Girl Next Door

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

After New Year's Eve, it had taken Max a solid week to realize that Zoey hadn't actually said no, though she hadn't said yes either. In fact, it had been just confusing enough for Max to spend months wondering if he should try again.

His classes had gotten hard, which meant putting off deciding to get a more specific answer out of Zoey got easier. He had less and less free time as the course material required more and more study.

Still no matter how busy he was, Max always seemed to find time to fret and overthink. If dating was too casual, would jumping into something more serious work better for her or did she not believe in the permanence of romantic attachments in general? Or was there something else going on that he was missing?

He had no better way of describing his current state of mind than the emotional equivalent of hanging his head against a wall.

The funniest consequence of all this was that Zoey had noticed something was wrong and was therefore trying to cheer him up, that way she did when she knew something was wrong but didn't think you wanted to talk about it.

But when she wasn't trying to cheer him Zoey was talking more and more about Simon. Simon was a new friend she'd made in one of her classes. Max tried to console himself that she was at least not dating him. Though this did make him feel more and more sure that if he didn't tell her for real soon, Mitch's prediction would come true.

Time passed, the snow melted and spring loomed on the horizon. Which meant the family was all waiting for that phone call telling them Emily had gone into labour.

"I feel too young to be an aunt," Zoey said and not for the first time.

"It isn't like your brother gave you a choice in the matter," Max reminded her. Zoey turned her head to give him a look that said 'don't be stupid.' Max couldn't help but laugh a little.

"You know what I mean," Zoey continued. "Like when did we become old?"

"We're nineteen," Max reminded her.

"Exactly!" Zoey said. "Only six short months and we will no longer be considered teenagers."

"Don't you have math to do?" Max replied, gesturing to the text books and notepads layed out in front of them on the table.

"Urg," Zoey groaned. "Don't remind me."

"But you like math," Max chuckled.

"I like code," Zoey countered. "It's like math but much better."

"Computer science majors involve a couple things that aren't directly computer related," Max informed her. "Just the way it is."

"Maybe that phone will ring and my nephew will get born and save me from this hell," Zoey said in mock horror.

"Or maybe you just need some coffee," Max offered.

"Fine," Zoey sighed. "We'll try it your way." And with that she got up to head to the cafeteria and get herself something. Max assumed that if she went for coffee she'd probably come back with at least a bagel as well. She usually did.

Max directed his attention back down to his notebook. Which formula was he using again? And to solve for the variable he had to do the sum of which values? Where were his notes. Ah yes the values were...

Ring. Ring. Ring.

His phone broke his concentration. Knowing he'd have to rethink the problem from scratch now anyway, Max reached to check the caller ID. His first reaction was puzzled. Maggie never called him. Surely, this meant Emily was having the baby. Curious, but not concerned, Max answered the call.