Happy Times

The next couple of days would have felt like crap if it weren’t for Andrea and Erica. Ben and Jen refused to talk to me and Sierra and Jill were out in their own little world. I wanted to spend some time with Jeff but he had a lot of press conferences and stuff since the NHL awards were in two days.

I was on my laptop when I heard a knock on the door.

“Who’s there?” I joked.

“Guess!” I heard Erica’s giggles.

I laughed and opened the door. “Hey.”

“Hi!” Erica said as she came in, “You busy?”

I looked back at my laptop and cursed at myself for being so antisocial, “Nah,” I answered, “Come on in!”

She walked in the room Sierra and I was sharing and plopped down on my bed next to my computer.

“What’s this?” She asked reading the screen.

“Oh I major in European Culture and History and they want me to…”

“Study abroad,” She cut me off, “In Paris? Madeline are you going to Paris?”

I laughed, “No, look, it says for two and a half months, I couldn’t leave Sierra and Jeff for so long.”

“Yeah, they might get together!” Erica joked but I didn’t laugh. “Oh c’mon,” She nudged me. “Lighten up.”

I put on a fake smile and said, “You want to see what’s on TV?”

She nodded and I opened up the entertainment cabinet for the first time. Inside there was a huge TV with a Wii and Just Dance 3.

“Please enjoy the complementary Wii and games,” I read out loud, as I slid Just Dance in and grabbed two Wii remotes. “Here,” I said handing her the other remote.

“What are we playing?” She asked excitingly.

“Just dance,” I said tuning on the TV and getting it started.

We started with something simple like Party Rock Anthem.

“This isn’t simple!” I yelled over the music.

She laughed, “I know!”

When we finished the song we had to do another, it was just too much fun!

We decided to do Beautiful Liar by Shakira and Beyonce. It was even harder and we ended up collapsing on the floor laughing. We laughed for I don’t know how long before I calmed down enough to ask her a serious question.

“Ben doesn’t like me does he?” I asked.

Erica frowned but couldn’t answer because of a knock on the door. I got up and answered it, “Ben, Jeff!” I said walking up to Jeff and giving him a quick kiss. He seemed guilty about something and Ben refused to look at me.

I shrugged and chose not to think about it. “Can I talk to you?” Jeff asked gently taking my arm and pulling me into the hallway.

“Okay?” I answered.

“Madeline I,” He voice faltered, “When you were at your grandmother’s funeral I,” He paused again, “I kissed Sierra.”

The next thing I did was out of my control. I turned and walked down to the hall.

“Madeline!” He called after me. I heard his feet running against the floor making me begin to run.

“Madeline!” He called again, his voice closer. I wiped the first tear off my face and ran even faster towards the elevator.

“Let her go,” Ben’s stern voice told Jeff.

Jeff’s footsteps stopped and I ran into the open elevator.

I pressed the button as quickly as possible hiding my face with my hair. I wish I could curl up in my bed but a lot of people were in my room right now including, I choked, Jeff.

When I reached the lobby I ran into one of the conference rooms and closed the door. I put up the ‘Occupied’ sign so I wouldn’t be disturbed and collapsed in one of the chairs at the long table.

I sniffled and cried until I was dehydrated. I got up and looked at a mirror that hung on the wall. My face was red and my eyes were bloodshot. “How did Sierra go through this?” I asked myself.

I sighed and looked out the window when I heard the conference room door open.

“Madeline?” Someone asked.

I sighed and sat down in one of the chairs. When he came and sat beside me I was speechless.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry.” Ben answered sincerely.

“Sorry about what?” I asked, new tears falling down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry,” He said calmly as he wiped the tears off my cheeks with his thumb.

“Sorry about what?” I asked again.

“I knew.”

“About the kiss?” I guessed. He nodded.

I shook my head, “I should have.”

“Should have what?” He asked

“I should have known about it.” I answered, “I’ve been jealous and paranoid for awhile now, I can’t believe I did this to Sierra, I wonder if this was how she felt.”

“You did this to Sierra?” Ben asked surprised. I just nodded, “Wow,” Ben paused, “Jeff’s a player.”

I half smiled and punched him in the arm, “Shut Up, no he’s not.”

Ben’s eyes grew wide, “Yes he is!”

I rolled my eyes and sighed in defeat, “You’re right.”

“Yeah I’m right. C’mon,” He said taking my hand and pulling me up.

I sighed and let him pull me up, “You have to be ready in an hour for the awards. If I have to wear one of those stupid monkey suits you can look nice too.”

I looked at him with disgust, “I’m not going!”

He sighed, “I,” He paused again obviously fighting with himself, “You’re right.” He finally said. “But where are you going to go?” He asked.

“Paris.” I answered automatically.

He laughed, “No, seriously.”

“I got offered to study abroad in Paris. I’m gonna do it.” I answered firmly.

He smiled, “Alright, here.” He said handing me a sheet of paper.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“My number, if you just need to talk or you want to know what’s happening with Jeff you can call me.

I kissed him on the cheek and he hugged me, “Take care.” He said.

“Madeline!” Jeff said as I walked into the hallway.

I took a deep breath, “I’m leaving.” I told him.

“Where?” He asked.

“Paris.” I said, strongly walking past him.

“Madeline wait,” He said grabbing my arm, “I don’t want this to be it. I still love you.”

“Yeah well, you should have thought about that before you kissed my best friend!” I snapped.

He looked at me taken aback, “I’m sorry.” He whispered.

New tears seeped out of my eyes as I reached my hotel room door, “Yeah well, sorry won’t fix this.” I told him as I opened the door and walked inside. “Goodbye Jeff.” I said before closing it in his face.

“Madeline!” He said loudly through the door.

“Just leave.” I whispered loud enough for him to hear. I began to take everything out of the closet and putting it in my suitcase. I sighed as I looked at the dress I was going to wear tonight. I laid it out on the bed and finished packing making sure didn’t leave anything.

I took out my IPhone and called the airport. “Yes, hi I was wondering if there were any flights to Raleigh tonight?”

“I’m sorry,” the lady answered, “We don’t but if you’re willing to stop in Albuquerque for an hour we can set it up for you.”

I nodded, “Alright that’s perfect, what time?”

“Five o’clock.” She answered politely.

I looked at my watch, three fifty. “Perfect.” I answered.

I finished packing and looked back at the Holly Green Dress
on the bed. I sighed, slid my bag over my shoulder and wheeled my suitcase out of the hotel room and down to the lobby.

I quickly grabbed a Taxi and rode to the airport. I made it past security and sat down to rest at my gate. I checked my watch again to see I still had thirty minutes.

I decided to call NC State about studying abroad.

“Yeah, it sounds great and I would love to do it.” I told the man.

“That’s great. You’re flight leaves in three days if you go to the check in lane at RDU, they’ll give you everything you need”

“Thanks so much.”I answered and hung up. I sighed, “I’m really going to do this.”