“Hi, Madeleine. I’m Loryn, Ashley’s replacement. It’s great to meet you,” Loryn gushed with as much sincerity as she could fake. “I was just going to Nick’s dressing room to give him the water bottle he lent me.” She knocked on Nick’s door, but got no reply. Perfect! “Uh, I don’t really want to go in there. He’s probably gone, but just in case he’s like, naked, or something, would you mind doing it for me? I mean, since you know him better and all?”
Madeleine looked at her strangely, but she agreed. “Sure, I can do that.” She opened the door and stepped inside when the door slammed behind her. She turned around to try to open it, but it was locked. She heard Loryn’s footsteps echo down the hall. What the hell was going on?
She heard a voice coming from behind her. “Mattie, what are you doing in here?”
“Nick? You’re in here?” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, it’s my dressing room, isn’t it?”
“We knocked. Didn’t you hear?”
“I thought that was Brian coming to yell at me for putting glue in his shampoo bottle!” Nick exclaimed.
Madeleine opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about, but decided she didn’t want to know. “That Loryn girl…I ran into her in the hall. She said she borrowed your water bottle, and she needed to return it. She knocked, but you didn’t answer, so she asked me if I would give it to you in case you were naked or something, since I know you better. She must have accidentally locked us in.”
“She didn’t borrow my water bottle. Something’s up, Mattie,” Nick said suspiciously. “Why would she lock us in here together?”
“I’m not sure,” Madeleine said. “She probably went to get someone who can open the door. It’ll just be a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Nick said. He paused. “Was it just me, or were you avoiding me today?”
Madeleine played dumb. “Avoiding you?”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t talk to me on the way over here, and you seemed to keep your distance whenever I came near you.”
She sighed. “Look. I saw you and Loryn all over each other in the hall this afternoon. I was waiting for the elevator.”
“That’s what this is all about?”
“Yeah. I was kind of upset because…well, I don’t know why. It’s not like you’re my boyfriend or anything. I guess I was just jealous,” she admitted.
“Oh, Madeleine,” he said. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her face, one on each cheek. “You don’t need to be jealous. I just didn’t want to embarrass her on her first day here. She was flirting with me, so I just played along.”
“Really?”
“Really, I promise. I love you, Madeleine,” he stated. “You and only you.”
She smiled and sat down on the loveseat, pulling him down with her. Leaning on his shoulder, she dozed off.
A half an hour later, Madeleine woke up to find Nick reading Playstation Magazine. “Didn’t anyone come to get us yet?” she asked.
“No. How long has it been?”
“A little over a half an hour,” she replied, becoming slightly panicky. “We were supposed to leave a half an hour ago. Do you think they even realize we’re gone?”
“How could they not? If they don’t figure it out when they leave, they’ll figure it out when they get back to the hotel, and then they’ll come back for us.”
Meanwhile, Brian sat on the first of the two buses to leave. “Where are Nick and Mattie?” he asked.
“They must be on the other bus. That’s strange. Usually they’re the first two out here,” AJ replied
“Maybe they’re running a little late today. I know Mattie always has trouble with her hair,” Brian groaned.
On the second bus, Loryn sighed unhappily. Nick must have gotten on the first bus. Madeleine was probably on there, too. Surely someone let her out. How she would have enjoyed listening to the little bitch shout for help! Still, she had to get out of there to find Nick and to avoid getting caught. Hm, so much for that idea.