Maddy ran through the woods at top speed, trying to follow Tom's scent. He has to be here somewhere, he's not that fast! She thought as she jumped over logs and ducked beneath branches. Maddy stopped to collect her thoughts and took in a deep breath. She sniffed again, trying to recapture the scent, but she didn't need. She heard a twig snap followed by a low thud. Maddy ran to the source of the sound to see Tom sitting in the mud holding his ankle.
Maddy slowed down and stepped over the branch (probably the one he had fallen over) she tried to look at his ankle to see if it was seriously hurt, but Tom shuffled backwards to try and get away from her.
"Tom, you have to let me look at it!" Maddy commanded, kneeling down next to him. "Anyways, why did you run away from me?" she asked as she inspected Tom's ankle.
Tom looked uncomfortably to the floor, "I... erm... I don't know if I should say... it will seem kinda silly..." he said giving a nervous laugh.
"Tom, this is me you're talking to! You know you can tell us anything!" Maddy said sitting back, so she could look at him.
"Well, at first I was avoiding you because of...what you are. Then it was because I felt awkward around you and Rhydian, because you were really kinda couple-y, and I used to fancy you and everything, then I felt really stupid about both of those things and I was ashamed but I knew you would ask so... yeah, that's why I have been avoiding you!" Tom said in a quick ramble. He looked to the floor, expecting Maddy to be angry with him. Instead he heard her giggle quietly.
He looked up into her eyes and laughed as well, it wasn't long before both of them were in stitches, tears coming out of their eyes as they clutched their sides.
"Maddy! Maddy where are you?" came the voice of Rhydian. Maddy knew he would probably worry considering the last the last time they were in the woods (1).
"I'm here..." she said through fits of laughter. When Rhydian found them he looked confused, Shannon, not far behind him, also stopped, wondering what was making her best friends laugh so hard.
Eventually, they had managed to stop laughing enough to get Tom home and put an icepack on his ankle.
"Hey, what happened out there?" asked Rhydian quietly, when they him and Maddy had been left alone. Maddy explained, leaving out the part where Tom had said he fancied her. Rhydian also sniggered a little under his breath before they returned to the front room, where Shannon had put the movie in.
"Let movie night commence!" Maddy, Shannon and Tom cried as Rhydian sat back to enjoy the film.
A/N: (1) my previous FanFic (the prequel to this one!), where Maddy got attacked.