“That is cold, man,” the guy named Coop said, shaking his head. “Is that any way to treat your oldest and bestest of friends?”
“For the record, I had nothing to do with this,” Liam said, looking Nate in the eye.
Maddy felt like she was missing something but had no idea what.
Nate sighed deeply. “Mads, these are Cooper and Liam. We’ve been friends for a long time.” She thought he heard an added “not sure for how long that will last” under his breath. “Guys, this is Madison.”
“Hey,” she smiled, lifting a hand in a wave. “It’s nice to meet you.”
They both returned the gesture and then seemed to look between Nate and her for a few seconds before Liam asked, “So what are you guys up to?”
Since Nate seemed to be engaged in an intense stare-down with Coop who looked very pleased with himself for some reason, Maddy decided to be the one to answer.
“We were just running for a bit and were just about to go grab something to drink. You’re welcome to join us if you want to.”
Nate’s head swiveled so fast towards her, she worried he’d pull a muscle. His eyes were trying to communicate something but she had no clue what that was.
“Of course we’ll join you! What a great idea, right, Nate?” Cooper clapped his hands in excitement. “So where are we going?”
***
They decided to head to a cafe nearby where they served pretty much everything, including sandwiches and pastries, because the truth was that Maddy was ravenous since she hadn’t had breakfast. And if she was that hungry, she couldn’t even imagine the appetite on the three guys next to her.
Grabbing a table that could fit all four of them, they each unloaded their orders that pretty much covered the whole table.
Maddy didn’t know what to make of the group. Cooper gave her the impression of an overgrown, excited puppy, full of energy but also ready to cause trouble at a moment’s notice. Liam seemed more controlled on the other hand, like he would be perfectly happy to participate in said trouble-making but wouldn’t hesitate to pull the brakes as well.
In Maddy’s opinion, Nate seemed the most closed-off of the three, bordering on grumpy with an almost permanent broody expression, which she thought was funny since he’d never been so grumpy with her from the moment they’d started to get to know each other.
Well, he was in full grumpy mode now.
“Did your coffee wrong you in any way, man?” Cooper asked as he munched happily on a sandwich that was bigger than her arm.
Maddy glanced at Nate who was frowning hard at his cup of coffee before shooting a glare at his friend. She couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled up. They seemed like a group of good friends, differences aside.
“So, how long have you guys been friends?”
“Pretty much since first grade,” Liam answered with a smile. “Coop here used to be really short back then but that didn’t stop him from squaring off one day with a bunch of assholes from another grade, who would have beaten him up if Nate and I hadn’t happened to see what was going on. Those boys were picking on him, so we decided to step in, even though we didn’t really know each other ourselves,” he said, gesturing towards Nate.
“We still got our asses kicked but at least it was divided equally,” Nate grumbled, although the corners of his lips were twitching. The other guys were openly laughing. “And the rest was history, as they say. Liam is also on the basketball team like me.”
“But enough about us,” Cooper’s grin was almost feral. “The important question is how you two met.”
Maddy was suddenly struck mute even though she should have expected such a question. How could they not have come up with a story to tell if someone actually asked something like that. No wisdom came with their age apparently.
“Um…” she glanced at Nate who looked equally flabbergasted. “Well, the short version is that I tripped somewhere I shouldn’t have and Nate caught me.” A very short version. Like the shortest version to ever exist. And a gross understatement.
Liam and Cooper blinked at my words before nodding.
“Yeah, that sounds like something Nate would do.”
Maddy smiled at Cooper’s words. “He pretty much saved me. I was almost hit by a car.”
A wave of warmth flooded her at the thought, as she turned to look at Nate and saw what she was feeling reflected in his soft expression. He really had the prettiest chocolate-brown eyes she’d ever seen. Especially when he looked at her like that.
Someone cleared their throat and Maddy’s attention snapped back to the rest of the company. She was met with identical smirks pasted on which made her feel like a blush was on its way to her cheeks. “Yeah, so we started hanging out after that and now we’re friends.” She hated how it almost sounded like there was a question mark at the end of her sentence. Like she wasn’t sure that that’s what they were.
“We are friends.” Nate’s sure voice and steady timbre cut through her insecurity like a knife and she threw a grateful smile at him.
