Page 90 of Love me, Maddie Mendoza

“What?” Her eyes widened. “No! You’re saying it wrong!”

“How can I say the word nice wrong?”

“Nice.” She tried it again.

“Nice.” I copied her.

Maddie rolled her eyes. “No, not like that. You’re saying it like nice is bad.”

I couldn’t anymore, so I shook my head. “Just tell me why you couldn’t say anything to me since nice isn’t bad.”

“In this case, nice is…” she gulped. “Amazing.”

“You can go on. I like good praise.”

Maddie slapped my shoulder. “I was worried to tell you because we never did that before.”

I accepted. “Well, sure, people do new things every day.”

I was downplaying it massively. But I didn’t want her to freak out, or to feel like it was a mistake. And sure as hell, I didn’t want her to feel ashamed.

“It was nice.” I added. Maddie looked at me and I smiled.

“Still sounds wrong the way you’re saying it.”

We laughed. A second went by and we remained quiet. Neither made a move to leave the car. The parking lot was empty, classes were already starting, and Maddie and I were sitting there, saying nothing.

“It wasn’t bad, because it wasn’t…” she tried without facing me. “Maybe it’s something we can do again sometime.”

I swallowed.

“What do you think?” She wanted an answer.

I dared to look her way. “Yeah, we can do it again,” I strangled out.

She nodded and left the car.

Professor Walter’s voice drifted through the air. I was barely paying attention. I tried to concentrate, but my gaze kept going back to Maddie and the small hairs on her neck. The little strands that she couldn’t contain in the two thick braids she wore.

By her side, Aisha threw her a whispered comment that made Maddie giggle. And that giggle. The damn innocent sound was enough to raise all the hair on my arm. It was a one-way street. The giggles got a reaction out of me, just like her moans. And once I thought about the delicious noises she made last night, I could think of little else.

Was I allowed to touch her now? Christ, I got dizzy with the possibilities.

I darted my gaze from Maddie’s neck back to the lecture.

Notes. Yeah, I should have been taking notes.

With the excuse of being a good student, I leaned left, trying to get a good look at Maddie’s notes. As usual, she was drinking every word that came out of Walter’s mouth, typing on her laptop so quickly, her hands were blurs in front of the screen.

I read through the first paragraph of her notes and started to copy it until she turned a little to the side. “Stop copying my work.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I whispered.

“That’s not a good way to convince me.”

I chuckled, and Maddie shook her head, turning back around. I was never completely depending on Maddie for my grades, but she was smarter than me. So yes, I was known to occasionally copy her notes or ask for her help for an upcoming test.

My eyes found the hairs down her neck again, and I asked without thinking, “What’s a way to convince you?” The hairs danced under my warm breath, causing Maddie to still.

---