If Benson were real, he'd be calling me a slacker right now, lol. I've had this idea for more than a week and I'm finally getting off my lazy butt and writing it. Hope you guys enjoy! Btw, Maddie (as well as Robbie) are nine in this, so it takes place before Chapter 4 of 'It Runs in the Family'. That's all, enjoy reading!
Maddie sat on the couch and flipped through channels. She sighed. "Why is there never anything good during the day on Fridays?" she asked no one in particular, "the best stuff doesn't come on until tonight."
She had the living room all to herself since Margaret was working on some paperwork she brought home with her, although the two were going to watch a movie together that night. She always enjoyed doing stuff with her mother, especially since most of the time she hung out with her friends or her dad most of the time. But when it came to things like watching movies and getting manicures (even a tomboy like her could admit they were kinda fun), she was glad to have her mom.
As for Mordecai, he was out getting a couple things from the store. Her parents had told her a couple nights ago that an old friend was staying in the guest room for the weekend. She couldn't help but wonder who this 'friend' was.
Finally giving up on tv, Maddie turned it off and started playing a game on her DS. But before she could get into the game, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, Mom!" Maddie shouted, tossing the blue DS on the couch.
"Thanks!" she heard her mother shout back. Looking through the peephole, she saw... a cloud? Opening the door, she saw a tall woman, about the same age as her parents, standing in front of her. She was wearing an orange sweatshirt and jeans, with a tan scarf. It was late Autumn so her outfit wasn't that unusual. What caught Maddie's eye was that it looked like she was entirely made out of a cloud, but she didn't float or anything. Even her hair (which was tied in a ponytail) was a small white, puffy cloud. She had seen plenty of weird stuff (even if she was just a kid), but it was still strange.
"Hey kiddo," the woman said in a friendly tone. Maddie held back a scowl. Kiddo? First off, she was nine, only three years away from being a preteen, she wasn't really a kid. Two, her parents and even Skips called her 'Kiddo' maybe once or twice in her whole life, but they were family! She didn't even know this lady, so she really didn't like getting nicknamed by a stranger.
"So, is your dad home?" she asked. Maddie blinked.
"Um, no, he went to the store," the bird answered, "but my mom's home."
"Great, thanks," the cloud replied before walking past Maddie. Just as she closed the door, Maddie heard her mother's bedroom door open.
"Oh hey Cloudy Jay," Margaret greeted, "how have you been?"
"Great!" Cloudy Jay replied, "and I see you've been doing well. You and Mordo got together?"
"Yep, almost fifteen years now," Margaret smiled, "and I've seen you've met our girl. Maddie?"
"Yeah, hey," Maddie replied, giving Cloudy Jay a small wave.
"You can call me CJ, or hey, call me whatever," Cloudy Jay said. She seemed friendly enough, and it wasn't as if she was trying too hard or being annoying. There was nothing to hate her for. But still...
CJ looked over at the tv and smiled. "Hey, nice set up," CJ commented. Underneath their tv were four systems: A PS3, a Wii, an XBox 360, and of course a Sega Masters system. Next to the entertainment center was a neat pile of the best games for each system, as well as a couple add ons for each system like a steering wheel or a glove (although they all knew not to use that for obvious reasons). Mordecai and Rigby had dubbed it the wall of awesome. There was a reason Rigby came over to their house to play video games and not the other way around.
"You play video games?" Maddie said, surprised. The way she was dressed she seemed more like a fashion designer or something high class that didn't play video games.
"Yeah, one of my favorite things to do," CJ replied, "and I bet you and your dad play a lot too."
Maddie smiled. "Yes, yes we do," the bird replied. They did have a lot of fun playing games together. Even her mom would join in on games like Mario Kart or games like that. She wasn't as good since she didn't practice as much as they did, but it still made for a fun night.
"Well then, do you want to play a round?" Maddie frowned.
"Um, no thanks," Maddie replied, "I'm kinda busy." Sure, CJ seemed nice, but she didn't really want to play video games with her. She then turned to her mom. "Hey Mom, I'm gonna go hang out in my room, okay?"
"Alright, I'll call you out when supper's ready," Margaret replied. There was a questioning tone in her voice, but she didn't try to question her daughter. Instead she offered CJ some coffee while Maddie headed towards her room. Once she laid down on her bed, she flipped open her phone and started typing.
'To Robbie: The guest is here, some cloud lady named CJ.' She hit send, and within moments she heard a 'Ping' alerting her to a new message.
'Is she nice? Also, how can she be a cloud?'
Maddie typed, 'Idk. But yeah, I guess she's nice.' The bird thought for a moment. Maybe she was a little annoyed by CJ, but not enough to hate her. She seemed nice, she played video games, and she could even be cool. Her mom liked her enough, and her dad liked almost everyone, so why should she not like her? Opening a new message, she typed, 'I think I'll be able to live with her for the weekend. Like I said, she's nice.'
After about twenty minutes and ten more text messages plus a game of pinball on her phone, Mordecai came home. To say the two were happy to see each other was an understatement. Maddie could hear the whole conversation from her room.
"CJ! Aw man, it's been forever!"
"I know right! So, you're an artist now huh?"
"Yeah but, it's no big deal. It's just like murals and pictures and stuff, but sometimes I draw comics for the paper so that's pretty fun."
"Nice."
The conversation seemed to go on and on. Maddie could clearly see how close the two were. They liked the same things, they laughed at each other's jokes and stories, she was like a girl version of Rigby. The bird cracked her door opened and looked at the two on the couch.
They were talking still but, just something about the way they sat irked her. CJ seemed just a little too close, and at one point she put her hand on Mordecai's shoulder. They were starting to look like those corny couples on the teen sitcoms she and Robbie would watch/make fun of. And Maddie didn't like it, not one bit.
"Yeah, it took a while to buy all the games, but it was totally worth it," Mordecai said, talking about their video game collection.
"Well, with all that practice you just might be able to beat me," CJ smirked, "Might."
"Is that a challenge?" Mordecai asked, playing along.
"Maybe," CJ replied.
"You can't," Maddie said before covering her mouth. But it was too late. The two adults turned to look at Maddie, who was currently standing in the doorway of her room. 'Nice going,' she told herself, 'Now they probably think you were eavesdropping'. Well, maybe she was a little, but it didn't help that they were talking so loud.
"Why not, Maddie?" Mordecai asked.
"Um, Mom and I are planning on watching a movie tonight," Maddie quickly said.
"Well, I've got a spare tv in the closet, we can hook it up in the bedroom," Mordecai suggested.
"Sounds fine to me," CJ said, "What about you, Maddie?"
"Yeah, terrific," Maddie replied.
"Hey guys, supper's ready!" Margaret called from the kitchen. Looking away from her dad and CJ, Maddie quickly went into the kitchen. Their round table that had three chairs surrounding it was now extended thanks to an extra piece of wood in the middle. Now it was oval shaped with two chairs on the two long sides. Maddie ended up sitting on the left side with Margaret while Mordecai sat with CJ.
The violet bird poked her chicken. Usually grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and corn was her favorite food. But tonight, she had barely touched it.
"Maddie? ... Maddie!"
"Huh?" Maddie said, looking up from her plate. "I was just asking you a question," CJ said.
"Oh," Maddie simply replied, "Um, what was it?"
"What are some of the things you like to do?" CJ repeated.
"Oh, uh, playing video games, going to the movies, play baseball," Maddie answered. She could have added 'singing' to the list, but she didn't dare sing in front of people, not even her own parents.
"Baseball, huh?" CJ said, "Cool. Although, I always preferred watching rather than playing." The rest of the table chuckled, but Maddie just replied with an 'uh-huh'.
Margaret frowned. "Maddie, are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, are you getting sick or something?" Mordecai asked, "I think we have some Tylenol somewhere if you need it."
"No, I'm fine," Maddie said, giving her parents a small smile. She didn't want them to worry, especially when they weren't the source of the problem. "I think I'm going to go eat in the living room, the movie's about to start."
"Take a napkin," Margaret said. She then added with a smile, "And make sure you save room for me."
"I will, Mom." With that, Maddie took her plate and glass of Radicola, and went into the living room.
About ten minutes later, Margaret joined her in the living room, bringing a big bowl of popcorn in with her. Cloudy Jay went into the bedroom while Mordecai grabbed a few games and the Wii system.
"Enjoy your movie," he said before giving Margaret a kiss on the cheek and ruffling Maddie's hair.
"Have fun, you two," Margaret replied, smiling at her husband. Mordecai smiled, and then closed the door so the video game noise didn't bother them. Even so, Maddie felt like she couldn't enjoy the movie.
'What are they doing in there?' she thought. Two adults, two close adults, in a room together with the door closed. So what if she was only nine, she had seen enough tv (and unfortunately, heard a lot from Mikey) to know what adults did behind closed doors. Nine letters: M-A-K-I-N-G O-U-T! Then there was another version Mikey told her about called 'French Style'. She felt like gagging just thinking about it.
'Stop it!' she scolded herself, 'Dad loves Mom, he would never do that!'
'At least, not on purpose. But, if accidentally pushed by someone. She is pretty, and they like a lot of the same things...'
'Shut up!' she told herself. She had to stop thinking like that. Besides, she would only be here for the weekend. Two people, one already married, couldn't fall in love in two days. That only happened in Disney Princess movies, and as much as she secretly loved those movies, she knew they were nowhere near realistic.
'That's not going to happen,' she told herself, pushing all thoughts about the cloud lady away and focusing all her attention on the movie. It was one of those romantic comedies, in this one there were three girls going to Europe. One gets mixed up with a model, one accidentally gets trapped inside a royal castle and has to pretend to be a servant (and ends up falling for one of the guards) and the third girl tries to help the other two.
Whether it was the actual good jokes (which were kinda rare) or the corniness of it all, the movie was still enjoyable. Laughing together at the final joke of the movie, Margaret and Maddie smiled as the credits started to roll. "Well, that was slightly better than expected," Margaret said. She wouldn't have minded a zombie thriller instead, but the movie was still pretty enjoyable.
"Yeah, but their fake British accents were still pretty bad," Maddie commented. The two laughed.
"Tell me about it. Well, goodnight Maddie," Margaret said, opening up her arms.
"Goodnight Mom," Maddie said, returning the hug. She then started walking to her room while Margaret switched it the tv to a different channel.
Still giggling about the movie, Maddie started to get under her covers. "Oh! I should probably say goodnight to Dad-" She then remembered the other person in her dad's room and frowned. "Oh stop it, you're being dumb," she told herself as she walked across the hall to her dad's room.
Opening the door, she saw Mordecai and CJ doing a fencing challenge on Wii Resort. CJ knocked Mordecai's character out with one final swing. "Yes!" she shouted in victory.
"I don't believe this," Mordecai said, feigning annoyance while CJ just giggled.
"Come on, Mordecool, give me a challenge," she said.
"Alright, you asked for it!" Mordecai quickly started looking for another game to play, one he knew he could win.
"Hey, Mordecai?" The bluejay looked up. "Look, seriously, I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me over.," CJ said. She sighed slightly, but she kept smiling. "As bad as things ended between us, and I still haven't completely forgiven you..." Mordecai rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed. "But, I still really missed you and, I'm glad we could hang out again."
"Yeah, same here," Mordecai agreed, smiling. Without waiting another second later, CJ moved forward and hugged Mordecai tightly, and while he hesitated for a second due to surprise, he hugged back.
Maddie gasped, and then closed the door as quietly as she could. Her mind was raising a mile a minute. 'She's not just an old friend! She was his ex-girlfriend! They were that close! And now they're feeling the same way they did when they were dating! She wants him back!'
Quickly jumping into bed, Maddie snatched the phone off her desk and typed furiously, probably setting a record for the fastest text typed.
'To Robbie: Meet me at the park 2morrow. Need 2 talk. Something BIG happened!'
Tossing her phone back on her desk, Maddie covered herself with her blanket, and tried to get some sleep. Even if it was practically impossible.
I could have made this a oneshot, but I've done a lot of those lately, and I need to try to get in the habit of writing multichapter stories again. So, Part two of this should be up soon. And don't worry CJ fans, I'm not going to do anything to her 'character destroying'-wise, I liked her too. She seemed like a cool character and I kinda hope we see her again.
So, please review, and I'll see you next time!