Haunted

Rootless Tree

"I don't like him," Maddox spoke up when he was sure Matt couldn't hear him and Justin turned, looking a little startled like he'd forgotten Maddox was even there.

"Why not?" Justin asked, grinning.

"He's nice," Maddox said. "But he's not good enough for Kylie. And I know I should be glad he hasn't messed around with her yet but that's weird. It's been like 6 months," he couldn't exactly point out that Kylie wasn't usually good at not hooking up with guys but since she also wasn't good at keeping that a secret Maddox knew Justin would understand what he was trying to say.

"I have to agree," Justin nodded. "Are you gonna be okay with Kylie doing this?"

"Never," Maddox sighed.

"I probably won't either," Justin admitted. "But she can't do it forever and it really does make her happy."

"Hmph," Maddox really didn't care. There seemed to be plenty of other things that made Kylie happy, why couldn't she stick to one of them?

"It's not what I would pick, but I want her to do what she loves," Justin said. "No one's forcing you to like it, okay?"

"Yeah," Maddox sighed. "I think dinner is burning," he realized.

"If you can keep a secret I will take you for sushi and we won't tell the girls," Justin promised. He turned off the oven and just left the food inside.

"Yes!" Maddox jumped up. "Freedom at last!"

"I hear ya," Justin agreed, grabbing his keys. Maddox waited while Justin went to make sure Clara would really be okay without them and then they were off.

"We probably should have told the paparazzi this is supposed to be a secret," Maddox sighed as they pulled up to the restaurant and a sea of photographers were waiting outside.

"Yeah, try to look younger, maybe we can lie and say it's an old picture," Justin laughed. Maddox rolled his eyes but smiled.

They got to sit at a quiet table and Maddox ate until he was pretty sure he'd never need to eat again. He hadn't realized how much he loved sushi until he wasn't allowed to eat it.

"So you're out late these days," Justin said, sounding an awful lot like Clara normally did when she was trying to get Maddox to talk about something.

"Just trying to have fun before I really start work again," Maddox shrugged. He took a big sip of his water. "Can I ask you something though?" he decided to change the subject before Justin caught on.

"Sure," Justin leaned forward.

"Do you think it would be a bad idea to date a fan?" Maddox asked. He hadn't really gotten Eli to forgive him for sleeping with someone else and not telling him but at least they were sort of talking again.

"That's really tricky," Justin sighed. "Are you asking about Eli?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," Maddox admitted.

"I think at this point he's more of a friend than just a fan, right?" Justin smiled.

"Yeah, definitely," Maddox agreed.

"That's the tricky part," Justin said. "As long as they're more of a friend than a fan it's okay. And as long as everyone is the same age, for legal reasons."

"Dad," Maddox sighed.

"If you want to have sex, Dax, you have to face the consequences," Justin shrugged. "So no one over 18 until you're 18 and no one under 18 after you're 18. It's just basic law."

"Well that's not a problem," Maddox pointed out since he knew Justin was thinking about Eli and had no idea anything was even happening with The Singer. Then he thought a little harder about what Justin had just said. "Did Mom tell you?" he asked, wondering how Justin knew he was having sex at all.