jon is flirting with other girls, or in this situation-Melissa cheating. After Jon’s award ceremony, Melissa was spotted making out with one of Jon’s teamates-Kacey. According to Melissa though, it was all a scam.
Maddie felt bad for Jon. Melissa and Jon have been on and off for two years. The first time they split Jon didn’t think they would work out, with his hockey schedule, her modeling schedule, and their friends. The second time they split Melissa found another boy while on vacation in California. After finding out long-distant relationships wasn’t for her, she grabbed back Jon. Now, Jon was debating whether to end it for good, or let it slide by and hope for the best. Maddie of course hated Melissa-but would never tell Jon that. She cared too much about him, and wanted him to happy.
But within those two years Maddie had some changes. She began to grow through puberty and made her way up to a B-cup. She grew into a height of 5’9” and maintained a weight of 119 lbs. Her face wasn’t as round, and her eyes grew mature. She definitely was an attractive young lady and had her share of boyfriends too. Of course her relationships with guys weren’t serious. Maddie was always cautious on who to date and never got her first kiss yet. Maddie was mature for her age, she wanted her first kiss to be special and by the perfect guy. But for now, Maddie was single-not wanting to get her studies interrupted by a bunch of teenage boys.
Jonathan would admit that Maddie was hot-even though he would never tell her that. He would, however, tell her she was beautiful. Her smile made him weak and her sparkling brown eyes made him love her even more. Maddie was someone he would never loose, he couldn’t afford to.
Maddie loved Jon just as much. Their relationship somewhat evolved. They were more deeper, more dramatic in their caring ways. They always shared their feelings and were held close, like by a rubber band. Jon was attractive, and Maddie couldn’t deny it. He had dark, loving eyes with short dark hair and tanned skin from the summer sun. He worked out and you could definitely see the side effects-six pack, nice stenciled biceps, and long muscular legs. Maddie knew their relationship was friends, but she couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous of Melissa.
“Hey, Jon?” Maddie asked through her knew Droid 2. She was always happy to hear from Jon.
“Guess what?!” He cheered, making Maddison smile on the other line.
“No way!?” Maddison shrieked. Jon told Maddie about the test prior and was waiting for his phone call.
“Oh, yeah”, he said coolly. But he had something else up his sleeves, “I have another surprise though.” Jon bit his lip. Maddie sounded so happy for him and he couldn’t help but smile even wider.
“What?” She asked. She walked around her newly painted bedroom, waiting for a response. Maddison had been asking her father to repaint her four year old princess room for ages. She obviously didn’t want her friends to see her purple walls with Disney Princess stickers all over them. Her father finally took time off work to paint it teal with a black and white striped border.
“Look out your window”, he smiled and waited to see her head through the upstairs window from her bedroom. He saw it; she had her hair down-the brown wavy locks falling over her slender shoulders. He saw her smile widely and wave.
Maddie looked out the window to see Jon in his mother’s red convertible. She laughed, “Nice ride, Jon.”
Jonathan chuckled, “Yeah, I’m taking you to lunch so you better be down in five or I’m leaving without ya”, he joked-not literally meaning what he said.
Maddie jumped up and down. She was excited to ride with Jon, and go out to eat with him. She had to remind herself it was Jon; the little lunch date wasn’t actually a ‘date’. She hung up the phone and ran downstairs, whipping open her front door, and then sprinting over to Jon’s ride. She hopped inside and gave him a smile, him returning the favor.
“Before we leave”, Jon cleared his throat, “I have to tell you something.”
Maddie gulped before responding, like what he was going to say would somehow hurt Maddison’s feelings, “Okay.”
“Melissa and I, we broke up”, he told her closing his eyes hard. Jon really liked Melissa over the past couple years, and it hurt to know she didn’t feel the same after all that time.
“Oh, Jon”, Maddie whispered softly. She rubbed his back, and leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t like seeing him hurt like this, and she wanted to rip Melissa’s heart out…if she had one.
They stayed like that for a couple minutes until Jon sighed and wiped his eyes, “She picked him over me. And I told her not to come back.” He spoke quietly and didn’t do anything until Maddie spoke.
She was unsure of what to say, how to make him feel better. “She didn’t deserve you anyways. How about we forget she even exists today. It’ll just be you and me today-lunch, shoot out, and then we can watch a new movie my mother picked up the other day-Friday the Thirteenth.”
Jon nodded and backed up the car, “Just me and you”, he said softly, almost inaudible for her to even hear.