Next to her, Nate looked like something close to a god. Like an understated sort of god. Like one of those gods that didn’t really have to try too hard, and that made casual clothing look like fashion.
Maddy hated him a little for that.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
Busted.
Maddy caught Nate’s amused gaze and narrowed her eyes even further.
“No, not really.”
Nate hummed. “Are you sure? Because you look like you have something to say.”
Maddy could feel Nate sidling up closer to her, some of his body heat passing over to her.
“It’s nothing,” she mumbled, turning to peep at him from above her glasses. “It’s just that you look really nice.” She almost averted her gaze but she was slowly getting addicted to the lingering intensity of Nate’s looks.
And she wasn’t disappointed. Nate’s eyes grew liquid as he snaked his arm around her waist, tightening it until she was almost flush against him, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Thank you, Mads.” His words brushed the shell of her ear, making her shiver. Wearing her hair up in a long ponytail had paid off. “And you look positively edible.”
Maddy choked.
She shook her head to dispel the tingling feeling that was spreading through her whole body.
She failed. Terribly.
“You can’t say shit like that to me,” she scowled, already feeling the blush creeping up her neck and cheeks. “I’m already liable to fall and break a limb.”
Nate chuckled darkly. “Sorry.”
He wasn’t sorry at all.
“But thank you,” Maddy said softly.
“My pleasure,” he said.
And she believed him.
After that, they took their time to walk around and enjoy the festive decorations, the string lights that covered every spare surface of the area, the laughing families and bundles of friends joking around.
Maddy could only watch it all with wide eyes and a happy smile, and let herself be swept up by the jolly atmosphere, flurries of chilly air stinging her skin, and Nate’s hand in hers pulling her towards the midst of it all.
So, it wasn’t completely unexpected when something had to happen to spoil her good mood.
“Madison?” a voice she hadn’t heard in years sounded behind her, halting her steps.
Nate turned to look at her quizzically but Maddy took a few seconds to compose herself and take a deep breath before turning around and coming face to face with the somewhat-surprised expressions of her former group of friends. Friends in the vaguest sense of the word.
Maddy had met Alexis and Grace in middle school and they had been friends for the duration of those years before going to different high schools. Original high school Maddy had attempted to keep in touch even after heading to different schools and losing the everyday contact. This Maddy now knew better. Because it had taken her years to reflect on those days and finally get to the point where she knew better.
Her former friends had not been bad people. But they had been one of those people who thrived in veiled insults. Who pretended to know what her own good looked like better than she herself did. Who slowly chipped away at a painfully built personality and individuality until that person was left either completely ashamed of everything that made them different, or completely invisible.
Okay, maybe they were bad people after all.
They must have been taken aback by the cold expression on her face. Maddy had always been far too mellow and far more accommodating than was good for her. Never making waves.
Well, fuck that.
