Ambitious Pursuit

06

The team took a Google bus into town and left their things on the bus before walking into a Chinese restaurant. Mariah was pleasantly surprised to learn that Billy knew Mandarin.

As soon as they were seated and once people had started eating, Billy said, "My friend says there's a dance club down the street. It's supposed to be great."

"You're shitting me!" Nick exclaimed. The group quickly finished their food and paid as they walked down to the club. As soon as they entered, they realized it was a strip club; not a dance club.

Half-naked women in skimpy underwear were everywhere. Music was blasting, the lights were dim, and women were grinding on poles, men, and other women. Most of the women had their breasts hanging out.

"Are you sure he said dance club?" Nick asked loudly.

"You know, I was rockin' Mandarin, he was rockin' Cantonese, something clearly got confused in the middle, but I say boom goes the dynamite! Happy accident, right?" Billy replied. A woman who had her breasts hanging out walked up to Billy and walked down the line of interns.

Mariah frowned and shook her head. "I don't want to be here. I'm gonna wait outside and chat with Mikey." She glanced at her team members before walking away.

"Show you to your table?" a woman asked as she stopped in front of Stuart.

Nick lifted Stuart's head up as he said, "Great big world out there my friend. Just three inches up. I beg you."

Stuart looked up to see the woman. She took his hand and placed two of his fingers in her mouth.

"Holy shit. That's deep," Stuart said as he was led away. He glanced back at the door, hoping Mariah would return, but she didn't.

Billy and Nick exchanged a look and a wide smile, realizing he was starting to crush on her.

Outside, Mariah sat against a wall and tried calling her brother who didn't answer. She groaned as she muttered, "You're probably in bed."

She opened Temple Run and began playing it.

What felt like a short while later, but was hours later, she looked up to see her team members and bit back her laughter as she watched them stumbling around.

The group got back on the bus and drove to the Golden Gate Bridge as the new day was dawning. Mariah was seated on the table portion of a bench with Billy and Neha as she drank from her bottle of water. She was half-listening as Billy talked with Neha about her dating experience. Stuart was talking with Nick a few feet away as they watched cars drive up and down the bridge. Yo-Yo was laying down on the table top of the other bench, completely wasted, and Lyle had disappeared somewhere to pee.

"How about you?" Billy asked as he turned to Mariah.

"Huh?" Mariah said. "Oh, no. I don't have a boyfriend."

"What's going on with you and Stuart?" Billy reiterated. Neha leaned closer and nodded.

"Absolutely nothing. We're barely friends."

Billy glanced at Stuart who was looking at Mariah, and he instantly looked away. "Seems you've got an admirer, Mariah."

Stuart let out a breath and walked towards the three. "Uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Mariah alone."

Neha grinned and nodded. "Go ahead. Don't let us stop you. Come on, Billy."

Billy winked at the two and followed Neha.

Stuart sat next to Mariah and was silent for a moment before saying, "I missed you in there."

"You missed me?" Mariah asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I did. Why didn't you want to be in there?"

"I... I felt uncomfortable. And I didn't see a point to be in there when I can't even drink."

"I understand." He fell silent once again, then turned to her. "I did some research on you and found out about your mom. I'm sorry."

Mariah shrugged. "It's the past and I live my life trying to honor her in everything I do. But thank you. I appreciate that. How much research did you do?"

"Kind of to the point of stalking. I'm ashamed to admit it."

A small smile crossed her face. "Why?"

"Because even though you're kind of a pain in the ass, you're my friend."

"I'm your friend, huh?"

"You're not making this easy."

"Stuart, you should know this now. I am never going to make things easy for you."

"So you're saying we'll see each other again."

She shook her head. "I never said that. You did." She laid down on the table and turned her head to him. "But I would like to see you after this is over, Stuart."

Stuart laid down next to her. "I would too."

Mariah's head turned so she was looking up at the sky. "How many stars do you think are out there? Millions? Billions? Trillions?"

"At least billions," he replied, pointing to the brightest star in the sky. "There's the North Star."

She began counting the stars, quickly losing track. Stuart counted with her, but also lost track. The two tried counting again, but didn't get far, and began laughing.

Neha and Billy watched the two with a smile.

"Lyle," Billy called.

"Looks like you hit it off with Saffron tonight," Nick said as he and Stuart walked over.

Mariah and Stuart looked at Lyle and shared a quiet laugh.

"I'm texting her that I love her and I'm sending her this picture I just took of little Lyle when he made pee in the bushes. Look, he's winking," Lyle told them as he held his phone out for them to see.

Mariah shook her head. "No, that's not a good idea."

Nick nodded as he pointed to Mariah. "She's right. Lyle, Lyle, Lyle, that's a horrible idea. Please don't do that. You're drunk off your ass."

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm flyin' baby!" Lyle replied.

"Okay, Lyle, you are not flying. What's seventeen squared?" Billy asked, trying to confuse Lyle.

"289. Why?"

"Give me a harder question than that. You know where I'm driving with this," Billy said as he turned to the others.

Stuart thought for a moment. "Try, uh, maybe the square root of 17."

"4.23 maybe," Lyle guessed.

"That's the app. That's the app we should do right there," Nick said. "Some quiz question you gotta answer before you send a drunk text or a drunk email or a phone call -- something to protect you from yourself."

"That's good. Can we do that?" Billy asked, turning to Neha.

"Hells yeah we could do that," Neha replied excitedly.

"Are you shitting me? I could program the shit outta that bitch on the bus ride home," Yo-Yo mumbled as he lifted his head from his spot on the table top.

Mariah nodded and said, "What if we set it up so they turn it on when they know they're gonna drink, maybe get hammered, and it'll lock them out of anything social. They have to set up a difficult question only the could answer if they used their brain."

"I'll take that as an overwhelming yes," Billy cheered. "Come on."

"Come on, let's get back to HQ!" Nick told the group as nearly everyone began standing up head to the bus.

"Hey, w-wait," Stuart said. "Let's -- let's stay like five more minutes, you know. Just, enjoy the view a little more." He glanced at Mariah and smiled lightly and she gave him a small smile back.