[Location: Outside Xellene]
'I better get a raise for doing this', Celia thought as she strides confidently towards her highly prized Porsche. She sat at the driver's seat, glancing through her rear view mirror, as a discreet attempt to find Max come out. 'A Porsche?!', Celia remembered Max's reaction when they ran into each other at this very parking lot. 'Good morning Maxwell', she recalled ignoring his question like an expert, but that was years ago and she was certain he wouldn't remember. A few minutes later, she saw him rushing towards her car with a huge child like smile plastered on his handsome face.
'Strange', she thought, watching him run over towards her, 'Does he have a photogenic memory?'. She quickly dismissed the thought and waited for Max to get in but he didn't. Confused, Celia looked at him through the rear mirror but instead, she noticed the backseat was fully stacked with the paperwork that she had due in a few weeks. 'Fuck', she swore to herself from embarrassment, 'I totally forgot to clean up!'. She was about to get up to clear the mess away when she heard the front door next to her open. "Welp, it seems that someone's been pretty busy", he joked, chuckling slightly. "I'll clean it up quickly", she announced getting up again, "We'll leave right after".
Suddenly, she felt a pair of strong arms pull her back into her seat, making her jolt in surprise. "It's fine, I can just sit here anyway", Max said flashing a seductive smile towards the slightly blushing Celia. "I'm much closer to you here than at the back so I don't mind one bit actually", he whispered but it was loud enough for her to hear but she pretended not to. 'This guy', she thought feeling her whole face burn up but she said nothing more as she began pulling up to the main road. A few seconds later, Max's curiosity got the best of him as he began pressing all the fancy looking buttons that he could find on the dashboard.
Nothing he was pressing was considered dangerous since it was mainly the automatics but it sure was making a lot of unnecessary noises. "Stop touching it Maxwell", she warned the man, "You're messing everything up". "Your whole car's a mess", he blurted out without hesitation, "I'm sure that me doing this won't make much of a difference". 'H-he didn't have to be that direct', she thought getting embarrassed again, 'Surely it's not that bad'. "N-never mind", she said as she cleared her throat, "You never listened to me anyway". Once they reached the highway Max asked politely, "You want me to drive? It's going to be a long ride".
'You could've asked before we left', she complained to herself but instead she replied, "Hmm, it's fine. I can handle it". Max simply nodded and continued to look out the window. If he was being honest, he knew exactly what he was doing to Celia, and he couldn't stop smiling at her little reactions. He simply thought his female senior was unique and definitely different from the others, she was a strong independent woman and Max was drawn to it. Of course Celia was oblivious about her junior's attractions, she was always so busy with life to notice things like that, which was also why she was still single despite being prettier than the average.
Max was still playing with the buttons when he accidently turned on the radio. Assuming that Celia wouldn't like it, he attempted to turn it off but was stopped. "Leave it on", she said not taking her eyes of the road, "It's my favourite show". 'What a coincidence', he thought, smiling faintly, 'I like this show too'. "I don't like his voice", he announced suddenly, "It's annoyingly squeaky". He was expecting a cold response as usual but instead he heard a slight giggle slip out from Celia, "I glad I'm not the only one that thought that", she said, smiling faintly.
This time it was Max who got flustered, it was his first time seeing his senior sincerely laughing. 'I didn't know she was this cute when she smiled', he thought smiling slightly. "Jen and Berry's fine with you right?", she asked as their almost reached the nearest city from Xellene. He nodded and said, "They have the best mint choco ice cream in the industry". 'This man really knows his mint chocolate', Celia thought secretly agreeing with his preference. "I didn't know you liked listening to music", Max said interrupting the silent atmosphere, "You always seemed so busy for these things".
"Well, you know now. I liked it every since I was a little kid", Celia replied coolly, "And who on earth doesn't like listening to music?". "My parents", he answered seriously, his face suddenly turned menacing, "They say it's nothing but a distraction from our studies so we couldn't listen to any at home". "But I'm sure you still listened despite what they said seeing how stubborn you are now as an adult, I can't imagine how much of a donkey you were as a teenager", she said laughing at her own joke. "You've guessed it", Max replied smiling faintly, "My sister and I would sneak outside every midnight to go to one of those radio bars before she ran away".
"Ran away?", Celia repeated as she was confused, "I never thought Natalia was like that, she seemed quite the opposite when I first met her". "Oh I'm not talking about her", Max corrected, staring off into the distance, "I have two elder sisters but Talia was always their favourite". 'No wonder she didn't stick around for long', she thought, understanding why the sister ran away as she was once like that, 'It's hard to feel happy when your own parents are always disappointed in you'. "What's her name?", she asked carefully to not overstep any boundaries, and Max noticed the sudden gentleness and said, "Relax, you're good". "Her name is Madelyn", he answered and Celia noticed that his features turned soft, almost as if he missed her.
'Did they lose contact after she ran away?', Celia began to wonder but she quickly snapped out of it, 'You don't even know the full story, stop being so nosy Celia'. "What does she do?", she asked, her curiousity growing, "If you don't mind me asking that is". Max let out a little laugh and looked at Celia with amusement dancing in his eyes, "You're quite curious aren't you Ma'am?". 'Not that bullshit again', she thought getting annoyed, 'I thought we were over it'. "You don't have to avoid my questions Max, just tell me if you're uncomfortable", she said in a serious tone, "And stop calling me that. I'm fine with you calling me by my name".
They arrived at their destination and just when Celia was about to finish parking, Max spoke up, "We lost contact for a few years after she ran away". 'My guess was correct', she thought but decided not to say anything as Max continued, "But once I moved out for college, I found her working as a florist at one of the districts near the campus". "I see", was all Celia could say as she really had nothing else in her head. "I don't feel uncomfortable when you ask me questions", he said referring to what Celia told him moments before, "Maybe it's because you remind me of her". 'It might also be why I like teasing you so much, because you react similarly to Maddy', he thought but said nothing.
Without uttering another word, Max opened the door and got off without Celia and she couldn't help but think that her curiosity had gone too far until, she heard a gentle knock on her window. With a click, the door opened widely and she felt a cool breeze welcome her as a hand pulled her out of the driver's seat. "Hey-", she blurted, startled by the sudden skin ship but she fell silent when she saw the facial expression Max was making. He was smiling brightly but his eyes were moist and seemed, almost sad, "So please feel free to ask me anything, Dr. Fleming and I'll try my very best to answer you". "Thank you", he continued with his unwavering gaze towards her, "For listening when you didn't have to".
Celia could feel her cheeks burn bright red when he said that and she noticed that both their faces were merely inches apart. 'He's, being serious', she thought closing her eyes for no reason, it just felt like the right thing to do. "And now, we have an important task at hand", he announced suddenly, catching the naive Celia off guard, "Which is to buy ice cream at one of the best dessert shops". 'Of course', she thought, embarrassed, 'You deserve going to hell for that Celia'. "Let's go then", she said, walking away from Max's embrace and towards Jen and Berry's. Max stood and watched her go as he recalled the adorable face that Celia made before he followed her steps with only one thought in his head, 'She's starting to make me want her'.