Never In Doubt (AU, M/L, Teen) [COMPLETE]

[Rowedog]

Round Thirteen RF Awards


Fic For Which You'd Most Like To See A Sequel


Round Twelve RF Awards


Funniest Fanfic


Best Supporting Portrayal of Michael


Best Supporting Portrayal of Maria Tied With Misha's The Offer

Title: Never In Doubt

Author: Rowedog, But you, my friends, may call me Alison

Genre: M/L Baby! Yee hah! And some M/M, A/I and eventually K/T

Summary: Liz has always hidden her shyness behind a mask of coldness and haughty behaviour. What happens when Max finally makes a move?

Disclaimer: I in no way own anything. Not Roswell or Pinky and the Brain. Nor do I own the song Babylon by David Gray from whence my title came.

Rating: Teen. No smut from me. Just implied sexual activity

The fantastic banner was made for me by RosDude. Thanks Chad!

Never In Doubt

Part One: The Inner Workings Of A Frog

Max watched Liz gracefully make her way through the crowded café, dodging customers with what appeared to be careless ease. He watched her as he had done for many years, ever since her parents had bought the Crashdown three years ago when she was fourteen. Since that time he watched her with increasing puzzlement. She was a mystery to him. An enigma.

Despite numerous offers, Liz had yet to ever go on a date or even show mild interest in any guy at their school. There were stupid rumours that she was a lesbian, mainly put in circulation by the boys she’d turned down and the girls who were jealous of her undeniable grace and beauty.

Max reassured himself that she was just picky. Many jocks had tried and failed to go on a date with her. But they were generally either trying to get in her pants or to trying to achieve the unachievable goal that was engaging Liz Parker’s interest.

None of them appreciated her, none of them saw her as Max did. She wasn’t just a target or an unattainable temptation for Max. She wasn’t just another pretty face or a piece of ass to him.

Elizabeth Parker was Max Evans’ dream girl.

Dream was right, he mused. She was as out of reach to him as the moon. It was commonly known that Liz hated the jocks who effectively ruled the school and often brought this up when rejecting her potential suitors.

Max often hated his position on the football team for that reason alone. It further decreased his already very low chances of ever being with Liz. Not only that, but he wanted her respect. He knew that that was impossible while he still held a position on the team. He hated the fact that she was so quick to discriminate against his type.

But he then thought of his team mates and felt that her prejudice was completely warranted. Ninety-five percent of the guys on his team weren’t people he would give the benefit of the doubt to either.

Their actions over the years had proven to Max that most guys who play sport and rely on muscle instead of brains to get by, weren’t the nicest or most respectful people you could come across. The talk that went on in the change rooms would completely destroy some of the girls at their school if they ever heard it. Some of the stuff was so crude and vile that Max felt dirty at just hearing it.

Max threw down some money, leaving a large tip for Liz (like he always did) and rose from his seat turning sharply to leave out the door. Liz, who had been collecting plates from the booth behind him turned to head into the kitchen and nearly collided with Max.

“Oh, god! I’m sorry. I, uh, didn’t see you there”

“That’s ok. I didn’t drop them.”

Max glanced down at her heavily laden arms.

“Do you need any help? You seem a little overloaded there.”

Liz smiled her first proper smile at Max and hastily readjusted the unbalanced plate that was threatening to fall off of her forearm.

“No. I’m fine. But thanks for the offer anyway.”

Liz turned and made her way into the back to dump the offending dishes while Max smiled. He had made contact with Liz. She hadn’t treated him like a Neanderthal thug that she seemed to classify all jocks as.

This was the main reason that he didn’t attempt to start conversations with her. He tended to get a little tongue-tied around her and he didn’t want her to think that he was inarticulate like many others from his team. Her opinion mattered to him and he reflected on the smile she gave him. Maybe he had slightly risen up in her esteem. God he hoped so.

***

“So… I saw you chatting with Loverboy. Did he have much to say or did he just grunt?”

Liz slammed the door to her work locker shut and whirled on her friend, indignation burning in her eyes.

“He’s different from all the other jocks Maria. He’s not like them at all. He’s smart, considerate and kind and- ”

Maria held up her hands in defence as she changed out of her work clothes.

“If you say so. I was just kidding, you know that right? I only tease because it’s so funny that you, of all people, are crazily in love with one of the members of the football team. Poetic irony!”

Liz rolled her eyes.

“Nothing that poetic about it, Maria. Why is it that the one jock that I actually like will barely make eye contact with me, and yet many that I go out of my way to shun, persistently pursue me?” she asked petulantly.

Maria shrugged and buttoned up her top.

“I keep telling you, poetic irony. So… what are we going to do tonight, Brain?”

“Same thing we do every Friday night, Pinky. Watch TV whilst consuming copious amounts of junk food which we will have to work off tomorrow at the gym.”

“Wicked. Is our best friend Alex going to grace us with his presence? Or is he off with Ms Evans tonight?”

A distinctly male voice sounded from the doorway, “Your best friend Alex has deemed you worthy of his Friday night as the one Ms Evans is out of town for the weekend shopping with her mother.”

The girls turned and grinned at Alex who stood indolently leaning against the door jam.

“So glad to be your back up plan, Alex!” said Liz sarcastically.

“So, what were we talking about before I rudely interrupted?” asked Alex completely ignoring Liz’s jibe at him.

“Liz’s unrequited love for your future brother-in-law.”

“Aah, I see. And just how many conversations have we had with Max, Lizzy?”

Maria grinned and answered as Liz cheeks flushed a rosy red. “I think that with the addition of the one they just had in the Crashdown that we’re up to a grand total of three!”

Liz let out a huff and replied defensively, “That is so not true! We’re biology partners! We talk all the time.”

Maria and Alex simultaneously rolled their eyes. “The inner workings of a frog, does not a conversation make!”

“Shut up, Maria! I’m shy! You know this! Therefore I cannot physically start off a conversation with anyone I don’t know, let alone the guy I like.”

“I’ve seen him looking at you all the time while you work, Liz. I’m pretty sure that if you started up a conversation with him, he’d be more than willing to participate.” Alex offered gently.

Liz rolled her eyes. “Max Evans does not have a crush on me. I’m sure he thinks I’m a stuck-up ice queen like the rest of the school. If he really wanted to talk to me, he would. He’s not shy.”

Alex smiled a superior smile at her. “Maybe he’s just shy around you.”

“Alex! Stop filling her head with crazy ideas! Just because you broke down the walls of your ice queen’s heart does not mean that Liz will ever have that much luck with her own member of the Evan’s clan. He’s a popular jock with no time for us lower beings. We are a class below them, remember?” stated Maria, dramatically throwing her hands in the air.

Alex shook his head and shrugged. “Whatever. Crush the girl’s hopes and dreams. It’s none of my business. Want to watch TV now?”

Liz nodded, grateful to have some reprieve from their discussion of her hopeless love life. She didn’t date because she often didn’t like the ones that offered, but occasionally she would have to turn a nice guy down because she simply didn’t think she could handle an evening alone with a guy that she didn’t know. It was far too daunting for her.

She was terrified that if she went out with someone that they would have a completely terrible time because she would be so silent and boring.

Besides, it was unfair on the guys who were actually interested in her to let them think that they stood a chance with her when she was completely in love with Max.

It wouldn’t be right or fair on anyone to date until she’d gotten over her obsession with him. She strongly suspected that that would take a very long time.

***

[Rowedog]

Eek, I’m overwhelmed by the love!

Incidentally, I was sitting in the computer room the other day, flicking through Roswell fanatics and a guy from my res college looked over my shoulder and said, “Oh my God! Is that Roswell? I love that show! I’ve never gotten so emotionally involved with a show before.”

And so, I started to hyperventilate (not really) with excitement because I’ve never met anyone else in Oz (in the flesh) who liked or even knew what Roswell was before.

So he’s now my new best friend and we’re going to watch my season three DVD’s together because he hasn’t seen them before. I kinda don’t want to show him cos it’s not a great season, but I’ll bring S1 and 2 as well and we can watch them again (Season One rules!).

Check it out! I have a new beta! Say hi to thetvgeneral everyone, she’ll be helping me from here on in.

Thankyou to all the feedbackers, it means a lot. Kisses and Hugs to the lurkers. The part after this one is a tad longer.

Aussietrueblue
Heavenli24
Sternbetrachter
Emz80m
Clueless x2- Yeah, I thought I’d post this considering you bumped WT just so you could bug me about a new fic. Freaked me out when I saw it at the top of page one. You’re relentless but hey, I love ya anyway. Once a week, I’ll try to update once a week. It gives me time to write the rest and get my parts in order.
Eve
Laure- You’ve been waiting weeks for this? You’ve already read about half of it! Crazy girl…
I’m not implying fluff, silly billy, I’m implying smut. I’m a prude (blushes a rosy red), sex scenes are just too much for my little brain to handle.
Spray- Thanks Spray, you know what I can’t wait to read more of? Black Dawn!!! Not that I’m impatient or anything, but it has been like a bazillion years!
Cassie- I try to concur with Spray too. It’s better for my health.
dreamer19
aruwin

As requested, here’s the next part:

Part Two: Thrill Of The Chase

Liz walked down the halls of her high school ignoring all the mutterings and stares at her. She was almost used to them by now. When she first started attending school in Roswell she had been horrified to find that people were staring at her.

It was her natural defence mechanism to stiffen her spine and wear the most forbidding expression she could muster. It had taken every last bit of her inner poise not to run in the opposite direction to the bathrooms and hide.

But she had lasted out those first few weeks and both Maria and Alex had cracked her shell and found to their surprise, that the confident, ice queen who wouldn’t talk to anyone, was actually acutely shy.

She and Maria had been thrown together as the new waitresses at the Crashdown and through Maria’s persistent and constantly overbearing attitude, she had finally gotten through to Liz. Alex had taken a few weeks longer but his nice guy attitude and constant affection for the (at that point in time) unattainable Isabel Evans had led to Liz’s lowering of her guard around him.

Alex’s romance with Izzy was a big shock to everyone.

Especially him.

After spending many years pining for Izzy they had been thrown together for a history assignment that was worth one quarter of their grade. Many a long night had been spent in the local library or at each other’s house to complete it.

It was there that Alex got to see the human, soft side of Izzy. Her compassion and sweet heart had surprised and delighted him. He had always suspected that Izzy had another side to her that she never showed, but never truly believed it.

Through delicate questioning Alex found that Izzy truly didn’t care about being popular. She hadn’t sought it out, it had just come naturally from her beauty and style.

He learnt that she sometimes wished that she wasn’t popular, because she was never really sure who her friends were.

He learnt that she was envious of his tight friendships with Liz and Maria.

He learnt that she was sick of all the guys who were after her for only one thing.

He learnt the true meaning of the word ‘shock’ when one night she had leant over the table and kissed him.

After that it had all happened so quickly, they had begun dating. Alex was worried about the school’s reaction to their romance. Isabel had been completely nonchalant about it.

“Whatever happens, happens Alex. I’m not going to worry about what other people think when in the long run their opinions won’t really matter to me. I’m not going to let them stop me from going after what I want. I can handle the school’s comments Alex. The question is, can you?”

Alex looked at Izzy with awe and replied, “I wasn’t worried for me Izzy. I’m not the one who is dating beneath his place in the social ladder. I’m just worried about all those so-called friends of yours and what they’ll say to you and behind your back.”

Izzy had just shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out who my real friends are, won’t I?”

Luckily for Izzy, she was still so popular that her relationship with Alex was in time deemed acceptable. This was helped by Max’s approval. He had publicly stated in the courtyard at lunch that Alex was ok and that people should back off of his sister’s business.

Nobody had dared to make a comment in public after that. Max was in secret, envious of his sister’s relationship with Alex. She could be with the one she really wanted. The one she wanted, wanted her back with the same fervour.

He wished he had a chance to be with Liz. If only she would give him a chance. But she completely ignored him, just like she did with every other jock in the school. He watched Liz walk down the hall out of the corner of his eye and willed her to turn around and see him.

But she never did. She constantly looked the other way.

***

Liz reached her locker and deftly dialled the combination. She reached in and grabbed her English folder and immediately stiffened as she saw a large, threatening male form stop beside her.

She turned slowly to view Michael Guerin, the best friend of Max Evans, standing next to her.

“Yes?” she asked haughtily, willing him to go away.

“Hey Liz, I need to ask you something…”

He looked uncomfortable to Liz. This was bad, she mused silently. She pleaded with him internally, desperately repeating over and over in her mind, Please don’t ask me out. Please don’t ask me out. Please don’t ask-

“Is the job for the fry cook still up for grabs at the Crashdown?”

Liz’s demeanour immediately relaxed. Praise the lord! She was saved!

“Yes actually it is. Were you thinking of applying?” Liz questioned with a much warmer tone, surprising Michael who had prepared himself for the cold shoulder.

“Uh… yeah. The rent is due and the job at the Crashdown pays better than the video store… so I was hoping that maybe the Crashdown would hire me.”

Liz nodded. “Well, you’re in luck. Nobody has shown any interest so far. Drop round by the Crashdown tonight. I’ll talk to my Dad and with some luck you may just have a shift in two days.”

Michael nodded and smiled at her then scratched his eyebrow as he stuttered, looking embarrassed once again. “Great… uh, there was one more thing, actually.”

Liz’s smile dropped again. Oh not again, she thought. I can’t take another proposal. Not even from a nice guy like Michael.

“Do you know what the deal is with Maria and that Sean guy who hangs around the Crashdown? I figured that seeing as you’re her best friend and all that you’d know…”

Liz almost laughed with relief. He was interested in Maria. This was great!

Wait.

No it wasn’t. If there was one person who hated jocks more than Liz, it was Maria. She couldn’t stand them and was determined to hate each and every one of them on principle.

This was very bad for Michael if he was truly interested

“Oh. Uh, yeah. He’s her cousin. She really dislikes him. Ask her about it some time.”

Michael beamed at her and she couldn’t help smiling in return.

“Thanks Liz. I gotta go. I’ll see you later.”

Liz turned back to her locker just in time to see Courtney, one of the schools most notorious sluts, striding over to her.

This was not her day.

“So, Mikey G saw fit to talk to you. You had better not be trying to sink your frigid claws into him. He’s mine. Are we crystal clear on that?”

Liz stared at Courtney in exasperation. What a cow.

“Not that it’s any of your business Courtney, but, no. I was not trying to sink my “frigid claws” into him. He wanted to know about a job offer at my café. Believe me, IF, and I stress the word if, “Mikey G” wants you, then you’re free to him.” Liz replied haughtily, barely able to disguise her disgust.

As Liz walked off she heard Courtney yell down the hall, “What do you mean, IF?!”

Maria, who was at her locker further on down the hall, looked at Liz and then at Courtney who was now walking angrily off down the hall.

“Ok, what did you do?”

“I had the audacity to respond when Michael Guerin talked to me. Apparently I’m trying to sink my “frigid claws” into him. Why on earth would I want to have him if I’m frigid?”

Maria shrugged.

“Thrill of the chase?” she suggested blandly then chuckled. “Poor “Mikey G”. If Courtney was after me I’d hang myself. But then again, morons attract morons. He’s getting what’s coming to him.”

Liz winced, feeling sorry for Michael.

“He’s not that bad. He’s actually pretty nice once you get to know him.”

Maria looked at her over the top of her sunglasses and flipped her long curly hair over her shoulder.

“Yeah? How well do you know him Liz? You have, like, one conversation with the guy and suddenly you’ve seen into his soul? The guy is bad news, Liz. He is a jock. Jock equals moron asshole. Foolproof equation, Liz.”

Liz crossed her arms and glared at Maria.

“Are you calling Max a moron asshole? He defended Alex and Izzy’s relationship and has a higher G.P.A. than you.”

Maria shrugged unapologetically. “There’s usually one exception. That position is filled by Max. There is now no more room for another smart, sensitive jock.”

Liz rolled her eyes and walked with Maria to English.

“I refuse to believe that Max’s best friend is another Tommy or Paulie. He has too much good taste to be so tight with an asshole.”

‘Agree to disagree.” Maria entered the classroom and went and sat by the window. Liz watched Michael’s eyes follow her as she crossed the room.

She sighed as his gaze remained on her and went to sit down at her desk next to Maria. This didn’t look promising for Michael at all.

***

[Rowedog]

Spray-

OH! ME FIRST!

I had no idea it was a competition. Are you ready for this part? On your marks… Get set… GO!
Don’t you worry about Michael, he’s gonna be just fine. He’s got tricks up his sleeve.
Of course Liz gives off that whole “Go AWAY” vibe. She’s shy. Don’t worry I’m working on her, or rather, Max is.

And.... Black Dawn? It's coming. I promise. Maybe I'll work on it tonight? I have like half the part done!

Maybe I’ll work on it tonight? What is that?! A question?! Geez Louise!
Look what you made me do, I just took my own middle name in vain because you’re indecisive.
Laure- Hmm, Roswell Season 3 Virgin Guy will never be the same again after he’s had his cherry popped. I kinda feel sad for him. Such disillusionment to come.
Yeah, I love a cute, shy Max and Liz, but pining will halt… eventually. But hey, you know this already. Hey, did I ever tell you that this was the fic I was writing when I should have been writing WT? And now sadly enough, I have another fic that I work on when I should be doing this one. I think I have commitment issues.
Sternbetrachter
Eve- You rascal! Lol. No, I really don’t think that’s what’s going on.
Dreamer19
RosDude
Clueless- Thanks Clue, gosh you’re making me blush!
Heavenli24
Emz80m- You bet Michael’s up for the challenge!
Nibbles2
Alien_Friend

Lookit! Lookit! Rosdude made me a purdy banner! Check it out everyone!

I love you feedbackers! Wow, so much interest in my fellow Ozzie Roswellian. He’s a cool dude actually, we were friends before I found out about our shared love of Roswell. He’s my next door neighbour actually.

Refreshing, huh? I found it refreshing too, it kept me sane whilst working on my previous fic. Too much writing on one fic makes Alison a dull girl.

The name “Ice Vagina” was taken from the film “Riding In Cars With Boys”, It wasn’t a particularly good movie, but that name stuck with me. Oh, and the line, “Pinch me,” was Kyle’s from Into The Woods in Season One. Oh, and Michael's line, "I'm assuming present company is excluded?" is taken from Alex in Skin and Bones in Season Two(I think).

On with the show:

Part Three: Grow A Brain

“Ok. Here’s your uniform. Jose will be teaching you for the next few weeks before you really start to work. Don’t look so worried! It’s paid training. You will actually be cooking the food, but Jose will teach you the “intricacies” of the job and help you with the menu. Soon enough you’ll know the menu backwards like Maria and I do.”

Michael smiled and nodded. “Speaking of Maria… will she be working occasionally when I have shifts?”

Liz hid her sympathetic smile from Michael. “Yeah. She usually works the same shift as me and Jose. We’ll all be working pretty closely for a while.”

Michael nodded and tried to hide his joy at finding that he would be spending quality time with Maria. “Right… well, that’s good. Just thought I’d check. You know. I’ll feel more comfortable while I’m learning the ropes if there’s familiar people around. So that’s good.”

Liz struggled to keep her amusement out of her tone. “Yeah, totally. Well, if you need anything, ask me and Maria. We’ll be more than glad to hel-”

“LIZ! I hate all of the male population in our school!”

Maria interrupted their conversation as she burst through the back door, not bothering to look, and angrily opened her locker and viciously pulled out her uniform.

“Really?” Liz resigned herself to listening to Maria’s tirade as she had countless times before today. Michael, who had never been privy to a Maria melt-down before, stared at her in shock.

“I swear, if I had my way, ninety-nine percent of the males in our school would be violently castrated within a week!”

Michael raised his eyebrow at this comment. “I’m assuming present company is excluded?”

Maria turned and viewed him for a moment, conveying no surprise as to his presence in the back room and replied haughtily, “You’d be lucky, Guerin.”

Michael stared at her for a moment then burst into hysterical laughter. This only further fuelled Maria’s anger.

“You see? This is what we as females have to put up with! The complete lack of respect we get from men! It’s ludicrous, Liz.”

Michael wisely contained his laughter.

“On the contrary. My respect for you has just increased ten-fold. It’s not everyday that I can meet a girl who can so obviously best me in a battle of wits.”

Maria eyed him suspiciously wondering if he meant it. Feeling half flattered and half insulted she turned to Liz.

“What’s he doing here?”

“HE is Michael and our new fry cook. You’ll be working with him on a regular basis.”

Maria gazed at Liz and with a dead pan voice said, “Pinch me,” before turning back to her locker to resume her foraging.

Liz led Michael out into the front of the Café and nodded her head at him.

“Nice job. You didn’t do too badly with Maria in there.”

Michael stared at her in confusion.

“What? She so obviously hates me! How on earth could that have gone any worse?”

Liz shook her head.

“You really don’t know Maria very well. That reception (given that you’re a jock) was positively warm compared to the one she could have given you. Nice touch with the compliment. You really threw her there.” Liz remarked, admiration and respect colouring her tone.

Michael furrowed his brow and turned to look back in Maria’s direction. “She hates me because I play football? That’s so… prejudiced! She doesn’t even know me!”

“Yeah. Just don’t call her that to her face and you’ll do fine. And really, when you look at most of the jocks at our school, it’s not hard to see why she’d prejudiced. Most of them deserve it.”

Michael shrugged and nodded. He paused for a moment, as if considering something and then turned to face Liz.

“Liz?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you realise that this is probably the first time you’ve ever uttered more than two sentences in my presence?”

Liz looked down at the ground and wondered how she could possibly let her guard down in Michael’s presence. Alex was the only guy she ever let see past her ice queen facade, besides her cousin.

“Yeah, well… we run in different circles at school. Anyway, see you tomorrow.”

Michael watched her with wonder as she walked away and went to join the table where his friends were sitting.

“Guerin! You lucky, undeserving dog! How on earth did you charm the “Ice Vagina” into actually talking to you?”

Michael gazed at Malamud with disgust and watched Max’s jaw tighten from the corner of his eye.

“Maybe I didn’t treat her like a piece of ass or a dumb chick. She does talk, Malamud, just not to you.”

“So… when do you think you’ll be hitting that? I want pictures, dude!”

Michael could see Max’s rage growing with every dumb insinuation that Malamud made about him and Liz.

“Actually, dude, I have no intention of “hitting that”. Liz was helping me out. I’m going to be working here soon.” The disgust and inherent anger was clear in Michael’s voice.

Malamud laughed. “Yeah I’m sure she was very helpful. How hard are you going to be “working it” when you’re here?”

Max’s patience and control snapped as he heard Malamud’s latest derogatory comment about Liz.

“Shut the fuck up, Malamud.”

Max’s deathly quiet comment would have scared a slightly smarter jock into giving it a rest, but Malamud only laughed again.

“Jealous that your old pal Mikey’s gonna be pounding the sweet ass of the object of your wet dreams, Evans?”

Michael, before Max could react to that enraging comment grabbed Malamud by the collar and dragged him out of the Crashdown before Max could beat the snot out of him.

“Jesus, Malamud! Do you have a death wish? Shut the fuck up about Liz or I swear I’ll let Max beat the shit out of you next time.”

“Was he really that pissed?” Malamud seemed shocked by the news, “Thanks for saving my ass, man.”

Michael shook his head. “I didn’t do it for you, you moron. I don’t want Max to get kicked out of there for fighting. Go home. Grow a brain while you’re there, you sexist fuck.”

***

“Why the fuck didn’t you let me beat the crap out of him, Michael? You heard what he was saying!”

“Yeah, I don’t think you really want to be banned from the Crashdown for fighting. It’d seriously cut into your staring at Liz time.”

Max considered that and nodded his head reluctantly.

To his left, Izzy snorted in derision. “Oh, that’d be a complete tragedy! Maxwell, just ask her out already or get over it! I really think once you’ve realised that she’s not interested, it’ll help you get over this obsession of yours. I can ask Alex if you like, he’s tight with her. He should be able to dig around and suss out her feelings for you.”

Max shook his head vehemently.

“NO!”

Lowering both his voice and head as people turned to stare at him, he added quietly, “I don’t want her to have her personal thoughts and feelings betrayed by someone she trusts. It’d be like spying.”

“God Max! just get over it already! She’s not even that hot…” Tess’ jealous voice cut through the conversation.

Izzy glared at her from across the booth and suggested that if she didn’t like something that she was free to leave. Tess angrily picked up her stuff and stormed off muttering to herself. Michael shook his head in wonder.

“How come you can tell Max to get over it and she can’t?”

“Because I have his best interests at heart and she is simply jealous.”

“Can we please stop talking about me like I’m not here? It’s a little off putting.”

Izzy and Michael shrugged and continued on with their previous conversation. “Seriously Max. You need to do something. All this pining could kill you. Plus it’s not really manly to stare dreamily at the back of some chick’s head for the entire English class.”

Izzy and Max exchanged glances at this comment.

“Says you. I saw the way you looked at DeLuca during Biology. Don’t tell me you’re not attracted to her.”

Michael shrugged.

“I’d have to be stupid or Max to not be attracted to her. Besides, Courtney is my partner for Biol. Not fun. I have to find something to distract me from her attempts to talk to me.”

Michael looked at Izzy with a new spark in his eyes as he considered who she was going out with.

“Izzy, you’re going out with Alex. Maybe you could try and help me out with Maria.”

“No. I’ll do it for Max. No one else.”

“Oh come on! Just some information like her birthday and what her ideal date would be. Nothing huge.”

“No! I am not using Alex like that!”

“It’s no big deal! Just bring her up in a conversation on one of your dates and drill him for info.”

“No! I’m serious Michael, I won’t…”

Izzy’s voice trailed off into nothingness as Liz came through the kitchen door. Everything went silent and into slow motion whenever Liz was around for Max.

Izzy and Michael’s argument continued on beside him but he was completely oblivious to it. She was so perfect to him. Everything about her was just so graceful and elegant. As much as he liked to watch her, it was also painful because it was moments like these that pointed out to him that he could never have her.

As she left through the back door, Max’s attention snapped back to the argument Izzy and Michael were having.

“It’s not like I know them that well, Michael! I can’t just start up a conversation with either of them. I mean, Maria’s only conversation with me ended with her threatening to kill me if I hurt Alex. And Liz… she’s just so… cold. It’s hard to get to know her.”

“She’s not cold.”

Max rejoined the conversation again and to his surprise Michael agreed with him.

“Yeah Iz. I actually had a really good talk with her. It’s more like she’s, I dunno, picky… or shy… or something. Just because she’s hard to get to know doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.”

Max considered Michael’s words and felt a swift kick of jealousy right to his stomach.

She talked to Michael and not him? At least he was covered by the fact that Michael liked Maria and wouldn’t make a move on Liz. He just hoped that Liz didn’t like Michael. He didn’t want to see her get hurt.

***

[Rowedog]

Wow, what a response… I never thought that I’d get so much… controversy. A lot of you seem to be confused as to why Liz is the way she is or why she’s perceived the way she is. To answer a couple of your questions in a foul swoop:

1) Liz is shy. Extremely so. She puts on a forbidding face to everyone in sundry (except Maria and Alex) in a vain attempt to get them to leave her alone. While she may not mean to frighten Max away, she does anyway by acting that way in public. She’s kinda trapped in a cycle. That is why everyone thinks that Liz is a bitch. As Michael said, she’s not cold, she’s shy.

2) Isabel’s reluctance to use Alex for Max and not Michael is brought on by many factors. I apologise for not being clear about them. One, Max has just brought to her attention how wrong it is to use Alex that way and to invade people’s personal feelings and thoughts. Two, Isabel has problems with Michael’s use of “drill him for info”. He’s her boyfriend, not her personal spy. She’d have no problem telling him when Maria’s birthday is, it’s the rest she doesn’t want to do.

Clueless- Yes, you won! Your prize is… a kiss from me! I’ll send it in the mail seeing as we’re in different countries.
Emz80m
Cassie
Spray- Oh, poor dear. Maybe next time you’ll win. Thankyou, glad you loved the banter, dialogue is what I love best.
Sternbetrachter- I don’t know, why doesn’t it? Lol
Aruwin x2
Eve
Alien_Friend
Laure
Tequathisy
Jamy21
Dreamer19
RASaero611
Ju- Glad to have you here hun. It’s in the Complete section Au w/o Aliens. Or you could go to my authors page to find the link. Whatever works for you.

Anyway, thankyou all for your feedback, welcome to all the newbies! Onto the next part, lets see what questions I can raise with this part.

“You remind me of the daughter your parents never had” is not mine, it was taken from Escape From Monkey Island 4. I wish it was mine though…

Part Four: A Scary Hermit With Twelve Cats

“Alright. I have everything needed for a girl’s-slash-token-male-friend’s night in.”

“Thanks Alex. You’re a gem.” Liz snuggled further into the couch and leaned her head on Maria’s shoulder as she waited for Alex to start the movie.

Liz and Maria were sitting curled on the couch wearing their skimpy pyjamas and sharing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.

Alex shoved in the DVD of ‘Love Actually’ and they all watched about half an hour before Liz paused it to get some sodas from the downstairs kitchen.

Alex took the opportunity to turn on Liz’s stereo which had ‘Promiscuous Girl’ by Nelly Furtado in it. He cranked the volume and began dancing wildly, grabbing Maria by the arms and twirling her around, causing her to giggle stupidly and try to outdo his crazy antics.

Outside Max, Isabel and Michael had just pulled up in the jeep and were planning to knock on the door to get Michael’s homework that he had accidentally left there after his shift.

Two weeks had gone by since he started and Michael was now well on his way to becoming fully efficient at his job. Maria, who claimed that Michael was the bane of her existence, had even softened to him slightly. Not that she would ever admit it.

Michael and the others exchanged glances as their knocking was quite obviously over powered by the music blaring in the Café.

Forced to whip out his work key, Michael opened the back door to the back room to find Liz dancing in the kitchen. Quite unaware that she was being watched, Liz was swinging her hips and singing into one of the ladles in the kitchen while she searched for the sodas in the fridge.

Promiscuous boy
You already know
That I’m all yours
What you waiting for?

The trio’s mouths dropped as they watched the reserved Liz Parker dance around sexily in her crop top and low slung pyjama bottoms. Finding the sodas she set them on the table and turned to dance her way back to the place where she had pilfered the ladle from.

Instead of carrying out her dance she screamed and dropped the ladle as she noticed the three people standing in the back room across from the kitchen.

Alex, hearing her scream, turned off the stereo in a hurry and rushed downstairs. Upon seeing what had freaked the normally composed Liz out, Alex burst into hysterical laughter as Liz’s face burnt beneath her hands.

“What is going on?”

Maria sauntered downstairs in her boyleg shorts and short singlet wondering what on earth was happening without her. Michael’s mouth dropped as he viewed Maria’s skimpy attire and was finding it difficult to breathe.

Maria took one look at the scene before her and shook her head, moving to stand in front of Liz who had stopped covering her face and was now attempting to cover her completely bare abdomen.

“Did you guys want something?”

Silence reined for a split second after Maria’s calmly stated question before Michael stuttered out, “H-Homework! I uh, left my… homework here and I don’t want to fail.”

“Right. Well, you’re free to go get it.”

Michael tore his eyes off Maria’s long legs and turned to his locker.

Izzy, who was smothering a laugh from the absurdity of the situation took pity on Liz and decided not to comment on her dancing, but rather turned to Alex with a devilish glint in her eye.

“Do you always stay over at girl’s houses while they saunter around in their nightwear, Alex?”

“Only when I see them as my sisters.” Alex replied smoothly, knowing that Izzy didn’t view either girl as a threat and was just toying with him.

Maria smiled at him and threw her arms around his middle, causing Michael to burn with jealousy.

“That’s so sweet Alex! You remind me of the daughter your parents never had.”

Izzy and Max both laughed at this while Michael’s rage died down considerably.

“Thanks. You’re doing wonders for my image here.”

“That’s ok. I thought I’d better do something to yours seeing as Liz’s Ice Queen image just thawed considerably.”

“DeLuca logic, ladies and gentlemen! Shaky at best,” exclaimed Alex with an amused shake of his head.

Maria turned to Michael who was holding his homework in his hand and waited expectantly.

Seeing his confused look, Maria rolled her eyes and pointed out to him, “You have what you came for. You may leave now. No male presence is allowed (except for Alex’s) when we have a girl’s night in.”

Catching Izzy’s look, she added, “And no girlfriends of our token male are allowed to attend. Sorry kids, but that’s the way it has to be.”

Waving her hands she shooed them to the door and as they were leaving Max took one last look in Liz’s direction.

Liz collapsed her head on Alex’s shoulder and groaned.

“They came in and I was dancing in the kitchen, Alex! Dancing! Not to mention singing into a soup ladle! Half naked! Oh, I am never going to live this down. I’m going to have to go into hiding! Will you come and visit me when I live up on a mountain as a scary hermit with twelve cats?”

Alex cocked his head to the side as if considering it and then asked seriously, “Will you smell?”

“Possibly.”

“No way, stinky pants! If you don’t bathe, there’s no dice!” Alex shook his head sadly, “And they say that Maria’s the unstable, hysterical one. None of those people who witnessed you dancing would tell anyone. And if they did they’d have to answer to… Alex! Master of kung fu!”

Alex added in a kick for their benefit while Maria shook her head slowly.

“I think I’d have a better chance of beating them up Alex. You fight like a wuss.”

“Harsh. I’m hurting here.”

Liz stopped the discussion and said, “Could we please just go upstairs and watch the movie before anybody else decides to crash our party?”

They trudged upstairs and Liz tried to block out the shocked look that had been on Max’s face when she had looked at him. He must have been so disturbed by her dancing, she was so ashamed of herself. It had been the most embarrassing moment of her life, bar none. If everybody at school knew on Monday, she was going to have to move countries.

***

“Told you. Nobody knows how good you can shake your ass.”

Maria and Liz were walking down the hall at school carrying their books and nobody had yet to look at her more than usual or laugh when they saw her.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am overreacting. Maybe they didn’t tell anyone.”

“What do you mean ‘maybe I’m right?’ I am right! They didn’t tell anyone, so chill.”

“Tell anyone what?” came a voice behind them.

Liz and Maria turned to see Tommy standing behind them with a smirk on his face.

“None of your business.”

Tommy stepped in closer to Liz causing her to back up with a disgusted look on her face.

“Come on now, Lizzy. When are you going to stop pretending that you don’t want me? This game’s getting a little old.”

“When are you going to get over yourself? Not every girl wants you Tommy! In fact a lot don’t!”

Liz turned and walked into her English class followed by a smug Maria who narrowed her eyes and poked out her tongue at Tommy who scowled and went off to his history class.

“When is that guy going to grow a brain? Three years of knock-backs and he still doesn’t get the picture!”

“He’s vain to the point of narcissism. Do you really expect that he’s just going to accept that a girl doesn’t want him?”

“I really hate it Maria. I hate having to be constantly on guard if he’s around in case he tries something. It’s not fair!”

Maria patted her on the back as she sat down in her seat.

“Life’s not fair, Liz. Now, shush! I’m here to learn!”

Liz smiled as Maria pretended to listen, Liz knew that she was in actual fact, scoping out where Michael was and what he was doing. Though she denied it vehemently, it was clear to everyone but Maria, that she liked him.

Liz had to hand it to him, he had cracked Maria DeLuca. Even though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone (not even to herself, Liz suspected), he had done it. It was now only a matter of time before they got together.

Now if she could only have that much luck with her own love life. Hardly. Max Evans would never notice her. He was far too nice and wonderful to be interested in an “Ice Queen”.

***

A/N The next part is rather... um... pointless. But the part after that is MUCH better, promise!

[Rowedog]

What are we up to? Part Five? Ok, cool.

Alright, I know I said the next part would be pointless, because I went over what I had and realised it wasn’t barely enough, it was merely transitional and ever so slightly teasing to make you wait a week for it. It contained no M/L interaction and it completely ignored Liz’s reaction to Max after he busted her dancing in the kitchen. So, after telling everyone that it was pointless, I went back and had a burst of inspiration and now this part is double the size (imagine how short it was before!). And in doing so, I’m hoping the next part is slightly less “pointless”.

I really should have been working on one of my three assignments due next week, but what can I say? I love you all too much to not deliver. Actually, I just really don’t want to reference and research about pedagogy. The first half was written in about one to two hours and it goes out to Clueless and Dreamerlaure and all my other happy dreamers. Thanks go to the thetvgeneral for so gracefully accepting the other half of my part after I’d already sent her the original part which was half the size. Isn’t she great? Look out for the next part, even MORE M/L interaction! *GASP*

Clue
Eve
Spray
Laure
Alien_Friend
Cassie
Aussietrueblue
Emz80m
Natalie36
Tequathisy
Addicted2AmberEyes
Mica
LizNdAlec4eva

Part Five: The First Ever High School Quarterback Beatnik

Later that day in Biology, Max sat next to Liz in their station and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She seemed nervous and on edge to him, usually she was a little tense in Biology but not to this extent. He hadn’t seen her since “the incident” and he could tell it was uppermost in her mind by the discomfiture expressed through her body language. He desperately wanted to reassure her that what had happened was fine, she didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about.

If anyone should be embarrassed, it was him. He’d barely been able to contain his body’s reaction to the sight of her toned stomach and golden flesh and sexy hips as she swung them back and forth… Max blinked out of his daze and adjusted the growing tightness in his pants. God dammit, he so did not need a boner in the middle of biology. He really should have a talk with his “other head” one of these days about the futility of standing to attention in public places. There was absolutely no way it was going to receive the… uh, attention it wanted in Biology.

“So…” Max tried to begin to reassure her that everything was ok and she didn’t have a reason to worry, “Do you know what we’re doing for our lab today?” but he chickened out.

Max mentally hit himself, but calmed down as he saw her tension ease slightly.

“Uh, yeah… I think we’re dissecting something. A rat, maybe.” Liz replied, her tone an attempt at nonchalance. God, she thought, this was fucking horrible. At least he hadn’t mentioned “the incident”. She’d die if he did. She just wanted the entire experience completely forgotten.

In a desperate attempt to ease her remaining nerves, Max asked the most random question he could think of, “Great, dissection… Do you ever feel like being that kid in the movie E.T. where you free the frogs and start a rebellion?”

Max’s question came so out of left field for Liz that she laughed. Max’s eyes widened as her guard momentarily slipped before him. God she was divine when she laughed, he thought, watching the way her eyes and nose crinkled and her head tilted back slightly.

“Not really, seeing as the rats we’ll be working on have been soaking in a jar of formaldehyde for about twenty years.” she replied, still chuckling lightly. She had been so keyed up over facing Max that the relief she felt over finding he wasn’t going to bring it up made her deliriously happy and too at ease to consider what she was doing.

Max smiled at her for the mere reason that she was smiling. Could it be that he, Max Evans, was conversing with Liz Parker? Perish the thought! This was too surreal for him to even contemplate.

“Damn, that throws a spanner in the works. How ever shall I gain my troublemaking reputation if I can’t even free the rats?”

Liz shrugged, still too euphoric from Max’s avoidance of her dancing to notice that she was actually talking to Max Evans without stuttering. “Maybe you could smoke pot in school, or beat up other kids for their lunch money.”

Max dismissed the idea with a shake of his head, “Too much effort,” he paused momentarily and then snapped his fingers, “I’ve got it! I’ll grow a goatee, dress in black and play the bongos in front of the Principal’s Office. The first ever high school quarterback beatnik.”

Liz burst into giggles again and asked with as much seriousness as she could muster, “Are you willing to listen to Jazz for extensive portions of your day? Because if you’re going to be true beatnik, you’ll have to actually listen to it.”

Max’s smile dropped and he turned to her with faux desperation that had her laughing again, “Say it isn’t so Parker! All my dreams are now ruined! Oh the world is cruel!”

Liz’s reply was cut short as Mrs. Hardy stormed into class. The class glanced at each other, either she had just got dumped or she was suffering major cramps.

“Rats are in the back closet. Equipment is on the front desk. The lab is on Page 212 of your text book. One rat per table. No fooling around or I’ll have you suspended.” Snapped Mrs. Hardy before sitting at her desk and writing something furiously on a loose leaf of paper.

Liz’s good mood dropped as Max went to fetch their equipment. The entire class was silent apart from whispered queries about the lab. None of the students were game to incur the wrath of Mrs. Hardy. The lady was an absolute demon when she was in a bad mood. Many a student had been reduced to tears because of her.

The disappearance of the immense sense of relief meant that Liz’s self consciousness came slamming home. She couldn’t believe that she had talked to Max Evans like that when only a few days ago she had made an absolute fool out of herself in front of him. He was probably just taking pity on her and pretending that nothing had happened because he was such a nice guy.

“Hey, here’s our rat. You’re right, by the way. It is too late to free him, poor little guy.” Max whispered, with a small smile. He frowned slightly when she wouldn’t look up at him.

“Thanks,” she replied coldly, opening her book at the designated page and beginning the necessary preparations. Liz began working intently, reading the lab’s explanation as if her life depended on it. She wouldn’t look up at him, she couldn’t. She tried to control her breathing in front of him, her lungs felt just as out of control as her heart. She couldn’t believe that she’d been joking with him so naturally beforehand. But she hadn’t been thinking about it then. Why, oh why couldn’t she have more than a two minute conversation with Max before her shyness kicked in and put her on the defensive?

Max’s frown deepened as she refused to look at him. Just what the hell had happened in the thirty seconds that he had gone to get the equipment? She was so cold now, when before… before she had been everything that Max had dreamed she would be, and more.

“Liz, is something wr-”

“Evans! Speak again and you’ll be in the Principal’s Office!” Max almost groaned at Mrs. Hardy’s interruption, but wisely kept his tongue. That lady was downright scary.

Max felt Liz’s withdrawal more and more as class went on and it puzzled him. More than that, it hurt him. Had she suddenly realised that she was talking to a jock? Was she embarrassed that she’d been seen talking and joking with him? The more time went by the more confused and hurt he got.

The bell rang for the end of the period and Liz rammed her books into her book bag in haste, preparing to flee. Max’s hand on her arm halted her progress towards the door. Turning to look at him, Liz bit her lip.

“Liz, what’s going on? You seem really… distant.”

Liz fought back a smile at his concerned tone, he seemed so sincere. She fumbled for the words to convey to him what was going on. He’d been so nice; it was just so hard after all these years of acting like a cold bitch when she felt nervous, embarrassed or shy to break the habit.

“It’s nothing… I just…” Liz pulled in a huge breath and prepared herself to talk about “the incident” openly, “thank you for not telling anyone about Saturday,” she whispered, awkwardly picking at her nails.

And with her peace being said, Liz turned and fled the classroom, leaving a very confused Max in her wake.

“What the hell?”

***

Two weeks later, Alex was over at Izzy’s house for a Friday night family “get to know Izzy’s boyfriend better” dinner.

Izzy and Alex were curled up on the couch together and Max sat on the recliner as they watched some random Bollywood movie.

As they all began dancing, Izzy started to laugh softly. Alex looked down at where her head was parked on his chest and asked, “What?”

“Liz pulled some of those moves when we busted her dancing in the kitchen.”

Alex laughed and rubbed Izzy’s back.

“She was so embarrassed. She was even considering moving countries. She asked me if I’d come visit her when she was a crazy, smelly hermit living on the side of a mountain with twelve cats.”

Izzy lifted her head and looked at Alex with surprise and then she and Max burst into laughter.

“She really said that? Who knew that Liz had a sense of humour?”

Alex looked at her oddly and shook his head. “Maria and I did. Why do you think we hang out with her?”

Izzy glanced sheepishly at him.

“I had wondered about that, actually. She just seems so forbidding.”

Alex sighed. “That’s because you don’t know her. You take some time to crack through her shell and she’s a complete softy, just like you. She only acts so forbidding because she’s shy.”

Izzy looked at him incredulously and shook her head in disbelief.

“No way! Blushing and stuttering constitutes shyness, not walking around as if you own the place and refusing to talk to people.”

Alex looked at her pointedly. “Works, doesn’t it? No one bothers to talk to Liz. She’s left in peace and only has to talk to her friends.”

Izzy’s eyes widened as she considered what Alex was saying.

“She’s actually shy? Not a cold bitch?”

“No way. Liz is really sweet. It’s only her inner poise that stops her from stuttering and blushing. She holds her head high and it stops most people from approaching her. Except for the asshole jocks who can’t take no for an answer.”

Iz nodded. “Feeling her pain there. Tommy hit on me again today. He thinks he’s god’s gift or something!”

Alex gritted his teeth. “Asshole. You have a boyfriend! What’s his deal?”

Max who had been listening intently from the other side of the room piped in with, “He’s in love with himself, so everybody else has to be too.”

Izzy grimaced. “Yuck. So does Liz know that she’s called “Ice Vagina” by the school?”

Alex nodded and laughed.

“If only they knew what I know. They’d be gobsmacked.”

“And what is that?”

“Nope, said too much. Find out yourself. Talk to her. I dare you.”

Izzy sat up and stretched. “Ok. I’ll talk to her, but you have to tell me what she thinks of me first. I don’t want to make an idiot out of myself by attempting to start up a conversation when she thinks I’m a moron or a slut or something.”

“Liz would never think that about you. In fact, she defended you when I started going out with you. Maria thought you were just going to play with my heart and that you were just a vapid, popular, pretty girl. She’s over it now because Liz came to your rescue and pointed out to Maria that you have more to lose from a relationship with me and it showed just how deeply you cared for me that you were willing to lose your social status. For a while there Liz was my champion, constantly defending my relationship with you from Maria when I wasn’t there. Liz confided in me once that she was really impressed with you and that she thought you were a keeper.”

Izzy smiled, happy at the fact that she had made a good impression on the seemingly cold Liz. Her smile faded as she considered Alex’s words more carefully.

“Maria thinks I’m vapid?”

“Thought. As in past tense. She likes you now. She says you’ve earned her good opinion by being with me way longer than she thought you would. But if you should break my heart, I don’t think there’s any power on earth that’ll stop her from throttling you.”

Izzy frowned. ‘Why does everyone assume that we’re not going to last?”

“We’re an odd couple. Most people can’t see the attraction for you.”

“When people ask me that, I just tell them that you’re dynamite in bed.” Replied Izzy flippantly.

Alex burst into loud laughter and Max cringed.

“Don’t worry Max. We haven’t done that… yet.”

To change the subject Izzy asked another Liz related question for her brother’s sake.

“So, does Liz like my friends? And by friends, I mean Max and Michael. Not Tess, or any of those other posers.”

Alex considered the question carefully before answering; he didn’t want to give Liz’s secret away. Even though he knew Max would be overjoyed, he couldn’t betray Liz’s trust, no matter how good the outcome could be.

“She definitely likes Michael. She’s in awe of him for cracking Maria’s hard heart. Plus, she thinks he’s a good guy. And Max…”

Max watched him intently from the other side of the room; he was both dreading and waiting impatiently for what Alex would say. He prayed that she would at least not hate him. He could handle indifference, but not hatred.

At that precise point in time the clock chimed in the hall and made Alex jump to his feet.

“Oh, no! Mom will kill me if I’m late home again! I have, like, fifteen minutes to get back. See you guys tomorrow! Thank your Mom for letting me come over again Izzy!”

And with a quick kiss on the lips for Izzy, Alex ran out the door.

Izzy sat down on the couch and sighed, “Sorry bro. I’ll get the info, don’t worry.”

Max shrugged and sighed, squashing his disappointment. “I’ll be ok, Iz. But thanks anyway.”

***

A/N: Next update the 8th of April

[Rowedog]

Hey there my lovely Mung-Beans,

I’m bored, it’s one o’clock in the morning thus making it the 8th already so I’m posting. I got my room back! I got back from uni and my grandpa was staying in it (I had no idea, somewhere along the way there was a communication break down) and I had to sleep in the living room. He was staying with us because my grandparents are getting separated and my grandma wanted a break from him because she’s hated him for at least the last thirty years (they’re like 80 something. It’s bizarre, I’m so glad we have very little to do with them).

Yay! I finished all three of my assignments! They were horrible, all due in the same week, 800, 1200, 1500 words respectively and research and referencing for all. Bah.
Happy Easter! Yay! Easter Holidays! Maybe I can catch up and post another fic in the… *gasp* CC section. We’ll see how we go.

*SHAMELESS PLUG* I have a new fic starting in the CC section, it’s called Space They Cannot Touch and it strays so far from what I normally write it’s not funny. Which brings me to my next point; it’s not funny. At all. It’s pretty lacking in the humour department, in fact it’s rather angsty if I do say so myself. My beta, Steph (thetvgeneral), convinced me to post it, so blame her if it’s crap, lol.*END SHAMELESS PLUG*

(Drum roll please) We have the part you have all been waiting ever sooooo patiently for (can you tell I’m being sarcastic?), I hope it lives up to your expectations. And look, it only took some minor pushing from Michael to make it happen!
Way to go Max! Go you good thing!

Whoa… so many replies… Thankyou all so much for your feedback, it truly made my week. I’m having a real sucky time in my life right now, so your support was greatly appreciated. I’m in such a foul/down mood I can’t even write anymore on this for fear of pulling down the light atmosphere with my sucking black hole of despair. Just kidding, I’m not that bad, I just don’t want to give it an angry or a sad edge.

I think I’ll go write my angsty, sad fic.

What? I can write angst! I swear I’m not all fluff! I’m not! Oh, nuts to this…

Uh oh, part seven is short… but the part after that is longer! I promise!

Hey there newbies! Smooches to the lurkers!

Katydid
Pandas2001
Addicted2AmberEyes
Jamy21
Alien_Friend
Spray- Aww, you can be my friend! You crack me up too. How very unfortunate that we live in different countries. Hmm, what a dilemma… last time I was in America I was in grade three and got third degree burns from not putting sunscreen on at the beach in Hawaii. I got ferking blisters from that! *grumble grumble*
Clueless x2- Lol, stop by any time you want
Erina
Cassie
Emz80m
Eve
Natalie36
Aussietrueblue
Tequathisy
Thetvgeneral- Whoa! Settle down crazy beta-lady! I take it back! I take it back! Glad you liked this part, hope you like the new part I sent you on Friday just as much. Oh, I’ll need your help later with deciding between two chapter headings. It’s Chapter Twelve and it’s killing me, Maria has two lines that are perfect for the heading and I want to use them both! Remind me when we get there, mmmkay? Hope you survived after the long synopsis of STCT I gave you yesterday! Do you know when Laure’s getting back from Massachusetts? I miss the girl, she’s gone MIA.
Mica
Blink1lit

Part Six awaits:

Part Six: Better To Be A Nun Than A Slut

Tess, Isabel, Max and Michael were sitting in the almost empty Crashdown the next morning, when after two minutes of covert staring at Liz, Michael thumped his fist on the table.

“Max! Dude! Just ask Liz out already! Seriously!”

From behind them Tommy leant over the back of his booth.

“Asking out old “Ice Vagina”? Why don’t you leave that one to a real man, Evans?”

Max looked up from his soda and ground out, “Let me know when a real man gets here.”

Tommy’s friends laughed and he turned around and glared at them to get them to shut up. Tess took this interval to give her opinion.

“I don’t know why anyone would even want to be with her anyway. She’s a nun for god’s sake!”

Izzy stared her down and replied nastily, “Better to be a nun than a slut,” and then turned back to her breakfast.

Michael turned to Max. “Do you really want to look back on your life and regret never asking Liz out because you were too afraid? You never know dude, she might say yes. If she says no, then at least you’ll know. It’s easier to get over than never trying. You’ll never forgive yourself for not taking the chance.”

Max stared at Michael and with a strange new feeling coursing through his veins, he stood.

“I’ll do it.”

Michael and Izzy wished him luck and sighed with relief that Max would finally know whether Liz wanted him or not.

Before his resolution dropped he made his way over to the empty counter and stood in front of Liz who was drying glasses. She looked up and stared at him before asking slowly, “Did you want something, Max?”

“Uh yeah, actually.”

All those imagined speeches he had made up whilst lying in bed deserted him. He couldn’t remember anything he had always planned to say to her when he finally asked her out. Why was this so hard? He tried to rationalise it. It was just a date. She was just a girl. But it didn’t work. She wasn’t just a girl. She was Liz. His heart was beating very fast and his mouth was dry. How on earth was he going to do this?

“Um, I wanted to ask you something.”

Liz looked at him with hope burgeoning deep inside her. He couldn’t be asking her out… could he?

“Ok…”

“Look, I know you don’t know me very well, but I feel like I know you and I’ve been watching you for a while -not that I’m a stalker or anything- but I really like you, you’re really beautiful and smart and I don’t think you’re an ice princess at all. And I just wanted to know if you’d want to go out with me sometime? On a date?”

His words came out in a rush after that and he felt like he couldn’t stop them, he felt certain that he had convinced her that was a babbling idiot and commanded himself to stop.

He took a deep breath in and raised his eyes prepared to see her laughing at him. Instead she was looking at him in shock. She hadn’t suspected that this was going to happen.

Maybe he should give her more time to think about it.

“I mean, you don’t have to answer straight away, I can wai-”

“Yes.”

Max looked at her in shock, he replayed her answer over and over in his head and waited for it to make sense.

Finally, after a couple of moments of confusion, he repeated her answer.

“Yes?”

“Yes. I would like to go out with you,” She looked at the ground and blushed as she added, “I mean, if this wasn’t a dare from your friends or something and you do actually want to go out…”

“No!” Max shot out quickly and then explained hastily at Liz’s hurt expression, “No, this wasn’t a dare from my friends. I do actually want to go out with you.”

Liz’s smile returned and she asked, “When?”

Max hadn’t thought that far ahead and couldn’t think of a time, “Uh, Well… I’m not busy tonight-”

“Me neither. Can you pick me up here at six?” Liz was a little shocked at her boldness but she noted that Max didn’t seem to mind. In fact he seemed a little relieved that she was taking charge.

“Six it is. I’ll see you here.”

“Great. See you then.”

Liz turned jerkily and headed out the door to the back room, resisting the urge to jump for joy.

Max headed back to his booth and sat down still trying to process what had happened. His brow was furrowed as he replayed the conversation in his head. Did he just imagine that?

Tommy grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. “Bad luck dude, guess she needs a real man.”

Izzy heaved out a breath and patted Max’s hand sympathetically. “I’m so sorry Max. But at least now you know… right?”

Alex appeared at their table and greeting Izzy with a kiss sat down and asked what was going on.

Michael frowned and replied with an uneasy look at Max who was sitting in stunned silence, “Max just asked Liz out.”

Alex grinned. “That’s great.”

“No it’s not. She said no.”

“What?!”

Alex looked at Michael incredulously and then heaved a sigh of relief as Max answered quietly, “Actually, she said yes. I have to pick her up here at six.”

Max’s statement caused everyone to stop and stare at him. Tommy’s face was priceless, he looked positively stricken.

“She said yes? The “Ice Vagina” said yes to you and no to me? I don’t believe it!”

As everyone around them exclaimed their disbelief, Alex took pity on Max and interrupted them by asking him calmly what he planned to do with Liz on their date.

Max shook his head, still in disbelief over her answer, and replied, “I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought past her saying no.’”

As he said this, it hit him that he had a date with his dream girl! A huge grin plastered itself on his face and Alex was relieved to see it.

“I was wondering why you didn’t seem more happy about it. Were you still in shock?”

Isabel turned to look at Alex who didn’t seem at all fussed about the news that his friend who accepted dates from no one had accepted one from her brother.

“You knew, didn’t you? That Liz would say yes if Max asked her, you knew!” Izzy interrogated him once they were alone, walking back to Alex’s from the Crashdown.

Alex smiled knowingly at her.

“Well duh! She is one of my best friends after all.”

“Why would she say yes to a date with Max?”

“I think Max should learn the answer to that question before his sister does. Patience Obi Wan. All will be revealed in good time.”

Izzy huffed out a sigh in frustration, but respected Alex’s decision to remain silent. She would just have to wait.

***

“He didn’t! Is there something wrong with the Evans clan that makes them shop outside their own circles?”

Liz rolled her eyes at Maria’s theatrics and replied exasperatedly, “Maria, it’s not like Alex and I are complete social outcasts! And besides, this is not helping me! What am I gonna wear, what am I gonna say? What if I can’t stop stuttering? What if he thinks I’m boring?”

“I’ll find out and kick his ass.”

Maria paused for a second and then added thoughtfully, “You know this will be your first ever date, not just with Max but within the entire male species?”

Liz stared at her with exasperation. “You’re not helping here!”

Maria nodded and started to pace. “You’re right, clothes, clothes, clothes. What should Lizzy wear? Let’s take a look at your closet after your shift, ok? You will have two and a half hours to get ready. That should be enough time and with me helping we should get by.”

Liz’s chest heaved with relief and thanked her profusely.

“Yeah, yeah! I know I’m wonderful. I can’t believe the state things are coming to. First Alex and Isabel and now you and Max. Does the social hierarchy in our school count for nothing? Before you know it, Michael will be asking me out on dates and Tess will be dating the science dork!”

Liz smothered a laugh at Maria’s almost prophetic statement. Besides the whole Tess thing, she was pretty much spot on. She was in for a shock.

Liz’s shift ended and after much debate, Liz and Maria decided on a simple, yet gorgeous black dress that Liz thought that she would never get to wear.

Next came shoes and accessories while Maria pretended to be Max asking her questions. They were very unhelpful as Maria couldn’t remain serious and ended up asking all sorts of ridiculous questions which may not have prepped Liz for her date very well, but did make her laugh and relax a little. Half an hour before her date, Alex showed up. Liz saw him and rushed over to him giving him a quick hug.

“Alex! Did you hear? Max asked me out on a date!”

Alex took one look at Liz’s glowing face and smiled. “Yes, I heard! I came into the Crashdown right after he did it. He was still in shock over your answer.”

Liz looked at him with curiosity.

“Why would he be in shock over my answer?”

“Well, because you’ve never dated before. You barely acknowledge his presence and have never sought him out to have a conversation.” Alex stated calmly.

“I acknowledge his presence!”

“Oh, you know what I mean. Anyway, there’s a big crowd downstairs consisting of Tommy and his goon friends waiting with bets on to see if you’ll stand him up or if this was just a joke.”

“That’s horrible!” cried Liz, her anxiety growing with the possibility of a confrontation between her and Tommy. She already had a date with Max to worry about. Luckily for her, her embarrassment from “the incident” in her kitchen was almost forgotten, so she wouldn’t have that hanging over her head like the last time she talked to Max. But with the added stress of a possible confrontation, Liz was on the verge of a hysterical breakdown.

Alex shrugged. “That’s Tommy. I’ll stand watch and I’ll get Max to come in the back room when he arrives and you can meet him there.”

Liz sighed with relief and replied happily, “Thanks Alex. You’re the greatest!”

“Don’t I know it!”

***

A/N: Next part 15th of April, sorry, it’s short, but the part after that is way longer!

[Rowedog]

Are we really into the seventh week of Never In Doubt? Wow, where has the time gone? How many parts do I have in my reserves before I have to start writing again?
*Checks* Aww crap!

I hate my computer, it made me lose my beta’d chapters, so I had to go searching through my inbox for them again. I found them though! Don’t worry!

I fear I may be retarded.

I sent my beta, Steph, the first three parts of Space They Cannot Touch to beta and I wrote the first part as the epilogue. Anyone who writes a prologue and labels it “epilogue” clearly doesn’t deserve life. Has anyone else done that or am I alone in my stupidity?

Sorry, the actual date is in the next part and that part is a lot longer, I promise!

Thankyou for all the feedback, we authors truly appreciate it, it inspires us to write more.
Hugs and bunnies to the lurkers! Kisses to fb’ers!

Clue x2- You’re welcome, what would I have done without you for Wasted Time, huh?
Spray- Phooey?! Yeah, that’s it. Laugh at my pain. I can’t remember where else we went in America(I was seven), but I do remember that we went to Hawaii and Disneyland. Good times. Yeah, I think everyone’s a bit grateful for Michael right now, I think Max and Liz owe him their first born.
Natalie36
Alien_Friend
Thetvgeneral
Laure-

since when am I a happy dreamer...what tipped you off?

Oh, gee, I dunno… Could it be that you’re reading my fluffy fic based on Max and Liz, the happy dreamers? Plus, we talk way too often.
Aussietrueblue
Aruwin- Why do I only post one chapter at a time? Because I haven’t finished my fic yet, basically. If I gave you all I had and then had writers block you’d have to wait a long time for the next part. Wouldn’t you rather wait a week than two months for an update? Besides, I like being a regular updater (unlike others I could mention, yeah, I’m talking to you Spray! Lol). I’m glad you’re enjoying my fic so far. These earlier chapters were a lot of fun to write.
Emz80m
Blink1lit
Eve
Omwf- Some people are naturally shy while others are naturally confident. Liz is just at the extreme end of the spectrum I guess. Just out of curiosity, does your screen name stand for anything? I’m nosey, you don’t have to answer me, I was just curious.
Jamy21
Stars at Night10
Behralicious87- Lol, I’ll see what I can do for you.

Here you go gentle readers:

Part Seven: More Power To You

Max waited nervously downstairs for Liz as he talked to Liz’s father. After reassuring him that she would be in good hands, Jeff went to oversee the Crashdown and left Max to pace downstairs.

Alex rejoined him downstairs and attempted to calm Max down so he didn’t make a fool out of himself in front of Liz. Liz’s entrance caused both male heads to pop up and for one to stare in awe and the other to covertly remind him that there were flies in the room so he should shut his mouth.

Liz looked stunning as she walked slowly on her heels down the stairs. Unused to them she felt it was very wise to walk slowly.

Catching sight of Max, she beamed at him as her heart raced. Max’s grin grew as he noticed her smiling at him. She reached the bottom of the stairs and Alex coughed breaking both the silence and the moment.

“Ok, you crazy kids have fun. Go out the back so that Tommy and his friends don’t follow you. I’ll catch you later Liz.” Alex added the last part with a specific look to Liz and climbed the stairs where he almost ran into Maria who was spying from the top. He joined her and they both watched as Max and Liz began their date.

“Wow… Liz. You look, uh, gorgeous.”

Liz smiled and hid her blush and replied, “Thanks, you look great too.”

After an awkward pause Liz asked, “So… where are we going?”

Max smiled nervously at her, “I thought we could go out to dinner, I’ve made reservations at Senior Chow’s, and then we could go stargazing if it’s not too cold or wet. But if not the contingency plan is a movie. If that’s ok with you, of course.”

Liz smiled at his choice of words and asked teasingly, “Contingency?”

Max gave half of an embarrassed laugh, “I watch too many spy and army movies I guess. Oh, I got you something. I overheard you once tell Alex that you liked white roses. I hope that’s still true.”

Liz gasped as he pulled from behind his back a large bouquet of a dozen white roses.

“They’re-they’re beautiful! Th-thankyou.” Stuttered Liz as she received them, she inhaled their scent and then looked around for a vase to put them in. At this point Maria came scurrying down the stairs from her hiding spot.

“I’ll find a vase for them. You two have fun!” scurrying back up the stairs she watched, impressed as Max gave her his arm and led her out the door.

She turned to Alex in the back room, after she had found a vase for Liz’s flowers and had deposited them in her room.

“Now he didn’t do too badly. Much better than I thought he would anyway. The jock’s got some serious memory skills; I can’t believe he remembered her favourite flowers.”

Alex shrugged; holding up his hands and gave her an I-told-you-so stare.

“See, I knew he liked her! He remembered something from a conversation that she’d had in passing, that’s not just something you remember. He was just shy and wasn’t sure if she’d like him back.”

“That remains to be seen. If either of the Evans duo hurt my buds, I’ll be getting my black belt out. Make sure that they know this, Alex.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “And if we hurt them?”

“More power to you.”

Alex laughed and shoved her through the door attracting the attention of the jocks who were still waiting for either Liz’s or Max’s appearance through the doors.

“Hey, Whitman! Is Liz standing him up or what?” called Tommy from over by the booths.

“What? No, they left about ten minutes ago. They said something about going bowling I think.”

Tommy and his goons leapt to their feet and charged out the door. Maria laughed and punched Alex’s shoulder.

“You are so evil! The nearest bowling alley is half an hour away from here!”

Alex smiled wickedly. “A fact that I am very comfortable with.”

Alex’s smile grew wider as he viewed Izzy and Michael coming through the Crashdown door. Maria sighed and pretended to look irritated about Michael’s presence. Maria rolled her eyes as Izzy and Alex kissed. Michael raised an eyebrow at her, obviously amused by her reaction.

“Ugh, I’m going to be surrounded by couples when Liz and Max get together. It’s going to be more face sucking than I can handle.”

Isabel interrupted her greeting to Alex to face Maria. “You think that they’ll become a couple? Like with actual kissing and dates and stuff?”

Maria shrugged. “If your brother keeps on giving her white roses and he doesn’t stuff this date up too much, then yeah. I don’t think there’s any reason that they wouldn’t get together. Unless Max isn’t keen…”

Isabel stared at her in surprise. “What do you mean ‘unless Max isn’t keen?’ Have you got eyes? He stares at her all day long and he was absolutely stoked when she said yes. I would have thought that it’d be Liz who wasn’t interested.”

Maria bobbed her head in semi-agreement. “You would think that… If you didn’t know Liz very well. Believe me, there’s interest there.”

Isabel looked stunned by the new information. Liz liked her brother? The Ice Vagina liked her brother? That was odd. She never would have picked that, Liz didn’t show any interest at all and barely spoke to her brother, even when they were partners in Biology.

“How can you tell?” Izzy asked with curiosity leading the group to a booth where she and Alex sat adjacent to Michael and Maria.

“She gets a bit red and speaks less when you mention Max’s name in public. Not that she talks much in public, but there’s a definite reduction. That and she’s told me how she feels about every guy in our year. All signs point to yes.”

“Alex told me that she’s shy. Is that why she’s never outwardly shown any interest?”

“Pretty much. Deathly shy actually, but don’t tell anyone, she’d rather have your contempt than your pity.”

Izzy nodded and was thankful that her brother was also aware that she was shy; hopefully he shouldn’t mistake her silence for boredom.

***

Next Update 22nd of April, it's way bigger I promise!

[Rowedog]

Here you go! The date we’ve all been waiting for! Well, I didn’t have to wait and neither did Laure, and Steph got the part early… anyway, that’s beside the point. Enjoy!
Ooooh! “I just died in your arms tonight” just came on the radio, catch you all later! *Alison starts dancing round the room shaking her bon-bon, singing* “Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight, it must have been something you said…”

Spray
Laure
Tequathisy
Blink1lit
Eve
Alien_Friend
Aussietrueblue
Clue
Behralicious87
Erina
Emz80m
Natalie36
Steph- You feeling 100% better yet hun? You gotta hate being sick...

Part Eight: So Glad We’re Out Of The Denial Stage

“No way! You can’t be serious? I knew you never dated anyone from our school, but we all just assumed you went out with outsiders. You’re so beautiful, how could you not have gone on a date before?”

Max and Liz had been at the restaurant for half an hour and despite some awkward pauses, they were getting along well. The topic of first dates had been brought up and Max had dug out his horror of a date, before enquiring who her first date had been, which had led to the next question.

Liz chewed slowly, blushing from Max’s compliment and reflecting on her choice of words carefully. Swallowing, she then said, “I’ve never wanted to before.”

Max stiffened at her words and then grinned. “I’m very flattered then.”

Liz waved her hand dismissing it and then asked, “So what was the last date you went on?”

Max looked at her thoughtfully, “Willingly?”

“You went on one unwillingly?”

Max grimaced and took a sip from his water glass. “Tess invited me over to study. I got there and it was obvious that she didn’t want to study.”

“Oh?”

“Most people don’t study by candle light or wear a lacy negligee. I was forced to excuse myself by pretending that my mother was sick. Izzy thought it was hilarious.”

Liz looked at him with sympathy. “I guess that beats my story of meeting a guy in the library to help him with French, only to find that he was more interested in French-kissing. He didn’t take too kindly to being slapped.”

Max sat back in his chair and whistled. “Some people, huh?”

Liz nodded and ate some more of her ravioli.

Max looked thoughtfully at her for a moment and then leaning forward he asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you accept a date with me? Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad that you did, it’s just that you don’t seem to notice me at school or even talk to me, so I was just wondering… why?”

Liz stiffened and then took a calming breath inwards. She was going to be honest with him, mostly. She had long ago decided that if she and Max ever had a chance that she would give it everything she had.

“You’re wrong.”

“Huh?”

“I do notice you. I notice the Max who stands up for his sister and respects her choice of boyfriend even though he’s not “cool”. I notice the Max who will help people when they drop their books. I notice the Max who will approach the new kid when they look lost and help them find where it is that they need to go. I see you, Max. You may not think that I do, but I do.”

Max sat in stunned silence for a moment then recollected himself and smiled at her.

“Thank you,” He whispered gently.

“For what?” asked Liz in slight puzzlement.

“For giving me one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.”

Liz smiled at him. “I’d say ditto, but with no comparison, it means very little.”

“Just tell me that I’m better than the library guy and I’ll be content.”

“That I can do. You are about a million times better than the library guy. It was a satisfying day when I learnt that he failed French,” Liz smiled as she reflected on the memory.

Max smiled with her. “I’ll bet.”

They finished their dinner and drove out to the desert to look at the stars. They spent the next half an hour making up their own constellations and laughing at the stupidity of some of their suggestions.

Max was pleasantly surprised by how warm Liz was once you got to know her by herself. He hoped they wouldn’t return to normal once school started again. Maybe if he got her to agree to a second date she would be less inclined to ignore him again… how to go about it…

Returning from his errant thoughts, Max asked Liz about her childhood, a topic he was desperate for information on as he had never heard her mention where she was from or what she was like.

He learned that she lived in Albuquerque until her father had bought the Crashdown from the previous owners. Her best friend had been her cousin Kyle and she hadn’t been considered an Ice Queen because she had grown up with all the people from her school and everyone was familiar with each other.

Plus, Kyle’s acceptance and friendship meant that she was accepted everywhere.

“Do you miss it?”

Liz considered the question and replied, “You know, I’ve never been asked that question before. I miss Kyle and melting into the woodwork, but I couldn’t go back. Not now. I guess there are just too many people and things that I’d miss.”

Liz looked at him shyly and he wondered if she would miss him. He hoped that she would.

Taking the opportunity of silence, Max bit the bullet. Taking a deep breath in he looked at her and said, “Liz, I’ve had a really great time tonight and I was wondering if you’d like to go out again sometime. It’s cool if you don’t but I just thought I’d give it a shot.”

Liz’s heart grew so big in her chest that she felt sure it would burst.

“I’d like that. A lot. I guess we’d better get back before I miss my curfew and Dad tries to have you killed,” Liz added the last part reluctantly.

Max sat in shock for a second after she said yes, then broke into a grin and began helping her pack up their stuff.

Driving back, both threw glances at each other hoping that the other wouldn’t notice.

When they stopped, Liz fumbled with her seatbelt giving Max ample time to open her car door for her and help her out of the jeep. Grateful for the assistance and shocked by the skin to skin contact Liz beamed up at him, forgetting all about her shyness and her fear that he’d be frightened away if he saw how much she liked him.

Max smiled back at her and led her to the back door of her house. He stopped there and turned to her.

“I had a really great time tonight, Liz.”

“Me too.”

They stood in awkward silence and both could hear their hearts beating in their chest and wondered if the other could hear. Max wondered if he should kiss her and Liz wondered if he was going to kiss her. Max considered all the impossible things that had happened today, Liz accepting not one but two dates with him and decided that he should see just how far his luck took him and stepped forward slowly to kiss her.

Liz looked up at his imposing figure with her heart in her throat. Apart from a couple of games of spin the bottle before she moved, she had never really kissed a guy before. She hoped Max wouldn’t care if she wasn’t good at it.

Max leant down testing her reactions and waited for her to pull away. When she didn’t, he leaned in even closer and softly kissed her.

Liz’s heart began to beat wildly and she felt short of breath. She ran her hands up his body and rested them on his shoulders clutching his shirt in her hands. Max mistook the move for an attempt to push him away and went to break off the kiss but Liz pulled him back by his shirt.

Emboldened and shocked by the move, Max grasped Liz’s waist and deepened the kiss. Liz’s response awed him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lead her in their kiss.

He could barely think as Liz’s body pressed against his and her tongue caressed his. A kiss had never felt like this for him. His head was spinning and he couldn’t believe that he was actually kissing Liz and she was kissing him back. This had to be one of the best moments of his life.

He eventually pulled away as he considered that they must be close to Liz’s curfew and he didn’t want her to get grounded or banned from seeing him. He wanted to make a good impression on her parents.

Liz looked at him with confusion, still dazed from his kiss. Why did he stop?

Max took a deep breath in, trying to clear his head and lower his rapid heart beat. Seeing Liz’s questioning look, he smiled.

“Your curfew? I don’t want to get you grounded. How could I take you out again?”

Liz smiled. “When?”

“How does the same time next week sound?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you there. Oh, and Max?”

Max who had been turning to leave spun back around, “Yeah?”

“Thank you, for tonight.’

“You’re welcome.”

Liz turned and headed inside, closing the door behind her and then sinking against it as she fought back a girly squeal. Max had kissed her! She flew past her parents and yelled “Goodnight!” as she ran into her room.

***

Liz was about to throw herself on her bed and spend a good amount of time lying there reflecting on her date when she noticed Maria and Alex sitting on her bed looking at her with expectant eyes.

“Well?” drawled Maria slowly.

“I just had the BEST night of my life!” she squealed as she threw herself between them on the bed.

“That good, huh?” asked Alex with amusement.

“He was so insanely perfect! And… he kissed me goodnight!”

Maria high-fived her. “Nice work hoochy mama! Five points for slutty Liz. Ten if you used tongue.”

Maria watched Liz blush guiltily and her eyes widened.

“Oh, you did! That’s great!”

Alex laughed loudly, thrilled that things had gone so well for Liz’s date with her dream guy.

“Go Liz! If only the guys at school could see you now!”

Liz rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what they think! I’m far too happy to wonder what Tommy would think if he knew that I kissed Max Evans with tongue on our first date.”

Alex looked at her questioningly. “I’m assuming because you defined it as the first date and because you kissed him so passionately a few moments ago that you have a second date?”

Liz nodded and Maria shrugged and heaved out a sigh, “And here it comes. I lose another best friend to the boyfriend-girlfriend abyss. Great…”

Liz patted her hand soothingly and added cryptically, “I get the feeling you’ll be joining us very soon Maria.”

Maria looked offended. “What are you implying?”

Alex gave her a completely innocent look before replying, “Nothing… *cough*MichaelGuerin*cough*”

Maria’s mouth dropped open, but she couldn’t hide her blush.

“Are you two delusional? I can’t stand the man!”

“Yeah, you can’t stand being near him because you want to jump his bones so badly.”

Maria whacked Alex across the top of the head.

“Ow, wench! What was that for?”

“For implying that I have feelings, sexual or other wise over Michael Guerin! He’s… I… we… it’s just impossible.”

Liz looked at Alex and shrugged as she turned back to face Maria. “Ok. I’ll have to let Michael know that his affection is in vain and to give up his pursuit of you.”

“Michael Guerin has not been pursuing me!”

“As far as you know. You are so blind Maria.”

“Michael Guerin does not have feelings for me!”

“Oh so he lied to me, did he? I’ll have to let him know that I’m very upset with him. I can’t stand liars.”

Maria grabbed Liz’s arm and asked heatedly, “Did he tell you that he has feeling for me?”

Liz shrugged nonchalantly and tried to ignore Maria’s death grip on her arm.

“More or less. What do you care? You don’t return those feelings so whether or not he has them is irrelevant”

Maria loosened her hold on Liz’s arm and pleaded with her.

“Please Liz, will you just tell me what he said?”

“Do you admit that you have feelings for him?”

Maria took a deep breath in and shot out a hurried “Yes.”

Liz grinned at her. “So glad that we’re out of the denial stage. What Michael said to me and I quote, was…”

***

Next Update 29th of April

[Rowedog]

I’m changing my posting day from Sunday to Wednesday for this fic. Why? Because I can and I get bored during the middle of the week, so up she goes! But hey, it means you get this part early. Next part um… 2nd of May. Short part, but the next part is slightly more fruitful.

Thank you to all feedbackers! I think I've got you all down there... I think I almost missed a couple last week. Felt very, very ashamed of myself. Hugs to the lurkers!

Steph- Hmm, Maria and Michael? I’ll see what I can do for you… I do promise that there is at least one part coming up that is completely candy-centred.
Laure
Tequathisy
Alien_Friend- That’s my aim, to make you smile! Although I do have plans for this fic in the future that may not make you smile, rather raise your fist and shake it at the screen…
Eve
Omwf
Spray- Must you always start feedback in this fic by laughing at me? I’m beginning to feel slightly offended… Lol, kidding, love ya. Glad you liked the date and Maria’s emergence from the denial stage, I had that scene in my head for AGES.
Natalie36
Clue- You know me, gotta have my banter .
Emz80m
Mica
Aussietrueblue
Behralicious87
Stars at Night10
Roswell4life- Thanks, glad you like .
LizNdAlec4eva

Part Nine: Get Out Your Tutu, Tinkerbell

Max watched Liz disappear inside her house and felt like screaming at the top of his lungs, “I KISSED LIZ PARKER AND I LOVE HER!”

He restrained himself from that but that didn’t stop him from jogging to his car with light feet, punching the air and shouting “YES!” silently under his breath a few times.

He reached his house and stopped by the hallway mirror surreptitiously checking for any of Liz’s lipstick, he had cleaned most of it off in the car but he wanted to be sure. He went to walk past the kitchen but was halted by Izzy who demanded that he get his butt in the kitchen and spill.

He leant against the bench and eyed Izzy and Michael warily all the while grinning. He couldn’t stop smiling if he tried.

“So how did your date go?”

“Great.”

Izzy bit back a sarcastic remark at his monosyllabic response.

“So what did you do?”

“Dinner, stargazing. Talked, mostly.”

Izzy’s frustration grew even further. “Talked about what?”

“Stuff.”

As Izzy groaned with annoyance, Michael took over the questioning.

“Forget that stuff, man. Tell me about the end of the night. Did you kiss her?”

Max shrugged. “Sorry Michael. Real men don’t kiss and tell.”

“So there was kissing involved!”

Max’s face, though he tried to hide it, grew red and he looked away guiltily.

“You did! You kissed Liz Parker! The so-called Ice Queen!”

Izzy looked impressed. “On a first date? Wow, that’s so… forward. Of both of you!”

Michael took Max’s silence as a desire not to reveal more and asked, “Did you use tongue?”

Max’s face burned and he hid his face in his hands and groaned as Michael cheered.
“I knew it! I knew Liz would melt with the right man! Way to go Max!”

Izzy’s mouth dropped open and she muttered quietly to herself, “I guess Maria and Alex were right. She does like him.”

Michael grinned as he slapped Max on the back.

“This is so awesome man! When are you going out again?”

“Same time next week.”

“A second date. Must be love.”

Max groaned and shook his head again, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, something like that,” he muttered as he turned to head up the stairs.

“Sweet dreams, Maxie! Don’t dream too much about Liz!”

***

Liz spent the next day with her head in the clouds as she waited impatiently for her shift to end. Around the lunchtime rush, Tommy and his goons came in. Liz swapped tables with Maria and ignored every attempt Tommy made to ask her about her date with Max.

She didn’t feel the need to cheapen what she had experienced by rehashing it with Tommy and his dopey friends. She was far too happy to let them try and ruin her good mood.

Her smile widened unconsciously when she saw Max and his gang enter the Crashdown about half an hour after Tommy’s goons arrived. She blushed as she caught Max’s eye, but continued to hold his gaze until Maria bumped into her and reminded her that staring was not part of her job.

Refocussing her mind, Liz grabbed her order pad and made her way over to them, only to be intercepted by Tommy and his friends. Liz halted and waited for them to move, whilst rolling her eyes. When they didn’t, Liz asked with disdain, “Would you move, please?”

Tommy flicked his eyebrows at her suggestively after looking her up and down, and then in a suggestive voice that added to Liz’s unease and nausea, asked, “So… when are we going out, Liz?”

Liz’s disgust grew and she felt anxious from the stares they were getting. She couldn’t stand being the centre of a scene. “In your dreams,” Liz stated with disgust and no hint of the inner turmoil she was experiencing. She was very adept at hiding her emotions.

“Oh no baby. In my dreams we don’t date, we just get straight down to fuc-”

“Is there a problem here?”

Max’s voice cut in and effectively stopped Tommy’s disgusting revelation. Liz could have thrown herself at him right then and there if she wasn’t so aware of all the people staring at them.

She smiled gratefully at him and then spun her head back to stare at Tommy in disbelief when he replied, “No, there’s no problem here, Evans. Liz and I were just planning on when we were going to get together and have some fun.”

Liz’s ire exploded at his smug tone and turned to Max to vehemently deny Tommy’s claim. She stopped when she saw Max’s amused look.

“Sure Tommy. The day you have a chance with Liz Parker is the day I sprout wings.”

Tommy’s face darkened and Liz edged closer to Max until she reached his side.

“Well, get out your tutu, Tinkerbell, because one day I will have her.”

“Is that so?” asked Max with all amusement gone from his tone, “you do realise that Liz finds you repulsive?”

Tommy’s face took on an angry, venomous look as he stared at Max, “You think you’re such top shit, don’t you Evans? What makes you think you stand any more of a chance with her?”

Liz cut in and interrupted Max’s retort at this point. “Oh gee, maybe because I’ve agreed to go on a second date with him?” she replied caustically, angry beyond all reason at Tommy’s stupidity.

“Liz, what’s going on here?” asked Mr. Parker from behind the group. Tommy’s eyes widened with fear and Liz felt her frown grow into a smirk.

“Tommy and his friends were just leaving, Daddy,” she replied easily, all the while keeping her eyes on Tommy whose scowl increased as he muttered, “Yeah, we’re going,” before turning on his heel and striding out the door.

“Thanks Dad. Excellent timing as always,” Liz said as she felt the tension drain from her body. Max watched as she sat on a bench seat and ran a shaky hand over her face. He had gleaned from his date with her that she hated confrontation and people staring at her. He forgot his anger towards Tommy and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder.

“You ok?” he asked gently, whilst massaging her shoulder lightly. Liz smiled and nodded up at him, only to have their moment interrupted by her Dad.

“Lizzy, what happened here?”

Liz shrugged and replied, “Nothing too bad. Just a guy who can’t take no for an answer,” when she saw the concern in her father’s face, she rushed to add, “It’s nothing I can’t handle, he’s pretty harmless. He’s just a jerk, and besides Max was here.”

Jeff nodded, only slightly relieved and clapped Max on the shoulder, “Thanks Max.”

Max blinked as Jeff strode away and then turned his attention back to Liz who caught a glimpse of the time.

“Shoot! My shift’s over and I have to get changed and then go get Maria. We’re going to the mall. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” Liz didn’t wait for an answer after her quick explanation. She stood up kissed Max’s cheek, whispered, “Thank you,” then fled out into the back room.

Max blinked a couple of times, adjusting to her sudden departure before rejoining Isabel and Michael at their booth. Laughing lightly, Max shook his head at the way things had turned out. He had come in for a burger and to talk to Liz and neither had occurred. And now he’d have to rehash that dramatic little scene with his friends who were waiting expectantly for him to begin. He sighed and began retelling the story. He wondered when his life had become so dramatic, but at least life would never be boring with Liz around.

***

Next Update 2nd of May

[Rowedog]

Wow gentle readers, I seem to have elicited quite a fierce response from you. Everyone hates Tommy. Just as I suspected you would. Now, just to be clear, I get to be president of the “We Hate Tommy” Club because I hated him first while I was writing him. Just like I got to be president of the “We Love Eric” Fan Club. What can I say? I’m power hungry!

It’s late here, but tomorrow will be busy so I’m posting this around midnight. The next part is short but it should make up for it in content... maybe...

Urgh... I feel like I have a hair down the back of my throat. Just thought I'd share.

Clue
Steph- No, that’s just your medication talking.
Eve
Behralicious87- I think that’s totally do-able, lol. Tights…? Oh *drool*
Tequathisy
Roswell4life
Alien_Friend- Tommy? An annoying creature? No… he’s really sweet deep down. A big ol’ teddy bear. Ha ha.
Natz
Jessiebelle47
Mica
Spray-

Although, I did have a little nagging tug in the back of my mind of Tommy either going after Liz or Max. Hmm...?

Spray! I’ve told you before! Stop reading my mind you goon! You have to stop with the whole ESP thing. It’s creepy. And besides, only I am allowed to have mystical mind powers.
Pandas2001
Aussietrueblue
Natalie36
Cassie- Joining are we? I see he’s swiftly gathering quite a following of haters. Join the “We Hate Tommy” Club and you get a free badge and a hat. (postage of said items may be postponed indefinitely)
Emz80m
Belleoftheball
Stars at Night10
Laure- Can’t wait to see what you think of the new parts and where the story’s going! Winkitty wink

Part Ten: An Incentive For Coming To School

Liz practically skipped to school the next day. She was going to see Max again. She normally hated weekend shifts, but now she had a reason to loathe them. They had seriously cut into the time she could have been with Max. Now that they were sort of together now, it was ok for her to seek him out, right? She’d never really thought about the intricacies of starting a new relationship until she’d been thrust into one. She’d certainly fantasised about Max asking her out and being with him, but in her fantasies he’d professed his undying love for her and they’d been a serious couple straight after that.

The whole, we’re-together-but-not-really-boyfriend-and-girlfriend thing, was extremely tiring and it hurt her head. She wished that they’d just make it official already. She hoped that that was what Max really wanted because she couldn’t wait to do all that couple stuff with him. The holding hands, kissing, dates, all that stuff. She wanted to experience it all with him; she wanted to experience everything with him.

Liz waited around the area where Max’s locker was with butterflies in her stomach. After ten minutes Liz frowned once she realised that he wasn’t coming. Seeing Isabel walking past her, Liz gulped back her fear of approaching her and walked up to her.

Liz nearly skidded into her as Isabel stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway to search through her bag. Sensing someone behind her Izzy turned to find herself face to face with a very flustered Liz Parker.

Now this was new, Izzy smirked to herself. Liz looked nervous and uncomfortable; maybe Alex and Maria were right. Maybe Liz Parker was just shy.

“Hey Liz,” said Izzy easily not wanting to indicate that there was anything awkward about this situation. Her heart went out to the poor girl who looked so timid and shy. She looked like she’d rather face a thousand tigers than her right now. It must have been something very important to make her work up the courage to approach her, Isabel mused.

“Uh, hi Isabel,” Liz squeaked feeling completely intimidated and out of her comfort zone. She was talking to Isabel Evans, the freakin’ Queen of West Roswell! This was a recipe for disaster. “I was just, um, wondering if there was… uh, why…” Liz trailed off shaking her head at how inarticulate she was being.

Isabel watched Liz in amazement. Alex and Maria were entirely correct. There was no doubting it now. Isabel stood completely still keeping her expression one of polite interest, not wanting to intimidate her by looking at her expectantly or with amusement like she really wanted.

“W-what I mean is… whyisn’tmaxheretoday?”

Isabel blinked and then broke down Liz’s words in her head for a moment and then smiled.

“Max? He’s sick today so Mom prescribed him with bed rest even though he protested. Honestly, who argues with their mother when she suggests that they skip school?” Isabel paused for a moment and then smiled lightly biting back the grin she felt coming on, “Unless he has an ‘incentive’ for coming to school…”

Liz blushed hotly as Isabel trailed off, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the thought of Max being eager to come to school sick just to see her. It was something that a week ago she would have shrugged off as completely inconceivable, but now… after that kiss…

“Here they are! My two favourite ladies!” Liz blinked and looked up to see Alex bearing down on them. She rolled her eyes good naturedly at him and smiled softly as Isabel kissed him sweetly.

“Two favourite ladies? Better not let Maria hear that,” remarked Liz with a raised eyebrow aimed at him. Alex shrugged flippantly and replied casually, “What Maria doesn’t know won’t hurt her. So, what brings my two girls together this fine morn?”

Liz bit her lip and Isabel replied for her, “Liz was just asking where Max was today. He’s sick,” she added in way of explanation.

Alex gave Liz a sympathetic look that made her squirm uncomfortably knowing that Izzy would catch it and see how much his absence affected her.

“But, it’s cool. Liz can just come visit after school,” Iz remarked lightly watching Liz’s reaction. She didn’t disappoint.

“What? I… I couldn’t! His parents will be there and… and he probably wouldn’t want me there anyway,” Liz sputtered, making Isabel smile. She liked this side of Liz, she was so… human. So unlike the school’s perception of her. She could see why Max liked her when she was like this.

“No, my parents won’t be home till late. They always work late on Mondays and believe me, Max would LOVE to see you,” Isabel stated firmly, watching with a growing sense of victory as Liz bit her bottom lip and went over the pros and cons in her head.

Knowing instinctively that his best friend would never reach a decision, Alex clapped his hands together and stated decidedly, “Great, so that’s arranged. Liz, Izzy and I’ll be going to her house after school momentarily to pick up some supplies for our date and we’ll drop you off there. We’ll be back around six to pick you up and take you home. See you after school.”

Alex and Izzy walked off hand in hand as Liz stood there momentarily shocked. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to see Max, but she didn’t know if she should. Was this too forward? They’d only been on one date and they weren’t really into girlfriend/boyfriend status yet. She hoped that Izzy knew what she was doing.

***

Liz arrived at the Evans’ house with Alex and Izzy after a whole day of both dreading and looking forward to this moment.

She was standing in front of Max’s bedroom door and was about to knock and enter. She’d dreamt about this moment but had never really thought that they’d be under these circumstances. She never thought that it’d be Max’s sister urging her to go in there. This was far too creepy. She was just about to bolt when Alex sighed, rolled his eyes and knocked on the door over the top of her head.

Liz slapped his hand away but stopped once she heard Max’s congested voice call out, “Come in.” Liz’s head immediately forgot its anger towards Alex and filled with concern for Max. Colds sucked and he sounded so miserable that her internal desire to care for him overrode her natural fear, causing her to stride right in.

“Hi Max,” she whispered softly as she closed the door.

“Liz?’ asked Max in complete bewilderment. He’d been dozing on and off all day and having mini dreams about her, but this one seemed so real.

“Yeah, it’s me. Izzy said it’d be ok if I came to see you for a while. I hope you don’t mind.”

Max pinched himself to make sure that he really was awake.

“Ouch,” he muttered as he realised that Liz really was here and he wasn’t dreaming. This was great!

“Are you ok? What’s wrong? What hurts?” Liz asked her voice flooding with concern. Concern for him. Max had never heard a sweeter sound. Max then realised why she was concerned as she stepped closer. He was sick and she shouldn’t be infected by his bug. It wasn’t fair to her.

“Stop!” he all but yelled, unable to see in the darkness of his room, the hurt his words were causing her, “Don’t come any closer.”

Liz bit back tears and turned to leave. He obviously didn’t want her here.

“This was a bad idea, I- I’ll just go,” she stated, trying hard not to choke on her words as her pain magnified.

“No! Don’t!” Max called out, hearing the hurt in her voice and knowing that he’d put it there in his rampant stupidity. Liz stopped in the process of turning the door knob and waited, “I just don’t want-”

‘You’, Liz sadly finished off the sentence in her head. Who were you kidding Liz, why on earth would he want you?

“-for you to get sick. I don’t want to infect you.” Max finished off awkwardly, his congested nose causing him much grief.

Liz closed her eyes briefly and inhaled as her hand slid off the door knob. He didn’t want her to go. She could breathe again, “I’ll be fine, and I have a strong immune system. Besides, we can be sick together if it comes to that.”

Max grinned in the darkness as she crossed the room to his double bed and flicked the lamp on. Wincing at how bright the light was Max covered his face with one arm as his eyes adjusted to the light.

While Max was indisposed, Liz’s gaze brushed over his bedside table, catching on a familiar book. Grinning in surprise she picked up the book, being careful not to dislodge the book mark, and thumbed the well read pages.

“The Time Traveller’s Wife?” she asked in delight as Max sat up. Max nodded and replied honestly, “I love it. I guess rare and unusual romances appeal to me. I love that Claire and Henry are constantly able to find one another again and again through time and that through time loops, their story never really ends.”

Liz grinned in pure wonder at this new common love that she and Max shared. She had read the book at least ten times, enthralled by how Henry and Claire’s lives were interwoven throughout time, how two very different people were thrust into each other’s worlds and had created a love so strong that it had tied them irrevocably together.

“I guess we have a favourite book in common then.” Replied Liz, unaccountably overjoyed to share her favourite book with him.

“Great! What else do you like?” asked Max, forgetting about his cold momentarily.

“Um, I know you’ve obviously heard of Catch 22, but I don’t know too many people who’ve read it-”

“Yossarian, Milo and Major Major? I love that book; it’s just so funny and dark. What else?”

“Catcher in the Rye?”

“Poor old Holden. I really liked the guy; it’s a pity he had a break down.”

Liz blinked in surprise and felt her smile stretch even wider, this was uncanny. “Umm, I don’t suppose you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, Ursula Under or Twilight?”

Max’s smile dropped a bit and he shrugged apologetically, “Sorry. I’ll look into it though.” He added, before rushing off onto the next topic, “What about movies?”

***

By the time Izzy and Alex got back Liz and Max were seated next to each other lounging on Max’s bed laughing and sharing jokes.

Izzy paused in front of Max’s door as she heard a peal of laughter ring out that sounded suspiciously like Max’s laugh. Not that she’d heard it that often, but it was unmistakeable. Her serious brother was laughing his head off. Was a full moon out? Had the world gone mad?

Turning the handle slowly and gesturing to Alex to keep quiet, Isabel tentatively pushed the door open a smidge and peered inside. She blinked twice as she watched a side of Liz she’d never even dreamed could exist. She almost let out an “Aww!” when she watched Liz blush in response to Max’s gentle teasing.

“So, I’ve been dying to know, where did you learn those moves you pulled at the Crashdown?”

Liz ducked her head in mortification and gently pushed him in the shoulder with a groan, “Ugh, you have no idea how completely humiliating that was for me! I’ll never forget the look on your face, you looked completely disturbed. I promised myself that I’d squash every urge I got ‘to bust a move’ after that.”

Max laughed long and loud, causing Liz’s face to burn even brighter, she wasn’t that bad a dancer, was she?

“Disturbed? What on earth gave you that idea, Parker? Shocked out of my mind? Yes. Disturbed? No. You looked so damn cute in your little belly baring sports bra thingy and your hipster pj’s I was trying hard to get my brain to work.” Max revealed honestly causing Liz to blush even harder and lose her ability to speak. What exactly was she meant to say in response to that?

Luckily for her, Alex took this opportunity to clear his throat from the doorway, “Lizzy? It’s time to go home now, but you can come back and visit Max tomorrow if you’re a good girl and you tidy your room,” said Alex in his best father voice.

Liz rolled her eyes at Alex’s condescending tone and unthinkingly gave him the finger. Isabel gasped at Liz’s crude gesture and then proceeded to choke whilst laughing. She coughed and spluttered as Alex pounded her on the back asking her if she was ok.

“Yeah,” she croaked, after calming down, “I’m fine. You ready to go Liz?”

Izzy waited patiently as Max and Liz shared an awkward goodbye. Watching them get together was painful at points. They were just so unsure and awkward around each other, it was extremely frustrating - cute - but frustrating nonetheless. Once Liz was gone, Isabel began her much dreaded interrogation upon her long-suffering brother. She wanted to know everything.

As Alex drove Liz home, he glanced across at her and watched the introspective small smile play across her lips as she gazed out the window unseeingly. Every so often she’d laugh lightly to herself as she remembered something from the past afternoon. Oh yeah, thought Alex, Liz had it bad.

***

Next Update 9th of May