Chapter 92 - Me & Him? Oh God No

"We've arrived!" Briar announced to Madeline who was already decked out in an apron. 

"Finally! What took you so lo—"

"Hold on a moment, did you say 'we'?" Madeline questioned, walking out of the kitchen to see Briar and Indiana standing beside each other. 

"Oh!" She exclaimed in shock.

"Hi Indiana," she waved, grinning.

"Didn't expect to see you here."

Madeline wondered why she hadn't thought of inviting Indiana to breakfast herself. She was so caught up with Lily and having to give her away that she completely forgot about Indiana. 

She was about to invite her to breakfast, but she had forgotten to. 

'Curse my horrible memory,' Madeline scolded herself, adding, 'She probably thinks I purposely left her out.' 

That wasn't the case at all. Madeline wouldn't do such a thing to Indiana. 

Safe to say, Madeline felt a tad bit guilty over what happened to Indiana. She felt it was because of her. 

Maybe some things got lost in translation, or Indiana really did mean those things, but Madeline knew Indiana was a good person. 

She didn't mean any harm to anyone. 

Madeline didn't think so, at least.

Sure, some mean words came out from her mouth, but she apologized for it. 

And Madeline knew a sincere apology from a fake one. Separating one from another was simple.

So when Indiana apologized to her, she could tell Indiana was being sincere. And if Indiana wasn't… 

Who knew what might happen next?

The others would find it strange that Madeline chose to befriend Indiana when there were many other more suitable options. Especially in the category of people who had not done Madeline dirty in the past. 

'Who would've thought that I'd end up befriending Indiana?' 

Madeline realized she had been making lots of questionable decisions lately. First, taking Lily in. Second, choosing to befriend Indiana of all people.

"Come in," Madeline said, gesturing Indiana and Briar to enter. 

Indiana smiled, walking in the kitchen. 

Inside, she was incredibly nervous. 

She was never good at cooking, it was why she stuck to baking. 

The last time she tried cooking, she nearly burnt the kitchen down. That was why she was usually assigned to dish duty when eating with her friends. Well, her ex-friends. They no longer wanted anything to do with her now so doubted they saw her as a friend. 

But, after they saw her with Madeline, would they change their minds? 

After all, Madeline was a popular name in Eudora. Everyone knew her. Everyone was terrified of her. 

Indiana had been the only foolish person to mess with Madeline and look where she was now, it seemed to work out quite well for her.

However, she was still in Xavier's bad graces after what she'd done and there was nothing she could do to change that. Not unless a miracle occured. 

Heck, Indiana thought Xavier had purposely gotten Briar to stay with Madeline to protect her from… well, her.

It was quite reasonable of Xavier to do so. 

Maybe he thought after she did one thing, she'd go on to do another, especially when he was absent from Eudora. And that Indiana was not to be trusted.

Whilst Indiana admitted that stung, Xavier was just concerned about Madeline's safety. 

'He's just being a concerned boyfriend.' 

Oh yes, Indiana still thought Madeline and Xavier were dating, even though that wasn't the case at all.

If she were to even mention Madeline and Xavier dating, she'd get corrected, and she'd discover that they never dated in the first place. 

They were just friends; they saw each other as just that. 

But Indiana didn't know that. 

Heck, she saw them as an adorable couple. Imagine if she were to find out that what she thought was true was actually false. 

Breaking the silence, Indiana told Madeline, "You and Xavier sure make an adorable couple."

Briar and Madeline stared at her, wondering what she was talking about.

'Couple?'

A bead of sweat rolled down Madeline's face. 

"Couple? Me and Xavier are not dating," Madeline corrected, furrowing her brows in confusion. 

Where had she heard that she and Xavier were dating? 

Did everyone in Eudora think so too? 

Madeline inhaled. This wouldn't end well, huh. 

"Wait, what?" Indiana asked, her eyes widening.

"The two of you aren't an item?" 

"Oh god no, we're not."

Madeline shook her head.

"We're just friends," she explained, "Nothing more."

"Woah."

"Where did you hear that we were dating?"

"Uh, I didn't hear it from anyone, I just assumed so."

Briar fought back a laugh. 

If she didn't know better, she'd be just like Indiana.

She'd automatically assume Xavier and Madeline were dating. 

Heck, if she was Indiana in this situation she would've told Madeline the same thing as well. 

Meanwhile, Madeline was stunned. 

Did people really think he and her were dating?

Did things get lost in translation or something? 

How could people possibly think she and him were… together? As something more than friends? 

Shaking her head, she assured Indiana that she and Xavier were not dating.

"We most certainly are not dating," she said to Indiana seriously. 

"Anything but that."

"Xavier's a great guy, but dating's out of the picture."

Even if they were mates. 

Indiana had to admit she felt partly relieved her assumptions turned out to be false, although she was left to wonder… Had they never given each other a chance despite being mates and amazing friends? 

Indiana stared at Madeline incredulously, wanting to say something to her but ending up not saying anything at all.

__

Author's Note: Merry Christmas everyone! (Or Christmas Eve depending on your time zone). 

Hope you all have wonderful Christmases and enjoy the four new chapters that will be posted today! 

And also, I'd like to thank one reader. To DaoistSXBpUt, thank you ever so much for the magic castle. When I wrote Her Devilish Alpha, I never expected to receive any gift like that. Thank you, truly. 

Alright, moving on from that, here's to a wonderful Christmas from this small author. 

Love, mari.