"You too goof." She had hit him on the arm, pleased that she had caught him giving her the once over.

"You'll have to tell me how the semester has been." He looked away from her quickly. "But not now, I'm busy."

"Oh, okay." She jumped up quickly from his bed. She had sat down eagerly; ready to tell him about her first kiss and how boys had started to notice her. "I wanted to tell you about Harry." She spoke eagerly as she walked to the door.

"Who's Harry?" He looked at her with a frown.

"My quasi-boyfriend." She grinned at him.

"Boyfriend? Aren't you too young for a boyfriend Sophie?"

"No." She twirled and danced around. "Not at all."

"Well we can talk later. I'm busy now." He walked her out of his room and she felt a sliver of disappointment run through her. Sophie didn't see Maxwell again that summer; he had gone to London on an emergency business trip and stayed. And they had never had the same easy friendship on any of her subsequent visits. She didn't know what made him distance himself from her like that. On the surface, they had the same casual easy friendship but it was strained with tension and odd comments.

Sophie sighed as she thought back to their relationship. Now they had added a whole new layer to their dynamic and she wasn't sure if it would bring them closer together or drive an even bigger wedge between them. Especially if he found out that she lied about being on the pill. She resolved to herself that she would never let him know the truth.

Chapter 6.

She knocked on his study door hesitantly. She was scared to make a decision. Scared to move forward in his crazy world with his crazy contract and plans. She walked into the room when he beckoned her in because she knew she was too scared to walk away.

"Did you get your water?" He smiled at her softly. He looked calm and gentle and he reminded her of the Maxwell from her childhood.

"Yes. Thanks. It was high quality H2O." She grinned at him and he laughed at her quote from 'The Water Boy". They had spent many a weekend watching Adam Sandler movies.

"That's good to hear. I wouldn't want you drinking non high quality H2O."

"Yeah." She looked at him cautiously not sure what to say or if she should sit down.

"Sit Sophie, you are making me uncomfortable just staring down at me."

"Ok." She sat opposite him and looked at his desk. It was strewn with papers and folders and a MAC laptop. "Is that the new MacBook Pro?"

"Yes, I got it a few weeks ago." He nodded and his expression changed. Suddenly he looked serious and annoyed. "But that's not what you came to talk about, is it Sophie?"

"No." Her voice was quiet. "It isn't."

"Let's cut to the chase Sophie. What we have done cannot happen again." He looked at her harshly. "Do you understand me?"

"What?" She looked at him furtively, trying to not let him see the panic and hurt in her eyes. "I thought you want me to be your a.s.sistant?"

"I made a mistake Sophie." He grimaced and looked away from her. "It won't happen again."

"What?" Her voice was angry.

"There's no need to be upset Sophie. I will still get you into the internship program."

"I don't want to be in the internship program." Her voice sounded like she was pleading and she winced. "I want to be your a.s.sistant."

"No you have to finish school." He looked at her coolly.

"I already withdrew from my cla.s.ses for the semester Max." Her voice was strong. "This will be a good experience for me. It will help me in my career."

He grinned at her. "Well, who knew you had it in you to be calculated Sophie?" He frowned to himself. "Maybe you aren't as pansy as I thought."

"Excuse me?" She glared at him. "I'm not a pansy." Except around you she thought to herself.

"Well I hope not. Not if you want to succeed in this business."

"So, am I still going to be your a.s.sistant?" She looked at him pa.s.sionately, praying with all of her might that he would say yes.

"I'll have to think about it." He looked at her curiously. "I've never seen anyone so excited to be an a.s.sistant before."

"You were the one who told me I was going to do the position in the first place." She cried out.

"That was a different kind of a.s.sistant position." He looked at her and licked his lips. "But that is no longer on the table."

"Oh." She wanted to ask him exactly what that position would have consisted of and ask him to still consider her but she wouldn't resort to begging. She wasn't that far gone and she would die of a broken heart before she would let him know just how deeply she cared for him.

"So we'll start in a week." He wrung his hands as he spoke to her. "You can help me here in the study and then you'll start fulltime in the City in 2 weeks."

"Ok." She tried to hold back her grin but she couldn't. "Sounds good."

"Oh and Sophie." He called after her as she walked out of the study.

"Yes." She turned back to look at with sparkling eyes.

"Don't get into any trouble."

"I'll try not to." She laughed as he groaned and ran up the stairs to her room to write in her journal. She lay on the bed and opened a new page. She was excited that finally she had something to write that was positive and happy as opposed to gloomy and nave. She was going to write a poem to express her feelings but she bit her lip and paused. Everything hadn't gone exactly as she wanted it to: she wanted Maxwell to want her and love her. She had hoped that after they had slept together he would have realized that he had feelings for her and that he wanted to be with her. But the opposite had happened. Not only did he not declare his love for her, he didn't even want to sleep with her again. Had she been that bad? Maybe she had been too eager. She sighed. She didn't even know what the other type of a.s.sistant position had really consisted of but she wanted to know. She was also worried that he would get someone else to fit that role. Pangs of jealousy reverberated through her and she wanted to cry. She needed to think of a way to get him back into her bed and maybe then she could try and reconnect with him again. Break through the sh.e.l.l he had developed. She also wondered what Ella had been talking about the previous evening.

What had Maxwell done that had been so bad? Because it had to have been really bad if Ella wouldn't tell her. Ella told her everything; she was incapable of keeping a secret. Sophie knew that she needed to find out. She wanted to know about Max more than she wanted to write about her feelings so she put her journal down and decided to go and see what she could get out of Ella.

"Ella?" Sophie knocked on her door a couple more times before walking into her bedroom. "Ella?"

"Sophie." Ella's face popped out from underneath the covers. Her eyes were blotchy and red and she looked like she had been crying.

"Are you okay?" Sophie rushed across the room to comfort her friend. "What's wrong Ella?"

"Nothing." Ella smiled weakly and brushed her eyes. "I'm fine."

Sophie paused as she reached the bed and sat down. "You don't look fine." She spoke softly and took her friends hand. "But if you don't want to talk about it right now, I understand." She smiled at her friend with love and squeezed her hand. "I'm here for you whenever you want."

"Oh Sophie." Ella burst into tears. "You are really the best friend a girl could ask for." She placed her face on Sophie's shoulder and sobbed. Sophie drew her friend close and hugged her as she cried. She rubbed her back and prayed that nothing too serious was bothering her friend.

"Ssh. It'll be okay Ella." Sophie soothed her friend and pulled back to stare at her. "Whatever it is Ella, we can get through it."

"It'll never be okay Sophie." Ella sniffed. "I can't talk about it now but it'll never be okay." Her eyes welled up and Sophie could see that she was about to start sobbing again.

"It would have to be something absolutely dreadful for it to never be okay again El." Sophie smiled at her friend softly and Ella looked at her with abject misery.

"Life as we know it will be changed forever Sophie."

Sophie felt a sudden jab of worry hit her stomach. Had something happened to Maxwell? Was this related to the story that Ella couldn't tell her about? "Is this about Max Ella?" She gasped out, unable to contain herself.

"Huh?" Ella looked at her in confusion. "Max? What do you mean?"

"Does this have to do with what you told me about yesterday? The trouble he got himself into?"

Ella looked at her like she was crazy. "Huh? No."

"Oh okay sorry." Sophie's breathing went back to normal and she felt the tension release from her body.

"It has to do with me Sophie and how my life will never be the same again." Ella wailed.

Sophie paused and tried to compose herself. She had a feeling that whatever Ella was upset about had to do with a guy. She knew that Ella had been seeing someone before they left school but she had been very secretive about the guy. Sophie wondered if perhaps something hadn't gone wrong with the relationship. "Well, if you want to talk about it. Just let me know."

"Ok, thanks Soph." Ella smiled weakly and Sophie studied her friend. Even though her face was red and splotchy she still looked beautiful. If only she could look so serene with frizzy hair.

"So can you tell me what happened with Maxwell now?" Sophie grinned at her friend, she knew that if there was ever a time to get information from her friend, it was in an emotional period.

"Sophie!" Ella frowned. "I told you I couldn't tell you."

"I know but I'm going to be Maxwell's a.s.sistant next semester and I wanted to know what to look out for." Sophie frowned; mad that this is how she had to tell Ella that she was taking the next semester off.

"What?" Ella shrieked. "OMG, you're not coming back to Columbia with me next semester?"

"No."

"I cannot believe this." Ella's voice was full of theatrics. "There is no way I'm going back without you." She paused and smiled. "In fact, I think I'll work for the family business next week as well."

"What?" Sophie looked at her in shock.

"Maxwell is always saying I should take a greater interest in the business. And neither he nor my parents can say no, now that you are doing it too." She grinned. "In fact, I think this will solve a lot of problems."

"Uh ok." Sophie studied her friend and frowned. "If you're sure."

"I'm positive." Ella jumped up suddenly full of verve and vitality. "What should we do today?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Maybe we can convince Maxwell to take us out on the boat." Ella grinned. "That would be awesome."

"Yeah, that would be fun." Sophie smiled. She'd love to spend the day with Max.

"And I can make sure he gives me a position that doesn't require too much work." Ella grinned and Sophie laughed. "Oh Sophie, thanks for making me feel better." Ella gave her a hug.

"No problem El." Sophie paused. "But do you think you could tell me something, anything about Maxwell?"

Ella sighed and stared at her friend. "Oh Sophie. Look I don't really know exactly what happened but my parents had to get a lawyer and..." She paused to look around the room and lowered her voice. "I know that he went to jail for a bit."

"Jail?" Sophie's voice was shocked.

"Ssh." Ella looked at her with concern. "Be quiet. No-one talks about it and I'm not sure exactly what happened but my parents sent Max to London for the next year to let everything die down."

Sophie felt her heart ticking rapidly. "When did this happen Ella?"

"I can't remember exactly. A long time ago."

"When we were 14?"

"What? I guess, maybe." Ella looked at her suspiciously. "Did you already know?"

"No." Sophie looked at her friend thoughtfully. "I didn't know but it explains a lot."

"Huh?" Ella narrowed her eyes. "What aren't you telling me Sophie?"

"Nothing. I just felt that Maxwell changed after that summer." Her voice sounded wistful. Inside she was bubbling with curiosity. What had happened to Maxwell? What had he done? And did she really want to know.

"Yeah. He did." Ella's eyes glazed over. "I don't know what it was but from that point on it seemed like the light had gone out of his eyes." She sighed. "And now he's s...o...b..sy running the company with Dad, it's like he doesn't have time for anything else."

"But he still dates." It was a statement of fact but Sophie really wanted to ask it as a question.

"I guess so. I wouldn't call it dating so much as f.u.c.king." Ella grinned. "You know men."

"Yeah." Sophie sighed.

"You'll most probably meet some of them as his a.s.sistant."

"Oh. You think so?" Sophie's heart sunk.

"Yeah." Ella laughed. "I'm sure he'll have you send flowers and stuff. Just don't sleep with him."

"What?" Sophie gasped.

"I said just don't sleep with him or you'll lose your job." Ella laughed again. "I heard dad telling him that he had to stop sleeping with his a.s.sistants because apparently one of them started leaking company information after he dumped her."

"Oh." Sophie remembered the confidentiality contract that Maxwell had asked her to review and sign. "Wow."

"Yeah. It was crazy. Apparently, she tried to sell a story to a tabloid about him spanking her and handcuffing her."