The Last Place You Look
Chapter Seven: Cross Purposes, Again
by Aeris Tiniel Mirime

"It seems we've been at cross purposes, doesn't it?"
-Gone with the Wind

Maddie stared intently at the glittering lights of the carnival below her. She thought if she pretended to be fascinated by the sight afforded by the ferris wheel's height, then she would have an excuse not to look at Esteban. She knew she was being silly, because she had spent the last few weeks wishing for a chance to spend time with him, and now that chance had arrived, but she was too afraid to take it.

Esteban, in his corner, was equally on edge. He looked down at all the people laughing and talking on the ground, and wished he could be down there with them. He, like Maddie, understood the ridiculousness of his situation. For some time now, all he had wanted was an opportunity to get close to Maddie, and now that he was close to her, all he wanted was to be somewhere else. But he also understood that he had to say something to her, whether he wanted to or not. For who knew when he would get another chance?

Cody and Zack, meanwhile, were twisting around in their seats, trying to see if any headway was being made in the car behind them. They were so eager to see how things were going that they were making their car shake with all their movement. Maddie noticed this, and shouted to them to be still.

"We were just trying to say hi! " Zack shouted back, not wanting them to know that he and Cody were spying.

Here, Esteban saw an opportunity. "Don't you hate it when they don't listen?" he asked Maddie as casually as he could. He prayed that his venture would pay off and that she wouldn't pretend to not hear him or something.

"Ugh, they think they're so smart. Well, they better not come crying to me when they fall out of that thing." Maddie said disgustedly, forgetting, in her annoyance, that she was currently trying not to talk to Esteban. When it dawned on her what she had done, her eyes widened in suprise, and she glanced at him uneasily, wondering how he would react. But for his part, Esteban was relieved that she had actually answered him. When she looked over at him in astonishment, he smiled encouragingly, trying to show her he was still the same old Esteban that she used to talk to with the greatest of ease.

Maddie wondered if she were seeing things. Could Esteban really be smiling at her after spurning her for such a long period of time? But she flinched in alarm when she realized she had been sitting there gawking at him, goggle-eyed as a frog, for what seemed like ten minutes.

"So, um...nice view, huh?" she said, jerking herself back to conciousness.

"Yes, you seemed to be enjoying it," Esteban answered, but mentally kicked himself immediately after saying it. "Way to let her know you've been staring at her like a stalker," he scolded himself

"Yeah." Maddie said. She tried to think of something interesting to talk about, but her mind kept going to the question of why he had been avoiding her for so long. There was, however, no way she was going to bring that up, so she remained quiet.

On his end, Esteban took her silence to mean she was so uncomfortable with his last statement that she didn't want to talk anymore. "Nice job," he continued to chastise himself. "You just barely got her to start talking and now you've creeped her out again." He was so upset over his flub that he was reluctant to say anything else, for fear of further scaring her away.

But Maddie was taking his silence to mean the just reverse. She thought that he was regretting his decision to talk to her, and had gone back to ignoring her again. She wouldn't be surprised, after her froggy display earlier. Really, how could she expect him to believe that she didn't like him, if all she did was eyeball him all the time? So in a microcosm of what had been going on for the last two weeks, both retreated to their figurative and literal corners, thinking that the other wanted nothing to do with them.

From ahead, Zack and Cody watched all this drama unfold. "They don't look like they're making any progress," said Cody anxiously.

"Yeah, for a while it looked like they were getting things going, but now look at 'em." Zack agreed.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Cody asked.

"That we've failed miserably, and Esteban and Maddie will hate each other forever?" the older twin suggested hopefully.

"Need I remind you that if such were the case, you wouldn't get any of your sweet moola?"

"Oh yeah. So what do we do to fix it?"

"We go to Plan B," Cody grinned and held up Ivana's sparkly pink cell phone.

As the ferris wheel began to slow down, Madde and Esteban both sighed. These sighs came partly from relief that the torturous ride was over, but also from an opposite feeling, which was disappointment that the ride couldn't last longer. For each thought that if they had only had more time, maybe they could have figured out some way to repair the damage that had been done. Maybe they could've figured out something nice and normal to say. Something that would let the other know they weren't as weird as they seemed. But, alas, it was not be.

As they got out of the car, Maddie, who was now more angry at the operator than ever, shot a withering glance at his back before turning to fix her gaze on Zack and Cody.

Ahead of her, Esteban trudged miserably down the exit ramp, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. But Maddie's voice, calling to him from behind, stopped him in his tracks.

"Esteban?" she asked, a strange tremble in her voice.

He turned to face her, his heart pounding in his chest. Maybe all hope wasn't lost, after all! But he did not expect what came out of her mouth next.

"Where are the boys?" she asked.