“Hey, Madi.” Sam gets her attention. “Would you want to walk for a bit or maybe we could take you to the park we usually hang out at?”

            “Sure.” One worded answers. Same. I remember Eryn telling us that Madi doesn’t really remember where certain places are since she’s been away and that she’s not much of an outdoor person.

            We walk out of the café and make our way to the park; Madi and I trailing slowly behind everyone else, mainly because we’re quiet. We’re still obviously included but we tend to walk slower and remain quieter in the conversation.

            “So, Madi, Eryn told us you just got back from school… What did you go to school for? If you don’t mind me asking,” I try to start a conversation with the extremely quiet girl. I don’t know what it is about this girl that makes me no longer shy but it’s a weird feeling. I usually act exactly like her so it’s weird that I’m wanting to talk to her.

            “I went to school for hairstyling.”

            “That’s a pretty social job,” I chuckle. Wait. “Sorry if that was rude.”

            “It wasn’t. There’s something about hairstyling that I’m a little more social I guess… I don’t know,” she sighs. “But, hey, next time you need a haircut… Let me know,” she smiles and I smile back at her.

            We reach the park and immediately Sam and Eryn run down the hill, like they do every time we come here. I laugh quietly to myself and sigh out of slight embarrassment somehow at the same time. I turn to look at Madi and see her laughing hysterically at her friend.

            “Why am I not surprised that one; Eryn would do this, and two; Eryn would find a boyfriend that also does weird stuff like run looking like an idiot with her,” she laughs.

            “They do this every time,” Leo tells her.

            “I don’t find that too surprising either,” she tries to control her laughter. Her laugh is cute.

            “So, they do this every time?” Madi asks when Eryn and Sam finally stop running and collapse to sit on the grass.

            “Yup,” I tell her as we follow Leo and Jeff over to them.

            “Eryn!” Madi calls, raising her voice. I notice everyone’s shoulders jump slightly.

            “I forgot how loud you can be,” Eryn laughs as she approaches the rest of us, Sam trailing slightly behind her but his hand in hers.

            “I can just yell really loud,” she shrugs like she didn’t just make everyone jump and surprise all of us with the volume of her voice. She’s quiet all day and then she yells to get Eryn’s attention. No one thought she could raise her voice above a whisper probably.

            “How about we take a stroll around the park?” Jeff suggests, changing the subject. “Get some exercise since we’d been sitting for a while in that café.”

            “I’m cool with just walking around,” Sam smiles.

            “You guys go ahead,” Madi says. Everyone looks at her confused. “I have to tie my shoe… I’ll catch up.”

            Everyone nods and starts off in the other direction. I stay behind to wait. Madi doesn’t notice me as she sits down on the grass to tie her shoe quickly. She sighs and then lays down on the slight hill. “Hey,” I speak as I sit next to her. She jumps slightly.

            “How long have you been there?” she asks. “Did you come back?”

            I shake my head. “Nope, been waiting here the whole time.”

            “Want to just stay here and watch clouds instead of walking?” she looks at me as I lay down next to her.

            “Sure. I’m not going to lie; I didn’t feel like walking more,” I laugh.

            “Same! That’s why I was tying my shoe!” Her voice seems to be at a normal talking volume now instead of a whisper like before, when we first met.

            We lay there in silence for a while, just watching the clouds move. It’s very peaceful today; not too many people out and about making noise, all my loud friends are walking around… I wonder if they noticed that Madi and I aren’t with them… I close my eyes, sighing happily.

            “Hey Dylan,” my eyes open and I turn my head to look at Madi still next to me.

            “Yeah?”

            “Do you have music on your phone?” she asks a question I didn’t think she’d ask.

            “Yeah, why?”

            “Would you mind playing some music? I don’t have music on my phone and it’s too silent for me,” she giggles quietly.

            “Sure,” I smile and take my phone out of my pocket. I open the Music app and press shuffle and the small space around us is now filled with music.

            A few seconds pass before Madi speaks again. “Thanks for playing music, by the way.”

            “No problem,” I smile as I turn to look at the clouds again, that are now pinks and oranges as the sun starts to set.

            “What song is this?” Madi asks as the song playing reaches the chorus. It was this moment that I realized what the song was. It was the unreleased song that Sam, Jeff, Leo, and I are supposed to release online in a few days. I forgot this was on my phone.

            “It’s called ‘Baby’ and it’s by a band named ‘The Rose’,” I tell her.

            “It’s a really good song,” I glance at her to see her smiling and tapping her fingers as her hands are crossed across her ribs.

            “It actually hasn’t been released publicly yet,” I tell her.

            “Then how do you have it?” she questions.

            “‘The Rose’ is the band that I’m in,” I admit shyly to the girl next to me. “Leo, Jeff, Sam, and I formed a band a while ago, The Rose, and we just post our songs on YouTube and such…”

            “Wow! Really?” Madi sounds excited now.

            “Yeah,” I suddenly become shy again.

            “You said the song was called ‘Baby’?” she asks and I nod in response. “It’s a really good song,” she smiles. “Let me know when you officially release it because I want to download it when it’s officially released,” she smiles.

            “I can just send you the song file or something if you want..?” I suggest.

            “Really?” I nod. “Thanks, that’s so sweet. So, what do you do in the band?”

            “I’m the drummer.”