Madeline looked up from her drink at Gilbert with a sheepish grin, her face flushed at Gilbert's comment

"T-Thank you Gilbert..." She muttered softly. Gilbert smiled at her and nodded

"Your welcome Madeline." He said softly. Madeline smiled, subconsciously leaning towards Gilbert and he did the same, their lips meeting softly in the middle. Madeline pulled away quickly, her eyes wide and her face red. She swallowed hard

"I-I'm sorry...I have to go." She said, running out of the shop quickly. Gilbert got up and went after her, running out the door and grasping her arm

"Madeline please wait! I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to happen!" He said. Madeline struggled

"L-Let go of me, please!" She squealed

"Madeline..." He said softly, pulling the girl close to him and hugging her Madeline clutched his shirt and sobbed into his chest, shivering as she did so. Gilbert frowned as he held her in his arms, that bastard of a boyfriend had really messed up her head. He wanted to make her feel better and trust people again. Madeline finally stopped

"I-I want to go home...can you take me back to Liz's house?" She asked, looking up at him with saddened and bloodshot violet eyes. Gilbert nodded and smiled at her, gently brushing her hair from her face.

"Sure. I'll take you home Maddie." He said, walking her back inside and letting her get her drink and he retrieved his keys. The ride to Elizabeta's was mostly silent. Madeline stared out the window away from Gilbert and Gilbert's eyes were on the road but he would occasionally look over to Madeline to see if she was alright. Gilbert was the first one to break the silence.

"Madeline...look...I...I'm really sorry about grabbing you like that. I just didn't want you to run off and get hurt. I hope you don't think I'm an asshole. I really just wanted to help." He said, pulling the car into Elizabeta's driveway. Madeline looked down at her hands and gulped.

"I-It's okay Gilbert...I don't know what got into me running out on you like that. I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place." She said. She gasped.

"O-Oh I didn't mean!" She squeaked. Gilbert frowned, feeling his heart shatter to pieces in his chest.

"I know what you meant..." He said, swallowing hard.

"Have a nice night." he said softly, waving her out of his car. Madeline frowned and reached out to him, having her hand unintentionally swatted away.

"I'll see you in the coffee shop again sometime." He said. Madeline nodded without anymore words and got out of the car, closing the door and walking to the front door of Elizabeta's house and opening it. Madeline whimpered as she closed the door, sliding down the smooth wood and hugging her knees, crying softly into her jeans. Gilbert was in his car, slowly pulling out of the driveway and driving away, fighting back tears of his own that threatened to spill from his eyes. Madeline really didn't feel anything for him did she? From what she had said about their little kiss in the coffee shop she wasn't interested at all and he was heartbroken by that fact. He stopped fighting it and finally let the tears grace his pale face and crimson eyes, trying hard to focus on the road but eventually having to pull over to the side of the road to calm himself down before going home.

Madeline woke up with a terrible headache to the sunshine that beamed into the bedroom that she had passed out in last night, her pillow still wet from her tears. God could she ever do anything right in her life. First she had done whatever it was that made Ivan go off and leave her for that other girl and hurt her like he had. And then she had made Gilbert angry with her last night when she'd misworded her apology and made it sound like she hated him the way she had told him she didn't mean to. She sat up, pressing her fingers to her lips, looking down and closing her eyes with a small sigh as she climbed out of bed and walked across the hallway to the guest bathroom, closing the door and stripping down, looking at her full frame in the large mirror. Her hipbones showed a little bit and her bruised shoulder was just now starting to fade, her wrist was the only other dark bruise she had left from Ivan. Her broken wrist was mostly healed and she would still wear her brace all the time but she had it off now. She stared at her pale, pathetic body with soft blonde curls water falling down her shoulders and frowned. How did anyone love her or even like her? She was just a pale, thin, shy girl that never said anything hardly except to Elizabeta and Ivan before he had started to hate her. She sniffled and turned the shower on, leaving the water on the medium temperature that it had been and stepping in, letting the warm water wash over her and the slight steam clean out her lungs. She gave a heavy sigh as she poured shampoo in her hand, slowly massaging it into her scalp and washing it out when she was done, putting in her conditioner and then working on her body. She made sure to be very careful over her bruised shoulder and wrist, cringing a little with a slight hiss as she pressed down a bit too hard on her shoulder. It really hurt when she did that and her wrist was pretty bad sometimes but it wasn't as tender. She rinsed herself off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around herself and doing the same to her hair with a small hair towel, walking back across the hallway to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her with a soft sigh, her puppy greeting her with a soft yip as he looked up from the bed. Madeline frowned, she needed to fix things with Gilbert, talk to him and tell him that she really didn't hate him and she wanted things to go back to how they had been when she would come into the shop to talk to him about her problems with Ivan and he would help her get her mind off things. She pulled her phone from her purse, sitting down on the bed in her towel, taking the one out of her hair and letting her wet blonde hair fall down her back. She pulled up Gilbert's number and sent him a quick message.

"Hey Gilbert. I just wanted to tell you that I was so sorry for last night and I wanted to tell you that I don't hate you even though it may seem like it from what I said. I want to keep being friends if that's okay." She typed, erasing and correcting her message so many times to make sure she didn't sound like an idiot when she was apologizing. Maddie got up from the bed, letting the towel fall down and walked to the closet to get her clothes. She heard her phone buzz and set the clothing down, sitting on the edge of the bed and opening the message from Gilbert.

"Oh so you didn't mean you hate me? I thought that you were pissed at me or something." He had replied to her. She sighed a bit.

"So are we going to be friends then?" She asked, setting her phone down and standing back up, pulling her panties on and clipping on her bra before her phone went off again. She picked it up and smiled.

"Of course we are Madeline :) Why wouldn't I be your friend still. Your a great friend to have." Gilbert responded. Maddie sighed as she typed her response.

"Good :) I'm glad that you still want to be my friend." She replied, typing a second message as well.

"I am going to go. I'm leaving my phone charging in my room and getting something to eat." She said, getting a very quick reply from Gilbert.

"No problem Maddie ;) I will talk to you later." He said. Maddie smiled as she pulled on her t-shirt and some lounge pants, walking into the living room area where Elizabeta was seated.

"Hello there Madeline." She said softly. Maddie smiled at her.

"Hello Elizabeta." she murmured, sitting down beside Liza on the couch. Elizabeta put her hand on Maddie's shoulder.

"Did you sleep well? You didn't seem to come in on good terms last night." She said softly. Maddie sighed.

"Gilbert and I had a small disagreement last night and I thought that he hated me...well...you see we..." She hesitated a moment before she spoke to her friend.

"We...k-kissed last night..." She said softly. Elizabeta's jaw dropped

"What!? You two kissed?! No way~! Oh my god that is amazing! Tell me what it was like." Liz said, taking Maddie's hands. Madeline blushed, looking away from Liz.

"T-The kiss was...n-nice. B-But we're just friends Elizabeta! And the kiss just kind of...happened..." She said softly. Elizabeta sighed softly

"Maddie I can see it in your eyes that you like him and the little blush you got when I asked you to tell me how the kiss was just proves my point. Plus the fact that you let him KISS you!" She said. Maddie sighed.

"Even if I did like him it's not like he would feel the same about me. Plus...right now...with Ivan still fresh off the break up he could get hurt because of me...Ivan would kill him..." She murmured. Elizabeta sighed softly, placing a gentle hand on Madeline's cheek.

"Maddie you can't let Ivan control everything you do now. He isn't your boyfriend anymore, and I think he will accept that fact with that other woman he has. I think Gilbert would be good for you, but you can decide what you want to do with that. I am here for you if you want any advice but I say you should at least consider Gilbert as a replacement for that asshole you used to date." She said. Maddie frowned and looked down away from Elizabeta again.

"I don't know...I...I.." Elizabeta sighed, pulling Madeline into a gentle hug.

"Gilbert is a really great guy. I know this for a fact. I've actually known him since we were kids and he's always been a very gentlemanly guy even though it may not seem like it at times and yea I've seen him be an asshole too but only to other guys and only when he's drunk and that's kind of a rare thing to see. I know he would be good for you." She said. Maddie gulped and nodded

"Maybe but I still want to wait a bit before anything. Ivan and I have only been separated for a few days...I don't want to date someone else right after letting Ivan go...I-It still hurts..." She whimpered, tears welling a little in her eyes. Elizabeta wiped the tears from Madeline's eyes as she hugged her.

"I know it does sweetheart. Everything will be fine." She said sweetly, her voice soft and gentle. She pulled back eventually and smiled at Madeline.

"Come on. Let's get you some breakfast." She said, standing up and helping Maddie off the couch and into the kitchen.

"I'm not saying that I don't like Gilbert Elizabeta. He's actually...really...sweet...I do like talking to him. He would help me get my mind of things a lot when I was with Ivan and we were having those...problems. I really liked talking to him and I like when he tells me I'm beautiful and that he likes my smile. He always seems to make me smile." She said softly, her cheeks pink and a small smile on her face. Elizabeta smiled at that.

"And the fact that he's falling head over heels for you, ya little heartbreaker you~" Liz teased, winking at her friend. Maddie turned crimson at that remark.

"W-What?!" She squeaked.

"G-Gilbert likes me?!" Elizabeta giggled.

"Oops. Don't think I was actually supposed to tell you that..." She said, chuckling a bit. Maddie looked at Liz.

"Tell me what he said."