Maid For You 3

Chapter 29

"What's going on?" I asked as we were seated.

Madeline bit her lip. "It's Roiben!" she cried.

As I suspected, this was about Roiben.

"Roiben?" I asked. "What has he done?!" Roiben? I thought. What did you do? Why would you screw this up?!

"It's what he hasn't done," Madeline said. "It's been a week now since the pool party and he hasn't contacted me."

"Oh!" I said. "When did he say he was going to contact you by?"

"He didn't say he was going to," she said. "But I spent my whole night talking with Roiben at that party. And I flirted a bit and touched his arm and such. And then I wait for him to call me to ask me on a date, and nothing! Absolutely nothing! He hasn't done anything!"

"Well, maybe he couldn't tell for sure that you're interested in him," I countered.

"I don't know how much more obvious I could have been without embarrassing myself!" she said. "I've played this game with Coleman for too long and I'm not going to throw myself at Roiben. Obviously that didn't work for Coleman and I'm not going to make a fool of myself for Roiben's sake."

"I am not suggesting you throw yourself at Roiben," I said seriously. "You should never have to do that with a guy. But Roiben may not realize that you're interested in him."

"Well then he's stupid," Madeline said.

"He's probably scared," I said.

"Well I don't want a coward then," she sniffed. "If he's scared of dating me then—"

"No, not scared of dating you. Scared isn't even the right word, anyways," I said. "Look, you've liked Prince Coleman for a long time, haven't you?"

Madeline didn't say anything for a moment. "Yes, I have."

"And I know that Roiben knows that."

"Everyone knows that," she said.

"So, you see, for years Roiben has known that you've been in love with Prince Coleman, and probably doesn't think he has a chance with you. If he is scared, it's that he's scared of rejection. I mean, who knows how long he's liked you and hasn't said anything? Yes, you were flirty with him once, but that's after years of liking someone else."

Madeline sighed. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

I thought for a second. "Well, you should make the first move."

"What?" she asked.

"You should call him and ask him on a date," I suggested.

She wrinkled her nose. "What? No."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because the reason I was even interested in Roiben in the first place is because you said he's interested in me! And now I have to do this all over again?!"

"Do what?" I asked.

Madeline grabbed her arm with her left hand and looked down at her lap. She spoke very softly. "I just—I'm tired, Cassie."

I matched her volume, speaking gently. "Tired of what?" Though, I did have a guess.

She bit her lip. "I'm tired of chasing. I'm tired of putting in all the effort and getting nothing back. I can't do it all over again with a new person. I just can't."

I placed my hand on her shoulder, and she turned to me with surprise. "I'm sorry," I said, my heart simultaneously breaking for Madeline and pumping boiling blood against Coleman for being so heartless. "I'm sorry about Coleman. He didn't deserve your love, and he didn't respect you like he should have." I placed my hands in my lap. "I mean, look in the mirror! You're a total babe! Any guy would be so lucky to have a gorgeous woman like you after him. I mean, I remember when I first saw you, way back at that first pool party at the palace, I immediately felt kind of insecure because you were so pretty! I know that Coleman didn't give you the attention and devotion you needed. But...but what if Roiben's different? What if you miss out on something really great because you wouldn't call him?"

Madeline didn't say anything.

"Just give him a call and ask him to dinner," I said. "If he says no or shows any sort of hesitation or acts cocky, you're done. You never have to do anything like that again and you move on to someone else. We'll forget all about his sorry butt."

She chuckled somewhat at that. "I don't know," she sighed. "What if...what if I ask him and he says yes but doesn't initiate anything afterwards?"

"Okay, so if he says yes to a date and if things go well, you should say at the end of the date that you'd like to do it again sometime. Then, the ball is in his court. If he doesn't ask you on a date within the week after that, same response as before. We cancel him, you dump him from your mind, and we say 'good riddance.'"

She smiled before letting out a sigh. "Okay," she finally said. "I'll call him sometime."

"Sometime?" I repeated. "Oh no, you're calling him now."

"W-w-what?" she stammered. "W-well, there's no need to call him now."

"You're calling him now," I reinforced. 

She sat there very awkwardly. "I'm feeling very anxious about this."

"Nonsense," I said. "You'll be great. Ask him to dinner sometime this week, okay? Just you and him, alright?"

"I don't know if I can do that," she admitted.

"Madeline," I said, staring into her blue eyes very seriously. "You're Lady Frickin' Madeline Rylin, alright? From what I've seen, you're pretty fearless. I mean, you pushed me into a pool for Pete's sake. You can do it—I know you can."

She pursed her lips. "Fine," she agreed. "I'll put him on speakerphone so you can hear what he says, but don't let him know you're here."

I drew an imaginary zipper over my lips. "Gotcha."

Madeline took her phone off from the coffee table and with trembling fingers dialed the number. She placed the phone on speakerphone as it rang. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, until finally we were met with "Hello, you've reached Roiben Clifford. I can't come to the phone right now, but—"

Madeline quickly hung up. "Oh well!" she said. "We tried! He didn't answer."

"Dang it," I said. "I guess you will have to call him later."

"That's right. Oh well," she smiled smugly, placing her phone down on the couch. Suddenly her ringtone started blaring, and we both looked at her caller ID.

Roiben Clifford.