I turn and look up to see Christian standing by the door. I don't say anything as I see him close it behind him and enter the dim lit room.
"What are you doing here?" I breathe out tiredly.
"Got a call from the hospital, guess I'm still saved as an emergency number." He says nervously taking a few steps towards me.
I can't stand looking at him so I rather face my mother again. "You're not supposed to be here Christian. I got the restraining order for a reason."
"Look at me." I hear his gentle voice. "Maddie."
Look at me... I said fucking look at me!
I flinch when I feel him touching my shoulder, and a second later his hand slowly moves away. "W-what happened to mom?"
I sigh still not looking at him.
"Tell me please. Is it something serious? Maybe I can help."
Tell me you love me. Say it Madison!
"No." My face stern and voice sharp as I stand up facing him. "It's time for you to leave."
Christian's eyes grow big as he stands there in shock. He looks down at my mother before meeting my eyes. "I really wanna make things right with you, but if you need space then that's fine. Call me if you need anything." He heads back to the door but before he opens it he turns back. "You're important to me, Madison."
His soft brown eyes almost makes me believe him.
I just stand there watching him leave the room. I walk closer to the window that's next to the door and look at him in the hallway through the grey shaded blinds. Some nurses walk by blocking my view but then I see him once again.
He walks closer to a little boy sitting on one of the chairs in the aisle. He crouches down at the boy smiling as they share a quick high-five before picking him up in his arms and walking further down until I can't see him anymore.
I frown. That's strange.
Who is that boy? And why did he suddenly pick him up?
...
"Ugh!" Where's my apartment keys?
I've been searching in my bag for the past twenty minutes hoping I will find them but when I don't I annoyingly throw my bag on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk.
I've lost everything that's important to me and now I loose my keys too.
Just great!
"You can stop now! You win, you fucking win!" I frustrately shout out looking up at the dark sky, earning a couple glances from people around me. They must think I'm out of my mind but I can't care about that right now.
I pick my things up and walk off to wherever my feet takes me but I stop taking my phone out wanting to call Whitney, but then I remember her son and husband is out of town for the weekend, a hotel in this city is to expensive, and if I call Carl right now I bet he wouldn't even pick up.
Let's give it a try shall we?
I find his number and press the call button. I'm waiting... Still waiting, and then it went straight to voice mail.
Shit.
You're important to me, Madison.
Should I?
I find his contact but hesitate tapping on the call button.
Call me if you need anything.
His caring voice rings in my ears. He can be sweet when he wants to be, but no thanks, I'm fine. I'm not going back to him.
I stand still, my thoughts all jambled. Today was just awful. I woke up awful, went to the park and got harassed by some weirdo but then...
Nathan was there and...saved me?
He did and he drove me all the way to the hospital which was kind of him.
I know where he live. Maybe I should-
No! That would be too weird. But I don't have anywhere to go and I'm really exhausted right now. My heavy eyes just wants to sleep.
Okay, fine. I'm hailing a cab.
...
"Hi, what can I help you with?" The lady behind the desk greets me with a smile.
I nervously bite my lip leaning in closer to her. "Hi, I need to speak with Nathan Lane. Is he here?"
This is just sad.
The lady frowns. "Are you related to him in some way?" She asks looking me up and down, and it makes me a little self-conscious since I don't look the best right now.
"Yeah, I'm his second cousin." I internally slap myself for lying to her. "Can you just call him, it's very very very urgent. We were supposed to uh discuss a family matter. And time cannot be wasted." I say confidently obviously cringing at my own words.
She reaches for the phone. "Right, Madam. You can take a seat over there while I try to reach him." A nervous smile on her red lips.
I take my guilty seat while I wait.
Will he even come down? Honestly, I don't think so. If he doesn't then I'll probably go to Christian.
I gaze around the hotel lobby and it is just beautiful, very elegant with the gold furniture and shiny marble floors, and an indoor water fountain. There's a restaurant and bar area right next to the stairs with a more dark toned theme.
We're clearly from two different worlds.
I feel a pair of eyes on me and look up to see who it is. There he stands, looking at me.
I stand up finally reaching him. "I-i."
No words can form if I don't know what to say to this man. It was a mistake to come here.
"It's okay." Nathan takes my hand in his guiding me into the elevator.
The receptionist looks at me funny.
I can't say anything, I don't know what to say. As we going up the air between us is so quiet, and I realized that our hands is still clasped together. I look up at him waiting for him to let go. But he doesn't.
"Uhm, Nathan." I motion to our hands and he clears his throat instantly letting go.
I close my hand suddenly missing the warmth he gave me.
...
Nathan~~
Thoughts begins to race through my mind.
What was going to happen now?
This afternoon was a different story because I had to do something, I had to help her. But now? I haven't thought that far.
Footsteps from the hallway snaps me out of my thinking process as I watch Madison emerge in the kitchen. The pair of sweats and black t-shirt I gave her fits abit loosely on her but somehow she made it work.
I hadn't really noticed until now, but Madison was so small compared to me. I study how her hair is now tied up in a messy bun. She was actually pretty attractive.
"What? Is something wrong?" She asks not meeting my eyes, feeling the heat of my gaze.
I clear my throat whilst shaking my head. "No." I tell her. "Come here." I try speaking nicely, but it came out more like an order. She didn't mind though and walks over anyways.
"Drink this." I place down a warm cup of hot chocolate in front of her. Her brown eyes darts up towards mine.
"Thanks." She takes a seat on the island chair. Gently blows before taking a sip.
Madison told me a while ago that she lost her keys to her apartment, she thinks she lost it at the park when that guy bumped into her and that she has nowhere else to go.
"You can stay here tonight, if you want of course." I say to her realizing that she really needs this right now. She looks like she's been through hell and I still don't know what happened at the hospital. "Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?"
She tightly grips the white cup in her hands. "Uhm, my mother's in the hospital. She had a seizure." She looks away from my eyes. "It was just so sudden."
I find myself feeling sorry for her. A month ago at the bar she told me she also went through a rough divorce but I don't know if she was telling the truth or just spilling over words because she was drunk, but I wasn't at the time so I remember.
There's a minute of silence between us before I speak.
"I'm sorry you went through that." She looks up at me and I finally see her watery eyes. I take a deep breath in.
"Are you hungry?" I carefully ask.
Madison shakes her head. "No, I'm fine thanks." She gives me a small smile. "You helped me today, thank you Nathan."
I nod at her. "Sure."
"You should take the bed, I'll take the couch." I say motioning to the living room. Eventhough I have a bad back, I think she wants some privacy. I only have one guest bedroom and it's already Lidith's.
"No no it's okay, I'll sleep here." She begins to protest but I shake my head.
The situation that we're in right now is somehow nostalgic. A month ago she was in between my sheets and I remember waking up next to her thinking what the hell, but now we've maybe built some type of relationship? I don't know, but I know for sure I don't want her sleeping on the couch.
"Just take the bed Madison-"
"I'll feel bad if you have to sleep on the couch. It's your bed."
She's right. It is my bed and after today's events I'd really like to lay in my comfortable paradise. "Maybe we can share?" I ask and she looks up shocked. "Don't worry I won't touch you."
She can trust me.
She looks down thinking. "Okay." She whispers.
As we getting ready to get in bed Madison suddenly takes the extra blanket, rolls it up and places it in between us.
I frown. "What are you doing?"
"It's a barrier. Don't cross it." She demands.
"Why in the world would I cross it? When I watch her glare at me... It all makes sense. I allow a grin to grow on my lips. "You really think I want to have sex with you?"
Her jaw drops and she looks at me with surprise and disbelief. "I didn't realize you were that much of an asshole." She frowns after collecting herself from her shock.
Yeah, I'm not good with women. I shouldn't have said that.
I wait for her to turn and storm off as my ex fiancée always did after she called me an asshole. But I admit I'm surprised when she only turns her head in defiance, but still pulls back the covers and climbs in. Sighing, I just lay back down feeling terrible for what I just said to her.
I left the 'barrier' she put in place and just tried to drift off to sleep.
"Nathan?" I hear her soft whisper.
I groan lightly. "Hm?"
It was silent for a moment, then I finally hear her voice once again.
"Thank you."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." I casually say.
She whispers once again. "You're not as bad as I thought." She yawns. "Goodnight."
I couldn't help a small smile form on my lips.