No One Knows You Like I Do

Madison didn’t get more than a second of sleep. It definitely didn’t help that Nick stayed up all night either. He sat on his laptop doing who knows what and Madison just sat quietly next to him. She was as far from him as she could be and she leaned against the window all night. Everyone else, other then Halvo, who was driving, slept soundly. In other words, it was a very quiet car ride to the next city. Once they finally arrived, everyone woke up and left Madison and Nick in the car alone. Madison’s heartbeat sped up because she wanted to say something to Nick. Before she could, however, Nick closed his laptop and set it on the floor. He turned to Madison and opened his mouth to speak.
“I’m sorry. Again.” Madison blurted out before Nick could even get a breath out. “Were you going to say something?” She asked hopefully.
“Just excuse me. I have to go to the bathroom and you’re sitting in front of the door.” He spoke with almost no emotion.
“Right.” Madison sighed sadly and stepped out of the van so she would no longer be in Nick’s way. He started for the venue, but turned around.
“Thanks.” He said before continued his walk. Madison nodded her head with another sad sigh. She sat on the concrete next to the van and started picking at the many rips in her converse. Someone sat down next to her after a few minutes, but she was not in the mood for talking to anyone. Not only was she physically exhausted from the lack of sleep, she mentally and emotionally exhausted thanks to thoughts of Nick all night. Fortunately, Justin joined her not because he wanted to talk, but because he wanted to comfort her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes tightly.
“I should have just stayed home.” Madison whispered after a few minutes of silence.
“Don’t say that.”
“But this wouldn’t have happened if I had stayed home. He would still love me and be happy to talk to me.”
“Madison.” Justin moved so he was facing her and she was sitting up, facing him. “He loves you more than pretty much anything. And he just needs time to realize you did nothing wrong. We all know how John gets when he’s drunk. He becomes an asshole that only cares about himself and what he wants. Nick is probably more mad at himself for allowing himself to get so drunk and just leaving you with an equally as drunk John.” Madison sighed.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know them. Nick will be over it by tomorrow and John--”
“I don’t care about John. I thought we were friends, but what he did was fucked up and it’s one thing to kiss one of your best friend’s girlfriends, but it’s something totally different when you lie and blame everything on her.:
“Yeah, that’s dick move.”

Nick was in the doorway of the venue watching Justin comfort his girlfriend. It killed him that it wasn’t him, but he couldn’t bring himself to go talk to her. He was furious, but at the same time, after a night of thinking, he knew Madison wasn’t the one who initiated the kiss. Especially after Garrett made sure to tell him that John had feelings for Madison the whole time. He sighed to himself as he was about to finally end this fight when John appeared at his side.
“Hey man, I’m sorry for last night.” John said as he licked his lips. “I was drunk and being fucking stupid. Madison’s your girl and I lost sight of that. I need to back off.” He sighed. “I just don’t want this to get in the way of our friendship.”
“Mine and yours or yours and Madison’s?”
“Both. I just want to move passed this, if that’s possible?” Nick thought it over briefly. John and him had been friends for years. And he had just apologized for his drunken actions. He knew he had done something wrong and acknowledged it.
“Alright.” Nick stuck his hand out and they shook hands before hugging each other. Justin was next to them now. He cleared his throat and the two boys turned to face him.
“You guys are friends again?” Justin asked.
“Uh, yeah.” John replied.
“Well, if you’re gonna forgive him, you better forgive Madison. She’s really upset and wishing she had stayed home.”
“You haven’t talked to Madison, yet?” John asked.
“I’m going to. Right now.” He started toward the van.
“Can’t.” Justin stopped him.
“What? But you were just getting on my case--”
“Mackenzie and Madison decided to go to the mall. Mackenzie figured it would cheer Madison up. Not sure how long they’ll be gone, but she purposely left her phone, so…”
“Great.” Nick sighed. “I’m gonna go lie down.” He went to the van and climbed in, closing the door behind him. He hopped in the very back and lay down, closing his eyes quickly.

******

A Rocket to the Moon was about to go onstage and Nick didn’t see Madison anywhere. His heart dropped. He felt sick to his stomach. He hadn’t played a show without her being side stage in a while. He couldn’t even remember what it felt like to not have her around. He sighed to himself as he stepped out onstage. The crowd cheered and he did his best to smile and pretend things were okay. After all, he was playing these shows because of the fans. Even if Madison wasn’t there, he knew he had to put on a good show like every other night.
They were about to play their last song the night when Nick made contact with Madison’s blue eyes in the back of the crowd. He smiled to himself as he looked down at his bare feet. “Unfortunately, this is our last song of the night, but we’ll be hanging around outside after the show, so come say hi. This song is called Dakota.”
Once the song ended and the guys were offstage, Nick picked up a water bottle and downed it. He ran his hands through his hair and slipped on his flip-flops.
“Where are you so eager to go?” Loren asked.
“Madison’s here. I’ve got to go talk to her.”
“Good luck, man. Don’t fuck it up again.” Halvo chuckled as he placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder.
“Shut up.” Nick laughed as he shoved Halvo’s hand away and made his way out of the backstage area. Fans immediately bombarded him. He wasn’t going to be a dick and just push passed them, so he stopped and took some pictures and chatted for a while. He kept his eyes on Madison, who was helping Vito and Mackenzie with The Maine’s merch. Once the crowd thinned out, he walked over to the table and smiled with relief as he was finally standing next to Madison.
“Madison.” He breathed. “Can I talk--”
“Nick, can I get a picture?” A girl asked from beside him. He sighed and turned to face the girl.
“Yeah.” He smiled.
“Nick, we can talk after the show, okay? I’m not going anywhere.” She touched his wrist lightly with a small smile. “I’ll, uh, just meet you by the van after The Maine plays.”
“Sounds good.” He smiled back before turning back to the girl who had asked for a picture.

******

Nick stumbled over to the van as the parking lot emptied. Madison was sitting in the back of the van with the doors open. She had her legs crossed a book in her lap. Nick sat down next to her and rested his head on her shoulder. “Hi.” She laughed. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, but decided to ignore it.
“Hey, baby.” He whispered in her ear before kissing her temple. Madison put her bookmark in the book and closed it. She set it aside and turned to face Nick.
“I see you’ve been drinking.”
“Maaaybeee.” He chuckled.
“Well, what did you want to talk about?”
“Hmmm…I wanted…Oh! I wanted to talk about us. I don’t want us to be fighting. And I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for not believing you about John. I love you.” Madison smiled, even though he was just as drunk as he was the night before. Hearing him say he loved her made everything okay. She pressed her lips to Nick’s and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nick placed his hands on Madison’s hips and pulled her body into his lap. He detached their lips so he could trail kisses along her neck. “I love you so much. I don’t know why I thought you would ever do that to me.” He whispered.
“Guys?” Halvo said as he stepped into the van. Madison and Nick pulled away from each other quickly while Halvo burst into laughter. Madison hid her face in Nick’s chest as Nick laughed along with Halvo. “We’re almost packed up and we’ll be leaving in ten minutes or so. So, you’ve got ten minutes of alone time. After that, we’ll all be in the van, okay?”
“Alright, alright! Leave us alone then!” Nick chuckled with a wave of his hand.
“I’m gone!” Halvo laughed as he walked away to finish with the packing. Nick lifted Madison’s head so they were looking at each other. Madison’s cheeks were still bright red from the embarrassment of before.
“You’re so cute when you’re this embarrassed.” Nick smiled before pressing his lips to her cheek.
“No.” She pushed him away playfully and crossed her arms over her chest. Nick grabbed her in a hug and starting kissing her neck and cheeks.
“Stop it. I am mad at you.” She laughed.
“Why?” Nick whined. “Halvo’s the one that laughed!”
“You laughed, too.” She turned away from him slightly.
“Madison.” He continued to whine. Madison pushed herself out of the back of the van and started to walk away. Nick wasn’t having it, though. He followed her and picked her up from behind, returning his lips to her neck. Madison couldn’t help herself from laughing. She turned around in his arms so she was facing him. She kissed his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I like this.” Nick said into her ear. He walked them back to the van, sitting down on the back. Madison was in his lap again.
“Me, too.” She grinned.
“I can’t wait to be home with just you.” He closed his eyes as he rested his forehead against hers.
“I like being on the road, though. It’s fun.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love touring, seriously. It’s the best, but I want us to get our along time, you know?” Nick sighed.
“Hey, you chose this lifestyle, bud.” Madison laughed.
“Yes, I did. And if I hadn’t, I would’ve never met you.”
“Not true. You still would have been my teacher…” Nick rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, but we wouldn’t be together right now.”
“This is true. I think you owe this lifestyle a little more credit than you’re giving it.” She smirked. Nick laughed and pressed his lips to hers as he tightened his grip on her waist.
Soon enough, the van and trailer were all packed up and it was time to leave. Time to move on to the next city. It was Justin’s turn to drive, so he hopped into the driver’s seat as everyone else settled into their designated spots. Nick sat next to the window and Madison sat next to him so she could lie on his side. She pulled her blanket up so it was just under her chin, but still covering her whole body. Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. The two closed their eyes, ready to sleep, when Halvo popped up behind them.
“We’re all really glad to see you guys made up, just so you know.”
“Okay, Halvo, can we sleep, now?” Madison said, her eyes still closed. Nick chuckled beside her.
“Fine.” Halvo pouted and sat back in his seat, ready for the drive ahead of them.