Chapter 2: Chapter2
#Chapter2
Brandon POV:
I was in the ground looking around for my best friend but I did not find her anywhere in the sight. I realized that she had not come to the match and it disappointed me. I was hoping to see her wearing my jersey and cheering for me as she used to do in the past.
Since Laura gave me, chance to be with her, she distanced herself from me. She stopped coming to watch my football matches and when I asked her, she told me Laura deserves that place now. I thought she was right but soon I realized how much I missed her hazel eyes staring at me in anticipation during the match. I missed how her face would light up at every goal and she cheers for me. Her presence in the ground used to make me excited to prove her how good I was in this game. I loved football but she was the reason why I joined the football team.
When we were kids, Madeline and I loved playing football and watching matches together. However, after her sixteenth birthday, she stopped playing football and coming to watch my football matches. Then she suddenly changed her wardrobe, she began to look more of a young beautiful girl instead of my crazy best friend always dressed in black and white. I did not mind the positive change in her appearance but giving up on football that she loved bothered me.
I discussed Madeline’s sudden transformation with my mom and she told me that Madeline wanted to embrace the beautiful girl she was behind the tedious clothes. I was confused at her answer because I could not recall the day when she looked ugly. I had seen her cleaning her house, washing her clothes, climbing a tree, fighting with boys, playing football smudged in the dirt, and dripping with water from head to toe and I had never found her ugly. She always looked beautiful and strong in every avatar.
Madeline was never like Laura. Laura was an epitome of beauty; she never ceased to amaze me with her style, her good looks, and her perfection. I had never seen her single hair out of place; she always looked glamorous and flawless.
Since the first day of kindergarten, I wanted to make her mine. I always had a huge crush on her and everyone knew it, including her. Madeline, Laura, and I became friends in school. We did not want to mess up our friendship so we decided not to date, but as we got older, Laura started dating other people. I was single because I was in love with her.
Two months ago, I man up and asked her out. Surprisingly, she agreed to go out with me and we ended up making our relationship official.
The whistle of the coach brought me back from my train of thoughts. I shook my head to clear my mind of the past memories and focused on the match.
After forty-five minutes, the match ended and my team won by beating our opponents with four goals. I caught the sight of my family waving at me enthusiastically.
I took the pictures with the team and received the trophy.
/"Hey, let’s go. We are going out to celebrate our victory,/" Jake said clapping my back.
/"Not tonight man. My parents are waiting for me./" I said with the indication of my hand.
Jake waved at my parents and siblings.
/"Okay. See you tomorrow then,/" he said.
I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder.
/"You can come with me. Dad will probably take us somewhere for family dinner,/" I said.
Jake smiled but I noticed the sadness behind his smile.
/"I love you parents and company of your siblings, but I think our friends deserve my help to celebrate the night,/" Jake said with a wink.
/"Don’t supply them with unlimited drinks from your dad’s collection of wine,/" I said.
/"You’re not supposed to say it aloud. Just keep this information to yourself and no one will get killed,/" Jake said sending a playful smile at my way.
Jake is my neighbor as well as my friend. In the middle school, he transferred to the same school as mine. We had been friends since we were kids. He is crazy with a charismatic personality and my parents pretty much welcomed him as their fourth son.
I went to the locker room and took a quick shower then got changed into some jeans and a jacket. I left the locker room and made my way to the parking where my parents were waiting for me.
/"Hey,/" I said.
/"You played well tonight, we’re so proud of you,/" Dad said with the smile on his face.
Mom pulled me into a bear hug making me smile. She was 5′3 and hardly reached to my chest, it made her look so small compared to my 6′2 height.
When we pulled away, my fourteen years old brother fist bumped and said, /"Congrats bro,/"
/"Thanks, Eric,/" I replied ruffling his hair making him groan and swat my hand away.
/"Thanks for coming here to support me./"
/"We’re your family,/" dad reminded me.
/"Where’s Elena?/" I asked.
/"She is in the car and using her new phone. I am actually regretting getting her one. She has been obsessed with that device since she got it./" Dad said opening the back door of the car where my sister was sitting wearing the pink fur jacket.
/"What are you wearing?/" I said poking the fur jacket.
/"It’s a faux fur jacket, brother. This jacket is in trend./" Elena said.
Mom, dad, and I looked at her with wide eyes while Eric looked unfazed by her speech.
/"You’re fourteen,/" I said rolling my eyes.
/"I’m fourteen. I need to look trendy,/" she said in a voice duh.
/"You are looking like a fur ball/". I said.
/"Brandy, I have another jacket in blue. You can wear it tomorrow,/" she said.
I showed her my hands in surrender and said, /"No, thank you./"
Mom, dad, and Eric laughed.
/"Now get in the car, we need to celebrate,/" Dad said ushering us in the car.
Dad took us to our favorite pizza place where we had dinner. I did not know why but I missed Madeline. I could not stop thinking about her.
After dinner, we arrived at the house. I made my way to my room to get some sleep.
An hour later, I was still wide-awake. I could not sleep so I got up from the bed. It was midnight and everyone was probably asleep. I slipped my phone in the pocket of my sweatpants and shrugged on my black hoodie. I locked the house and decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood. I started walking without any specific destination in my mind.
I put my hands in the pockets of my hoodie to protect them from cold. The night was cold; there were no stars on the sky, the neighborhood was dead silent and dark.
I had no idea how I ended up walking to Madeline’s house. I stared at her house silently. Her room’s light was on signaling me that she was awake.
I pulled out my phone and called her. I was glad that she picked it up.
/"Hey, are you okay?/" She asked sounding worried.
/"I’m fine. Come to your window,/"
/"Why?/"
/"I want to see you,/" I said.
She came to her window and glared at me.
/"Are you crazy? What are you doing here standing in the cold at midnight?/" She said in exasperation.
/"I don’t know,/" I replied staring at her.
/"I’m coming down to knock some senses into your stupid head,/" she said.
I smiled at her words and slipped my phone into my pocket.
A few minutes later, she came out of the house dressed in black pajamas and a grey hoodie. Her blonde brownish hair was in soft curls, touching her waist. Her hazel color eyes were glowing like molten lava under the moonlight. She was looking like an angel, innocent and fascinating.
/"Why are you staring at me?/" She asked tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She had hue of embarrassment on her face and it made a smirk.
/"Is this my hoodie, isn’t it? Last year, I lost it during the camp?/" I said moving closer to her.
/"No... This is not yours. I bought it online a few months ago,/" she lied.
/"Really, why does it have a capital B on the back? Your name doesn’t start with B,/" I whispered in her ear.
Her breath hitched and looked into my eyes.
/"In the middle of the night, you came here to talk about your missing hoodie,/" she asked.
I pursed my lips and mumbled, /"No,/"
The peaceful silence fell between us.
/"If you have nothing important to say then I would like to go back inside. I do not want to get freeze to death. You should go home too. It’s not really safe to wander around at midnight,/" she said.
I captured her wrist to stop her from leaving. I did not know what the matter with me was. I had no idea why I was acting like an attention seeker.
/"Why didn’t you come to the match?/"
I did not let go of her delicate slim.
/"Umm,/"
I raised my eyebrows and she sighed.
/"After you dropped me off, I went inside and smelled smoke. I forgot to turn off the stove in the morning after making breakfast for Delia. The kitchen towel caught the fire,/" she mumbled sheepishly.
/"What? Why didn’t you call me?/"
/"I tackled the situation myself. I put off the fire with the help of fire extinguisher,/" she said.
/"Tell me you didn’t get hurt,/" I said worriedly.
/"No, I did not get hurt,/" she said waving her hand in a dismissing manner.
I noticed burn marks and held her hand.
/"What is this then?/" I traced her injured hand my lightly with my fingers, they were red.
She flinched and said, /"I’m fine, Brandon,/"
/"You’re crazy, Maddy,/" I said.
/"Who knows better than you?/" She mumbled.
/"Why are you so careless about yourself?/"
/"It’s not a big deal. These burns will heal soon. I have put the ointment on them,/" she said in the nonchalant tone.
/"Madeline, you’re not a doctor. Let’s go to the hospital./" I said dragging her with me.
She stopped me and said, /"It is not that bad. We do not need to go to the hospital. Also, I’m grounded./"
/"Why are you grounded?/"
/"Emma thinks I was careless for leaving the stove on and grounding me will teach me a lesson. I could not come to the match because she was home and keeping an eye on me,/"
She had a sad smile on her face.
/"First, making breakfast for Delia is not your responsibility. She is a grown woman and can make her own breakfast perfectly. Your aunt needs to give some attention to the bloody house instead of getting drunk and sleeping around. This would not have happened in the first place if she were at home. You take care of her house, clean her shit, and cook for her ungrateful ass. She needs to be a little more considerate about giving punishment./" I said taking a deep breath to calm down myself.
/"She is my aunt. I would have been living in some orphan if she had not volunteered to take care of me after my parents’ death. I do some house chores because I live there and consider them my family. I should have turned off the stove./" She said with her eyes downcast.
/"Just because she put the roof over your head, it doesn’t mean she can treat you as a servant./"
/"I am just repaying her for the favor she gave me years ago by taking me in. I know she is not a great family member that anyone could ask for but she, not a worse either./"
/"Stop thinking like they did a favor to you by taking you in. They don’t treat you right,/" I said.
/"At the moment, I don’t have any choice. I do not have enough money to get my own place and live on my own. I do not have a job./" She said.
/"You don’t have a job because the house chores keep you busy,/"
/"I know my life suck but you don’t have to remind me this every time,/" she said looking upset.
/"I’m sorry for upsetting you, Madeline. I just hate it when you get hurt,/" I said.
/"I know. Now, tell me why did you come here in the middle of the night?/" She asked.
I could not tell her the truth that I was upset when she did not come to watch the match. Therefore, I told her the first lie that came to my mind.
/"I wanted some ideas for tomorrow. I don’t know how to ask Laura to be my girlfriend? I mean, we have been going out for a month now. Don’t you think I should ask her to be my girlfriend?/" I asked her.
The lazy smile appeared on her face and she said, /"Why not? That’s what you always wanted,/"
/"I know right. I want to do something special. What do you think I should do?/" I asked her.
/"No matter what you do, she is going to say yes in a heartbeat. She likes you as much as you like her./" She replied with the reassuring smile.
Her answer sends my mind into turmoil. I was happy that Laura would be mine but there was still some kind of unsettling feeling in my heart.
/"You know she really likes dramatic and romantic gestures. Do you have any suggestions?/"
/"You can go down on your knees and say a sweet romantic speech./" She said rolling her eyes.
/"And what would I say in the speech?/" I asked her staring at her face.
/"You want me to tell you?/" She asked.
/"Yes, of course,/"
She moved closer to my body making my heart race. She put her hand softly on my jaw making me look straight into her eyes.
/"Since kindergarten, I have been nursing this crush on you. I did not realize when my mere crush turned into love. I do not remember when you become the most important person in my life. All I know is that I cannot spend a day without you anymore, without knowing that you are mine. I am asking you to become mine forever. Will you be mine?/"
Her voice, her hand on my jaw, and her gaze felt real. For a moment, I thought she was saying every word to me.
Unconsciously, my eyes fell on her soft plump lips. I had never seen her lips so closely before, they looked like they were made for kissing. I was leaning closer to her lips in a daze.
Her breath hitched distracting me and I placed a kiss on her cheek.
I did not move my lips for several seconds then I pulled away.
She blinked and took several steps back from me. I instantly missed the touch of her warm hand on my cheek.
/"It’s pretty late, Brandon. I’m going back inside,/" she turned and started to walk.
/"What if I forget this in the morning?/" I asked.
/"You will not forget this ever, Brandon,/" she replied.
She went inside her house and I made my way back to mine. Her words kept playing in my mind; I memorized them without even realizing.
Even If It Breaks Your Heart
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone