Thread: What Might Have Been (AndNich123 & Reydan)

She babbled. Grateful. Desperate even in her thanks. It was...sort of upsetting to Charles. To see her like this. In all the years he'd known her, Maddy had never once shied away from a conflict or shown any sort of need for dependence. Fiercly independent, almost unable to back down from a challenge... ...and now she was timid. Anxious. He blew out his cheeks. Everything had changed so much, and here he was offering his arm to an old friend far shakier than he had ever imagined her being. No wonder she was desperate for some normality to anchor herself with. Her hand was soft on his arm, but the fingers felt tight. A firm, almost iron, grip. One fuelled by fear. His larger hand layered over the top as he began the walk back home with her. S'ok Maddy. His voice was soft. Low. Reassuring. S'ok right now... When they reached the plot on which the house and garage stood, and she announced her haltering intentions to see Jenny, his face grew clouded. I think you're welcome to try he began, voice level and with more than a hint of scepticism. I don't know Maddy though....she was....was...pretty fucking angry. He reached out, unsure of exactly how to comfort her in this new...relationship they found themselves in. After a moment where his hand hung awkwardly in the air, he settled for a pat on the shoulder. Just...don't expect to work miracles he said, with a sad smile. She might not want to be reached. Jenny's door, the thin old wood with the off-white paint still clinging to it from years before when Maddy had been there, remained resolutely closed through her speech. No reaction shook or moved the door on its frame. No turn of the handle or creak of the hinges to suggest that the room's occupant beyond had been at all moved by the emotional outpouring. It took a few seconds but, after Maddy has finished and slumped onto the floor in front of the door, it opened. Just a crack. Two inches. But it felt like the parting of the Red Sea. The fall of the Berlin Wall. A momental occasion playing out before her eyes. A single , emerald green eye, appered in the crack. Its pupil focused on Maddy. I can't Maddy. The voice was small. Out of character small for the fiesty little firebrand behind the door. I can't. You....you were my everything. The words came out, a trickle at first but growing in intensity. My best friend...my co-worker in our stupid summer jobs...my confidente...my...my...my... The tiniest of little sobs. Fuck Maddy you were...you....you were my first kiss. It hadn't been a lover's kiss. Not at all. But a night of teasing, joking, heart-felt worry, that Jenny was being left behind as they all turned 16. That she'd never have a boyfriend...never know love...be a hopeless shy wallflower as if! for the rest of her life...never having kissed a boy. A little tipsy from her parent's stolen alcohol they had kissed, just so that Jenny could say she'd kissed someone not mentioning any names. It was another closeness. Another shared secret. Another bond shattered by Maddy's leaving. ...you broke my heart when you left. The eye swam with bright tears in that tiny door crack - which remained resolutely unopening. You broke my fucking heart.