Title: Question - A Short Story
Author: Karen
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: None of it is mine.
Summary: Three couples and their reaction to "the question".
Author's Notes: Fluff. Pure fluff. Lyrics are from "Question" by Old 97s
She woke from a dream
Her head was on fire
Why was he so nervous?
Liz Parker stretched her arms out to the side, tilted her head back and spun around in a slow circle, breathing in the cool night air.
“Ah! It’s such a beautiful night!” she sighed, closing her eyes and coming to a stop. Behind her eyelids, the world continued to spin and she laughed giddily from the sensation.
When she opened her eyes, she found Max Evans standing nearby, his hands shoved uncomfortably into his pockets, his shoulders hoisted upwards in an awkward stance. Liz laughed.
“You okay, Max?”
He nodded, but his eyes darted anxiously away.
“Okay then,” she grinned. “Last one to the swings is a rotten egg!”
Max’s eyes grew round as she took off running and he understood she was serious. Not one who liked to lose, he wrenched his sweaty hands from his pockets and followed her, his feet slipping every so often on the dew-drenched grass.
Laughing, gasping for air, Liz grabbed one of the swings and spun around, her grin victorious, just as Max pulled up beside her.
“I win!” she shouted into the night. “I beat you!”
He couldn’t help but laugh at her, at her childlike joy.
“Now you have to push me,” she teased, dropping onto the rubber strap that was the swing seat.
Obedient always, Max took up residence behind her, pushing her gently. There were few lights in the park, only enough for security purposes, and he watched that warm glow reflect off her dark hair. Mouth dry, he tried to work up his courage.
He didn’t know why he was so nervous. It wasn’t like Liz would tell him no. But there was something so frightening about putting himself out there, of risking the ultimate in rejection.
“You’re quiet tonight,” Liz said over her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fine.” His voice cracked when he spoke, something that hadn’t happened since he was fourteen. He cleared his throat. “Fine.”
She turned to look at him more fully, her brows knitted together in concern. Then she pointed to the swing beside hers. “Have a seat,” she said.
He took her to the park
She crossed her arms
And lowered her eyelids
Liz let her swing slowly come to a stop, then she regarded him seriously through the links of the chain. Her bottom lip pushed out in a slight frown; it was such a gorgeous night – was he really going to dampen the mood?
“What’s on your mind, Max?”
He kicked at the dirt, met her gaze briefly and looked back to the spot where countless shoes had worn the grass away. “Nothing,” he said, trying to infuse some reassurance into his voice.
“You don’t seem like there’s nothing on your mind…”
He looked up again, realizing that he needed to get it over with, if only to put himself out of his misery. “You’re right – there is something on my mind.”
Liz swallowed visibly. “Is everything okay? Is something wrong?”
Max shook his head. “No, nothing like that.” He drew in a deep breath. “I think you know that I’m never going to love anyone else but you, Liz.”
She smiled. “I know that,” she agreed.
“I don’t think I can love anyone else. You’re the sun, and the moon and the stars to me,” he said, his gaze drifting upwards briefly.
Liz giggled self-consciously and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.
Max swallowed past his anxiety as one hand snaked into his jacket pocket. It was still there, entombed in its black velvet box. “Liz, I have something to ask you.”
Some day somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Maybe tonight I've got a question for you
Liz’s dark eyes were round as she watched Max rise from his swing and slowly drop to one knee before her. In his hand was a ring box, lid open, revealing a sparkling diamond.
“Liz Parker,” he said, his eyes fixed on hers. “Will you marry me?”
* * * * *
“What do you think – the coral or the magenta?”
Michael Guerin’s lip lifted at one corner. He was watching Maria Deluca test lipstick in the rearview mirror of the car. The puzzling thing was that it was dark outside. “Coral” looked like a darker version of “magenta” in this light.
“Which one?” she asked impatiently.
“The coral?” he answered uncertainly.
She looked in the mirror a moment longer, then tossed the coral back into her bag, applied the magenta instead.
Michael sighed and scratched his eyebrow.
Maria smacked her lips together, then sat back against the seat, satisfied with her choice.
“So, Guerin, you’ve got me out here in the middle of the night – what’s this all about?”
He shifted in his seat. Maybe this was a bad idea. Not asking her – but the whole thing period. They couldn’t even agree on the right shade of lipstick. He shook his head – had he really just had a thought about disagreeing about makeup?
“Do you know what Liz and Max are doing tonight?” he asked.
Maria shook her head. “No, but I imagine it’s something painfully romantic.” She sighed happily and Michael felt his stomach lurch a little.
“Max is asking Liz to marry him,” he said bluntly.
Maria’s eyes were round. “No shit!”
“No shit.”
“Wow.” She looked out the windshield of the car. “Too cool.”
“I, uh, thought maybe we should get married, too.”
In an instant, he knew his choice of words was poor. Even in the darkness of the car, he could see that her eyes had narrowed and her happy demeanor was all but gone.
“Should?” she repeated. “Why – are you pregnant?”
* * * * *
Kyle pointed to the menu board of the ice cream stand. “What would you like?” he asked as he reached for his wallet.
Isabel bit one corner of her lip and surveyed the options. “Double fudge sundae, hold the nuts.”
I’ll give you some nuts to hold, Kyle smirked to himself as he stepped up to the window. “Large chocolate cone and a double fudge sundae without the nuts,” he said to the awkward adolescent manning the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Isabel reaching for her purse. “I got it,” he said, smiling.
“You sure?” Her perfectly manicured eyebrows rose uncertainly.
Kyle laughed. “Yeah. I may be a poor mechanic and the son of an unemployed police officer, but I can still afford a little bit of ice cream.”
Isabel smiled gently at him. She knew the past months had not been easy for Kyle, shouldering all of the responsibility that had been laid on him.
He took their order from the counter clerk, paid, then motioned to a picnic table off to one side of the stand. They sat and he handed her the sundae.
“Mmmm,” she said, licking the spoon. “I haven’t had this in a long time.”
He nodded his agreement while he picked at his cone. He really didn’t feel like eating it, not when he had something important to ask her. So he resorted to watching her take a few bites of her treat, relishing each of her movements.
“Iz, we’re good friends, aren’t we?” he finally asked.
She looked up from the bowl and dabbed the corners of her mouth. Immediately, her lips curved into a smile. “Of course we are, Kyle.”
“And if I wanted to ask you something, you’d hear me out, right?”
Isabel’s smile faded away and was replaced by a mask of confusion. “Of course. Is something wrong?”
Kyle shook his head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just…” He sighed and glanced away for a long moment, his eyes settling on a father and daughter ordering at the window. When he looked back to his friend, the concern in her eyes made his heart lurch.
“Hey,” she said, reaching across the table and taking his hand. “Whatever it is, you can ask me.”
He looked down at her fingers, so long and elegant, draped over the back of his hand. Her touch was nearly unbearable. “I can ask you anything?” he questioned.
She nodded, smiling softly again. “Anything.”
Kyle drew in a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. Isabel, would you marry me?”
* * * * *
She'd had no idea
She started to cry
She said in a good way
Liz’s hands flew to her mouth and tears flooded her eyes. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the beautiful jewel in the little black box, the way the dim lights of the park caught it every now and then and sent a sparkle into the night.
“Liz?” Max asked carefully, a thousand doubts and insecurities flooding his mind.
“It’s beautiful,” she gasped, reaching out with her fingers but cautious to touch it.
He swallowed visibly and looked at the ring that had cost him nearly all of his savings. “Do you like it?”
Her eyes snapped to his. “Like it? Oh, Max, I love it!” She finally let her fingers touch its smooth, cool surface and another wave of tears rushed down her cheeks.
Max cleared his throat. “Would you like to try it on?” Maybe if she tried it on, he could accept that as an answer to his question.
She nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear as she sniffed back some of her tears.
Trying to hide the trembling of his fingers, Max retracted the box and gently pulled the jewel from it. He turned it over in his hand a couple of times, then reached out and took her hand in his. Gripping the ring between his thumb and middle finger, he held it at the tip of her ring finger. When he didn’t push it any farther, Liz looked at him curiously.
Max smiled nervously. “You haven’t answered my question,” he gently reminded her. “So, will you marry me, Liz?”
* * * * *
“Do you not have one romantic bone in your body?” Maria reprimanded. “And no, Michael, that is not a bone and it has nothing to do with romance!”
Michael slid down in his seat and braced his elbow against the car door, covered his eyes with his hand.
“We should get married? What is that? ‘Should’ like ‘I should get my oil changed’ or something. Like it’s a chore that needs to be taken care of, or some routine maintenance that you should do to keep something running. Well, our relationship – or whatever it is we have – isn’t like a car, Michael.”
He sighed silently. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Well, then what does should mean? Should is something you have to do for the greater good, or that will benefit you in the end. Marriage isn’t a ‘should’, Michael. No one should get married.”
He dropped his hand. “Jesus, are you going to carry on about that one word all night now?”
Maria’s mouth dropped open in disbelief – disbelief that he couldn’t understand how totally classless he was. “No, I don’t have to. I can carry on about something else. Like how come it took your finding out Max was asking Liz in order for you to ask me?”
“That’s not the case,” Michael said defensively.
“It isn’t? Then how come you didn’t think we should get married until you found out they were?”
Michael slid farther down in his seat. Forget marriage – now he wanted a divorce.
* * * * *
Isabel finally managed to wipe away her look of surprise. Clearing her throat, she wiped her mouth and put her napkin on the table. Leaning forward a little, she tried to put on a smile, but had the feeling it was weak and nervous-looking.
“Kyle,” she said carefully. “I’m already married.”
He blinked. “Is that a problem?”
* * * * *
Liz nodded her head as the tears came again. “Yes,” she said through the mist. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Max Evans.”
Relief washing over him, Max pushed the ring onto her finger and pulled her to her feet, into a warm embrace. They kissed for a long moment, then he hoisted her upward and spun around in a tight circle, feeling like the king of all of the world.
* * * * *
“For the love of God,” Michael finally exploded. “Will you just shut up!”
The only sound in the car was the reverberation of his voice. Maria had been rattling nonstop about his Neanderthal mating rituals, rattling to the point where he could take it no longer. Now she was silent, her face stunned.
“Why don’t you just shut up and quit finding reasons why you can’t say yes?” Michael challenged. “You keep building a defense, making everything my fault, just so you don’t have to answer the question. The truth is, Maria, that you can’t find a valid reason to say no.”
She looked away quickly, her gaze focusing on the dashboard.
“I choose the wrong words, I choose the wrong time,” he said. “I have the class of a pissed off alligator. But for some reason you’re still here. If I was that bad, you would have said no immediately, Maria. So why don’t you answer a different question for me, huh? Why don’t you tell me why you didn’t say no as soon as I asked?”
She continued to stare at the dash, her demeanor that of a frightened rabbit, stunned into motionlessness.
“At a loss for words?” he goaded. “What happened to all of that crap you’ve been spouting for the last ten minutes? Cat got your tongue? All I want is one good reason why you didn’t say no.”
Maria swallowed, chewed on her bottom lip. When she spoke, her voice was but a whisper. “Because I want to say yes.”
Michael stared at her silently, one eyebrow lifted in anticipation.
She turned her head toward him, looked at him from beneath her bangs. “So, did you at least buy a ring or something?”
He shook his head. “Shit no. Do you think I had even a small chance of getting that right? You’re picking out your own.”
* * * * *
Isabel gave a nervous laugh. “Well, Jesse might find it a problem, Kyle…”
He blinked again. “Yeah, you’re right.” He sighed and started picking at his ice cream again. “I just wanted to be the next in line.”
“The next in line?”
“In case something ever happens between you and Jesse – not that I’m wishing it would. But if it did, then you can’t marry anyone else until you answer me first, Isabel.”
She laughed lightly. “Okay, Kyle.”
“Great. By the way, I didn’t ask you if you will marry me. I asked you if you would marry me. It was a hypothetical.”
She nodded, feigning seriousness. “Of course it was.”
“Yep.” Kyle shifted uncomfortably, then looked at his watch. “Hey, look at the time. I should take you home.”
* * * * *
He took her by the hand
Walked her back home
They took the long way
As the moon rose over the small town of Roswell, New Mexico, Max and Liz stood beneath the lights of the Crashdown’s spaceship, arms around one another as they kissed goodnight.
In a parking lot not far away, Michael and Maria had settled their differences for the time being, and the car had fallen silent save for the sounds of passion.
Kyle Valenti drove past both couples without really seeing them. He felt light and happy, because deep inside, hope sprang eternal. Maybe not next week or even next year, but maybe someday he’d get a chance with Isabel. And the possibility was enough for him.
Baby tonight I've got a question for you…
The End
~~~~~~~~~~
Yup - fluff
