Zoey arrived at the office the next morning, feeling a little less angry after witnessing the sweet and romantic moment between her parents last night, even if she was the only one who had seen their dance. She could tell the rage she'd been struggling with was still simmering not far below the surface, which was unsettling, but she at least felt a bit better about it after Simon had reassured her that it was a natural part of grief.

She took a deep breath as she got in the elevator, trying to keep the wave of guilt from consuming her as she thought back to how she had treated Simon two days earlier. Fortunately, he had forgiven her for her erratic behavior, but she still felt bad as she thought about how she had yelled at him. She also felt guilty for practically attacking him in a different way the second he got in the door - as much as she wished they had been able to connect on a more physical level that night, it was probably moving a bit too fast, and the last thing she wanted to do was push Simon away now that she finally had him.

At least it was Thursday, only two more days and then she'd have the whole weekend to wallow in her guilt - at least until Mo realized what she was doing and dragged her out of her apartment to do something to take her mind off her emotions.

The elevators opened to reveal the fourth floor, which was already buzzing with its usual activity. Zoey couldn't help but glance over at Simon's office, a simple action that had become a part of her daily routine ever since he had started at SPRQ Point. He wasn't in yet, which caused her to feel slightly disappointed as she always enjoyed catching a glimpse of him before starting her day.

She approached her desk and decided to dive right into the day's work. Joan had been even harder on everyone than usual ever since the bake off had been announced. Zoey knew The Chirp was important to Joan, and to Leif too, but she cared less about him. She was determined to help her team win this competition, if only just to prove that they didn't need Max. Although she missed having her best friend working beside her every day, she had to admit she was still angry with him and couldn't help but feel like he was being needlessly petty simply because she didn't return his romantic feelings.

Zoey put her headphones on to try and zone out from her thoughts as she focused on her work. An indeterminable amount of time later, her focus was pulled by someone in her periphery, she glanced over to see Simon standing by her desk.

"Hey," she said as she spun in her chair to face him. She felt a little bit excited because she could tell she was getting better at this whole 'playing it cool' thing. "How are you feeling?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Simon replied with a warm smile.

"Much better than Tuesday," Zoey admitted, "I'm sorry again for what happened that night and I just want to say thank you for being so cool about everything and for just being there for me. It means a lot."

"You don't have to apologize or thank me," Simon insisted, "I'm just glad I was able to be share some of the things I've learned over the past few months so you didn't feel so alone in your grief."

"Me too," Zoey said softly, realizing that as bad as she felt for what she had put Simon through, it would have been way worse if she'd continued keeping that anger bottled up.

Simon gave her a small smile before switching topics, "So there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, of course, what's up?" Zoey asked, giving him a little nod to continue as her mind began trying to work out what he wanted to talk about. She really hoped he wasn't about to say that he changed his mind about wanting her to be patient with him, because she wasn't sure what her reaction would be if he decided he didn't even want to try to make their budding relationship work.

"I called my mom yesterday to let her know I decided to go to the wedding, she's really happy and I know I have you to thank for pointing out that I was unfairly directing my anger at her. Anyway, I started to make travel plans for this weekend and I was wondering, well, more like hoping, that you might be willing to join me?" Simon finished by fixing the redhead with a hopeful expression.

Zoey was stunned by the request, especially after their conversation the other night. "Wow, I mean…that sounds great, but…don't you think that's kinda the opposite of what we talked about Tuesday night?"

Simon bobbed his head as he considered the question, "I suppose, but this doesn't have to be a trip we take as a couple. Yes, I know I'm asking you to go with me to my mom's wedding, but it can be platonic, no expectations for romance or date-like activities. Though maybe we could fit in a platonic trip to one of those medieval things you seem so found of."

Zoey grinned at the reference to their conversation, "I do love turkey legs and jousting," she agreed, "Are you sure this wouldn't complicate anything for you?"

"Honestly, I think it would help me a lot," Simon explained, "This is going to be a tough weekend to get through and you have the ability to read my moods better than I do sometimes. And you always have a way of making me feel better even when I'm really down, and I could definitely use that this weekend. I think it could actually be pretty fun if you're there too…but I don't want you to feel pressured if you think this is too much too soon."

"No, no," Zoey said as she shook her head quickly so he wouldn't misinterpret her hesitation, "I would really like to go with you. I think it sounds really nice actually. The only thing is…" she trailed off as she thought about her family, she wasn't sure if this was the time to take an impromptu weekend trip.

"Your dad," Simon said, correctly interpreting her hesitation about leaving, "Look, I totally get it. Now's not a great time and you need to be here."

Zoey was amazed by how well Simon could read her, she was a little bit jealous that he didn't even need to hear heart songs to do it, but the jealousy faded quickly. She considered the offer for a moment, before making her decision, "No, it's okay, after everything this week, I could use some time to distract myself before I let the rage take over and I hurt more people. Besides, if there's an emergency, it's only a 90 minute plane ride away, I can get back here in a matter of hours."

Simon gave a contemplative nod, "Okay, but only if you're sure. I don't want you to feel like you have to go, I understand if you want to stay here."

"Thank you for being so considerate," Zoey said with a genuine smile, "But I don't feel like I have to do anything - I want to go with you this weekend. I think it'll be good for both of us."

Seemingly reassured by her response, Simon let his excitement take over and grinned, "Great, I'll go book the flight and hotel rooms."

"Rooms?" Zoey questioned before remembering that they were taking this trip as friends, "Oh, right, platonic…so that makes sense."

Simon paused, "Well, I just figured it might be better if we both had our own space since we haven't, uh, shared a bed before and I wanted to make sure you know there are no expectations for this trip."

"No, yeah, totally," Zoey agreed with a nod, even though she was a little disappointed.

"Do you want me to get one room?" Simon asked hesitantly.

Zoey thought back to their conversation the other night. She knew they both needed to take some space right now to sort through their own situations and they had agreed to take some space. Sharing a bed, even if it was completely platonic, might be asking for trouble right now. "Two rooms sounds good," Zoey agreed, "But maybe we can see if they have those rooms that are connected by a door in case we want to say hey or something."

"I'll see what I can do," Simon promised with a smile, "I was thinking we could fly out tomorrow after work and then we can fly back on Monday, if that works for you?"

She began to nod but then paused, "Wait, Monday?"

"Yeah, the wedding is on Saturday, but since it's just a small group of family and friends going, I think they have some activities planned for the weekend and this group brunch planned on Monday before everyone leaves and they go on their honeymoon."

"Oh, cool," Zoey said with a nod as she thought about the bake off and how difficult it would be to ask for time off right now.

"If you don't want to stay that long, we can always head back earlier," Simon suggested.

Zoey shook her head, not wanting to take away from his time with his mom during her special weekend. "No, you are definitely going for the full trip," she insisted, "And I'm going to see what I can do to get Joan to give me the day off."

"Okay, but if it's too much trouble, don't worry about it, we can come back on Sunday," he offered.

Zoey nodded and gave him a smile as she watched him head back to his office. She took a moment to take a few deep breaths to prepare herself before standing from her desk and making her way to her boss's office.

"Hi Joan," Zoey said timidly as she stepped inside the office, "Do you have a minute?"

"No, but you're here anyway, so what do you want?" Joan asked as she continued typing on her tablet without looking up.

Zoey stood up straighter as she tried to summon all the courage she could muster, "I know that everyone's really busy with the bake off and I know I just took yesterday off to be with my family…but I was wondering if there was any way that I could take Monday off?"

Joan stopped typing and glanced up over her glasses at Zoey, "Are you serious? This is an incredibly important time for our team and you want to take more time off?"

"Yes?" Zoey replied, the answer sounding like a question due to her nerves. "I'll be back by Tuesday, but I just have this thing for…a friend, and it's really important and I'd like to be there for them."

Joan continued to look at her for a moment before shaking her head, "You know what? Fine, take Monday off. You've been weirdly hostile around here the past few days. Just promise me you'll get whatever that is sorted out while you're gone so you can get back to work and actually be useful by Tuesday."

"Yes, of course, I can totally do that," Zoey promised, surprised that she'd actually gotten permission to take the day off. She hurried out of Joan's office and headed across the lobby to Simon's. "She said yes," she announced with an eager grin.

"That's great!" Simon enthused, "I really appreciate you coming with me for this."

"Are you kidding me? I should be thanking you, I really need a good distraction right now and Vegas seems perfect."

"I'm glad to hear it, I'll finish making the travel plans and let you know once everything's confirmed."

"Cool, just let me know what I owe you for the fight and hotel room and I can Venmo you or something," Zoey replied as she tried to lean against the door frame before realizing her position looked anything but casual and she straightened her posture.

Simon smiled as he watched her, "Don't worry about it, you're doing me a huge favor by going to this with me. It's my treat."

"Are you sure?" Zoey asked as her brow furrowed, "I can totally cover my share of the cost, it's no big deal."

Simon shook his head, "I insist, you're getting dragged last minute to a Vegas wedding for people you've never met, it's the least I can do."

Zoey felt a fluttering in her stomach and tried to remind herself that this weekend was a platonic trip, even if Simon was being incredibly generous and sweet by paying for her. "Okay, well thanks…but don't forget you also promised me the medieval show, so don't think this lets you off the hook." As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. She'd meant it as a joke, but realized she could just as easily come across as ungrateful and wanting this trip to be all about Simon treating her to things.

Fortunately, her comment caused Simon to chuckle as he gave a small nod, "Don't worry, we'll definitely go and get you your giant turkey leg. I wouldn't deprive you of that."

"Don't forget about the jousting, it's an equally important part of the experience," she added before turning and heading back to her desk.

As much as she wanted to spend the rest of the day panning for the trip and figuring out if there was anything she needed to buy for the wedding, she knew the team needed her to be focused. After finding a good podcast to which she could zone out, she lost herself in her work, pushing all thoughts of the weekend to the back of her mind.

She ended up working later than usual as she lost track of time while trying to fix an error she'd found in the bit of code she'd been writing. By the time she finally fixed it, it was after 7 and most of the building had cleared out.

Zoey stood up to stretch and began gathering her things. On her way to the elevator, she checked her phone and saw that Simon had emailed her the information for the flight and hotel. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she thought about the upcoming weekend.

The elevator doors opened and Zoey began to move forwards, locking her phone and slipping it into her bag before she glanced up. Her smile faltered when she saw Max standing in the elevator with a neutral expression that seemed forced. She thought back to their last exchange and let out a soft sigh as she got in the elevator.

"Look, Max," she started before pausing as she tried to figure out where to begin.

"It's fine, we don't have to talk just because we ran into each other. I think we said everything we needed to the other day."

Zoey knew she probably deserved his slightly hostile tone, but it still hurt, "I'm sorry for what I said on Tuesday," she apologized, wanting to ease the tension between them. "I've been dealing with a lot recently…my dad's not doing so good. I'm not trying to make excuses because I know what I said crossed a line, but if it makes you feel any better, I've been yelling at pretty much everyone over the past few days. It's been pointed out to me that the anger I've been feeling and taking out on others is part of my grief. I know that doesn't make it okay, but hopefully it might make you hate me a little less? Because I really didn't mean what I said. You deserve that promotion, Max, you're an awesome programmer."

As the elevator doors opened, Zoey's gaze was fixed on her friend as he continued to stare straight ahead. She hoped he would say something, anything, to help ease her guilt over their blowup the previous day. He stepped out of the elevator and for a moment she thought he was just going to leave, but he paused and turned back to face her as she walked off the elevator.

"I'm really sorry to hear about your dad, Zo. And I'm sorry for what I said too; you're not selfish, you're going through a lot right now and I know that."

Zoey gave a small nod, grateful that he had said something, but still feeling like there was a lot of distance between them that hadn't been there before, and she wasn't referring to physical distance.

"So…yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what I said and I also wanted to apologize for not fighting harder to keep you on the fourth floor. I didn't realize how much that upset you."

Max shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "It's fine," he said with a dismissive shrug, "If I'm being honest…you might have been right, it was a little bit more personal than just wanting to be kept around because I'm good at my job."

Zoey nodded as she focused her attention on the floor, not wanting to meet Max's gaze. Now that she had entered into this quasi-relationship thing with Simon, she was even more sure that she couldn't return Max's affections and she didn't want this awkward attempt at an apology to turn into a heart song or another discussion of his feelings for her.

"Oh okay," she replied, not sure how else to respond to his statement without opening things up for another difficult conversation. "I shouldn't have called you out like I did though, I've been trying to deal with this anger thing so hopefully that won't happen again. So you don't have to, like, avoid me or anything if you see me."

"That's good to hear, I didn't like the angry version of you. That's just not the Zoey I know," Max replied, "But I get that there's a lot going on with you right now because of your dad. I know things have been kinda weird between us, but I was wondering if it would be okay if I stopped by this weekend to see him?"

"Oh, this weekend? Um, I don't know if that would be a good idea," Zoey replied, feeling bad about having to turn down Max's offer.

"Why not?" Max asked with a confused frown, "I don't have to stay long, I just want to stop by and say hey. I haven't seen him since the night of the fall and I just want to check in to see how he's doing."

"I appreciate that, I really do, and if you really want to stop by this weekend, you can. It's just that I'm going out of town so it might be better if you wait until next weekend and we can go over to see him together."

"Oh, I didn't realize you were going out of town," Max said with a look of surprise.

"Yeah, last minute trip," Zoey explained, hoping he didn't ask for any more information. She knew that mentioning anything about Simon would quickly change the tone of this interaction and she was enjoying having a civil conversation with Max after so much hostility and tension.

"Okay," Max replied, his expression making it clear he wanted to ask more about this spur of the moment trip. Fortunately, he seemed to decide against it, "Well, I hope you enjoy your trip. Maybe I can stop by to see your dad some time after you get back."

"Yes, definitely," Zoey agreed with a nod, relieved he hadn't asked anything else, "I'm sure he would love that."

"Okay, well if I don't see you tomorrow, have a good weekend," Max said as he began to head towards the exit.

"You too," Zoey replied, giving a half wave as she waited a moment for Max to get a bit ahead of her so they didn't do the uncomfortable move where two people say goodbye and keep walking in the same direction. Normally, she and Max would always head out together, sometimes grabbing dinner or heading to one of their apartments for a movie night, but with how strained their relationship had been, it seemed those days were over, at least for now.

Zoey sighed as she finally headed out of the building. By the time she got to her apartment, she was in considerably better spirits as she thought about how in less than 24 hours she would be on a plane to Las Vegas with Simon.