Page 120 of Love me, Maddie Mendoza

Ten minutes later, the headlights announced the Mendozas’ return. Maddie and her family went for dinner in Silvia’s restaurant for the celebration and they invited Aisha and her family, too.

I needed her in a good mood, and what better mood than after having dinner at Silvia’s?

I waited quietly, wishing she’d see I wasn’t above begging. Thankfully, the candles drew her attention, and instead of going straight to her parents through the front door, she peaked to the side and caught me waiting.

Like I imagined, the dress under her graduation gown was to die for. Showing off her curves, it covered her like a second skin in the most alive lime yellow. Her hair was down, full of volume, and she weaved flowers in between the curls. She was so beautiful.

I pushed back from the tree and straightened my spine.

“Maddie?” I heard Xio calling.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Maddie replied without taking her eyes off me.

Their front door closed in a soft thud. Maddie moved toward me.

“What’s this?”

Her eyes were on the trees, darting from one picture to the next. She blinked in wonder, taking a picture and turning to show me.

I chuckled. “That was when I convinced you to ride the rollercoaster with me.”

Our picture was taken in the amusement park during the ride. I laughed happily with my hands up in the air as Maddie looked completely terrified.

“I don’t regret puking on your feet one bit.”

I laughed. She told me that many times. She hated rollercoasters and never went on one again.

“This?” she asked, examining another photo.

“That was our brilliant business, Pretty Soap.”

She giggled. When we were twelve, Maddie came up with an infallible plan to get our own business off the ground by making homemade soaps and annoying our family and neighbors until they bought it. It lasted two whole weeks before going under.

She looked at more pictures. One after the other, she smiled with memories. The one right in the middle, Maddie took between her fingers and sighed. “Prom.”

It was a picture of us hugging at the after party. I hated we didn’t go together. That picture of us drunk at the after party was the only memory we had together. The rest of the time we were with our dates. Adam and a girl I couldn’t even remember now.

“Heather,” Maddie said like she was reading my mind. “You forgot her name even a day after you went out.” I lifted a shoulder. I should feel bad, but I couldn’t even remember if Heather was a nice person or not.

Maddie looked at that picture a little longer, our smiles to the camera while a party raged behind us.

“You were wrong.” She finally said, letting the picture go and turning to me. “I know it might seem like what happened to us was messy and wrong.” She shook her head.

I opened my mouth to agree that I was in fact wrong, but she never let me have a word in. “Remember when I said when I slept with Adam senior year?”

Maddie sleeping with other guys wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to go about the conversation, but I nodded. She licked her lips. “I said I was waiting for someone that I wanted to stay in bed more than I wanted to meet you and tell you all about it. Do you remember that?”

I did.

Maddie took a step closer. “That guy doesn’t exist. There’s no one I want to talk to more than you. I’ve always loved you.” She stepped closer again. “I didn’t know it. But we kissed and…” she twisted her mouth. “Things changed, Z. And I know you think it was because I was fragile, but I wasn’t that sad about Peter.” I couldn’t help but snort. She kept going. “And yes, I was right in the middle of everything with mom… I…” Her voice lowered. “I’m so sorry I told you about mom’s cancer after we had sex. It was awful. I understand why you thought I was using you to distract myself.”

I gulped. “You never need to explain yourself.”

“I know, I know.” She nodded. “But I want you to know it was just bad timing on my part. I’d wanted to have sex with you for a long time. You were very difficult to seduce.” I laughed, she poked me in the chest. “Playing hard to get. Honestly, Z, that kind of attitude won’t fly with me.”

“I promise I will make myself more available in the future.”

She chuckled and came closer. My hands ran up to her arm, taking in the feel of her skin under my palms. I got a whiff of her scent. The smell of oranges was overwhelming. “How the hell are you always smelling like oranges, Maddie?”

---