"Meeting the friends tonight, huh?" Eva asked from the open doorway.

Madeline turned to see her friend decked out. Eva's blonde hair was curled and clipped to one side. Her makeup was perfectly done, with black eyeliner that accentuated her pale blue eyes, and a red lipstick her mom always called 'whore red', for no real reason Madeline was aware of. Her black leather pants hugged her body perfectly, and her silver tassel top glistened in the room's light. But she'd be regretting those black spiky heels in no time.

"I'm guessing your plans are a bit more exciting than mine."

Eva's red lips curved up only for a moment, then fell back into place. "Travis was supposed to come home with me for Thanksgiving. We were going to leave tomorrow. Then he pussied out and bailed. So I'm going out to work him out of my system. You and Elijah should join me after the dinner."

"I don't drink," Madeline reminded her. Every couple of months, she joined her friends out at a club at their insistence, and every time, Madeline absolutely hated it.

Eva shrugged. "I know, but you might have more fun if lover boy comes with. Unless you were planning on enjoying a quiet night in after your dinner. With everyone else already gone for the holiday, you'd have the house all to yourselves. Anything happen between the two of you yet?"

Madeline went back to finishing her own makeup. "Nothing's happened, and nothing's going to. We're friends, Eva."

"Didn't your long-term high school boyfriend start out as a friend?" Eva asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yup. And that was a crash and burn." Because Marty had turned into a dick whenever Elijah's name ended up passing between her lips.

Maybe he'd just been a jealous asshole, or maybe Marty had seen something Madeline hadn't seen herself. There was a stronger possibility of that than she cared to admit. If she reacted back, then the way she did now when she thought or spoke of Elijah, Marty had every right to feel the way he did about Elijah. Still, he had no right to say what he did that night.

Marty had begged her to forgive him, and Madeline had. But the damage was done, and with them going to different colleges, there was little point in salvaging the relationship. She'd never been able to look at him the same after that; after he'd dared cast doubt on Madeline's value to Elijah.

"You're seriously comparing 'sex on a stick Elijah' to 'stick-in-the-mud Marty'? Those two couldn't possibly be more different. You forget, I've met Marty twice now. He's not just a tool, he's a possessive fuck nugget who followed you around like a lovesick puppy dog and glared holes at any guy who dared speak to you.

"Honestly, I only wish I could be there when those two meet. Because you just know Marty's going to act all tough when he sees you with Elijah at that festival thing you took me to freshman year, and that will not end well for him. He's going to get his ass handed to him and get knocked down the bottom peg. And that, my good friend, will be fucking glorious."

"God, I can't wait to meet this guy," Elijah spoke before entering her doorway. When he was spotted, he put his hands up in the air. "I'm not eavesdropping, and it isn't my fault you don't have a bedroom door."

That was obnoxious. Because her bedroom was an attic that'd been converted into an additional bedroom, there was no actual door. She had the peak of the house to herself, so her bedroom was three times the size of everyone else's and she had her own bathroom. So there were perks and setbacks.

Once Elijah looked at her, his defensive hands fell to his sides, and something in his smile shifted. "You look gorgeous, Maddie."

She'd been getting ready for the last half hour, so she certainly hoped so. Half her wardrobe was spread across the bed, the other half kept neatly put away once she decided on her black sweater dress. A little more cleavage than she was used to showing, but she felt like dynamite on the few occasions she'd found to wear it. Plus, that was the only patch of skin that showed since the dress had long sleeves and fell to her ankles. Paired with a wide red belt, her North Star necklace and black ankle boots, his compliment was well earned.

Still, since Madeline wasn't used to dressing up often, a blush crept across her cheeks as she pulled her long curls over to one side. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," Elijah answered with a laugh, taking a few steps deeper into the room. "I'm already regretting bringing you to a dinner filled with guys."

"See, when he acts all possessive, it's sexy," Eva pointed out, then turned her attention back to Elijah. "And speaking of sexy, I gotta say, Elijah, you clean up damn well."

He really did. She'd seen Elijah clean cut for her parents' arrival, but since Monday, she'd seen him go from worth clothes covered in sawdust and sweat, to pajama bottoms and a t-shirt.

Tonight he was wearing a button-up black shirt with the sleeves rolled up that hugged his upper body perfectly while not making him look douchey about it, a black belt, and dark pressed jeans. And of course he was wearing his glasses, despite him usually wearing contacts until bedtime. Why? Because she'd admitted she liked the look of them. And damn if they didn't fit perfectly with the rest of him.

Elijah looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thank you, Eva," he muttered, accepting her toned-down compliment. "You ready to go?"

Madeline gave him a nod, dropped her favorite shade of lipstick into her purse, double checked to make sure her mascara had left no smudges, and grabbed her black peacoat. "Yup. Have a good night, Eva."

"You kids have fun," she called out as they left the room. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

That was the joke, since there was little Eva wouldn't do.

"So, are you going to bail me out of jail next weekend?" Elijah asked as they descended the first staircase.

"Huh?"

"By the sounds of it, your ex is going to try pushing every button he shouldn't push, and I don't know how much self-restraint I'll be able to muster once the time comes. I'm assuming your parents will front me the money if I can't help myself and punch him in the face."

Once they completed the first round of steps, Madeline turned to him. "Please don't beat up Marty. You're a sore enough topic for him as it is."

A smile drifted across his lips. "Am I, now?"

She began her descent down the next flight of stairs, keeping her eyes in front of her so she wouldn't have to look at Elijah. "We broke up the night of graduation, and I think you remember what else happened that day. He expected me to be all fun at the party, and when I told him why I was distracted, he had a fit. Said he was tired of playing second fiddle to you."

"Bullshit," Elijah said behind her. "Quit giving me the PG version of it and tell me what he really said."

Once her boots hit the ground of the first floor, Madeline let out a heavy breath, closing her eyes before she spoke the words. "He said that he was tired of competing with you. That you didn't give a shit about me, and you didn't see me while you were in town because you didn't want to. That how I wait for you to come back into my life was pathetic. Said a bunch of other shit, so I dumped him in front of everyone.

"He was drunk," Madeline tried to explain. "I know that's not an excuse, but him and I were friends for a long time before we started dating. He felt like crap about it the next day, but the damage was already done. It took a while to salvage any sort of friendship, and even then it barely exists."

When Madeline turned toward the door, Elijah grabbed her arm. "You said that he said a bunch of other shit. What was it, Maddie?"

Madeline gave him a pleading look, but his own didn't waver. Instead, he stared back at her intently, looking as if he'd stand there waiting all night if he had to. She wanted to get out of telling him, but if Madeline hoped for his honesty, even with the uncomfortable things he wasn't used to sharing, she had to do the same for him.

"We were supposed to, you know..." Madeline wasn't certain how to phrase it.

Yet Elijah had no problems filling in the blanks. "That was supposed to be your first time that night." He hadn't said it as a question.

Madeline nodded. "It never felt right with him. I'd made Marty wait for so long, and when I backed out of prom night, I agreed on graduation. When I told him I didn't want to that night, and he found out why I was in such a weird mood, that's when that other conversation happened."

"And then?" Elijah prompted, dropping her arm from his grasp.

She let out a heavy breath and forced the words out of her mouth. "Then he said I wouldn't give it up to him, because I was waiting around for you. Said I'd probably give it to you the moment you walked back into my life while he's been waiting for over two years. And that's when I dumped him, and went to the movies with my friend Claire. That's it."

"Thank you for telling me," Elijah said. "Now I won't feel bad at all when I kick his ass."