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Title- Where the Sun Rises
Author- Shobhna Guerin (shobhnathebest@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer- Yup, that's right, I own them. That's why they have such a strong friendship on the show. *Pfft* I wish.
Category- CC/UC, MATURE, Liz POV
Spoilers- Behind the Music
Summary- Danny came over last night and I cooked for him
He talked about you, Mary and how much we loved you still (p.s.- in your mind, change the Danny and Mary to Michael and Maria respectively.)
Notes- Yup, another Polar one, and I blame it all on Anushruti!! This is inspired by the song "Mary's in India" by Dido, just read the summary above. I've tried to show Maria in the most positive light (you know I can't make her bad!). It's following Behind the Music, which I've yet a couple of months to see, so I might get a few facts wrong. Do excuse. I don't know which episode she's offered the chance to go to NY, let's just pretend it was BTM. For me, please? Lol! Enjoy, and tell me what you thought. It might decide my future as a Polar writer. So please, be gentle.
This is for Anushruti, who (god knows why) cried when she read (heard) the first draft of this. She's a Polar Obsessie to the max, I tell you!
I was walking home from Max's house that night, and I saw something that really surprised me. Michael Guerin. Crouching in front of the closed Crashdown door. And I think he was crying.
"Michael?" I asked tentatively. His body immediately tensed, I noticed. He shot his head up and stared at me with eyes bloodshot red. Jesus Christ. He had been crying.
"Are you okay?" I asked him softly. I was a little intimidated, I'll admit. Maybe even a little scared.
Michael merely grunted at me, and getting up from the doorstep leading to the Crashdown, turned, looked at me once, and then walked away.
I could tell by the expression on his face that something bad had happened. He looked as if his life had fallen apart, as if it was over. He looked so sad.
And surprisingly, all I wanted to do right then was run up and catch up to him, fling my arms around him to comfort him. I didn't need to know what was bothering him. I was just wanted that look out of his face. I just wanted him to feel good, safe.
----------
"Maria broke up with him." Max stated as he sat down beside me.
"What?!" I asked, highly surprised.
"Yup. Last night."
Oh. My. God. Was that why he was crying? Earlier today, I asked Max if he noticed anything different about Michael. He had, in fact, and asked Michael about it, but Michael, being his own self, had not said a thing. Now I'm surprised he's even showed up to school.
"Isabel made him tell her," Max explained. "God Liz, he looks terrible. I don't think he slept at all last night."
Isabel walked up to us and set her plate down. Sitting down, she sighed. "Max, this is getting too much. He's not talking to anyone. He's in detention right now for not answering Mr. Seligman's questions during Bio 101."
"How did you get him to tell you, then?" I wondered aloud.
"He finally told me after I pestered him all through study hall. All he said was 'Maria and I are through'. He didn't say who broke up with whom, but he's so whipped for her, I know he couldn't have done it. So it must have been her." She looked at me grimly.
"Hey, don't look at me! I haven't talked to Maria about this. She didn't come to school today."
"Why?" Max asked.
"Um....well, she's going to New York tomorrow. So, she's packing."
"She's going to New York?! For what?"
"I'm not really sure. I think she might have a chance at a record deal, so she's going. I think."
"Well, that still doesn't explain why she would break up with him....." Isabel continued to talk, but I wasn't listening anymore. Instead, I was watching Michael as he came in through the cafeteria door. Without a glance to anyone in the room, he crossed it and walked out the other door that led out of the building.
Oh god, I feel so bad. I should really talk to Maria. Surprisingly, I just can't see him like that. Even more surprisingly, it hurts to.
----------
"Chica, I just needed a break, you know? Plus, with this whole NY thing, it's probably the best thing I did. I just don't want either of us to suffer. I know I'll miss him every second I'm gone; so I thought maybe it'll be better if I'm not officially his girlfriend or anything, you know? It'll be easier. For both of us." She concluded.
I decided not to comment. Instead, I sat silently perched on the edge of her bed, as she ran from one corner of the room to another, grabbing stuff along the way. I didn't know how to reply to her. Did she not realize that she was hurting him, and possibly herself, even more by breaking things off 'officially'? I've seen Maria on the worst of hair days, but this is beyond any of those. She looks as if she's spent all night up, doing what, I can possibly imagine. Probably the same thing Michael did.
Things were gonna be different around here once she would go. Who'll I talk 'girl-to-girl' with? Isabel. I can't do that. 'Girl-to-married alien' just sounds plain freaky.
"Liz?" Maria stuck her head out of her closet. "Promise me something. Please don't let him be sad. I wouldn't be able to live with that."
I got up and went over to her, putting my arms around her warmly. "Of course, sweetie. I promise."
"Pinkie promise?"
I burst out laughing. It's a thing we'd made up with Alex one day when we were eight or so. "Pinkie promise," I replied, locking my pinkie with hers. Promise.
----------
"One side of bacon and large fries!!" well, at least, he's still shouting at the waitresses the same way he always does. Seeing that that was one my orders, I walk up to the kitchen window and grab my order, smiling at him. He only looked at me, with that crooked- eyebrow thing he always does. Well, at least I got him looking up today. Good progress, Parker. Yeah, right. I totally should not have made that promise to Maria. Cuz it's gonna take me forever to make him even acknowledge me, much less make him happy.
Three hours later and we're finally closing up. Not so surprisingly, it's only me and Michael. Me, because I live upstairs, so all the other waitresses hand the job over to me. Michael, because according to my dad, he wanted all the extra hours he could get. Something about the rent going up. Right.
We continued our work quietly, until suddenly he surprised me by speaking first. "I'm guessing Isabel told you?"
"About what?" I feigned clueless-ness.
"Yeah, right."
I sighed. "All right, Michael. Yeah, she did."
"Fantastic. So I'm guessing 'Have Pity on Michael' mission is underway."
"What?" I didn't have to pretend this time.
"The pity fest you've been raining on me all day."
"I'm not pitying you," I said, timid even for myself.
"Yup, uh- huh, sure."
"Michael! Why would I pity you?"
He didn't reply. He went and sat down on one of the stools, his head in his hands.
I quietly went and sat down next to him. "Wanna talk about it?"
He looked up. "Why? So that you can relay to Maria my tale of misery?"
I decided to ignore he said that. "So that you can let your feelings out."
"Thanks Parker, but I don't need a shrink."
"I'm not a shrink, I'm a friend."
"Since when?"
"Since always." His question surprised me. Had he really never thought of me as a friend?
"Right."
"Michael...." I started.
"I don't wanna talk about it, Parker." He paused for a moment. "But thanks for asking."
Ok. I'm honestly surprised. Did Michael Guerin actually thank me for something?
I watched him from my seat as he walked to the back door, taking off his apron. I realized that I had just actually had a whole conservation with him. Hmm, and here I thought that miracles had already deserted me.
----------
Could you look me in the eyes
And tell me that you're happy now, ooh
C'mon tell it to my face
Have I been replaced
Are you happy now?
I was listening to Michelle Branch out of boredom that afternoon when I heard a knock on my window. Obviously, I thought it was Max.
Consider my surprise when I saw that it was actually Michael. And he looked bad, real bad. I hadn't seen him at school today. And I was worried. Sort of. Ok, a lot.
"Michael?" I asked, opening the window. "Are you okay?"
"I need to talk to Maria," he stated hurriedly.
"What?" I wanted to be sure of what I heard.
"Maria. Do you have a number maybe I could call her at?"
"Um.....no, Michael. I'm sorry, I don't. She said she'd call and give me her number and the address of where she was staying, but she hasn't called yet."
"Oh." He was disappointed, I could tell. Obviously.
"Um, I'm sure she'll call soon," I said hopefully.
"Yeah, whatever. Later." He turned and walked to the ladder and then climbed down.
And that was the last I saw of him for two weeks.
----------
2 weeks later
"Where the hell can he be??!"
"Izzy, calm down. I'm sure he's fine." Max tried to calm the frantic Isabel down.
"Max, I'm just so scared," Isabel said in a soft voice, her eyes clouded over with tears that threatened to rush down.
Max went and hugged Isabel in an attempt to calm her down. I wrapped my arms around myself to calm myself down too. We were all very worried for Michael.
We had no idea where he could possibly be. He wasn't at his apartment, we'd checked. Not the pod cave, either.
We were at the end of our wits. And scared right out of our minds.
----------
I was just closing up the Crashdown, when who should walk in but Mr. Missing himself. He merely went and sat down in one of the booths and refused to look at me.
I decided to not pester him with questions. He'd be more comfortable that way, and frankly, so would I. Taking out my order pad, I asked, "What can I get you, Michael?"
"What?" he looked up for the first time. "Oh. Um, whatever, doesn't matter."
"One cherry cola coming up!" I said and went to get it for him.
Heading back, I placed the glass in front of him on the table and slid in the booth, opposite him. "So...."
"Look, Parker, I really don't need your exasperating questions today." He barked.
Well. "Well. Ok then."
"What? You're actually giving up? Wow." He remarked.
"What the hell does that mean?" I retorted.
"Nothing." He paused, taking a sip of his drink. "So, I'm guessing you're wondering where I've been."
"Well, now that you mention it..."
"I was out of town, ok? I needed to take care of some things."
"Things?"
"Yeah, things? You got a problem with that?"
"No, no problem," I smiled, innocently.
He raised his eyebrow at me. "Cut it out, Parker."
I wiped the smile off my face and stared at him boldly. Bold for me, anyway.
"So, did...uh...Maria call?"
"Uh, actually, yeah, she did."
"How is she?" he asked, not looking at me.
"Good." I paused. "Um...actually, uh, I talked to Mrs. DeLuca, and she said that Maria kinda left you some stuff. I didn't know that."
"Yeah, she did." He looked up, his emotionless eyes staring back at me. "I've packed them away. I'm gonna return it to Mrs. DeLuca. But if you want, you can keep it."
"Uh, no, that's okay. What'd she leave you?"
"Stuff. Unimportant, actually." He muttered something under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. Look, is the grill still on? I'm kinda starving."
"Uh, yeah, I can cook you something up. Wait here." I got up and headed to the kitchen.
----------
"So, how's everyone doing here?" he asked, scarfing down his burger.
"Ok. Isabel and Max are pretty worried about you."
"Fantastic." He sighed. "I'll have to talk to them, huh?"
"Kinda," I smiled softly at him. "But if you want, I can inform them."
"Yeah? Do that." He paused, smiling just a little. "Thanks Parker."
And as we sat there that evening in one of the Crashdown booths, I realized how special Michael Guerin really was. He might be a little closed- off and even a little rude, but underneath that rough exterior of his, he was just like all of us. Craving love and acceptance. And I realized I want nothing more than to love him and make him feel safe.
I slid further down the booth and moved next to him. Placing a gentle hand on his thigh, I smiled warmly at him.
He looked at me strangely for a minute, but then covered my hand with his and smiled softly at me. A real smile, at that.
Sorry Max.....
The End.
25th October, 2003.
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This is now officially the first fic in the "Life For Rent" Series. Watch out for the others coming soon.