Note: Hi. I had nothing to say but I realized I published the first chapter of Maybe 9 years ago today. Huh. Maybe I should try finishing it.
Thank you AzikaRue394 and Cath for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Rollercoaster
"Do you really have to do that?"
Emily sat back in her computer chair dramatically, fingers lifting her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. It was early and the red head had already spent a considerable amount of time this morning staring at a computer screen and interpreting data. Max accompanied her, for whatever reason, to the BBA office. He had rummaged around in the break room earlier, settling on cereal.
"Eat?" Max guessed. His spoon hit the edge of the bowl. Again. "Kinda."
Emily fixed her glasses as she shot him a look. "Can you maybe be a little more quiet?"
Genuinely confused, Max ate another spoonful as he swivelled in his own computer chair. "I'll try?" Emily sighed when his spoon hit the side of the bowl. Max carefully set the bowl down on the desk in front of him, holding his hands up in defence. "Okay! I'm done!"
"Thank you."
It wasn't really Max's fault Emily was annoyed. She had been dealing with a lot of demands lately at the BBA. Research and reports and meetings. Almost on queue her phone pinged with a text.
"What exactly do you need me here for anyway?" Max asked curiously. He kicked himself over to Emily, the chair spinning in the process.
Emily's nose crinkled down at her phone. "What?"
Both teens looked at each other suddenly confused with each other's presence. Max repeated, "Why do you need me here?"
"I don't." Emily sent him a strange look, her phone pinging again. Her focus went back to the data on the screen, deciding to ignore her phone for now.
"What? My mom said you asked for my help."
"What can you do that I can't?" Emily laughed, reaching to take a sip from her lukewarm coffee. Her other hand inputted some figures into the program. "No offence."
She wasn't really sure what was going on with Judy lately. Her boss had become tense in the last few weeks, requesting more of Emily than usual.
"Anyway, Judy told me you wanted to learn more about the research department at the BBA."
Emily glanced over to Max when he said nothing. The look on his face was one of complete disinterest. It quickly changed to something else as he sat back in his chair with a sigh.
"Of course." Max ran his hands over his face, rubbing at the sleep that remained in his eyes.
Emily was about to comment when her phone pinged once again. Rolling her eyes, she reached for the phone finally, unsurprised to see the sender.
"You're popular." Max slouched in the chair, his legs pivoting it left to right. "Boyfriend?"
Emily stopped reading her text thread to stare up at the blond pointedly. Max smiled. "It's your mom."
"Oh good, didn't want to have to break Kenny's heart," Max joked with a wink. Emily rolled her eyes again. She didn't want to touch that subject, let alone with Max. "Sounds like she texts you about as much as me."
Emily hummed in acknowledgement. It wasn't usually like this. Judy had asked her to start a new project suddenly in the midst of her current projects for the heads of the BBA. Usually her boss was very understanding about her timeline, but for whatever reason, this research needed to be done ASAP.
"Don't take this the wrong way," Emily began, regarding Max as he stopped rocking his chair. "But what is up with your mom lately?"
Max shrugged. "I was going to ask you the same thing actually." For some reason, she didn't quite believe him.
"Maybe she needs a vacation?" Emily offered. She sent Judy a reply, acknowledging she was still researching the request. "Oh I guess I could ask you."
"Shoot."
"Your mom wants me to look up a team," Emily started, forgetting the name she began to scroll through their text thread. Max seemed to perk at the news. "The Saint Shields?"
Max stared at her. Emily hesitated, unable to read his expression. After much deliberation, he asked, "Why...?"
"She never said." It was the truth. "You know them?"
"They're from the second world tournament." Max stood up from the chair, opting to sit against the desk, his face still scrunched in focus. "I can save you some time, there's really no information available. Asked Mr. Dickinson to look them up again last year and got squat."
"Max, you went to the wrong person. Mr. Dickinson may have a lot of contacts, but he doesn't compare to me when it comes to resourcefulness."
Max sighed. "She doesn't want to know about their team."
"She texted-"
"I know," Max interrupted. Hesitation set in again as he avoided Emily's eyes. He looked up at the ceiling instead. "She wants information on Mariam."
"Mariam?" Emily repeated. She adjusted her glasses as she tried to recall that name ever being mentioned. Reading Max's body language, she hazard a guess. "Your girlfriend?"
A blush quickly took over Max's features causing Emily to smirk. "No," he denied, still avoiding eye contact. "We're just friends."
"Ah, a friend." Emily nodded, way too amused by Max's behaviour. "A friend you want to kiss."
Max shot her a look, turning redder.
"Platonically, I mean."
Emily laughed at his expression. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to collect his thoughts. Willing himself to stop blushing, he gathered his hands together in his lap thoughtfully.
"It's complicated," he decided finally, meeting Emily's gaze with honesty. Her amusement stalled, noticing his seriousness suddenly. "If you could not find anything, I'd really appreciate it."
Emily raised her eyebrows at the request. "You want me to lie to Judy?"
"Just give me more time. Please."
Emily crossed her arms, head tilting back against the headrest of the chair. "I already have too many projects going on anyway," she stated, making Max break out into a grin. "You owe me. It's not often I can't complete my research."
Max clasped his hands together, bowing to her. "Thank you, Emily."
"Yeah, yeah. Listen, I have an actual job to do now." Emily waved him off, her attention now back at the data scrolling on the screen. She began typing, eyes glancing to Max. "You can go... write love letters or whatever it is you do."
"Mariam's not my girlfriend."
"I don't believe that. Judy certainly doesn't believe that. Not sure why you do."
"Since you don't need me, I'm leaving," Max ignored her, making Emily laugh. He gathered up his things and took another bite of his cereal to spite her. "And I'm not going to write her love letters."
"So don't forward her address to you when I find it?"
The two teens stared at each other, Max half out the door of the office. She smirked, watching as Max seemed between himself. After much deliberation, he waved. "Bye, Emily."
"Bye, Romeo."
