Bruises- Shane Madej

9. Lipschitz

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The month of December went on. Before anyone knew it, the Christmas holidays were approaching.

Buzzfeed had a Christmas party for all its employees. Maddie spent most of it goofing off with Alvin. 

Once the party was over, Alvin drove Maddie home. She went into her apartment and sat on her bed with a notepad, thinking of what she could give her friends and family for Christmas

Alvin and Maddie had already met each other's families. She liked Alvin's parents; they were super nice people. His older brother and sister in law were  awesome, too.

Maddie's little sister, Janey, was getting married in January.Her fiancé was named Leslie. They were both really cool people. 

Christmas dinner was fun. Maddie's family wasn't super religious, so they spent most of the time laughing and catching up with each other. All of her cousins were either adults or really close to being adults. There weren't any little kids in the family yet, so that also added to the fun-ness of their gathering.

On New Year's eve, Maddie went to a party with Hana and got unbelievably drunk. She'd asked Alvin if he wanted to come, but he said he'd be hanging out with his friend Irving. 

January came fast. Hanna and Maddie both went to Janey's wedding. Her older sister, Elena, and her boyfriend, Sam, came down from Oregon. She really liked it; it wasn't a boring traditional wedding and there were lots of fun quirks to it. 

By the time February came, Maddie was feeling a little burnt out already. In her opinion, February was the worst month. Awful weather, lots of work to do, summer is far away, no significant holidays coming up, ect. 

One thing she did like about February was Valentine's day. 

When the holiday finally came, Maddie got a gift for Alvin and went over to his apartment to give it to him.

When she walked up to his door, she heard voices. Two male voices. It sounded like something explicit was going on inside. 

Confused, Maddie knocked on the door. Someone muttered, "Fuck." It sounded like they were scrambling to get to the door. 

The door flew open and there was Alvin, with pink cheeks and the top buttons of his shirt undone. 

She frowned. "Hi- I just wanted to give you a Valentine's day gift." Maddie tried to look behind Alvin into the apartment, but he blocked her view. 

"Yeah, um, yep, yeah, thanks!" Alvin nervously looked behind him. He seemed out of breath. 

"Is there someone in there?"

"Nope, uh, just me!" 

"Alvin," Maddie gave him a stern look. She knew he was lying. 

He sighed, looking conflicted. Eventually, he opened the door wider. "Come in."

Maddie followed Alvin into the apartment. There was a disheveled looking man sitting on the couch.

"Irving, it's probably best if you go for now," he muttered. 

The other man nodded to her as he left. 

They sat at Alvin's table. "Who was that?"

"Maddie, I'm gay." 

Maddie was a little lost for words. What? Alvin was gay? Why was he dating her, then? 

"I..." She didn't know what to say. She ran her fingers through her hair.

"I can't be with you anymore. I just can't keep denying who I am."

Maddie took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're gay?"

"Yes," he said. After a little pause, he spoke again. "Are you mad at me?"

"I mean, yes, frankly, I am."

"You can't be mad at me for being myself!"

"That's not why I'm mad, Alvin! Why did you ask me out, then? Were you just playing with my feelings the whole time?"

"No, not at all. I just.. I guess I wanted to try and convince myself I was still straight."

"So you used me as your little experiment!?"

"I know it was wrong of me, I should have told you."

"Yeah, you think so?!" Maddie put her head in her hands. "I'm happy for you, Al, but this hurts like a bitch." 

"You're a great girl, Maddie."

"I really liked you, you know that?"

"I like you too, but just not in that way..." 

Maddie pulled herself together, willing herself not to start breaking down in her now ex-boyfriends apartment. 

"I'm gonna leave," she said.

"I'm sorry, Maddie."

"It's okay, I understand. I just need some time."

She got up and fled the apartment. As she drove away, she let the tears start coming. 

Yes, Alvin 100% had the right to not want to be with her, but that didn't stop her from feeling hurt. 

Driving through an intersection, she was torn out of her thought when she heard a loud horn honking.

That was when she was the pickup truck barreling straight towards her from the left.

Then, everything went black.

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