Page 41 of Love me, Maddie Mendoza

“Thought that I’d hate on some innocent girl for no good reason?” Maddie sounded appalled, but I knew better than to believe it.

“Catalina Garcia is anything but innocent.”

My eyebrows shot up, and Maddie followed my lead. I could see she wasn’t ready to let it go, but Aisha interrupted us with the next task.

“Christmas Carol.” It was the only two words she spoke. Words powerful enough to make us all groan, even Maddie.

Nick unlocked the car so we could pile in. “Come on, we need drinks if we are going to do this.”

So, we left the car behind and walked to the nearest college bar. It was our best option, to get so drunk the idea of caroling wasn’t dreadful anymore. As expected, things got better as we drank beer, like they usually did. By the fifth glass, we were actually looking forward to it.

Maddie and Aisha were planning a playlist, like people would listen to us for more than a second. Nick and I were fighting over who got to film it and be absent from the singing.

The girls made us sing to determine who had the worse singing voice. Right there in the bar, one by one, we took turns. I knew Nick was trying to be bad on purpose, but he had too good of a singing voice to fool anyone. Jason started shaky - faking as well- but the song took over. He was a child raised with musical theater, it was hard to ignore his roots. I won, easily.

We stumbled our way to the nearest neighborhood, armed with a karaoke version ofSilent Night, after much convincing thatLet it Gowasn’t a Christmas song. Jason was still sulking. Aisha went ahead with Jason, laughing at his antics as Nick followed them, in a better mood than he started the night. Maddie hung back with me, her hands around my mid-section, her head on my chest.

“Tell me you’re having a good time.” She requested.

“Now that I’m drunk enough…” I started, and she slapped me straight to the chest. We both laughed. “Calm down, Mad Max, I’m having fun. I’m about to have a great time filming you all singing.”

“Don’t make too much fun of us.”

“Do you think you can sing just for me?” I fished my phone from my pocket. “I want to save it as a ringtone.”

She laughed loudly, as it happened when she had more than a couple of drinks. “I’d sing for you if you like me to sing. But it has to be one of our songs.”

We had plenty of songs through the years, some because it played when something great happened, some because they were our favorite to dance to. I imagined all great friendships were forged that way; memories glued together, paving a distinct path that only two people could walk on. My life with Maddie was like that. I didn’t know where I ended and she began; I forgot if the jokes were mine or hers. Our friends were mixed and our enemies were the same. We were vines that found each other intertwined to thrive. Two orange trees with tangled branches.

Aisha knocked on the door with a winning smile. We were right to put her up front. If anyone could convince someone to listen to us, it was Aisha.

The woman behind the number seventeen of the random street we chose blinked at the group of us smiling brightly at her. I stepped away from Maddie’s arms to the side so I could film.

“We’d love to sing to you.” Aisha smiled.

“Sing?”

“If you could just stay there, we can start.” Everyone took formation right behind Aisha.

“I’m busy I…” The woman jerked her thumb into her house’s direction.

“It will only take a minute and will brighten up your night.” Aisha guaranteed, and I scoffed because I was pretty sure they couldn’t hold a note.

“I’m sorry, but why do you want to sing for me?”

“To wish you a good night, of course.” It was replied like the most logical thing in the world. “Don’t you think music is healing Mrs.…?”

“Mrs. Dawson.”

“Don’t you believe music is healing, Mrs. Dawson? Why wouldn’t you want something so wonderful right on your doorstep? It’s a gift.”

The woman opened her mouth and closed and again and again like a fish. Someone needed to stop Aisha Marten, she could rule the world too easily. Without the protest of the poor woman, Aisha cleared her throat and startedSilent Night.

I recorded as the others joined in. Aisha and Nick took the lead. The nicest voices. Jason and Maddie were good, too. Not that the challenge required anyone who knew how to sing, but it felt right not to traumatize poor Mrs. Dawson.

When the song ended, the woman was baffled. She regarded us like we were lunatics. If the request to sing a song was odd, the choice ofSilent Nightwas enough to confuse her even further. Eventually, after ten seconds of silence, Aisha thanked her and everyone moved along.

The house door closed without words from its owner. I gave the phone to Maddie, who was already sending it to the organizers. While our video was in line to be viewed, we walked away from the house, a sense of completion coming over us.

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