- Bubba Brigham felt like his mouth was on fire, and he tried to choke the whole mess down....unwilling to accept the embarassment of being shown up once more by Liz Parker. That was his first mistake. He took a huge drink of beer trying his best to put out the fire in his mouth. That was his second mistake. When the carbonated beer and the half -masticated jalapeno pepper got together down in his stomach, the result was almost immediate. As bad as the pepper had been in his mouth going down, it was far worse coming back up...especially the part that came out through his nose. Seeing several of his fellow varsity lettermen who'd had the good sense to spit their jalapenos out in a concession of defeat laughing at him was bad enough, but the smiles on the initiates and their girlfriends were just too much. Liz Parker's sarcastic voice didn't help much either.
"A little hot for you, Bubba?"
As the rage tore through him, Bubba Brigham made his third mistake. "I guess it's easier for you, Parker. You must be used to swallowing hot things...like Valenti's cum..."
Kyle sat there a few seconds, in stunned disbelief that he'd heard what he just thought he'd heard. Bubba had just gone way too far. But as he stumbled to his feet, reaching for Brigham's throat, Liz Parker got between them, and held onto him, trying to keep him back. But Brigham had indeed gone too far, and even a couple of the seniors restrained Brigham as he tried to get to Kyle, even as half of the other initiates stood to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kyle. The remaining senior, Lyle Davis, the huge defensive nose guard for West Roswell High, got between Kyle and Brigham, his face almost as angry as Kyle's as he turned to Brigham and shouted at him.
"Stop it dammit, stop it right now... What in hell's wrong with you, Bubba. This is an initiation for football players, not an open season to insult the women....any women. Get your ass back there and sit down, and let's get on with this."
It took five minutes before tempers were cooled sufficiently for the other eight girls to go into the dining room with Liz, glaring back at the guys staying behind, and especially at Bubba Brigham.
Davis looked at Kyle Valenti, who was staring daggers at Brigham. He knew he needed to get the two apart, at least long enough for tempers to cool a little. "Bubba...go get the water bottles for the first three from the refrigerator. We'll do Baker, Jameson, and Logan first, once they finish Edmundson, O'Brien, and McNeil, ....then the last three."
In five minutes Bubba was back with the first three one-liter bottles, and the first three initiates started their drinking.
Decisions AUwA (Mature) 12/28/10 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/1/2008
The thought seemed to stick in his mind. Actually, he'd tried not to let the comment pass. Even half drunk, he'd leaped to his feet. He'd have no doubt had the crap kicked out of him, but he was still going for him, until Liz had gotten in front of him.....
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/1/2008
"Anyway," said Kyle, "...the girls all went in to the other room when the initiation began. One of the seniors brought out three one-liter bottles of what the three guys who got it said was Gatorade, but we all knew there was alcohol in it too. It really didn't come as a surprise to us. They had 30 minutes to drink it...without passing out, and without puking, or they had to start all over again. Those were the rules. All of us who were being initiated already had been drinking beer...five or six bottles probably counting what we washed down the jalapeno slices with, so the first two were taking it slowly, trying to stretch out the time, while the guy went back and got six more sports bottles...."
"Like I said, the first three guys took there time and as they were just about finished,...well, Liz came bback into the room and said she wanted to go...told me that I'd had enough to drink, and that drinking the sports bottle might hurt me. I should have listened...hell, that's obvious enough now, but I was already a little drunk, I'd seen the first three guys do OK, 'and you wouldn't give Bubba the satisfaction of seeing you wimp out...or so you thought. Damn you can be stupid at times, Valenti...'....anyway, I told her to go back with the girls...that I'd be done in an hour. She was upset....hell, she deserved to be. She was right, and I should have just been man enough to walk away, the hell with what the seniors, and even my other team mates thought, but I was angry and proud and drunk and.....not a very good combination, is it?"
Jeff's eyes seemed to fill with sympathy at seeing Kyle bare his soul that way...or perhaps he was remembering stupid things he'd done as a teenager. "No...no it isn't, Kyle...but don't think you're the first..."
"Well, instead of listening to Liz, I listened to my ego. Forty minutes later it was my turn and the first six guys had managed to hang in alright, and I was sure I would too...but I saw Jimmy pass out on my right, saw Art wobbling on my left......the next thing I know was that Liz was half carrying...half dragging me to the car. I passed out again on the way to the hospital...woke up in the Intensive Care Unit. They'd had me on a respirator half the night, just to keep me breathing. If Liz hadn't been there for me...I don't have any doubt what would have happened... Dad said the patrol car that stopped us radioed the address of the party. That's maybe the only reason that Art and Jimmy made it as well.Mr. Parker...I know that Dad doesn't want to end my restriction until you end Liz's, but I really don't care about that...I really deserve what happened to me. Liz...Liz doesn't. Most of what happened to her was my fault."
"Well, son, I'm glad you take responsibility for your actions but Liz...Liz was drinking too..."
"But you don't understand, sir. When Dad's forensics people got there they took samples. The punch that seemed like fruit juice that Liz took instead of the beer...it was spiked with alcohol. I was drinking 12 ounce longnecks that were 3.2% alcohol, she was drinking 6 oz cups of punch that she had no way of knowing had alcohol in it. She was getting one and a half times the alcohol I was and she weighs what...a third less. And she didn't even know! What's worse, after they got done filling the water jugs, it looks like they .... 'not they, Kyle...that damn Bubba,' they dumped the rest of the alcohol in the punch that most of the girls were drinking. The glasses they found from later in the evening and the remains of the punch bowl were almost 20% alcohol. The residue in the first six sports bottles was about 25% alcohol, the last three were about 50%. The last three of us passed out drinking over a quart of 100 proof Gatorade."
"My God," said Nancy Parker, "...that really could have killed you..."
"Why? Why would they do something like that?"
"I don't think most of the seniors knew it was happening. If I could prove what I think...but nobody would take my word...it wouldn't be credible. I was drunk at the time...plenty of documentation of that."
"It seems like they were picking on Liz too, Kyle, do you know why?"
"Yeah...at least, I know what another senior told me. Three of the four guys ...the four seniors, were in college prep algebra last year. Normally that's a freshman or sophomore course, but they were taking it as juniors. None of them had really cared much for math...but the colleges they wanted to get football scholarships had raised their academic requirements...even for football players, and they needed to get a year of college prep level mathematics. I'm in the same class now, and Mr. Walters grades on the curve. Liz was taking the course last year as a freshman, and of course Max Evans was also in there...they were setting a sort of torrid pace, and the rest of the class was playing catch-up, some more successfully than others. Two of those three guys who took it last year are taking it again with me this year as seniors and still not doing well 'particularly that asshole Bubba'. I can imagine how badly they must have done last year, with Liz and Max competing with each other for class honors. I heard a rumor that one of them tried to get Liz to back off...just not do quite so well, since even if she got second place to Max they were both going to get A's anyway. I guess there was a little friction over it, and that carried over to what happened the night of the party. But the point is, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, ...it really was my fault. If I hadn't taken Liz there...none of this would have happened."
"Yeah, as far as Liz is concerned, none of this would have happened," said Jeff Parker. "Of course, you might have died.."
Kyle nodded his head," Yeah, but at least Liz wouldn't have gotten in trouble, and I wouldn't feel responsible for it..."
Nancy Parker gave a sad smile, and took Kyle's hand, looking him in the eyes. "Somehow I think," said Nancy, "...that our daughter values the life of a friend far more than any sort of trouble you might have gotten her in to, Kyle."
"Thanks for coming here and talking to us, Kyle. It's given Nancy and me something to think about. Tell your Dad, I'll call him later tonight, or at worst tomorrow morning, and let him know what we've decided."
- And it was the look in Bubba's eyes as much as what he said as he brought the last three bottles in and put them on the table, Kyle knew, that had made him determined that nothing was going to keep him from finishing that bottle when his turn came. It wasn't just the way he'd set the bottles down and looked straight into Kyle's eyes when he'd said that here were the final three bottles, though he doubted the initiates were man enough to finish them as he left to go back toward the kitchen and clean up. It was the memory of what Bubba had said to Kyle that made the anger burn so deeply in him. He was going to show Bubba up if it killed him.
"Like I said, the first three guys took there time and as they were just about finished,...well, Liz came bback into the room and said she wanted to go...told me that I'd had enough to drink, and that drinking the sports bottle might hurt me. I should have listened...hell, that's obvious enough now, but I was already a little drunk, I'd seen the first three guys do OK, 'and you wouldn't give Bubba the satisfaction of seeing you wimp out...or so you thought. Damn you can be stupid at times, Valenti...'....anyway, I told her to go back with the girls...that I'd be done in an hour. She was upset....hell, she deserved to be. She was right, and I should have just been man enough to walk away, the hell with what the seniors, and even my other team mates thought, but I was angry and proud and drunk and.....not a very good combination, is it?"
Jeff's eyes seemed to fill with sympathy at seeing Kyle bare his soul that way...or perhaps he was remembering stupid things he'd done as a teenager. "No...no it isn't, Kyle...but don't think you're the first..."
"Well, instead of listening to Liz, I listened to my ego. Forty minutes later it was my turn and the first six guys had managed to hang in alright, and I was sure I would too...but I saw Jimmy pass out on my right, saw Art wobbling on my left......the next thing I know was that Liz was half carrying...half dragging me to the car. I passed out again on the way to the hospital...woke up in the Intensive Care Unit. They'd had me on a respirator half the night, just to keep me breathing. If Liz hadn't been there for me...I don't have any doubt what would have happened... Dad said the patrol car that stopped us radioed the address of the party. That's maybe the only reason that Art and Jimmy made it as well.Mr. Parker...I know that Dad doesn't want to end my restriction until you end Liz's, but I really don't care about that...I really deserve what happened to me. Liz...Liz doesn't. Most of what happened to her was my fault."
"Well, son, I'm glad you take responsibility for your actions but Liz...Liz was drinking too..."
"But you don't understand, sir. When Dad's forensics people got there they took samples. The punch that seemed like fruit juice that Liz took instead of the beer...it was spiked with alcohol. I was drinking 12 ounce longnecks that were 3.2% alcohol, she was drinking 6 oz cups of punch that she had no way of knowing had alcohol in it. She was getting one and a half times the alcohol I was and she weighs what...a third less. And she didn't even know! What's worse, after they got done filling the water jugs, it looks like they .... 'not they, Kyle...that damn Bubba,' they dumped the rest of the alcohol in the punch that most of the girls were drinking. The glasses they found from later in the evening and the remains of the punch bowl were almost 20% alcohol. The residue in the first six sports bottles was about 25% alcohol, the last three were about 50%. The last three of us passed out drinking over a quart of 100 proof Gatorade."
"My God," said Nancy Parker, "...that really could have killed you..."
"Why? Why would they do something like that?"
"I don't think most of the seniors knew it was happening. If I could prove what I think...but nobody would take my word...it wouldn't be credible. I was drunk at the time...plenty of documentation of that."
"It seems like they were picking on Liz too, Kyle, do you know why?"
"Yeah...at least, I know what another senior told me. Three of the four guys ...the four seniors, were in college prep algebra last year. Normally that's a freshman or sophomore course, but they were taking it as juniors. None of them had really cared much for math...but the colleges they wanted to get football scholarships had raised their academic requirements...even for football players, and they needed to get a year of college prep level mathematics. I'm in the same class now, and Mr. Walters grades on the curve. Liz was taking the course last year as a freshman, and of course Max Evans was also in there...they were setting a sort of torrid pace, and the rest of the class was playing catch-up, some more successfully than others. Two of those three guys who took it last year are taking it again with me this year as seniors and still not doing well 'particularly that asshole Bubba'. I can imagine how badly they must have done last year, with Liz and Max competing with each other for class honors. I heard a rumor that one of them tried to get Liz to back off...just not do quite so well, since even if she got second place to Max they were both going to get A's anyway. I guess there was a little friction over it, and that carried over to what happened the night of the party. But the point is, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, ...it really was my fault. If I hadn't taken Liz there...none of this would have happened."
"Yeah, as far as Liz is concerned, none of this would have happened," said Jeff Parker. "Of course, you might have died.."
Kyle nodded his head," Yeah, but at least Liz wouldn't have gotten in trouble, and I wouldn't feel responsible for it..."
Nancy Parker gave a sad smile, and took Kyle's hand, looking him in the eyes. "Somehow I think," said Nancy, "...that our daughter values the life of a friend far more than any sort of trouble you might have gotten her in to, Kyle."
"Thanks for coming here and talking to us, Kyle. It's given Nancy and me something to think about. Tell your Dad, I'll call him later tonight, or at worst tomorrow morning, and let him know what we've decided."
Last edited by greywolf on Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/3/2008
In the sudden silence after Kyle's departure both parents sat for several minutes, their minds awhirl with different thoughts. It was finally Jeff Parker that spoke first.
"You know...I don't understand this, honey. When we asked her what happened...when we begged her to tell us how this all occurred...Liz didn't tell us any of this."
"I know...it was always just, 'What happened, happened, and nothing can change it...,' every time we even brought up the subject."
"As if we didn't know that what ever happened had happened....it wasn't like we expected her to somehow go back in time and change what happened," said Jeff. "It's not like WHATEVER happened would have changed the fact that she was our daughter, and that we'd love her regardless. If she'd just acknowledged her mistakes...like Kyle did.....and given us some reassurance she'd actually learned something from them...not just gotten this stoic, 'I don't care what you do to me attitude,' I don't think either of us would have been as upset."
"It just seemed like what happened at that party just made whatever was going on all summer even worse...like she beat up on herself all summer about it, and just when we thought she'd be getting back to school....getting back to normal, she found a reason to beat up on herself all the more.... this time with the active collaboration of the Roswell Sheriff's Office, the Juvenile Court, .....and Jeff and Nancy Parker."
"We need to talk to her about what Klye just told us. I think he was pretty much telling the truth...at least, the truth as far as he knows it."
"You think he's holding back something?"
"Oh, I know he's holding back...you could tell when he told about them harassing Liz...I can only imagine some of the things that may have been said, but it was apparent that Kyle may have come to blows with someone over it...that may be why his watter bottle was spiked so heavily...but I'd be surprised if it was more than that."
"Do you think Liz will tell us what's really causing this? The whole summer...not just the incidents at the party? She seems so damn depressed, Jeff...."
"I know...I know...let's talk to her. Offer to get her counseling if she's got problems that we can't help her with. I don't want to go through another four months like this....that can't be good for her, and it sure isn't doing us any good..."
The two parents held hands, sitting at the table, each trying to comfort the other as they heard their daughter's footsteps coming up the stairs.
"You know...I don't understand this, honey. When we asked her what happened...when we begged her to tell us how this all occurred...Liz didn't tell us any of this."
"I know...it was always just, 'What happened, happened, and nothing can change it...,' every time we even brought up the subject."
"As if we didn't know that what ever happened had happened....it wasn't like we expected her to somehow go back in time and change what happened," said Jeff. "It's not like WHATEVER happened would have changed the fact that she was our daughter, and that we'd love her regardless. If she'd just acknowledged her mistakes...like Kyle did.....and given us some reassurance she'd actually learned something from them...not just gotten this stoic, 'I don't care what you do to me attitude,' I don't think either of us would have been as upset."
"It just seemed like what happened at that party just made whatever was going on all summer even worse...like she beat up on herself all summer about it, and just when we thought she'd be getting back to school....getting back to normal, she found a reason to beat up on herself all the more.... this time with the active collaboration of the Roswell Sheriff's Office, the Juvenile Court, .....and Jeff and Nancy Parker."
"We need to talk to her about what Klye just told us. I think he was pretty much telling the truth...at least, the truth as far as he knows it."
"You think he's holding back something?"
"Oh, I know he's holding back...you could tell when he told about them harassing Liz...I can only imagine some of the things that may have been said, but it was apparent that Kyle may have come to blows with someone over it...that may be why his watter bottle was spiked so heavily...but I'd be surprised if it was more than that."
"Do you think Liz will tell us what's really causing this? The whole summer...not just the incidents at the party? She seems so damn depressed, Jeff...."
"I know...I know...let's talk to her. Offer to get her counseling if she's got problems that we can't help her with. I don't want to go through another four months like this....that can't be good for her, and it sure isn't doing us any good..."
The two parents held hands, sitting at the table, each trying to comfort the other as they heard their daughter's footsteps coming up the stairs.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/4/2008
You don't live in the same house for all your life, with the same two parents, without getting an intuitive feel for them. The conversation during dinner had been too polite...too stilted...too guarded, and besides, she'd seen her father talking with Sheriff Valenti. By the time the meal was over, Liz had no doubt what was coming,...and she dreaded it. She didn't need to have her folks talk to her any more about what had happened...even just the part they knew ab out. She'd been beating up on herself enough these last six weeks, there was little doubt of that. She hardly needed her parents rubbing her nose any further into the mess she'd made of her life. But even thinking that, she knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time....
"Lizzy," your mom and I would like to talk to you...about the night of the party...but more than that, about how you were acting all summer. We know that you're getting older, your even able to drive now....well, at least you will be again when you get your license back,....but the point is, even though you aren't really a little girl anymore, you'll always be our daughter, and your welfare and your happiness concern us."
"We realize you didn't have a very good summer, dear,' said Nancy. "I think that may have helped to create the situation that happened six weeks ago. You're getting to an age when I know you need your privacy, but .....but were always going to be your parents, Liz...and we'd like to help if we could. Could you tell us what caused the problem at the end of last year."
"Mom, it really was nothing..." she started, but when she looked at their faces, she saw their concern. Maybe it should have been nothing, she thought, but the way it had affected her...she knew it hadn't been 'nothing' to her. "Well, that's not right I guess....it SHOULD have been nothing, but I just couldn't seem to let go of it..."
"Let go of what, dear?" asked Jeff.
"It was....a boy. I've had a crush on him for...awhile.." 'AWHILE, Liz? Try since you were nine years old...try since he stepped off the bus in third grade..' Liz fought to shut up the voice in her head as she continued, "... I really thought...at least I'd convinced myself, that we could be...should be...more than just friends, and I talked to him about it and he...well..he wasn't interested."
"He was interested in someone else?" asked her father.
"No...he just wasn't...interested. He said we were ...too different," said Liz...the pain of that moment stabbing her again, even four months later.
"Liz," said Nancy, "that really isn't that unheard of. Girls generally go through puberty a few years before boys...it certainly isn't unusual that he might not really be thinking much about dating as a freshman. Don't crowd him...give him a few years. He might come around, and even if he doesn't, some other boy will...."
And Liz knew that wouldn't have been bad advice...if she'd listened to it seven weeks ago. Not that she'd have wanted any other boy...not even now...but she'd never have Max now...she'd burned that bridge behind her, all on one drunken night....
"kyle told us about taking you to the party...about the punch...you not knowing it had alcohol in it. I wished you'd told us...." said Jeff Parker.
"I wish it were that simple, Daddy," said Liz...lowering her eyes to the table...as if the uneaten stalk of broccoli on her plate were really what she was looking at. Instead she was remembering the night of the party.
"Lizzy," your mom and I would like to talk to you...about the night of the party...but more than that, about how you were acting all summer. We know that you're getting older, your even able to drive now....well, at least you will be again when you get your license back,....but the point is, even though you aren't really a little girl anymore, you'll always be our daughter, and your welfare and your happiness concern us."
"We realize you didn't have a very good summer, dear,' said Nancy. "I think that may have helped to create the situation that happened six weeks ago. You're getting to an age when I know you need your privacy, but .....but were always going to be your parents, Liz...and we'd like to help if we could. Could you tell us what caused the problem at the end of last year."
"Mom, it really was nothing..." she started, but when she looked at their faces, she saw their concern. Maybe it should have been nothing, she thought, but the way it had affected her...she knew it hadn't been 'nothing' to her. "Well, that's not right I guess....it SHOULD have been nothing, but I just couldn't seem to let go of it..."
"Let go of what, dear?" asked Jeff.
"It was....a boy. I've had a crush on him for...awhile.." 'AWHILE, Liz? Try since you were nine years old...try since he stepped off the bus in third grade..' Liz fought to shut up the voice in her head as she continued, "... I really thought...at least I'd convinced myself, that we could be...should be...more than just friends, and I talked to him about it and he...well..he wasn't interested."
"He was interested in someone else?" asked her father.
"No...he just wasn't...interested. He said we were ...too different," said Liz...the pain of that moment stabbing her again, even four months later.
"Liz," said Nancy, "that really isn't that unheard of. Girls generally go through puberty a few years before boys...it certainly isn't unusual that he might not really be thinking much about dating as a freshman. Don't crowd him...give him a few years. He might come around, and even if he doesn't, some other boy will...."
And Liz knew that wouldn't have been bad advice...if she'd listened to it seven weeks ago. Not that she'd have wanted any other boy...not even now...but she'd never have Max now...she'd burned that bridge behind her, all on one drunken night....
"kyle told us about taking you to the party...about the punch...you not knowing it had alcohol in it. I wished you'd told us...." said Jeff Parker.
"I wish it were that simple, Daddy," said Liz...lowering her eyes to the table...as if the uneaten stalk of broccoli on her plate were really what she was looking at. Instead she was remembering the night of the party.
- Despite her initial objections, Liz had decided that she really was glad her father had sort of pushed her to get out of the house. She'd been pining over Max Evans for three months, angry with herself from having pushed him, angry with him for not wanting to carry the relationship any further, ....if she kept it up, she was going to wind up hating him...or pushing him still further, which would almost certainly be counterproductive. But to know you needed to give the relationship space and time, and to actually accept that you needed to....well Liz had found that those were very different things. By the time they arrived at the house, Liz had really started to look forward to the party, but things changed, as soon as she saw Bubba Brigham.
It had been unreasonable enough when Brigham had told her after the first quarter of College Prep Algebra that she ought to intentionally miss questions on the tests. Yes, she'd still get an 'A' anyway, but that wasn't the point. She needed to do well in this class to prepare herself for future classes. Maybe Bubba wasn't going any farther, but if Liz Parker was going to become a molecular biologist, she'd need college level Calculus, and that meant she needed to really get the material, not just ride the curve for the grade. She'd offered to help him...tutor him....even said she was sure Max would help him, if it embarrassed him to be tutored by a freshman girl. He'd told her that he had too much important stuff to do...like working out on the weights. What he wanted her to do was just help him change the curve. He'd told her that he'd already talked to Mr. Walters, but the teacher had told him that maybe if only one student was getting 100% on the tests, he could dismiss that as an outlier and maybe discard that score, but when two people got higher than the others....the curve was valid. But whatever chance Bubba had for getting her on his side he lost it as soon as he'd called Max a math geek who ought to be on a different curve from anyone else anyway. After that she'd taken a special delight in studying hard...getting 100%...just like Max... while Bubba failed the class.
But that was then and this was now. She knew...knew as soon as she saw him looking at her that way, that there was likely going to be trouble. She just hoped he didn't take out their dislike for each other on Kyle.
Liz had realized something was wrong with the punch almost immediately. She made milkshakes all the time at the Crash, and they were never quite this cold. Even so, she'd been on her third glass before she saw the frost around the bottom of the punchbowl. The only way that could happen is if the punch itself were colder than the freezing point of water, and the only way that would work and the punch stay liquid is if there were something like salt or alcohol in the punch, and the punch certainly didn't taste salty. But by that time, Liz had actually started to enjoy the party. Maybe it was the alcohol, she decide,...maybe she really did need a night to just go a little wild, and not just sit and pine over Max Evans.
When the seniors started with the crudities, Liz kind of thought they were trying to drive the girls into the other room so they could start their precious male-bonding, and she probably just should have herded the other girls that way herself and let the boys play their testosterone-heavy manhood games. But the comments Bubba had made...directed at her...maybe it was the alcohol she'd already had but she hadn't been able to resist doing the jalapeno trick on him. And it really seemed....as she'd seen beer and jalapeno seeds coming out his nose as he puked, that she'd gotten the best of him. But when Kyle had almost gotten into it with Bubba...who must have outweighed him by a good eighty pounds, Liz had realized that she'd done the very thing she hadn't wanted to do.... get Bubba to transfer the anger he felt for her to Kyle. As a non-initiate she was largely immune to Bubba's displeasure. Not so her date.
Last edited by greywolf on Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/4/2008
"It seems pretty simple to me, Liz. OK, you should have probably just left when you saw there was underage drinking going on, but I can see your dilemma. You either had to call the police yourself or leave Kyle without a designated driver. But if you stayed you could see to it that he got home safely. You didn't know what was in the punch."
"But I did, Daddy...or at least I had my suspicions. It actually was working...being there...around people...not moping about M....my freshman crush. I don't know, maybe it was even the alcohol...but for the first time in three months I was at least thinking about other things. But even though I think I knew there was alcohol in the punch...I'm not sure i realized how MUCH alcohol there was in the punch...."
"But I did, Daddy...or at least I had my suspicions. It actually was working...being there...around people...not moping about M....my freshman crush. I don't know, maybe it was even the alcohol...but for the first time in three months I was at least thinking about other things. But even though I think I knew there was alcohol in the punch...I'm not sure i realized how MUCH alcohol there was in the punch...."
- She was glad that Lyle Davis had been there, not sure that she could have stopped Kyle from going after Bubba...and almost certainly couldn't have stopped Bubba from going after Kyle. Liz took a long drink of punch as she considered how stupid it had been to provoke Bubba. The only reasonable thing to dfo was to get this over and get out of here before something worse happened. But the more she thought of how close she'd pushed Kyle and Bubba to violence, the more she worried about the rest of the night. She refilled her cup from the punch bowl and drank nervously...waiting for the sound of violence to break out in the next room. But ten minutes...and two more cups of punch ... later and it still hadn't happened. But the punch was getting to her...she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol in it, or just the water, but all at once the girl really had to pee.
As she went to the downstairs bathroom, it appeared to be occupied. One of the girls had apparently had just a little too much beer, and was barfing into the commode with the capable assistance of one of the other girls. Liz went upstairs and saw the bathroom door through the double doors of the master bedroom at the top of the stairs. It wasn't a minute too soon.
As she washed her hands she looked at herself in the mirror standing in front of the shower. Maybe it was the alcohol, but somehow the fantasy played itself in her head...the same old fantasyu she'd had since she first saw the high school girl's gym shower area. Suddenly in her mind, she was alone in the big shower room, naked under the shower with the water trickling down....and Max Evans came up behind her, putting his hands around her waist and pulling her back into a wet sensual kiss, as his hands wandered up to her chest and down to her groin..... Liz shook her head.....that wasn't going to happen, she had to give up on that fantasy. It wasn't going to happen tonight...it wasn't going to happen ever. She wiped her wet hands on the towel and opened the door to go back downstairs.
As she entered the master bedroom she was somewhat surprised to find the doors to the hall shut, she hadn't remembered closing them. But then the big hands reached from behind the door...wrapping themselves around her waist and pulling her back...back to where she could smell the beer and jalapeno breath of Bubba Brigham.
"Not quite so brave when you don't have Valenti or Davis around, huh Miss Scientist?"
"Leave me alone, Bubba. Kyle is just downstairs...Davis too."
"Yeah, but YOU are up here...besides, I don't think Valenti will wake up for a week after he drinks what I put in his bottle..."
Liz felt the hands go under her blouse, the right one reaching up to push her bra away and cup her left breast, the left hand working its way down through her pubic hair. She turned quickly to the right, forcing his left hand back onto her left buttock where it pulled her closer as the right hand kneaded her breast.
Liz was surprised...frightened by the feelings that went through her. This was too much...tooo much like the fantasy she'd had about Max. Maybe it was that fantasy...maybe it was all the alcohol...she wasn't sure, but she felt her body responding to the caresses, even while her brain was trying to say no.
Bubba was surprised when he saw the desire flash in Liz Parker's eyes....this really hadn't been about that. This had been about embarrassing her...showing her she wasn't superior to anyone....but even if the look in her eye wasn't unmistakable, her words certainly were.
As his hand cupped her breast, Liz brought her own hands down finding Bubba's belt and unfastening it...she unbuttoned the levis quickly and let them slide to his ankles as her hand dived deep into his boxers.....
"I've fantasized about someone touching me like this for a long time, Bubba," Liz said looking up at him as she softly cupped his right testicle in her hand...feeling his erection start.....
Last edited by greywolf on Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/4/2008
- As she fondled his right testicle Bubba decided he could accomplish teaching her a lesson at the same time as he took her. 'I wonder how she's going to like rough sex,' he thought. He got his answer almost immediately.
"But YOU aren't that guy...!"
Bubba may have lifted weights, but you can develop a lot of forearm and finger strength from scooping rock-hard ice cream into cones and milkshake cups too. Liz squeezed the testicle in her hand like a vise with fingernails, twisting the testicle and pulling it down and away, leaving long fingernail gashes on the surface of his scrotum as Bubba's entire lower abdomen exploded in pain. He staggered briefly...tripping over the Levis hobbling his legs...and falling to the floor where the pain from his bruised testicle left him puking helplessly on the floor beside the bed as the pain in his lower abdomen sent waves of nausea through him.
The kick in the ribs Liz gave him before she left the room was almost unnoticed in the pain Bubba already felt. But somehow it made her feel better.
Last edited by greywolf on Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/4/2008
"So you did know you were breaking the law..and taking a terrible risk?" asked Nancy Parker.
Liz nodded, "I know what I did was stupid, incredibly stupid. Do I wish I'd done things a whole lot different....Yeah, sure......but like I said, what happened, happened, and nothing can change it..., 'Oh Lord do I wish it could be changed,' she thought, "...but I guess part of growing up is to learn to live with your mistakes...and I'm trying."
"You really shouldn't have tried driving with Kyle. A 911 call would have gotten help to him just as fast....and not put you at risk for an accident," said Jeff, not sternly, but more....well, fatherly.
"I know that Dad....I'm sorry. It was just that.....I wasn't thinking very well then."
"Well, a .18 blood alcohol will do that to a person," her father said but as he finished the statement, "....I could have told you that from personal experience if you'd asked...you needn't have tried it yourself," it became obvious he really wasn't meaning to rub her nose in it. "I guess," he continued, "..all parents wish kids could learn from the mistakes the parents themselves made, but it seems like part of independence means having to go out and rediscover those mistakes all by themselves."
'Yeah,' thought Liz, '...or make new ones of their own. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been able to make this one, Daddy.'
Jeff wasn't sure about what was going on behind Liz's eyes, somehow she seemed very troubled, but he felt like he needed to reach out to her...not to push her away any further.
"Look, Liz...the world isn't a safe place...it has never been a safe place. A few hours ago, a bullet missed you by a few inches, and if it had hit you....and it could have, it's possible no power on Earth could have saved you...and you weren't doing anything wrong...weren't taking any chances...but you could have died anyway. Your mom and I were teenagers too once.....not in THIS century maybe...but ONCE...," and as his daughter's eyes smiled up at him at the self-deprecation, Jeff's heart felt better than it had in the last six weeks.. "...and I remember how it was...feeling young....not understanding about death...not even thinking about it....you feel ten foot tall and bulletproof...but you're not.
This isn't about control, Lizzy, however much you may think it is. It's about keeping you alive long enough for you to realize how your life can be destroyed by just one moment of acting irresponsibly. Once we are sure you know that....that you truly understand that...after that, your decisions are your own...because you will be an adult.....whatever your age is."
Jeff and Nancy saw their daughter nodding her head, and saw the pain as she looked up at them. "Mom....Dad...I do realize that," she said, and their seemed to be infinite pain in her eyes as she said that, "..believe me...I really do."
"Well dear, I think you dodged a bullet today...and that you dodged a bullet six weeks ago...but that doesn't mean that we want you to put yourself in places where you need to dodge a bullet," said Nancy Parker.
"I know, Mom,...if nothing else, I certainly learned that the night of the party..." said Liz, but even as both of her parents hugged her...tried to comfort her...she knew she hadn't dodged the bullet six weeks ago...it had wounded her and the scar would always be there. But perhaps, in time, it wouldn't seem quite so painful. Somehow she doubted that though, 'How do I give up a dream that I've had for seven years? Especially when it was me that killed it?'
As they broke the group hug, Jeff Parker looked into the eyes of his daughter and saw the tears. "Liz...when I was talking with Jim Valenti earlier, he said that we ...the parents....needed to give you and Kyle a path back to adulthood. I'm not sure he was right...at least not in your case. Anyone can make a mistake...and everyone does. But even when you were a little girl, I never saw you make the same mistake twice. Your mother and I have been talking about this before you got here and....well, I don't think we need to give you a pathway to adulthood...I think we need to just start treating you as an adult..."
"We talked it over, dear.....grounding you and everything...it was silly really. The last six weeks you really haven't been any more restricted than you restricted yourself this summer before this even happened," said Nancy.
"And it's not like you don't understand...,'"continued Jeff. "It's not like we haven't watched you just stare out into the distance....not like we couldn't see the pain on your face when you thought about what you'd done. What we'd like to do is to draw a line in the sand, Liz....to just agree that we all have to live with what happened that night, but that if you really learned from it...maybe it wasn't entirely a bad thing..."
"What we decided, dear, was that we thought Jim Valenti was not only right...but it even went beyond that. If you can promise us that you'll not be too proud to talk to us...consult us on your difficult decisions, take advantage of the experiences that we've already paid to learn,....well we are willing to not just let you off your grounding, but we'll trust you to make your own decisions."
"You are a smart person, Liz,...." Jeff continued, "...you always have been. Your mom and I have both seen teenagers who felt they had to do something to assert their independence, and the only way they could see to do that was to defy whatever they thought their parents wishes were. We want to take that off the table..., take it off permanently. We want to trust you to follow your own dreams, and only hope that when you run in to problems...and everyone does run in to problems from time to time, dear, however bright they are,...when that happens you'll let us help...not tell you what to do, but give you our advice as best we see it."
Liz looked back at her parents more in terror than in pride. "I don't deserve your trust....what I did six weeks ago proved that..."
"No, Liz," said her father. "What you did then proved you were human, and humans make mistakes, and maybe it showed you were inexperienced as well, which is another way of saying that you haven't yet made all the mistakes most people make growing up. But if we lose our ability to communicate with you, we lose any hope of really being able to help you...to give you the advantage of our own experiences. So we'd rather be your advisors than your jailers....besides, you always did beat up on yourself when you made a mistake far more than anyone else did."
'Maybe,' thought Liz, '...but I've never made a mistake quite that bad...'
"Honey," said Nancy, "....all we have ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy. If you ever have a child, you'll feel the same way. It's never been about obedience for the sake of obedience. You want your children to grow up...become independent...you just don't want them to get hurt doing it. We aren't abandoning you...just acknowledging what was always true. You are old enough that you are making decisions that will affect the entire course of your life, and while what happens to you affects your father and me and everybody else that loves you, it's stupid for us to think we can control you, and stupider yet to even try."
"We aren't abandoning you, Liz, and we aren't hoping you'll learn from the school of hard knocks or anything. We'll be here to support you, we'll give you our best advice, and if you do make mistakes anyway we'll to our best to help you get back up and dust yourself off, and do better next time, but the reality is that you are too old, too intelligent, and too capable for us to treat you as a child anymore. You'll never stop being our baby but...."
"But since you are going to be the one most hurt by the decisions you make, if you make bad ones, we think it's only right for you to have the final call," said Nancy.
Liz nodded her head. Seven weeks ago, she might not have agreed..., but she had screwed up....screwed up horribly....with a series of bad decisions that had cost her her dreams. She did need to put her life back together....to build some sort of new future since the one she had wanted for the last seven years was now irrevocably gone.
"OK, Mom...Dad... I'll...I'll give it a try..." she heard herself saying.
'Time to start building a new future.....one without Max,' she thought sadly.
Liz nodded, "I know what I did was stupid, incredibly stupid. Do I wish I'd done things a whole lot different....Yeah, sure......but like I said, what happened, happened, and nothing can change it..., 'Oh Lord do I wish it could be changed,' she thought, "...but I guess part of growing up is to learn to live with your mistakes...and I'm trying."
"You really shouldn't have tried driving with Kyle. A 911 call would have gotten help to him just as fast....and not put you at risk for an accident," said Jeff, not sternly, but more....well, fatherly.
"I know that Dad....I'm sorry. It was just that.....I wasn't thinking very well then."
"Well, a .18 blood alcohol will do that to a person," her father said but as he finished the statement, "....I could have told you that from personal experience if you'd asked...you needn't have tried it yourself," it became obvious he really wasn't meaning to rub her nose in it. "I guess," he continued, "..all parents wish kids could learn from the mistakes the parents themselves made, but it seems like part of independence means having to go out and rediscover those mistakes all by themselves."
'Yeah,' thought Liz, '...or make new ones of their own. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been able to make this one, Daddy.'
Jeff wasn't sure about what was going on behind Liz's eyes, somehow she seemed very troubled, but he felt like he needed to reach out to her...not to push her away any further.
"Look, Liz...the world isn't a safe place...it has never been a safe place. A few hours ago, a bullet missed you by a few inches, and if it had hit you....and it could have, it's possible no power on Earth could have saved you...and you weren't doing anything wrong...weren't taking any chances...but you could have died anyway. Your mom and I were teenagers too once.....not in THIS century maybe...but ONCE...," and as his daughter's eyes smiled up at him at the self-deprecation, Jeff's heart felt better than it had in the last six weeks.. "...and I remember how it was...feeling young....not understanding about death...not even thinking about it....you feel ten foot tall and bulletproof...but you're not.
This isn't about control, Lizzy, however much you may think it is. It's about keeping you alive long enough for you to realize how your life can be destroyed by just one moment of acting irresponsibly. Once we are sure you know that....that you truly understand that...after that, your decisions are your own...because you will be an adult.....whatever your age is."
Jeff and Nancy saw their daughter nodding her head, and saw the pain as she looked up at them. "Mom....Dad...I do realize that," she said, and their seemed to be infinite pain in her eyes as she said that, "..believe me...I really do."
"Well dear, I think you dodged a bullet today...and that you dodged a bullet six weeks ago...but that doesn't mean that we want you to put yourself in places where you need to dodge a bullet," said Nancy Parker.
"I know, Mom,...if nothing else, I certainly learned that the night of the party..." said Liz, but even as both of her parents hugged her...tried to comfort her...she knew she hadn't dodged the bullet six weeks ago...it had wounded her and the scar would always be there. But perhaps, in time, it wouldn't seem quite so painful. Somehow she doubted that though, 'How do I give up a dream that I've had for seven years? Especially when it was me that killed it?'
As they broke the group hug, Jeff Parker looked into the eyes of his daughter and saw the tears. "Liz...when I was talking with Jim Valenti earlier, he said that we ...the parents....needed to give you and Kyle a path back to adulthood. I'm not sure he was right...at least not in your case. Anyone can make a mistake...and everyone does. But even when you were a little girl, I never saw you make the same mistake twice. Your mother and I have been talking about this before you got here and....well, I don't think we need to give you a pathway to adulthood...I think we need to just start treating you as an adult..."
"We talked it over, dear.....grounding you and everything...it was silly really. The last six weeks you really haven't been any more restricted than you restricted yourself this summer before this even happened," said Nancy.
"And it's not like you don't understand...,'"continued Jeff. "It's not like we haven't watched you just stare out into the distance....not like we couldn't see the pain on your face when you thought about what you'd done. What we'd like to do is to draw a line in the sand, Liz....to just agree that we all have to live with what happened that night, but that if you really learned from it...maybe it wasn't entirely a bad thing..."
"What we decided, dear, was that we thought Jim Valenti was not only right...but it even went beyond that. If you can promise us that you'll not be too proud to talk to us...consult us on your difficult decisions, take advantage of the experiences that we've already paid to learn,....well we are willing to not just let you off your grounding, but we'll trust you to make your own decisions."
"You are a smart person, Liz,...." Jeff continued, "...you always have been. Your mom and I have both seen teenagers who felt they had to do something to assert their independence, and the only way they could see to do that was to defy whatever they thought their parents wishes were. We want to take that off the table..., take it off permanently. We want to trust you to follow your own dreams, and only hope that when you run in to problems...and everyone does run in to problems from time to time, dear, however bright they are,...when that happens you'll let us help...not tell you what to do, but give you our advice as best we see it."
Liz looked back at her parents more in terror than in pride. "I don't deserve your trust....what I did six weeks ago proved that..."
"No, Liz," said her father. "What you did then proved you were human, and humans make mistakes, and maybe it showed you were inexperienced as well, which is another way of saying that you haven't yet made all the mistakes most people make growing up. But if we lose our ability to communicate with you, we lose any hope of really being able to help you...to give you the advantage of our own experiences. So we'd rather be your advisors than your jailers....besides, you always did beat up on yourself when you made a mistake far more than anyone else did."
'Maybe,' thought Liz, '...but I've never made a mistake quite that bad...'
"Honey," said Nancy, "....all we have ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy. If you ever have a child, you'll feel the same way. It's never been about obedience for the sake of obedience. You want your children to grow up...become independent...you just don't want them to get hurt doing it. We aren't abandoning you...just acknowledging what was always true. You are old enough that you are making decisions that will affect the entire course of your life, and while what happens to you affects your father and me and everybody else that loves you, it's stupid for us to think we can control you, and stupider yet to even try."
"We aren't abandoning you, Liz, and we aren't hoping you'll learn from the school of hard knocks or anything. We'll be here to support you, we'll give you our best advice, and if you do make mistakes anyway we'll to our best to help you get back up and dust yourself off, and do better next time, but the reality is that you are too old, too intelligent, and too capable for us to treat you as a child anymore. You'll never stop being our baby but...."
"But since you are going to be the one most hurt by the decisions you make, if you make bad ones, we think it's only right for you to have the final call," said Nancy.
Liz nodded her head. Seven weeks ago, she might not have agreed..., but she had screwed up....screwed up horribly....with a series of bad decisions that had cost her her dreams. She did need to put her life back together....to build some sort of new future since the one she had wanted for the last seven years was now irrevocably gone.
"OK, Mom...Dad... I'll...I'll give it a try..." she heard herself saying.
'Time to start building a new future.....one without Max,' she thought sadly.
Last edited by greywolf on Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/5/2008
It was almost three hours later before Liz was done with her homework, much of that writing up the biology experiment.
'It isn't like my new lab partner is a complete dunce, but he certainly is no Max Evans,' she thought, the pain twisting in her heart as the comparisom made her think again of what she had lost. 'Except you never really had him, did you?' she asked herself.
In fact, she'd been wondering if she even wanted to put up with the pain of having Max as her lab partner, even before what happened the night of the party, but she was absolutely sure after that she couldn't have borne the guilt of working side by side with him again this year. Maybe she could bring the new lab partner up to speed before the end of the quarter. Heck, that might be part of the future she might be in the process of building, he was an attractive enough guy, after all.
She cringed as her mind just wouldn't let it rest, 'Yeah, but he's no Max Evans there, either.'
She shook her head in disgust and put the homework back in her pack. She grabbed her pajamas and went in to the bathroom.
She cringed again when she started to turn on the shower...remembering all the fantasies she'd had about him in there. She needed to break from the past, and she didn't want those memories right now.
She looked carefully in to her panties and smiled when she saw the light panty liner pad wasn't yet soiled. Her period had actually been due yesterday, but since it was a day late she could indulge herself in a long carefree bubble-bath rather than the shower. She was a little bit surprised her period was a day late, she'd been as regular as clockwork last year. Even the period she'd had 29 days ago couldn't really be called normal, she'd just spotted for a few days. Of course, in junior high it had been a different story and her doctor had finally traced it down to anxiety over tests causing her to be irregular. '..and it's hardly like you haven't been upset over the things that have happened the last six weeks,' she told herself.
But as she filled the tub and poured in a luxurious amount of scented bubble bath she hoped she was putting all that behind her.....
'It isn't like my new lab partner is a complete dunce, but he certainly is no Max Evans,' she thought, the pain twisting in her heart as the comparisom made her think again of what she had lost. 'Except you never really had him, did you?' she asked herself.
In fact, she'd been wondering if she even wanted to put up with the pain of having Max as her lab partner, even before what happened the night of the party, but she was absolutely sure after that she couldn't have borne the guilt of working side by side with him again this year. Maybe she could bring the new lab partner up to speed before the end of the quarter. Heck, that might be part of the future she might be in the process of building, he was an attractive enough guy, after all.
She cringed as her mind just wouldn't let it rest, 'Yeah, but he's no Max Evans there, either.'
She shook her head in disgust and put the homework back in her pack. She grabbed her pajamas and went in to the bathroom.
She cringed again when she started to turn on the shower...remembering all the fantasies she'd had about him in there. She needed to break from the past, and she didn't want those memories right now.
She looked carefully in to her panties and smiled when she saw the light panty liner pad wasn't yet soiled. Her period had actually been due yesterday, but since it was a day late she could indulge herself in a long carefree bubble-bath rather than the shower. She was a little bit surprised her period was a day late, she'd been as regular as clockwork last year. Even the period she'd had 29 days ago couldn't really be called normal, she'd just spotted for a few days. Of course, in junior high it had been a different story and her doctor had finally traced it down to anxiety over tests causing her to be irregular. '..and it's hardly like you haven't been upset over the things that have happened the last six weeks,' she told herself.
But as she filled the tub and poured in a luxurious amount of scented bubble bath she hoped she was putting all that behind her.....
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/5/2008
- “Max…”
“Yes, Liz..?”
“We’ve known each other now for seven years…and we’ve always been friends..”
“Good friends, Liz..”
“Good friends maybe, but not really…close…friends. This summer…I think I’d like it if we could hang out together sometimes..maybe go to the pool or lake together….just the two of us, not a whole big group.”
The silence had gone on for an awkwardly long time. Finally he’d spoken…
“I…uh…well, I don’t think that’d be a good idea, Liz.”
She choked back tears and the humiliation of laying herself open for this rejection. But it was too late to back out.
“Why not, Max? Other boys and girls go out. Why couldn’t we?”
She could tell he was struggling with some inner turmoil. Why couldn’t he just say it? He felt something for her or he didn’t….it didn’t take that long to tell her the truth.
“I, uh…..Liz, I value your friendship,…more than you’ll ever know, but….well, we are just too different to make a good couple…”
“Ok, Max…,” she said, turning away to hide the tears…not just the tears of shame…but the tears of her heart being torn in two, “…you’re right, we’d do better to just stay friends…” except she knew that somehow wouldn’t work either, because her heart didn’t seem to care that he didn’t really like her, it had apparently made up it’s mind. No, if they couldn’t get closer, she needed to distance herself from him…she couldn’t bear being so close but never having him.
It was two AM in Isabel's room when the pain she had experienced in the dream-orb caused her to awaken. It hadn't been just the words, for she'd also felt the emotions of Liz Parker as well, and her hands were shaking as she reached for the nightlight, the high school yearbook open to Liz Parker's picture falling to the floor in the darkness. She found the nightlight at last, and laid back in the bed looking at the ceiling as she realized what she had done....what she had done to both of them. 'My God...what have I done?'she asked...rhetorically actually, because she knew damn well what had happened. It was just that after that dream.....that nightmare....she now knew that she had actually been the one to do it.
She'd never really understood Max's attraction to the girl. Well, in the last few years...maybe she had...she was nice enough. But Max had been attracted to her since third grade. But now she shook her head in disbelief...'Was it possible that Max really had loved her that much? ...as much as she had loved him, until that very moment that he had refused her?' Except of course, it really hadn't been Max's intention to refuse her...not until that morning. Not until Max's sister had argued and argued with him...and finally gotten him to promise. She remembered it like it was yesterday.....
- "You want to do WHAT with Liz?"
"I'm going to ask her to help me do the public service project we need for graduation. I already talked with Mr. Bainbridge, and he thinks it would be a great idea to put on a volunteer summer program for younger kids to get them interested in taking science courses in high school. Liz is real good in science...we could both do it together. He said I could use the science classroom two evenings a week and do sort of a "Watch Mr. Wizard" program to get middle schoolers excited about science."
"Max....that program hasn't even been voted on yet...and it's probably unconstitutional.."
Their entire class...with the apparent exception of her brother...had been upset at the proposal in front of the school board, to add a 40 hour community service volunteer requirement to the graduation requirements at West Roswell High School...to phase in with THEIR class. The freshmen on the student council had already asked the entire student council to ask assistance from the local ACLU if the proposal was adopted because it seemed like involuntary servitude to them, although the other classes didn't seem upset since they'd be graduated before it took effect.
"Mom and Dad are lawyers, and they think it's constitutional," Max shot back.
And from the look in his eyes, Isabel had known instantly that this wasn't about any graduation requirement and Max wasn't worried about public service. This was just an excuse to see Liz Parker twice a week all summer...in addition to seeing her at the pool and dropping by the Crashdown whenever she was on duty.
The fact of the matter was that Isabel was of two minds about Liz Parker. She would always be grateful to the girl because of third grade. Max had never really believed the Evans' house could ever be his home, never believed that he could ever find happiness adopted into a human family. She'd never understood that, but she'd fought it for two years...trying to keep him from running off...like Michael had the very first time he'd seen humans. And she'd been losing that battle...slowly but inexorably, despite her reassurances and despite their Mom's attempts to get through to him.
How a human third grade girl had turned that all around, she hadn't been sure...but it had happened, and Isabel had been happy enough it had happened at the time. Liz and Max had never been really close in elementary school, that was true, but then elementary school wasn't a time for girls and boys to pair up, and even in junior high school it looked like their shyness would keep them apart. But that started to turn aroung freshman year.
No, they hadn't started dating...Isabel would long ago have freaked if that had happened, but it had been apparent from everything Max had said about 'his lab partner' that her brother was fast coming to realize that girls weren't just soft boys, and what had possibly been Roswell's longest case of puppy love was suddenly threatening to brcome more than that. That, was what the whole summer science program was about, and Isabel had been sure of it.
- "Max...you can't fool me, you know. This is really about Liz, and we've had this talk before. You can't get too close...you do and she'll find out."
"She won't find out, Izzy, and even if she did....I think it would be OK. I don't think she would tell anyone...."
And that, Isabel remembered, had been the final straw. That Max might actually believe that someone...anyone...could be trusted with that secret. They hadn't even trusted their own parents, for crying out loud....and Max thought that this Miss Scientist could be trusted. Isabel could practically visualize the girl dissecting both of them herself, just to see what made aliens tick. And if she learned anything at all from the dream-orb she'd just visited, the nightmare she'd just shared with Liz Parker, she'd learned that Max was probably right. Until that moment...until Liz had opened herself up to Max, laid it all on the line, forgotten her shyness and been totally vulnerable, Liz really had loved Max...loved him deeply...a love that might have even survived knowing he was a different species, knowing that even though they might not be able to have kids or anything, that they shared something special...something wonderful. And that knowledge brought more tears to Isabel's eyes...tears because she now knew that she'd destroyed that....destroyed that with what she'd told her brother.
- "Max...you can't do this, Max. It's not just about what she might tell.... You and she are a different species, Max. If you truly care for her...you've got to step back. You've got to let her go...to her own kind, where she can find happiness, Max. Anything else would just be cruel."
She remembered that day, she'd always remember it. He'd sat back like he'd been slapped across the face, his eyes shining with unshed tears. She'd watched his hands shake and finally he'd gone back to his room and put on that damn Counting Crows song. It was like the soul had departed him...and suddenly Roswell was no longer his home.
But she hadn't known until tonight, ... not that she'd told him that the day before Liz had opened herself...opened her heart to him. She had launched Max like a missile ....a missile that had snuffed out the heart of Liz Parker. 'But you do know what's happened since...,' she told herself. '...the pain in his eyes when he came home from school that next day...made worse when she turned him down when he asked her to help with the science program. The weeks of watching him go to the pool and not find her...go to the Crashdown and have her send a different waitress to serve him, even when he sat squarely in her section....' She'd watched the utter destruction of her brother in one short summer...and then the rest. Roswell was a small town, and everyone had known that morning that Kyle and Liz had been out drinking and she'd seen her brother's face that morning....the pain and the despair in it.
Isabel thought at first that once school started he'd get back to normal, but when she found out that Liz had chosen a different lab partner for biology, before Max even entered the room....when she'd seen how it had affected him...she'd actually started to hate the girl for what she'd done to him.
But after tonight....after seeing that nightmare dream, feeling what Liz felt that terrible day, she couldn't hate Liz...she could only hate herself.
'It was you, Isabel....you that ruined both of their lives....'
She'd doomed them both to a terrible loneliness they might have avoided, and herself to hearing "A Murder of One" six hours a day until she went off to college and to having long talks with her folks about what was depressing Max and whether or not they should get him to a shrink.
She turned off the nightlight and lay in the bed for another three hours, tears trickling down, trying to quiet her sobs. Eventually sleep overtook her, but even there the memory tormented her. In desperation she turned to the dream-orb .....
- “"Hi, want to dance?"
"No...not tonight. Oh God, I've really fouled up...really made a terrible awful unbelievable mistake," she said, starting to sob. He reached out and pulled her tight, caressing her hair as he brought her head to his shoulder.
"Everybody makes mistakes, it's a fundamental human trait. All you can do is try not to do it again, and make amends where you can, Izzy."
'Yeah, well, I'm not human,' she thought, "Somehow I should have been able to avoid this one."
He smiled down at her. He knew it was a dream, knew this really wasn't Isabel Evans. Isabel Evans he had barely been introduced to, but he'd seen her at school for years. She was a cold icy bitch....not at all like Izzy, who was literally his dream girl...and was ...unlike Ice Princess Isabel Evans....a real human being.
"Sometimes it just happens.....give it time," he said, and she found that it helped, burying her head in his shoulder and soaking his shirt with her tears...not a lot, but at least a little.
"Thanks for the use of the shoulder..."
"Think nothing of it, Iz....,..what are friends for?" said Alex.
Last edited by greywolf on Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 2/6/2008
The alarm clock went off and a very tired Liz Parker looked at it with something approaching disbelief.
'I'm more tired now than I was before I went to bed....'
Of course, the nightmare had repeated itself again...the moment of her rejection by Max, and that had brought her awake to stare for what seemed like endless hours at the ceiling and wonder how she could have misjudged him so much...misjudged herself as well, when she remembered her stupidity...no...her shameful behavior the night of the party. Of course, she'd also had to get up and pee twice, and she was wondering if maybe she was getting a bladder infection. She'd had one of those ... a couple years ago, but this seemed different. It didn't sting like that had, last night it was more like she just had to go...like she'd had a lot of fluids, except she hadn't.
As she started to brush her teeth the nausea came again. She moved quickly to the floor in front of the commode, and she retched repeatedly, bringing up little more than the toothpaste covered saliva from her mouth and a small quantity of yellow bilious looking fluid that almost seemed to come from her toes again. She tried taking just a little water to wash out the sour taste of the vomit, and it triggered the whole process again. Eventually her stomach settled, but only after her body was coated with a sheen of sweat from her exertions. She looked into the mirror at last... 'You look like,Hell, Liz.'
She had time for a quick shower if she m,issed breakfast, and she had no thought whatever of doing anything but missing breakfast. She stripped off her clothes as she turned on her shower to start the hot water on its way to her upstairs bathroom, noting again that her period still hadn't started...at least THAT would save her some time, and she stepped into the shower as it warmed.
She soaped herself quickly...surprised at the tenderness in her breasts. The left one had hurt for several days after the party...thanks to Bubba Brigham, but she'd thought she'd gotten over that. But now they both were tender. She looked down at them...seeing the areolas darkened....
'No,' she thought, her mouth going open, 'no....I had my period four weeks ago...or at least I thought I did. No...it can't be....'
'I'm more tired now than I was before I went to bed....'
Of course, the nightmare had repeated itself again...the moment of her rejection by Max, and that had brought her awake to stare for what seemed like endless hours at the ceiling and wonder how she could have misjudged him so much...misjudged herself as well, when she remembered her stupidity...no...her shameful behavior the night of the party. Of course, she'd also had to get up and pee twice, and she was wondering if maybe she was getting a bladder infection. She'd had one of those ... a couple years ago, but this seemed different. It didn't sting like that had, last night it was more like she just had to go...like she'd had a lot of fluids, except she hadn't.
As she started to brush her teeth the nausea came again. She moved quickly to the floor in front of the commode, and she retched repeatedly, bringing up little more than the toothpaste covered saliva from her mouth and a small quantity of yellow bilious looking fluid that almost seemed to come from her toes again. She tried taking just a little water to wash out the sour taste of the vomit, and it triggered the whole process again. Eventually her stomach settled, but only after her body was coated with a sheen of sweat from her exertions. She looked into the mirror at last... 'You look like,Hell, Liz.'
She had time for a quick shower if she m,issed breakfast, and she had no thought whatever of doing anything but missing breakfast. She stripped off her clothes as she turned on her shower to start the hot water on its way to her upstairs bathroom, noting again that her period still hadn't started...at least THAT would save her some time, and she stepped into the shower as it warmed.
She soaped herself quickly...surprised at the tenderness in her breasts. The left one had hurt for several days after the party...thanks to Bubba Brigham, but she'd thought she'd gotten over that. But now they both were tender. She looked down at them...seeing the areolas darkened....
'No,' she thought, her mouth going open, 'no....I had my period four weeks ago...or at least I thought I did. No...it can't be....'
Last edited by greywolf on Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.