Eric- Or I’ll come and get you.
The thought excited me. A rush sparked my blood. When was the last time I’d felt this? When was the last time I’d felt so exhilarated by the prospect of a guy? It felt good to be wading in unknown waters. To feel something real. Did Eric hate me? Maybe. But even if he did, I couldn’t deny that he had just ignited a faint amount of happiness in me that I hadn’t felt in a really, really long time.
I knew it wouldn’t last long, but at least I wasn’t so ruined that I couldn’t feel it again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eric
My guard dropped when the sun went down. Every single night, I found myself sitting in my computer chair, inevitably facing Madeline’s house. Even if I'd turn my chair around and pull it up to my desk, I’d somehow swivel back and be left staring at her bright room with the flowing curtains again.
I kept catching small glimpses of her. Her blonde hair would snag my attention like a spotlight, and I'd sit up a little taller in hopes she’d be having some crazy fit of a nightmare and I’d have an excuse to run over there.
Usually, when that thought would filter in, I’d have a sobering realization that what I was doing was purely selfish and totally out of character. I didn’t care about many people, especially not her, so to be wrapped up in her shit was a big step off the what-the-fuck-are-you-doing cliff.
But it seemed no matter how many times I’d told myself she didn’t matter to me, and that she was a callous bitch who cared about no one other than herself, I still found myself revisiting the past, wondering why she had turned against everyone.
I deserved an Emmy for the acting I’d performed all week at school, pretending that I was back to hating her. Even Hayley and Piper got onto my case when I’d laughed as one of my old hookups “dropped” food all over her lap. But when it was just Madeline and me, at our houses, all alone with only a simple patch of grass in between us, my guard completely vanished.
I craved to be in her vicinity.
I forgot why I hated her. I forgot that she left me behind years ago. And I realized that, despite her tears and nightmare-inducing screams, she was probably one of the strongest people I knew.
Madeline thrived on being independent. She pushed everyone away and still stood tall.
Then, here I was, waiting for her to grace me with her very presence so we could take a fucking stroll down memory lane together with an old game of one-on-one. Stupid.
I snapped to attention as I heard the opening and closing of her front door and then again as she walked underneath the moonlight. I ran my gaze down her body, lingering on the tight black leggings she was wearing that no doubt made her ass even rounder. Her long blonde hair fell down in waves over her shoulders, and her lips were glossy, as if she’d put on some lip gloss before coming down.
“Trying to impress me?” I asked with a smirk, feeling right at home with my teasing.
“No. Why?” she asked, putting her hands into her hoodie pocket. Her eyes darted away, and I knew right then that I was right.
I lifted a shoulder, holding the basketball under my arm casually. “You just look like you spent some time getting ready before coming down here.”
Madeline’s blue eyes sparked, and I felt the jolt. Her little hands graced her hips. “Is that your roundabout way of telling me I look good, Eric?”
I wasn’t sure I liked the way my name sounded on her lips. Actually, I wasn’t sure I liked the way my dick liked the way my name sounded on her lips.
“Trust me, Maddie.” I inched an eyebrow up. I ran my gaze down her body again before locking eyes. “You’d know if I thought you looked good.”
Her mouth opened with an audible gasp.
I spun around fast, putting my back to her to shoot the basketball like I wasn’t at all affected by her sexy little frame. It was her eyes that did it. I watched them come to life as a shotty remark tumbled out of her mouth, and I liked it. I liked it too much.
Maybe there were some parts of the bitchy Madeline that I liked. Maybe I’d take a
mixture of the two.
“You can be a real jerk, Eric. You know that?”
“Only to you.” I threw the ball her way without allowing my lips to creep into a smirk. I had to give myself props. I was damn good at dissing her when need be.
Though, on the inside, it was a goddamn war zone of unshed feelings, hidden memories, and lustful thoughts all ambushing me from every fucking angle.
“Why am I even down here?” She rolled her pretty eyes that glittered right along with the stars above our heads. “Why aren’t you out with your friends? Or at some frat party with college girls? Huh? Is tormenting me really that fun?”
She was right. I should have been with my friends or at some frat party, but I was no longer welcome at Jesse’s frat house—something about breaking his frat brother’s nose. Whatever.