Haunted

I Need Your Love

Maddox woke up the next morning feeling a little bit like he owned the world. It was almost as good as he felt after he'd been on stage. He spent extra time getting ready, humming to himself as he did his hair.

"You're in a good mood," Justin remarked as they went to find breakfast.

"I guess," Maddox shrugged. He felt his pulse speeding up as he wondered when he might see Jackson again. Some of the dancers were out in the hall. Would Jackson be showing up too?

"Dax!" someone called his name and Maddox turned around to see a dancer named Carrie coming toward him. As much as he tried to be nice to her, Maddox knew she had a crush on him and he really didn't want her to get the wrong idea.

"Hey," Maddox made himself smile at her.

"Do you want to come eat with us?" Carrie looked really hopeful.

"Um, I'm going with my dad," Maddox shrugged.

"Oh, okay," Carrie nodded. She was obviously disappointed.

"I'll see you later though, okay?" Maddox offered.

"Yeah, okay," Carrie smiled. Before he knew what she was doing, Carrie threw her arms around Maddox and gave him a big hug.

As he looked over her shoulder Maddox could see Jackson coming out of his room. He caught Maddox's eye and gave him a huge smile. Maddox couldn't help but smile back.

He was still smiling when he turned to catch up with Justin who had stopped to watch the whole scene.

"You can go with them if you want," Justin offered.

"Uh, no, that's okay," Maddox said. It would be too awkward to go back and say that he would hang out with them after all.

"Can I give you some advice?" Justin asked. Maddox laughed.

"You're going to anyway," he shrugged.

"Girls don't really like to be kept waiting," Justin said. "If you want her to like you, make sure she knows she's important to you."

"What do you mean?" Maddox frowned. He and Justin got into the elevator.

"I mean if you want Carrie to keep liking you then you should have gone to breakfast with them," Justin said. Maddox rolled his eyes.

"Dad, I don't want her to like me, I want her to stop liking me," Maddox sighed.

"You sure? Cause the look on your face after that hug was pretty obvious," Justin gave Maddox a playful shove.

"I'm sure," Maddox shook his head.

"Well, save my advice for later use," Justin shrugged. "There's bound to be a girl you want to impress sooner or later."

"Don't hold your breath," Maddox snorted. The elevator doors opened again and they had to face the small collection of fans waiting for them in the lobby so the conversation ended.

That night Maddox was backstage watching The Singer perform. He'd told everyone he wanted to get a feel for the crowd but what he really wanted was to see if he could get 5 seconds to tell The Singer that his plan had worked. Things backstage were never that quiet though and Maddox only got to watch for a minute before he was interrupted.

"Hey," Jackson appeared next to him and gave him a little smile before he turned to watch The Singer too. "Um, so he's really hot."

"Yeah," Maddox nodded. The Singer performed without his shirt on and it was impossible to keep from staring at his body.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Jackson glanced at Maddox. "I saw him with a guy one morning. Like leaving his hotel room. So, um, I'm not just hoping, I think he might be into guys."