Madison jumped when she felt an arm go around her shoulder, she had zoned out while the four boys packed their instruments out.

“So, Mads-“ Madison raised an eyebrow in question of the new nickname that she had acquired.

“You have a lot of letters in your name and I’m too lazy to say them all” Jack informed her. Madison rolled her eyes and laughed at his peculiarness.

“Well, then what do I get to call you?” Madison nudged him in the arm while Jack pretended to think.

“Hmmm, sex god works for me” Jack replied in complete seriousness causing Madison to throw her head back in laughter. Jack put his hand over his heart and pouted in mock hurt making Madison laugh so hard that she snorted which caused Jack to break out into a childish laugh too.

Alex sat on the other side of the room with Rian and Zack watching the two teenagers laughing like hyenas. He couldn’t stop the smile that found its way on his face as he watched Madison try to stop laughing but then only break out into a new set of giggles every time she looked at Jack. Her face was red from the lack of oxygen and tears were streaming down her face.

“Okay” “Okay” he heard her say in between laughs while she tried to pull herself together until finally she was able to take a deep breath and look at Jack without laughing.

“I’m sorry for laughing at you, sex god” Madison snickered at the nickname that Jack had assigned for himself.

Jack pretended to ignore her and turned his head away but watched her from the corner of his eye.

“Forgive me?” Madison begged, Jack bit back his smile and shook his head.

“If it makes you feel better, I bribed Alex into buying Chinese for everyone….”

“Okay, I forgive you” Jack smiled and crushed his body to hers before getting up and prancing over to Alex. She laughed when Jack sat down on Alex’s lap and began petting his hair, he was a weird one but Madison enjoyed his flamboyant personality. Being around Jack was like getting a breath of fresh air that she hadn’t known she needed. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had genuinely laughed, much less laughed until she cried but Jack had made her do it without even trying. She could only hope that the other boys would want her to stick around too.

“Hey” Madison was brought out of her thoughts. She turned her head to see Rian sitting next to her smiling; she couldn’t help but notice his perfect teeth, which in all honesty was probably a weird thing to notice.

“You have nice teeth” she accidentally blurted out before she could stop herself. Her cheeks turned pink and she hid her face behind her hands out of embarrassment. Rian laughed and shook his head; he could definitely understand why Alex had taken such a strong liking to the girl.

“Look, I just really want to apologize for how rude we all were earlier. I guess we’re all kinda protective over Alex. He went through a pretty bad break up a little while back and was left in a really bad place. You’re the first girl he’s taken a liking too and we just don’t want him to get hurt ya know? But honestly, you’re a cool girl, and as for Zack he's just quiet in general so it might take a while before he actually holds a conversation with you” Rain explained in an attempt to show Madison that they really did all like her and genuinely wanted to get to know her.

However, Madison only felt conflicted because she knew that no matter what she did that in the end Alex would get hurt. She knew that he wouldn’t listen to her if she tried to push him away because she had already tried that but she didn’t want him to like her either. The more she thought about it the worst she began to feel because now it wasn’t only Alex that she would be hurting, but it would be his friends too, or at least Jack. She wasn’t sure how close she would get to Rian and Zack seeing as she had hardly spoken to either one of them but she definitely knew it was inevitable that she would become good friends with Jack.

Rian immediately noticed the shift in tension and placed a comforting hand on Madison’s shoulder

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned. Madison could tell he was probably the most mature and ‘father’ like members of the group.

Madison put on the fake smile that she had perfected years ago and nodded her head “yeah, just getting hungry. Where’s Alex, he’s supposed to buy us all Chinese” Madison quickly changed the subject. She hated talking about herself and feelings almost as much as she hated going to see her doctor.

“Probably went upstairs” Rian said and began leading the way up the basement stairs and into the main part of the house. Madison silently followed him through the house and into the living room where the other three boys had migrated too.

“Thanks for leaving us in the basement you assholes” Rian joked and threw a billow at the three boys sat on the couch.

Madison awkwardly stood by the entryway of the room not knowing what to do with herself; she never was very good at social situations.

“I’m going to go order the food, you guys want the usual?” Alex asked, getting up from the couch. Rian, Jack, and Zack nodded their heads and went back to mindlessly watching the TV. Alex approached Madison and waved his hand for her to follow him into the kitchen where he pulled the take out menu out of a drawer and handed it to her.

“You can just choose whatever you want” He said as he dialed the number and began ordering food for the rest of the guys. When he finished ordering what he wanted he looked over at Madison expectantly.

“Can I just get a bowl of broccoli and steamed rice?” She asked sheepishly and Alex finished ordering the food and hung up his phone.

Alex leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms “you coulda ordered more, ya know?”

Madison nodded her head and stared down at her feet, unsure as to why she suddenly felt so nervous.

“I-I’m just not feeling so great” she mumbled but Alex heard her anyways. He pushed himself up from the counter and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“You okay?” he asked worriedly. Madison sighed, she was so tired of that question but she knew it was all in good care.

“Yeah, I just lose my appetite sometimes. No worries” she reassured him and squeezed his waist for a second before pulling out of the embrace. Alex smiled and led the way back to the den where the Jack and Zack were currently playing a video game that Madison didn’t recognize. Rian sat on the couch with his cellphone attached to his hands texting his girlfriend.

“Food will be here in like twenty” Alex announced as he fell back onto the couch pulling Madison down with him.He absentmindedly played with the ends of her hair, twirling and untwirling the locks around his finger. Madison in turn, stared at his face taking in his features and how tongue kind of stuck out of his mouth when he concentrated. She couldn't help but think about how adorable he looked.

Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang and Alex got up to retrieve and pay for the food while Rian got everyone something to drink.

“Here ya go, love” Alex handed Madison the Styrofoam bowl of rice with broccoli along with eating utensils. She graciously smiled at Alex before slowly beginning to eat. A few minutes later she placed her bowl on the coffee table and watched on amused as the four boys shoveled the Chinese food into their mouths as if they hadn’t had food in years.

“You done?” Alex asked with his mouth full.

Madison nodded “yeah, I don’t feel well…I should probably head home anyways” she stood up from the couch bid the guys farewell and awkwardly made her way to the front door before she felt a hand grab her arm.

She turned around to see Jack attached to her arm and Alex standing beside him. “Goodnight, Mads” Jack smiled and placed a sloppy wet kiss on her cheek making her giggle

“Goodnight, sex god” she replied and placed a much cleaner kiss on Jacks cheek before he ran back to finish his food.

“I’ll walk you home” Alex smiled and opened the front door for her. Madison nodded and walked out the doorway and onto the front porch where Alex nonchalantly grabbed her hand and began to walk her home. The walk was silent, but not the awkward kind. The kind of silence that settles in when two people are comfortable with each other and nothing needs to be said. Finally though they reached Madison’s front door and Alex reluctantly released her hand from his grip.

“Thanks for today, Alex. I really enjoyed myself” Madison spoke quietly, afraid to disrupt the quietness of the walk.

“Any time Madi, the guys really like you and I’m really glad you came” Alex spoke honestly and before Madison could say anything he hugged her and placed a goodnight kiss on her cheek. Madison stood on her porch watching as Alex retreated through her yard and into his house before she too entered her own house.

Notes

<3 Katy