Chapter Three
Maddy
“Let me in!” Leo hissed from below my window.
I swung my legs out of bed, giddy to see him.
It had been days since he’d managed to sneak out to see me and I missed him more than I wanted to admit.
I wasn’t seeing him as much at school because we were in different classes this year.
The first couple of days in the new year without him had me feeling like I’d lost a limb.
I was adrift in a sea of other kids because I was without my anchor.
I didn’t want to tell him that’s how I’d felt but somehow, he’d known.
He sought me out and made sure he was there whenever I needed him.
But it wasn’t enough. I never got enough time with him.
I hated his mom. I was so mad she was still keeping us apart after his accident, which was ages ago anyway.
My parents knew that Leo was sneaking back here, wanting to ride the bulls and broncs. Daddy just shook his head and said that if Leo was going to insist on coming over, then the least Daddy could do was show him how to ride a bull properly, so he wouldn’t get hurt like last time.
Sometimes when Leo came over, the three of us would head off to a pasture and I’d sit on the fence cheering Leo on as Daddy showed him what to do.
My heart stopped in my chest each time Leo was thrown, my mind flashing back to that day, but I tried not to let it show.
I wasn’t scared of anything in the world; except him getting hurt.
“It’s okay, Tough Girl. If I fall down, I’ll always get right back up again, just like you taught me when we wrestled.” My cheeks warmed when he said that; knowing I’d taught him something made me feel special.
I think he liked spending time with Daddy. I know Leo didn’t remember his own father and his stepbrothers hadn’t been around for a while, not to mention his relationship with his mom was strained.
Grunting, I shoved my window up, the wood creaked in the frame and I flinched, pausing to listen for the telltale sound of footsteps outside my room.
When I didn’t hear anything, I kept going, moving slower to keep the frame quiet.
I glanced out and Leo was wrapped around the gutter that ran up the side of the house.
I had the corner bedroom, so it was perfectly placed for him to shimmy up the pipe then swing across to the porch roof and up into my room.
He swung his legs, which had gotten super long now that he was older, then his face was at my window, his smile wide and cheeks red from the cool air.
I stepped back and he ducked inside, pulling me into a big hug. Now that he was bigger, I’d discovered Leo hugs were the best. His shoulders had grown wider, so he swamped me, one hand cupping the back of my head gently.
“Hey Mads, sorry it’s been so long,” he whispered softly.
All of a sudden, I got emotional. It had only been a few days, but they’d been hard days.
I’d been talking to a boy at school and Alison, one of the pretty, popular girls, had seen us and started a rumor about us.
Now he was avoiding me. I’d also gotten my period and that always made me emotional.
I still felt like I wasn’t used to them, so every time I saw the blood in my underwear it shocked me.
Then Melissa, one of Alison’s friends, made fun of me in gym class because I didn’t have boobs yet. I couldn’t help that I hadn’t filled out like them. That I wasn’t curvy and still had the figure of a twelve-year-old boy.
I took a shuddering breath and felt Leo tense beneath my cheek. I burrowed deeper into his chest, inhaling his comforting scent.
“Mads?” he asked, pulling back.
I clung to him, not wanting to explain to him all the reasons I was now emotional, the main one being I missed him and felt all alone.
“Madison?”
Uh-oh. I was in trouble when he full-named me.
I sniffled and pulled back, brushing my hands over my fuzzy gray pajamas that had giraffes on them. I suddenly felt like a child, so immature.
He tilted my chin so I could look him in the eyes.
I had to dip my head right back now that he’d gotten so tall.
I noticed the few pimples on his chin and the blond scruff that had started growing along his jaw.
It was patchy but I think he was trying to let it grow in.
His light brown eyes were comforting but his brows were dipped in concern.
“It’s fine, I’m fine.” I shrugged, turning away from him.
His hand circled my wrist, keeping me close. “Don’t do that. You don’t need to lie. Talk to me.”
I pulled my hand away but sat down on my bed, plucking at the floral comforter. Leo listened without interrupting, while I told him everything. He leaned back on my bed, propping himself up on his elbows.
When I was finished, he asked, “Do you feel better?” I nodded but he looked at me skeptically.
Jumping up, I started pacing. “It’s just that Melissa thinks she’s sooo pretty, just because she’s got boobs now. But I’ll get mine and then she’ll be sorry, they’ll be bigger than hers and better and—”
Leo cleared his throat and shifted on the bed, his stare focused on my flat chest.
“Will they?”
My cheeks flushed. “You don’t think I’ll get boobs?”
He lifted one shoulder, clearing his throat again. “You’re built…differently, Mads.”
I clucked my tongue, my stomach clenching at his words. “I’m built…differently? What does that even mean?”
He laughed, the sound going a bit squeaky at the end, which had been happening recently, then his voice would drop real low. It was funny but every time it happened, the tips of his ears went red like he was embarrassed.
He sat forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “It means that you’re more…” he trailed off as he ran his eyes over me.
“I’m more what?” I challenged, my shaky confidence dipping with every second.
“Athletic.”
I snorted. “That’s attractive.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t.”
“But you didn’t say it was either!” I shot back.
“Because you’re my best friend, I don’t look at you like that. It doesn’t matter to me what you have going on under those pjs,” he said, gesturing to me vaguely.
My mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
“Do you look at me like that?” he croaked.
I wrinkled my nose. “No.”
“Well, then. And see, I’m not getting huffy about it.”
I bristled. “It’s different.”
He arched a brow at me. He’d learned how to raise just one eyebrow over the summer and now he did it all the time like he was showing off. “How?”
“Because it is!”
“I call bullshit.”
“You look like other guys at school.”
He cocked his head. “I do?”
“Yeah, you’ve got tall and broad now and grown into your nose for sure. And the girls are getting curvier and have nice hair and—”
“You have nice hair,” he interrupted.
I paused and patted my messy hair demurely which made him smile.
He’d gotten a dimple over the last few years as well and whenever he smiled at me it always popped out.
It made me ridiculously happy that when he was with other people and smiled, it didn’t pop for them.
Like it was a special dimple reserved just for me.
Maddy’s Dimple.
“But they’re wearing make-up and have nice clothes that complement their new curves, and I feel like a little kid next to them.”
“Well, you’re not. You’re just slower to blossom.”
I dropped my head back in frustration. “Ugh, you sound like Mom.”
He got up and started pacing in my room, looking at my bookshelf.
He pulled out the copy of Pride and Prejudice that Mom had given me.
It was a really old, tattered copy that my grandma had given to her and I hadn’t read it yet.
He tucked it into the baggy back pocket of his jeans before facing me again.
“Boys like curves,” I insisted.
He shrugged. “Not all of them.”
“Do you?”
“I’m a fifteen-year-old dude, Maddy. I like anything.”
I shuddered. “Ew.”
He barked out a laugh, and I flew across the room, slapping a palm over his mouth to smother his loud laughter.
“Shh!”
He wheezed behind my palm, his shoulders shaking, tears pooling in his eyes.
I started laughing too and then he had to put a hand over my mouth.
We stood there, pressed against each other and the wall, smothering each other’s laughter and I felt a calmness flow through me that had been missing since the last time I saw him.
Eventually the laughter subsided and I pulled my hand away, wiping my damp palm on his shirt which had him snickering again.
“You’re the one who put your hand over my mouth.”
“It’s so wet, Leo!”
“Mouths are wet, Mads.”
I shuddered when he said that. “Gross.”
“What, wet?”
“Yeah, don’t say that word.”
“Wet, wet, wet, wet,” he chanted, tickling my side.
“Stop it!” I hissed, trying so hard not to shriek as his long fingers dug into my tender ribs.
I squirmed and ran to my bed for safety, but it didn’t stop him.
He leapt after me and we wrestled on the bed, which we hadn’t done for ages.
He pulled some pro moves that had me tapping out on the mattress.
Then he was whisper-cheering in victory above me and I snorted, socking him in the gut and he collapsed next to me on the bed.
“I’d better go,” he said after a while.
“Okay then,” I replied, but he didn’t make a move to leave. I got under the comforter. “You going?”
“Soon.”
“Tell me a story before you do?” I yawned, snuggling closer.
He slung an arm around my head, trailing his fingers through my hair. “What about?”
“Anything in the whole world.”
“Hmm, that could be a lot of things.”
“Don’t be an ass, just tell me a story.”
“Okay, okay. How about, there was a boy who wanted to be a cowboy, let’s call him Theo,” he began and I snorted. He tickled me through the comforter and I squealed.
“Sorry, please continue.”
“So Theo had a best friend called…Addison and she had really big boobs, like gigantic, much bigger than Melissa’s.”
Snorting again, I covered my mouth as giggles erupted. He shook next to me on the bed, trying to contain his laughter. “So, Theo was a cowboy and Addison was a…” he trailed off, waiting for me to answer.
I thought back to the presentation we got from the Reverence Fire Department today.
I watched the training videos in awe and stuck my hand up to ask all the questions.
The firefighters were so cool and got to do amazing stuff and save lives.
There was a woman there and she had the biggest save record in Reverence and right there, I decided I wanted to be just like her.
“Addison was a firefighter,” I said softly.
“A firefighter, huh? Sounds good, Tough Girl. Addison was at a fire one day and she’d put it out, because she’s a boss but she needed help clearing the wreckage in time before the ceiling collapsed so she called her best friend, Theo—”
“How would a cowboy help?” I interrupted.
He flicked my forehead. “Whose story is this?”
“Ow! Fine, continue.”
“Addison called her cowboy bestie, Theo, and he came and got his horse and rode it through the debris of the fire, looking for survivors when he spotted someone. So, he tied his rope, because he had his lasso with him, around the torso of the survivor.”
“Hmm?” I asked when he went quiet, my eyes drifting closed and sleep pulling me under.
“Then uh,” he cleared his throat. “Then he rode his horse back out of the house, pulling the survivor out of the debris and everyone lived happily ever after.”
“So the cowboy saved the day, not the firefighter?”
“I think you’re missing the part where they both saved the day. She put the fire out which made it possible to save the survivor. She showed great courage,” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Just like you.”
“And then what?” I yawned again, snuggling deeper, hovering on the edge of sleep.
“Like I said, everyone lived happily ever after of course.”
“Of course. What is it with you and happily-ever-afters?”
“What’s not to love? The journey of the story, the guy getting the girl? Everyone wants to be happy. Don’t you?”
“I already am.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I have you, silly.”
There was a pause; the bed shifted underneath me but I was too tired to open my eyes. When I heard him again, his voice came from over by the window.
“Night night, Tough Girl.”
“Night night, Cowboy.”