iii
MAKING IT UP

( 1x02 : summer dress )

CW: shitty boyfriend behavior, lots and lots of arguing

. . .

Surprisingly, it was not as bad as she thought it would be.

Well, at the very least, the parts where she wasn't trying things on was fun.

Belly was trying on all kinds of crap, and she was having the time of her life. Maddie lost count of the amount of dresses and outfits she ended up getting.

As she expected, though, when it came to her trying stuff on, it was a nightmare. 

It wasn't necessarily that Maddie was a total tomboy, or didn't dress 'girly'. It was just that these shops were so... not her. Belly was clearly much more in her element than she was. By the second shop, and the gajillonth dress, Maddie was still standing firm on the fact she was so not fit to be a deb. So, finally, she was put out of her misery, and simply became part of the peanut gallery. ( Though that didn't stop Susannah from buying the girl a few things anyway. )

Now that... that was when she started enjoying herself. It was very nice to see Belly out of her typical shell. She wasn't sure what had happened between summers that made the girl suddenly so much more outgoing, but the change was palpable. The girl was lighting up the room with how confident she was. Not to mention, she got a bunch of good photos out of it.

Maybe Maddie had been wrong.

Maybe this deb thing was for Belly after all.

. . .

"Okay, okay, okay-"

Oh, that was always a great thing to hear from Susannah. And, oh, of course, it was directed at her. How did Maddie know that? Because as soon as the girls all entered the bridal shop, she had rounded on her with eyes wide as saucers.

"Oh god-" Maddie laughed, almost jumping out of her skin once she had.
"I know you aren't gonna be a deb, and that is perfectly fine, buuut-"
Maddie was pretty sure where she was going with this, and so she got ahead of her before Susannah even finished what she was going to say. "You want me to try on some of the dresses."
"... Please?"

"Okay, Susannah, cmon-" Maddie's mom laughed a bit. But Maddie shrugged.
"I'll do it."

Both Susannah and her mom look pretty surprised by that surprised.

"Huh. Never mind." Her mom laughed, and Susannah squealed so high she was pretty sure dog's from the other side of the city could hear the pitch of it.

"What? This part seems fun at least." The blonde muses, "Especially if I can do it without the fancy dance shit."

Now Belly also seemed excited, lighting up with a big smile, clearly excited by the prospect of dress shopping with her friend.

"Well cmon!" Belly laughed, grabbing Maddie's hand, "Let's go pick out some dresses!"

And before Maddie could even respond, Belly was yanking her further into the store.

. . .

After dress number... what, five? Maddie had lost count, she could tell Belly was getting burnt out. It seemed one thing in particular hadn't really changed: she still really wanted these women's approval. In this case, she was guessing Susannah's the most.

"You okay, babe?" Laurel asked her daughter as she sunk onto the floor. When Belly didn't respond initially, Maddie clicked her tongue and swung her legs off the chair, getting on her feet and standing up.

"Okay, my turn. Let me try some on." the blonde grabbed one of the dresses she had picked, and then went over and offered Belly her hand, "Here, I'll help you change, and you can help me."

That seemed to both distract, and satisfy Susannah, as the woman lit up like a Christmas tree. Meanwhile, Belly took Maddie's hand and rose to her feet. When upright, she meet her gaze and mouthed a silent 'thank you'. Maddie just smiled, before tugging her back into the dressing room and drawing the curtains.

For a minute, it's silent, as Maddie unzips the back for Belly, who was looking herself over in the mirror. There was a tinge of regret in her eyes that she caught when glancing up in the reflection. So, she spoke up, albeit quietly so they weren't overheard.

"You don't have to wear something just they like, y'know?" She asks softly. "You don't need Susannah to say yes to what you wear. You need to say yes."
Belly blinked back into reality, looking at Maddie in the mirror. She gives the older girl a smile, and quietly replies, "I know."
"I'm just saying," Maddie goes back to the zipper, "You're the one that's gonna be wearing it, Bells. Not any of them. You're the one dancing in it. Not exactly gonna be easy if you aren't comfortable in the damn thing."

She gets the zipper all the way down, before stepping back. "Okay, you're good." She flashes Belly a smile, before saying, "Just think about that, yeah?"

Belly smiled back, a more genuine one this time, to her relief, "Yeah."
"Good." Maddie nodded, as Belly shrugged the dress off and threw her actual clothes back on.
"Now," she grabbed her dress off the hanger, "help me get into this damn thing before Susannah starts repetitively asking if we're okay, or need help."

Belly laughed again, before doing just that. And after a few minutes, she was looking Maddie over in awe.

"Maddie, you look gorgeous!" She exclaimed, giggling and grinning from ear to ear.
"Well you can't say that and then not immediately come out!" Susannah called from the other side of the curtain. "Come on!"

Belly rushed out first, before playfully announcing, "May I present to you, Miss Madison Sutton!"

Maddie laughed as she walked out. As soon as she did, she's met with a slew of commentary that she couldn't fully make out. With some further giggles, she did a little spin for all the women in the room.

"Oh, I gotta get a picture of this." Susannah comments, before pulling her phone out of her pocket. Instantly, Maddie groans, but doesn't argue. Susannah was on a tear today. There was zero chance she would talk her way out of it. So, she complied, and even when it's done, she cracks a joke.

"I could send those to Luis," she remarks, looking in the mirror again as she fixed her hair, "give him a heart attack."

There's a very brief pause, before Susannah asks, "What, does he not want to get married in the future?"

Glancing back at the women behind her in the reflection, she can see expressions that seem... less then positive. Rolling her eyes, Maddie laughs, albeit a little nervously, as she looks herself over again while quickly speaking up to defend her boyfriend. "I mean I-I just turned eighteen like last month-" she scoffs a bit, "I'm not exactly rushing even think about that right now-" she trips a bit over her words, before clearing her throat a touch. Of course, her stuttering gets a few quizzical looks. So, Maddie swallows, and quickly switches to defensive.

"What?" She asks... well, more like snaps.

"Hey now-" Laurel starts, tone turning to scolding pretty quickly.
"Madison." Her mother says carefully at the same time, brows knit together some.

She doesn't apologize. She probably should. But she doesn't. She just frowns.

"I changed my mind, I'm not up for this." The blonde mutters, and steps down before going into the changing room without another word. As she passes Belly, she can hear the girl ask if she's okay. Concern is written all over the young girls face. Because... where did that come from? Maddie was a lot of things, but she was snappy, or rude.

But she brushed Belly off, and slips behind the curtain to change, only leaving Belly confused.

First Conrad, now Maddie?

What was going on this year?

. . .

You hate the drive in.

Maddie sighed and rolled her eyes at her twin's signing as she finished getting ready. Her hand fidgeted a bit with the silver charm bracelet Luis had gotten for her birthday, fiddling some with the clasp.

Let me guess, she signs back after a moment, you're basing that off an incident from several years ago too.

Sparrow's brow raised. Touchy.

Shut up. Maddie countered.

I'm not talking. They retort back easily. My point still stands.

Referenced once moment from several years ago. Seriously, why is everyone bringing that up?

As Maddie started digging through her bag to double check she had her keys, Sparrow questions curiously, I'm sorry. Who exactly is 'everyone'?

Only haphazardly meeting their gaze again, Maddie responded, Conrad decided he needed to give his colorful input a few days ago. After, you know, breaching my privacy by reading my texts over my shoulder like a child.

Both of Sparrow's brows raised now, but Maddie was bordering on ranting at this point.

Like I even asked for his opinion. she audibly scoffed, shutting her bag again, then continuing. I don't know what the hell is deal is. I mean, he tries to argue with him when they meet at the bonfire, then gets in a fight like an hour later. Then he's being himself again when I call him out on it the next morning. Then he's acting like a jealous twelve year old, getting in my business and insulting my boyfriend to my face like twenty minutes after that happens.

Sparrow whistles a bit, chuckling. And clearly you're dealing with it quite maturely.

Maddie glares at her twin, but before she could sign anything back, there's a knocking on their open bedroom door, signaling their mother's entrance.

"You ready to go kiddo?" She both speaks and signs in Sparrow's direction. The younger brunette nods, grabbing their mini backpack and hopping off their bed, slipping their shoes on. As much as Maddie loved Laurel, she was pretty glad she wasn't going to this signing. Knowing her, she would probably die of boredom within the hour.

Their mother then turns to the blonde, just speaking this time. "No staying out too late, remember?"

"Yes ma'am." Maddie responds with a playful salute. Moments after, her phone buzzes with a text from Luis. Grabbing it, she smiles and signs a quick 'love you' to both before rushing out the door.

. . .

Okay, it was official. Maddie was uncomfortable.

Despite all smiles and compliments, Luis was acting off. Quieter than usual. Sure, to be expected when watching a movie, but typically the boy cracked jokes about whatever they were watching every five seconds. And being in a confined space with such a weird atmosphere was getting her... antsy.

"You okay?"

She nearly jumps when her boyfriend speaks up. Glancing over at him, she clears her throat before responding, "Huh? Yeah- I uh- I'm fine." She forces a smile. Luis doesn't seem to buy it for a second.

"Really? Because you've been fiddling with your bracelet for like ten minutes."

Instantly, Maddie pulls her hand from the piece of jewelry. "I'm fine," she repeats. "Just a bit cramped." Not a whole lie. She was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

For a moment, she thinks about Belly, who she knows is a few rows over with the boy she hung out with at the bonfire — who she now knew was Cam. If it wouldn't totally interrupt her own date, she would almost be tempted to text her to crack a joke about all this, at the very least.

"I mean, I could ask you the same question, really," she bounces back, looking at him again, "you've hardly said a thing since you picked me up."
"Just don't feel too well, is all."
She frowns, "Yet you wanted to go out?"
"I wasn't about to bail on the apology date after blowing you off after the bonfire, Maddie." Luis chuckles. That makes her smile, at least a tiny bit.

"Okay... you've just been... kinda quiet lately in general, is all."

Sighing, Luis takes her hand and kisses the back of it. "I'm fine, babe. Dad's just been pulling me around every which way the last few weeks. I've been busy. It wears me out. That's it."

Her mouth opens to respond, but she stops when she catches some movement behind him outside. Her expression drops, and her brows furrow a bit. Was that... Jere's car?

Oh, yeah. It was. With all three idiotic boys inside, two of them making childish kissy faces at what was definitely Cam's car.

And Conrad, in the back, looking directly at her.

"Oh, what in the hell-...?"
"What?" Luis turned to follow her gaze.
"Uh, stay here a sec. I'll be right back."

She doesn't give him a chance to respond, as she's letting go of his hand and getting out of his car. Looked like Belly beat her to the punch though, as she's already out of Cam's car and yelling when she gets there as well.

"... I will send everyone in this car your Dramione fanfic."

Maddie catches the tail end of Belly's words, clearly at Steven, and she announces her presence by letting out a dry 'ha!'. The boys attention goes from laughing at Steven, to looking at Maddie. Even Belly briefly looked over her shoulder at her, before looking at her brother and continuing, "Oh, he spent an entire chapter talking about Draco's wand."

Oh, the sense of pride Maddie felt for the girl in that moment was immeasurable.

Belly looked at Maddie again and says more quietly to her, "It's okay, I got this."
"Oh, I don't doubt you do," she shrugs, before glaring at the boys, "but seeing as that one," Maddie stares directly at Conrad, dark eyes practically burning into him, "was staring right at me, something tells me they came to screw with both of us."

Belly looks back at Conrad again, whose humor fell from his face and he was glaring back at Maddie. Well, glowering more like. Her expression was that of frustration, disbelief, and something else Maddie couldn't quite read. Nor could she be bothered to focus on identifying it.

"Seriously?" Belly scoffed, "We're allowed to do our own things, that don't involve you. You guys know that right? That we have lives that are outside of you guys? Like, our worlds don't just revolve around your existence?"
"Now don't go outing our secret like that Bells," Maddie cuts in, arms folding over her chest, "We can't go telling them that and damaging their fragile toddler-like egos. They're just gonna throw more temper tantrums." She juts out her bottom lip in a dramatic pout, clearly mocking them.

"Oh, fuck off, Madison." Steven counters back sharply. She looks at him, and without breaking eye contact with him, says, "Hey, Belly, could you send me a link to that fanfiction you were talking about."
"Oh, gladly." Belly replies with no hesitation, her expression upturning into a smile once more.

"Ok you made your point-"

Maddie ignores Steven in favor of looking at Conrad again. This time, it's less in anger, and more in disappointment.

"Would you just leave?"

Conrad's face falls again, and while Jeremiah is heckling Steven, he's silent for a moment, before he says to the boys up front, "All right, let's go, guys."

Disbelief comes stammering from the boys in the front, both looking back at him in disappointment and irritation.

"Are you kidding me?" The older Conklin gripes.
"Steven, drive the car." Belly orders, glaring daggers into him.

Both younger boys are still complaining. But it's something Steven says that makes Maddie's heart drop as he drives away.

"You're the one who wanted to come, Conrad."

What?

Maddie takes a deep breath in, her nails digging into her forearm for a second to ground herself. She wanted to punch something. One night. She couldn't even have one night where she could pretend everything was okay.

"I'm sorry, Mads-"
Maddie brings herself back to earth as she looks at Bely and shakes her head. "Don't be. Not your fault they're acting like a bunch of twelve year olds." She gives her a tiny smile before she says, "Have fun, Bells."

She walks back to Luis's car, and she thinks maybe that is that. But she's not even fully in the car when Luis is practically snapping at her.

"What the fuck was that?"

Maddie pulls the car door shut with a solid slam, and looking at the boy on her left, "Steven and Jeremiah wanted to fuck with Belly. Plus I saw-"
"So you went over there why?"
She blinks once. Twice. Looking at him, silently asking if he really just asked her that monumentally stupid question.
"Excuse me?"
"If it was Belly they were here for, why did you need to go over there?"

Both her brows raise. The urge to hit something was coming back at a rapid rate.

"Are you really asking me that question?" She asks back, voice beginning to raise, "They were nagging her three on one. I wasn't about to-"
"Hang on, you only mentioned two of them." Luis cut in again.
"If you had let me finish, I was going to mention I saw Conrad practically glaring at me-"
Luis scoffs, "Of course, that guy again. Jesus, the guy's fucking obsessed with y-"

"Okay, I'm talking now," Maddie says loudly over him. She can see a few people in adjacent cars look in their direction. Luis quickly rolls the windows up.

"-so stop interrupting me for five fucking seconds." She continues. "For one thing, acting like little dicks or not, those guys are my friends, my oldest friends. I know them better than you, so I know they're good guys despite this stupid stunt. So I would seriously watch your mouth when talking about them-"
"Are you really defending them right-"

"And for another?! This possessive boyfriend shit? Not fucking cute. Knock it the fuck off."

Luis's mouth shuts. Maddie sighs, leans back, and looks at the screen again. Her hand fiddled with her bracelet for a second... then she finally gets too annoyed, and unclips it and puts it in her bag.

As she's leaning down to do so, she hears the boy mutter, "Maybe you need some new goddamn friends..."

"Okay, that's it." She sits up again, glaring at him, "Take me home."
"What?" He looks at her like she grew a second head.
"Take me the fuck home, Luis."

Luis's expression shifts from disbelief to anger. And her laughs dryly, before starting the car up and maneuvering his way out of the drive in, while Maddie buckled herself in.

. . .

The ride, so far, had been silent. Luis was only looking at the road, Maddie's gaze was trained on her phone. Both doing anything but looking at each other. The silence only breaks when a ping goes off on the girl's phone, and she reads the text.

"Uh, hey, would you mind dropping me off at the summer house instead. Apparently Sparrow left something there on accident. Mom figured it would just be easier to meet there, since it's way closer."

Luis looks from the road, to her. When he says nothing, she looks up at him and meets his gaze.

"What?"

"After that shit, you expect me to drop you off at that guys house?"

"Oh my fucking god-" Maddie scoffed, looking away and rubbing her temples, "really? Are you really still doing this, Luis? My mom's trying to make this fucking easier for you. So you don't, you know, have to drive an extra half hour out of town and back?"

Luis's mouth opens, but Maddie cuts in again, "And who the fuck are you singling out in that when there were several parties involved there?"
"You know who I'm talking about, Madison."

She was afraid of that. But, foolishly, she had hoped maybe that wasn't the case.

"The guy's obsessed with you, for gods sake. And even after that shit back there, you're defending him?"
"He's not obsessed with me," Maddie snaps at him. "You have seen me interact with him a whole one and a half fucking times. You are pulling this shit out of your ass, Lu."
"Am I?"
"YES!" She hollers, and Luis jumps slightly, "Yes you fucking are!"
"The guy practically came for my goddamn throat at the bonfire, Maddie! Not exactly screaming 'decent guy' there."

"Oh, because you totally are right now?" She scoffs, "You are jumping through a lot of goddamn hoops to make yourself look like a fucking victim."

The next words that fly out of his mouth... they're so out of left field, Maddie wonders if she hallucinated them for a second.

"Is there something going on with you two?"

There's a pregnant pause, as Maddie gawks at him.

"... What the hell are you trying to imply right now, Luis...?"

Silence.

"... Pull over."
"Sorry?" Luis looks at her again. More like glares.
"Pull the fuck over!"
"I can't believe this shit..." he mutters as he does as she says.

As soon as the car's stopped, the passenger's side door is swung open. The next second, she's stepping out of the vehicle, bag over her shoulder.
"Where the hell are you going?" He calls after her as she slams the door shut behind her.

"To the cafe across the street," she replies simply as he rolls the window down, "so I get a fucking Lyft to take me to the goddamn beach house, because I'm not sitting in this fucking car with you after you started ghosting me, and then, in your sad attempt to apologize, insulted the people who are basically my family, treated me like shit half the night, and then accused me of fucking cheating on you!" She screams. "You think I'm gonna sit through that shit anymore? Have you fucking met me?!"

"You're being ridiculous-"
"I'M being ridiculous?!" She laughs, "Fucking hell, Luis, you know me! You know I wouldn't stand for this shit on a good day! And I have not had a good fucking day in months. With the shit I've been dealing with since my mom got that fucking call? The shit you've been watching me deal with?! It's then you decide you wanna start becoming the world's shittiest boyfriend! And I figured it was just stress from your dad, and college, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the fucking best because I could not handle another goddamn blow right now. But THIS?! This is the cherry on top, dude." She pushes off the car, having not even realized she was leaning on it in the first place to rant at him.

"Seriously..." Maddie's chest heaves as she takes a deep breath in. Her hands are shaking. She wants to throw up. She's seeing red.

And after all that... all this asshole can say?

"Are you seriously breaking up with me right now? After everything?"

Her rage becomes a quiet one. There's so many insults she could say right now. So many things she could throw back in his face. She could yell and scream some more. She could cry. Break down on the goddamn sidewalk.

But she's too angry to even be sad. Just like she has been for two months now.

So instead, she simply says:

"If the shoe fits, you self absorbed prick."

. . .

"Thank you so much."

Maddie fakes a smile and a polite wave to the driver her drops her off in front of the summer home. One that falls instantly as soon as the car pulls up.

She was still so goddamn angry. So angry the heartbreak hadn't set in yet. Frankly she hoped it never fucking would. Knowing her luck this year, though, she would say that was less than likely.

As she walks up to the door, she notes her mom's car isn't there yet. Seems she'll be waiting inside for a bit.

She doesn't check the other cars. She should have. Because moments after she's made it into the main room, she sees Conrad. And suddenly, walking home seems like a better option than this shit.

Lacking the energy for another confrontation, she says nothing. Just heads to go sit down. However, she's barely made it two steps before the boy had to open his goddamn mouth and change that.

"Surprised your boyfriend didn't try to white knight his way into saving you."

Maddie goes rigid. Then she turns around to look at him, brows furrowed. "Excuse me?"

"Oh relax-"
"No, Conrad, I'm not gonna fucking relax!" She whirls around fully on him. "What the fuck was that, huh?! Seriously, are you guys suddenly in middle school again?" She asks rhetorically, "Christ, I know you guys tend to do some stupid shit over the summer but this was a new fucking low. Especially for you."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"What were you intending to get out of that? Hm? What was the goddamn point of it?"
"Oh, cmon-" Conrad starts, but she doesn't let him finish.

"Answer the damn question!" She snaps. At this point, her voice is starting to croak. She had been doing way too much goddamn yelling in the last hour, and her throat was getting tired of it.

"We were just having some fun. It's not that serious." He sounds so goddamn condescending, she wants to throw something.
"It is that serious! Use your fucking head, Conrad. You think the movie's really over already? If that's the case, where's Belly right now, huh? Riddle me that."

"Please. Like that one joke seriously wrecked a whole fucking date-"
"Get your head out of your ass, dude! God!" She runs her hand through her hair and laughs, shaking her head and looking away, "Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable."

"If he's that goddamn offended by it he's a pretty shit excuse for a boyfriend, Mads."
"And you're a pretty shit excuse for a friend right now!" She counters, looking at him again. Conrad stares, but says nothing.

"Your weird fucking vendetta against my boyfriend is sad, Con. It really fucking is. One goddamn bad interaction — one that you started — was enough for you to decide you wanted to shove your way into my relationship and fucking imploding it?!"
"What-?"
"Was that your goal, man? 'Cause congrau-fucking-lations, Connie. You succeeded!"

He registers the words thrown at him. He realizes what she means, and he opens his mouth to talk, "Mads-"
"I swear to fucking god, if you finish that sentence with one more holier-than-thou comment, I'm gonna punch you in the fucking teeth."

Conrad's mouth shuts, and he looks at her in shock. Because Maddie, Maddie, threatened him. And he was half sure she meant it. But it didn't scare him. It worried him.

It's then the door opens again, and in enters Sparrow. Maddie tears her gaze away from Conrad, looks at her twin, and exhales. "Thank fucking god..." she mutters, and she almost shoves her way past them to get the hell out.

. . .

What she doesn't see, after she leaves, is Sparrow, eye wide, watching her as she does.

Then they turn to Conrad, who looks like he just got kicked in the gut.

When he realizes they're looking at him, he clenches his jaw and looks away. But Sparrow frowns, and goes over and smacks his shoulder. They're close enough to him to be able to hear his voice exclaim, "Ow!" As he looked at him? "What the fuck?"

I don't know what the hell your deal is lately, they start signing, and I'm sorry. But you are not the only person who's dealing with a lot right now, Conrad.

His mouth opens. Then closes again. So, the brunette huffs, before going around and grabbing their notebook. After tucking that under their arm, they continue, She probably said some shit she shouldn't have. She's been doing that a lot lately. I won't defend her for that. But I've seen how you've been lately too, and it isn't exactly nice either.

Then they head toward the door. But not before signing off.

I don't know what you did, and I don't care, especially because I know how much you care about her. Almost as much as I do. So highly suggest you start making it up to her.

. . .

A/N: Angry Maddie is angry and says lots of things she shouldn't, not her best chapter, but I still think I speak for everyone here when I say: BYE LUIS. GET ROYALLY FUCKED MY DUDE.

This one was a bit heavy but I hope yall enjoyed anyway!