Stealing Emma

Chapter 6 - Laffer Curve

He found her sitting by herself in the courtyard, listening to music through her earphones and reading a case study. There was a walled section that you could climb up and lay out on and there she was. It surprised him she was finally out in public after deliberately being in hiding all this time.

He knew she didn't want to talk about 'the incident'. Hell, she had been avoiding him for almost two weeks. She barely acknowledged him in their group meetings and just seemed to have plugged out from society. That was fine with him, clearly she needed some time to regroup so he was giving it to her. At the same time, they did have a project to finish and it was due in a few days. Bottom line, they needed to talk.

He tugged on her leg to get her attention and she seemed surprised to see him. She hesitantly took off her earphones and looked at him. "Hey there," she said in a soft voice.

He immediately noticed there was a rooted sadness masked behind those vibrant green eyes. It was hidden deep, but he could clearly see it now. How did he not notice it before?

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

She shrugged casually. "Doing okay...just catching up on some reading. What's up?"

"Wanted to see when you wanted to finish working on Econ? It's due soon and we still need to tie up some loose ends and do a run through of the presentation."

"Oh. About that. I don't think we need to get together. I can just send you the final write-up to look over and then we can just divide the slides. You want to present the beginning or the end?"

"You sure, Emma? It'll be better if we reviewed it together."

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Besides I'm swamped this week."

"So this has nothing to do with you wanting to avoid me," he said as a statement.

She looked at him shyly, those bright green eyes trying to avoid his gaze. He now knew she did that when she was nervous.

"I just think...it's for the best, Max."

"I know we said we wouldn't talk about it, Em. But I just hated seeing you like that. It wasn't my intention to make you feel worse about it. Please know I would never judge you."

"Can we not do this right now? That day was just completely mortifying," she whispered.

"Em, I was the one that followed you. You didn't do anything wrong. It was completely my fault."

"No, it wasn't, Max. I was there, too. It was both of us. And I shouldn't be feeling like this. That's why I think it's best we just cool off for a while. Okay?"

He felt his chest compress at her words. Did she mean feeling sad or feelings towards him? "Feeling like what, Em?"

Before he could get his hopes up, she started to pack her bag and shove everything she could as quickly as possible inside. She looked to scoot off the ledge she was currently sitting on, so he offered his hand but she refused it. Sighing and without even thinking about it, he grabbed her by the waist and settled her on the ground next to him.

"Feeling like what, Em?" he repeated, studying her face.

"Just please forget it. I have to go," she said, moving his hands off her waist.

"How can you just expect me to...please Em, let's talk about this."

She opened her mouth to say something, but immediately shut it, her eyes growing large as her vision focused behind him. He immediately knew who she was looking at and took a big step back from her. Shit, he was going to rip his balls off this time for sure.

"What's going on, guys? Having a little argument?" Roy asked, his big voice booming from behind him. Jesus, the guy scared the living hell out of him.

"It's nothing. Just discussing our Econ project," Emma said quickly.

"Really? Never knew Economics could cause such a heated discussion," Roy said sarcastically.

"Well, that fiscal cliff you know. It's a real nail-biter," Max let out. "And Spain? The autonomous regions? The monarchs? Taxation up the wazoo. Hey, we're people too you know. It's not just sangria and siestas. And you go 20 minutes outside the city? Do people live like us? Do they have these opportunities? And do not get me started on student loans! If Sallie Mae ruled Spain the toilets would be made out of diamonds and the streets paved with gold. Anyway, there's no laughing matter about the Laffer curve," he rambled.

Wow. Where the hell had that come from? He always ranted when he was nervous, but he had just taken that to a whole other level. What's more, he definitely wasn't supposed to be egging Roy on.

"This guy, huh? Turns out he's a big jokester," Roy laughed.

Emma rolled her eyes nervously. "Can we just go? I was just leaving," she said turning to Roy.

"Sure. But don't mind me. Please, finish whatever it was you needed to discuss."

Max faced Emma, looking for some help. She was the one who had been about to say something before they were interrupted. Something about her feelings. Roy probably saw him holding her by the waist, too. Oh God, he was gonna get his ass kicked in two seconds. Where was his brother Leo when he really needed him? He would be able to take him down for sure.

"Listen, Max. I don't give a shit that you were the one that put the PowerPoint together. I'm presenting first and that's final. Got it?" Emma suddenly blurted angrily at him.

That's what they were supposedly discussing? He looked at her alarmed, and could feel Roy's angry stare right behind her. He took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself to get into character.

"For the last time, you're going to fuck it up, Emma. I know the material from the first half way better than you do. I did all the research for it, remember?"

"I'm not buying this," Roy interjected.

Emma's face went pale white and Max started fumbling around in his pockets for any semblance of a weapon. Wait, what's this, he thought. An altoid? I'm supposed to fresh breathe him to death? Death by minty freshness? Good one, Max!

"I don't follow..." Max said, almost expecting a punch to the face. He waited with bated breath for the seconds to tick by. It was only a matter of time now before...

"She's a great presenter. You must have seen her present by now. Don't let your macho head games cloud your judgment, Max. I insist, let her present first."

Emma was returning to live-human levels from her near comatose state and ran with it, punching Roy in the arm. "Thanks babe, that's where we left off right when you got here. Like I said, I'm a big girl. Max, send me the slides and we'll take it from there."

Max felt like he was in a very bad off-Broadway play. Not knowing where to place his hands he just let them up by his head, almost as if he was waving to two people on opposite ends. "Er.. yeah, how stupid of me. I'll get right on that, chief. Uhm, over and out chief. Tzzzp." He mimicked a walkie talkie signing off. Great, stool samples had more creativity.

Before he knew it, Emma and Roy trotted off and he was left alone to think long and hard about his new levels of stupidity.