I ended up telling Maddy to meet me at the school's cafe at 11:45 after my class ended so that we could talk. I made up some excuse on how I stayed up late so I 'overslept' and was totally oblivious to her this morning. I'll explain it to her later.

I finally check my phone as I slide out of class.

10:45

Christian: had practice until later, otherwise, I would've taken you home :( no more ubers for you though. not w/o me at least.

see you later?

11:15

Maddy: already here, nov. ordered you a latte, cutesie.

11:22

Mom: Miss you baby, call me??

Oh my gosh, I feel like I haven't talked to my mom in forever. We text almost every day but only briefly. She works from six in the morning to about four every day and she's always exhausted. I should call her and dad more, but I get so caught up in my own life. I've told her this and she gets it, but she always tells me that she misses me.

I press her contact and hit the call button as I walk to the cafe halfway across campus. The line rings about twice before her sweet voice fills the other line. "Hi, love. Finally, I caught you." She says. I smile immediately, "I'm actually just getting out of my class and saw your text." I look at the time and furrow my brows. She should be working. "Goodie. It's my lunchtime anyway, how have you been, baby?" Makes sense.

I fill my mom in on everything for about ten minutes which is how long it takes me to get to the cafe. I decide not to tell her about Christian just yet. I don't want to tell her something and then have something happen between Valdez and me. I don't want to jinx anything, or even scare her. My mom and dad didn't take Devon cheating on me lightly. They're very protective of me so I see why. Ever since then, dad has been wary of my dating life. Even though it's been pretty nonexisent until now.

I enter the cafe and the smell of brew hits my face immediately. Definitely one of my top favorite smells. I look around for a second before catching Maddy's pretty face in a booth. I take long strides toward her and when she notices me, her eyes bug. I sit down, laying my backpack on the seat next to me. "Finally!," she starts "drink your latte!" She pushes the drink to me. I furrow my brows in confusion, but pick up the drink and take a sip anyway.

"So I went out with Jaylon again last night an-" "Maddy!" I cut her off. She glares at me. "What?" She says firmly. "You said after that last time that you were going to cut him off!" I remind her. That was last Saturday and she hadn't mentioned him these past couple of days so I thought she had. "I know, I know, but I didn't anyway let me speak Novalee." She clasps her hands together. I motion my head for her to continue.

"So we were having sex and then he asked if he could," she whispers "you know." She says. I furrow my brows, "what?" I say. She scoffs and rolls her eyes. She leans onto the table and motions for me to lean forward too, so I do. "Put it up my ass!" She whispers shouts. My mouth gapes and she leans back, nodding aggressively. I lean back as well. "What did you say?" I ask.

"I said yes!" She replies. My mouth makes an 'o' shape and I place my hand over my mouth. I don't want to make her feel bad. Maybe she's about to tell me that she liked it and I'm judging hard. It's not something I'd ever try. "Okay, how was it then?" I ask curiously. Her pale skin flushes. I've never seen her blush before, oh my. "It was," she swallows "horrible!" She finishes. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I swear I feel like he ripped my asshole in half, Nov!" I cringe a bit at the thought. She says things unapologetically. She's never cared about making others uncomfortable. "I can't do the restroom because it burns so much." She moans. I almost laugh, but I choose to see another day. "Did you tell him you didn't like it?" I ask. She shakes her head quickly. "He pumped into me twice and then came! Like if it was better than my kitty? It takes him at least five pumps with her!" She exclaims.

That sounds like terrible sex. Five times? I wonder why she's still hanging onto that guy.

"It took like almost ten minutes for him to fit inside completely just for two pumps. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm glad he only lasted that long because it hurt so bad." She explains. I take a large swig of my latte and nod to her story. I say, "please tell me you'll dump him now." I practically beg. I don't want her to be forced into doing something she doesn't enjoy.

She sips her ice coffee and nods. "I blocked him this morning after escaping his apartment. That's why I knocked on your door so early, I had barely gotten back to campus and I needed to spill." She tells me. I frown, knowing I wasn't there for her. She notices this. "Ugh, don't be upset, it's fine. You slept late." She mentions. Right. I did sleep late, but I didn't get home until this morning either.

"About that," I trail, starting to bite my fingernails. "Don't do that. What's wrong?" She asks, leaning in slightly. I lower my hands at her request and fidget with them on my lap. "I actually wasn't home this morning either, I'm sorry for lying! I was at Christian's because we went to the fair last night and I went home with him and we had sex. He also asked me to be his girlfriend? Or I don't really know what but he wants to stay monogamous to me is what he said." I say in one breath.

Might as well just lay it all out on the table, right? I'm such a babbler when I'm nervous. I look back at Maddy and her mouth is an 'o' shape like mine was before. My forehead crinkles and I furrow my brows. "Say something!" I whine. A smirk pulls across her pink lips. "You finally had sex!" She says, lifting her hands in the air. "Shhhh." I hush her. A couple of people close to us turn our way. "She's kidding." I chuckle nervously, turning to glare at Maddy who's laughing silently. "I hate you!" I lean forward to slap her arm lightly, of course.

She calms down a couple of seconds later. "Are you telling me that you, Novalee Johänson, just locked down the man that half of these girls on campus want?" She taunts. I shrug my shoulders, "I guess." I say softly. Well, that just makes my insecurities worse. There's a lot of pretty girls at this school, including the one sitting right in front of me! There's no way Christian can actually stay loyal right? Ugh, of course, he can't.

"You're a genius. What was your game plan?" She pretends to hold a notepad and pen in her hand. I groan. "I never intended on this happening, it just kind of did. You know the story of us from when we were younger." I point a finger at her. She rolls her eyes at this. "That was years ago, Nov. I'm pretty sure he's grown at least a little bit since then, if not then he's an idiot." She says. Yeah, I hope he's changed too. He has. I think.

"This is amazing. I knew this would happen." She chuckles, taking another sip of her coffee. I shoo her off and roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, but don't get your hopes up. We'll see if he can actually stay committed to this." I say. I'm scared he won't, but I try to push those fears away. I pull out my phone when I remember I never texted him back.

Me: it's okay :) and ok ubers with you only? got it. but you'll also be my personal chauffeur.

"Yeah, we'll see. He better though," Maddy adds, biting on a saltine cracker. I tuck my phone into my back pocket. "And you're not seeing Jaylon anymore!" I point a finger at her. Then I realize, "I'm surprised you're sitting on your ass right now." I say. She shakes her head, swallowing the dry cracker in her mouth. "It's actually not that painful to sit right now because the booths have cushions. My asshole still burns though." She shrugs.

I laugh and shake my head. I love this girl.