To The Moon And Back.

15- Dresses

Three weeks later on Tuesday, the pair and their parents had planned over half of their wedding, they were trying to make the date in January. They called Will and Danny, and they agreed to be groomsmen, in fact, Will was ecstatic that Dalton was talking to him again. They even invited Zoe and Ani to it. Dalton went to Shaw's office, and Maddie was at work, teaching the girls a new routine for the next recital. She was almost done; five minutes and she could go home. Derek had been creepier than usual today, it was the first time she'd seen him since the recital. When Maddie let the girls leave , Derek started to flirt. "Hey, Maddie, you want to go get a drink after this?"

"I have to go after this actually, Dalton and I have plans." She stated, trying to blow him off, but Derek was having none of it.

"C'mon, one drink won't be that bad. You know you want to." Derek began invading her personal space. Her back hit the wall as she backed away from his approach.

"No. I said no." Maddie said, her voice sounding uneasy. He was making her nervous, being so close to her. She was sure that he could sense her fear.

"But, Maddie, we are friends, right? And Dalton wouldn't mind you hanging out with a friend, right?" Derek asked too sweetly, still pressing towards her while she was doing everything in her power to get away from him.

"Stop it, Derek." She said loudly, hoping someone was there to hear it, to pull him away from her. Maddie was getting uncomfortable, this felt wrong in so many ways and she just wanted someone to stop Derek. The man was leaning against her, his lips close to her ear, whispering indescribable things she didn't want to hear. "Stop it, Derek! Leave me alone! Get off me!"

"Maddie?" She heard, coming from none other than Dalton, who had come to pick her up. He drove today, and Maddie was so thankful for that. She screamed, trying to get his attention, anything to get away from the man literally on top of her. The minute the sound pierced the air, Dalton ran for the room he knew she would be in.

When he saw Derek, he saw red. Dalton pulled him off Maddie, who slid down the wall as soon as she was free. Derek grunted in protest, turning to see who interrupted him, only to meet a punch that knocked him to the ground.

"Stay away from her. You do not touch her without her permission. You do not speak to her without being spoken to. This is your only warning, I will kill you if you do anything to Maddie again." Dalton said through his teeth, before turning to Maddie with a softened look. He dropped to her level, and hugged her. "Are you alright, Mads? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine.." She mumbled into his shoulder, "He just tried to force himself on me, I'm not hurt. I'm okay. I'm fine."

"Let's get out of here." He said, pulling her up and walking out of the dance room. Derek still was laying on the floor when they walked out of the door. once they were in the car, Maddie let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm okay, really. I was so scared, though. I didn't think he was that bad of a person." Maddie said honestly. Dalton nodded, taking her left hand, driving with his free hand. it was domestic, comforting to her after such a traumatic experience. She thought she was going to get raped. They went home and to the living room. Neither of them wanted to think of what would've happened had he not shown up at the time he did.

They turned on the television to nothing in particular. Dalton sitting on the couch regularly, Maddie laying across it with her head in his lap. Then she realized that earlier he had wanted to save her the way she saved him, and that he just did. She didn't tell him, because she felt that he already knew. He did too, and he was silently congratulating himself for being blunt with Derek and putting him in his place. Suddenly, Maddie got a phone call.