Chapter 17
Maddy
After hours on the phone with Mickie giving a play-by-play of the last insane few days that I still can’t make heads or tails of, I am exhausted.
I stumble out of my boiling bath and wrap myself in a fluffy black robe before throwing myself down on my bed.
My eyes already start to flutter closed, images of my rockstar flickering across my tired eyelids.
Could he really be mine? Yeah, he wants me, and I want him, but …
wasn’t this supposed to be a first date?
A hookup and some fun? What are we if we haven’t even seen each other naked, but he’s spelled out ‘my heart is yours’ in rose petals and promised to be faithful, in blood?
I was living with my boyfriend five weeks ago, and now I’m what?
Betrothed to a rockstar? Could he have just been …
saying all that, to get in my pants? I don’t think he’d go to such lengths just to get laid; it’s not like that’s hard for him.
I’m so confused I could cry. But I’m equal parts happy, because I really like being in that man’s arms, and tomorrow is the day I finally get to be in them, unsupervised.
I hear Mum’s knock at the door and call her in. Dad trails behind her and they come sit on the edge of my bed like they always do when they’ve fucked up. Mum scratches my scalp and Dad squeezes my hand.
“Sorry for being arseholes,” Mum says.
I groan at them. “I needed a good, rebound lay, and now you’ve got some sort of fucking forever blood oath? You do know you should be institutionalized, right?”
Dad grins. “Oh, I have been.”
I roll my eyes, and Mum shakes her head. “Honey, let’s not get into all that again. You know our reasons for being worried, and they aren’t going to disappear overnight. Tomorrow, you two crazy kids will go out, have fun, see where this goes, all right?”
“Yeah, real casual, see where this goes after Dad cut his hand open and you made him promise you grandbabies!”
Her eyes pop open. “I didn’t bring that up, Jett did! The boy is mad! He can’t even take care of himself half the time! Grandbabies, really! How gullible does he think I am?”
I try to ignore the fact that she’s fucking beaming at the thought. I don’t need blood oaths and babies, I’m twenty-five and I wanna get laid!
“Dad, why didn’t we see this coming? Doesn’t half the world think you can like, read people’s fortunes or some shit?”
Dad scoffs a laugh. “Oh, that old rumour? Jesus, I can’t escape shit! People have always thought I could read minds, predict things. I dunno. I’ve never been psychic, Baby, I just got lucky a few times.”
“There’s only one explanation, sweetheart, and it’s not Dad or his lack of magic powers.”
“Mum? What?”
She looks at Dad and shakes her head. Then they turn and lock eyes with me like they’ve rehearsed this or something. “Sometimes our subconscious knows things we don’t.”
I sit up straight. “That was fucking creepy, don’t talk in unison like that! What? What do you mean?”
“I was engaged twice before I even met your dad, dumped countless times. He rejected hundreds of women and even divorced one. Nothing felt right with anyone. Even though we didn’t even know each other yet, we both felt the same exact way, like we were cursed. Doomed to be unhappy forever.”
My parents didn’t meet until they were in their thirties and didn’t have me till their forties, so that tracks. I nod, waiting for her to connect the dots for me.
Dad leans over and unearths my orange tabby cat, Freddie, from a mountain of comforters, petting him like it’s his emotional support animal instead of mine.
“We were the fuckin’ opposite of cursed, you know that now.
How many news people have begged to report on our love story over the years?
Interview after interview, blah, blah, blah, and finally, it clicked. ”
Mum nods. “It never worked with anyone else because it wasn’t meant to. We just didn’t know why our other relationships kept failing. I mean … we might’ve known deep down, but it was a secret to our conscious minds. Does this make sense, Baby?”
“Not really! I mean, you guys sound like a team of vague-ass tarot readers.”
Mum sighs, and for a minute, I think Dad’s ignoring me, scrolling on his phone, until he hands it to me.
“There’s got to be a reason, Matilda, that an ancient guy like me can find this on my phone so quickly.
A reason why I watch it again and again, several times a year, ever since the day a thousand people I knew sent it to me eight years ago.
It still puts a smile on my fucking face. ”
I know it before I see it. Jett and I are jumping off the table at the Seventeen party in slow motion, Alice and the Mad Hatter. Tongues out, eyes sparkling, baby faces shining with hope and excitement.
“Pure joy,” Mum says, wiping an eye.
Seeing the tear glistening there makes me fight the waterworks myself, but this still doesn’t make sense. “Are you both bipolar? All week you’ve said what a horrible idea this is, Jett and I, and now? Now what are you saying?”
My dad hands Mum the cat and wraps his arms around all three of us.
“Either it’s a horrible fucking idea that will end in tragedy, an epic mess with your heart smashed in a million pieces …
or this…” He points to the phone I’ve tossed on the bed, video repeating on a loop, “is something of a sign we all missed, not just you, kiddo. The way the damn universe refuses to stop bringing you two together, because maybe this runs deeper than any of us know.”
Mum nods. “We’re saying we’re worried! Yes!
Extremely! But when have we ever not supported what you’ve wanted to do?
Because there IS a chance this could end UGLY!
Just like there’s a chance you and Jett could be the next US.
We’re saying we love you both and are scared as hell because you and Jett are so young.
You’re in that crazy, new partners every day, week, month, cursed phase, and not quite ready for a lifetime love phase. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I was a little lost in the woods for a minute there, but I get it now. I’m not saying I wanna marry him, I just think I have no choice but to see where this goes. Go on a few dates, ya know … and he needed you to approve. I love you both, thank you for always trusting me.”
“Seeing where this goes isn’t a bad thing, Baby.
I’m sorry we overreacted and even sorrier we had to spill his blood to allow it to happen.
” Her eyes narrow at Dad, “Overreacting. That’s kind of our thing, huh?
” Mum kisses Freddie on the nose. “Besides, if this whole thing implodes, it probably won’t even break the top ten biggest messes we’ve had to clean up as a family. ”
I kiss her forehead, then glance at Dad, scrolling away again until he clicks another video. “My birthday last year.”
Mum and I watch the screen where we’re all crowded around Dad singing happy birthday in the dining room. “That black cake that made us all shit green for a week!” She cackles.
“Don’t remind me! Now look at Jett, oh that little fucker!” Dad points at Jett with his arm around AnnaBella, and I’m reminded we were all coupled last year.
Lola had a girlfriend, Jude had a girlfriend, even Asshole Archer was there with an arm around my waist. We’re all looking at Dad as we sing, everyone except Jett.
His eyes are on me the whole time, and of course, I hadn’t known because I’m completely daft. Seeing the intense gaze I’d missed sends a chill down my spine, and tears spring to my eyes out of nowhere. I clap my hand over my forehead.
“I don’t want to get hurt again, and especially not by him!” I sob.
Mum strokes my hair. “And yet, you’re not willing to keep him at arm’s length anymore, are you? Did he kiss you on the deck when the pool’s camera mysteriously cut out while we were eating lunch at the party? Is that what started all this?”
I groan, not knowing why I bother hiding anything from them, anyway. “Yes! Jesus, Mum!”
“And it must’ve been really good to change the course of your life, Baby.”
“Mum!”
“Well, how life-changing was it?”
“Dad, plug your ears!”
“I will not!”
Suddenly, I’m recalling all the times I prayed for normal parents. With a name like Morningstar, it’s no wonder God didn’t care to answer.
“A thousand percent life altering, all right?” My cheeks begin to pinken but again, these people live for TMI. “It was the best kiss of my life.”
“Well, I’d bloody hope so, his mouth is bigger than Steven Tyler’s.”
“Dad!”
Mum’s eyes narrow. “And you’re sure this isn’t just lust, darling?” I start to pick Mum up out of my bed and escort her to the door as she cackles, Dad getting up to follow her.
“I’m not sure of anything anymore. Why? You think I can sleep with him once and get it out of my system?
That would be super convenient, and no one would get hurt.
Should I try it and let you know how it goes, or maybe write out a play-by-play for you to judge if it’s worth more than a one-nighter? ”
Dad feigns mock horror on his face. “The women in this house are completely mad!” Dad hugs me goodnight, and Mum swats him.
“And you’re not?” Mum rolls her eyes at Dad, then kisses me on the temple before she says, “We trust you, Baby. And I was teasing, all right? Because you wouldn’t have given us this much hell, waterworks and all, if one night was all this was.”
Well, I would surely god damn hope not.