In the hotel each and every Techno had just heard Jay and Byte's conversation. Even evil Ebony and sickly Siva heard it. Ebony thought nothing of it while it brought a smile to Siva's face. The others however thought it was a laughing matter. Ram even went on to say: "Well, looks like our lieutenant has a heart instead of a big black hole." This caused a slight upset in Max, who then went out to the courtyard to fetch Jay and Byte on Ram's orders, but he really just wanted to see if Byte was fine.
Max strolled up to the two and cleared his throat. After placing his hands behind his back, he nodded to Jay. "General, Lord Ram wants to see you," Max said. He looked to Byte once Jay left and eased his position. He stared at her for a second. A smile came upon his face as he then sat next to her. "Hey, why don't we get outta here?" he asked.
Byte raised a brow. "What?" she asked. This boy had to be kidding her. Of all the times to "get outta here", now wasn't the time.
He shook his head. "No…no, didn't mean it that way. I just thought you could use a drink. After all I don't think your mother would mind," he winked. He knew he couldn't mock her any further than that, especially if he didn't want her to be angry at him. Of course when Byte was angry, she had the typical Techno temper: short and explosive. Hm…now those two words also seemed to describe that one girl named Ebony.
Her jaw dropped open and she stared at him. "How did you? Who…what?"
He leaned in close. "Everyone heard what you said on your communicator," he whispered to her.
Byte said nothing and shook her head. "They heard everything?" she groaned and walked off.
Max got up and went after her. He grabbed her hand gently, pulling her back to him. "Hey, it's alright." He reassured her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"God, now they're gonna mock me for life."
Max stared down at her, "Look at it this way, they'll know about your situation and maybe…just maybe this'll help lead you to her." He grinned and leaned in just a bit closer. "Everything's gonna be fine." He then pulled her into a tight hug.
She could feel the strength in his arms just from that one hug, as well as his racing heart. "Thank you," she said against his black shiny shirt. "Why don't we go get a drink?" she suggested and felt his nod of approval.
"I'm gonna go ahead and change into some nicer clothes then."
Byte nodded then headed into her room, only to find a note lying on her pillows. She sat down and read it. In neat print it read:
I'm still here, Noelle.
Don't worry.
She grinned slightly as she read it then placed the neatly written note on her dresser near a silver necklace with a solid silver circle about a little less than in inch in diameter. In all honesty according to Byte, it looked a bit like a coin. But it was all she had left from her mother. It was well worn and had some words engraved on the back that said:
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
The letters JN were also engraved on the front. She thought about it for a second then sighed; it couldn't have been a joke. No one really knew her real name except for a select few. She figured that they, knowing how much the "mother topic" meant to her, couldn't play it off.
As Byte began to get ready, Max strolled down the halls dressed like nothing more than a Techno in "normal clothes." It consisted of a white fitted crewneck shirt, a pair of black pants, and a black euro style motorcycle jacket with a silver stripe the stretched down each of the arms. He stopped for a moment in front of Byte's door and knocked softly. He ran his hands through his thick brown mane as he patiently waited for the girl.
On the other side of the door was Byte dressed in a pair of tight, black pants, a black tank top with suspenders printed on it, some cute military style boots, which did not resemble the Techno boots in any way. Apart from that she also wore a headband with a mini top hat attached to it. She walked over to the door and smiled. "Hey there," she greeted upon seeing him, her grin expressing the joy she got out of seeing him.
"Hey," Max replied with a smile on his face as well. After Byte had closed the door, he grabbed her hand gently then walked with her to the garage where they kept all of the automobiles. Byte grabbed the keys to one of the dune buggies and tossed the set to him. He got in one side, she got in the other and then they were off. They sped through the city and finally reached their destination, the casino. Max got out of the buggy first then helped Byte out. "C'mon let's go," he said and led her into the casino.
The two of them sat at the bar where Max ordered a beer for himself and a cocktail for Byte. "Byte, there's something I have to show you," he began. He seemed hesitant to talk to her for once and this kind of scared Byte.
"What is it?"
"You have to promise me you won't laugh," he warned.
Byte smiled slightly and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You have to calm down sometimes," she replied.
He sighed once more then looked back at her. "We've been together for about two years now. You're beautiful, fun, smart," he smiled then suddenly frowned. "Not to mention you're also hot headed, pushy, jealous. But then I've learned to love those things…especially the pushiness. You're the person I want to keep forever, the person I'd want to wake up next to every morning, and the person who'll keep my heart forever." He slowly lifted his white shirt to the point where he almost took it off. "That's why I got Noelle tattooed on me." He revealed a newly inked tattoo located over his heart. It simply read "Noelle" in cursive along with some decorative accents.
Her jaw dropped as she saw it then she smiled, "You got that for me?" she grinned then wrapped her arms around him. "It's cute…somewhat corny but cute."
Max winced because she tapped the tattoo but smiled easily. "Yes, I did. Now let's drink to make the stinging go away," he laughed.
Two hours passed and Byte was on her tenth shot of tequila after having about three other cocktails. She held the small shot glass in one hand and grinned. "One…two…go!" she said. She took the shot quickly and let the alcohol burn on the way down. She laughed hysterically as she watched Max take his twelfth shot. She was handed another shot of tequila and just inhaled the damn thing. By this time the girl was gone, as in drunk to the point of no return. She laughed a bit more and rested her head on the table.
Max stared down at her then inched closer to her. "Byte…you're pretty…drunk. Let's go home." He grinned for he wasn't just as drunk as she was. It was quite funny to him because he was the more capable one out of the two. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth then kissed it lightly.
Byte sat up and looked at him, actually happy he'd done that. Her face inched closer to his until she kissed him on the lips. She pulled away shortly after with a grin on her face.
He grinned and pulled her closer to him and kissed her firmly on the cheek then stood up. He helped her up and once she was standing, he wrapped his arms around her. He saw her wobble at first, so he decided to scoop her up then carry her out the bar.
Once outside, he put her down on the ground and held on to her. Though he was fairly unbalanced himself he made sure she wasn't going to fall. He stared at her for a moment and just couldn't resist her. "Come here…" he grinned and pulled her towards him. He kissed her on the top of the head then led her back to the hotel. He had decided to leave the buggy at the bar since he was in no mood to drive.
After a few minutes of walking the two of them reached the hotel. Suddenly Byte crashed into the hallway, banging her head against the wall. "Oomph ow…" she said and laughed at herself. Max followed after her. He grabbed her by the waist, turned her around, kissed her deeply. She on the other hand playfully slapped him on the cheek. After doing so, she immediately followed it up with a couple kisses. "Sorry…sorry…didn't essactly mane it.
Max laughed and picked her up, pinning her against the wall with a thud. Byte suddenly looked at him with blood shot eyes. "Shh! Shh! That's Java's room," she said somewhat quietly. "You have to go before she comes out! She'll feed you to the lions!" she warned then kissed him on the cheek.
"Bye bye…" he finally said.
Just as Byte said, Java came out of her room. She looked outside her door, only to find Byte helplessly on the ground. She sighed deeply, grabbed her by the arm and led her into her room before Ram or the guards saw anything. She closed the door after placing Byte in the room and ran after Max. She stopped him in his tracks after grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him back to her. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked sternly but couldn't get a straight response from him. She grew impatient and even angrier by him. She slapped him across the face hard. "You're no longer welcome to see Byte you hear me? I hope you'll remember that in the morning," she added and walked off.
Upon entering her room Java found Byte on the floor, passed out. She knelt down and took Byte's hat off then placed a pillow under her head and a throw blanket on top of her. She then walked back over to her bed and slipped underneath the deep purple covers. "Goodnight, kiddo," she muttered as she switched the light off.
After about six hours of sleep, Byte woke up to find her communicator in front of her. She laid there and turned to lie on her stomach. Amazingly, she knew where she was just from the smell of it. For some reason, Java's room always smelled like the fresh and floral perfume she always put on. "Clean" was how Byte usually described it. She slipped the headset on and rested her forehead against the pillow after feeling the huge surge of pressure come over her head and a wave of nausea.
"So glad you're up." Java said as she came through the door.
Byte sighed and muttered some things into the pillow before speaking to Java.
Java sat down on the bed, and stared straight down at Byte. "You mind telling me what last night was all about?" she asked sternly. Disappointed was an understatement as to what she was feeling at this point.
Byte looked up, her grey irises surrounded by a field of pink. "Had a few too many drinks…and that's all I can remember," she replied.
"You're worse than me," she muttered under her breath. Java then stood up, grabbed Byte by the arm and helped her up. "Listen…and I want you to listen well. I don't want you around that Max anymore."
Crossing her arms, Byte stared at Java then shook her head. "I can tell you right here right now that that's not gonna happen."
She tilted her head and sighed, her temper slowly rising. "Oh really? Byte, that kid brought you home drunk! What if something happened to you?"
"Nothing happened to me though!" Byte replied. Her temper as well began to rise.
Java crossed her arms as well and shook her head. "You can't even remember what happened last night! How the hell do you know if something had happened to you?"
Byte scoffed, furrowing her eyebrows angrily, "I'm fine, I'm alive, not hurt or anything. You know I'm smart about these things."
"You weren't last night…dammit Byte," she scoffed, "if Ram found out about this, god knows what he'll do."
"He's not going to find out because no one's going to tell him," she insisted then slowly began walking toward the door.
Java stepped in front of her and stopped her by the shoulder. "We're not done here."
"Well what else is there to say, Java? You've said enough, now I'm leaving."
"Really? Is that what you're gonna do, leave and act like an easy target for horny mongrels all over again?"
"God, now you've gone too far. How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing happened! Who do you think you are? You're not my mother!" Byte said loudly, almost yelling.
"Don't you raise your voice at me! Someone has to scold you for something like this, now shut up and listen to me!" Java yelled back.
Byte stood in front of her, face to face with tears welling up in her eyes out of pure anger.
"What were you thinking? Jesus, Byte, you don't know how disappointed I am in you! I can't believe you got drunk! Let alone, come home drunk! You're a smart girl, Byte and I don't know what happened to you last night." Java sighed and stared at the young girl, who was crying now out of guilt. "Look, I'm only scolding you because I happen to care about you and I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."
Byte quickly wiped the tears away then sniffled. "I'm sorry, Java. But you can't stop me from seeing Max."
"I'll compromise," Java replied quietly. "Go on, fix your make up and get to work. Go ahead and use my stuff if you want," she added then walked out in a slight hurry.
She went into the bathroom after Java had left and took off all of her make up. It was messed up anyway, so doing it all over would do her any harm. First, she grabbed the vanilla colored eye shadow, then the green, then the black and applied them in that order. After that, she applied the green eyeliner and then some mascara. After about ten minutes, she was finished and looked like her normal self again apart from the slightly puffy eyes due to crying. Byte walked out of the room and headed down to the main computer room where Siva, Java and Jay were.
"Byte, so nice of you to join us," Java greeted. Obviously it was a bit of an act put on by her in order to keep Ram clueless.
Ram turned around in his wheelchair and held a reality space visor in his hands. "Ah, there's my lovely lieutenant. I have a different kind of assignment for you. Why don't you patrol the city today with this Cadet here?" he asked and gestured to Max.
Java looked at Byte and inhaled deeply, as if to say "Don't do anything stupid".
Byte nodded then smirked slightly, "Gladly."