My hands wouldn't stop shaking the rest of the night as I tried to convince myself no one was watching Fulton and I. At least I hoped that was the case. I walked slowly towards the ice where Madison was finishing up her routine and I watched the light following her, silently gripping the barricade in the hopes of keeping myself stable.
What if Scott saw us?
I hadn't seen him since before that.
What if he was mad at me?
No, I'm just being paranoid.
Am I? Why isn't he here yet?
He's just busy, is all. Everything is fine.
All sorts of ideas were now flying through my head. I sighed, trying to silence them and glanced behind me to see if Scott was coming. The familiar base of one of Madison's rock songs was pounding in my heart as I felt my heart pounding in my chest. The room started to spin and I felt myself lose balance, everything went black.
"Tammy?" I felt the darkness all around me but I heard the voice calling me.
"Tammy? Are you alright?" Madison's voice was in my head. I opened my eyes slowly and gazed at the arena lights. I was back in the corridor, on a stretcher.
"What happened?" I asked as I felt my head.
"You just passed out, no doubt from all the stress you've been under..." Madison said smirking a little. I didn't even notice as I sat up.
"What time is it, did I miss the show?" I asked nervously.
"No, you still don't go on for another hour. You've only been out five, maybe ten minutes." She said looking at the doctor's equipment on the table. I glanced at her, trying to figure out what she was doing.
"Madison, have you seen Scott?" I asked trying not to sound worried.
"Yeah, he went to get something for you..." I sighed in relief.
"Oh, I couldn't find him and I was getting worried." I said shaking my head with relief.
"Yeah, I saw him right after I saw you with that guy in the hall." My blood froze in my veins as the words escaped her mouth.
"What did you say?" I said with a hope that I'd heard her wrong.
"You should pick your make-out spots a little better next time." She joked as my chest tightened.
"Madison, it wasn't what you think it was..." I tried to explain.
"Oh, no need to explain, as Fulton said, you just need to explain it to the man you intend to marry..." Madison smiled a little. She was really enjoying this, that little witch.
"Of course, not tonight." She said setting down the instrument she had been looking at. There was hope!
"You didn't tell him?" I asked.
"No." She said simply as I felt the urge to hug her. I didn't but a smile spread on my face.
"Madison, I can really explain."
"Save it. First off, call me Maddie, I hate Madison!" She exclaimed. I was a little taken aback.
"O-okay." I stammered.
"Secondly, it's up to you really if this secret stays a secret or not." She smiled coyly. Suddenly, I realized the advantage she had over me.
"Madison, I'm not breaking any laws for you." I started.
"God, would you let me finish? You're like my Mother!" She sneered. I quieted and waited for her to continue.
"Okay, so first off, I'd like to say, you're the stupidest person I have ever met..." My mouth hung open at this as she paced in front of me.
"Excuse me..." I started.
"Shut up, okay... I'm still talking...right, so, yes, you are officially the dumbest girl I think I've met ever. Granted my brother's not a bad guy and you seem like the type that's looking for a knight in shining armor, maybe with lots of money, I haven't worked that one out yet. But still, you're so obviously in love with that Fulton guy... but it's not my business so I'll just leave it at that..." She stopped for a minute as my face reddened and I was about to say something.
"Ahh, I'm still not done. So anyways, I was trying to get away from my Mother while I still can and I was almost to the back door when this, I can't even describe him, piece of a man walks in the back door. I'm immediately taken aback, right." Now she was talking to me like I was her sister. I shook my head as she went on about who I can only imagine to be Fulton.
"So, I follow him right and he's like overtaken by these little chicken heads who, I know I can take any day. Just bring them on..."
"Madison, will you get to the point!" I finally said as she stopped and stared at me,
"I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Princess... I can just go tell Scott right now..." She started,
"No, just get to the point okay?" I asked trying to sound nice.
"Okay, so it wasn't what you were thinking either. I saw Fulton with this guy and asked him if he could pass my number along to the guy." She finished and something clicked in my head.
"You like Dean Portman?" I asked, really confused now.
"Is that his name?" Madison asked. I was little repulsed,
"He's an idiot..."
"Well, my brother ain't no Albert Einstein." She joked.
"So what does this have to do this me?" I asked, hoping I didn't have to spend time with Dean.
"I figured, when I saw you with Fulton that there was a past, so I listened in and judging by your actions, I'm pretty sure you're friends with that crowd..." She laughed a little. I rolled my eyes,
"What do you want me to do?" I said still looking away.
"Nothing much, just bring me to some of the peewee hockey practices."
"Madison!" I was shocked, that would mean I'd have to spend more time with Fulton.
"Well, it's up to you, I mean we could just forget this idea completely."
"NO...I'll do it." I said defeated.
"And you have to stay, during the practice. Oh, and I want one day where we go shopping where I want to go." She finished off.
"Fine." I shook my head.
"Good." and with that Madison walked away, a little bounce in her step. I sighed deeply,
"What did I get myself into?" I asked myself, going to find Scott.
"GET UP!!!" were the words I was woken up with the next day, as Madison jumped on my bed. I pulled the pillow over my head and rolled over to get away from her.
"Madison, please..." I groaned.
"No, you agreed, besides practice isn't until 5:30. I'm just coming to wake you up because Mom and Scott want to take you to look at a place for the wedding." I peeked out from under my pillow and stared up at her.
"Oh." I said climbing out of bed and heading straight into the closet to shut the door.
"Tammy." Madison said grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the closet.
"She's gonna take over my wedding, I know it." I said sitting down in a chair.
"No, it's fine. Connie and I will be there." Madison said and suddenly I felt like I had an ally in Madison until she hit me with the pillow to get my backside moving. I fell off the chair as she laughed, exiting the room. I was gonna get her eventually.
The day passed quickly and before I knew it I was pulled out of the house and to my car at a quarter after five. The arena was bare compared to at an event and the peewee hockey team was warming up on the ice as I made my way down the steps towards the box. Portman was taping some sticks and Fulton was doing a head count.
"Oh my god..." Madison said with a giggle, I'd never since her like this, I thought, silently as Fulton realized we were there.
"Oh, well, look what the cat dragged in." He joked as I sneered at him. Portman turned around and Madison nearly fainted,
"Get a grip." I mumbled under my breath, heading towards Fulton." I hope you're happy."
"Well, not as much with you here but thanks for asking."
"I mean, this." I motioned to me and Madison, who was now sitting behind Portman, just staring at him. "She saw us."
"Your problem, not mine." He said heading out onto the ice to start practice.
"Humph." I said before I kicked the wall, causing me to hold my foot. "When did they make these so hard?" I exclaimed, sitting next to Madison. She was in a trance, I swear and I just leaned back and prepared to sleep, that is until a certain blonde walked in and sat down across the benches. My attention was immediately peaked and Madison noticed it too,
"Who's that?" She asked.
"No one." I finally said after a minute of trying to recall her name, I just knew who she was to Fulton.
"You want to take her out back. It'd be real easy two on one but then again, you're a wimp." She laughed.
"I am not. I've kicked some butt in my days." She laughed harder,
"Whose? Your own?" I didn't even answer that as my gaze returned to the blonde.
"Okay, okay, I'll believe you kicked your own ass before." She joked.
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" I asked. Madison smiled a little.
"No, I just want to see you kick someone's ass is all." Her gaze returned to the ice.
"You have such a foul mouth." I shook my head,
"Like you've never swore."
"Look, we're here for the practice so just watch it and I'm gonna take a nap." I said leaning back on my elbows to the bench behind me. I found myself counting lights and praying that it would be over soon. I heard Fulton call the team over and I looked forward, the practice was ending.
"Finally." I thought to myself as Madison was out of her seat and up to the glass to talk to Portman.
"Hey, Dean is it?" She asked in the sweetest voice I'd ever hear her use.
"Um...yeah...do I know you?"
"No, I saw you last night. I'm a skater, like Tammy." Oh, God. She was using my name now. I sighed, heading for the car when I saw the blonde heading in Fulton's direction. I cut her off and was by the glass near Fulton.
"Fulton!" I said as he turned around a little,
"What can I do for you?" He asked still taking notes on his clipboard.
"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that we're gonna be here every practice this week." I said casually. I saw the blonde start leaving up the steps out of the corner of my eye.
"That's nice but I know what you were doing there... I can talk to whoever I want..." He said finally looking up.
"I didn't say that you couldn't."
"You didn't need to." He said softly, glancing at Portman and Madison, who were now engaged in a conversation about Metallica.
"Look, I'm not trying to make your life hell, okay? If I don't do this Madison is gonna tell Scott about us." I said looking down.
"So whether you get married or not is up to me?" He smiled a little.
"Fulton, please." I started.
"I'm not gonna do anything."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet, you two intend to be here every practice I'm putting you to work." He said heading out of the box.
"What do you mean?" I yelled after him. He just smiled and continued to walk away.
"I gotta go." Portman finally told Madison and he was running after Fulton towards the locker room.
"Oh my god, he is so sweet..." She smiled as I sighed,
"This is gonna be a long week."
