Ah, the saga continues...thank you so much for the kind reviews! I wasn't sure if anyone else would really want to read a Maddie and Esteban fic so I'm glad you guys are out here, too...heehee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hello, Maddie," Esteban greeted her in the lobby.
She tried to look aloof. "Oh, hey, Esteban. I'm surprised that you have time to even speak to me anymore." She turned around and walked back to her counter.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you mad at me?"
"Oh, no, of course not. Why would I be?" Her tone was indifferent.
"I do not know. Did I do something?"
"If you don't know what you did then why would I tell you?" She asked as if it was very plain.
"Won't you please just tell me?" he asked, thoroughly confused.
She huffed. "Throwing your friends away just because a silly little rich girl comes around is not cool!"
"What! I haven't thrown my friends away!"
The aforementioned southern belle chose the worst moment to reappear. "Oh, Bonnie..." Rebecca sauntered over to them. "There you are, I haven't seen you since this morning!" she pouted.
"Well, it is only afternoon and I've been working – "
"So, don't you get a break?" she whined.
Maddie laughed.
"And what are you laughing about?" she snuffed at Maddie.
"Oh, it's just that I didn't realize Esteban was wearing a leash."
"Hey!" Esteban cried indignantly. "No one has me on a leash –"
"You're just jealous!" Rebecca accused sharply.
Maddie scoffed. "Me! Ha! Of what? A spoiled little rich daddy's girl?"
"Oh, yeah, you're really better off than I am. And your fashion sense is just so – ghetto." Rebecca looked very pleased with herself.
"That is not nice," Esteban admonished. "Maddie is my friend."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she looked at Maddie patronizingly. "I didn't mean to offend you. Of course, any friend of Ban's is a friend of mine," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"You see? You two could be friends," Esteban said hopefully.
"Oh, sure!" Maddie nodded her head sarcastically. "If I get a lobotomy!"
"Come on, Bonnie, it's not my fault if she doesn't want to be nice." She led him away by the hand.
He looked over his shoulder at Maddie sadly, but he didn't stop as they walked away. Maddie sighed irritably, trying to push any thoughts of it all out of her mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of hours had passed and Maddie was feeling guilty. She had been so rude to Esteban and he really hadn't done anything wrong. She had snapped at him and belittled him. What kind of friend is that? She thought to herself. What kind of friend treats someone like that and just makes them feel bad? Poor Esteban...although – he is being stupid! That girl is obviously just using him and if he's too enamored with her prissy looks to see that he's being snowed over than that's his fault! And – NO, I'm doing it again. I need to just be supportive...and I need to apologize.
"Zack! Cody!" She called out to the twins as they entered the lobby.
"Yes, sweet thang..." Zack drawled, making his way to the counter.
"Have you seen Esteban?"
"Yeah, he was on the elevator with us," Cody supplied.
"Where did he get off at?" Maddie asked eagerly.
"Uh, 5th floor, I think. Why?"
"I need to apologize. I was really hard on him earlier..."
"Oh, so that's why he was depressed," Zack remarked.
"He was depressed?" Maddie asked, feeling guilty and hopeful at the same time.
"Yeah, he was moping even worse than Zack when I win a video game," Cody added, receiving a light smack in the shoulder from his brother.
"Watch the counter for a minute?" Maddie asked, but she didn't wait for an answer as she ran to the elevator getting in.
She exited when it dinged on the 5th floor, scanning the hall for the bellhop. She didn't see him so she began walking down the hallway.
"Maddie?"
His voice grabbed her attention and she stopped short, suddenly unsure of what to say.
"Uh, hi." She murmured distractedly.
"Hi," Esteban smiled, amused at her nervousness; wondering if he had that effect on her – hoping that he did.
"I'm really sorry. I was a jerk and I wasn't behaving like a friend should."
"Oh, that's ok, Miss Maddie."
"I hope that you're not mad at me,"
He smiled down at her warmly. "Oh, I could never be mad at you –"
She grinned up at him. "You're really sweet."
He blushed and looked down. "I think that you are really sweet, too."
Her cheeks flushed and she toed the carpet with her boot. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything –"
She looked at him intently. "Why are you with Rebecca?"
He squirmed a bit. "We only went on one date."
"She doesn't want just one date with you – she hangs on you every second. She practically acts like she owns you and you only just met!"
He shrugged uncomfortably. "She is a bit forward. My family would not approve of her. In my country, you must drink tea with a flock of chickens together before you can go out unsupervised...though, that is a bit old fashioned when I think about it..."
Maddie looked at him strangely. "You drink tea with chickens?"
He shrugged. "I only did it the one time."
"So, what did you two do on your date last night?" Maddie tried to ask casually, not really wanting to hear the details but needing to.
"Oh, you know..." Esteban trailed, trying to drop the subject.
"No, I don't know. That's why I asked..."
"We went to a fancy dinner with her father –"
"Till 3 AM?" Maddie asked disbelieving.
"How did you know that we were out until 3?"
"Lucky guess," she said embarrassed, hoping that he wouldn't ask further.
"We went for a walk in the park after –"
"That sounds romantic," she remarked quietly.
"It was..." he said, looking at her closely trying to gage her reaction. He wasn't disappointed, her face fell and her shoulders slumped.
"Well, I'm glad that you've found someone, Esteban. I had better get back to work," she muttered, starting to walk away.
Esteban grabbed her upper arm gently, causing her to stop. He gazed at her intently. "Maddie – why do you care so much, whether I like her?"
"I – I – what makes you think that I care?" she asked feebly.
"Don't you?"
"Well, of course I care. You're a good friend..." she said softly, noticing that he was still grasping her arm.
"Is that all?" he whispered, slowly stepping closer to her.
She nodded her head limply, a haze surrounding her.
He lowered his head toward her, and she fluttered her eyes closed in sweet expectation.
"There you are!" Zack's voice broke through the fog and the two jumped apart as if they'd been burned. "What were you two doing?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing!" They both answered simultaneously.
"What are you doing?" Maddie asked breathlessly, trying to avert attention.
"I was just looking for you to tell you that I can't watch the counter anymore – wrestling is coming on!"
She rolled her eyes before turning back to Esteban. "Well, I had better..." she let the rest of the sentence hang in the air awkwardly.
"Me, too..." he added flimsily.
They stood there clumsily, and Zack watched the exchange silently.
"I'm gonna –" she motioned behind her. "I'm gonna go back to, uh –"
"Work?" Esteban offered and she nodded. "Yeah, me too..."
"Ok – see ya," she offered lightly, smiling shyly.
"See ya," he echoed, grinning.
She walked backward, almost tripping on her own feet before turning around briskly and going back to the elevator. Zack jogged after her and they both entered it.
Zack glanced sideways at her. "So –"
"So?"
"What's going on?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all!"
"Ah, huh. Cuz it looked like - " he raised his brows, "it looked like you and Esteban were about to...about to kiss," he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "Haha, that's funny, Zack!" Her voice sounded oddly high pitched, even to herself.
"Oh my gosh – you were about to kiss?" he asked disgusted.
"NO! No, of course not! I don't know where you get all of these crazy ideas, Zack!" she said haltingly.
"Isn't he like – old?" He asked with a scrunched face.
"No!" she cried annoyed. "He is not old!" she screeched.
"Yeah? How old is he?" he challenged.
"He's like 24."
"And you're 17..."
"So? That's not that big of a difference!"
"Do you actually like him?"
"Maybe –" she said defensively. She grabbed his shirt abruptly turning to him sharply. "Do NOT say anything!"
The elevator slid open to the lobby just then and she immediately released him. They both stepped out and she paused, looking at him
"Please, be quiet about this whole thing!" she pleaded. "Nothing happened anyway."
"I won't say anything," he reassured.
"Thanks, Zack," she beamed at him. "I can always count on you." She traipsed back over to her position behind the candy counter, grinning goofily.
"What's wrong?" Cody asked, coming up to his brother.
Zack sighed. "Oh, nothing – only, my heart feels like it's been slammed against the wall."
Cody looked at him in concern.
Zack snapped out it and forced a smile. "C'mon, let's go watch wrestling!"
"Wrestling! I love wrestling! Can I watch it with you little blond peoples?"
Zack hadn't noticed that Esteban had come down behind him. "Wouldn't you rather talk to Maddie?" he questioned annoyed.
"Why would he need to talk to Maddie?" Cody asked clueless.
"Why don't you ask him?" Zack answered him with a question.
Esteban was staring off toward Maddie, not really hearing the conversation. He had a fuzzy smile on his face.
"Oh, Ban...!" Rebecca's voice shot through the air, as she entered through the front door, searching for him.
"OH! She is persistent! She would make a great huntress!" Esteban voiced irritation and a slight amount of fear. "Do not tell her I was here!" He hurriedly kept hitting the up button for the lift and ran inside when the doors opened, disappearing.
"Hey!" Zack called out to the Rebecca, walking toward her. "Did you say that you were looking for Esteban?"
"Yes, have you seen my pookie?"
"Oh, yeah – he just went up the elevator –"
"Thanks!" she said in a rush, waiting to catch the next one up.
Cody shook his head at his brother shamefully. "You're evil..."
Zack rubbed his hands together. "Heehee – thanks, it's a gift."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopefully you guys like it – I know it may be something that wouldn't happen in the show, but it's fun to write so ah well. It would be cool if you review and let me know if you are enjoying this story...if not, then I suppose you shouldn't read it. Hmmm. Anyway, to my lovely reviewers who like this - you guys ROCK: )