Chapter 11 - A Slight Indiscretion

It was a cool day in March when Emma was suddenly startled in her seat in the middle of a new class with Professor Davis. She had heard he was quite the character, but certainly did not expect the comment he yelled out across the room from one moment to the next.

“Mr. Durant. You do realize the learning in class takes place up here, right? Staring at your peer all semester will not get that accomplished.”

Emma had her head down at the time being as she had been taking notes, but instantly felt the entire class look in her direction. Oh, god. Max had been staring at her? She tried really hard not to blush, but the instant chorus of “oooh” in the room pretty much sealed the deal.

The classroom was so silent afterwards she was able to hear Max adjust his position behind her from across the room and clear his throat. “Sorry, Professor Davis.”

Davis continued on seamlessly with his lecture, so she tried to pretend as if nothing had happened. She was so mad at Max at the moment though. Whatever happened to laying low? How could he be so careless? If word got out about this, she would be dead meat.

Thoughts of that nature raced through her mind for the remainder of class, but once it officially ended, she tried to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

“Miss Blake. Will you hold back a minute?” Professor Davis said, halting her in her tracks. She hesitated for a moment and then went up nervously to the front of the room as she watched the rest of the students file out.

“Not so fast, Mr. Durant. You too,” he called out as she approached him.

She internally grimaced as Max went to stand beside her, who shot her an apologetic look before facing Professor Davis.

Davis folded his arms as he took his time to study both of them. After what seemed like forever of his scrutinizing, he finally spoke up and addressed Max. “I knew having another Durant in my class would be nothing but trouble. I was hoping you would be different than your brother, but clearly that’s not the case.”

“I’m really sorry, Professor Davis. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I just got distracted for a moment,” Max said.

“A moment? Mr. Durant, you’ve been staring at the girl constantly like a lovesick teenager since my first lecture. I wasn’t going to say anything about it, but it’s gotten to the point that you’re interrupting my concentration. At least your brother and his girlfriend were in different sections. But the two of you together in the same room...I can barely handle it.”

“Professor Davis, if I may,” Emma spoke up. “I’m not exactly sure what you are talking about, but Max and I are not together and he’s certainly not my boyfriend, so you have nothing to worry about. Also, if you don’t mind...can you not say anything about this...slight indiscretion? I would really appreciate it. I’m going to go now that we’ve cleared things up,” Emma said ready to leave.

“I haven’t dismissed you yet, Miss Blake. I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you and frankly I don’t care. But whatever it is, it’s not one sided. So if you could please go figure it out on your own time and not waste mine any longer.”

“But, Professor...” Emma began.

“You’re now both dismissed,” Davis interrupted.

Emma bit her tongue and left the room silently without saying anything further. She walked down the corridor with the intention of going home as quickly as possible, when she felt Max wrap his arm around her waist and pull her into a conference room.

“Let go of me, you big jerk,” she said trying to shove his shoulder.

“Emma, stop. I’m really sorry. Just let me explain.”

“How could you?” she said, her nerves starting to creep up on her. “Have you not learned anything? Do you want to get your ass kicked again?”

“No, I don’t. Like I said, I didn’t notice I was doing it, okay? It wasn’t on purpose. I just can’t help it sometimes. You haven’t even looked in my direction for two months. What did you expect?”

She studied his face, not believing it had been that long since they last spoke. He looked as handsome as always, seeing the same wavy brown hair and rugged features she had gotten accustomed to last semester. His eyes looked tired though and she couldn’t help but notice a faint scar near his eyebrow that was definitely not there before. She swallowed hard, thinking she was the reason it was there now.

“Don’t you get it? I’m doing this for you! It’s for your own good, Max. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

She dug in her pocket and pulled out her key chain, taking the key Max had given her out of the loop. “I should have given this back to you a while ago.” She tried to hand it back to Max, but he refused to take it. When she looked up at him, the glint in his eyes had disappeared and was now glistening instead.

“No, Emma. That’s yours. Please keep it,” he said hoarsely.

“I can’t Max. I don’t need it anymore. Roy is more like a puppy these days than a bull dog for some reason.”

“Doesn’t matter. That’s yours. I don’t want it back.”

She sighed and shoved it in the front pocket of his jeans before he could do or say anything further. “It’s for the best, Max. Trust me,” she whispered.

“Dammit, Emma. You’re killing me,” he said running his fingers through his hair. “I don’t care about getting hurt, Em. What you’re doing now and not being able to talk to you...that’s a million times worse than anything Roy could ever do to me.”

“That’s insane, Max. You shouldn’t be wasting your time on me. I’m sure there are a lot of girls who would want to be with you...and who are available, more importantly. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to...”

“You’re the one that doesn’t get it, Em,” he interrupted. “I don’t care about anyone else. I only care about you,” he said baring his perfect hazel eyes into hers.

“Max,” she sighed. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m trying to work things out with Roy and...”

“Really? Is that why you don’t speak to him either? Because you’re trying to fix things?” he said starting to get agitated.

“How do you know that?” she asked incredulous.

He looked at her surprised for a moment and shook his head. “Forget I said anything.”

“How do you know that, Max?” she demanded.

He sighed heavily. “He asked me if I could talk to you.”

“He did...what? Why would he do that? When was this?” she asked in shock.

“About a week ago. I don’t know, Em. I told him no, obviously. I wasn’t going to play messenger for him or get in between whatever is going on with you.”

“I can’t believe he did that,” she said, still trying to picture the two of them having a conversation like that.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Em. I guess he was getting kind of desperate...”

The way he left that last sentence open ended made her think he might be sharing the same feeling as Roy. She had just been trying to make things better by separating herself from everything, but obviously it was just getting worse.

“Look, I’m gonna be in New York for Spring Break so maybe we can just use this time to just cool off and clear our heads.”

“New York? When are you leaving?” he asked almost in shock, his mood completely changing.

“Tomorrow. I’m visiting my brother and going on some interviews while I’m there.”

“So you’re planning on moving there after?”

“I don’t know. I figured it couldn’t hurt. Just please don’t mention anything. Roy doesn’t know.”

“He’s not going with you?”

“No. He went to L.A. Said he needed to take care of some things,” she said shrugging.

“So he left already?”

“Yeah, this morning. What are you doing for the break?” she asked, suddenly curious.

“I’m going to Marbella with the fam. Leo and Mia are also coming, the twins...it’ll be a full house.”

“Sounds really great, actually. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun.”

“Yeah,” he said, but looked unsure. “So what airline are you traveling on?”

“United. Why?”

“Leo usually travels on Delta, so...” he said shrugging.

“Ugh. I hate Delta. They’re the worst.”

“Not if you travel first class.”

“Well excuse me, fancy pants. Just so you know, for the rest of the population, it sucks.”

He looked at her amused and then grinned slightly. “Duly noted.”

She managed to smile at him for a second. She never understood how their serious conversations always turned out simple in the end. “Well, I gotta run. See you after the break?”

“Um, yeah. Have a great trip, Em. I’m sure you’ll nail those interviews.”

“Thanks, Max.”

“Can we hug it out?” he asked opening up his arms.

She giggled and leaned in to hug him. As she settled into his chest and wrapped her hands around his waist, she realized just how much his simple touch affected her. It was almost ridiculous the amount of comfort she felt just being in his arms.

“I’m sorry about earlier, sweetheart. I just really miss you,” he whispered into her ear.

She took a deep breath, relaxing into him a bit more. “I miss you too, Max. I’m still mad at you, though.”

“I know. I can live with those two sentences for now. It’ll hold me over,” he said cupping her cheek.

She closed her eyes and tried not to lean into his hand but it happened anyway. She felt his head dip closer and he pressed his forehead gently against hers. He stayed like that for a while, as if debating what to do next or giving her time to decide. She could feel his warm breath caressing her face and knew it would only be a few moments before they kissed.

It took everything inside her to grab his hand and remove it from her cheek. He immediately stepped back and nodded, as if telling her he understood. But his expression was devastated and she couldn’t help giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Bye Max,” she whispered, before turning to leave the room.

“Later, sweetheart.”