I knew Madison when we were kids. He was a couple years older, but we grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same school. We weren’t the best of friends, so it’s no surprise that I didn’t hear anything about him after he left for college, but we got along well enough whenever we were together. I even had a crush on him for a year or two in high school. He was pretty good-looking, after all: fairly tall, thin, greyish eyes and dark hair.

So naturally I was somewhat taken aback when we wound up as roommates a few years later.

I was just beginning my senior year of college. I’d had my fill of dorm life, but I was too far from home to commute, so I stayed on for a summer semester, got some credits, and spent all my free time finding a place to live and a better job. I didn’t have too much luck with the job; sure, I made decent tips waitressing, but I was looking for something with substance. Still, I did find a place to live, and that had been my major concern. As long as I made enough to pay rent, I’d be fine.

I’d been looking for apartments, but what I wound up finding was a house with a room to rent. It was owned by a brother and sister in their mid-twenties, and there were five other girls renting rooms from them. They were all in their twenties as well, though still older than me.

So at the end of the summer semester, I moved in, only to find that there were now only four other girls living there, and that whoever was supposed to be my roommate had eloped or something, so they were now looking for a replacement for her. Well, that was fine with me. I’d had a couple hellish roommates in the dorm, so I was fine with having a room to myself. And even when they managed to find me a roommate, I figured I’d be able to assume seniority and lay down some ground rules so we wouldn’t find it necessary to kill each other later. But I wasn’t really worried about it at the moment.

Then one night, after I’d been living there for all of two days, I came home after work and entered my room to find some guy sprawled facedown on the other bed. I’d heard that Dee, one of the other girls in the house, was prone to having overnight guests of the opposite sex, but I hadn’t been expecting to find one in my room, of all places.

So I cautiously prodded at his leg with one finger and posed a question. “Who are you?”

He sighed and rolled his head slightly on the pillow so I could make out his words. “I’m your new roommate, as you can see.” Without lifting his head, he waved a hand vaguely around the room.

I looked around, but everything seemed neat and in order; he must have unpacked before I’d gotten home. “But you’re supposed to be a girl,” I protested, looking down at him again.

“Why, because my name is Madison? It used to be a guys’ name, you know.”

I shook my head. “No, because you’re my roommate. I thought they’d be finding another girl to live here.” I shrugged. “I used to know a guy named Madison. He…” I stopped abruptly and leaned over to look at him closely. I wasn’t accustomed to seeing that scruff on his face, but the features underneath were undeniably familiar. “Madison Montgomery?”

He rolled onto his side and looked up at me, then grinned as recognition flitted into his eyes. “Casey Quinn! It’s been a while, huh? Come sit with me!” Jovially he reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me down to sit on the bed next to him.

“Oh, okay…um, hi,” I managed, decidedly uncomfortable. We’d been friends as kids, like I said, but I don’t think I’d ever even hugged him, let alone sat on his bed with his arm around me. It would’ve been better if he’d been sitting next to me, but he wasn’t; he was still lying down, pulling me, rigid as I was, backwards against him. I was acutely aware of all the muscles in his chest and arms, and I wondered idly if he’d been that built back in high school. No, he couldn’t have been; I would’ve noticed, and been even more in love with him for it.

Though perfectly at ease himself, Madison quickly sensed my discomfort, but didn’t let go of me. He seemed rather amused, actually.

“Come on, Casey, loosen up,” he teased. “What’s the matter, you afraid I’ll steal your precious virginity?”

I simply nodded curtly, not bothering to mention that my virginity hadn’t been available for a number of years now.

He laughed, then gave my arm a reassuring squeeze before releasing me. “C’mon, now,” he cajoled. “We’re old friends, you and I. You’ve got nothing to worry about from me.”

“Glad to hear it,” I snapped, rising to my feet.

“Touchy, touchy,” he chided, grinning.

“I’d say you’re the one who’s touchy,” I shot back. “When did you become so… affectionate?”

He shrugged amiably. “College was an interesting time in my life.”

That much was obvious to me, but I wouldn’t find out just how interesting a time it had been for quite a few months. In the meantime, I decided my best option was to distract him so I could process this rather unexpected turn of events.

“Why don’t you get back to your nap?” I suggested. “We can catch up later.”

“No,” he decided, climbing out of bed. “I’m good and awake now. And I’m hungry. Remind me where the kitchen is?”

“Fine,” I replied, sighing inwardly. He would want to hang out now. Damn him… all I needed was a little time to separate him in my mind from the high school boy I’d been in love with. Then we’d be fine.

But no, here I was, leading him to the kitchen, trying to decide if I’d prefer him to chatter a little more as he had before, or if this heavy silence was better. Before I could come to a conclusion, however, we reached the kitchen. Hearing voices inside, I paused just outside the door and turned to look at him.

He returned my gaze curiously. “Are we not allowed in there with them?”

“No, I just…”

Without waiting for me to finish my thought, whatever it had been, Madison strode into the kitchen, dragging me behind him.

“Good evening, ladies,” he greeted, flashing them a beguiling smile. He’d been a charmer back in high school, I remembered, but I couldn’t recall him being so outgoing. To be fair, though, I’d changed a lot in college, too. It would just be interesting getting to know this new side of Madison.

Before I knew quite what was going on, he’d introduced himself to April and Maggie and had been enlisted to help them make a late-night breakfast. Apparently, so had I, for I found myself buttering toast and pouring orange juice. Madison had been put in charge of the eggs, while the girls fussed with the hash browns. It was evidently only the second or third time they’d tried that particular dish, and they didn’t have much luck. Still, it was a much more filling snack than I’d anticipated, and I felt more at ease in Madison’s company with April and Maggie there, too. I hadn’t really gotten to know either of them yet, and while I can’t say I completely got to know them that night, we did have a decent conversation. Then they left to entertain themselves elsewhere, claiming that since Madison and I were the newcomers, doing the dishes was our responsibility that night. I wasn’t really a fan of that decision, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. So I agreed to dry the dishes while Madison washed. We worked in relative silence for a while; he chatted a bit, but I wasn’t feeling really talkative, so eventually he fell silent and left me to my brooding.

Well, for a few minutes, at least. Then he evidently decided I’d had enough time for that, and turned the spigot on me.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked, throwing my hands in front of my face in a vain attempt to stop the water.

He turned off the water and shrugged innocently, a playful spark in his eyes. “I didn’t want our relationship to have such a gloomy start. That’d be kind of foreboding, don’t you think?”

I had no response to that, so I just threw my towel at him and stormed from the kitchen. And let me just say, that was definitely the start of a fascinating relationship.

Hello, all! Here is the beginning of a new story for you... hope you enjoy. I've already got a few more chapters written, and I'll post them soon. And after that, I can promise you a chapter a week for at least a month or so, since I'm writing this for class. I know the chapters are short, but this is how much we're supposed to write each week. Don't worry, it'll eventually flesh out to my normal sized stories.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy my return... I know I'm enjoying writing again. Any reviews would be just lovely as I try to make this my most fabulous work yet. Many thanks!