Yes, Ill take that one #2
“The salmon pizza was excessive.”
“Let it go.” She almost smiles at me.
“No.” Deadpan.
She bites the inside of her cheek, fighting the smile. Then it disappears.
“So?” I ask. “What’s the conclusion?”
“I don’t need any of it,” she says at once.
“Obviously.” I kick air.
“But it sucked.” Maddy's fingers curl loosely at her sides. “I don’t want to.”
She looks at me for a long moment and I haven’t moved. Not really.
Maddy lifts one shoulder. “I wasn’t with you because I’d die without you.”
I almost laugh. “Thanks. No shit.”
“Shut up. I'm being emotionally mature.”
“Continue.”
“I’m with you because I like having you around.”
Something in me goes slightly fucking feral.
Maddy points one finger at my chest. “If the thing you're fixing involves me, you tell me. Tell me first. That's it. Do the thing, but tell me before you decide it.”
I look down at her finger, then at her. “Before?”
“Preferably.”
“What if I have to act immediately?”
“Then after.”
“How long after?”
“Will.” She glares at me, hissing a curse.
“I’m establishing measurable rules.” I know I’m pushing it but I can’t help it when it comes to Maddy.
“Before I find out from a footballer at a fucking party.”
“Reasonable.” I nod in agreement, a small smile escapes my lips.
“And you don't decide that the information is useless because you already fixed it.”
I consider this for a moment. “Fine. I can do that.”
She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Fine? All this time and you agree in under a minute?”
I stare at her. “Five days and all you wanted was a notification. I can do notifications.”
Her mouth falls open, then Maddy laughs. Her head tips back, shoulders shaking. I cannot believe how relieved I am to hear her laugh this close to me again. No shit. Twenty minutes ago I was sure she was breaking up with me properly.
Her hand rises and for one stupid second, I think she is going to poke me like she used to. Instead, she catches the front of my T-shirt loosely between two fingers.
Two fingers. That's all it takes.
People talk about someone creeping into your life without you noticing. Maddy Fairfax did not creep anywhere. She colonised mine in tiny shorts.
I missed her repetitive music, her fast little updates, the questions that arrive from nowhere, morning walks for orange juice, and that ridiculous cornflower bag I spot across campus before I see the rest of her.
Fuck. I missed all of it.
She gives the fabric a tiny tug. My body follows before I consciously tell it to, and the smile is already on my face.
“Tell me something. Now.” Her eyes narrow.
Huh. “What— Now?” The smile dies, fast.
She nods immediately. “Something you’re sitting on. I’ve been watching you, Willy. There’s something.”
My face must change because hers does. “You have got to be kidding.” Her free hand rises to her hip. “It’s been thirty seconds.”
“I’m thinking.” I try to arrange my thoughts.
“Willy.” She demands. “Your face is doing the thing where your brain just opened seventeen tabs.”
“Okay. Here’s the thing.” I start. “I like answers. I like correct answers. I like arriving somewhere with a plan and an alternative in case the plan is stupid—”
“Willy.” That’s the last warning.
“There's a club in London that wants me after graduation.” I blurt it out before I can organise anything else.
I can feel her fingers tighten slightly in my shirt. “Wants you how?”
“Professionally.” I swallow.
“I gathered that, Mercer, I'm asking whether they think you're cute and promising or whether there's paperwork—”
“There's paperwork.”
For one second, nothing happens. Then Maddy’s entire face lights up like someone flicks a switch inside her. Pure delight.
Her mouth falls open and her fingers release my shirt only because both hands fly up. “No fucking way.”
I blink.
“They offered you a professional contract?”
“Not signed. My dad is still arguing with them over terms. He thinks the offer could be better.”
She grins so wild, her eyes crinkle that the sun is competing with Maddy Fairfax again. “Oh my God, Will.” Her hands cover her mouth at once.
She hits my chest. Her golden hair starts bouncing as she does the mini jumps on her feet. “You got a professional offer.”
It is so fucking Maddy that something inside me unknots before I could accept the relief at once.
“I’m still angry. Don’t look smug.” She presses her lips together.
I laugh. God. I missed this girl.
“Do you want it?” she asks.
That finally steadies me. “I think so.” I look past her towards the dark windows of the house. “I want England. I think. I want to know what I look like somewhere basketball becomes my actual job instead of the thing I’m constantly trying to fit around everything else.”
Her expression softens. “And?”
“And the idea of leaving you here fucking sucks.”
There is no solution attached to what I just say aloud. My entire nervous system dislikes it and I feel it in my bones.
“Okay.” She shrugs. “We figure out what that means.”
“You hate long distance.” She’s once told me when she first moved in, over one of our weekday dinners.
“Yeah. But I like you.” She pokes my abs, grinning. “Were you expecting me to set London on fire? It's a very large city, Will, I'd need help.”
I bark out a laugh. Maddy is still looking at me like this is good news. No she makes it feel like the best fucking news ever.
Maybe it is.
And it feels great telling her this when it’s still messy inside my head. Strange, but holy hell, so great.
“If you want London, go after it. Work the deal. Take the fucking thing, Willy.” She declares in pure triumph. “We’ll be fine.”
I push a hand through my hair and look away before her face does something else capable of damaging me. Already smiling.
“Don't disappear from me ever again,” I tell her without turning back.
Maddy goes still. “Will—”
“I'm not saying don't take space if you need it. But I just need to say it if we’re gonna do long distance.”
Her shoulders lower slightly.
“Take space. Go to a hotel. Go to fucking Switzerland if you're angry enough. I am not going to track you down.”
“Good, because that would be psycho.”
“I knew six ways to find you before breakfast.”
“That is not as romantic as it sounds.”
“But don't make me wonder whether you're coming back.” The final sentence leaves before I can make it less pathetic.
Fantastic. Captain Mercer, brought to his knees by tropical fruit.
Her face changes again, into that familiar softness I’ve been trying not to need.
Maddy glances down between us. “The pineapple also means I'm coming back.”
“It does? Maddy, I didn’t even know if we were still together.”
“Obviously.” She looks at me like I have five heads.
“Well, that part was not communicated.” I take my hands out of my pockets, which I have been keeping them in specifically so they cannot do anything stupid.
Maddy rolls her eyes at me. “Okay.”
“Okay what?” I tilt my head.
“Next time, pineapple plus a sentence.”
“What sentence?”
She sighs like I am very difficult. “Still furious. Still together.”
The pressure beneath my ribs releases so fast I almost laugh. “Good.”
“You’re so needy.” She glares at me. “I love it.”
My head jerks up at her. I can survive needy. I already feel like I’m losing anyway and honestly, I don’t mind it one bit.
“And,” Maddy adds, “I won't come home and then ignore you.”
“Thank fuck. That was horrible.” I groan loudly.