Chapter Seven

Just A Memory

Madison pulled the blankets over her head when someone pulled open her curtains causing the bright sun to burn her eyes. She flopped onto her stomach and groaned as the pain from drinking her self to a stupor thumped against her skull. A throat cleared causing her to burry her head further into her pillow and another groan to escape her throat. The side of her bed got weighed down when the intruder sat down clearing their throat again, in an attempt to get Madison out of her blankets.

            “Ma go away.” Madison mumbled through her pillow and blankets.

            “I bought you some coffee” The voice rang out causing Madison’s heart to skip a beat.

She turned onto her back and slowly pulled the covers down her face, stopping after her eyes. She looked him over; he was staring out her window holding a cup of coffee.

            “How did you get in?” She asked anger setting in.

Justin turned his head and looked at her, all he could see was her unruly curls and her blood shot eyes. “I… uh… I dropped Manda off at your moms and she gave me her key.” He stumbled over the words.

            “You need to leave.” Madison snapped pushing her blankets down to her waist as she sat up, “You need to leave right fucking now.” She added with more anger in her voice.

            “No, we need to talk.” He sat still not moving an inch as she climbed out of her bed and grabbed a robe to put on; she was only wearing a tank top and boxers.

            “No you need to fucking leave!” She yelled at him causing him to jump slightly, he turned to face her then stood up and walked over to her.

            “I fucking need to talk to you, so take this damn coffee, drink it, and then get in the shower. You’re a fucking mess.” He snapped shoving the coffee in her hand and walking out of the bedroom.

Madison watched as he walked down the hall into her front room, she sat down on the end of her bed and took the sip of the coffee; it was cold, like he had been afraid to wake her up.  She sat it on her dresser and went to get in the shower, he was right she looked a mess. Twenty minutes later she was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, her hair was up in a wet pony tail.

            “What do you need to talk to me about?” Madison asked as she came into the front room, she sat down across the room on the loveseat looking at Justin.

            “Why?” was all he asked looking at her from across the room.

            “Why what?” Madison played dumb; she knew he wanted to know why she never told him.

Justin took a deep breath and looked down, “Don’t play fucking dumb! Riley why didn’t you tell me!” He snapped raising his head and looking at her.

She closed her eyes to fight against the dull pain in her head, “I didn’t want to ruin your career, or your relationship with Britney.” She answered biting her lower lip and picking at the hem of her shirt.

            “Fuck that! That is bullshit, that wouldn’t ruin anything! You were too chicken shit to tell me!” He yelled out causing her to jump at the sound of his voice. “I could have dealt with it; I WOULD have dealt with it. But you were too fucking selfish to let me know I had a kid. I’ve missed 6 years of my daughters’ life because you were too fucking…” His words trailed off as Madison broke down into tears at his words.

            “You were never supposed find out. Never supposed to see me again.” She sobbed looking at the couch she was on. “You wouldn’t be upset like this if you never knew!” She added causing Justin to stand up and walk over to her.

            “I knew…” He started as he sat next to her on the loveseat, Madison’s head shot up looking at him

            “Wha…how... What?” She could barely get out.

Justin cleared his throat and looked at her, “About 5 years ago I went and visited your dad. I knew you had moved out to your moms so I went to ask him for her phone number so I could get a hold of you. He had baby pictures hanging on the fridge; I asked him who it was. He told me it was his granddaughter Amanda. I knew five years ago you had a daughter…I was in denial that she was mine.” Justin took a deep breath and pulled out his wallet.

Pulling out a picture of Amanda when she was a year old, “I knew she was mine, I just knew she was, she looked just like me as a kid. I was shocked when I saw the pictures, I didn’t want to believe that my best friend would get pregnant with my child and never tell me.” He added causing Madison to cry even harder.  “I’ve been in denial ever since, I told my self Riley, MY RILEY would have told me if it were my child that it must have been some other guys kid. I was in denial when I showed JC the picture and he said she looked like me.” He sighed, running hand over his head.

            “I… I’m sorry.” Madison hiccupped out reaching for the picture in his hand.

            “I’ve been in denial everyday. When JC started to date Jayne and she started talking about her best friend Madison and her daughter Amanda I couldn’t believe she was talking about you. JC got your number from Jayne and told me to call you three years ago. But I… I COULDN’T I didn’t want to believe you’d do that to me.” He pushed a few tears away and looked at Madison.

            “I… don’t know what you want from me Randy.” She said handing him back the picture of her daughter.

            “I released a statement confirming that I have a daughter, and with that I told the world I was taking a few years off to be with you both.” He stated causing Madison to look up at him with shock.

            “What did you just say?” Madison asked trying to remain calm.

            “I release…”

            “Who told you to do that!” She yelled out standing up.

            “I told me I could do it. I’m going to be spending a lot of fucking time with you both. I want to be a permanent part of Amanda’s life and I can’t be when I’m touring the world!” Justin stated as he looked at an angry Madison.

            “You didn’t ask me! You didn’t ask if I wanted my daughter in some sort of press release!” She yelled at Justin as he grabbed her arm.

            “I shouldn’t have to ask! It’s better this way! If I hadn’t released a statement they would have been all over you and Amanda!” He tried as calmly as possible 

Madison yanked her arm out of Justin’s grip and paced her front room, she chewed on her pointer finger trying to figure everything out. She looked at Justin and halted her pacing.

            “I… I can’t do this Randall.” She stated before sitting on the seat behind her.

Justin looked at her, “Can’t do what Riley?” He asked, not 100% sure what she was talking about.

            “I can’t have you in my life. I... it’s too hard, I worked so hard to cut you out of my life.” She said barely a whisper, dipping her head into her hands.

            “I’ll work just as hard to start a new life with you. We have to work on this… at least for Amanda’s sake.” Justin replied as he got up and sat next to Madison, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side. “I’m not going to push you to be my best friend again Riley. But I won’t miss any more of Amanda’s life.” He added.