Page 41 of I Hear You

Re: Mads is Rad - A poem

Dear Ender,

You suck. You sck, you suck, you suc.

I hte that you ruined everything. Why did you have to ask me the things you asked me?

Why did you have to write me the most beautiful email I’ve ever read in my life? Why didn’t you just stick to corny, crappy poems?

You suck. But even though you suck, I miss you.

Yours always,

Mads

P.s What did you add to The Sparrow

What the hell? Did she seriously just send this? I look over at Madison and sure enough, she’s trying and failing to shove her phone back in her tiny purse. I read the email again. It’s littered with errors, making me believe even more–she just sent this.

Oh shit, she definitely looks drunk now. She looks wasted. It’s her turn to throw the ball, and she misses by a mile but still celebrates. Caleb, who despite appearing to have been drinking all night long, is nowhere near as drunk as she is. I look at the whiskey bottle he’s been carrying around, and it’s still pretty full. Is he pretending to drink? He definitely notices how drunk Madison is and when her celebration causes her to lose her balance a little, he wraps her arms around her waist to steady her.

“Damn, Mads looks like she’s having fun,” Jesse says, following my gaze.

“What the hell did you call her?” I snap at Jesse.

Jesse recoils and puts his hands up in defense, but I’m not paying attention to him anymore. I notice Madison leaning into Caleb like a limp noodle and I see his hands lower down to her ass. He buries his face in her neck, into all of her soft brown hair that’s hanging loose and wild. Fuck this.

Before Jesse can respond to my outburst and before I even realize what I’m doing, I’m on my feet and over to her in seconds.

“Madison, I think you’ve had enough. Let me drive you home.”

She turns her head to me, still in Caleb's grip.

“But I’m having such a great time,” she slurs, “and I don’t know if there’s enough room in your truck for me and Jackie.”

“Dammit Madison, I am not dating Jackie,” I bite out a little harsher than I mean to.

I don’t like being this way. I don’t enjoy telling her what to do. But, I think Caleb is trying to pull some creepy predator shit by pretending to drink and she’s not in any position to be around him if he is.

“You could have fooled me with the way you were sucking half her face off in the kitchen.”

Fuck. She saw Jackie kissing me. A smile tries to break through on my lips. I shouldn’t be happy, but I am because her anger means she’s jealous. It means she has feelings for me, or at least she has feelings for Henry. I don’t know how she feels about Ender. If her email is any clue, maybe there’s a chance of salvaging this still. I need to come up with a plan to come clean to her. Obviously not now when she likely won’t even remember half of this in the morning. I let out a breath and relax my shoulders.

“Madison, it’s not what you think,” I try to tell her, my voice calmer and softer now.

She ignores me and turns her attention back to Caleb, whose arms she’s still in but who has been smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

“Madison, please,” I beg. “Let me give you a ride home.”

“No!”

She turns to me, crossing her arms.

“In fact, I think I’ll go find another drink.”

She goes to stomp off, but sways and almost trips crashing into me. I catch her before she can take us both down. She giggles and tries to stand up again, but is struggling. Caleb goes to grab for her and that’s when I lose it. I cup one arm under her ass to make sure her dress stays down and throw her over my shoulder.

“Put me down, you jerk!” she wails while beating her tiny fists on my back.

---