Elijah's POV:

"Noah can I talk to you for a second?" I stopped him just as he was about to go inside the class for his next lecture.

He nodded, moving aside from the door to give people space to go in and to give me a chance to talk.

"Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head no.

"I just wanted to thank you for giving me a chance to join you guys on the double date"

"It was a risk I was willing to take just to see Madi happy, and I think it worked because whether she realized it or not she was smiling the whole time, and so were you"

I nodded, smiling.

"She's different, a good kind of different. Something about her lures me in and I have the urge to get to know her. I know I might not be making sense because none of this makes sense to me as well, but this seems like the only way to get myself some answers"

He smiled, nodding at my answer. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it pausing his words, seeming to be in deep thought of something.

"Lauren and I are going on a date this weekend"

I looked at him confused.

Why would this take him a while to let out?

"Just hear me out"

I hummed okay.

"Whenever Lauren and I go on a date, Madi uses the time she gets on her own to try something new. She has this thing, a bucket list, so each time we go on a date, she crosses something off her list. She does simple things so we won't have to worry about her, and whenever she wants to do something adventurous, one of us goes with her, but this time she's doing something that lists as dangerous in my opinion. So I want you to go with her"

I smirked.

"Are you trying to set us up again?"

"I'm just trying to help my brother reach his goal, and getting two people happy in the mean way is an addition, plus you don't seem to mind so much being set up especially when it comes to Madi" he wiggled his eyebrows at the last part.

I didn't get the double meaning behind some of his words but I shrugged it off for now. Thanking him, I headed for the library to get some things done before my next lecture.

I had more than enough time, already finishing everything and left with half an hour to the lecture. I got out my phone and went for Madison's name.

"What's up pretty lady?"

Mason would be proud of me if he saw me texting like that, I sound almost like him.

God, I dislike talking to her like that, she deserves someone who talks to her like a gentleman, but this is something that needs to be done. I need to know if this is heading somewhere, I need to know why I'm interested into knowing her all of the sudden.

"Just walking around waiting for my next lecture" she replied a minute later.

Right, the only lecture we have together.

"So how are you doing on this fine day?"

I genuinely wanted to know how she is, the screaming didn't happen the last time she was sleeping over so that must be a good sign.

"It really is a fine day, spring works really well with me, so I'm great. How about you and are you going to tell me who you are anytime soon?"

I smiled.

"You're right, spring really is a good season, and I'm doing better just by talking to you. It's still too early for step two so in that regard tell me something about yourself"

I really should work on my flirting skills, god I suck in that area.

"Step two? And what do you want to know?"

"The step where we get on name basis, and just tell me something personal about you. The first thing that comes to your mind, sky's the limit"

"But that's not fair, you already know my name"

I chuckled at the image of her probably pouting, maybe even stomping. A cute little habit of hers that I noticed lately.

"Well life's not fair babe and that's why you got to answer my question without any objections, you'll know who I am when the right time comes"

"And when is that?"

I smirked.

"You'll know it when I tell you my name"

"Such a stubborn and a tease. Fine you win once again, I like chocolate a lot, obsessed even"

I don't think I've ever smiled that much when talking to a girl.

"Well I like strawberry, obsessed even, so good thing they go well together because I think so will we"

"Cheesy, aren't we now. Well I got to go to my class now or I'll be late, we'll talk later"

Shit I need to go too.

"Talk to you later then. Good bye for now pretty lady"

I packed my things and hurried for my class.

Things went by smoothly, and days passed by quickly even though the anxiety didn't help, but taking glances at Madison throughout my days did make them easier as well as the anonymous me talking to her.

Noah never told Madison about his plan and that's how it ended up with me by her door step surprising her and having to explain everything myself.

I fixed my shirt, smoothing it one last time before knocking on the door. Madison's mom opened the door and beamed at me.

"Elijah, how are you doing? It's been a while since my godson came for a visit" I shook my head smiling, Aunt Hailee never failed to remind me of that.

"Aren't I a little too old to still be called that?"

"Never, you'll always be my baby godson" she messed my hair teasingly.

She always thought of me and Noah as her children, something that seems to be weird lately for me now that I've taken an unknown interest in Madison.

"And you'll always be my second mother. So is Madison ready, I'm here to pick her up"

"She's in her room getting ready, but she didn't tell me that she's going out with you" she gave me a confused glance.

"That's because it's a surprise"

"Then go surprise her, you know where her room is" she grinned at her words.

I nodded and went in, heading to Madison's room.

I knocked twice before I heard Madison yell 'Come in mom' from inside. Taking that as a yes, even though it wasn't meant for me, I went in.

Madison was coming out of her walk in closet as I was inside and immediately shot me a confused look.

"Elijah? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to escort you to your adventure of today's"

"Did Noah send you to babysit me?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Something like that" I smirked.

If only she knew she was being set up. She'd probably kill both Noah and I.

"I'm gonna kill him, I told him I wasn't doing anything dangerous" she muttered to herself groaning.

She looked at me, thinking of something "There's no way to escape out of this and pretend you actually went with me the next day?"

"Nope, I'm not one to back out on my promises"

"Fine, let's go then"

She walked ahead of me, leaving me trailing after her yet once again.

I got in the car next to her and told Max to start driving feeling history repeat itself.

Hopefully this time would be even better than the last time.

"What is it with you and being driven around?" Madison broke the silence all of the sudden.

"I'm a terrible driver" I shrugged my lie smoothly.

"So where are we going, Max needs to know where he's heading?" I continued before she'd question more about my driving or start sensing my lie.

"Long Island, Brook-haven Airport. It's quite a ride but you can't say anything since you wanted to join along"

I nodded and repeated the address to Max. I didn't mind the drive since we started early and it isn't even 10 yet.

"So is this the place that would lead to your adventure Madi?" I tried to open a conversation as it's been a while since any of us said something.

"Don't call me that, only my close friends do"

"Then how about I make a deal with you. You call me Eli because I have a feeling we will end up being close and you let me call you Madi when you feel we reached that level"

"That confident?"

I nodded.

"Okay, you got yourself a deal Eli, even though if I were you I wouldn't be that confident"

I smiled, I liked it better when she called me Eli, made me feel even closer to her. She's right though, not everyone calls people by their nicknames unless they're close.

"Only time will tell. So what are we doing in Brook-haven Airport?"

"Skydiving" she muttered.

I chocked on my breath "And you call that safe?!"

Now I know why Noah asked me to join her, he was killing two birds in one stone, I thought he was only using it as an excuse.

The ride took a while, just like Madison had said, and somewhere along the way both Madison and I fell asleep.

Max woke me when we reached our destination and I wish he didn't, looking at Madison right now. She fell asleep on my shoulder and my head was leaning against hers. I had no idea how we ended up that way, but cuddling became my favorite thing suddenly.

It reminded me of the night we fell asleep as we were watching Grown Ups. Her sleeping body cuddled to mine on its own and she spent the whole night keeping her body next to mine.

I smiled at the memory as I started waking up Madison. She immediately pushed herself away from me, yawning until she was fully awake.

Starting to miss her warmth, I forced myself out of the car. The air seemed to be getting hot in there all of the sudden. Madison followed and went for the first person she saw asking for directions.

We were led indoor and to the first counter on the left. We registered ourselves since we hadn't booked earlier and were escorted to a small airplane.

Being first time jumpers, two men went along with us. We were giving instructions and safety protocols immediately as the plane started to ascend.

Once the plane reached the altitude needed, we were each set to dive with a man, who turned out to be an instructor.

I wasn't a fan of heights and the fall seemed to be long, but I wasn't going to leave Madison to do it alone, being her first time.

I took one last glance at Madison to make sure she still wanted to do it, but the wide smile on her face gave me the answer I needed.

Madison went first, screaming in joy along the way, and I followed. The wind hit my face and even though I was wearing goggles, I had a feeling it didn't help even though it actually did. Adrenaline was rushing through my entire body and even though they said it would feel like floating, it didn't right now.

I guess I wasn't enjoying it as much as Madison was.

I took a glance at her at the thought and she really was enjoying it. Enough to the fact that she was taking pictures of herself right now.

The instructor deployed the parachute and it took us about 10 minutes to land, which felt like years to me. It was like landing a plane, and for a second I wanted to kiss the ground once we reached it.

Madison was jumping in excitement as I unhooked myself from what seemed like a belt.

She ran to me and hugged me "That was amazing!"

"It was something" I was barely able to breathe as I struggled to even my breathing.

"You were scared, weren't you?" she teased, laughing.

"I went to hell and back"

She laughed hard this time.

"Then why did you do it?"

I stared at her for a while before finding the right words, words that left my mouth without thinking.

"I didn't want you to be on your own on your first time"

I would go to hell and back over and over again when it comes to her, the question is why?

...................................