Who: Maddie and Chimney What: At the Art and Music Festival When: April 14 Where: Festival Rating: low
“I’m told this is organized every once and a while and it’s a lot of fun to go to.” Chimney was explaining as they headed towards where they could hear music. This wasn’t a date or anything or rather it was whatever they typically had been doing back home…. Hanging out with enjoyment? Either way, Chimney was just glad to be doing this with Maddie.
“I thought it’d be a nice distraction after all the weird during April Fools. Not to mention I have to take a test coming up to prove I can teach EMS training and for some reason I’m more nervous about that than taking the firefighter exam.”
–
The festival reminded Maddie of the events she grew up with in Hershey. Such a typical small town thing. It was comforting, even though she was surprised to find herself missing the hustle and bustle of LA. Having Chimney and Buck here, plus Josh and Eddie, certainly made the adjustment much easier for her.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Maddie assured him, patting his arm reassuringly. When she dropped her hand, it brushed against his and she was struck with the urge to take his, though she shook it off and kept her hand at her side. She didn’t want to lead Chimney on and she still had things to work through after everything with Doug. He was already being exceptionally patient with her and she didn’t want to make things harder. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine. You could probably pass that test in your sleep.”
She had the utmost faith in him and his abilities. “This should be nice, though,” she added. “Thanks for asking me.”
*
“I thought it’d be a nice change of pace. From what I’m gathering it’s hit or miss here with nice things to do so I figure we should probably take advantage of it.” Chimney was still trying to wrap his head around the whole Prank thing. The Replicators were terrifying, but somehow that was easier to understand than a whole place doing something. He got a headache when he tried to understand it.
He, of course, was also aware of their hands almost touching. Much like Maddie, he was pretending he didn’t notice it happened because he knew she was working through things and he’d rather keep things status quo than ruin it. Especially in Madison where you couldn’t run and lick your wounds.
“Have you fully committed the the 911 thing? Was it weird with the whole April Fools day?”
–
“Honestly, it was probably the most normal day I’ve had here,” Maddie said. “Weird calls are par for the course in dispatch. I kind of felt like I was back in LA.” Except for the dismal weather and whole thing where people were from different points in time. She was still tempted to ask Buck about her relationship with Chimney in the future, even though she’d seen Back to the Future enough to know it was a bad idea.
She stopped at one of the booths displaying art so they could look at the pieces. “This is actually pretty normal,” she said, a note of surprise in her voice. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but…” Maddie shrugged. Most things weren’t what she expected here.
*
He nodded. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Maybe not the calls themselves, but he’d answered enough weird emergencies to know that Madison didn’t have the market cornered on ‘what the fuck’ when it came to 911 issues.
“You mean like alien art? Moving, glowing orbs in the air or something?” Chimney had been picturing a few weird things too. “Or like, hearing alien music… which for me always ends up just sounding like the Cantina song from Star Wars which I think is a comment to my imagination.” He made the self-deprecating joke as he took in some of the artwork. “You’re right though. It’s really normal. Which is kind of nice.” He paused, looking at a piece and also thinking, then he added, “Which probably is one of the reasons to have it before more weird is thrown at us.”
–
Maddie laughed at his joke. Being with Chimney always made her smile. “It is nice to have some sense of normalcy even when we’re stuck in the premise of a sci-fi movie.” It was actually a nice change from the horror film her life had previously been.
“I do want to branch out and meet some people from other places,” she admitted. “I’ve been mostly sticking to the people I already know. I’m sure there are people here with really fascinating stories.”
*
“I heard there was this thing called ‘Speed Dating’ that happened before we got here. A lot of people use it for meeting people. But there’s also something called ‘Food Club’ which sounds delicious…. So I guess we’re not the only people who are new and want to meet others so we’re not just stuck with the same five people the rest of our lives -” He paused, then glanced at her needing to clarify. “Not that that’d be bad or anything.” Especially with her in particular, but he didn’t elaborate there.
“Maybe we could make a pact. Like each of us pick some sort of event for us to go to and meet new people.”
–
That sounded like a great idea with one major flaw. “Don’t you think it defeats the purpose of meeting new people if we go together?” Maddie asked, though she was clearly amused by the suggestion and knew she would feel more comfortable in a public place if Chimney was there. Her experiences with Doug were still fresh and between that and her misstep with Tara, she didn’t exactly trust her own judgment either.
“You’re right that getting out more is a good idea,” she agreed.
*
He blinked. “Oh. yeah, I guess you’re right.” He looked at her, then smiled. “Whoops.” He couldn’t help it. He thought he’d feel safer too. “Maybe we could go and be each other’s cheerleaders. Like, ‘hey Maddie, there are some cool people at that table. Good luck’.” He mimed thumbs up like they were currently at an event and Maddie was expected to go talk to a table.
“We could bring the others too. I bet it’d do Buck some good.” Eddie had a good ‘in’ with Christopher going to school and all those other parents. He wondered if Josh was meeting any new people too.
–
“That sounds fun,” Maddie agreed. “Maybe we should split up for an hour while we’re here. Then we can meet back up and trade stories.” It seemed like a safe enough place to wander alone for a while and Chimney would be close by just in case. She hated feeling like she needed that security blanket and hoped that her anxious feelings would dissipate after a while.
A new musical act took the stage and Maddie stopped to listen. It was a young girl dressed all in black who started playing heavy metal on the cello. Not something she would have expected, but it was really good. “Wow, there really are some talented people here.”
*
“More talented than me, that’s for sure.” He’d never seen that kind of performance ever and thought the niche would be successful back home. He wondered if a small town stuck under a Dome made for a better or worse musical market.
He looked at Maddie. “Splitting up sounds okay. But I demand a text if you find a food vendor selling something delicious.” Chimney enjoyed his food a lot and he missed street vendors. There didn’t seem to be a lot of those here in Madison Valley.
–
Maddie laughed. “Deal,” she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Let’s meet up in an hour and compare notes. How about by that tree?” she suggested, pointing at a particularly notable tree near where they were currently standing.
Slowly, she was getting used to living her life without constantly looking over her shoulder and being in fear of what might happen next.