Haunted

Just for Now

"We'll try to keep this short, I know everyone wants to get home," Tim said as everyone gathered around the boardroom table that afternoon. It was two days until Christmas and Maddox knew he should be in a good mood. He usually loved Christmas because it was the one time a year his family was together and didn't act awkward about it.

But this year things were different. This year Maddox had to take a break from his tour to celebrate Christmas which meant not seeing Jackson or The Singer every day the entire time. It was only two weeks but it felt like forever.

Especially since Maddox had kind of spent the entire month they were in England trying not to be alone with Jackson. Not entirely, but once he'd had a taste of what it was like to do more than just make out, it was all Maddox could think about. Being alone together always led to making out and the awkward fight when Jackson said he wasn't ready and Maddox had to reassure him that was okay.

It was okay because Maddox kept getting little bits of alone time with The Singer. He thought he had a pretty good solution: Jackson could be the boyfriend he did all the cute stuff with and The Singer could just be there for the stuff Jackson wouldn't do.

So as much as Maddox was ready for a break from touring and as much as he liked Christmas, he dreaded the thought of all that alone time. He sat in his business meeting and hoped maybe he'd find a way to talk his sister into driving him places without having her ask too many questions - because his parents definitely would.

"Okay, let's talk about this music video," Tim pulled up the storyboard. "We've got a new version I hope everyone will like," he said. "And we've talked to casting, they're pretty sure Olivia is on board."

"No," Maddox said as soon as he saw the last scene in the video would have him kissing Olivia, one of the Disney channel's most popular actresses. He hadn't meant to say it but it slipped out and he couldn't take it back.

"Oh," Tim looked to Justin who shrugged. "Well, do you want to think about it?"

"No, I don't want to do that," Maddox said. He looked to Justin, hoping by some chance his dad would have some great plan to get him out of it.

"What's the matter?" Justin asked.

"I don't want to do my music video with that girl," Maddox said. He was starting to panic. Of course Justin had barely been paying any attention so he didn't even know what Maddox needed.

"We can find a different girl," Tim nodded. "I'll have casting take a look and we'll bring you some options," he started making notes.

"What if we come up with a different story?" Justin suggested.

"This is our third version," Tim pointed out.

"I think we should do this more like the last video, something a little less literal," Justin went on. Maddox raised his eyebrows but Tim shook his head.

"It's a love song, Justin, there's not much room for interpretation," Tim argued. "If he doesn't like this girl we'll find him another girl."

"No, I think we need to keep brainstorming," Justin was staring at Maddox but Maddox couldn't tell if he really knew why Maddox was upset or not. Did he somehow know Maddox was gay? "Let's get away from the kissing and girls."

"Come on, Dad," Tim laughed. A few other people chuckled. "He's old enough, it's just a little kiss. We'll keep working on it and come back next meeting, alright?"

"Alright," Justin sighed. He picked up his phone again and a second later Maddox had a new text.

Justin: start thinking we'll figure it out