A/N: Yeah... Feels like ages since last update.. And i'm sorry. I really am. But i'll be honest. I'm not sure if i'm gonna continue writing this story. I don't know for sure yet, but i have to warn you, that it's not impossible that this is the last chapter. I hate being forced to say it, but this story feels more like something i have to do, than something i want to do. Maybe i just have to sit down and write more on it, and i'll get back the love for it. Maybe. So when the holidays start, i'll try to figure out what i want to do with ´Through the Teen Years. Until then, you'll have to stay patient. Thanks to you guys who has been waiting. You're awesome. Now we'll leave stuff like that, and focus on the new chapter! Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: Almost nothing is mine. Michael, Joachim, Stephanie are mine, but the rest belongs to Jerry Bruckheimer + loads of other people...
To see Joachim the following day was horrible. Madison couldn't look him in his eyes. She felt like a traitor. It felt like if she had broken a promise. She felt doomed to lose Joachim as a friend now. To look him in his eyes was too much. She had let him down.
But Joachim didn't notice anything different. He didn't notice she wasn't looking him in the eye, and he didn't notice that Michael and Madison were speaking more politely to each other than usual. Joachim laughed and talked all the time, since he had been home without any friends for several days.
Madison wasn't completely sure if he really thought of her more than a friend. But maybe that was just her imagination and a wish, she thought.
The day passed, and when school was over, Joachim asked Madison and Michael if they wanted to join him and a couple of friends and go the beach, but they said no. They were happy that they would have an opportunity to be alone; they finally had time to talk about the problem they knew they had to face. Soon.
"Michael, we have to tell him. Today," Madison said when Joachim had left them alone.
He sighed. "I know you don't think so, but I do know what that might mean. I know you might lose him as friend. But there's one thing you haven't thought of. He's my friend. He's my brother. And I might lose him too, you know."
She didn't answer immediately. She was surprised and didn't want to admit it, but she hadn't thought that it would matter as much for him as for her. - If not more.
"Of course… I don't know why I haven't thought of that. I'm sorry. But don't you agree we have to tell him?"
"That's what I've been thinking all the time. If you hadn't stopped me, I would've told him the day we got together."
"Well… Sorry. I was scared of how he might've reacted."
He smiled down at her. They were sitting at a park bench, Michael at the edge, and Madison lying with her head on his knee.
"I'm scared of how he will react too. But we have to do it, and we have to do it tonight. When he comes back from the beach; let's ask him to take a walk with us, and then we tell him in here, in the park."
She smiled and looked up into his face. He bent down, and kissed her. None of them said 'it will be all right'. Because none of them knew if it would be. But there was one thing they knew. No matter what happened – they would still have each other.
About two hours later, they made their way home to Joachim and Michael's place. To their surprise Joachim was already there waiting for them.
"Where have you been?" he asked when they walked into Joachim's room.
"Looking for you," Michael lied, and sat down beside his brother in his bed.
"Why did you look for me?"
Michael gave Madison a quick look, and she gave an imperceptible nod.
"Uh, I feel like taking a walk. You coming Joachim?" Michael said instead of answering his brother's question.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go!"
They went into the hall and put their shoes on. Madison dawdled out through the door, and they went out in the mild night. The sun was on its way down, and giving the sky a light pink tinge. A few clouds could be seen here and there in the sky. It was a typical day for the beginning of May in Miami.
They walked in silence for a while and Madison thought Joachim started to realize there was a reason behind their choice to take a walk. They walked, and just like Michael and Madison had planned, the park slowly came into their view.
"Uh, Joachim?" She started, after Michael had given her a meaningful look.
"Yeah?"
"Well… We didn't ask you to take a walk with us for nothing…"
"Surprise me," he said, smiling. "So why did you want to talk to me in private?"
"Well…" Madison looked at Michael for help.
"Uh, there's something we've got to tell you, bro."
At this time they had reached the park, and they were now a in the middle of it.
"Uh… When you were sick," Madison begun.
"Yes?"
"Uh, Michael and I…"
There was something in his face that changed when Madison said this.
"Yeah?"
"Well… Michael and I are… together. We're a couple now."
Joachim stopped. His face was, unlike Michael's at situations like this one, showing precisely everything he was thinking at the moment.
"Wow," he said, and his voice had changed to a tune totally different form his usual. His face showed nothing but disappointment. Not anger, not even – of what Madison could see – sorrow. But the big disappointment in his face was clear as day. With that, he turned and walked away from his brother and Madison. And he didn't look back.
After seeing Joachim's face, Madison knew what the voice that had spoken to her so many times had been. It had been her conscience.
But she hadn't listened to her conscience. She had refused to face the truth, and for that, she had lost one of her best friends.
Tears flowed up in her eyes, and she turned and hugged Michael. He hugged her back, but didn't say anything. Nor did he cry.
'What have I done?'
"He… He hates me, Steph. He hates me." Madison was crying. Her pillow was all wet, and now when she sat on the floor there was a small pool beside her.
"Oh, sweetheart…" Madison hadn't called Stephanie to hear consoling words or get hopes that she might get Joachim back. And Stephanie knew that. She had called her to have a shoulder to cry on. There was nothing Stephanie could say or do to make her friend to feel better right now. The best Stephanie could do was to be there.
The following day in school was one of the worst in Madison's entire life. Joachim acted as if he had no brother, and as if Madison didn't exist. This was, if possible, even worse than when Michael had ignored Madison.
Both of them felt so terrible that having each other didn't seem like much comfort now. Their relationship didn't seem nearly as important when Joachim ignored and hated them for it.
Later that day, when Madison was home from school, the phone started to ring.
"Madison here," she answered.
"Mad, you can't believe what he's done! He's such a jerk! I can't believe it!"
"What?? Michael, what're you talking about?"
"I know I didn't tell you, but this morning, Joachim "accidentally" dropped my toothbrush in the toilet. I just thought I'd ignore it, if he felt better doing that, fine. Then when he got home, he 'borrowed' my laptop without asking me. I had my whole essay for tomorrow there, and he "accidentally" got a virus on my laptop! My essay is gone!"
"What?! But you've worked with that one for a week!"
"Tell me something I don't know already," he said morosely.
"Do you want me to help you with it? Cos Mr. Franklyn will definitely not believe you if you told him the truth. It's like coming to a lesson and saying 'my dog ate my homework'. Shall I come over? Or maybe it's better if you come here… since you don't have a computer anymore…"
"No, it is ok, mom told me I could use hers. She's in the kitchen now, yelling at Joachim," she could imagine his satisfied smile.
"Alright then, but Michael, don't be too mad at Joachim, cos-"
"How can you possibly protect him?! He ruined a week's work! I have to give the essay in tomorrow – an essay that doesn't even exist anymore!"
"I'm not protecting him, but try to remember that it was us who made him-"
"Crazy," Michael finished the sentence.
"No, frustrated and disappointed."
"I've got to start working. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, I love you."
"Love you too."
Weeks past without any change in Joachim's behaviour. Michael had to suffer many of Joachim's "accidents", and was now about to explode every other second. But Madison made him stay calm by doing nice things, and spending more time than ever with him.
"You want to go to the beach?" She asked after a particularly bad day.
"No, I'm gonna get home again, and tear him apart."
"Michael, come on… You're much more mature than that!"
He looked at her, and she put her puppy eyes on. He growled, and then followed her out of the house. Hand in hand, they walked down the road, until they finally reached the water.
They sat down at the waterside, letting the waves wash their legs.
"You've not spoken to Ray recently, have you?" Michael asked silently.
"No… about a week or two ago. Why?"
"Nothing special… I just… I'm wondering how he's doing, you know. He's been so focused on his education nowadays, that it's not very often I meet him. I just wonder… I wonder how he really feels. 'Cause by putting so much effort on school and education, I have the feeling he does so to avoid being forced to think of how he feels."
"I think you're wrong. Ray and I have known each other for so long time, and without really asking, I know he's all right."
Michael didn't reply, and they sat in silence for a long time, listening to the waves rhythmically roll over the beach.
They heard someone walking towards them from behind, but didn't turn around to see who it was.
Joachim sat down beside them, and still none of them spoke. Madison felt Michael stiffen, but neither of them acknowledged him.
"Hi," Joachim whispered silently. The tone of his voice made Madison look at him and she replied, "Hey."
Michael still showed no sign of having noticed his brother's presence.
"Uh… Madison, Michael… I'm… I'm sorry for these last couple of weeks… I know I've been acting like a jerk, but-"
"Well, that's something new," Michael interrupted.
"Michael, shh!"
"Well… Ever since you told me about you're relationship I've been a fool, I know that… And still, I've always known there were chemistry between you two… The thing is… Well, I was scared of what might happen with the three of us if you two were a couple. I needed time to think of it, and it took some time."
"And it was necessary to destroy my essay to figure that out?" Michael asked reproachfully, but with a little playfulness in his voice.
"Well… That's another thing… The thing is… All those things I've done these weeks. Well, I didn't plan them to happen. That virus, it was an accident. All things I've done, have been attempts to make this whole thing right again, but I failed all the times, and it all just became worse for each try."
"Are you trying to tell me that you accidentally dropped my toothbrush in the toilet? Were you just trying to make it clean and then accidentally dropped it?"
"Well alright," Joachim said, grinning, "that might not have been an accident, but the rest of the stuff was accidents, really. The toothbrush thing might've been a bit…"
"I think the word childish would be the perfect word here," Madison said and started laughing. At first it sounded weird, because to be honest, she hadn't laughed for a while. But soon it was a real laugh and the two brothers joined her. Finally they realized how silly the whole thing had been, and it was too wonderful to be described in words that they finally could laugh at it.
Madison's phone started to ring, and she picked it out of her pocket.
"Madison here," she said when she finally had stopped laughing.
"Hey Mad, it's me," Madison heard Stephanie's voice say.
"Hey honey! What's up?"
"Surprise coming up! Guess what!"
"No idea, tell me!"
"We're coming to Miami!"
"What?! Are you kidding me?! When?!"
"When school ends, in two weeks!!"
"Are you kidding?!"
"No! We just got the tickets!"
"We?"
"Luke and I, of course!"
Madison's mouth fell open in shock, and it took a second or two before she could say anything.
"Oh… Well… Uh, it'll be great to finally meet him," she said and saw both Joachim's and Michael's curious eyes on her.
"I know! You're gonna love him as much as I do!" Stephanie said, too happy to hear the doubt in her friend's voice.
Well, guys, i'm sorry. I really hate to even think about stop writing ttty, it's been with me for so long now! Well we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a review.