Old, But Not That Old [Motough]

8. haunting [derek]

"So you excited for the haunted house later?" Beth asks as we drive to the studio we rented to get some practice in before her meet-and-greet.

"Oh gosh, I almost forgot about that." I glance over at her and see how excited she looks. Adorable.

"It's gonna be fun! I can't wait."

I let out a laugh. "Well focus on dancing for now and we can get excited about that later."

"Deal," she says, nodding, as we pull into the parking lot. Since we're in Australia, we couldn't have camera crew come and film our rehearsal which means Beth and I will be alone. On one hand, this is good, because if I stupidly decide to kiss her again on camera, we won't have a problem, but it's bad, because we have no reason to control ourselves.

After stretching, I show Beth my ideas for our Halloween-themed Paso Doble. She smiles. "I like it! That song is killer."

"Isn't it?" I say, referring to 'Run Boy Run' by Woodkid. My friend introduced it to me from the Divergent Soundtrack and I fell in love.

We rehearse a bit until I am sweating. I take my shirt off, leaving Beth looking at me with wide eyes.

"Why..?"

I laugh. "Is there a problem, miss?"

Beth bites her lip. "Tell me you're just doing this for practice and haven't actually decided to be shirtless for the performance?"

"Why, would that really bother you?" I ask, instinctively stepping closer to her.

She shrugs. "I'm just saying... distraction."

I wrap my right arm around her waist and grab her left hand, getting in position. "I'm sure it would help our votes. All the girls out there will be dying with my killer bod."

"You did not just say that," Beth says, trying to hide a laugh.

"I did." I lean in and kiss her. "Alright, now focus, babe."

"Well it's hard to focus after you did that..." She looks down, somewhat sarcastic, but somewhat genuine.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. First the shirt off, then the kiss. How do you expect a girl to think about dancing?"

"Because if we do well in this dance, there will be a lot more where that came from." My voice is more flirty than I expect it to be, and I hope for a minute it doesn't make her uncomfortable.

She sighs. "Alright, fine. Show me the step again."

We rehearse for a bit until it's almost time for Beth's meet-and-greet. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we arrive to hundreds of screaming fans, anxious to meet the famous Bethany Mota.

I smile as I watch her with each fan. She looks so happy and they look overjoyed. Fans ask for pictures and autographs, and look as if they're meeting God as they step towards Bethany. So many laughs and smiles that I couldn't count if I tried. But who can blame them, she has that effect on people.

After the meet-and-greet is over, it's about 3:00. Our flight is at 5:30, so we get back to the hotel, get our things together, say one last goodbye to Troye, and head to the airport.

Another 15-hour-flight fllled with movies and naps on shoulders passes. I try to get some sort of practice in there, watching videos of our rehearsal this morning, trying to mentally plan costumes and set, and learning as much as possible while stationary on a plane.

We arrive back in Los Angeles around 10:30 pm on Wednesday night.

"Don't you feel like we've lived this day before..?" Beth says, faking shock and fear, as we step into the Los Angeles airport.