Why can't we be friends

"What?" said Mark.
"What?" said Emma.

"What?" tried to say Ro, but his voice was so squeaky that it didn't came out as a word.

"Oh, cm'on," I cried. "You guys know it's for the best. Emma's got the know-how and the experience and you, Mark, have the contacts and the financing. On your own either of you has little chance of success, join together and..." My voice trailed off as I read something I absolutely did not want to read at the time.

+SxE+Wendy has come online.

"No point on that," said Mark. "I have Aliya, she'll take care of that."

And then I saw that Emma was actually smiling at me. Somehow, she seemed to like my idea.

"Mark," she said to the phone. "Aliya is a cunt and an idiot. She's got no idea how all the tech works. Your brother may be smarter than he looks."

"No, she's not and no he isn't," said Mark. "It looks to me like you're clutching at straws, are you scared, mecenas?"

Hey, are you there? said Wendy. Fuck, talk about bad timing.

"Really?" said Emma. "I can kill your brother and his friend and leave. You'll never catch me back home, I'm sure none of you guys even know which country I'm from."

Mark was silent. I thought about typing something to Wendy but then Emma pointed the gun at me and I froze.

"If I go back," said Emma, "I'll just move into military research. I'll be the one who gets rich and you would be left with old outdated plans that won't make sense to most people. I'll have a good life and you'll get tired of Aliya in two weeks."

"Are you telling me she lied about her college education?" said Mark very slowly.

Please remember I'm the one who's supposed to be pissed off, you idiot, said Wendy.

"Ask her who discovered America or who Newton is. She was just a mistake, I was horny and she was... Well, basically a whore," said Emma.

"OK," said Mark. "The idea of you two having sex has lightened my mood, that's for sure. Let's talk."

Jay? said Wendy. I needed to answer, or so it seemed. I didn't want her to feel even more upset, so I started typing.

Of course, Emma saw me and all hell broke lose.

Suddenly she had the gun to my face. She had changed and gone berserk.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" she screamed.

"What's going on?" asked Mark.

"Who are you talking to? You're not recording this, are you?"

"What? No!" I said.

Ro seemed to be crying by this point. Emma had locked my hands so I couldn't type and was now looking at the phone. When we heard Mark's voice again it was calm, but it had a dangerous edge to it.

"Please explain to me what is going wrong."

"Your brother here was talking to someone through his lenses, he could be spying on us."

Mark went silent again.

"Jay, I believe this woman is implying that you do, in fact, wear the lenses that we were planning on developing."

"I do," I said.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Mark, it took me two days to explain how to unlock your iPhone, you really expected me to tell you about my lenses and expect you to understand?"

"Who were you talking to?" asked Emma again. "Were you broadcasting?"

"What? No!" I said once again. "I was trying to answer to my girlfriend, she's trying to contact me."

OK... I see how it is, sorry to have bothered you.

+SxE+Wendy+ has gone offline.

Shit.

"You don't have a girlfriend," said Mark.

"The girl on the restaurant?" said Emma.

"Yes," I answered to both of them.

I could feel that Emma's grip on my hand was loosening. She looked, for the first time, unsure of herself. Finally, she let go of me and threw the gun on the bed.

"Fuck," she said, though it sounded more as a curse than an order. "I can't do this. I'm not any good at this stuff."

"Well," said Mark. "I am, and I think I'm going to need an associate for a new project I want to start. Do you want a job?"

Emma looked at the phone and seemed to think about this for a second or two, but then of course she smiled. She turned and look at me and winked.

"Do I get benefits?" she asked.