Heart Beat Song (A Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: If I Can't Have You

"Mary, have a seat." I nodded doing so, and she glanced out the window. I followed her gaze to where Leif had gone back to his desk. "So...tell me...is it true?"

"Is...what true?" I questioned. She shot me a skeptical look.

"That whole thing? You and Leif? Is that a thing now?" I bit my lip.

"That depends, are we in trouble?" She sighed.

"Well, that all depends on if its going to be a distraction from work-namely, the Chirp."

"No! No of course not, we are both very dedicated to this company, and to this project. I promise this will not get in the way of any of that." I assured her. She nodded.

"Really though? Leif?" She asked. "You're a pretty girl, Mary. You could have any guy in this office and outside of it, and you chose him?" 

"There's more to him than you think," I told her, glancing outside of the office to find him watching us. I smiled at him, "He's a good guy."

"If you say so...but I'd still be careful," I turned towards her again, furrowing my eyebrows, "Maybe its true, and maybe you do know him better than I do, but from what I've seen, that guy will do anything to get ahead, and I don't doubt that he would use you to do it." I shook my head.

"Well, I appreciate the warning Joan...and I'll admit there may have been a time that that was true but...not anymore. And I would know, because we've had our fair share of ups and downs, but I can tell now that something is different with him. He feels really bad about what happened in the past and I know he would never intentionally do anything to hurt me." She nodded.

"Well...if you say so. I know you have that freaky 'reading people' thing that you do." I nodded. "But just in case you're wrong...I know you have a lot of friends your own own age, and you have your brother but...you can always come to me if you need to. After everything you and Zoey have done for me, its the least I can do." I smiled.

"Well, I'm not but...thank you for the offer." She smiled and I turned, walking out of the office and over to Leif's desk. He turned to face me, as he had already been watching us.

"Hey, what was that all-" I pressed my lips briefly against his before putting my mouth right beside his ear.

"One hour, get as much work done as you can in that time and then meet me in the meditation room."  I pulled back to see that he had his eyebrows furrowed with a curious expression on his face. I just smiled at him, squeezing his arm before turning and walking back to my desk, biting my lip in an attempt to suppress my smile.

~~~

After an extremely unprofessional workplace make-out session with Leif in the meditation room, it was time to break for lunch, and as promised, Max, Zoey, and I headed to the mall to eat lunch in the food court.

"Leif looked so smug today." Zoey noted.

"Yeah."

"With his evil  little grin and his well-tailored pants..." Zoey trailed off, glancing at me. "Sorry...I forgot, we like Leif now."

"We do like Leif and his well-tailored pants...on the official boyfriend level." I said. Zoey's eyes widened.

"Seriously? That's great, Mary!"

"Thank you! And yes, I noticed the smug look, and we had words about it," I told her, "I know he has tendencies but he is I really great guy and I hope...now that we're dating, you guys will get the chance to know the side of him that I do." 

It was at this moment that I noticed that Max hadn't said a word since we'd gotten to the mall. It was at that moment that I remembered why we were here in the first place, right as Zoey noticed his silence.

"Max, are you ok?" She questioned. "You look...pale...er than usual."

"No, I'm fine," He said quickly, "I'm actually...I'm actually really uh...happy."

"You don't look happy." Zoey said through a laugh. "You look...ill."

"Yeah, um...what's going on, Max?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink as if I didn't already know.

"Everything's ok, it just..." He stood up, "Everything means nothing if I can't have you."

My eyes widened as music began playing and Max began to sing, moving around the table and snapping his fingers.

"I can't write one song that's not about you," He twirled around, hitting his hand son his legs, "Can't drink without thinkin' about you. Is it too late to tell you that, Everything means nothing if I can't have you!" Several people at the surrounding tables stood up, singing along and joining the choreography behind us.

"Oh no, I did give you the wrong impression." Zoey said. I bit my lip, as she clearly thought she was talking to herself. He ran over to the other side of the food court, falling between two more dancers.

"Oh, I'm good at keeping my distance, I know that you're the feeling I'm missing You know..."

"So, are you gonna join in too?" Zoey asked, looking at me. I looked at her with wide eyes, causing her to furrow her eyebrows.

"Not in your head. I see it too. I think this is real." I told her. Her eyes widened in response as more and more people joined  the number.

"Ooh, I can't write one song that's not about you! Can't drink, without thinkin' about you, Is it too late to tell you that, Everything means nothing if I can't have you!  I can't write one song that's not about you, can't drink without thinking about you, is it too late to tell you that, everything means nothing if I can't have you!"

The song ended, with everyone pointing at Zoey, and the food court around us applauded. Zoey stood up and I put a hand over my mouth, feeling bad for the both of them as I had a feeling this was not going to end well.

"Oh my gosh, this is actual life." Zoey stated.

"I know, right? And we only had like three rehearsals." Max told her. "There's this whole online flash mob service. This isn't even a real  baby." He gestured to the woman beside him, who had a baby doll strapped to her chest.

"Its not," She said, knocking on its head, "I have fliers if you want." She held one out to Zoey.

"This is unexpected, and amazing, but um...I'm very confused and I have to go. I'm sorry." She grabbed her coat and her bag off of her chair before rushing out of the food court, leaving everyone staring at Max with sympathetic looks.

"That's not usually a very good sign." The woman said. max sighed, looking at me. He flopped down into he seat beside me.

"Maybe you were right. Maybe this was too much for her." I shrugged.

"Well, I obviously can't speak for her but...do you think maybe..." He looked at me. "I mean, the concept was very sweet, but do you think that telling her how you feel in a big public flash mob was really the way to go?" He sighed, slamming his head down on the table. I put a hand on his shoulder, turning and flashing apologetic looks at everyone.