Stealing Emma

Chapter 10 - Standstill

From: Max Durant

To: Emma Blake

_______________________

two things.

December 25, 2012, 4:37 PM

_______________________

1. merry xmas sweetheart

2. do you want to have dinner with leo and mia sometime this week? they're in town and said you had spoken to them about it

i'm really hoping this counts as a group outing...

okay, bye!

beso!

From: Emma Blake

To: Max Durant

________________________

Re: two things.

December 26, 2012, 11:02 AM

________________________

1. merry xmas to you too max

2. thanx for the invite but i can't right now. i'm really sorry. hope you understand.

also hope you're feeling better...

xx

Max contemplated for days whether to respond to her email, but at the end decided it was best not to. She obviously still had things going on with Roy and didn't want to add more stress in her life. The only reason he wrote her in the first place was because Leo and Mia kept on talking about it and pushed him to do it in the end. They said she obviously cared about him if she showed up at his apartment and looked after him. But he wasn't sure if it had been more over guilt and wanting to find out what had happened before facing Roy. He wouldn't know for sure until he saw her again.

So he decided to wait the full two weeks until school resumed. He tried to hide his excitement as he saw her walk into class looking like a damn supermodel, but that quickly faded away as she brushed by him without as much as a glance in his direction. Feeling like an idiot, he went to take his seat, convincing himself she was trying to be discreet about the end of last semester.

Days turned into weeks and her silence simply continued. It wasn't as if he had any excuse to talk to her either, they were now in different study groups so the only time he got to see her was during official class hours. He wracked his brain with ways he could get her alone again but came up short every time. His mind flirted with the idea of doing something to piss off Roy again. That would certainly get her attention. But then he thought about what that would do to her and concluded he was becoming a desperate idiot.

He followed her outside after class one day during a moment of weakness. He had absolutely no idea what he would say to her without sounding like a moron, but he went after her nonetheless. What could he possibly tell her after all this time? Hey, remember me? Right. Real smooth, Max.

He was about to approach her when Tony suddenly got in his way and stopped him.

"Not a good time right now, Tony," he said trying not to be impolite. The guy had saved his ass back in December. If it weren't for him, he would have ended up in a ditch somewhere that night.

Tony ignored him and pushed him towards the side, out of Emma's path. "Trust me, bro."

He was about to tell him off when he saw Roy approach Emma and wrap his arm around her neck, leading her away from campus. His blood boiled in anger at the sight.

"You blind? You wanna get killed this time? You not thinking man," Tony said.

Max sighed and looked back at Tony. "Thanks, Tony. I just don't know what to do anymore."