Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

When Alex woke up he found that rather than cuddling a petite curly brown hair and green eyed girl, he was cuddling a slightly lumpy hotel pillow. He let out a contented sigh, stretching his body as the various limbs popped before he got out of the warm bed to search for the aforementioned girl. His eyes quickly scanned the small space looking for a note before he realized the bathroom door was shut.

He tentatively rapped his knuckles on the thick wooden door, his hand posed about the door knob assuming the worst when he didn’t get an automatic answer to his knock. Just as his hand began turning the door knob he was knocked back into the opposite wall, holding his head from where the door had hit him.

“Ugh, ouch…” he groaned out, his hand pressing hard onto the throbbing red mark on his forehead.

“Alex! I’m so sorry!” Madison yelped out, holding the towel to her body tightly as she approached him. She kneeled down next to him and attempted to remove his hand to get a look at the irritated skin but Alex only pressed his palm harder to the mark.

“Lex, let me see it” Madison requested, her voice taking on a motherly tone that she didn’t know she had even possessed. Alex timidly removed his hand from his forehead and winced as Madison’s cold finger smoothed over the skin before her lips met the offending wound.

“Better?” She asked quietly, her breath fanning over his cheek where she had placed another chaste kiss for good measure.

Alex finally looked up at her, taking in the situation at hand. A pink blush quickly covered his cheeks
“I..uh…ummm…are you? I…mhmm” he sputtered out nonsensically. It wasn’t that he had never seen a girl basically naked before, but this was Madison, it was different. He felt nervous and unsure of himself as he tried to avoid looking at her but it was hard when the girl he was hopelessly in love with was kneeling down next to him in nothing but a short towel and her lips placing kissing across his jaw. It didn’t take him too long to compose himself though as only a short moment later his hands were on Madison’s shoulders pushing her body away from him.

“I…um. Okay” Madison sputtered out and stood up. She bit her lip and attempted to rapidly blink away the oncoming tears as she quickly made her way to her suitcase and grabbed an armful of clothes. She quickly slipped back into the steamy bathroom to change, making sure to lock the door behind her. She sat her clothes on top of the counter and perched herself on the closed toilet lid, her head in her hands, fingers wrapped tightly into the strands of wet hair and pulling at her scalp. Her bottom lip quivered despite how hard she was biting into it to hold herself together but she still felt the sting of rejection.

Her hands untangled from her hair and she wiped the tears from her flushed cheeks, exhaling a discouraged sigh she got up and put her clothes on. She haphazardly ran a brush through her thin hair and opted to just leave it down to air dry. She couldn’t really find any reason to actually try on that particular day as she had already been knocked down with rejection from the one person whose thoughts and opinions about her seemed to mean the most to her.

She stared at herself in the mirror, eyes scanning her face and body while her mouth set itself in a frown. This was new territory for her, she was never one to feel insecure about her looks or her weight but suddenly all she could see were flaws in the mirror. She couldn’t help put compare herself to the girls that she knew Alex had dated before, the girls that she positively knew he hadn’t rejected and all she could wonder was why he hadn’t wanted her too.

She was brought out of her daze by a quiet knock on the door “Mads, you okay in there?” Alex cautiously asked through the door. Madison grabbed the clothes that she had left on the floor before showering and unlocked the door allowing Alex to open it for her. He immediately noticed her flushed features and red eyes but before he could ask, Madison had brushed past him and was hastily putting her dirty clothes into a plastic bag before stowing them in the bottom of her suitcase.

“Mads?” Alex questioned from behind her, frowning as he felt her body tense when he placed his hands on her hips. He pushed her hair to the right side of her shoulder and hooked his head above her left shoulder, his breath fanning over her neck.

“Hmm?” Madison hummed, not trusting her voice to actually speak and not waiver.

“You okay?” Alex pressed a light kiss to the back of her neck, his brows furrowing when Madison pulled away from his touch.

“I’m f-fine” Madison croaked out, damning her voice for cracking and stuttering.

Alex hesitantly pulled Madison’s body around to face him though her eyes refused to meet his. He placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her face up, his lips quickly pushing to hers before he pulled back a smidge so he could look her in the eyes.
“I thought we were gonna be more open?” Alex reminded, bumping his nose against hers.
Madison nodded her head but bit her lip and remained silent because she still felt unsure of herself around Alex. Alex kissed her again, his lips lingering above hers inviting her to lean in to meet his lips. She timidly wound her arms around his neck and slotted their lips together, her fingers tugging at the ends of his hair as their lips moved in harmony.

“So?” Alex asked, catching his breath as he pulled back from the kiss.

“I...just...you didn’t want me, Alex.” Madison muttered shyly. They hadn’t ever discussed sex before but she was ready. She wanted to be with Alex in the most intimate way and even though what had happened wasn’t planned or romantic it was still a blow to the vulnerable girl’s ego.

“What?” Alex asked incredulously, not believing what Madison had just said.

“I was right there Lex, practically begging…and y-you just pushed me away. You rejected me and honestly, it hurts.” Madison admitted exasperatedly, her arms unwinding themselves from around
Alex’s neck and instead crossing self-consciously across her torso.

Madison’s accusation was so absurd to Alex that he honestly couldn’t help the laugh that had escaped his mouth. Madison once again found her lip quivering with each laugh that Alex exhaled, it wasn’t until her fingers dug into the sides of her flat stomach, clutching onto the fabric of her shirt that Alex had realized he hadn’t explained himself. He felt beyond guilty for leading her to believe anything but the truth.

“Love, you don’t know how badly I want you all the time” Alex spoke quietly and sincerely, taking both of Madison’s hands in his and placing kisses on her palms as he kept talking.

“I want you every day, in every way, all the time. But I want you the right way, Mads. I don’t want you rushed in a dingy hotel room when we have to check out in an hour. You’re not…you’re not just some girl to me. I don’t want to have sex with you, Madison. I want nothing less than love. I’m sorry I made you feel rejected. I love you so much, darling.”

Madison threw herself at the boy in front of her, her arms wound around his waist and his around her shoulders. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as they stood in silence just holding one another. Madison stood on her tip toes and pressed a kiss to the bottom of Alex’s Jaw. She never imagined in a thousand years that she would have found someone to love a broken girl like herself. She never knew how much she would need Alex but she knew now that there was no way she could imagine the last year of her life without him in it.

“I love you more”