The Last Place You Look
Chapter Eleven: Excuses and Eavesdropping
by Aeris Tiniel Mirime

"Better a bad excuse, than none at all."
-William Camden

"I can't believe you two! Were you here all along?" Maddie asked as Esteban set her down in a chair.

"No," said Zack.

"Part of the time we were running," Cody offered.

Maddie rolled her eyes and turned to London. "And what about you? What happened to your fashion thing?"

But London never got a chance to answer, for Mr. Moseby chose that moment to approach the group. The unusual state in which his two employees arrived, and the resulting commotion from Cody, London, and Zack, had naturally drawn his attention.

"Just what is going on over here?" he asked. He was trying to sound authoritative, but curiosity and concern were evident in his voice.

"Well, Mr. Moseby," Esteban started, his love of detailed explanations kicking in. "Maddie and I were with the boys at a carnival today, and we kind of lost track of them. And then while we were looking for them, this guy ran into Maddie and made her fall. And then when I asked him why he did it he said that this one ride was stuck and his kids were on it. So Maddie thought that the boys might be on it so we - "

Mr. Moseby, impatiently waiting for Esteban to finish his monologue, clucked at him and made his trademark "zip-it" motions with his hands.

"Well anyway, I twisted my ankle," Maddie spoke up. "And Esteban kindly offered to carry me over here and go back to look for them by himself. But I guess that won't be necessary," she said, swinging her gaze to the twins. "Didn't I tell you not run away from me? What's the matter with you?"

"But Cody had to go to the bathroom!" Zack said, and pointed to his brother.

"So what? They had portable ones at the carnival." Maddie pointed out.

"Ew, I couldn't use those! Talk about unsanitary!" Cody said. He shuddered to make his statement more believable. This was yet another step in the plan. The three conspirators had come up with this excuse because everyone knew of Cody's severe germophobia.

"And I couldn't let him go alone. Bad guys might have gotten him," Zack explained

"How do you think Esteban and I felt when you went missing?" Maddie demanded. "We had no idea whether bad guys really did get you, or whether you were stuck on the Kamikaze, or what. And what would I tell your mom if I never found you?"

"You boys are lucky she's out of town," Mr. Moseby admonished them.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?" they asked fearfully.

"I won't this time, but I think you need to apologize to these two."

"Sorry guys," said Cody. "We didn't mean to scare you. We just wanted to, uh...use clean bathrooms." he finished awkwardly.

"Yeah," Zack began embellishing. "You never know with those public ones. We could've gotten infected. We could've gotten anything! Tetanus! Rabies! Scabies! Emphysema!"

"Alright, alright." Moseby fussed. "Now let's give Maddie some space." He started to herd the little group away from the sofa.

"You know best, Mr. Moseby," said Cody nonchalantly, trying to make it sound like an excuse to get away from the hotseat wasn't exactly what he had been waiting for.

"Sounds good, Mo-dawg," added Zack. "We'll just go up to our suite and -"

"Oh no you don't," Maddie cut in. "Do you think after that stunt you just pulled I'd let you go anywhere by yourselves? If you're going upstairs, I'm coming with you."

London and the siblings exchanged panicked looks. This wouldn't be good for the plan at all. They didn't know how much progress Esteban and Maddie had made in admitting their feelings to each other, but the only way that goal was going to be achieved was if he and she were alone together. And perhaps it was due to the gravity of the situation that London was actually able to think on her feet.

"How about if I go with them? You need to rest, and you can't do that with these little monsters running around and making lots of noise." she said.

Maddie considered this for a moment. London wasn't all that responsible of a person herself. But maybe if she took Zack and Cody, it would give Maddie a chance to talk to Esteban a little more. After all, they never got to properly finish their conversation earlier.

"Don't you know I'm crazy about you, too?" the words echoed in her head.

"See, you don't look so good. Kind of red, actually. That's why you should let me take them." London continued.

Maddie didn't realize she had been blushing. The embarassment over everyone seeing her do it caused her to hastily wave London away, giving her permission to take the Martin children with her.

With the trouble taken care of, Moseby headed back to his desk. "Will you two be ok?" he asked before leaving.

Moseby hadn't meant anything by this, but Esteban couldn't help but find significant meaning in his use of the phrase "you two."

"Yes, Maddie will be fine." He smiled uneasily, not wanting to reveal too much by mentioning himself and her together in the same sentence.

Moseby shook his head, but didn't say anything. He had noticed something unusual going on between those two, but far be it from him to pry. So he just turned and walked away.

But while it may have been far for the manager, it was not so for from some of the other employees. Norman the doorman, Irene the concierge lady, and many others had witnessed the scene that had just played out, and were attentively listening to see what would happen next.

"Um, Maddie? Do you think we can talk?" Esteban said when Moseby had gone.

"Uh, yeah...if you want to..."

Despite what had passed between them while they were alone, the always active atmosphere of the Tipton didn't offer much privacy. They were finding it hard to converse as freely as they had on the way there.

"Do you - do you remember what I said when..." he trailed off as a very interested looking fellow bellhop passed by.

At this moment, he and Maddie looked and sounded just like they had before that night's incidents. They were both visibly embarrassed, stumbling over their words, and overly concious of their diction. Happily, the reason for their discomfiture now had nothing to do with each other. It had to do with other people's prying ears.

"Do you wanna go somewhere where we can be alone?" Maddie asked suddenly. She, too, had noticed how many other people seemed to want in on their conversation.

"Yeah," Esteban said quickly. He stood up and helped Maddie to her feet. With the initial pain in her ankle gone, she found was able to hobble a little, but still couldn't do it without help. She leaned on Esteban, who was only too happy to assist, and together they made their way into the first empty space they found, which happened to be London's boutique. Little did they know, they weren't completely alone.

Ok, so I couldn't remember the name of the concierge lady, but I think it's something close to Irene. (edit: I found out that's actually it.) Oh, and the "tetanus, rabies, etc." quote comes form the 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting.

Well, tune in next time for the big conclusion!