Who: Madison and Alex What: chatting before dinner Where: their yard When: Monday after school Warnings: low Status: closed/g-doc/complete
Tossing her bag on the kitchen table, Madison headed for the living room. She flung herself on the couch. School could seriously go fuck off. Instinctively, she padded the pockets of her jeans for her lighter and cigarettes. Finding them, she slipped a cigarette in her mouth, but paused, swearing as she realized she couldn’t smoke in the house. Damn it. Rolling her eyes, Madison made her way out to the deck and plopped into one of the chairs.
Cigarette between her lips, the blond lit up and took a much needed drag. Already the nicotine was calming her down. Centering her. The blond had no desire to do homework, especially math, but, at the same time did want to graduate. A little. Even if college was probably not in her future with the grades she was pulling in even with Sharon’s help.
Hearing movement behind her in the house, Madison figured it was David and, without turning around, called out him.
“Hey, you can’t give me hell, I remembered to light up outside this time!”
Alex had taken off work a little early due to a headache. One of the museum ghosts wouldn’t go away and when Alex finally used a death phrase, a few other ghosts decided to call her a bitch. Excuse Alex for wanting a work environment free from dead peoples’ harassment But, after some much needed Tylenol and a cup of tea, she made her way downstairs when she heard Madison come home. The two didn’t talk a lot, but Alex appreciated the effort made by the younger blond to smoke outside.
For Alex, smoking reminded her too much of Len and she didn’t want any reminders of him in her house. Also, while Alex was a recovering addict, nicotine had never been one of her drugs of choice. She hated the smell.
“Yeah, you did. Well done.” Alex’s tone could be sarcasm, but she did mean it. “I came out to ask if you wanted Chinese for dinner. I can’t function enough to cook today.” Maybe she should ask the housekeeper if she wanted additional income for doing meal prep once or twice a week. But for now, takeout worked.
At the response that came in a voice that obviously was not her guardian’s, Madison turned in her chair and offered her housemate a smirk. “Contrary to popular belief, I do give a shit once and a while,” Madison returned, taking another drag from her cigarette. “Though don’t spread that shit around. I do have a reputation to maintain around here.”
At the mention of Chinese for dinner, Madison shrugged her shoulders. “Works for me. I’ll never say ‘no’ to egg rolls and orange chicken.” Given she’d been dead up until recently, she really wouldn’t say “no” to any food except for some very select things. Obviously, Chinese wasn’t one of them. “Why can’t you function today? Did blondie give you a list of crap to do?” Madison asked, curiously. She took another drag on her cigarette. Madison didn’t know how Alex did it; she couldn’t handle being an assistant; she had issues with authority as it was.
Alex smirked in return. She had a similar attitude to Madison’s. “Your secret is safe with me, as long as you tell nobody I hired a housekeeper.” That was the life other people at Yale experienced, not Alex.
“I’ll make sure our order contains egg rolls and orange chicken.” Alex hadn’t been dead, but living on the streets meant she wasn’t picky about food either. Anything where she could have leftovers in case she lost her job or something worked for her.
“No.” Alex thought the world of Bex and didn’t mind her to-do list. If pretty much anyone else tried to tell Alex what to do, Alex would tell them to fuck off and not kildly. But her boss treated her well. “Headache. Asshole ghost wouldn’t leave me alone and after I dealt with him some others decided to call me bitch.” Thankfully, most of the ghosts in town didn’t bother her and if any bothered her at home, she’d talk to Eve about it. “It’s a lot of effort to block them out some days”
“My lips are gleefully sealed,” Madison replied. With a housekeeper, Madison didn’t have to clean up after herself as much as she did before. Being that she came from an environment where someone always cleaned up after her, it officially felt more like home to Madison. She still had to do laundry, but it was a compromise Madison was willing to live with.
At the words, Madison grinned. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Well, there was reason to like her when she allowed David and Madison to move in with her. While she still had to share a bathroom with David, at least she had her own bedroom and way more closet space.
At the mention of the rude ghosts, Madison wrinkled her nose in disgust. “What a bunch of douchebags. You think they would be a little more grateful given you actually do try to help them instead of telling them to constantly fuck off.” That was seriously one power Madison was grateful she didn’t fucking have. She was already plenty annoyed with the actual physical people around her half the time.
Alex laughed. “Thanks.” Honestly, Alex didn’t know how to take care of a house, so the housekeeper seemed wise. She could pay for the house of course, but trying to keep it clean felt overwhelming on top of everything else.
“Besides the whole house thing?’ Alex teased. She didn’t regret asking David and Madison to move into her house. The company felt nice most of the time and she could escape in her room when necessary.
“Usually in this town they’re okay. Today, though, wasn’t that day.” She winced as her headache throbbed. “At least most of them understand boundaries.” But a few of them made her hate her powers even more than she already did.
“How was school?”
“Getting egg rolls and plenty of orange chicken is like a close second to that,” Madison returned with a genuine smile. Most of the time Madison was hunkered down in her room, watching TikTok and avoiding doing homework, but when she did come out, she didn’t mind spending time with David and Alex. They were pretty cool for adults.
Madison exhaled and a ring of smoke evaporated into the cool spring air. “I guess they get a bug stuck up their noncorporeal asses sometimes like the rest of us. Well, our asses our corporeal, but you get what I’m saying.” The blond took a final drag and stabbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.
“Yeah, school. About that-” Madison stood and brushed a piece of invisible lint from her designer jeans. “It sucks. A lot.” Madison rolled her eyes. “I’d say I want to test out, but God knows I wouldn’t pass that.”
Alex smiled back and out of habit, pulled down her sleeves to ensure her arms were covered. “I’ll make sure to get enough so you have leftovers for a day or two.” Given Alex was twenty-one, she barely considered herself an adult, even if she did buy a house. Which still shocked the fuck out of her. But in this town? Why not?
“Yeah, I think they do. We’re all entitled to bad days.” Which didn’t solve the problem of Alex’s headache at the moment, but it didn’t change how Madison was right.
School. It wasn’t like Alex could say anything about it. She’d lived on the streets and then found herself struggling with her grades at Yale. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit. I’m not your guardian, but if you do decide you want to try and test out, I’m fully supportive. And anything else you need to get through your classes.” In all honesty, Alex didn’t care if Madison continued in school or not, but again, David was Madison’s guardian, not Alex.
Madison shrugged. “Works for me.” Then she didn’t have to buy the crappy school lunches. Not that she ate very much of it anyway, but leftover Chinese was a million times better than whatever they were serving at the cafeteria that day.
Madison was honestly surprised at how philosophical she sounded, but maybe it was because of dying like three times. Was that why she was so much more accepting or how people felt? It was possible; she didn’t want to fuck up her fourth chance at life, especially since it could easily be short-lived.
The witch was mildly surprised at how much faith Alex had in her and her offer of support. Obviously, the other woman had never glimpsed her math grades, which was probably for the best. She didn’t want to shatter all the faith her housemate had in her. At least not right away. She still gave Alex an incredulous look.
“Really? You’d help me get through my classes?”
Personally Alex thought she could avoid the whole cafeteria thing by making her own lunch, but Alex certainly wouldn’t say anything. “I have some plastic containers you can use for leftovers.” In the office, Alex didn’t like to bring lunch to heat up. Working in a place with two vampires meant she didn’t want to add to any smells which may offend them. Usually she brought a salad, a sandwich, or she’d grab lunch out somewhere.
To Alex, math didn’t dictate the brilliance of a person. It was math. She got through her job easily without math…or technically finishing school. Not that she planned to tell anyone.
“Yeah of course. I’ll do what I can. And I’m happy to help with the cost of any additional tutoring you need.” She wanted Madison to get through school, preferably with less stress than she currently seemed to be having.
And Madison was too lazy to cook for herself. Plus, people cooked for Madison her entire life; she didn’t see the point in changing that anytime soon. Even if it tasted horrible, it was probably still better than anything Madison could make on her own. Potions, brews, those were things she could handle, but cooking? Yeah, leave that to people who cared enough to give it their best shot. Which wasn’t Madison at all.
Math didn’t mean brilliance, but it did help one pass high school. Unfortunately.
“You’re not even my guardian and you’re willing to help. Are you trying to gain some good karma or something?” Madison asked jokingly. Honestly, if she scraped by on finals, she would probably pass this year, but next year? The blond had little confidence. Of course, that depended on if she was still even here next year.
Alex’s grandmother cooked for Alex before she died, but Alex had been teaching herself to cook. While she didn’t exactly kill it in the kitchen, Alex could at least cook a few staples. And she always made enough for her housemates. Cooking wasn’t her love language or anything, but at least nobody would starve.
Unfortunately, Madison wasn’t wrong about math to pass high school.
“Nah. I just don’t want you stressed out about school. I know how that feels and it’s not great.” Alex barely survived freshman year at Yale and it could naw at a person.
Madison’s initial reaction was to say she wasn’t stressed about school and that she didn’t care, but she wasn’t sure how true that was anymore. As much as she hated to admit it, there was a part of Madison that did care how she did in school because she had the potential for a future here. It definitely annoyed her, but it was, unfortunately, very true.
Instead, Madison reached into her pocket and pulled on her pack of cigarettes. Pursing one between her lips, she lit up again and inhaled deeply.
“I was kidding,” Madison replied, looking over at Alex. “Old me wouldn’t have. I probably would have told you to fuck off or something, but yeah not anymore.” Madison took another drag and exhaled a ring of smoke.
“Not like we’re going to hug or some shit, but I do appreciate it. You caring I mean.”
If Madison really didn’t care, Alex would drop the subject, but she had the impression Madison did care. And this place offered futures not everyone he might have.
“Meh, old me wouldn’t have cared enough to check in with you, so growth for both of us.” Alex smirked. “No definitely no hugs, but anytime.” That sounded good enough to Alex.
“Should we go order the food so it gets here soon? I’m hungry.
“Growth for both of us then.” Madison was proud of herself for continuing to not be as big of a bitch as she used to be back home. Obviously, it would still be along road ahead, but it was a start at least.
At Alex’s question, Madison took a final drag of her cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. “Yeah, let’s order. I’m starving and I still have math homework to attempt to do.” [wrap!]