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THE hotel lobby wasn't as busy as it could have been, considering it was 11 PM and most people were already in their rooms. Either that, or the patrons of the hotel were surely out in the city, eating rich foods or splurging on different forms of luxury at whatever stores were still open to shop at.

"Can you thank your driver for me?" Maia asks as they both make their way to the elevators. "I feel so bad that we left him out there so late."

"Yeah, of course," Oscar responds, making a mental note to send Joshua a text later.

Maia's kindness was somewhat unexpected, considering the way that she had greeted him the first time that he reached out to her. Nevertheless, it was still admirable, since she seemed to always be thinking about others before herself. He had overheard her asking the crowd of fans earlier if they had eaten and to get some rest, and it was so soothing to hear the same caring voice he remembers from when he was younger once again, just a bit deeper from age.

And yes, caring, because even Maia had her moments in their mischievous years.

After entering the elevator section of the lobby, Oscar presses the 'Up' button on the wall with a soft click.

When he turns around, he sees Maia trying to maintain balance on one foot, kind of like a baby flamingo.

"What are you doing?" He asks, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Taking..." She successfully unbuckles one of her heels, and rips it off. "my heels off." Maia unbuckles the other heel, snatching it off with the same amount of grace she gave the first. She sighs in relief, holding the two heels in one hand. "My feet are dying."

"Need me to carry you?"

Sometimes the things Oscar says just roll out of his mouth, no way of stopping them or catching them before they escape. For all the media training he's had for McLaren and PREMA, he's found his weakness in Maia, and it might be killing him.

"Absolutely not," she says defensively, moving a strand of her dark hair out of her face.

Oscar chuckles and takes in the sight of Maia slightly disheveled and messy, almost like the scene would slip from his view any minute.

Logan was right, he should compliment her. Not only because it would catch her off-guard, but also because...

Maia flips her hair over her shoulder, adjusting one of the straps of her little corset top. She takes a deep breath with her chest rising and falling and the jewelry she's wearing shining just right in the light. Silver compliments her well, but he's sure she must look good in anything.

Oscar takes back what he said before. Maia isn't just sort-of gorgeous, she just is, and she always has been, even when they were small.

He should tell her. He really should.

"You—" He begins, but not before the elevator dings and the doors open.

Leave him to be stopped by inanimate objects when he tries to be nice.

The two enter the elevator and Oscar presses the number for the 12th floor, where he and Maia both reside. When the doors close, Maia is holding on to the railing behind her while Oscar stands opposite of her, back against the wall. For a decent amount of the time, the beeping of the floors going by is the only thing that fill the quiet lingering in the air.

Oscar finds his eyes gazing on his shoes against the marble floor of the elevator, their dark color screaming against the bright white. They're well-loved, he's worn them for basically every fancy event he's had to attend in the last two years.

He lets a sigh escape, and when he looks up to face Maia, she's already looking at him, and Oscar has the sudden urge to hit the red 'Emergency' button on the elevator panel.

"What were you gonna say?" She asks, a sigh escaping her pink lips as she speaks. "Before we got in."

Oscar takes off his jacket and folds it over his forearm. He fumbles with the fabric between his fingers as he speaks.

"I was gonna say you looked nice tonight."

Nice, as if he couldn't have said thousands of words better fit for who she is. Beautiful. Elegant. Gorgeous. Exquisite. She as a human being could be any of those words personified, fitting their definitions by every corner and specific detail, and he chose nice?

It was more casual, sure, but it just didn't suit her, and that's why he's thinking about his word choice so hard. No other reason.

It's just that Maia looked way more than 'nice.'

She always did.

Maia snorts, her heels in her hand clacking against the metal railing, "Thank you. Not too shabby yourself."

"Another compliment. I should start keeping track of those, eh?" He jokes, earning an eye-roll out of the woman.

"If 'not too shabby' is a compliment to you, I think that says more about you than me."

"Well, it's a compliment when it comes from you," he says. "Can't expect you to say I look handsome, can I?"

Maia scoffs, and the doors open to the hallway of their floor. The two walk out, Maia in front of Oscar, of course, and they find their way to their rooms with ease, having gotten used to the route over the past few days.

He pulls out the key to his room, hearing Maia's door open with a small beep of the key scanner.

Before he can enter through his own door, forgoing saying 'goodnight' since he assumed that wasn't a part of their little dance, Maia chirps up.

"Hey."

The driver turns his head. "Yes?"

"You look really good in a suit," she says, her typical glint in her eyes replaced with some sort of softness Oscar hasn't seen since they were young. Dare he say it was fondness, or something tip-toeing along those lines. "I think those types of shirts look very nice on you," she finishes, chin up like she was proud of her words.

Oscar's breath hitches in his throat as her sentences render in his brain, and he already feels the top of his ears going red.

So much for him being the one to compliment her. He beat her to it.

"And," He begins slowly. "I meant what I said earlier." He swallows, before saying his next words with pride and confidence. "You look beautiful."

Maia quirks her head to the side. "'Beautiful'? Really?" She questions, almost like she thought it was a lie (even though it couldn't have been, because has she seen herself?)

Oscar nods, fixing his posture so his body was facing her properly. "Yes, really."

Maia smiles a true, bright smile where her eyes crinkle at the corners, and as he admires the sight, Oscar knows now that this isn't the nostalgia banging on in his brain. This is just him being him, the Oscar that always thought that Maia was stunning, no matter what she was doing or what she was wearing.

He's not the type to put himself in denial, not the type to push things back and not face them head on. He might have been doing that since he saw her in person, but he has a flight to catch tomorrow and fate is messing with him so he's not sure when she'll see her in person again after he gets on his plane.

No more excuses. No more lying to himself.

He really, really missed Maia. He just never did anything about it until now.

"You've..." Oscar parts his lips, scanning her features as if he was taking them in for the first time in his life. "You've always been beautiful," he adds finally, true sincerity sewn within his speech.

Maia perks up, straightening her posture and he sees her cheeks glow a slight pink. She was blushing now, and she was probably, certainly blushing earlier when she caught him with his shirt unbuttoned.

"Now you're just flattering me," she says, her nonchalantness falling apart at the seams as an airy laugh gets weaved into her words.

Oscar taunts her lightly, "I think I'm allowed if I'm your friend again, right?"

The actress narrows her eyes, and he sees the gears turning in her head. "Well, I was just saying that because they like you!" She defends quickly, the moment where she had referred to Oscar and her as 'just friends' being remembered by her just now.

Oscar nods his head, unconvinced. "Sure, Maia, you keep telling yourself that."

He's always loved her name, so short and sweet and just made for him to say it.

Maia. Maia. Maia.

She tsk-s, and gets ready to close the door. "Goodnight, Oscar," she enunciates, a brow raised as she speaks with the ghost of a smile on her mouth.

Oscar begins to push down on the door handle again.

"Goodnight, Maia," he says, his head leaning forward as she laughs, and her door closes while he opens up his own.

He's gonna rebuild this little relationship of their's one brick at a time—or, at least, he'll try, so long as she lets him.

Something inside of him is telling him that she will, or maybe that's just the rapid beating of his heart messing with his brain.

NOTES!

oscar admits defeat and says that he thinks maias pretty THE WORLD IS IN ORDER!!

xoxo, cas