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“I gotta go, boys. Maddie's a callin' and she wants a burger.” As I stand, Bo suggests some burger place he and the guys on the team are always raving about and I text her that I'm on my way. Maybe we'll skip the movies tonight and go eat all the things she had forbidden herself to eat. I don't know a lot about eating disorders, and she may not be suffering from one, but there is definitely something going on that needs to be worked on. There's an undeniable issue that Maddie has with food and exercising, so hopefully we can get her through it with the help of a counselor.
She's standing outside when I pull into the dorm parking lot, and she carefully runs to my car before sliding in. “It's frrreaking cold,” she chatters.
“Why were you waiting outside then?” I ask, turning up the heat.
“Because I didn't think it would be that bad and by the time I decided to go back in, you were here.” She tightens her jacket around her and turns towards me.
I lean over the console and kiss her like she's expecting. “Where do you want to go?”
“I didn't have a place in mind. I figured you would know somewhere to go.”
So we head across town to the restaurant that Bo suggested. Hopefully, it's as good as he said. Maddie seems quieter than usual as we wait for our food. I reach for her hand, which hasn't left her lap since we sat down. She's usually touching me in some way, but not tonight.
“What's wrong? Thinking you should have gone with a salad?” The surprise in her eyes is a gut punch of truth. “Talk to me, Maddie,” I add softly.
“I haven't talked to anyone about this in three years. I thought that maybe I could throw it all away like it hasn't been...”
“A struggle?” I fill in for her. She nods. “We used to be able to talk about everything.”
“A lot has changed,” Maddie reminds me.
“You know what hasn't changed? My love for you. Has that changed for you?” She shakes her head. “Then get over here.”
Maddie gets up and slides into my side of the booth. I wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer as she rests her head on my shoulder.
“Talk to me, gorgeous,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head.
She grabs a handful of my shirt at my side before tilting her head up at me. “Is it too late to order that salad?” I nod because I want her to try, at least. “I don't want the burger anymore.”
“It's like a salad. There's lettuce on it,” I try, making Maddie laugh. “What if we order a small salad and have that with the burger?”
“No, that's fine. All or nothing, right?” she says, taking a deep breath.
“For us, yes. For this, it doesn't have to be that way.”
Our waitress places our plates in front of us and Maddie stares at the burger. “Let's see how it goes,” she finally says, glancing at me. “And let's talk about something else.”
We take the first bite at the same time, and I start talking about anything and everything.
“Neil's girlfriend, Audra, moved in. She's pregnant, which is why Grant and I are moving out. Since you are my girlfriend, I expect that I won't have to hear about the 'super hot Kennedy brothers' anymore, especially now that I'm moving in with them?”
Maddie laughs, wiping the ketchup from the corner of her mouth. “Only occasionally,” she teases. “It works out anyway, doesn't it? Because Neil graduates this year, right?”
“Yeah, him and Bo both. I still can't get over that he's having a kid.” I shake my head at the thought.
“Yeah,” Maddie nods in agreement. “What's the story with Bo anyway? He's single, isn't he? He seems to keep to himself. The most expression I've ever seen from him is that night at the bar when he and Neil argued and fought.”
“As far as I know, he's single. He keeps to himself,” I shrug. “He and Neil both are private people, for the most part. I mean, look at how long it took for Neil to tell us about Audra.”
Maddie takes a swallow of her drink, and I peek to see that her burger is almost gone. “So...” she cuts her eyes over at me, “are you and Dave friends again?”
“I haven't heard from him since this morning. He's been pissed for a while, so he should come around soon.”
“I think he misses you.”
I look at her curiously. “Why do you think that?”
“Over break, he didn't ask about you, but he didn't tell me to shut up when I was filling my parents in on you either. I tried to talk to him about how he was being ridiculous. He listened, but didn't say anything one way or the other. So yeah, I think he misses you. How could he not? You've been best friends for forever. He's just too stuck up his own ass to say anything.”
