One day, Madge Undersee decided to invite Gale Hawthorne to stay. He said no, of course, didn’t even bother to make up an excuse, but she kept inviting him every time he showed up from that day on. It was just a matter of time for him to give in, and when he finally did, she smiled so brightly he felt sorry for taking so long to say yes. It was a whole new type of awkward, sitting side by side with the mayor’s daughter on her back porch, listening to the soft tone of her voice and she went on and on and on about the newest piece she’d been working on, often showing him the scores, even though he couldn’t read them, yet it wasn’t annoying at all. He’d been used to girls ranting before, of course, it seemed to be all most of them knew how to do, but she was different, and he cared for each and every one of her words. Gale cared for her. It was somewhat comforting, having all the silences filled with her lively speach, and with time, he found himself opening up too, throwing his two cents on what she had to say and even telling stories of his own. Madge Undersee was everything but a bad listener, and seemed genuinely interested about Posy’s latest obsession with pink, Vick’s A- in English and Rory’s infatuation with Primrose. She even laughed when Gale told her about Hazelle’s warning every single time he was off to see her, as if whatever they had going on was even remotely romantic.
He didn’t mean to make her laugh, though. He was testing the grounds he walked on, carefully trying to figure out whether she was interested on him or not, and having his hopes and fantasies brought to the ground was surprisingly painful. He, who only a couple of days before would have exclaimed vehemently to whoever wanted to hear that he hated Undersee more than he had ever hated anyone. He, who had given her shit all those years, when she had nothing but nice words and shy smiles to offer him. He, who had sworn off all relationships so that providing for his family was his one and only responsibility. He wanted her, and it crushed his heart to know she didn’t want him back.
Little did he know she had only been waiting for him to make a move. She was done waiting, though, so she leaned forward to reach him, lips gently brushing against his, making a move of her own.
