“Oh, shut up,” she told her even as she felt her cheeks warm up, a blush creeping up from her neck.
Nate was doing a very bad job at hiding his smirk. He could probably piece together what they were talking about.
“You’re not my friend anymore.”
“Yeah, sure. Now put me on speaker.”
Maddy choked.
“Why would I do that?”
“No questions. Put me on speaker. It’s nothing embarrassing, I promise.”
She really hoped not.
“Hey, guys, I thought it would be better this way, so you could both hear me.”
“Hey, Stacie, it’s nice to talk to you again.”
A brief pause.
“Okay, you’re polite, I’ll give you that.”
Maddy and Nate both chuckled.
“So, Maddy and I were supposed to go out tonight along with a couple of people from work but things got a bit derailed. Which works out perfectly for what I just thought of.” She paused, probably for dramatic effect. Her friend sure had a flair for theatrics.
“How about we arrange for all of us to go out for some clubbing next weekend? Me and Maddy, Nate can bring his friends, a couple of people from work, it could be fun. Plus, I’m always the one foisting my friends on Maddy, it’s high time I met some of hers, too.”
That minx knew what she was doing. She made it sound all innocent and shit but Maddy knew her and knew her well.
“What do you think, guys?”
Maddy tried to communicate wordlessly with Nate, maybe warn him of the DANGER, DANGER, but he simply shrugged and nodded as if it was nothing.
Well, if he was on board.
“Okay, Stace, we’ll fix something up for next weekend.”
“Great! Okay, I’ll let you go then. Feel better, sweetie. Bye, Nate!” And she hung up, just like that.
“Boy, you have no idea what you got yourself into.”
“Nah, it will be fine. I’ll tell Coop and Liam to come. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you again.”
Maddy couldn’t help but smile at that. It would be nice to see them, too.
“The most important question is,” he continued with a sly smirk, “since when do you go out for clubbing? Has this all been a lie? Are you in fact a party animal?”
Maddy threw a decorative pillow at his stupid face, which he grabbed easily while laughing.
“No, idiot, it’s just that now and then I like to go along with some things Stacie likes because I know it makes her happy when I join some of her outings. So here we are now, I hope you’re prepared.”
The smile he directed at her could have stopped traffic.
“I don’t need to be prepared, Mads. We’ll be together and that’s enough.”
thirty-five
