Knox

The shower had been nice. I hadn’t realized how much I had been sweating in my time knocked out or how greasy my hair had gotten. No fucking wonder my plan to seduce Andrew hadn’t worked.

I still had the problem of being far too pale and the bruises under my eyes shone brightly but I had looked worse on several occasions without the press knowing so it would probably be fine. 

Now, I stood in the bathroom staring at the mirror, trying my best to ignore the two boys behind the door. The second I had turned the shower on, Kayson had started a whole new fight. It was hard to tell what it was about but it seemed like the same argument lasted the whole time I was getting clean. Even now they fought. I was hoping to wait until they were done to come out but it had already been close to 10 minutes of waiting and they still seemed nowhere near done.

I debated just sitting down on the toilet and finishing cleaning my fingernails until they were done. It’s not like I had anything to do out there anyway but the second I sat down my stomach began to ache.

When was the last time I ate? This morning had been a blur and with everything that happened no one thought to offer me anything after I checked out. Technically, that meant I hadn’t put food into my body since my little overdose. I know they had an IV for that but it didn’t help the hunger gnawing at my stomach. 

I rolled my eyes when another round of shouts echoed through the door. It didn’t seem like they would be done anytime soon and I was tired of waiting. Andrew had shown me the cafeteria so it’s not like I needed them anyway.

I stood from the toilet and headed for the bathroom door. I forced myself to push my way through before I lost my nerve. I had walked through swarming paps all my life, two teenage boys were nothing.

I kept my head down on instinct when I emerged and wordlessly walked to the cabin door. 

“Is it funny to you or something to make me look bad,” Maddox seethed as he stood over the other boy’s bed. The other boy, Kayson, was still sitting as if this conversation was barely worth his time.

“It is actually. I swear it makes my day.” Maddox groaned as his fists clenched at his sides.

“I swear you are the only person who makes me this angry on a daily basis!”

“I feel honored, truly, like telling Andrew tomorrow about my accomplishments kind of honored.” Maddox opened his mouth to say something else when he caught my movement. He turned away from the other boy to stare at me.

“Where are you going,” he asked. I had half expected him to have the same annoyed tone he had been using to talk to Kayson but his voice was light, almost timid, as he spoke to me. The timidness was the only reason I stopped to look at him before continuing on my way. His face was the only reason I didn’t immediately keep walking. 

Tony would have said he was ‘just a guy’ but it was more than that somehow. His hair was black, long on the top to give him bangs, but shaved on the bottom to give him an undercut. His eyes could barely peak out through his hair but they were bright blue as they stared at me. 

He was pale like he barely saw the sun despite those muscles. It was clear no sport had given him that look. 

He was tall too. I knew we were supposed to still be growing but I hadn’t grown an inch since I was 16 and seemed to be permanently stuck at 5’8. Maddox was easily already 6’2 and while muscles didn’t pool off of him, he had a decent build. I knew that if I lifted his shirt up there would be well toned abs underneath. 

‘Just a guy my ass,’ I would have scoffed back at Tony if this had been another ‘tour crush’ as Tony liked to call it. He’d be the kind of guy I would hunt down after the show and offer them a backstage pass in hopes of getting them back to my hotel room later that night. Tony would call me a whore the next morning when I rolled out of the room with sex hair.

“I’m starving,” I said as I forced my eyes away from him. 

“You look it,” Kayson teased but it lacked the fire in his voice he had used on Maddox. Too many half-exhausted interviews were the only thing that kept me from glaring at him. 

Kayson was drastically different from Maddox. He’d be a face lost in the crowd that I wouldn’t normally glance twice at. I had seen his type too many times in my career to chase after someone like him.

Blonde hair, tan skin, green eyes. The kind of guy you expect to see laid out on a beach somewhere. I auditioned with guys who looked like him so often that I wondered if I had met him in passing before. I couldn’t tell by the way he was sitting but he seemed a bit shorter than Maddox, no taller than 6 foot even. And though his build was nice with muscles all but popping out of his shirt in ways Maddox didn’t, I found myself preferring the other. 

‘Hollywood knock off,’ I would whisper to Tony. He would smirk and look down at me and I would punch his shoulder. Yes, I was well aware that I was also a Hollywood knock off but it wasn’t by choice.

I was born with black hair that I had been dying blonde since I turned 12. My spray tan made it look like I spent more time on the beach than I did in the studio. And while I didn’t have the muscles most knock offs had, I was capable of helping move sound equipment when we were short a lackey. 

“I’m going to get dinner,” I said as I turned back to the door.

“I think I’ll join you,” Maddox said as he pulled on the shoe Kayson had been hiding from him earlier. “If you don’t mind at least.” He offered a shy smile and damn how I wished we had met at a show somewhere.

The shy type was my favorite to tease, watching that shy look melt off of them as you worshipped thier body would never get old. But I knew better than to get involved with a roommate so I pushed that thought aside with a shrug.

“Not like I can stop you.” 

“I’ll come too,” Kayson said as he slung his legs off the bed.

“You aren’t invited,” Maddox seethed as he turned to shoot a glare at our roommate, every bit of shiness wiped away in a second.

“We’re supposed to be getting to know him,” Kayson teased as he walked closer. “I’m trying to be a responsible senior camper.”

“I’m the senior camper,” Maddox said with a pointed glare.

“Only by a few months.”

“It’s enough to count. Besides, I don’t think this decision is up to you.” Kayson moved those green eyes to me before flashing a sweet smile. I looked between the two of them.

On one hand, I didn’t give a single fuck who was coming as long as I got to eat.

On the other, Maddox didn’t want him here.

At the same time, Kayson seemed like the kind of guy to retailate if you did something he didn’t like. 

I was too damn tired to play these games.

“I don’t care what you do as long as you do it quietly,” I sighed as I reached for the door. Kayson shot Maddox a victory smirk but Maddox pointingly ignored it as he walked through the door, shutting it directly in Kayson’s face as he went.

“You can ignore him,” Maddox said as Kayson fought with the door. “He’s an asshole who doesn’t know the meaning of boundaries.”

“And ignoring him works,” I asked without looking back.

“It hasn’t yet,” Kayson said as he put an elbow on my shoulder. “I’ll let you know if that changes though.” Maddox glared at him but said nothing as we walked. “Between the two of us though, I mostly do it to annoy him so as long as you aren’t as fun to tease, I don’t think we’ll run across the same problem.” Maddox pulled his arm off my shoulder with a glare and Kayson rolled his eyes.

“Possessive much?”

“Rude much,” Maddox shot back. “Don’t go around touching people without asking. It’s rude. A senior camper should know better.”

“So is this all you two do,” I asked as we filed into the lunch line. “Just fight all day everyday?”

“Mostly,” Kayson admitted. “Sometimes we make out though.” Maddox went completely red and Kayson bent over laughing at the disgusted expression he made.

“Don’t fucking say that shit,” Maddox seethed. “Like I would ever get desperate enough to do anything with him.”

“Aw Maddy, you hurt my feelings,” Kayson said with a deep pout.

“Good,” was all Maddox said as he grabbed a trey and began filling it.

“You get used to it,” Kayson whispered. “Maybe with you around we can double tease him. I’d personally love to see just how red in the face we can make him.”

“I think I’d prefer to not piss off the person I have to live with for the next 6 months.”

“Oh,” Kayson said with a sigh. “So you’re one of those boring druggies. I thought they were just rumors, I’ve never actually met one before.”

“I’m not a druggy,” I dismissed as I worked my way down the line.

“Please,” Kayson said with an eye roll. “If you’re going to lie at least make it convincing. And if you’re trying to hide it, I recommend investing in some long sleeves. I clocked them the second you walked in the door.” I turned to glare at him but he wasn’t paying any attention to me. “Besides, takes one to know one,” was all he said as he left me behind to sit at an overflowing table near the doors.

The second he approached people called to him and begged that he sit beside him. Definitely knock off Hollywood. I rolled my eyes again before glancing down at my arms.

My scars had always been hard to find. Despite what Andrew may believe, I really didn’t use that often and the light puncture wounds were barely visible. Still, now that he had pointed them out, I felt like they were targets the size of a quarter as I looked around the room.

Kayson seemed fully invested in whatever conversation was already underway but he did pull away just long enough to wave a hand to me and point to the open seat beside him. I shook my head and kept looking.

Maddox was sitting at a table by himself and when he saw me looking he smiled that same shy smile but didn’t bother pointing out all the empty spaces around him.

I could try making new friends and leave my obviously psychotic roommates behind early but I was tired and I knew despite my shower I still looked like shit. I was not in the mindset to be making good first impressions so that would have to wait.

I chose Maddox as my lesser of two evils.

He looked a bit shocked when I sat beside him but didn’t comment as he began eating.

“You’ll have to excuse him,” he said after a while. He was staring at Kayson’s group who had started not so much talking as much as yelling at each other from across the table but they all seemed to be having a pretty good time. “As you can see, he suffers from severe stupidity.”

“Is he always like that?”

“Of course not,” Maddox said but there was a light, teasing smile on his lips. “Sometimes he sleeps.” I couldn’t help the huff of a laugh that left me. It had been a rather stupid attempt at a joke but it was enough.

I ate slowly despite my hunger. Tony had certain… ideas, when it came to my body. I was meant to be a heartthrob and heartthobs had to look a certain way. Light muscle, no fat, bright expression, chiseled jaw and cheekbones.

“Eating slowly gives your stomach time to process that you’re full before you eat too much,” he’d say. “Allows us to skip a few days at the gym which gives us more time at the studio.” I hadn’t seen the appeal of it but Tony had insisted and after 4 years, it became a habit.

Maddox stared down at the table as we ate, looking as if he was waiting to start a conversation but not knowing how. I wasn’t much help. I talked to fans a lot sure, but mostly at meet and greets when we had hundreds of people to see in a matter of a few hours. It was usually a quick smile, a hug, and if there was time an autograph with a few words sprinkled between all of it. I’m not sure I remembered the last time I was stuck alone with a kid my age.

Even on movie sets, there were usually older actors who carried the conversations while I slipped into the background, usually to chase off a headache for a our short break.

It felt awkward but I preferred that to the conversation Kayson had tried making back in the line.

“Do you have any plans for the rest of the day,” he asked after a while. “We have a curfew but there’s still time to get to the shop before then if you want to get some clothes or anything like that.”

“My mom is giving my clothes to Mary tomorrow,” I waved off. It must not have been normal because Maddox looked at me like I had grown another head.

“Your mom is okay with you being here?”

“I would assume so since she agreed to it.” Maddox frowned.

“I mean, mine agreed to it too but she all but threw me out of the house when it was done. Forget dropping off clothes, I can’t get her to write me back.”

“Well, there were certain circumstances that pushed alone the decision,” I said with a frown. Maddox must have known better than to ask because he only stared down at the table. 

“What do you want to do then,” he asked. “I was supposed to give you a tour but I guess Andrew took care of that for me. There’s usually a bonfire after dinner in the summer if you want to hang out there. Or we can go to the art room and do some decorating. There’s also a-,”

“Listen,” I said, cutting him off with the interview smile I was getting tired of already. “It’s been a long day. I kind of want nothing more than to finish this and then go to bed.” His mouth snapped shut as he nodded.

“Sleep sounds good. I’ll try to contain Kayson so he doesn’t wake you but I make no promises.” 

“It would be greatly appreciated,” I said as I stood up and gathered my trey but he stopped me.

“I’ll take care of that for you. Just leave it here.”

“You sure? It’s like three steps that way.”

“I’m sure. Go get some rest before Kayson barges in and ruins the silence.” He had that same shy smile on his face and there was a light pink hue to his cheeks as he looked up at me.

“Well, thank you,” I said as I placed the trey back down. “If I’m feeling up to it tomorrow, we can do something then.”

“I would like that,” he admitted, the pink turning red as he looked away from me.

As I turned away I tried to remind myself that this was not what I was here for. I was supposed to be enjoying my time off and laying low. Getting involved with my roommate would help me do neither of those things, even if it was only a quick lay.

I shook my head from the thought as I lay down on the bed that thankfully had fresh sheets on it. 

“Don’t make waves,” Tony would have told me the second he caught me looking at Maddox. I would scoff and tell him I wouldn’t dream of it. He would place that big hand on the back of my neck and force me as far away from him as possible.

“Don’t make ways,” I whispered to myself as I stared at the ceiling.

It was just six months. I could so do that. Just don’t make waves for six months then I could go back to the party life where I belonged.