Chapter Five

Madison and I have been sitting at this pizza place for twenty minutes now and I’m in the middle of telling my sixth Spencer and Ashley story.

“So then she just says that she’s known all along that I was gay,” I say with a smile. “She’s known since the beginning.” I glance over at Madison and she’s pushing a breadstick around on her plate.

“That’s great Ash,…really,” she says and her voice is so small that I think I visibly shrink.

“Oh my God, Maddy I’m so sorry I keep talking about her. I’m a horrible person, I know…” I say drooping my shoulders. “I’m so bad at this whole dating thing.”

“You can’t be bad at something you’ve never done before,” Madison says with an amused grin and I can’t help but grin back. There’s something about her smile… “And I don’t expect you to just get over Spencer in two seconds,” she adds with a reassuring glance. “I just hope that…maybe…if we keep trying you can make some room for me in that head of yours.”

By this time I’m grinning from ear to ear and I’m getting bit lost in the emerald gleam of Madison’s eyes. “Yeah…I think I could do that.” I say and she blushes some. “So how’s about a movie?”

Madison decided that she wanted to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I happily agreed, but the whole movie she’s been squeezing the life out of my hand. It’s actually kind of cute. Anytime something scary happens she sort of yelps and covers her eyes with her free hand. I try to keep my chuckling to a minimum, but after a particularly loud yelp I can’t hold it in anymore. I’m laughing so hard that I can barely sit up and I have my hand clamped over my mouth to keep quiet. Madison lets go of my hand and folds her arms across her chest, obviously embarrassed, but just then Jessica Biel screams and Maddy leaps almost two feet into the air. I’m laughing out loud now, like obnoxiously, and Madison is looking away from me.

I try to calm myself down and reach for her hand, but she just pulls it away. “Hey Maddy,” I say quietly, but she just stands and starts to leave the theatre. I stare in disbelief for a few seconds before chasing after her, apologizing profusely to the people in our row.