At promptly eleven, Derek was sitting at his desk, typing a letter.
"Dear… Mister… Mullins…" He dictated to himself. "On... behalf... of… the …entire …museum …staff …I …would …like …to …apologize… for… the… careless …error …regarding …your …name…"
So far, it'd been a pretty uneventful day. There'd been no vomiting incidents, at least. There was still a bit of confusion involving the American Writers exhibit, but the bit about Emily Dickinson being decapitated was, thankfully, cleared up. Emily was, in fact, quite put together, thank you!
By now, Derek was almost ripping out his hair in anticipation. Maddie would be here in less than three hours! This was like a dream come true! (No pun intended.)
Derek sighed and saved the letter to his documents. He leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. What a wonderful surprise it'd been to see Maddie this morning…He'd had no idea she rode that particular bus! He made a note to himself to start "saving gas" and ride the bus in the mornings more often.
Those few minutes with her had been so precious, and yet so painful. It was exhilarating to see her in person, of course, but…It hurt him to see her as she was: in pain. He couldn't explain how it felt to know exactly what was wrong with her, and what had happened, but to not be able to say anything. By the time she'd gotten off with her friends, ("And given me that little smile", he reminded himself) his chest had positively ached with a longing just to reach out to her.
"Oh, Maddie…" he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes, imagining what it would be like to be with her. Well, not sexually, of course, considering she was only seventeen. But just…just to be close to her. What would it be like to have her trust? How would it feel to be able to look into her eyes and talk to her any time he wanted? He couldn't completely picture something so amazing happening to him.
Brrrring! Brrrrring! Derek almost jumped out of his chair. Groaning, he picked up his phone.
"Hello?"
"Uh, there's a Jeffrey Mullins on line three for you." It was Rebecca.
"Alright." He switched the line with a sigh. So much for uneventful…
Back at the prestigiously ghetto Pruitt Academy a while later, Maddie was sitting in her seventh period class: Biology. The teacher, Mr. Robertson, was standing at the front of the class, lecturing about monosaccharides and protons or something like that. The combination of five-syllable words and Mr. Robertson's monotonous drone was giving Maddie a headache. Nervously, she glanced at the clock. It was almost two-thirty. In less than ten minutes, the bell would ring, signaling the end of the school day.
"Madeleine!" Maddie jumped and looked back at Mr. Robertson.
"Yes, sir?" she responded tonelessly.
"Would you mind telling the class the difference between a monosaccharide and a polysaccharide?"
"Um…a monosaccharide consists of one sugar and a polysaccharide consists of many sugars." Mr. Robertson frowned, obviously disappointed that she had been correct.
"Right."
"Uh. Mr. Robertson?" Mr. Robertson sighed, as though in pain.
"Yes, Madeleine?"
"May I go to the restroom?"
"No." With that final statement, Mr. Robertson continued with the lesson.
When the dismissal bell finally rang, signaling the end of the day, Maddie was one of the first people out the door. Gordo and Brenda hurried to catch up with her.
The trio met up with the rest of the gang in the quad. From there, Maddie, Brenda, and Nadia dashed to the girl's restroom, while Gordo, Simon, Christian, Bradley, and Alex stood chatting and waiting for the girls.
The three loverly ladies made it to the restroom. Maddie quickly slipped into a stall, closed the door, and proceeded to take off her school clothes. Half-naked and shivering, she threw them over the door.
Nadia caught them and folded them neatly, sliding them into Maddie's bag. Brenda tossed Maddie the clothes she'd brought with her. This was nothing new; they'd helped her prepare for first-days-of-work numerous times before.
Gratefully, Maddie dressed. When she'd finished, she crept back out of the stall and went over to the mirror. Wordlessly, Brenda handed her a brush.
"I love you guys." Maddie murmured.
"What would you do without us?" Nadia kidded, helping her scrape her chestnut locks into a loose bun.
"Crash and burn?" Maddie suggested. She touched up her foundation, making sure the bruises around her eye were invisible.
Brenda laughed and hugged her quickly.
"Most likely." she whispered. Maddie giggled. Nadia stepped back.
"Okay. You're ready." she proclaimed. Maddie turned around, first hugging Nadia, then Brenda, then both.
"I owe you guys big time."
Nadia and Brenda both grinned.
"Just don't forget to call tonight." Nadia said, patting her on the shoulder.
"And tell us everything." Brenda added. Maddie gave them a thumbs-up.
"You got it, boss ladies." The babe trio exited the restroom and rejoined the guys. The eight youngsters then continued on their way to the bus stop.
Meanwhile, Derek was sprinting to the lift. Dodging senior citizens and middle-aged mothers with toddlers, he hurled himself in and pressed the button to get to the first floor.
Down, down he went. As he stood listening to the sound of the blood rushing in his ears, he struggled to catch his breath. He'd drifted off at around one while sitting on his chair.
He had dreamed of Maddie, but only gotten flashes of what she was doing, instead of a whole "scene". She'd gone to Biology class and sat through a long, monotonous lecture given by a skinny, blonde man with the eyes of a stalker behind his wire-rimmed glasses.
Ding! The lift doors slid opened, as it had arrived at its destination: the first floor. Nervously, Derek made his way out, smoothing his hair and straightening his clothes as he walked.
Looking like a man on a mission, he strode to the circulation desk where Rebecca sat looking boredly at the computer in front of her.
"Hello, Miss Hutman." Derek said when he reached the desk. Rebecca jumped.
"Dr. McPhee! How are you?" she asked, giving him a small smile.
"I'm very well, thank you. Er, listen, I had to, uh…" He trailed off, not really sure what his excuse was going to be.
"You had to…" Rebecca pressed.
"I, er, had to, erm…talk to you. About something. And…" What an idiot…
"Did you forget what it was?" Rebecca asked, smiling indulgently at him. Sheepishly, he nodded.
"Sort of."
"Or, maybe you're just eager to meet the new docent." she added innocently, looking back at the computer and resuming her typing.
"W-what?!" Derek gasped. "What are you…Why would you think…I mean, how…er…"
"She is very pretty, isn't she?" Rebecca's voice was somewhat sly. "And very nice. You'd really love her."
'Oh, you have no idea.' Derek mentally assured her. On the outside, however, he just sighed.
"Fine. You caught me." he muttered. Rebecca smiled and nodded towards a chair next to hers.
"Just sit with me and wait for her." she insisted. Derek hesitated. "I won't bite!" He chuckled in defeat, slipped in through the door, and sat next to her.
"So…" he said awkwardly, staring at his knees.
"Yep…" she agreed, nodding and typing. Clickity-clack, clickity-clack…
"Did you, er, hear about the, uh, Jeffree Muffins incident?" he asked. She laughed.
"I did. That has got to be one of the most hilarious things I've ever read. He was pretty angry, though."
"Oh, I know. Those German men have quite a temper."
"Oh, definitely." Clickity-clack, clickity-clack…
"So, you and Dailey are getting married soon?"
"In March. You got your invitation, right?"
"No, actually."
"Really?" She stopped typing and dug through her purse. A minute later, she withdrew a cream-colored envelope and handed it to him. "I must not have sent it…"
He slid his finger under the seal and pulled out a card. It was white, and there was a rather cutesy picture of two angels (boy and girl) holding hands and standing on a cloud. Under them in swirly gold letters, it said "You're invited…"
He opened the card.
"You're invited to the Blessed Joining of Miss Rebecca Anne Hutman and Mister Lawrence Nicholas Dailey." It then gave the date, time, location, and other information about the wedding. At the bottom, it said "R.S.V.P" in the same swirly gold letters.
"I'll make sure I can come." Derek promised, slipping the card into the pocket of his jacket. Rebecca beamed.
"Great!"
And along came another awkward silence.
AN: Sorry for the wait, you guys....Bleccchhhh. I got major major writer's block. Nothing just seemed good enough, ya know. lolz Well, oh well. :) Thanks for not...killing me. XD