Thanks for the feedback!
martine: Just hold onto your dearmer insurance. lol Max and Danni won't be thrown in your face, but they do exist as a couple for a little while.
begonia9508
mezz
clueless
Emz80m
roswell3053
behrluv32: Lol. That pretty much sums up Liz. She just hasn't gone through those milestones most of us have gone through to mature. Not to mention how little help the people she chooses to be around are...
Tamashii
Enjoy
<center>
Part 10</center>
September 1998
Liz giggled girlishly at Max’s attempt to tell a joke.
Max blushed and stuttered, “I told you it was stupid.”
“No, it wasn’t stupid,” she said, internally rolling her eyes. “It was just…”
“It’s one of those jokes that are so unfunny that it actually loops back around and becomes funny.” He slightly shook his head. When did he become so lame? “I saw it on a TV show.”
“I bet,” she mumbled beneath her breath. “So, I’m really glad you’re in this class now. There’s no one in here that I really know.”
It was third period English Lit and it was full of nerds and geeks that she couldn’t care less about getting to know. But when Max had walked through the door, saying that he’d been transferred into the class, she’d barely contained her squeal of delight and she immediately dragged him into the empty seat in front of her.
Not only would she have someone to talk to, she’d have an extra class with him to work on her “project” as her friends liked to call it and she could get him to help her in one of the many classes she had trouble with. Not that she couldn’t get any of the other desperate, panting nerds to do her homework for her. She could play the damsel in distress that she knew Max wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Yeah, I had sociology, but the class was too full. It was either this or drama.” Even now, Max shuddered at the thought.
“Well,” she drawled out flirtatiously as she laid her hand on top of his which was resting on the back of his chair, “I think you made the right choice. Don’t you?”
Gulping, Max flushed, completely under her spell. He was lost in her blue eyes, but he found himself wishing for the natural brown beneath the contacts. “Yeah. Um…I-I’m really glad about this too. Sharing the class I mean.”
His eyes were drawn to her hand laying gently over his. Her hand was so small and her fingers slender compared to his. Her nails were done perfectly, the tips perfectly rounded, and the nails painted a light blue to match her outfit.
“I like you, Max.”
His brows raised in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that any of this was happening. Liz Parker hadn’t talked to him since that time they went camping in the seventh grade. And now, she was sitting here flirting with him,
touching him.
“You like me?”
“Yeah.”
Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “Why?” What does it matter!? he thought. But as the question hung in the air, he wondered what she would say.
Taken by surprise, Liz pulled away slightly. She had never been asked that, therefore didn’t expect that as a possible response. She was used to guys just taking what she said at face value and going with it.
“Um… Because I… I think you’re very different from the other guys I’m usually around,” she said in all honesty. “I mean, you’re smart, nice, and you’re not phony.”
“Oh,” was the only thing he could think to say.
“So I was thinking that maybe you and I could have lunch together. We could go out by the football field so we can talk without any distractions.”
Max gulped, sure that the hand she was holding was dripping with sweat by now. He wanted to pull away but he didn’t want to risk that she wouldn’t grab it again. He supposed he should be curious about why all of a sudden she was paying any sort of attention to him, but he figured he could examine all of that once he woke up from this dream.
Before he answered, the bell rung and he was forced to turn around in his seat when Mr. Baltwell called for their attention.
Throughout the remainder of the class, Max stared straight ahead, unable to concentrate on a thing the class discussed. To busy trying to decide what to do, he wagered that she was either genuinely interested because of their shared classes, or she was setting him up.
He didn’t think that Liz would do the latter. So, he decided to take a chance and as soon as the bell sounded, signally the end of class, he turned to her with a semblance of confidence.
“I’d love to have lunch with you, Liz.”
Liz grinned as she gathered her things. “Great! How about we meet on the bleachers?”
“Okay. Um, so I’ll see you there.” He immediately winced at how lame he sounded. But Liz didn’t seem to notice. With one last smile at him, she left the classroom and Max had a hard time containing his smile as he made his way to his next class.
**************
Max answered the end of his class with a deep breath. Again, he had been unable to concentrate, his mind wandering to his impending lunch with Liz.
He took his time gathering his things before he left his class. He didn’t want to seem too eager, waiting for her like a dork and scare her off. So instead, he strolled leisurely through the halls, taking his sweet time at his locker, exchanging books for the ones he’d need after lunch. He appeared calm, but inside, he was a ball of nerves.
On his way to the football field, he ran into Kyle.
“Dude, why don’t we go off campus for lunch? Let’s go find Jake and Tess… you know the arcade is completely deserted right now…”
“I can’t Kyle. I sorta have plans,” he explained quietly.
As they walked through the halls, he spared a glance at his best friend and expectedly saw him staring in surprise.
“
You have plans? With who and how come they’re more important than me?”
“I’m having lunch with Liz Parker.”
“What?! Wh…How…When did this happen?” Kyle knew of Max’s crush on Liz and he knew that Max and Liz shared a lab table in biology class. But he wasn’t aware of when Max finally grew a pair and asked the girl out.
Max grinned, his eyes sparkling. “They switched my classes. I have English Lit now and she’s in my classes so earlier she asked me if I wanted to have lunch with her.
“Oh so you didn’t ask her?”
“You disappointed?”
“No. Um… that’s, I’m happy for you Max. Just be careful okay?” Kyle didn’t think that highly of Liz. If fact, he was wary of that whole crowd she hung with.
Max frowned, not understanding what he needed to be careful about, but he shrugged it off, bid his farewell to Kyle and trekked the rest of the way to the football field with a bounce in his step.
On the other side of the school, Liz studied herself in a bathroom mirror.
“Don’t come on too strong,” Lynn advised as they both reapplied lip gloss. “The one thing Max has going for him is that he’s smart and you don’t want him getting too suspicious. So don’t do too much flirting, but let him know you’re interested.”
“I know! You act like I’ve never talked to a guy before,” she snapped.
“Don’t get all bitchy,” Tasha, the youngest of the Scott triplets chimed in. She was considered the nicest one out of the three.
Agreeing with her sister, the middle triplet, Trixi, spoke up, “She’s just trying to help. Besides, trying to get him to like you is the least of your worries. I’ve seen him eyeing you before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Figures you’d attract the nerds,” she giggled. Tasha and Lynn smiled along with her. “The thing that I’d be concerned with is that you have to make out with that nerd,” she laughed.
Snickering, Lynn tossed her cosmetics in her purse. “Yeah Liz. When you two become a couple, he’s going to want a taste. You know how guys are.”
“At least he’s kinda cute already,” Tasha reasoned. “I mean especially after you finish working with him; get him a hair cut, some better clothes and get rid of those God awful glasses, I wouldn’t mind a few kisses here and there.”
“Yeah it’s not like he’s one of those scrawny computer geeks. He has a nice body underneath those Kmart sweaters he wears,” Trixi pointed out.
“Just keep your eyes on the prize, Liz.”
Liz smoothed down her hair, in an attempt to hide her nerves. She felt a lump of doubt in her stomach, something telling her she shouldn’t be doing this. She didn’t know Max that well, but from talking to him the past few days, she’d come to find out that he was really a nice guy.
But as Lynn guided her out of the bathroom, she spotted Seth at his locker in all of his blue-green eyed, muscular glory. He was captain of the football and basketball team and
the most popular guy in school. She was one of the head cheerleaders and it’d be perfect and only right for them to get together. But first she had to get him to notice her and away from his horrid girlfriend.
With a few words of encouragement from Lynn, Liz made her way towards the football field.
She got there just as Max was arriving, making his way up the stairs leading to the first row of bleachers.
She stopped, wondering why he wasn’t there earlier, waiting on her like she would’ve thought, but she shook it off.
Taking a deep breath, she shook off the final nerves and pasted on a smile. “Hey Max.”
Spotting her, he immediately smiled. “Hi Liz.” He held out his hand, intending on helping her up the steps.
Her soft, small hand slid into his larger one, but instead of acting as her rail so that she wouldn’t fall on the stairs in her heels, she tugged gently. “It’s really hot out, let’s find some shade.”
Max hated to let go of her hand, so with his free hand, he swung his book bag over one shoulder and let her guide him down the steps and into the long expanse of grass between the football field and tennis courts.
They stopped underneath a large tree where branches hung low allowing the leaves to act as a shield around them, giving Max and Liz privacy though there were few people out to spy on them.
Max caught her eye and smiled softly. He offered her one of his text books for her to sit on, knowing that she might not want to sit on the grass and ruin her skirt.
“So…” She had no idea what to talk to him about now that they were alone. When they were in class, they could always chat about the specific class they were in. Now, they actually had to converse and she was supposed to act as if she really cared about getting to know him.
“Um, the cheerleading squad has a new routine we’re doing,” she announced. “We’re testing it out with the crowd before we decide if we want to take it to regionals.”
“Oh, that’s really…”
“I mean it’s not a bad cheer. I don’t see why we even have to test it. Just because I came up with the majority of it, Trini and Trixi don’t want us to do it. Urg! They are so… I swear they’re just jealous because coach liked my ideas better than theirs.”
“Um…”
“Oh! And last week…”
Max tried to pay attention as she rambled on about the cheerleading team. To spend time with Liz, the girl he had a crush on since the seventh grade, he once thought it to be a once in a lifetime experience. But as she continued to talk about herself, Max’s mind began to wander elsewhere. This surprised him because he thought that if he ever was blessed with any quality time with Liz, he’d be happy with anything she wanted to do or talk about. And he supposed that he should be happy that for whatever reason, she decided to take a liking to him. She was his dream girl.
Liz paused in her monologue, sparing a glance at Max just to make sure he was paying attention. His head was dropped low, but he looked up the moment he realized that she had stopped talking. The expression on his face was one that she had rarely, if ever seen on someone’s face when they were around her. He looked, completely and utterly bored.
Frowning, she scrambled to figure out what to do. Obviously she needed to take another approach.
There was an awkward silence that stretched over a few long minutes. Finally, she turned towards him and said the first think that came to mind.
“So… are you coming to the game Friday?”
“Uh, I usually skip the football games… and the basketball games… and anything that could be mistaken as me having school spirit.”
Sometimes she felt that same way. “You do realize that you’re talking to a cheerleader, the ultimate symbol of school spirit.”
“Yeah well, I think that I can put aside my mild hatred for school spirit if it means spending time with you.”
“I’m honored,” she replied, giggling.
“No, the pleasure’s all mine,” he said quietly and widened his eyes in surprise. He was
flirting with Liz Parker. And she was smiling. He was doing well and decided to keep it up.
And he would have, if not for the loud obnoxious grumbling of his stomach. He blushed wildly and crossed his arms over his middle, in hopes of calming his hunger pains. It didn’t help because his stomach roared for attention.
Max smiled and said sheepishly, “I guess acting like you didn’t hear that would be fruitless, huh?”
She laughed. “Pretty much.”
When his stomach growled again, Max gave up trying to look cool and reached into his back pack for his lunch that was wrapped in a brown paper bag. His mom had taken the liberty of drawing a smiley face on the front and back. He rolled his eyes. He’d have to thank her later for embarrassing him without even being present.
Max decided to ignore it and hope that she didn’t see it. “You didn’t bring anything to eat?” he asked.
“No I usually buy my lunch,” she replied distractedly. She was eyeing the smiley face on his bag. He was such a dork, she concluded.
“Oh. You should’ve gotten something. Are you hungry? We could share…” He pulled out a thick ham sandwich and held it out to her. She looked at it as if it had grown a head. “It’s really good, I promise. My mom put…”
She raised her perfectly shaped brow, “Your mother?”
Flushing, he managed out, “Uh, well yeah she likes to make my lunch for me. I mean, not that I couldn’t do it, because I totally can, but the mornings are just so hectic and I never have the time. And she says that she’s suspicious of the nutrition value of the food the school offers so…”
Max stopped as he let out a nervous laugh. He had just embarrassed himself in front of his longtime crush. Here he was sixteen carrying around a smiley face lunch bag and seemingly incapable of packing his own food. Some man he was.
“I think that’s sweet,” she replied genuinely. She had always been given money to buy her lunch. “At least you don’t carry one of those lunch boxes with the action figures on it,” she giggled.
“Hey don’t laugh!” he pouted. “Those were pretty cool. I used to have one of those when I was younger.”
“Okay, that’s fine for when you’re young, but there are some people who just can’t let go of their Pokemon thermos and lunch box.”
Max laughed when she made a face. “So do you want half?”
She glanced at the sandwich once more before meekly nodding her head. He grabbed another text book from his bag and set it in between them. Grabbing a napkin from his lunch bag, he spread it over his book and cut the sandwich in half. He also had some sliced apples and grapes which he set out for them to share.
“I only have one juice, but you can have it.” When he looked up from his task, he found her watching him intently, “I bought a drink from the vending machine earlier so I’m not that thirsty…”
They ate in silence, shooting glances across their makeshift textbook table, Max wanting to burst because he was sharing his lunch with his crush and Liz feeling guilty. Max was a nice guy.
She couldn’t do this.
***********
“Well, you’ve become a stranger,” Kyle said as he and Max walked through the hallway. Max was on his way to biology. As usual, he couldn’t wait to see Liz.
“I haven’t. You still see me everyday.”
“Yeah, but for the past week and a half, you’ve been strangely absent at our lunch table. Me thinks you’re abandoning us for the popular crowd.”
Max stopped mid-stride. “Okay, first of all, don’t say “me thinks.” It’s neither funny nor grammatically correct…”
“Smart ass.”
“Secondly, I’m not abandoning you Kyle. It’s just you know how long I’ve liked Liz and now she seems to like me too. I’d never turn my back on you.”
Sighing, Kyle knew he was right. And as they continued walking he said, “I know and I just…now I know how you feel when I leave you to talk to some girl. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
“Just… be careful okay. Girls like Liz… I don’t want to see you hurt.”
The two stopped in front on Max’s biology class. “I know Kyle, but Liz is different. I know she is. You’ll see.”
“If you say so Max. I’ll see you after school?”
“Definitely.”
After a complicated handshake that they’d been doing since elementary school, Max walked into his class. Liz was already seated at their table and looked up with a smile when he entered.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Lunch was great today,” she said, looking at him from beneath her lashes. Initially, after their first lunch together, Liz had wanted to back out on the plan. She knew he was going to get hurt in the end and Max didn’t deserve it.
She looked back a few tables to Lynn and Trini. Her friends had been the ones to talk her back into it, reminding her of what hooking up with Seth would do to her reputation and how much she liked him. It was just what was meant to be and as they saw it, it was written in the high school social rules somewhere.
During their lab, Max and Liz worked together, Max showing her what to do as she wasn’t that great with chemicals. And when the bell rung, signally the end of the school day, they gathered their things and together walked out into the hall.
“Hey, I was thinking that you and I should hang out this weekend,” she said.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Maybe you could come over to my place tomorrow. You know we could go for a swim and then watch a few movies afterward.”
“Oh…um... t-that would be great.”
“Great?”
“Awesome.”
“Okay, cool. How does three sound?”
“It sounds…Three’s great.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Bye Liz.”
“Bye Max.”
Max waited until she was out of sight before he took off in a sprint towards the parking lot where he knew Kyle would be waiting. He was going to need some serious help.
TBC……….
