1.
Diggie wasn't stupid. Well, he kind of was. But that wasn't the point.
The point was, Maddie Rooney was very pretty. Prettier, he thought, than her twin sister, who Diggie knew was off in Hollywood filming her TV show. But all Diggie cared about was Maddie.
It was really stupid. Diggie was disgustingly infatuated with a girl who didn't seem to like anything or anyone that didn't have to do with basketball.
Honestly, he didn't even know that these kinds of feelings existed in his body. From the first moment he had seen her in second period at the beginning of the year he had been gone. Then when he saw her casually shooting hoops in gym class he felt like he had died and gone to heaven. She was pretty and did that competitive thing where she would grind her opponents into submission. So basically, Maddie was Diggie's dream girl.
The only problem was Diggie had literally no idea how to talk to girls. Specifically, pretty blonde girls who wore glasses and shot perfect 3-pointers.
Every day he would tell himself it was the day. He would talk to her. And every day, he would somehow talk himself out of it. But he knew he had to do it. Diggie would look himself in the mirror and tell himself that he would never forgive himself if he let some other guy steal her away.
"You can do this, Diggie," he mumbled to himself as he looked at her from across the gym. He quickly looked around to make sure no one saw him talk to himself before grabbing a basketball and striding across the gym. False confidence always worked, right?
He cleared his throat awkwardly before tapping her on the shoulder. "'Sup, Rooney?" She spun around and Diggie almost fainted, but he composed himself. "Um...wanna play Lightning?"
"Sure," Maddie shrugged. "I mean, if you want to get completely creamed, it's fine by me."
Diggie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, it's so on."
Without turning around, Maddie tossed her basketball backwards and it landed in the net with a neat swish. She let out a snort of disbelief and smirked. "Bam! What?" Diggie could've kissed her right then and there.
But he didn't.
2.
He'd swallowed his gum. Maddie only needed to walk in front of him and he literally choked on his gum. What kind of self-respecting, dignified man would do that? Diggie did, apparently. It wasn't his fault she was just so pretty.
They were dancing. They were dancing and Maddie was doing that cute thing with her charm bracelet and Diggie hoped he wasn't sweating as much as he thought he was. Should he take off his jacket? He decided he wouldn't. The only time Maddie was allowed to see him with pit stains was after basketball. And they were dancing, and he looked nice, and so did she, so he wasn't about to put her through that.
"'Sup?" Diggie asked, smiling.
Maddie laughed and shrugged. "Stuff."
They both laughed as the song ended and faded into a slow song. Diggie's smile immediately disappeared. "Do you...um...do…"
"Yeah!" Maddie said quickly, turning pink. "I mean...whatever. Sure."
Diggie nodded and hesitantly placed his hands on her waist, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. He laughed awkwardly and tried not to meet her eyes.
"Hey." Diggie coughed and forced himself to look in her eyes.
Maddie gave him a small smile. "Hey."
"You look...really nice tonight. I mean, you always look nice." Diggie said hastily.
"Um, thanks."
"You look pretty the way you do, like, at school. With the straight hair no makeup kind of thing? Not that this is a bad look on you. It's just...very Liv. Not that that's a bad thing at all. Why am I still talking?" Diggie cringed, feeling pretty sure Maddie would just walk away.
"It's fine, Diggie," Maddie laughed lightly and Diggie felt himself turn red. His eyes slid down to her pink lips and then immediately back up to her eyes.
He didn't know much, but he figured now was not a good time to kiss her.
3.
"I like you, Diggie."
There it was. He couldn't stop replaying that moment in his mind.
"I like you too, Maddie."
Did that really happen? Did Maddie Rooney like him back? She did. They liked each other. And now they were...whatever they were. But in that moment, Diggie didn't care about labeling them.
He just wanted to kiss her.
She'd touched his face. He could've kissed her then. But he just gave her his jacket. That was romantic, right? It totally was. Plus, she was moving! Oh, God, she was moving. This could be his last chance to kiss her. He had to.
She put the jacket on and he put his arm around her. His nose touched her temple and he knew this was the moment. Now or never, Diggie. All he had to do was tilt her face towards his and…
"Diggie!" Joey's voice rang through. He squeezed in between him and Maddie, effectively ruining whatever chance he had.
She ended up staying, anyway.
4.
"You're really leaving, huh?" Maddie's voice was soft and meek; not at all what Diggie was used to.
"Yup." Diggie stared at the ceiling. "It's only a few months. I'll be back before you know it."
Maddie shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I'll just miss you, that's all." It was a sad moment, but Diggie couldn't help but smile. "Are you laughing at my pain?" Maddie rolled her eyes.
"No!" Diggie said quickly. "No, no. I just think it's cute that you're going to miss me. You're cute." He nudged her shoulder, smiling at her. She tried to hide her pink face, but Diggie knew.
"Maybe you could just...not go?" Maddie suggested.
Diggie laughed a little, shaking his head. "No can do, Rooney. But I just said I'll be back before you know it."
Maddie pouted. "I don't want you to be 'back before I know it'. I don't want you to go in the first place."
They spent the rest of the day like that, just talking. Diggie tried not to show it, but he was going to miss Maddie so much. He was going to miss every little thing about her. From her hair to her smile to her laugh.
"So…" Maddie said softly, standing outside Diggie's car.
"So." Diggie agreed, leaning on the car and looking down at her. "Rooney…" The words got caught in his throat.
"What?" Maddie looked up at him anxiously.
Diggie shook his head. "Nothing."
She nodded and they both stood in silence for a while. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he checked it, frowning. "My mom just texted me to come home for dinner…"
Maddie nodded. "I guess this is goodbye, then."
Diggie sighed. "Maddie." There was a lot he wanted to say, a lot he wanted to do but he did nothing. He just said "bye", got into his car, and left.
(He also tried to resist the urge to slam his head against the steering wheel.)
5.
This time, it wasn't Diggie's fault. He was miles and miles away from his (very kissable) girlfriend, trying not to freeze to death and hoping his internet connection would stay through the night. He had already explained to his Tundrabanian family that where he came from, people kissed on New Year's. And they were on a different time zone. And he would need some alone time when that happened. They looked pretty suspicious, but Diggie didn't care. He really missed Maddie. And while video chatting wasn't the same as being together in person, it would have to do.
The people in Tundrabania thought Diggie was crazy. Since the moment he had arrived, Diggie had kept a countdown of the days left until he went home, which really meant the days until he got to see Maddie again. Anyone within a fifty-mile radius of Diggie knew of Maddie Rooney. He couldn't help it. She was just too cute.
But the universe really did seem to have something against Diggie. Maddie was suddenly very mad at him, and he didn't understand why, what he and Liv did totally wasn't a real kiss, he thought at this point it was pretty obvious that he was dying to kiss only Maddie. Not like she was going to let him explain that. She was so stubborn. And cute. Which made everything so much more difficult.
Somehow, she ended up listening. And Diggie was saying something about how he wanted her to be his first kiss, he wasn't sure what he was saying because he felt like he was about to explode or something, and it was kind of embarrassing because he had wanted to act cool and not let Maddie know that he had never kissed a girl before even though he was seventeen. Then again, it was kind of pointless to try and act cool around Maddie, considering how she made him feel.
So, his lips got stuck to his webcam. It was worth it. Kind of. He just really hoped that her lips would be a lot warmer and softer in real life.
1.
Diggie could hardly stand it. He looked out the plane window, watching the ground get closer and closer. After months of waiting, hours of flying, he was finally back in Wisconsin. And Maddie had already promised that she would be waiting at the airport when he landed. Which was a completely other thing in itself.
Diggie had spent the entire plane ride trying to think of what he would say to Maddie when he saw her. Some awesome declaration of love? A sort of crazy romantic gesture? Diggie pondered his options until realizing that literally all of them were stupid and that he was going to be too tired to do anything anyway. Well, there was nothing wrong with a quick "sup", right? Except for everything. He decided to just wing it. It wasn't his worst idea, so at least he had that going for him.
Well, it kind of was his worst idea, but Maddie didn't need to know that.
Diggie was shaking with excitement as he got off the plane. The time was passing agonizingly slow as he entered the airport and got his bags. He felt like he was dying. He was going to die if he didn't see Maddie soon. He was more excited to see her than he was to see his parents.
He felt like his legs were going to give out, which probably wasn't a good thing. But he didn't care at all. He had just spotted Maddie, and his legs amazingly started working again, and he yelled "Rooney!" and she turned to him and her face lit up and she shoved through groups of people just to get to him.
Diggie tried to say "sup". He tried to do anything he had thought of during that long plane ride. None of it was working. So he kissed her,
It didn't last very long at all, but it was still a kiss. "Oh my god it's even better in person." Diggie rushed out in one breath, and Maddie laughed,
"Uh, thanks." She smiled at him, and Diggie was fairly sure he had never been so happy in his entire life.
"Can I do that again?" Diggie knew he was blushing, but he didn't care.
"Diggie, you can do that as many times as you want."
"God bless." Diggie managed to get out before he kissed her again,