The night air was cool to my cheeks, granted sitting on the railing of a third story balcony would be enough to send anyone's cheeks flush. Heights never bothered me though, I could look down and instead of being sickened by the fear of falling; I would wonder what the people below were thinking about. Were their lives any easier than mine? They probably all were at this point, considering that my life just went severely down hill. Last night was both the best and worst night of my life. Dean Portman had kissed me. He had really truly been stupid enough to kiss me. Me, Madison Evans. Who did he think he was? I took another drag of my half smoked cigarette and stared down at it for a minute. I really do need to quit, if all this stress doesn't kill me, these will. I shook my head and tossed the rest of the cigarette away, it wasn't worth it. My mind raced with the images of the night before and I tried to comprehend how things got so crazy so fast. I mean I just met this guy and yeah, he's cute and everything but I wasn't looking for a boyfriend. I was looking for something with no strings attached, something I could walk away from in a month and by god, I was still gonna. Dean Portman wasn't gonna get the best of me. I could play his game and dump him on his ass at the end of the month. He'd be sorry he messed with me. That is if I don't fall in love first. No, I can't think that way, there is not falling in love allowed. Like every other guy I've dated, hang with them for a few months: spend their money, lead them on and then dump them like yesterdays news. I'm definitely not the type of girl you take home to Mom, I'm more like the girl you sleep with at a frat party and it's never mentioned again. It was simple; all I had to do was get though this month. There will be no falling in love, that's for sure...I hope!
I rolled over, my eyes coming back into focus. The dingy brown ceiling of hotel room 33C was a pale shade of its usual color and I groaned, glancing at the clock. Already 10am and my Mother hasn't yelled at me to get up? Was I in the right hotel room? What's wrong with this picture? My Mother was nowhere insight and I laid back into the warm comfort of my blanket and pillow, a few more minutes of sleep sounded good about now, since I had to face Dean that night at practice. Why was I going again? Oh, yeah, to break up Tammy and my brother. The sooner that happened the better. I was just about to start dreaming again when the loud "bring" of the telephone sounded in my ear.
"Who would be calling me?" Rolling over in the oversized bed, I reached for the object making the noise. "Hello?"
"Wake up, sleepyhead." Scott's annoyingly cheerful voice sounded on the other end. I held the receiver a few inches away from my ear at the sudden loudness.
"Doesn't anybody sleep anymore?" I was a still a little annoyed that the morning Mom actually left me to sleep; he would call to bug me.
"What's wrong with you?" Scott asked as I groaned into the receiver and lifted myself from the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I rubbed my tired eyes with my free hand.
"I'm tired, Scott!" I said matter-of-factly. He chuckled a little; I could tell me was making fun of me. He always found humor in everything.
"Well, that's obvious." He joked. It was too early for his jokes.
"Can I help you with something? Otherwise I'm going back to sleep!" He groaned from the other end,
"You're always so serious. I was actually looking for Mom." I glanced around again to make sure I hadn't missed her scrubbing something but she was nowhere in sight.
"Nope, not here." The line was quiet for a minute before he silently cursed.
"She doesn't listen to anything I say. Madison, I gotta go before Mom ruins Tammy's dream wedding." He said. I nodded a little, go Mom!
"Sure, whatever, I'm awake now so just forget you even woke me up!" The comment was dripping with sarcasm.
"Don't worry, I will. See you later for dinner?"
"I wouldn't miss it!" Another sarcastic comment. I was full of them today. He laughed,
"See ya, Sis." He said before hanging up. I definitely going to get him back for this one.
"Oh, my god... and the way he handled those kids." Before I knew it Tammy was picking me up from the hotel and my mouth was getting me into trouble." He is just so cute."
"Maddie, can you give it a rest, please?" I sulked down in my seat; maybe someone else didn't get enough sleep either. It could be possible that Scott dragged her out of bed to go on a wild goose chase looking for my crazy Mother, who at the present moment was making arrangement to have a cake that was in the shape of a large bird to be delivered to the wedding reception.
"Why are you so grumpy today?" The thought escaped my lips before I thought about it,
"Nothing." She was totally lying. Something was definitely up. Maybe my little plan was starting to work. Facing Fulton Reed everyday could get on your nerves when you keep trying to deny your feelings. She began to gaze off into space, completely forgetting I was even in the car.
"Hello? Earth to Tammy?" I yelled, waving in her direction.
"What?" She said realizing we were passing the arena. She took the turn and I let out a small yelp, grabbing the door.
"What are you crazy?" I asked breathing heavy, god, she starts daydreaming and then tried to kill me. She didn't even respond and parked, heading into the arena. I glanced back at the car and sighed,
"Crazy B…." I didn't finish it, heading into the arena.
Fulton and Portman were waiting as we entered the arena, and we both took a deep breath in, looking at the other for the reason they were nervous
"What?" She asked walking ahead of me. I met Portman's eyes and quickly looked away, he was egging me on to say something
"Oh, right on time." Fulton said acting like he was having fun. Tammy looked on, waiting for him to speak with her usual "I'm better than you" attitude. He smiled, obviously unfazed by her actions.
"Already getting an attitude?" He questioned. She quickly dropped the stance,
"Look, I can just leave."
"No, we agreed." I reminded her giving her the evil eye. Portman moved behind me as I felt his body heat radiate unto mine.
"Fine." She finally said looking at Fulton, who was still smiling,
"Here's your list of things to get done." He handed her a piece of paper.
"No, Madison, we're not doing this." She looked over the list and looked at me,
"It doesn't look that hard." I said taking the list from her hand and glancing at it.
"Madison, my nails, the wedding is in three weeks, I can't ruin them now." Her and her stupid nails. I had to worry about this amazingly gorgeous guy, who was standing three feet behind me and breathing down my neck.
Things to do:
1) Tape all replacement sticks and sand.
2) Mop all steps
3) Clean all benches
4) Clean out storage closet
"Don't you have cleaning staff to do this stuff?" I asked, a little confused. Fulton looked over to me, leaving his stare on Tammy.
"No, they were cut out of the budget to get new uniforms for the teams. Of course you two wouldn't know what it's like to have to make sacrifices." Fulton said looking more at Tammy than me. She looked away.
"Of course you two can just leave if it's not your thing."
"No, we want to help." I jumped in.
"Good. Portman, show them where the cleaning stuff is." He said walking away. Tammy began to stomp off, leaving me alone with Portman.
"I know where it is!" She yelled pushing me out of the way. Something was still bothering her.
"What's her deal?" His voice sounded in my ear. I turned and met his gaze. It was piercing and I turned away fast.
"Oh, just some pent up frustration." I shrugged. I caught my arm with his and we walked towards the direction Tammy head in.
"I smell like mothballs." She whined after 45 minutes of cleaning. Can I just give up and get out of here now? I thought with a groan.
"It could be worse. They could have asked us to clean the bathrooms." I joked,
"Next time." Fulton chimed in from the ice.
"Just make it all go away." I laughed a little at her comment,
"Are you always so self-pitying?"
"What?" She acted a little shocked I'd ask such a question. You know I'm not one to hold back.
"You act like the world owes you something. God, has my brother really rubbed off on you that much? Is everything always about you?"
"I just don't think this whole situation is fair." She walked away from me quickly, not wanting to discuss it further, I guess.
"Well, it's not fair to my brother...or Fulton." I commented after her.
"I think you're full of it." She moved to the next staircase to get away from me.
"Suit yourself. You'll regret it later." Looking down and continuing to scrub, I felt someone approach me from behind. His shadow loomed over me as I tried to pretend not to notice.
"You really don't have to do all that, Fulton's just trying to get back at Tammy and make her see what she's missing."
"Scrubbing floors and benches, I'm surprised she's not crawling back by now." I joked, dumping the brush into the bucket and standing up to walk away. He touched my arm,
"Hey, did I do something wrong Tuesday night?" He asked. I looked down at his hand on my arm and back at him,
"Dean, I'm not really interested in having a boyfriend right now. I just need some space from this little thing you think we have going on." He smiled a little,
"Obviously you think we have something going on as well, or you wouldn't have called it that."
"Dean, the fact remains, I'm going back to California after the wedding, so you can't fall in love with me." He chuckled,
"What makes you think I would do that?"
"You wouldn't have kissed me like that on Tuesday if you weren't thinking about it." The tension between us was thick as he moved towards me. I stared at his face as it came closer and before I could protest, his lips were crushed against mine. I pushed on his chest and he backed off, looking down at me,
"Will you go out with me tomorrow night?" He asked softly. I smiled a little, this is what I wanted but now my feelings were confused.
"I...I guess." I stammered. He smiled again and let go of me, leaving me again to my thoughts.
"Good." And he was gone around the corner to follow Fulton. Damn him!