SEQUEL: TWENTY-FOUR

Madeline decided to hold back from making any attempt on their first night out. It would be too telling if Iyla were to attack them the very first night they met up after being apart for almost a whole week, it would mean that Iyla was keeping very close tabs on them which was unrealistic.
First, they would have to get back on the tabloids which was fairly easy to do. She didn’t even have to stir up trouble because Alina’s hair did all of the work for her, pictures of her new hair color were taken by random strangers and shared over the internet. The paparazzi didn’t even need to show up in person for them to dominate the tabloids, and by ‘them’, she meant ‘Princess’ Alina.
If she were also a princess, then she wouldn’t have to beg for crumbs of attention, and she wouldn’t be exclusively referred to as Princess Alina’s friend, but it was all a matter of time.
They didn’t return to the Gustav estate after spending the night clubbing, instead, they rented out a hotel room and stayed there. Immediately passing out cold after drinking and dancing till the early hours of the next morning.
Madeline didn’t even get the chance to make a move on Alina for the next couple of days although they spent the entire time together, going shopping and checking out new restaurants. And it was simply because the public refused to shut the fuck up about Alina’s new hair color.
With how excited they were over it, one would think it was a new baby. Meanwhile, it was just a hair color that Madeline genuinely thought was too basic, Alina should have just kept bleaching her hair.
But she also knew that no one would make that much of a fuss about her if she had been the one to dye her hair brown, this wasn’t about Alina’s new hair color, it never was, it was about her being a princess.
Anyway, it took days for the hubbub to calm down sufficiently for them not to be mobbed by paparazzi wherever they went, it also meant that it was finally time for Madeline to make her move.
Spending all those days watching people fawn over Alina had nearly pushed Madeline over the edge but somehow, she managed to hold herself together. However, her first move against Alina might be her last because she was that sick of her.
They revisited the first club that they went to the night they made up because it was such a rave, and also a place where paparazzi weren’t allowed so they would get enough freedom to fully enjoy their night.
Madeline already hired some girl to offer her and Alina drugs while they were separated, It happened all the time in clubs like this and by making sure that she was away from Alina, she wouldn’t be required to influence her decision.
Madeline knew how impulsive Alina could be so there was no question that she would ingest the pill which would quickly take effect so by the time Madeline got back to her, she would have slumped and the girl that had offered her some strange pill would be long gone. It was a simple but foolproof plan.
So after spending some time at the club, already a little tipsy and preparing to get on the dance floor, Madeline excused herself to use the restroom.
“Sure you don’t want me to come with you? I don’t mind,” Alina suggested with a hand on Madeline’s arm, having to raise her voice to be heard over the music.
“No, no,” Madeline refused quickly, “You don’t need to, I’ll be quick.” She reassured her, already backing away into the packed crowd, her sparkly pink dress disappearing into the hoard of people.
She had worn her favorite dress today because it was such a special occasion, princesses always wore pink so it was only right that she honored that time old tradition.
She slowly made her way to the restroom, taking her time because she was certain that by the time she returned , Alina would be long gone.
-+-
Alina found herself wondering if Madeline was still mad at her. Her best friend didn’t spell it outright but it was in the little things she did that made Alina question things.
Usually, Madeline would be the one to ask her to tag along to the bathroom but this time she didn’t and she also turned down her offer. It wasn’t just that, there were little things that Alina had picked up on over the past couple of days.
Madeline hadn’t brought up the topic of her contract mating to Roman ever since the first day they made up and to keep the peace, Alina didn’t speak about it either. After all, it didn’t matter if they spoke about it or not, it was going to happen regardless.
She peeked into the rim of her cup to stare at the contents of her drink, and then glanced at the direction that Madeline had gone off in, wondering when she was going to return.
Someone bumped into her from behind, making her whip around with the intention of giving them an earful.
The girl didn’t let her speak, apologizing profusely in a way that dissipated her anger. Usually, Alina wouldn’t get so irritated by something so little, they were in a club filled with drunk people so of course there were going to be people bumping into each other, but the unspoken issue with Madeline irked her a bit.
“As an apology, can I offer you this?” She whispered, her words slightly slurred as she leaned closer to push something small into Alina’s palm. “It’ll be worth your while, I promise.”
Before Alina could refuse, the girl that looked a little bit too drunk to be all alone at a club disappeared into the crowd, leaving her with a brightly colored pill in her hand.
Alina closed her fist around it and then dropped it into her almost empty plastic cup before singling out a trash can to get rid of the cup in her hand. On a usual night, she wouldn’t have thought about swallowing the strange pill given to her by a stranger but tonight, she felt a bit off.
She felt like all the thoughts that she partied and clubbed to get rid of, were swarming back and this time it felt like they would completely consume her.
She returned back to her previous spot in time to see Madeline making her way over with the biggest smile on her face which faded away when their eyes met. Alina convinced herself that she was merely seeing things as Madeline came closer.
“I didn’t see you for a moment there, I thought…” - you were dead -
Madeline trailed off, looking Alina up and down as if to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating.
“Sorry, I just wanted to toss away my cup… are you good?” Alina leaned closer to get a better look at her best friend. “Do you want to leave early?”
Madeline actually did, she wasn’t sure she could keep pretending for the rest of tonight after finding out that her plans went bust. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine…”
Alina laughed in relief, “What? Did you take some pill from a stranger too?”
Madeline latched onto this, eager to find out what exactly happened and why her plan hadn’t worked. She fixed a believable frown on her face, “Too? What do you mean? Did it happen to you?”
Alina looped their arms together and led her out, “Yeah, some strange girl bumped into me and apologized with drugs,” She chuckled, “Like who does that? She must have been so drunk.”
“And you turned it down?” Madeline asked in mild disbelief.
“She didn’t give me a chance to but I knew better than to take it so I got rid of it.” She shrugged nonchalantly like it was no big deal.
Meanwhile, Madeline was extremely close to a mental breakdown. *’What did she mean by she knew better than to take it?! Alina was literally the type to take literally anything without question, why was this the one time she acted differently?’*
It made her genuinely consider if Alina was actually onto her and she was just playing into her trap. She highly doubted it though, there was literally no possible way Alina could predict what she planned to do.
She was also the type who didn’t know how to plot, if she felt any negative emotion about anyone, she was always so quick to let them know. So if by some stroke of luck, she found out that Madeline was trying to murder her, she would immediately confront her. So there was no worry about that.
“Really?” Madeline jabbed at her.
“Hey! What do you mean by that?” Alina laughed as they made their way out of the club, thinking that Madeline was just making a harmless joke.
Madeline pulled her arm away from Alina and led the way to where they parked their car, “I just realized that I need to get something from the estate, why don’t you go ahead to the hotel and I’ll meet up with you later.”
“Wait, what? Don’t you want me to come with you?” Alina frowned.
“There’s no need for that, it’s not going to take very long…” Madeline made up excuses. The reason she needed to go back home was because she needed to be away from Alina for a while.
“Are you still mad at me?” Alina blurted out, her dark eyes vulnerable.
Madeline quietly sighed in relief at this question, she had thought that Alina was onto her. “No, of course not, I just don’t want to bother you.”
“But I don’t mind…” Alina started to say but Madeline had already started leaving.
“You can take the car! I’ll order a cab! Bye!”
“Wait! Maddie-“
Madeline was already halfway out of the parking lot by now, leaving Alina no choice but to return to their hotel room, all alone.
She got in Madeline’s car and backed out of the parking lot, by the time she got to the street, Madeline was already long gone. It had Alina seriously thinking about her drive back.
Although Madeline had denied still being upset, there was no explanation for her recent odd behavior. Or was there some secret she was trying to keep hidden? If that was the case Alina could understand because she had done that before.
Regardless of why she did it, Madeline had left her all alone, it wasn’t a nice feeling to be all alone. She drove slowly back to the hotel, preferring to be out in the bright lights of the city than the quiet space of the penthouse.
It must be so nice to be able to go back to a bright welcoming family whenever you wanted, Alina wished she had that. Madeline turned down her request to tag along made it sting even more, because she knew that if she went back to her father’s castle tonight, she would most likely find it cold and empty. And even if he were around, he would either be too busy to see her or speak to her for a few minutes and immediately attend to something important.
Late night drives were bad for her mental health because they made her realize how much she didn’t have, and how she didn’t really have a dream because the only thing she ever wanted since she was a little girl was some attention from her father.
She really needed to put her energies into something useful, was it too late to pick up a hobby? Or a pet? Madeline’s mom had a Persian cat that she was so attached to, maybe that kind of unconditional love was just what she needed.
It was just a few minutes past ten when she got into the penthouse suite, it had really just been the start of the night but she had been worried about Madeline and that was why she cut it short, only for Maddie to ditch her.