“Goo morng,” he mumbled, his mouth filled with toothpaste. He spit it into the sink so he could speak clearly. “You still mad at me?”
Ignoring his greeting, she walked past the bathroom to her room to put some clothes on. It was then that she saw herself in the mirror, making her want to start crying all over again. Dark circles surrounded her eyes, which were red and bloodshot. Her cheeks were still tearstained, and her beautiful blonde hair was matted and greasy. It was definitely shower time. How could it be that only hours earlier, Nick was saying how beautiful she was?
A tear slipped from her eye. She was confident that she had found her soul mate, but she couldn’t do anything about it because of her damned brother. Oh, well. At least he had let her stay on the tour.
She grabbed a pair of jeans and a baby tee to wear and was pleased to see that Brian was out of the bathroom. A half an hour later, she was ready to take on the day, or at least as ready as she was going to get.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, she found Brian waiting for her in the living room. “You didn’t answer me before. Are you still mad at me?” he asked. Again, she remained silent. “You are. Why are you still mad at me? I apologized.”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” she replied simply. “You’re keeping your best friend and your sister from being happy.”
Brian groaned. “We already discussed that. I told you why I don’t want you two dating. I wouldn’t trust him.”
“Oh, and would you like me to share that information with him?” Madeleine snapped.
“Why do you have to make everything so god damned difficult, Madeleine? You’re being so stubborn!”
She thought for a moment before responding. “Think about it, Bri. How would you react if someone told you that you couldn’t date Leighanne? That’s how I feel right now.”
“At least the relationship between me and Leighanne is legal! That is completely different!”
“Oh, but it isn’t! On the trust issue, I tell you I don’t think you should trust her, but do you listen to me? No, you don’t, because you love her,” Madeleine said.
“Why do you have to be so…ugh! I’m going to get some breakfast,” Brian muttered. He stomped out of the room, leaving Madeleine somewhat satisfied.
A little while after Brian left, there was a knock on the door. “Who’s there?” Madeleine called.
“It’s me, Nick,” came a soft reply.
“Aw, shit,” she muttered. If Brian caught the two of them in the same room alone, there was no way she’d be on the tour for long. Still, she couldn’t just leave him out there. She opened the door and looked at the handsome blonde wistfully, reminding herself she could never have him.
“Hey,” he said quietly.
“Hi. What’s up?” she asked.
“Nothing much. Is Brian here? I wanted to, uh, have a word with him,” Nick said.
“A word with him, huh? Not an argument, I trust?” Madeleine said suspiciously.
“No, of course not an argument. I just wanted to have a little discussion about what happened with us last night,” he answered. “Is he here?”
“No, he went down to breakfast.” She paused. He nodded and made a move to hug her, but she successfully dodged it. “You better go. If he catches me talking to you, we’re both dead.”
“Okay, I understand,” he said. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, memorizing the goddess before him. Then he moved from the doorway. “Mattie?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re still leaving, aren’t you?”
“I don’t think so. Brian said that as long as nothing happens again, he’ll let it slide. Now he expects me to be grateful. Yeah, right!” she grumbled.
Despite how angry he was at Brian, Nick began to defend him, but realized that now was not the time. Madeleine looked upset enough as it was, and there was no point in getting her even more worked up. Instead, he turned and walked down the hallway to go back to his room.