A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 26: There'll Be No Living With Her After This

Chapter 26: There'll Be No Living With Her After This

Maddie and Nora sat on a velvet cushioned bench inside the American Adventure Pavilion, with its grand ceilings and less noisy guests. Well, less noisy in the sense that the crowds had moved on after the Voices of Liberty show and the latest audience for the show American Adventure had shuffled into the theater. 
           
They'd been spending the afternoon together after their classes, trying to stay away from the larger crowds, talking about life.
           
"So your family is doing well?" Nora asked.
           
"Yeah. Busy, as usual. Feels like we don't spend much time together, but I understand that we all have crazy schedules. My mom used to make sure we had more time together as a family when we were younger, but I think now since I'm in the campus ministry my dad helps run that it kind of counts as bonding time even though it isn't? I mean, clearly I'm not super angsty about it." Maddie kicked her legs back and forth even though they were long enough to reach the floor. "Once the holidays are here I'll get some more time with them, so that'll be nice."
           
Nora had gotten to hear a lot about Maddie's giant family in the past few meets ups, which had been refreshing compared to her own drama.
           
"I'd seriously love to meet Brook, by the way. I think she just needs to realize that cool college girls besides you also love Disney."
           
"Is that what you are?" Nora asked.
           
Maddie hit her gently. "Okay, I know I don't give off the cool vibe at all, but Abby definitely does."
           
There was no denying that Abby oozed chic. Not that chic was something that could ooze. Describing it that way was just how un-chic Nora was. 
           
"I don't think it would go well. It's nice that you want me and her to get along, but that's her own decision. Neither of us can force her."
           
"You mean like you forced Levi to hang out with us?"
           
Nora winced. "That was different." 
           
It'd been a few days and she still hadn't talked to Levi or Oliver about it. She'd texted an apology about everything, but Levi had said it was okay and their conversation had died. She'd even thought of a Haunted Mansion tombstone inscription for it: here lies Nora's social life, stabbed in the back by her own knife. 
           
It needed to be cleverer, but either way, it was clearly dead.
           
"Still," Maddie replied, "I don't think it's so awful to try. It wasn't bad that you tried with him. From what I understand, I think he's meeting up with Samuel and Kayden sometime soon? That's what they told me, but without giving a date. Maybe the same sort of thing could happen with Brook?"
           
Nora leaned forward, plopping her face into her first. "Maybe."
           
"Can I ask you something?" 

Nora was sure she wasn't going to like whatever it was, but it was only fair to at least hear her out. "Sure."

"Do you like Levi?"
           
She squirmed. "Um...no?"
           
Maddie gave her a pointed look.
           
Nora's hands came together in her lap. "I've never really thought about it. I mean, clearly he's a nice guy, and I get along with him, but..."
           
But she'd been weirdly obsessed with Jack Sparrow, who she also doubted she had feelings for. Not that she'd mentioned that to Maddie.
           
"I mean, if you don't like anyone, that's fine. I don't want to make you think that you have to be in love with anyone, or get married, or have kids. You don't. And clearly this subject isn't my favorite." Maddie shuddered. "But still, it's an important subject so I wanted to ask."
           
"No, I don't mind. It's just..." She bit her lip. "I've had crushes before, but I don't feel like I've ever had something serious? Or even a serious crush. They feel so shallow and underserving of any attention even though they feel big, you know?"
           
Maddie nodded enthusiastically. "That's how I feel all the time."
           
"Seriously?"
        
"Sadly, yes." She groaned, face towards the ceiling. "And I have so many awesome role model couples to look up to, but it stinks because they go on and on about how love isn't a feeling, it's an action. And that's great and I agree, but at the same time then I'm like...how do you know if you're in love? And then if you're just feeling stuff, does it mean it's not real? You know, since a lot of times the feelings fade, especially the longer you've been married and it just develops into something different. Are you supposed to date people you don't have any feelings for whatsoever so you don't get caught up in the butterflies, or someone you only have mild ones for, or what?"
           
Nora froze, never having thought of that before. How was anyone supposed to know who the right person was?
           
"And obviously there's more than one person out there for everyone. Like, what are the odds that there's one fated person out there for you out of billions of people? I guess compatibility is just different between different people, but the point is to find someone who makes you a better person who you don't want to kill."
           
"And Christians are supposed to not get divorced, right?" That sounded pretty impossible.
           
"Unless someone cheats on you or is being totally toxic or abusive, yeah. And obviously most Christians aren't good at that or believe that since our divorce rate is just as high, if not higher, than people who aren't Christian, which gives us a bad rap. I mean...and being with someone for life is a big thing to ask, but also people usually jump into marriage too soon and don't get advice on if they're a good couple or think over it or the fact that even a year from then, they could change a lot. Not to mention that you're supposed to work on your marriage and spend time together still, which a lot of couples don't do as the years go by. Not that I blame them, with the stress of jobs and kids and life making it hard to have that."
           
"Good job, Maddie. Now I'm panicking about the inevitable depressing future of my potential marriage to whoever."
           
Maddie tugged her ponytail. "I didn't mean to cause that. It's just always on my mind, even though I'm not with anyone. Because love isn't this bottled formula. It's different for each person and each couple and I just don't want to get it wrong."
           
Nora placed her hand over Maddie's. "Hey, God's got it, right? We mess stuff up, but he doesn't. It'll be okay."
           
Maddie smiled. "Look at you, learning."
           
"I have a good teacher."