Chapter Text
The first time Zoey Clarke ever used a computer was at the San Francisco Public Library. When the boxy Macintosh at the other end of the room caught her eye, she pointed at it and begged her dad to let her try it out. Her next hour was spent studying the pixels on the screen, poking at the keyboard, mousing around. She was five years old.
Thirteen years later, her Stanford acceptance letter arrived in the mail. Another five, and it was her first day at SPRQ Point.
Straightening her shirt collar in the mirror, Zoey took a deep, stabilizing breath. She adjusted her bright red blazer once, and then once more, shifting the stiff fabric over her body until it sat just right. It was the kind of shoulder-padded, color-coordinated, polyester dream of an outfit she had always imagined she would wear on this very day. She’d seen it in the window of a store her junior year of college and bought it on impulse—just a little extra motivation to keep her working toward her one major life goal.
In approximately one hour, Zoey would be pulling open the glass doors that divided her life before today and everything that came after. SPRQ Point was the wunderkind of the tech industry, and she was going to be working for Danny Michael freakin' Davis, who was one of her idols (only third to Ada Lovelace and Steve Jobs), a legend in tech, and a Stanford graduate five years before her. It was quite literally everything she had ever dreamed of.
With one final smooth of her shirt, Zoey let out an adrenaline-fueled breath. “Okay. I got this. I can do this.”
She descended the stairs with a spring in her step and made her way into the kitchen with a massive smile on her face. “Good morning, everyone.”
David twisted around in his seat, sizing Zoey up with a smirk. “Why are you dressed like a walking stop sign?”
Zoey looked down at her bright red pantsuit and shot her brother a reproachful look.
“David, come on, it’s her big day!” Maggie scolded, reprimanding her son with a smile before gesturing out at the steaming mug that sat in front of Zoey’s usual seat at the table. “How are you feeling, honey?”
The jitters continued to pulse through Zoey as she dropped into her seat and took the hot mug of coffee into her hands. “Excited. Nervous. Kinda feel like I’m going to explode.”
“So, business as usual?” David said.
“You’re gonna be great, Zo!” Mitch chimed in. Zoey looked up to see her father juggling three plates on his way to the table. He set a stack of three chocolate chip pancakes in front of her before handing off the other two to David and Maggie. “I made your favorite.”
Zoey smiled, leaning up to peck her dad on the cheek. “Thanks, Dad.”
Her dad affectionately mussed her hair and took his seat next to her mom, rubbing his hand over Maggie’s shoulder.
Zoey sliced off a piece of pancake with the side of her fork and exhaled, scanning her family’s faces. Chocolate chip pancakes always reminded her of her childhood, back when her dad would make a batch every Saturday morning and top it all off with sliced strawberries and whipped cream. He’d let Zoey stand on a stool once armed with a spatula to try flipping the pancakes, but after she had nearly started a fire, he decided he was better off doing the flipping. Zoey was happy to just watch.
After twenty minutes, Zoey was only able to finish about half of her pancakes, too excited to really eat anything. Her phone vibrated once on the table, and she picked it up and read the new notification.
“Okay, um…” Zoey huffed out a quick breath and shook her head, unable to keep from smiling as she stood up from her chair. “My Uber is here. I should get going.”
With her family’s words of encouragement calling after her, Zoey walked out of the house feeling ready, if not entirely sure what to expect. She had been building up this day in her mind for years, envisioning exactly how it would feel when she walked inside the SPRQ Point offices, scripting out the first conversations she would have with her new coworkers, thinking of all the projects she would work on. Her daydream film reel spun faster in her head as she watched the city blur by outside the car window. Soon, those picture-perfect visions of SPRQ Point would be real.
Before Zoey knew it, she was sliding out of the Uber, practically shaking in her steps as she walked inside SPRQ Point for the first time. Well, not the very first time—she had been inside once before during a later round of interviews—but the first time it actually meant anything. The high-ceilinged lobby was teeming with activity. People everywhere. Dozens of employees bustled around (some with a confidence only earned after years of experience, others huddled nervously in small groups), their chatter bouncing off the brightly-colored glass fixtures. The part of Zoey that was overwhelmed with excitement just wanted to stand still and take everything in all at once.
But her fangirling would have to wait. She was here to work.
Zoey lost herself in the crowd, hovering at the edge of conversations as her peers listed off the main bullet points of their résumés. Everyone sounded like they were in the same league of nerdy as she was, tossing around names like NASA, Google, and IBM like it was no big deal. Scanning the tall backs, rumpled hoodies, and laid-back postures of her fellow SPRQ Point employees, Zoey felt very small.
As much as she tried to deny it, there was also a part of her that wasn’t sure she could do this.
After an introductory speech by some SPRQ Point higher-ups, Zoey shuffled along with the crowd as they all were ushered onto the elevators in small groups. When the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, she was the only one who got off. A swell of anticipation filled her chest as she surveyed the scene before her, all of it starting to feel more and more real: SPRQ Point. Her dream job. It was all happening.
“New blood!” A loud voice sidled up beside Zoey in the shape of an excited-looking man in an oversized green hoodie. “‘Sup. I’m Tobin. I’ve got the privilege of showing you newbies around.”
“Wait, Tobin as in Tobin Batra?” Zoey asked, her eyes going wide as saucers. “As in hacking legend Tobin Batra?”
Zoey also noticed that Tobin had said “newbies,” plural, despite the fact that she was the only one there, but that seemed far less important than Tobin freaking Batra standing in front of her.
“Dude! I like you already!” Tobin stuck his hand out, and Zoey shook it with enthusiasm.
She was working at SPRQ Point, and Tobin Batra was one of her coworkers? Absolutely nothing could ruin this day.
“Sorry I’m late!” A familiar voice called from somewhere behind Zoey and Tobin.
Zoey's spine tingled. That voice.
When she whipped her head around and saw who was running up to her and Tobin, half out of breath, her jaw fell open. Because it wasn’t just anybody rushing over to them.
It was Max Richman.
Zoey’s ex-boyfriend, Max Richman.
“Zoey,” Max said her name like he was surprised by it, his eyes widening as they passed over her face.
Zoey’s cheeks colored at the sound of Max’s voice, which, combined with his presence, was flooding her mind with days she had worked her hardest to forget. He looked a few years older and maybe a tiny bit more mature, but it was him all the same. Dark-haired, clean-shaven, nearly a head taller than her. Max.
“Max!” Zoey blurted out, taking a half-step back. After throwing an apology over her shoulder at Tobin, whom she had collided with, she wheeled back on Max, grasping for words like loose straws.
They stared at each other for a few seconds in complete shock. Zoey had no idea what to say.
“Do you two know each other or something?” Tobin asked, pointing a finger at both Zoey and Max. “‘Cause I’m kinda feeling some tension, if you know what I mean.”
Zoey and Max exchanged open-mouthed glances, something like an understanding zapping between them in that blink of a moment.
“No…” Max drew out the word slowly, while, simultaneously, Zoey chirped out “Nope!” and shook her head. “Not at all. Complete strangers. Just met this morning, in the lobby! Uh, hi again.” Zoey stuck her hand out to properly greet her brand-new coworker, forcing her lips into a smile. “I’m Zoey, which you already knew.”
Max took her hand and shook it. Zoey realized it might have been a mistake on her part when the brush of his fingertips against her palm sent an all-too-familiar shiver through her. “Max,” he recited, holding eye contact with her.
Their hands stayed clasped together for one very long moment.
“Do you guys need a sec?” Tobin grinned.
Zoey laughed nervously, pulling her hand out of Max’s grasp and rubbing her arm. “No, that’s—”
“We’re good,” Max said, nodding at Tobin.
Tobin looked between Zoey and Max, his grin nowhere near subsiding. “Dope. Okay, lemme show you two around.”
Zoey walked as far away from Max as she could while Tobin brought them around the fourth floor, ducking his head into offices to make rushed introductions—they got dagger eyes from Joan Bennett, the Executive Director of SPRQ Point’s fourth floor and their boss, who Zoey decided was a new addition to her list of tech idols—and showing them everything from a game area stocked with arcade machines to the sound-sealed, pitch-black isolation pods. Tobin pointed at coders as they wove through the mass of desks scattered across the open bullpen area.
“That’s Jarrett, and Billy, and—dude!” Tobin stopped in front of a tall man with a Gumby-esque physique and clapped him on the shoulder. The man startled at the contact, jumping a bit as he turned to face Tobin. “This is my boy Leif!”
The man introduced to them as Leif cleared his throat and stuck out his hand between Zoey and Max. “Leif Donnelly.” Zoey shook his hand immediately. It took Max a split second longer to react—from the looks of it, he was amusedly fixated on Leif’s hair, which was tied up in a tight bun at the back of his head.
“Leif’s my bro. We met when we both won the National Spelling Bee the same year. Fifth grade. Exhausted all the words on the list,” Tobin said proudly, nudging Leif with his elbow. “Tell them, Leif.”
“Oh, it was supereminent!” Leif replied enthusiastically.
Zoey wasn’t sure whether she wanted to hate him or be his friend.
“Anyway, that’s basically it,” Tobin said, leading Zoey and Max away from Leif to a pair of empty desks at the edge of the bullpen. He held his arms out wide, motioning grandly at the desks. “This is where you’ll work. Food bar’s over there. Rotates twice a week. Right now, it’s cereal. And then the meditation room and bathrooms are down that way. But you pretty much know the ropes now!”
Zoey stepped up behind her desk and sat down in the green rolling chair. She gave it a spin—it was surprisingly comfortable, which was a good sign, considering she’d likely be sitting there for hours on end coding every day (not that she minded that in the least). When she spun the chair forward, her eyes landed on Max at his desk a mere ten feet away. He was basically in her direct line of sight, inspecting the computer at his desk with the exuberance of a kid in a candy store. Classic Max Richman.
Max Richman. Zoey was still stuck on his name, one which always sounded stubborn and convincing in her mind. Stuck on the idea of him. The idea of him here, at SPRQ Point. The bright shock in his eyes when he saw her, the shock that shot up her spine when she saw him.
Of all the things she had been mentally jotting down as possibilities on her first day, not one could have prepared her for seeing him.
Eager to think about anything but Max, Zoey lugged herself out of her seat and walked briskly over to the food bar Tobin had pointed out earlier, which looked like it had cleaned out an entire grocery store cereal aisle. She lifted a carton of whole milk and poured it into a ceramic bowl.
Max was her coworker? Was this the universe’s idea of a sick joke?
Zoey picked up a large spoon and started piling cereal into her bowl, not paying much attention to which cereals she was adding.
There had to be some way for her to get out of this situation. Maybe she should take that offer from Google instead. Maybe she should ask to transfer floors. Maybe—
“Hey.”
Startled, Zoey dropped the spoon she had been using to shovel cereal into her mouth while her thoughts ran wild. It hit the side of the bowl with a clank and splashed some milk over the side.
Max was standing right in front of her, looking all dopey with his hands in his pockets and his mouth bent in a lopsided smile.
“Hi!” Zoey cleared her throat, her face burning.
“I didn’t really say hi earlier.” Max chuckled weakly, casting his gaze at the ground. “So, uh… hi.”
“Hi to you, too.” Zoey smiled, looking down at her cereal and sucking in her lips to tamp down the embarrassment of having greeted Max twice in the span of ten seconds. “This is—I mean, wow, I haven’t seen you in—uh, how have you been?”
“I’ve been good!” Max nodded repeatedly. “Yeah, uh, after I graduated, I went back to New York for a little bit, but…” He tilted his head to the side and shrugged, the underlying meaning of which Zoey was all too familiar. “That didn’t last long. So, I’m back.”
For several seconds, Zoey just stared at Max, etching the lines of his face back into memory. It felt very much like she should say something beyond the obvious—at least ask him how he was, or, more importantly, what he was doing there—but her mouth could not manage to produce anything besides one jarring syllable.
“Wow!” Zoey nodded several times, clearing her throat. “I mean, uh, what are the odds?”
“Well, honestly, you’re probably more surprised to see me here than I am to see you.” Max grinned, gesturing out at Zoey like she was some kind of a celebrity. “I mean, SPRQ Point? Makes perfect sense. If anyone was gonna make it here, it was gonna be you.”
Zoey flushed deeply in her cheeks, trying very hard to not remember the first time she had ever told Max her dreams of working at SPRQ Point one day. “You remembered?”
Max smiled. “How could I forget?”
She wished she didn't want to smile back. She shouldn’t smile just because seeing Max made her want to smile. Or because the fact that he remembered her dream after all those years made her want to smile. Those were the absolute worst reasons for her to smile, even though she could feel her stupid lips curving up as if they had a mind of their own. It took more than a modicum of her strength to keep herself rooted in reality, one which was so extremely incompatible with all of this.
She snuck a look back at the bullpen and then returned her attention to Max. “Listen, Max, they all can’t know we know each other.”
Max furrowed his eyebrows. “How come?”
“Did you hear Tobin earlier? Imagine how he'd act if he knew we dated!” Zoey blew out a breath. “Look, I don’t know about you, but this job is really important to me.”
“It’s important to me, too,” Max said.
“Okay, so, we’re in agreement.” Zoey crossed her arms, tucking her chin to her chest. “I think it’s best if we just stay away from each other.”
Max pressed his lips together—halfway to a frown, but looking like he was trying to hide it. “Okay. Fine.”
“Great.” Zoey nodded. They stared at each other silently until they both broke away from the Cereal Bar, weaving through the bullpen in diverging paths until they reached their desks.
Avoiding Max was what made the most sense. And, anyway, it wasn’t like it would be that hard. They hadn’t seen each other in three years. Whatever had once existed between them was nothing but a distant memory.
For the second time that morning, Zoey settled into her new desk, drumming her fingertips on its surface. Just ten feet away, facing her, was Max at his desk. Too close for comfort. She wasn’t sure how she could possibly make it through the day without thinking about him.
And so, she put her head down and got to work.