"Spencer?"

  "Hm?"

  "Your brother is so hot."

  Spencer shot Madeline a glare. They were seated in the VIP section of Hooked, a booming Shisha bar with the same ambiance as that of a nightclub. White smoke danced around the place, very much in the same manner as the bellydancers swaying around the bar. Madeline had been bored at home and had decided to invite her friends out to her favourite hookah place. Unfortunately, Spencer was the only one to show up out of the three. Nora and Oliver were meant to join them but they had gone on their first date.

Madeline secretly hoped their date would be a disaster.  Even better, what if they suddenly decided they weren't right for each other? That the best thing for both of them would be to stop seeing each other. That way Madeline wouldn't have to feel so bad for sleeping with him. But so far? No emergency calls from either of them.

  "As I was saying, Kamil invited Charlie and I to Poland for the Summer and- Mads, are you even listening?"

  "Hm?"

  Spencer sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I've been talking about myself for far too long. How have you been?"

  Madeline apologised. She felt guilty for ignoring his whole Kamil conundrum. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just...distracted."

"What's on your mind, Madeline Lockhart?"

  "Your chiselled jawline."

  Spencer jokingly nudged her. "I'm serious!"

She contemplated telling him but he wouldn't understand. "Nothing. Just school stuff."

  He grinned mischievously at her. "Is it something booze can fix?"

  She grinned back and grabbed her Prada tote. "Now you're talking."

  Spencer insisted on paying but as they left, Madeline subtly slipped a hundred dollar tip onto the leather holder.

  Madeline salivated at the sight of Spencer's vintage Aston Martin outside. The pale blue car was the goddess of all cars. She once tried to buy it off him for triple the price but he refused.

"I can practically see you drooling."

"You know how much I love your car!"

He chuckled before tossing her the keys. "You can drive."

Her eyes bulged out of her head as she stared incredulously at him. "What?"

"I want to smoke. Drive." He dug out a small blunt from the front pocket of his snazzy Hawaiian shirt.

Spencer had perfect grades and a squeaky-clean record. Anyone who knew him knew he was a star-student and athlete. So when he smoked, it still amazed Madeline. She hugged him tightly before leaping into the driver's seat and jamming the key into the ignition. The engine's revs were music to her ears.

  "Where to?"

"My mother is in Beverly Hills with my grandmother so we can go to my house?"

"Sounds like a plan. As long as you got peach schnapps."

He lit up his joint and smiled through the smoke at her. "Of course. I keep a bottle in the cellar just for you."

  While driving she felt the urge to grab the joint from him and smoke it. She wasn't really a smoker but her mind was still too chaotic and she needed something to soothe her. But before she could ask, he flicked it out the window and swung his legs onto the headboard, allowing him to recline back on his chair.

  Madeline felt a slight sense of sadness as they approached his house. There was still a dark ambience, a lingering sense of the death in the house and the flowers and frames of Ellie only made it worse.

  "How are you coping with your sister's loss?"

  "You want the truth?"

  She nodded.

  He dug into his pocket and pulled out a platinum-coloured blister pack filled with familiar pale pink pills. "Xanax."

  "What?!" Madeline's arm shot out in an attempt to grab it. First Oliver, now Spencer?

  "Relax," He sighed, catching her arm. "They're prescribed."

Her heart immediately stopped. "Prescribed? Are you... Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Depression is sort of embarrassing."

  "Spence, I-"

  He shook his head and turned around. "It's fine. I'm fine now. So let's drink?"

  Madeline had been to enough parties and seen enough wasted teens in ambulances to know that Xanax and booze were not a great mixture. "I'm going to drink. You're going to stay sober and make sure I get home later. Okay?"

  He rolled his eyes and handed her her bottle of peach schnapps. "Drink up. I got you."

Madeline hated admitting it but she was a lightweight drunk. And so, an hour and a full bottle later, she found herself dancing and belting out Queen's greatest hits. Spencer kept her hands in his just in case she fell while bouncing from sofa to sofa.

"Sing it with me, Spencer! I saw a little silhouette *hiccup* by the- you're not singing!"

He let out a lighthearted chuckle and turned of the speakers. "I should get you home. "

"No! I'm fine, I swear."

"We have school tomorrow! And don't forget the assembly before school."

"Relax. I only need a few hours of sleep."

He made her sit down and unbuckled her high heel sandals for her.

"So that you don't trip," He explained.

His hands felt cool against her feet. She wiggled her toes and shrieked when he tickled the sole of her foot.

Madeline found him staring at her and frowned self-consciously. She wouldn't have felt so self-conscious with anyone else's eyes on her. But it was different with Spencer. He was the only person in the world whose opinion of her mattered to her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because!" He laughed. "Drunk Maddie only comes out once in a blue moon and I find her so fun."

"So sober me isn't fun?"

"No." He sat down beside her. "I love both versions. But seeing you so carefree makes me happy. You usually stress about the smallest things like how much Oliver has to drink or if Nora's safe. And when you aren't stressed out about your friends, you're stressed out about your duties as queen bitch. But now you're just so... chill."

Madeline smiled at him. "A queen needs a break every once in a while. I'm not superwoman."

"I know but the things you do they're so... superhuman."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Sometimes."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks, I guess. You're so..."

She struggled to find a word to describe him and not just because she was drunk but because the best things about him couldn't even be described with words. Words did no justice in capturing his essence.

"I like it when your nose isn't stuck in books. I like it when we talk like this," She finally settled on.

"Me too."

Madeline placed a kiss on his warm cheek, leaving behind a sticky lip gloss stain.

"Spence?"

"Uh huh?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"You just did."

She sat up and gently pushed his chin up to face her. "I meant-"

"Not like this." He half-smiled before planting a kiss on her head instead. "I don't think that's the best thing to do right now. Not when you're drunk."

"I'm not that drunk."

"I just don't want us to regret anything, Maddie."

Disappointment made her heart sink but she quickly concealed it. She shut her eyes and slowly kissed his cheek again. He remained frozen like a statue. If Spencer was a statue, he'd be David without a doubt.

"You should go home. I'll call Shawn." Spencer murmured, stroking her hair.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. It wasn't humiliation that she was feeling. It was more like disappointment, regret and an overwhelming sense of self-hate. She ruined everything.

She was urgent to leave and made very superficial smalltalk with Spencer until Shawn texted her, announcing his arrival. She awkwardly thanked Spencer at the door.

"Mads, we're okay right?"

She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Of course."

Before he could say anything else, she scurried to her town car to avoid any more rejection.

Her journey home was silent and filled with unspoken thoughts that simmered in Madeline's mind. The queasiness in Madeline's stomach did little to distract her from the fact that she had tried to kiss Spencer. Spencer. She didn't even like him in that way. Or maybe she did. Did she?

She sighed in frustration. When had she become so boy-crazy? It was out of nature for her. She hated feeling so dependent.

She reached to open her house's front door only for it to swing open just as she touched the handle.

"Madeline! I have to run to the office but there's food on the table."

"Will I wait for you?"

Her father shook his head. "I don't know when I'll be back. I'm sorry, honey. I'll try to be quick."

"S'okay," She sighed as he quickly pecked her cheek and ran to his car.

  Just like so many times before, she was left alone in their grand manor. Echoes were the only thing keeping her company. A sense of stomach-churning loneliness resonated in her. Maybe it was still the alcohol.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and her mood instantly improved at the distraction from her loneliness.

"Hey Nora, how are you?" Madeline had to block her ears from Nora's deafening squeals.

"Amazing! He brought me to one of his father's private beaches and then we made out in his private jet. It was a dream come true, Maddie!"

  "That's really great, Nor!"

The doorbell rang and Madeline ran to answer it. It was probably her father forgetting his office keys. Instead, she was greeted by a tall, familiar golden boy. Her breath hitched at the sight of him and she froze, not really sure what to do.

  "I really like him, Maddie. I just-"

"Yeah, I get you. Hey-uh, I'm going to have to call you back," She croaked.

The ability to speak had become lost to her. How did he look so effortlessly good?

  "But I'm not-"

  "Bye, Nora."

She hung up and immediately turned her attention back to Oliver, cracking the door open. He let himself in, a nervous smile painted onto his face. His fingers combed through his messy hair. Madeline felt sick at the thought of Nora's fingers becoming entangled in his chestnut mane earlier that day.

He looked perfect. Perfect for a first date.

  "How was your.. um.. date?" Madeline asked him, careful not to allow any emotion to spill out.

  "Perfect."

  She couldn't help but roll her eyes and began to turn around, ready to leave. "So, you came here to brag?"

  "But it wasn't you. Nora's great but I still need you."

  "Oliver," She sighed in exasperation. " You're going to have to choose at some point."

Whatever they had between them was dragged out for too long. It could really only end in one way. Either their relationship with Nora would be destroyed or their relationship with each other would be destroyed.

  He walked up to her and kissed her neck. "I know. But right now, I want you. I need you, Madeline."

  And just like that, Madeline fell right back into the rabbit hole that was her and Oliver's relationship.

♛ ♛ ♛

A/N; just a quick update, this book will probably have about 35 chapters and I have a few sequels planned. I was hoping to make the series a trilogy with a few spin offs but I'm still unsure.

I love you guys! Thank you for reading! If you have any questions on the characters, the books etc PM me and I'll reply almost immediately because I have no life.

Love,
-hexed