Nice guy

"Oh yeah, we totally had to jump out the window." said Annie as she laughed even more. This memory had been long forgotten in her mind, now that she was reminded of it at this point in time. Looking back, they really had come so far.

"That's not funny Annie, really..." said Maddie sternly, usually she was the one who laughed at serious things, but the roles were reversed now.

"Oh but it is, we were so scared of Azazel, like literally." said Annie as she laughed and Maddie shook her head.

"That truly was funny, but not in the moment though." said Matt as he stopped laughing, he could see that Maddie was not pleased with this at all.

"Maybe you don't realize how serious the situation was because you didn't have to stay back after the party. Well I did, and I had a lot of explaining to do." said Maddie as she shook her head and they could all see the seriousness in her eyes as Annie finally stopped laughing.

"Alright, you're right, back then I couldn't even use my magic on command." said Annie as she nodded.

"Glad you can agree." said Maddie as she nodded, she did not want to continue talking about this.

"You guys have really been through a lot together." said Ollie as they all turned to look at him.

"That we have blondie, and that's why no matter how hard you try, you will never truly be a part of the team." said Maddie dubiously.

"Maddie!" called both Annie and Matt, they were both shocked by what they had just heard. They could not believe that Maddie would say something so cruel and mean to Ollie for no reason at all.

"Maddie, apologize right now!" demanded Annie as Maddie looked at her and frowned."

"What for? I only said the truth." she said as Annie was left speechless, sometimes she forgot just how insensitive Maddie could be to other people.

Annie groaned as she looked away, giving up on expecting Maddie to apologize, instead she turned to Ollie.

"Ollie, I'm so sorry, I don't know why she said that." said Annie as she apologized on Maddie's behalf. Maddie's rudeness and dislike for Ollie truly knew no bounds.

"You don't have to apologize, I am not offended at all, by now I am used to the way Maddie speaks." said Ollie as he smiled, he did not seem the slightest bit angry and to be honest, Annie found that very hard to believe.

"And yes Maddie, I know that I could never compete with all the things you guys have been through together, and I accept that. And since you still don't think that I'm part of the team yet, I'll just have to prove it." said Ollie as he smiled, not offended at all as Maddie narrowed her eyes at him, wondering what exactly he was playing at.

"Anyway, let's continue." said Ollie as he smiled and started walking again as Matt shook his head at Maddie.

"You went too far Maddie, too far, even for you." said Matt as he whispered and Maddie scoffed.

"I don't care, I said what needed to be said." said Maddie as Annie frowned at her.

"You're lucky that Ollie is such a nice guy or else he could have thrown you out of here, we are in his house after all." said Annie as she shook her head.

"Well the blondie won't do that." said Maddie in assurance.

"Yes, he won't, and that's why you take him for granted." said Annie as she shook her head and walked ahead.

Maddie pursed her lips, alright, maybe she should not have said that, but who cares? She said it already and nothing about that could change.

"Here we are." said Ollie as he stopped in front of a door.

"This is your room." he said and he turned to look at Annie and Maddie.

"You can get settled in and we'll see each other later for dinner, Matt come with me." said Ollie as he smiled.

"Alright, thanks Ollie." said Annie as she smiled.

"No need to thank me." said Ollie as he smiled and left as Matt followed after him.

"Do you see how sad he was? You need to apologize to him Maddie." said Annie, she turned to look at Maddie who did not look pleased at all.

"He seems perfectly fine to me." replied Maddie casually causing Annie to plead internally for the strength to deal with Maddie right now.

...

"Dude are you really not upset with what Maddie said?" asked Matt as he and Ollie were walking to his room.

"Not at all, I meant it when I said that it didn't bother me." replied Ollie as he smiled at Matt.

"But what she said was really mean and unnecessary." said Matt.

"That may be true, but if by now I haven't gotten used to Maddie's way of expressing herself, then she's right, I will never be a part of the team." said Ollie simply as he smiled.

"But just because you want her to accept you doesn't mean that you overlook all the unfair things she says and does to you." said Matt.

"Believe you me, Maddie doesn't know when to stop, sometimes she needs you to be vocal and set up boundaries for her." said Matt seriously.

"I'm not accepting her unfairness because I want to be part of the team." said Ollie casually.

"I'm already part of the team." he said happily.

"If I didn't argue with her that's because I know Maddie rarely says she's sorry, and I don't want us to end up fighting." said Ollie.

"It's not that I'm being lenient with her, it's just that I understand her, and she does not sugarcoat her words, she's always honest about her feelings." said Ollie.

"If she hates you, she will say to your face that she hates you, and same with if she likes you." said Ollie.

"And that's what I admire about her most, the ability to remain herself regardless of the situation, she's always honest to herself and other people." said Ollie as he smiled.

"That is true, but this little obsession she has with insulting you is getting out of hand." said Matt seriously.

"Don't worry Matt, it's all in good fun." said Ollie as he smiled.

"We both know that if Maddie was being serious, she would not have chosen such a simple topic to jab at me, she would have brought up something way worse." he said as he laughed.

"You know, I dislike the way we've normalised Maddie's mean treatment of you." said Matt.

"I know it looks that way, and I do get fed up sometimes, but I do understand that believe it or not, it's her little of way telling me that we are close enough for her to insult me to my face." said Ollie with a smile.

"Whatever you say dude, just don't tell anyone else what you're telling me or else they might think that you've gone looney in the head." said Matt as Ollie laughed.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that Maddie will grow out of her mean insults stage soon." said Ollie.

"If only I could be as hopeful as you." said Matt as he laughed and Ollie laughed.

"I do try." he replied.

"Now come on, let's walk faster, I can't wait to show you my room." said Ollie as he quickened his pace and Matt laughed.

"Okay." replied Matt as he followed faster after him.

"Here we are, welcome to my humble room." said Ollie as he smiled and opened the door as he and Matt walked in.

"It looks really nice and cozy. It's nothing like what I expected." said Matt while Ollie closed the door behind them.

"What do you mean? What did you expect?" asked Ollie in genuine curiosity.

"I don't know, maybe I thought that it would be a bit dark and full of books like a mini library since you like to read a lot." said Matt.

"Oh yes... I can see that, but no, I like to make sure that my most secure place is void of anything distracting. I love books yes, but most of what I read are old texts, and I would rather that I read in the library other than my room." said Ollie.

"My room is my safe space. It is the one place where I can dictate what I want and no one can change that. Here I'm not a prince, I'm not the heir of the Witch Realm, I'm just Ollie. So welcome." said Ollie happily.

"Thanks for having me." replied Matt sincerely as he smiled.

"I see that everything is white... is white your favourite colour?" asked Matt as he looked around. The walls were white, the windows were wight, the marble floor was white. The sheets of his bed was white, the towel that was on it was white. It was white mania in here.

Chapter end