“Yes, that would be for the best.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Nothing,” he shrugged. “Just that it seems that it would be your natural enemy.”
Maddy stared at him. “See, I know I should be insulted but you’re right.”
The hint of amusement had become a bit more pronounced now, and Maddy suspected she really liked seeing it.
“How about some juice? And there’s also leftover homemade cookies my mom made.”
Maddy smiled. “I would really like that, thank you.”
Sighing, Nate got up and left the room, leaving Maddy alone. From where she was sitting, his bookcase and CD collection were in her direct line of sight. She leaned forward and tried squinting her eyes to read the tiny script of the artists’ names. She recognized so many good ones and she was taken aback to find out that their choice of music wasn’t that far apart. What a thing to find out they had in common, she thought as a small grin tugged at her lips.
Muffled steps sounded just before the door creaked open to show Nate balancing a plate and two glasses of orange juice.
“You have a surprisingly nice music collection, Nate.”
“And why would that be surprising, Madison?” His tone hadn’t lost his teasing quality. “Is it perhaps because jocks are supposed to listen to something different? Some mindless RnB maybe, or anything only party appropriate?”
Maddy was suddenly horrified. “No, no, of course not! I didn’t mean it like that.”
She was struggling with what to say but Nate was already chuckling softly.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it, I’m just messing with you.”
Maddy felt her shoulders relax and her whole body sag back. “For what it’s worth, I just meant that it was surprising because I didn’t think we would have some of it in common.”
“Like what?”
“Umm, Muse for one!” she said excitedly, turning to look at the albums on the shelves again. “I can’t believe you have ‘Black Holes and Revelations.’ I remember hearing ‘Starlight’ for the first time on the radio and I swear it was love at first listen. And ‘Absolution’ was just,” she made an unintelligible noise, “no words. I never knew I could feel so depressed and so giddy at the same time.”
Maddy’s monologue started to fizzle out as her words were met with silence. Turning towards Nate, she found him studying her with an undecipherable look. His eyes looked softer somehow. But maybe it was just the way the light was hitting them in a certain way.
Sensing her pause, he stood up, picked up one of the CDs and popped it into the small, silver CD player he had on his desk. The first seconds of that distorted guitar made chills spring on her skin, but her focus was on the guy who had just sat back down, this time munching on a cookie and bobbing his head to the music.
“Those are good albums,” Nate said in his low, soothing voice. “But no way there’s anything that beats ‘The Resistance.’”
“You know, that album isn’t even out yet.” Maddy felt the meaning of those words just as she said them.
Nate’s expression lost a bit of its amusement, even though a small smile still remained.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
Maddy felt the mood change, a sudden weight crushing her chest. It was easy to forget the predicament they were in and just joke around and go about their lives like nothing was wrong. And truthfully, there was nothing wrong per se. They were both fine. Just slightly off-kilter. Time-wise.
Then, why couldn’t Maddy shake that creeping sense of fear whenever she thought that they could be stuck there. That they would remain hostages of time, visitors of a past that had already happened, that had already run its course, that they had already made peace with.
“Hey, Nate?” she said softly.
Nate had lowered his gaze but now lifted it to look at her steadily.
“I believe we’ll figure this out. I have to be honest, though, I really have no idea how. But at least there’s two of us in this so we’re not stranded alone.” She paused, feeling a small lump lodge in her throat and slightly choke her words. “I’m scared and I can’t really wrap my head around it when I try to. But I have to believe that maybe everything will right itself out eventually and all we have to do is wait it out.” The tremble in her voice did nothing to make her sound confident and sure of her words, but it was all she could do for the time being.
Maddy hoped that the softening of Nate’s expression wasn’t a figment of her imagination this time. It would be nice if it wasn’t. It would be nice to have an ally in this, or even a friend.
“Okay, Madison,” he said simply.
