Open (ARDEN)

[Madeline Speare]

It's just dawned on me, that in the ten years that I've known Arden I have in fact never visited her at home.
It's quite sad in all honesty.
The amount of time she'd spent at our home, the holidays, the get together's, and yet I'd never been to her home.
I was amazed that I even knew where to find it.
Slipping my hands into my jacket pockets, I glance around. At least, I'm pretty sure I'm at the right place.
98% sure.
"Your sure you know where your going Maddie?"
"Yes, Ian I know."
"Sure?"
"Shut up."
"I'm never going to hear the end of this," I murmur softly to myself, pushing a lock of hair back behind my ear.
Raising my hand cautiously to the door, I give it three sharp knocks, and just wait.
She would be in for a surprise, I was sure of that. There's a pang of guilt as I wait for the door to open. I mean, we did kind of just well, take off. We gave a couple people warning, but we really didn't say where we were going. Or if we were ever coming back.
I still hate this whole waiting for her to open the door thing.

[Arden Patricks]

I feel less pathetic now that I've got a job again. I also feel tired much more often, which is why when I came in here to the living room to read a book I wound up half-falling asleep while curled up on the armchair. Some kind of sound has just startled me fully awake now, and I look around in puzzlement before I figure out what it is.

Then, I stare suspiciously at the door, trying to decide if I really want to answer it or not.
The last time anybody came knocking at my door, it was a psycho who threatened and then stabbed me.
The last time before that, it was Logan... which I'm still not sure is a good thing or not.
But I think the last time before that, it was Riley and he needed me.
So I guess that's a fifty-fifty chance I'm going to regret this - I can't even remember the last time before that that somebody came to my house, so I only have those three situations to judge with.

None of them were exactly pleasant though, so I brace myself now just in case, opening the door very cautiously... and finally relaxing into a smile when I see who it actually is.
"Maddie... hi." I laugh slightly, partly at myself, and automatically move to give her a hug before stepping back again when my paranoia kicks back in. "That is you, isn't it, and not a hallucination of some sort?"

[Madeline Speare]

There's no stopping the grin tugging at the corners of my mouth.
"Arden!" I nearly shriek, pulling her into a hug.
I laugh softly feeling like an excited teenager. Pulling back, I grin pushing my hair out of my face.
There's a swell of pride in my chest at the thought that I was in fact right. It's the Gryffindor spirit in me, even if I am a drop-out.

Of course, predictable Arden. I had to resist the urge of rolling my eyes.
"Yes, silly it's me. I swear you haven't gone crazy."

[Arden Patricks]

I hug her back, laughing slightly even as I'm shaking my head. "You really never know. I might have."
The last time I saw her... I think it was just after she got back from Azkaban, and only very briefly... and the memory's hazy anyway, because I hadn't visited when she was in prison and was therefore feeling guilty about that.
And then she and Ian, my two closest friends besides Riley, up and disappeared and weren't around for me to talk to when I really needed some sane perspective.
But that doesn't mean I'm not thrilled to see her. "Is it just you here? And why, not that I mind?"
Are you coming back home or just randomly visiting?

[Madeline Speare]

There's a huge cloud of guilt over my head, I still feel horrible about how..-about how we left.
We barely told anyone, I just managed to tell Charlie, and I think Ian told Shell, I really can't remember.
There are so many people that I've missed, and I haven't had a chance to see quite yet.
"Your leaving again?"
"I'll be back Tiger, just need to go say hello,"
"Maddie, we can't risk it. This is our home now,"

I frown very slightly at the memory from a couple hours ago, but nod in response to her question, "Just me babe. Ian's still got baby sitting duty, Lex and Abby have the flu." I grin weakly,"He sends his love..-or the closest thing to human emotion he can muster."

[Arden Patricks]

I smile faintly, suddenly missing him a hell of a lot more than I normally do, because I've managed to get used to it by now but now Maddie's here and it's lovely to see her so I'll try not to act like an idiot.
"Well, tell him... I don't know, actually, but maybe I'll think of something clever in a minute." Ian Hunt... stay-at-home father.... "And I hope they feel better then. How... are things?"

[Madeline Speare]

I grin weakly,"Will do," I bite my lip lightly, he's not going to be happy that I stopped by.
"Fine, go back. Just..-try not to run into anyone alright Maddie? It'll be that much harder to leave."
He's far too good at this whole running-away-starting-a-new-life ordeal. Years of practice, he says.
Still feels like the cowards way out, even after six months.

I manage a weak smile. "Things are good," I think she means the whole 'Are you finally okay after being locked away in Azkaban' thing. Things have gotten fixed, that's something at least. I'm getting healthier, and the midnight screaming has stopped.

[Arden Patricks]

"Good." I smile more genuinely now. As much as I hated for them to leave, I'm perfectly all right with it as long as it really was the best thing to do and things are ll right now. I want to ask specifics, I think, but it's then realize that we're still standing here with the door open and it's the middle of winter so that's ridiculous. I quickly shake my head, sighing exasperatedly at myself, and open the door fully.
"Come in for heaven's -"
And then I glance quickly behind me to make sure that's a good idea. Logan isn't here, of course... and nothing of his appears to be lying around. Right then. And I look back at her, nodding as if there's been no pause.

[Madeline Speare]

I raise an eyebrow at her slight pause on letting me in. Arden's always been an odd one, there's no denying that. "Alright there Arden?" I ask, before gently moving past her into the house. Small, quaint, very...-Arden-ish. It's not quite what I'm use to, but then again compared to my childhood home everything's small.

"Nice place," I note, placing my hands behind my back. "You look good Arden," I note, trying hard to keep the focus off me.

[Arden Patricks]

"Thanks...." I laugh slightly, looking around. Suddenly I realize that I'm pretty sure Maddie's never been here before... but then again who has? And I think I'm going to ignore the second compliment, or at least shrug it off. Or turn it around. "You look pretty decent yourself... but really, how've you been? You don't... or maybe you do know how strange it is not to see your best friends for months."

[Madeline Speare]

I want to kick myself in the head. Figuratively of course, I don't think I could quite accomplish that, well..maybe if I was a couple of years younger. I'm getting on track...stupid attention span.
"I'm fine," I murmur, then wince slightly.
Yup, there's the guilt trip. Arden was always one to get straight to the point.

[Arden Patricks]

"Sorry," I say quickly, closing my eyes briefly after she winces. "I didn't... not to make you feel guilty or anything; I understand needing to get the hell away. I did it myself not long after you left." I smile faintly, then feel I have to correct myself again. "And not because you left. Not entirely. Just... to get away from al the drama around here."

(('Lo, Christina. Lovely to see you and wish I could stay.))

[Madeline Speare]

"We needed to get away Adren," I murmur, pushing my hair back out of my face. "We needed to get better, and that meant going away."
It meant running away. Like the cowards we really are.

I raise an eyebrow at her last comment,"Wait, you mean there's still drama? You don't think we're getting a little too old to keep up with such teenager stuff?"

[Arden Patricks]

I nod throughout the first half of what she says, feeling really awful now for implying they shouldn't have. It was what they needed so of course they should have, whether I selfishly wish they could've stayed or not.

"Probably are," I shrug, rolling my eyes faintly. "But my life half started over at sixteen, so maybe that's why I'm finally getting to the drama now. Don't know about anybody else...." I shrug slightly. "There was a small movement, though, recently - couple of idiot, leftover deatheaters who thought they could revive the whole thing. So that's not so much teenage drama."

[Madeline Speare]

"Wonderful, at least it's nothing new then," I muttering, actually taking a look around her home. It was...-kinda small really.
Not everyone was raised in a mansion Madeline.
Have I really gotten so selfish? Probably.

[Arden Patricks]

"Mm...." I murmur, nodding. "All blown over though, so... ah, would you like anything? What brings you back here, anyway?"
I'm half-praying silently that Logan doesn't show up anytime soon from wherever the hell he is.

[Madeline Speare]

"Water be good," I murmur, shrugging off my jacket, and setting it across my lap. It was weird to feel so out of place. "Well at least the drama's over," I push my hair out of my face, glancing around."Arden please tell me that your seeing someone? It's sad to think your still single," It's sad, I really am starting to sound like a mother now.
I raise a questioning eyebrow in her direction,"What now? You complain about me leaving, and now asking why I've come back? Can't I just come back to interrupt your lives and say hello without an excuse?" I grin to show I was teasing.
No, no you can't.

[Arden Patricks]

"Well, I'm certainly not asking because I want to get rid of you...." I laugh slightly, but then swallow, because I don't know how to answer her first inquiry. To buy myself time I go get her a glass of water, though I kind of suspect she may not want to stay in a moment. Because I am going to tell her in a moment, because it's childish and stupid to dance around the truth as if I'm ashamed or something.

"Ah, actually I am, yes. Sort of. Seeing someone, I mean. Sort of." He lives here, actually. And I have a funny feeling you know him but are not going to approve.

[Madeline Speare]

"I was about to say," I grin,"I know when I'm not wanted, I can just go off if you like, I do have other people to see."
Liar.
Ignoring the voice, like always, I just smile faintly, pushing my hair back off my forehead. It feels good to be around other adults, one can only spend so much time around children, and Ian has the mind-set of a child so it still technically counts.

I raise an eyebrow at that. Arden seeing someone was certainly not what I was expecting.
"Oh?"

[Arden Patricks]

"Sure you do." I smile weakly, hoping that I'm overreacting like usual and that she really won't decide to take off after I've nodded and replied to her next question.
"Ah, yeah. Logan... came to stay, a couple weeks ago, and I guess I've figured out why we've never been able to hate each other properly."

[Madeline Speare]

"I do!" I agrue, grinning slightly. It was half true, I mean I could pop in and check on Nate or Charlie. I feel kind of depressed at the thought actually, I had sort of lost contact with them. We'd been moving around quite a lot lately, so it was hard to send an owl every now and then.

I don't think I heard her right. There's no way I heard her correctly.
"What?"

[Arden Patricks]

I wince slightly, swallowing, and then take a deep breath, looking anywhere but at her right now.
"Logan's sort of staying here for a bit," I repeat, somehow doubting that's entirely what she was questioning.

[Madeline Speare]

I'm pretty sure that my eyes have nearly popped out of my head.
"He's staying here?" I snarl, instantly standing up.
"The bastard should be locked up in jail, what the hell?"

[Arden Patricks]

I stay seated but clench my fists nervously, debating for a moment whether to say what I'm thinking. I know it's a gamble, with the risk that I'll drive away one of my closest friends. If she hadn't already driven herself away earlier, I... have no idea what I'd do.
"You know," I say evenly, raising my eyebrows. "A lot of people might say the same about Ian. Will it help if I say he's not psychotic anymore and I think I sort of love him?"

[Madeline Speare]

"Watch what you say about him," I snap. I don't mean to, I swear but it's instinct to snap back when people make comments about Ian. He has his flaws, of course, but I love him, and there's no way that I'll just sit and let someone bad mouth him. Not even if the one badmouthing him is a friend.
"Unlike that fucking moron people actually like Ian." I can feel my temper rising, as it usually does when Logan's mentioned.
I have every right to hate the bastard too.
He's made my life a living hell, and the fact that we share a child is painful punishment enough.

I stop halfway through my nasty things to call Logan train of thought when I register what it is she's said.
"What?"

[Arden Patricks]

I close my eyes briefly, taking a deep breath before I snap back at her, because that's really the last thing I want to do right now.
"I wasn't saying anything against him and I never would," I say finally, keeping my voice as even as possible. "All I'm saying is that in the past Ian did some pretty awful things. So did Logan. Then Ian changed, and now so has Logan. And I really do not want to argue with you, but I'm pretty sure I love him so just...." I trail off, closing my eyes again and shaking my head. "I don't want to fight with you when I haven't seen you in months."

[Madeline Speare]

I always manage to dug myself deeper into a hole, it's true. Ian's told me over and over, as has Charlie and Jack too.
"Ian didn't kill people fore fun. Ian didn't do half the shit Logan's done."
I know I'm lying to myself. Ian and Logan were best friends. They were one in the same, and I know it.
My pride won't allow myself to admit it though.
My temper is getting the best of me, I can already tell.
"You can't love him."
She can. She's like you.

[Arden Patricks]

I decide not to argue anymore about Ian, because it's not as if I'm trying to prove he's awful or something.
Her last statement, however, calls for raised eyebrows again.
"Can't as in unable to or can't as in not allowed? Because I don't think you can tell me either one, honestly."

[Madeline Speare]

I'm tongue tied for once in my life. I really have no say in any of this. It's her life and I mean you can't choose who you fall in love with.
Why does it have to be Logan?

[Arden Patricks]

I breathe a long sigh of relief when she doesn't argue this time, leaning back against the wall. Now I don't really know what to say though, and also I doubt she approves... so I opt not to say anything, just looking off to the side. Well, I guess for once in my life I really was an accurate judge of what someone's reaction would be.