«Madeline's POV»

This was it. I was finally going home, after about an entire month of not seeing my family. I'll admit, I was scared out of my mind. My dad was probably going to explode. He was going to beat me, I could just picture it.

Lux would be nowhere to be found, lost without my guidance. Dad would be a wreck, in the bedroom-converted-to-office with bags under his eyes, staring at the computer without even blinking.

A month ago, I would've just pictured Flynn saying, 'Are the bags under his eyes Gucci?' and that would have cheered me up right away. But right now I needed to think of anything BUT him.

I inserted the key into the lock and slowly opened the door.

Surprisingly, my dad and Lux were sitting on the floor in the living room playing Candy Land.

"Yes! I got Frostine! I get to go all the way to the top!" Lux said smugly.

"No fair!" My dad pretended to pout as I watched with wide eyes. Had some type of intervention come while I was gone? Was I seeing things?

I cleared my throat and both of their heads snapped up. "Mad!" They exclaimed in sync and hopped to their feet.

My dad ran over to me and wrapped me into a hug. I was so, completely, utterly lost. Why was he hugging me? What happened?

"I was so worried about you!" He kissed my forehead like he used to. "If your Gaige hadn't stopped by and let me know that you were okay, I probably would have called the FBI."

Had my dad gone see a shrink or something? He pulled me in for another hug but this time whispered in my ear, "We need to talk."

"Hey Lux, why don't you go get a snack? Daddy and I need to talk about something really quick." I smiled.

"Okay!" She skipped off to the tiny kitchen, that was practically part of the living room.

Dad dragged me into his office space. "After you left, I seriously thought about what you said the night of that party. And I realized, you were right. I've been a terrible father. Your mother would have been so devastated if she ever saw the way I treated you. It's true, ever since her death I've been distant. Probably even more distant than the sun. Long story short, I have two jobs now. And you, my beautiful daughter, have one."

"What?" My jaw fell to the floor. That was definitely not what I thought was going to happen. "Which job do I keep?"

"The one at The Grub Shack. Do you honestly think I could ever be a waiter?"

"Nope," I giggled and hugged my father. After so many years of not being able to gather the courage to even talk to him, having him back was the best thing in the world.

I finally had my daddy back.

"Okay, go pick your gingerbread man. We just started to play, and Lux already got Frostine. I let her shuffle them, and I think she cheated somehow."

I laughed. "Seems like something she would do."

"It does, doesn't it?"

Running over to the Candyland game, I scooped up the blue gingerbread man and placed it on the starting space.

"You're going down." Lux grinned as she took her spot, juice box in hand.

"We're starting over." I said and moved her red gingerbread man back to the starting place.

"I'm still going to win." She challenged.

"We'll see about that." I wiggled my eyebrows, which set her off into a fit of laughter.

"What are you two ladies laughing about?" Dad asked, coming back from his office.

"Nothing!" We chorused and went back to shuffling the cards. I put my half down and Lux stacked hers on top.

"Let's go youngest to oldest." Lux declared.

"I don't care," I pitched in - helpful, I know. "Either way, I'm in the middle."

"True," My dad agreed. "Go ahead, Lux."

"She picked up the card, a mischievous gleam in here eye. "Frostine." She moved her gingerbread man up to the position that had the ice skating princess next to it.

"Cheater!" I cried. "There's no way you could've gotten that in the first round."

"Let's play a different game." Dad suggested. "Chutes and ladders?"

"Yay!" Lux shouted and ran over to the small bookcase where we kept all of our games. We had four, to be exact.

"I call being the girl with blonde hair!" She yelled. "Madeline, you can be the girl with black hair."

Lux was so controlling sometimes.

"Fine." I sighed.

-

We spent the rest of the night playing round after round of Chutes and Ladders over a fantastic meal of chicken nuggets.

Fancy, I know.

After winning 7 out of 16 rounds, I felt pretty satisfied so I went to bed.

I was just settling under my covers when a rhythmic rapping sound came from my window. I shrunk down into the sheets. What if it was an ax murderer? What was I supposed to do then?

Hesitantly, I tumbled out of bed and peered out the window. I saw a figure outlined in the darkness. Their face was recognizable in the pale moonlight, their bright green eyes sparkling.

I opened the window and poked my face out just as he threw another pebble. It just so happened to hit me right in the eye.

"I'm so sorry!" He whispered. "Can I come in? We need to talk."

"You realize that you could've knocked on the door and asked to see me like a normal person, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I like to come in style. Make a statement." He joked.

"Well, come in. If you can fit your fat ass through the window." I teased.

"You know, I only remember hearing you say 'hell' or 'bitch'. Not a big fan of profanity, are we?" He asked.

"No, not - wait..." I processed what he said. I only remember... "You remember?!" I shrieked.

"Yeah." He smiled up at me. "The last thing that I told you before I forgot was that I didn't deserve you."

Launching myself out the window, I pulled him into a tearful hug. "How did you remember?"

He blushed. "I, uh... um-"

"If you don't want to tell, that's okay. I'm just glad you remember." I snuggled into the crook of his neck, enjoying the warm embrace. I never wanted it to end.

"Pinch me." He murmured suddenly.

"Why? Because I'm so fine you must be dreaming?"

"You're so ugly, I must be dreaming. Like seriously, what happened to you? Were you like ran over by a dinosaur or something?" He laughed and I pushed him away with a grin.

"Shut up, Chaste. You know you love me." As soon as I said it, I regretted it. What would he think I meant? Stupid stupid, stupid.

"If that's what you want to think, sure." He then proceeded to pretend to gag.

"Haha. Very funny." I was trying to play it cool, but on the inside I was ready to spontaneously combust. HE REMEMBERED! I seriously wanted to kiss him, but I refrained from doing so because I didn't want to make things awkward. He totally didn't feel the same way about me that I did about him, and I didn't want to ruin the great friendship that we had.

"I should get going." He announced and turned around to walk back to his car.

"Wait, Flynn!" I called after him. "Will you stay? With me, I mean."

He faced me. "But of course, m'lady."

With that, we ungracefully clambered through the window.

I laid down on the bed with his arms wrapped protectively around my waist. In this moment, everything was perfect. And I knew I loved this idiotic guy with all my heart.

Little did I know, my life was about to turn into a Taylor Swift song.

Quite possibly for the second time.

A/N: DUN DUN DUN... what do you think is going to happen? Comment your thoughts, and don't forget to vote!

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