Once again, thanks for the feedback. It seems most people don’t want Max to go away. Well there is a lot more info in this chapter on the school and the life Max will need to learn to live. Kerri, thanks again for being my beta!
kerri240879 – Thanks, I did actually ask my mum what she would do…
POM – Don’t parents ALWAYS baby you a bit when you’re sick? Add a bullet in the brain and I have a feeling Max will have to get used to it.
roswell3053 - No I understood fully what you meant, Max will need Liz, but he’ll have to learn on others too because it’s too much for one itty brunette to handle.
RhondaAnn – Yep, there were a few empty chairs.
begonia9508 - No not CIA or FBI, maybe fashion police?
Erina – Isabel has been hiding without realising it since it happened, and I think the whole living in a fish bowl life will soon be starting.
Ellie – Yea it got pretty hot…but now it’s cold again and we’re in long sleaves again!!! Oh see now you’ve distracted me, chin-ups, *sigh*…. Lots more about the school in this chapter.
Natz - Thanks
pLANETv33n3ss – Thanks and here you go Miss.
Rigel – Welcome!! Not to worry, a lot of people (and well me) forgot there wasn’t aliens to save anyone!!
KatnotKath – Yes I am rubbing in the weather, I’ve seen the news I know the cold snaps hitting everyone!! I hope you’re better soon.
Grace52373 – I think you’re right, helping Max will be a team effort.
Anonymousarfan – Thanks!
Chapter Eleven
The next morning Liz stood at her mirror and looked at what she was wearing to the hospital. The brief thought of ‘Would Max like it’ was quickly brushed aside with a sad smile, he wouldn’t know what she was wearing, he couldn’t see what she was wearing.
So Liz made the trek to the hospital on Saturday like every other day that week. She pulled into the car park and walked in through the lobby doors, up to level one and down to room 1947. Knocking on the door lightly she opened it and looked in, finding it empty Liz begin to panic, had something happened to Max? Walking back to the nurse’s station she was startled when she saw Max sitting in a wheelchair being pushed down the hallway. Phillip was walking beside him and from the expression on his face he looked stressed. Liz was about to hide and come back in a little while when Phillip looked up and spotted her.
“Liz dear, perfect timing. Could you possibility do me a huge favour?” Phillip stopped in the hallway as Max was pushed back into his room.
“Of course, anything Phillip.”
“Great, can you stay with Max? Diane has gotten the flu and can’t come in an visit so she’s upset about that and I think Isabel is getting sick so I’ve banned her as well from visiting. I need to run to the store and stock up on some food for home, we have nothing in the house and I want to check in on the girls. But as you know we don’t really want to leave Max alone. So if you’re free for a few hours could you possibility stay here with him?” Liz wondered if Phillip had been spending time with Maria, he spoke quickly enough.
“The flu? That’s too bad; sure I can stay as long as you need me. Or if you want to stay maybe I could do the shopping for you?” if the Evans family needed Liz to stay an hour she’d do it, if they wanted her to stay a week she would.
“No it’s fine you stay with Max. He’s being a little difficult today so he’s not in the best of moods. The social worker will be here around 3 so I’ll be back for that.” Phillip looked into the room and saw Max was back in his bed, sitting up his arms crossed over his chest.
“That’s fine, take as long as you need.” Liz wondered if the reason Max was in a bad mood was because he never had a moment alone? Maybe she should see if he wanted some time alone and sit in the waiting room.
“Great, perfect. I’ll go, tell Max I’ll be back later. And if you need anything, umm, try the nurses or just call Diane at home.” Before Liz had time to respond Phillip was off down the hallway. Poor guy Liz thought, the last week had been horrible for them, on top of work and Max in hospital the rest of his family was now sick with the flu. Sighing Liz turned and walked into Max’s room.
“Hi Max its Liz. You’re dad had to leave for a few hours to get some things for your mom and sister, so you’re stuck with me.” Liz noticed at Max was following her as she walked into the room and sat down next to him.
“Good, I mean that man is sending me insane. They all are.” Max was angry, he wanted to be a part of his life again, instead of an observer. Not that he was an observer either, to be able to observe you had to be able to see and he couldn’t, he was merely a bystander. No one asked him anything except how he felt, everything was talked around him, not too him. Once he ‘woken up’ yesterday he waited for his parents to bring up the possibility of him moving to go to school. They never did.
“Ummm, I’m sure they don’t mean to be.” Liz was surprised; she’d never been around an angry Max, granted she’d never spent much time around him at all. But the few times he had the right to be angry at school he still seemed to be calm, and now he was red from anger.
“No they do, they have no idea what it’s like for me at all. They say they do, but fuck they’re not the blind ones are they? I mean they’re thinking of sending me away to school did you know that? They had this whole conversation after you left yesterday about it while I was still pretending to sleep. But they haven’t mentioned it to me at all have they? No because we wouldn’t want to discuss Max’s life with Max.”
“Ok, look I don’t even want to imagine what you’re going through right now Max. And no one knows what you’re feeling, but I think they think they’re just doing the right thing.”
“But it’s my life Liz, not there’s and I want to have a say in it.” Max’s hand hit the bed with a bang; he was frustrated and was taking it out on Liz.
“But it is there life as well Max, look I’m not justifying what’s going on, them not talking to you I think you should be included.” Liz could see Max was about to talk so she continued quickly. “No wait let me finish, see Max you’re blind and as tragic and horrible as that is, and trust me it is and everyone knows that. But you can’t go back to the life you had, you can’t as much as you want to or I want you to you can’t and so everything and everyone was to adapt to the changes. And they wont be easy for you, but they wont be easy for them either.” Liz could see the anger leave Max’s face a little, she knew he must be frustrated but it wasn’t his parent’s fault and she’d seen what they’d been through the last week.
“I know, I do really but sometimes I just wish they’d ask me instead of telling me. I mean I’ve been awake what 2 days? And already it’s too much.” Max felt bad for blowing up at Liz, but at the same time he was amazed how she just sat there and took it calmly.
“I can’t imagine. I mean my parents have been hovering and I’m fine. But Max I’ve been here everyday and seen you parents and how they coped and all I can say is that they are doing they best they can. They’ve barely left your room, let alone the hospital in the last week. And today with your mom and sister being sick, I’m sure they’re just exhausted and they think they’re saving you from more stress by not worrying you with the little things.” Max knew what Liz was making sense, he did but he still wanted to be a part of everything.
“Do you know that my parents have been talking in hushed voices since I woke up? They refuse to get angry with me? I could all them every name under the sun and they’d just there? But you, you just yelled at me Liz Parker.” Liz wondered for a brief second if she’d gone too far, but then Max’s lip turned up into a smile.
“Well yea, I guess I did.” A smile grace Liz’s face as well, and for a few minutes they just sat in silence.
“So how are you anyway Liz? I mean mom said you’ve been here everyday since it happened?” Max made his mother repeat that information twice when he’d first heard it. Of course then his mother thought his ears had been damaged and called a doctor. But Max was too happy to care about the hearing tests he had to endure; Liz had come and sat with him everyday.
“I’m fine, better now you’re awake.” Instinct took over and Liz grabbed Max’s hand and she felt him squeeze it. For a second Liz was embarrassed at the blush that graced her cheeks, but then realized Max couldn’t see it and she smiled a sad smile.
“Yea, I guess I was sleepy huh?” Max tried to make it sound light, but even he couldn’t stop the sadness from coming through.
“Something like that. Hey can I ask you a question?” Liz heard the drop in Max’s voice and decided the least she could do today was keep Max’s spirits up.
“Sure.”
“It’s about Isabel and Michael…they’re not going out or anything are they? I mean they seem kinda close?” Although Liz seriously doubted they were she knew the question would bring a smile to Max’s face. She was wrong; a second later Max erupted in laughter, it didn’t last long though as his hand went flying to his neck.
“Aww, I think laughter is out for a little while.” Max was so surprised at the question he forgot about everything for a few seconds and even the pain of his wound couldn’t stop the humour he felt.
“Oh I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have…do you need something? Someone?” Liz stood to go and get a nurse.
“No it’s fine really. I just haven’t laughed since…well you know and I now know it hurts a little. Don’t be sorry, it’s the first time I’ve forgotten what’s going on, even for a second.”
“Well I guess that’s good, but you never answered my question, are they?”
“Isabel and Michael? God I hope not they’d kill each other in a second. Michael has no one really, he’s got a grandfather somewhere in Wyoming that he’s never seen and he wasn’t even close to his parents. So even before they died he was always at our house, and after the car accident Dad helped him get emancipated so he didn’t have to go into foster care. They wanted him to move in with us but he wanted to be life alone.”
“Wow, I mean there were always rumours about why he lived alone, you know bad foster care things like that. But that’s so, so simple a reason I guess.”
“Yea, he’s my brother and he’s Isabel’s brother, that’s as close as they’ll ever get.” Max was started to be distracted by Liz’s hand, he couldn’t believe Liz Parker was sitting next to him and holding his hand.
“I feel sorry for Isabel then he’s kinda protective of her. Did you know that Michael followed her for three hours yesterday? He even hid behind a dumpster.”
“Really? Yea, Michael was always been good at stealth…”
“Oh but he wasn’t, I mean Isabel knew he was following her the whole time.” Liz watched as Max started to laugh again, only to stop a second later and smile.
“Ok, well maybe he’s not so good then. What were you doing talking to Isabel anyway?” Liz explained how she invited them to dinner and how along with Alex and Maria they ended up having a pretty good time last night.
A few hours later Phillip Evans and the social worker walked in to find Max and Liz in an in-depth discussion on music. Phillip couldn’t believe this was his son, Max who hadn’t smiled since he woke up was waving his arms around and talking over Liz who herself was talking loudly.
“Oh you did not just say that about Michael Jackson Max Evans. If weren’t in this hospital bed, well I would…”
“Would what? Don’t let a hospital bed and blind boy stop you.” Max laughed and a second later felt Liz stand up, her laughter stopping.
“Phillip, hi, umm we were just…” Liz didn’t know how to explain the fact she had just threatened Max.
“Oh no don’t stop on our account. I’m sure he deserves everything he’s going to get.” Phillip looked at the smile and colour gracing Max’s face, he looked better than he had all week, hell he looked better than he had in months, Liz Parker was truly special.
“Hi dad, how’s mom and Isabel?”
“Oh fine, complaining about me banning them from visiting you. I had to leave before I did something drastic to them.”
“I bet, Isabel and mom aren’t the best patients at the best of times.”
“Max, Liz this is Lilly Kleeman, the social worker from Albuquerque. Lilly this is Max and Liz Parker a friend of the family.”
“Nice to meet you Liz and Max.” Walking in she shook Liz’s hand and grabbed Max’s and shook his.
“Well this is my queue to leave. I bailed on my shift last night so I have to work tonight. I’ll talk to you later Max.” As was her habit now she leaned over and planted a small kiss on Max’s cheek.
“You can stay if you want Liz.” Max didn’t want Liz to leave; the comfort he felt when she was around was so soothing.
“No I should go, really you have things to talk about. Wish Diane and Isabel well for me Phillip?” Liz looked at the older man.
“Sure thing, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Phillip watched as the young girl walked out the room and the smile from Max’s face faded.
“Hi Max, as your dad said my name is Lilly Kleeman and I’m a social worker and I specialize in cases of blindness or impaired vision in teens and young adults. Now I know you are most properly scared and have a million and one questions about everything and anything and I hope that today and through phone calls and meetings I’ll be able to help you sort some things out.” Lilly reached into her bag and pulled out a recording device putting it on the table next to Max. “I’ll tape the session for you, in case you want to go back and listen over anything we’ve said ok?” Seeing Max nod she got out her notebook and quickly scanned the information. She’d already spoke to Max’s doctors as well as Max’s parents over the phone yesterday and had a fare idea of who Max Evans was.
“Your dads going to stay Max, but this is really a meeting between you and me ok?”
“Sure.” Max wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but just the fact that Lilly was talking to him about his life instead of talking about his life made Max want to hear more.
“Well I guess the first thing is do you have any questions? I know it’s early and I can’t answer any medical questions but is there anything you can think of right now you want to know?”
“Umm not really, I haven’t really had much time to think about it.” Max was lying; he had a million and one questions floating around in his head, from the simple things like how he would get around to would he be able to graduate collage?
“OK, that’s fine it’s been a huge week for you. But I hate to say it but this is just the beginning Max, the road ahead of you is long and hard but with support of friends and your family I don’t doubt you’ll be able to achieve every dream you’ve had for yourself.” Lilly noticed Max had shut his eyes; she’d seen this before on her cases. It was a form of denial and a way of self consciously blocking out the world. Not waiting for an answer, as she doubted she’d get one she continued.
“So I guess I might as well start with the simpler things, like getting around, and what I call ‘blind etiquette’. This is more or less what you’ll have to talk to people you know about, things like leaving things on the floor, moving furniture without telling you. Things you don’t think of but can be dangerous and annoying for sightless persons. When people walk in and out of rooms, they should announce themselves to you, but they wont remember to do this at first so you’ll have to ask them to. You’ll find people will get embarrassed when they say things like ‘I’ll see you later’ or ‘did you see that?’. This normally happens after people get used to you being blind, they forget and treat you normally which you want, they don’t mean to offended you when they say see, or look.” Lilly looked over at Phillip and noticed he was taking notes and was already on his second page.
“Now getting around is a little harder, there are three ways, you go it alone, which means you rely on people to help you walk or do things. You rely solely on touch…”
“No, I don’t want to have to rely on people. If this is my life then I want to have a normal a life as possible.” Max sat up a little straighter in the bed, Lilly smiled, glad that he was listening.
“Ok, I don’t recommend that anyway. It’s not only dangerous but you’re right you can’t lead a normal life like that. The other ways are cane and guide dog. Having a guide dog gives you the most freedom over all; it allows you to walk in crowded places and to get around safely. A cane also has it’s benefits, it’s small they fold down to about the size of a ruler. They are very portable and well they’re not alive!!! Most people that are totally blind like you use both. Having a dog is good for everyday things, but when you just want to walk to the mail box in the front yard or walk around a friends house the cane is much simpler.”
“A guide dog? How do we look into that?” Phillip looked up at Lilly.
“Well you need to go to school for a month with your dog and learn how to use them. The dogs already have had over a years training by the time you both meet, but you have to learn the signals and how to give directions and it’s not as easy as it looks. Now I rang around yesterday to see what the dog situation was. There are about 25 schools in the US that you can get a dog through and a school in Nevada has openings in their November class.”
“November? Isn’t that a long time to have to wait?” Max didn’t want to wait until November to be able to do things alone.
“Yes but there are a lot of things you need to learn before you can make the step to get a guide dog Max. Things like learning to read and write Braille. Learning how to cook and clean without sight, all simple things you used to take for granted. Like I said it’s a long and not so easy process from here on out.” Lilly didn’t like to lie to people about what happened from here, she wasn’t going to say it was all a bed of roses, because it wasn’t, it was a hard slog to learn to lead a normal life for a blind person.
“I guess I just thought they’d come naturally to me. I mean I could cook before today why wouldn’t I be able to now?” Max stated to realize there was a lot of things he never thought about and was glad Lilly was here to help him through.
“Ok let’s go with cook then. How would you read a cookbook? Or what the settings on the stove? Or what you’re actually putting in the food. Everything in your house will need Braille labels and to be placed in there own spot. Even getting milk for your coffee, you wouldn’t want to pour orange juice in my mistake. Things you’ve never thought about will now take longer and require more care Max, your way of life will change.”
“Were do you go to learn this all? I mean what happens from here?” Max knew the answer, but he wanted to be told.
“School Max, and not West Roswell High, well at least not for awhile anyway.”
“You mean I could go back?” Max thought his high school days were over, that’d he’d have to graduate somewhere else, if he could graduate at all.
“I don’t see why you couldn’t finish school there Max. You’d be surprised at what books come in Braille and with a aid you shouldn’t have a problem at all.” Lilly saw him smile and knew that that was a question Max had wanted to ask from the beginning.
“Really? At West Roswell?” Max couldn’t believe that he might be able to finish high school where he started.
“Sure, but lets not think that far in advance just yet. Now I spoke to Dr. Pierce and he wants to get you up and about today, so I brought you a few different types of canes to try. They all do the same thing but like everything each one has it’s pros and cons. There are some with a large ball at the bottom, some have a slightly crocked stick, and others have a sensor. Use them and decide what you like and let me know and I can order one for you. They should all be the right size for you, I checked your height yesterday.”
Max’s head was spinning, this much thought went into a cane? And Lilly said this was the simple stuff!!!
“Ok so that’s the actual cane, now let me explain how to use it, then well get you up and give them a try ok?” Lilly spent the next 30 minutes talking over how to use a cane properly. Phillip and Max both asked a lot of question, they had no idea walking was such a complicated thing.
After Lilly thought Max had shown how to sense the changes in the cane she went and got a nurse to remove his drip, a few minutes later Lilly and the nurse had Max standing and out the door. Together the three of them went on Max’s first walk as a blind person. Phillip walked a few feet behind Max, watching his son’s hesitant steps, the frantic waving of the cane in front of time and before he realized what was happening his eyes began to water and he had to sit down. This was his son’s life now, his Max the boy who ran almost daily couldn’t walk down a hallway without a look of fear in his eyes. Phillip wanted to scream out loud and kill whoever did this to his son, how dare they live there lives when his son’s was changed in such a life altering way? Seeing Max turn around, Phillip noticed Lilly and the nurse back off, walking a step on either side, and how Max’s face went white. Oh God, he was so scared and this was just a hospital hallway. Standing up Phillip whipped his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Looking good Max, although I better tell your sister to be nice to you, you have a decent weapon against her now.”
“Yea, I guess.” Max knew what his father was trying to do, lighten the mood and he was grateful.
“Your dad’s right Max, you did great just now. How do you feel? Tried?” Lilly knew that Max would pick up walking with a cane, but she found the more active the person the harder it was. They were used to control over where they went and there own movement and suddenly they had to rely on something else.
“Ok actually. It’s nice not to be in bed.” Max felt like he had been lying in bed for years.
“Great, the nurse said we could go out into the court yard. I had a look when I arrived and it has some grass and gravel and even some dirt so we can get some experience on some different services. But you need shoes for that? Phillip do you have some shoes for Max?” When Lilly had spoken to the Evans’s yesterday she had mentioned she’d need a few things brought in to work with Max.
“Yep, I brought him some clothes as well so you don’t have to wear the hospital clothes outside as well.” Phillip watched as Max’s face lit up, Phillip knew that Max was self conscious enough as it was and walking around in a hospital robe was just making it worse.
“Perfect. Ok Phillip you help Max get ready and I’ll down the let them know I’m stealing Max for a little while.” Lilly walked down to the nurse’s station and let them know she was taking Max outside for an hour or so. The nurses had been told by Dr. Pierce to let Lilly have free range of Max that day, she was experienced in helping the blind and medically Max was well enough to do everything they had talked about and the sooner he got out and about the better.
A few minutes later Max’s door opened up and Max and Phillip walked out, and Lilly was in shock. She knew Max was a handsome boy, and just wearing sweats with a bit of colour made all the difference. It was like a different person. Pushing the wheelchair she had borrowed he motioned for Phillip to push it.
“Looking good Max, ok. Lets head out. Now Max, like before you grab my arm where it’s comfortable and I’ll lead you. But remember to still use the cane. I’ll make sure you wont walk into anything, but you need to sense objects yourself ok?” Max nodded and together they walked out into the hallway and towards the lift.
“Now Max this is the first time you’ll be around people since the accident and it wont be easy, so if at anytime you get uncomfortable or uneasy you let me know ok? Your dads got a wheelchair if we need it, so don’t be embarrassed if you get tired or want a break ok?” Again Max nodded his head. His heart was beginning to pound and his hands felt sweaty. People, people would see him as the blind boy now. Although Max had thought about that already, hearing someone else talk about it was so real. He stood at what I assumed was the elevator holding onto Lilly’s arm. He could hear people moving all around him and a second later the lift peeped and Lilly was walking forward.
A few minutes later Max took a deep breath, fresh air. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the smell of fresh air until this very second. He could hear birds flying above and the gentle hum of traffic in the distance. Max could feel the warmth of the sun on his face and instinctively he lifted his head towards the sun and breathed in.
“I know I bet you haven’t felt this good in a while right Max?” Lilly knew going outside wasn’t just about walking with the cane. Max had to realize the world was still there; still the same and he had to want to be a member of it still.
“Yea, I didn’t realize how much the air outside doesn’t smell.”
“Arr yes hospital smell. You tend to get used to it, but the second you leave you suddenly realize what things should smell like.”
Phillip, Lilly and Max spent the next two hours walking around the hospital’s courtyard. By the end of the time Max seemed pretty confident walking alone and although he had had a few near misses he hadn’t fallen or walked into anything and Lilly was pleased. Back in Max’s room she explained what happened from here.
“You did brilliantly today Max, really you did. Remember its baby steps for awhile. Now I’ll be coming back down on Monday and I’ll stay in Roswell for a few days. I need to go over your house with your parents to make sure it’s safe and talk about any modifications that need to be done. We also need to talk about what happens now. Now I’m not sure if you’re parents mentioned it but there is a fantastic school in Texas that has what we call a speed integration program.”
“Speed integration?” Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what that was.
“I know sounds weird but it’s a great program. Basically it’s for people just like you. Newly blind and wanting to get back to as normal a life as possible as quickly as possible. They’ll teach you everything you can think off, and everything you didn't think of. They have had some amazing results in teaching Braille in the short time of the program, as well as cooking, cleaning, getting around. Things like now to use a computer and how to shop at a supermarket. Now the program is 6 months long and they only run it three times a year and there happens to be a place in the course starting in 2 weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Max knew he most properly would be going away to learn all he needed to know, but 2 weeks was awfully soon.
“Yea, I know it’s very short notice but if you want I can tentatively book you in. And you can talk it over with your family and let me know next week.”
“Would I even be able to go? I mean I was shot a week ago isn’t it too soon?”
“Well a little, I spoke to Dr. Pierce and he said he’d be willing to clear you to go if you wanted to. They have doctors at the school so your care can be taken over by them. It’s a rush I know Max but if it’s not April it’s August, which means you’ll just be finishing in a year’s time.” Lilly knew Max was ready to go, he took to the cane pretty well after only a short time, and the way he talked about finishing high school, she knew he wanted to start moving forward.
“Wow, it’s a lot. Dad?” Max wanted to know what his parents thought of this.
“As hard as it will be for us to have you leave so soon, your mother and I think it’s a good idea Max. You’d finish in time to get a guide dog in November and hopefully go back to school in December or January. But it’s up to you Max, Lilly can tentatively book you in and you think about it for a few days ok?” Phillip moved and sat next to Max on the bed and took his hand. He could see that Max was confused and scared about what happens now, and as hard as it seemed things had to be thought about.
“Sure, ok.” Max’s head was beginning to hurt, and all he wanted was to sleep for a few hours.
“Great, Well I’ll give you a call sometime on Monday Phillip, I have all your numbers, and Max we’ll catch up in a couple of days. Try and walk around as much as you can to get used to it. Ok?” With a nod of Max’s head and a shake of Phillip’s had Lilly was out of the room before either had time to blink.
“Well that was a interesting few hours wasn’t it?” Phillip thought Lilly was great, perky and upbeat she was perfect to be around Max right now.
“Yea, she was a little, umm, upbeat wasn’t she?” Max head was really starting to pound but he knew his father would really start to worry if he said that.
“Just a little, but she sure knows what’s she’s talking about.” Phillip watched as Max lent back on the bed and closed his eyes, he’d noticed how tired Max had seemed since they had come back inside.
“Yea, dad sorry I’m a little tired, I might sleep for a little bit if that’s ok. You can go home to mom and Isabel and come back tomorrow.” Max wanted to be alone; his head felt like it was about to explode, not just from the information overload, but also from the pain radiating from his neck.
“Well maybe that’s not a bad idea. Ok then, I’ll see you tomorrow, call if you need anything ok?” Phillip stood up and gave his son a small hug and left the room.
Max heard the door shut and before he knew what was happening the tears were flowing down his cheeks. This was his life now, walking with a cane, guide dogs, going away to learn how to do the simplest of tasks. Max wanted someone to blame, someone to scream at, but there was no one; he was alone in the room and at that moment felt like he was alone in the world. Max waited until the tears slowed down and called a nurse in, asking for something to stop the pain in his head, a few minutes later Max felt a wave of drowsiness flow through him and before he knew it, sleep came.
By Your Side (M/L Adult) Chap 26 July 1st pg 8 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
First I wanted to say for all the great feedback on this part. I honestly didn’t really think about how much it might affect some people. So thanks for the feedback, may it been here or through PM’s, I really appreciate it.
Anonymousarfan – Thank you so much, I’m glad I opened up your eyes (no pun intended)
POM – I know the feeling, glasses have become my best friend. I think the saying, two steps forward one step back, is going to be his theme for a while.
RhondaAnn – Well the road will be long, but I think wide enough for a few friends!!!
Ellie – Thanks, I hope that it’s as realistic a story as possible.
Erina – To Texas or not to Texas, that is the question….
begonia9508 – Sorry it’s so sad, I didn’t really see that, but smiles are coming soon.
KatnotKath – Thanks, I think it’s sometimes easier to grow away from people you know, than around them.
Clueless – Thanks, glad you’re back again.
LegalAlien – Thanks, and we’ll see what happens if Max goes away soon..
ISLANDGIRL5 - Congrats on your DAS win, over 161 fic feedbacks in a month…wow. Oh the ‘Only if’ game, I’m always playing that, but I never win. 
Rigel - Yep, it’s amazing what one little second can do to your life.
Cherie – Thanks.
Ner – Welcome!! Well we’ll see what happens to Max and Liz’s relationship soon.
Lurkers – Thanks for reading, pop on in an say hi
Chapter Twelve
Liz stood at the counter, cleaning the surface as she looked out into space. It was dark outside, and the café was empty, the only noise was coming from the jukebox, some random eighties tune. Liz was startled from her haze when she heard the bell on the café door sound, looking toward the door she noticed Max Evans had just walked in. She dropped the rag and stood up straight as he walked towards her, rounding the counter, never taking his eyes off her. Without a word he grabbed her hips and pulled Liz towards him, crushing their mouths together in an angry kiss.
“Mr. Evans, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Liz pulled breathlessly and looked up into Max’s eyes.
“I just wanted to kiss you until you couldn’t breathe anymore, so can I continue?” Max caressed Liz’s face, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
“By all means, continue.” Before Liz had even finished, Max once again had their lips meeting, this time softly and with so much passion Liz felt weak at the knees. Blinking, Liz found herself lying on her back on the Crashdown floor, Max above her kissing her breath away. She thought the floor would be hard and cold, but it felt as soft as a bed and as warm as sunshine.
What seemed like hours passed before Max pulled back, and they looked into each other’s eyes.
“I’ll never get tried of looking at you Liz Parker, you’re all I want to see.” And with that Max stood up and reached into his pocket pulling out some sunglasses. Putting them on he walked around the corner and towards the door. Stunned Liz stood up and watched as he opened the door.
“Wait! Where are you going Max?” How could he kiss her like that and then leave?
“I can’t see you Liz, I can’t look at you and so I’m tired, if I can’t see you I don’t want you.” And with that Max walked out the door, leaving Liz to watch him go, silent tears flowing down her cheeks.
Liz woke up with a start clutching the sheet to her chest; blinking a few times she realized she was in her room and not downstairs in the café. Falling back on her pillow, she took deep breaths and tried to remember what her dream was about; within a second, she remembered. Max it was about Max, but not about him getting shot, those dreams happened all the time. This dream was about Max…what was the dream about she wondered? Did she want Max to kiss her senseless? Or was it about Max getting tired of her? Liz wished she knew.
Rolling over, she looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was almost midday. She hadn’t slept that late in well, she couldn’t ever remember sleeping that late. Just as she swung her legs over the bed her mother knocked on the door.
“Liz, are you awake, sweetie? Phillip Evans is on the phone for…” Nancy was startled when the door flew open to revel Liz still looking flushed from sleep.
“Really?” Liz didn’t wait for an answer; she grabbed the phone from her mother’s hand and spoke to Phillip Evans.
“Phillip? Is everything ok? Oh no really? That’s horrible…is there anything I can do? Ok, no that’s fine I’m more than happy to do that. So when is best? No that’s fine, it’s Murray Street? Oh sorry, yep let me get a pen..” Liz looked around the hallway for a pen and paper, giving her mom a grateful look when she produced one for her. “Got one, yep…yep…ok. I’ll see you soon Phillip.” Liz hung up the phone and handed her back to her mother. She turned back into her room and shut the door, leaving a stunned Nancy staring at the door.
“Umm, Liz, what was that?” Nancy said through the closed door.
“Phillip thinks he’s getting the flu as well so he’s banned himself from the hospital. Apparently Diane is still pretty ill but Isabel is ok, but he’s worried she still has the bug so he wont let her near Max. So he asked me if I would spend the day with Max, Michael will be going over later but he has to work this morning. I have to go by the Evans’s and pick up some clothes to take to Max.” Liz opened her door and surprised Nancy by being fully dressed, her purse in her hand.
“So I’m off then.”
“Wait, you haven’t even eaten lunch, let alone breakfast.” Nancy knew she wouldn’t be able to stop Liz going to the hospital but she would make sure she kept her strength up.
“Tell you what, I’ll go put an order in downstairs, then I’ll run over the to get Max’s things, come back and pick up some lunch for Max and I then go to the hospital?” Liz said as she walked to the front door grabbing her keys as she went.
“Ok honey, tell me what you both want and I’ll put the order in for you.” Nancy took Liz’s order and watched as she drove off down the street. 20 minutes later Liz pulled up outside the café, Nancy coming out and handing her the bags of food.
A little while later Liz opened the door to Max’s room and was surprised to see him sitting up in bed fully dressed, eating lunch. He didn’t seem too interested in what was in front of him.
“Hey, Max” Liz walked fully into the room and watched as Max’s eyes lit up when she spoke.
“Hi Liz, dad called and said you’d be by today. You really don’t have to baby-sit me.” Max wanted Liz to stay more than anything, but he didn’t want her to tell like she had to stay, to feel obligated to stay.
“Well you might change your mind when you taste what I brought you, it looks a little better than that hospital food.” Liz walked up to the bed and moved the tray onto the table beside it. A second later Max heard the rustling of paper and the most wonderful smell filled the room.
“Please tell me that’s Crashdown food?” Max could almost feel his mouth beginning to water.
“Yep, if I remember correctly I owe you a Galaxy sub, cherry coke and fries, they might be a little cold however.” Max cut Liz off, “ I don’t care if it’s frozen. Anything has to be better than this.” The two spent the next few minutes eating in silence. When they were done Liz cleared the rubbish and threw it away.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room, as Liz sat back down next to the bed. Should she start a conversation? Should she leave? Her endless questions were stopped when a nurse poked his head through the door.
“Hi Max, it’s Mark, I see you’ve got a visitor. Maybe you’d both like to go outside to the courtyard and get some fresh air while housekeeping gives your room a good cleaning.”
“Umm…” Liz wasn’t sure if they were ready to go outside. For some reason the hospital room was safe, but outside was the real world and who knows what would happen.
Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to go outside, sure he would love to get out of hospital room and into some fresh air, but for that to happen he would have to use his cane in front of Liz. He knew it would have to happen at some stage, but was he ready for Liz to see who he was, who he had become?
“Great, perfect. Your cane is on the bedside table to your left and your shoes are on the floor by the end of your bed. If you could be away for maybe an hour, that would be great.” And with that Mark left the room, giving a thumbs-up sign the some nurses down the hall. They’d watched Max over the last 5 days; the only time he seemed to almost forget what had happened to him was when he was around Liz. After yesterday when they’d had to double his dose of painkillers, and a morning of sour expressions, they knew that he needed something to perk his spirits.
“Well I guess we don’t have much choice then do we?” Liz said as she stood up from the side of the bed, without realizing what she was doing she had pushed the table away from Max and walked around the side of the bed picking up his shoes as she went. When she was on the other side, Liz stood in front of Max and waited until he turned towards her. “Here are your shoes…you don’t mind if I quickly go and use your bathroom do you?” With a nod from Max Liz went into the bathroom. She didn’t really need to go, but she knew Max was apprehensive about going outside, so she wanted to give him a few minutes alone.
Max sat on his bed tying his shoelaces he let out a small sigh, running shoes, what a joke. He wouldn’t be able to run again, the only wear that these shoes were going to get now was because they were deemed ‘safe’ shoes by his father. A sturdy rubber non-slip sole, that’s what his shoes were now, boring. After his shoes were tied, Max felt for his cane and once it was in his hand he stood up slowly, stretching slightly after being in bed all day. Hearing the door behind him open, he turned towards Liz as she made her way towards him.
“Ok, umm, so how do we do this then?” Liz had been researching what to do around blind people, and the thing everything stressed was to always ask if they needed help.
Max stood there, this is it, he thought, this is who I’ve become. “I’m supposed to get used to the cane, but maybe if you could lead and I’ll take your arm?” A second later Max felt a warm body next to his and Liz gently took his arm resting it on hers.
“Sounds good, lets go.” Liz slowly walked out the room as Max waved his cane in front of him, searching for any obstacles. They made it to the lift in silence and a few minutes later they were walking through the doors to the courtyard. Liz wasn’t sure if she should be talking to Max, or if he needed to concentrate when walking, sighing she walked into the sunshine.
“What’s wrong?” Max heard Liz sigh and was worried that Liz didn’t want to be with him. Maybe she had better things to do on a Sunday afternoon.
“Nothing, it’s fine.” Liz and Max stood in the courtyard, looking around Liz saw a few other patients outside enjoying the sunshine, but overall it was pretty empty.
“Look, Liz, if you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be. Seriously you can go whenever you want.” Max didn’t want to show Liz how upset he was with the fact she didn’t want to be here, how stupid could he be? Of course she didn’t want to be here, he didn’t even want to be here.
“NO, it’s not that at all, it’s just…” Liz wasn’t sure how much she should say to Max, should she tell him she felt responsible? That she had no idea how to act around him sometimes?
“Is there a seat around, Liz?” Max could hear something in her voice, was it apprehension?
“Yeah,” Liz placed her arm on Max’s and led him across the courtyard, sitting down on a bench under a large tree.
“So what is it?” Max wanted to forget about being blind for a second, he’d cried himself to sleep every night since he’d woken up, and the only times he’d almost forgotten about his situation was when Liz was around.
Liz sat down and a second later Max was facing her, taking her hand in his and before she could stop herself she started crying. Liz tried to pull away from Max, but without a second thought he pulled her into a hug, letting her cry on his shoulder. A few minutes later Liz pulled away, embarrassed about what she had just done.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Liz wiped her eyes and gently worked her hand out from underneath Max’s.
“It’s fine, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Max was shocked when he heard the sob escape from Liz’s mouth; the last thing he was expecting was her to start crying, and then he shocked himself by taking her in his arms.
“Not really, I shouldn’t worry you about my silly problems” Liz wanted to run away and never look back.
“I doubt they are silly, seriously if I can help in any way, it’ll take my mind of my own problems.”
“Well that’s the thing, my problems are about you.” Liz hadn’t realised what she had said, but noticed as Max shrunk away from her slightly.
“Oh, sorry I’m such a problem.” Max was stunned that she actually said he was a problem…was he that annoying?
“No it’s not you, argh I’m not explaining this very well at all am I?” Liz stood and started pacing in front of the bench. Before Max could say a thing Liz started talking.
“See this, everything is my fault. If you hadn’t been in the café you would never have been shot and you wouldn’t be blind…” Max started to interrupt, but was cut off by Liz “No, wait, it’s true. See if I hadn’t liked for you forever, I would never have had said yes to going to the prom with you, and if I’d said no you would have left and you wouldn’t have been there and you wouldn’t be here. But I have liked you forever and I did say yes and here you are…” Max had stopped listening a long time ago, Liz had liked him forever???
“You’ve liked me forever?” Max couldn’t help himself, he had to confirm what would be the most important statement of all time, Liz Parker had liked him forever.
Liz’s eyes flew to Max, that’s all he heard? A smile covered her face as she sat back down next to Max on the bench. “Yeah, ever since we made that stupid UFO papier-mâché thing in year three.”
“Really?”
“Yeah….so don’t you see, Max it all boils down to this being my fault.” Liz wanted him to know she was willing to take the blame for this; she was willing to carry the burden around on her shoulders.
“No it’s not your fault Liz, it’s some guy with a guns’ fault. Not yours, it never was and never will be.” Max felt next to him and rested his hand on Liz, a second later he realised it was her thigh and took his hand away.
“How can you be so calm about this all, Max? You’re blind Max, you can’t see anymore…” Liz wasn’t hearing Max, all she heard was the blood rushing through her ears.
“Calm? I’m not calm about this, Liz. Believe me.” Max didn’t want to get angry in front of Liz; he didn’t want to show all the anger and pain that he had more or less kept inside since he had woken up.
“But you are, Max, if I’d been what you have been through the past week I’d be screaming and crying and nowhere near as nice. I’d be blaming people and…” Max cut off Liz.
“Do you want me to blame you? Is that it Liz? Would that make it easier on you?” Max had no idea what Liz wanted from him, 2 minutes ago everything was perfect, and now she was angry with him for not being angry with her.
“No, I…” Liz wanted to scream, nothing she seemed to be saying made any sense and Max seemed to be getting the wrong idea.
“Good because I can if you want. I can blame you for standing there and not moving, I can blame you for saving my life and I can blame you for making me blind. But it wasn’t you, Liz, it was a stupid guy with a gun and I’m so fucking angry at him, some days I wonder how I don’t explode. I cry myself to sleep every night knowing this existence is my life, and that I’ll never be able to fulfil all the dreams I had for myself. I want to scream and break things and let it all out, but I can’t, Liz.” Max couldn’t hold it all on any longer, and before he realised what was happening tears were running down his face, and he couldn’t breathe.
“I’m sorry Max.” Liz whispered as she watched Max break down in front of her, watching him cry made her own tears return and she pulled Max into a hug and together they both cried.
A few minutes later Max and Liz pulled back, as if realising what they had just been doing. Max’s hand went to Liz’s cheek, brushing away her tears while Liz held his other hand in hers as she stared into his blank eyes. Without realising it, the both leaned in and their lips met for the first time.
Anonymousarfan – Thank you so much, I’m glad I opened up your eyes (no pun intended)
POM – I know the feeling, glasses have become my best friend. I think the saying, two steps forward one step back, is going to be his theme for a while.
RhondaAnn – Well the road will be long, but I think wide enough for a few friends!!!
Ellie – Thanks, I hope that it’s as realistic a story as possible.
Erina – To Texas or not to Texas, that is the question….
begonia9508 – Sorry it’s so sad, I didn’t really see that, but smiles are coming soon.
KatnotKath – Thanks, I think it’s sometimes easier to grow away from people you know, than around them.
Clueless – Thanks, glad you’re back again.
LegalAlien – Thanks, and we’ll see what happens if Max goes away soon..
ISLANDGIRL5 - Congrats on your DAS win, over 161 fic feedbacks in a month…wow.
Oh the ‘Only if’ game, I’m always playing that, but I never win. Rigel - Yep, it’s amazing what one little second can do to your life.
Cherie – Thanks.
Ner – Welcome!! Well we’ll see what happens to Max and Liz’s relationship soon.
Lurkers – Thanks for reading, pop on in an say hi
Chapter Twelve
Liz stood at the counter, cleaning the surface as she looked out into space. It was dark outside, and the café was empty, the only noise was coming from the jukebox, some random eighties tune. Liz was startled from her haze when she heard the bell on the café door sound, looking toward the door she noticed Max Evans had just walked in. She dropped the rag and stood up straight as he walked towards her, rounding the counter, never taking his eyes off her. Without a word he grabbed her hips and pulled Liz towards him, crushing their mouths together in an angry kiss.
“Mr. Evans, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Liz pulled breathlessly and looked up into Max’s eyes.
“I just wanted to kiss you until you couldn’t breathe anymore, so can I continue?” Max caressed Liz’s face, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
“By all means, continue.” Before Liz had even finished, Max once again had their lips meeting, this time softly and with so much passion Liz felt weak at the knees. Blinking, Liz found herself lying on her back on the Crashdown floor, Max above her kissing her breath away. She thought the floor would be hard and cold, but it felt as soft as a bed and as warm as sunshine.
What seemed like hours passed before Max pulled back, and they looked into each other’s eyes.
“I’ll never get tried of looking at you Liz Parker, you’re all I want to see.” And with that Max stood up and reached into his pocket pulling out some sunglasses. Putting them on he walked around the corner and towards the door. Stunned Liz stood up and watched as he opened the door.
“Wait! Where are you going Max?” How could he kiss her like that and then leave?
“I can’t see you Liz, I can’t look at you and so I’m tired, if I can’t see you I don’t want you.” And with that Max walked out the door, leaving Liz to watch him go, silent tears flowing down her cheeks.
Liz woke up with a start clutching the sheet to her chest; blinking a few times she realized she was in her room and not downstairs in the café. Falling back on her pillow, she took deep breaths and tried to remember what her dream was about; within a second, she remembered. Max it was about Max, but not about him getting shot, those dreams happened all the time. This dream was about Max…what was the dream about she wondered? Did she want Max to kiss her senseless? Or was it about Max getting tired of her? Liz wished she knew.
Rolling over, she looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was almost midday. She hadn’t slept that late in well, she couldn’t ever remember sleeping that late. Just as she swung her legs over the bed her mother knocked on the door.
“Liz, are you awake, sweetie? Phillip Evans is on the phone for…” Nancy was startled when the door flew open to revel Liz still looking flushed from sleep.
“Really?” Liz didn’t wait for an answer; she grabbed the phone from her mother’s hand and spoke to Phillip Evans.
“Phillip? Is everything ok? Oh no really? That’s horrible…is there anything I can do? Ok, no that’s fine I’m more than happy to do that. So when is best? No that’s fine, it’s Murray Street? Oh sorry, yep let me get a pen..” Liz looked around the hallway for a pen and paper, giving her mom a grateful look when she produced one for her. “Got one, yep…yep…ok. I’ll see you soon Phillip.” Liz hung up the phone and handed her back to her mother. She turned back into her room and shut the door, leaving a stunned Nancy staring at the door.
“Umm, Liz, what was that?” Nancy said through the closed door.
“Phillip thinks he’s getting the flu as well so he’s banned himself from the hospital. Apparently Diane is still pretty ill but Isabel is ok, but he’s worried she still has the bug so he wont let her near Max. So he asked me if I would spend the day with Max, Michael will be going over later but he has to work this morning. I have to go by the Evans’s and pick up some clothes to take to Max.” Liz opened her door and surprised Nancy by being fully dressed, her purse in her hand.
“So I’m off then.”
“Wait, you haven’t even eaten lunch, let alone breakfast.” Nancy knew she wouldn’t be able to stop Liz going to the hospital but she would make sure she kept her strength up.
“Tell you what, I’ll go put an order in downstairs, then I’ll run over the to get Max’s things, come back and pick up some lunch for Max and I then go to the hospital?” Liz said as she walked to the front door grabbing her keys as she went.
“Ok honey, tell me what you both want and I’ll put the order in for you.” Nancy took Liz’s order and watched as she drove off down the street. 20 minutes later Liz pulled up outside the café, Nancy coming out and handing her the bags of food.
A little while later Liz opened the door to Max’s room and was surprised to see him sitting up in bed fully dressed, eating lunch. He didn’t seem too interested in what was in front of him.
“Hey, Max” Liz walked fully into the room and watched as Max’s eyes lit up when she spoke.
“Hi Liz, dad called and said you’d be by today. You really don’t have to baby-sit me.” Max wanted Liz to stay more than anything, but he didn’t want her to tell like she had to stay, to feel obligated to stay.
“Well you might change your mind when you taste what I brought you, it looks a little better than that hospital food.” Liz walked up to the bed and moved the tray onto the table beside it. A second later Max heard the rustling of paper and the most wonderful smell filled the room.
“Please tell me that’s Crashdown food?” Max could almost feel his mouth beginning to water.
“Yep, if I remember correctly I owe you a Galaxy sub, cherry coke and fries, they might be a little cold however.” Max cut Liz off, “ I don’t care if it’s frozen. Anything has to be better than this.” The two spent the next few minutes eating in silence. When they were done Liz cleared the rubbish and threw it away.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room, as Liz sat back down next to the bed. Should she start a conversation? Should she leave? Her endless questions were stopped when a nurse poked his head through the door.
“Hi Max, it’s Mark, I see you’ve got a visitor. Maybe you’d both like to go outside to the courtyard and get some fresh air while housekeeping gives your room a good cleaning.”
“Umm…” Liz wasn’t sure if they were ready to go outside. For some reason the hospital room was safe, but outside was the real world and who knows what would happen.
Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to go outside, sure he would love to get out of hospital room and into some fresh air, but for that to happen he would have to use his cane in front of Liz. He knew it would have to happen at some stage, but was he ready for Liz to see who he was, who he had become?
“Great, perfect. Your cane is on the bedside table to your left and your shoes are on the floor by the end of your bed. If you could be away for maybe an hour, that would be great.” And with that Mark left the room, giving a thumbs-up sign the some nurses down the hall. They’d watched Max over the last 5 days; the only time he seemed to almost forget what had happened to him was when he was around Liz. After yesterday when they’d had to double his dose of painkillers, and a morning of sour expressions, they knew that he needed something to perk his spirits.
“Well I guess we don’t have much choice then do we?” Liz said as she stood up from the side of the bed, without realizing what she was doing she had pushed the table away from Max and walked around the side of the bed picking up his shoes as she went. When she was on the other side, Liz stood in front of Max and waited until he turned towards her. “Here are your shoes…you don’t mind if I quickly go and use your bathroom do you?” With a nod from Max Liz went into the bathroom. She didn’t really need to go, but she knew Max was apprehensive about going outside, so she wanted to give him a few minutes alone.
Max sat on his bed tying his shoelaces he let out a small sigh, running shoes, what a joke. He wouldn’t be able to run again, the only wear that these shoes were going to get now was because they were deemed ‘safe’ shoes by his father. A sturdy rubber non-slip sole, that’s what his shoes were now, boring. After his shoes were tied, Max felt for his cane and once it was in his hand he stood up slowly, stretching slightly after being in bed all day. Hearing the door behind him open, he turned towards Liz as she made her way towards him.
“Ok, umm, so how do we do this then?” Liz had been researching what to do around blind people, and the thing everything stressed was to always ask if they needed help.
Max stood there, this is it, he thought, this is who I’ve become. “I’m supposed to get used to the cane, but maybe if you could lead and I’ll take your arm?” A second later Max felt a warm body next to his and Liz gently took his arm resting it on hers.
“Sounds good, lets go.” Liz slowly walked out the room as Max waved his cane in front of him, searching for any obstacles. They made it to the lift in silence and a few minutes later they were walking through the doors to the courtyard. Liz wasn’t sure if she should be talking to Max, or if he needed to concentrate when walking, sighing she walked into the sunshine.
“What’s wrong?” Max heard Liz sigh and was worried that Liz didn’t want to be with him. Maybe she had better things to do on a Sunday afternoon.
“Nothing, it’s fine.” Liz and Max stood in the courtyard, looking around Liz saw a few other patients outside enjoying the sunshine, but overall it was pretty empty.
“Look, Liz, if you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be. Seriously you can go whenever you want.” Max didn’t want to show Liz how upset he was with the fact she didn’t want to be here, how stupid could he be? Of course she didn’t want to be here, he didn’t even want to be here.
“NO, it’s not that at all, it’s just…” Liz wasn’t sure how much she should say to Max, should she tell him she felt responsible? That she had no idea how to act around him sometimes?
“Is there a seat around, Liz?” Max could hear something in her voice, was it apprehension?
“Yeah,” Liz placed her arm on Max’s and led him across the courtyard, sitting down on a bench under a large tree.
“So what is it?” Max wanted to forget about being blind for a second, he’d cried himself to sleep every night since he’d woken up, and the only times he’d almost forgotten about his situation was when Liz was around.
Liz sat down and a second later Max was facing her, taking her hand in his and before she could stop herself she started crying. Liz tried to pull away from Max, but without a second thought he pulled her into a hug, letting her cry on his shoulder. A few minutes later Liz pulled away, embarrassed about what she had just done.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Liz wiped her eyes and gently worked her hand out from underneath Max’s.
“It’s fine, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Max was shocked when he heard the sob escape from Liz’s mouth; the last thing he was expecting was her to start crying, and then he shocked himself by taking her in his arms.
“Not really, I shouldn’t worry you about my silly problems” Liz wanted to run away and never look back.
“I doubt they are silly, seriously if I can help in any way, it’ll take my mind of my own problems.”
“Well that’s the thing, my problems are about you.” Liz hadn’t realised what she had said, but noticed as Max shrunk away from her slightly.
“Oh, sorry I’m such a problem.” Max was stunned that she actually said he was a problem…was he that annoying?
“No it’s not you, argh I’m not explaining this very well at all am I?” Liz stood and started pacing in front of the bench. Before Max could say a thing Liz started talking.
“See this, everything is my fault. If you hadn’t been in the café you would never have been shot and you wouldn’t be blind…” Max started to interrupt, but was cut off by Liz “No, wait, it’s true. See if I hadn’t liked for you forever, I would never have had said yes to going to the prom with you, and if I’d said no you would have left and you wouldn’t have been there and you wouldn’t be here. But I have liked you forever and I did say yes and here you are…” Max had stopped listening a long time ago, Liz had liked him forever???
“You’ve liked me forever?” Max couldn’t help himself, he had to confirm what would be the most important statement of all time, Liz Parker had liked him forever.
Liz’s eyes flew to Max, that’s all he heard? A smile covered her face as she sat back down next to Max on the bench. “Yeah, ever since we made that stupid UFO papier-mâché thing in year three.”
“Really?”
“Yeah….so don’t you see, Max it all boils down to this being my fault.” Liz wanted him to know she was willing to take the blame for this; she was willing to carry the burden around on her shoulders.
“No it’s not your fault Liz, it’s some guy with a guns’ fault. Not yours, it never was and never will be.” Max felt next to him and rested his hand on Liz, a second later he realised it was her thigh and took his hand away.
“How can you be so calm about this all, Max? You’re blind Max, you can’t see anymore…” Liz wasn’t hearing Max, all she heard was the blood rushing through her ears.
“Calm? I’m not calm about this, Liz. Believe me.” Max didn’t want to get angry in front of Liz; he didn’t want to show all the anger and pain that he had more or less kept inside since he had woken up.
“But you are, Max, if I’d been what you have been through the past week I’d be screaming and crying and nowhere near as nice. I’d be blaming people and…” Max cut off Liz.
“Do you want me to blame you? Is that it Liz? Would that make it easier on you?” Max had no idea what Liz wanted from him, 2 minutes ago everything was perfect, and now she was angry with him for not being angry with her.
“No, I…” Liz wanted to scream, nothing she seemed to be saying made any sense and Max seemed to be getting the wrong idea.
“Good because I can if you want. I can blame you for standing there and not moving, I can blame you for saving my life and I can blame you for making me blind. But it wasn’t you, Liz, it was a stupid guy with a gun and I’m so fucking angry at him, some days I wonder how I don’t explode. I cry myself to sleep every night knowing this existence is my life, and that I’ll never be able to fulfil all the dreams I had for myself. I want to scream and break things and let it all out, but I can’t, Liz.” Max couldn’t hold it all on any longer, and before he realised what was happening tears were running down his face, and he couldn’t breathe.
“I’m sorry Max.” Liz whispered as she watched Max break down in front of her, watching him cry made her own tears return and she pulled Max into a hug and together they both cried.
A few minutes later Max and Liz pulled back, as if realising what they had just been doing. Max’s hand went to Liz’s cheek, brushing away her tears while Liz held his other hand in hers as she stared into his blank eyes. Without realising it, the both leaned in and their lips met for the first time.
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Thanks for the feedback, for all the new readers WELCOME and to the returners, thanks for sticking with this one, I'm planning a long ride. Thanks to my beta's Heavenli24 and Kerri, if I forget to mention them and the chapter has no mistakes, they've betered it...I’ve been suffering writers block with this, but as I’m a few chapters ahead it shouldn’t be so bad…to counter act the writers block I started a new fic. But I’ve decided on waiting to post that until I have more than a few chapters written. But it brings me to my question…
I’m looking a song about finding yourself. I’d prefer an older song, a classic or mellow country, nothing too pop or rock for this one. If you want to know more PM, and if you have a suggestion PM me. If I like your song I’ll answer ONE question about this fic, all put the one you all really want to know, ‘Will Max get his sight back’, everything else I’ll answer!!! SO PM or email me your song and your question, the winner gets both the question answered and the knowleage they chose the theme song to my new fic!!!
Clueless – Thank you and well thanks
POM – How could I leave it there? Easy..and my wrist umm not really but I’ll live.
Maxsgurl – That was the bonus chapter, talking AND kissing…:)
RhondaAnn – Ta
Behrsgirl1230 – Sorry you’re crying again, you might want to watch this chapter then…. :wnk:
Dreamer 4 Ever – I think Max feels like Liz is the only person who wont judge him.
Ellie – Oh not to worry the uncomfortable silences will be back, but they’re getting better at opening up.
Cherie – Men do have a one-track mind don’t they?
begonia9508 – Thanks
su-lyn – I want the parents to all be nice in this fic, so they’ll act just like normal parents…annoying as hell!! Thanks for coming out of lurkdom…
KatnotKath – Thanks, I do think that Liz blaming herself will never completely go away. I’d always have a slight case of guilt if that was me.
Mareli – So my note worked!! Thanks for stopping by.
Alien614 – Not to worry I’m back with more.
Anonymousarfan – NO…but am I lying??
Clueless – Ta
Rosbuffyangelfanatl – And so you shall have more.
Lurkers – Thanks for reading, feel free to pop in and say hi…
Chapter Thirteen
Liz couldn’t breathe, and she was more than happy not to, Max Evans was kissing her. She leaned in a little more and wrapped her hands around his neck, careful to avoid his wound, as she felt his hands move from her face to run through her hair. She gently worked her hands through the soft curls at the nap of his neck as they continued to kiss. Liz felt Max nudge her lips open and without a second thought she opened her lips and allowed his tongue access, relishing in the dance they now played.
Max was in shock, one second he was crying; scared and angry at the world and the next he was kissing Liz. He’d never kissed a girl before and what a girl for his first time. He felt her hands make their way to his neck, and he almost died when he felt her run her hands through his hair. Letting out a small sigh, Max couldn’t believe it when a second later, Liz’s lips opened up and before he knew what was happening, her tongue was in his mouth and he was in heaven. Max ran his hands through Liz’s hair, overwhelmed by it’s softness beneath his fingers.
“Maxwell?” Michael’s voice boomed out through the courtyard, startled by the intrusion Max and Liz jumped apart.
“Sorry” Max said as he felt Liz stiffen at Michaels voice, why did he have to arrive now?
“Ah, there you are. Hey, Liz, the nurses said you were down here. What’s up?” Michael sat down next to Max, not realising what he had just interrupted.
“Umm, I should go. Bye, Michael, Max” Liz stood up on shaky legs and started to walk off. Sorry? Liz was in heaven and now he was apologising for kissing her, damn the world she thought.
“Liz?” Max didn’t know what to do, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to take Liz in his arms and kiss her again; he wanted Michael to leave and to never have to have the feeling of his arms empty again.
“I’m sorry, Max, I really have to go.” Liz walked off with tears in her eyes; Max didn’t mean to kiss me, Liz thought as she walked to her car.
It took Max a few minutes to persuade Michael to walk him back up to his room, and when he got there is wasn’t really up to Michaels company.
“What’s up with you, Max?”
“Nothing, well you, umm” Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to Michael about the kiss, was it something he should talk to Michael about?
“Me what?” Michael sat down next to Max and turned on the TV, flipping the channels until he found the news.
“You kinda interrupted something earlier.” Max sat further up on the bed, kicking off his shoes, listening as the bounded off the bed and onto the floor. He knew he should have put them down she he knew where they were, but right now he didn’t care.
“Interrupted? What? Shit did you hear that?” Michael was only half listening to Max; the rest of his attention was to the news where he was enthralled in a show about the rising cost of college.
“Michael…” Max couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. As long as Max had known Michael he’d always been outraged at the cost of college. Sure, he Michael didn’t even want to go to college, that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was expensive and Michael felt like everyone was getting ripped off.
“Sorry, ok, the 15% increase in collage tuition this year can wait. So, Liz and you? I interrupted something….oh, no way, I didn’t, did I?” Michael took a closer look at Max and noticed a slight shade of pink on his lips, he’d seen that before…”Oh you kissed? And I interrupted it, didn’t I? Man, I’m so sorry.” Michael could have kicked himself, he knew that Max needed Liz as much as Liz needed Max and from the looks of things he’d just interrupted their first kiss.
“Yeah, it just kinda happened and I wasn’t sure it was real, but then I knew it was, and it was perfect Michael.” Max fell back against the bed with a sigh, but a second later he heard a laugh from his side.
“Dude, when did you become a woman? Perfect? Jeez, so you kissed and it was good, then? So what now?” Michael couldn’t control his laughter as he watched Max flop down on his bed; he had never looked so much like Isabel than he had in that moment.
“I have no idea…I mean I was upset, she was upset and suddenly we kissed and then you came and she left and now I’m sitting here talking about college prices with you.” Max could see the slight humour in the situation, granted he wished Michael wasn’t here, but this felt normal, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long while.
“Yeah well it’s a scam, college…Liz, well you need to talk to her then, man. Want me to get her number?” A few days ago, Michael wasn’t so sure about Liz Parker. Oh sure he liked her, but he wasn’t sure why she was around, but after spending an evening with her friends, he understood where she was coming from. She liked Max and had for a while and although she felt guilty about what happened, that it wasn’t why she spent so much time at the hospital.
“No, I think she might have regretted it. Did you hear her when she left? I think I did something wrong.” More than anything Max wanted Michael to find Liz’s number and call her. He wanted to talk to her, explain to her his feelings and make sure she knew he didn’t blame her.
“Aww, I’m sure that’s not it, well maybe later then. So it’s ummm 2.47pm so what do you want to do?”
“I’m actually a little tired so I might just have a nap. You really don’t have to be here Michael, I’ll be fine having an afternoon to myself.” If Max couldn’t be with Liz, then he’d rather be alone to wallow in self-pity.
“Are you sure? I can just read while you sleep?” Michael wasn’t sure if Max should be alone right now, but that’s what he wanted then he’s leave.
“Yea, thanks for coming though, Michael.” A few minutes later Max was alone in his room, and as he lay in bed there was only one thing on his mind, Liz Parker and that kiss.
Liz ran out to her car, tears flowing down her cheeks as she thought of what just happened. For one brief moment it was perfect, Max was kissing her and it was better than she’d ever imagined. But now, barely 10 minutes later she was in her car crying her eyes out. He was sorry that he kissed her? She’d never had any complaints before about her kissing; hey Kyle had even complimented her on more than once occasion. Starting the car her hurt turned to anger as she drove home thinking of what she could say to Max about this.
Walking through the back of the Crashdown intent on going upstairs to write out a list of things to talk to Max about, she was stopped by her harried looking father.
“Liz, I thought you’d be gone all day, anyway, can you please work? Agnes is sick and Maria is on her own.” Jeff stopped and looked at his daughter a little more closely. “Are you ok honey? Is Max ok?”
“Oh everything is just fine, dad, Michael arrived early and I bumped my head in the car on the way out just now. I’ll just run upstairs and change.” Liz took off upstairs vowing to not think about Max Evans for at least the next few hours.
A few hours later Liz had realised that the more she tried not to think about Max, the more she thought about him. When she’d gone downstairs Maria had asked her what happened at the hospital today, then her mother had, then it seemed every customer in the café wanted to know how Max was. That alone with the fact she couldn’t walk to the back of the café without looking down on the ground and having a picture of Max laying there covered in blood flash through her mind. So Liz wasn’t in the best frame of mind as she sat down to dinner that night. Both of her parents noticed the change and decided that they weren’t going to sit ideally by anymore.
“Ok honey, what’s wrong? I know it’s something.” Nancy placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of Liz as they sat down on the couch.
“Nothing, seriously nothing is wrong. I’m just tired today that’s all.” Liz took a sip of the drink and briefly closed her eyes, willing her parents to disappear for a few moments of peace.
“Nope, not going to work tonight Liz. Did something happen at the hospital?” Jeff and Nancy exchanged a look as Liz sat up a little straighter.
“No…”
“Liz , we’re just trying to help you. If you need to talk then we’ll listen. Or if you want to talk to someone else, we’ll take you to someone else.” Nancy took her daughters and rubbed it between her own.
“Ok, you want to know what happened? Fine? Well I yelled at Max and he yelled at me. There that’s that.” Liz placed her mug on the table and stood up.
“Not that’s not that, why did you two yell at each other then?” Jeff stood up and placed his hands on Liz’s shoulders pushing her gently down until she was sitting again. Once Liz was on the couch he placed himself on the table opposite, effetely blocking her in.
“Nothing really, I just kinda said he was too calm about all this, because he is, dad. He hasn’t had a tantrum, or even screamed or yelled. I mean that’s not normal, well I didn’t think so..” Liz stopped and looked at her parents, who nodded for her to continue. “So I kinda yelled that he needed to blame someone and that maybe it would help to blame me, because well it was my fault.”
“Liz..” her father started but was cut off by Nancy.
“Elizabeth Parker, stop thinking like that. We’ve all said it a thousand times; it was not and never will be your fault. I’ve said it, dad’s said it, the Sheriff has said it, and even Max has said it hasn’t he? So, stop blaming yourself.” Nancy had thought Liz had stopped blaming herself, but she guessed that Liz would always deep down have some guilt over Max.
“Yeah, well, anyway so I said that and he got angry, saying did I want him to hate me, and blame me? And then some other things I’ll keep to myself, and now that I’m saying it out loud, I feel stupid and wrong.” Just the few minutes of talking things over with her parents made her realise how stupid she had been, of course Max didn’t want people to see him upset and crying…she didn’t want that, they both had a million sets of eyes on them as is waiting for them to crack.
“I guess we’re good for something then; but Liz you have to stop blaming yourself, ok? It’s not good for you or for Max.” Nancy stood up and pulled her daughter into a hug a second later Jeff joined in. A few minutes later Liz gently pulled back and wished her parents good night, she had one thing on her mind and that was Max and she wasn’t going to sleep before she’d fixed this.
Liz stared at the phone, the phone number on a piece of paper in front of her. She’d been sitting in the same position for over an hour, trying to figure out the best way to apologise to Max. He’s obviously kissed her to shut her up today, she could see that so clearly now, he was sorry for yelling her at and kissed her so she wouldn’t yell back. Sighing Liz picked up the phone and began to dial.
Max sat of his bed hanging up the phone; he’d been on the phone to his family for 4 hours. Four long, trying hours of ‘Are you sure you ok?’ and ‘Tell the nurses if you need anything’. Apparently his mother and sister were well enough to visit tomorrow and would be in first thing, he was dreading it. Even though Max loved his family with all his heart, the lat fee days without them around was peaceful, well when you take away the blinding headache and the conversation with Liz it’d been peaceful.
Max felt for the remote, looking forward to listening to Jay Leno when the phone rang again. Sighing Max picked it up and spoke into the mouthpiece. “Mum I told you I’m fine, I’ll ask if I need anything, which by the way I don’t and I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon with Lilly.” Max was about to hang up when he heard a totally different voice on the other end.
“Max?” Liz was about to hang up but something made her stay on the line.
“Liz?” Max would know her voice anywhere.
“Yeah, hi, I umm…wanted to call up and apologise for yelling at you today. I didn’t…” Max cut off Liz.
“You don’t need to apologise Liz, I think the moment got away from both of us. No hard feelings ok?” She called, was all that Max could think about, Liz called him and thought she had done something wrong. How could she think that? Doesn’t she know how much she means to me? Max pondered the question for a split second before Liz once again started to apologise.
“Well I shouldn’t have yelled though Max, you don’t deserve that and you don’t need to hear my petty problems either.” Liz just wanted Max to accept her apology and let her get off the phone so she could cry in peace and quiet.
“Your problems aren’t petty, Liz…” This time Liz cut Max off.
“To you they should be, Max, you have enough problems of your own and I shouldn’t be unloading mine onto you. I think it’s best if I stop coming to visit.” Liz let a tear fall down her face as she spoke words she didn’t mean. Liz told herself off for not asking the one question that was on her mind, the kiss. The kiss that was so magical and special to her yet seemed to mean nothing to Max.
“NO, I mean please don’t stop visiting Liz, seriously you’re the only one keeping me sane.” She didn’t want to visit anymore? Max was in shock, maybe he was a burden to Liz, maybe this was her way of saying she didn’t want to come, but without actually saying the reason. Should I be selfish and guilt her into visiting? Max’s brain went into overdrive.
“Max…I just think things might be a little weird after today. I mean about what happened out in the courtyard and all and that maybe..” It seemed that neither Max nor Liz was willing to let the other finish what they wanted to say as Max interrupted Liz again.
“The yelling or the kiss?” Max closed his mouth with a pop, he actually mentioned the kiss…stupid, stupid, stupid. Liz obviously didn’t want to talk about it so what do I do? Bring it up; Max cursed the bullet for not taking his voice as well as his sight.
“Neither, both I don’t know Max. It was just I thought things were you know nice and then you kiss me and then apologise for it; how am I supposed to feel?”
“I wasn’t saying sorry for kissing you, I said sorry because Michael kinda interrupted us. And then you left and I thought you were sorry it happened.” Max could feel his cheeks reddening. This would have to be the most embarrassing conversation of his life. If he thought asking Liz to prom was hard, talking to her about the kiss would surely kill him.
Liz sat up straight on her bed, he wasn’t sorry for kissing her? Does that mean he wanted to kiss her? Liz realised that Max was waiting for her to say something, so she shut her eyes and said what was in her heart “Oh, well no, I liked it, Max, I like you Max and I’m not sorry it happened at all.” Liz opened her eyes and looked at the wall in front of her, waiting to see where the conversation would go, where they would go.
“Me either, you know I like you Liz and well I just wish Michael hadn’t interrupted us so we could well maybe have talked about it.” Max wanted to say more, to profess his undying love for Liz but before he could make a fool of himself he heard his hospital room door open.
“Hi Max it’s Anna, time to take your blood pressure and give you your medication. I’ll be back in a sec so you can finish your call in private.” The nurse shut the door and walked into the next room.
“Liz I’m really sorry but I have to go, the nurses need to do their thing.”
“I heard.”
“Will you come and visit me tomorrow morning? Everyone is coming in in the afternoon, but I’d really like your company in the morning Liz. Maybe we can talk more?” Max prayed she’d say yes…
“Ok, I’ll see you in the morning Max. Good night.”
“Night Liz.” Max hung up the phone and a few seconds later the nurse returned and he went through his nightly medical ritual. He spent the whole time thinking of Liz.
Liz hung up the phone and placed it on the table next to her, setting her alarm clock for 8am Liz turned the light off and lay down. She thought she’d have trouble falling asleep that night, but was asleep almost instantly, thoughts of Max’s lips on hers on her mind.
A/N: I've just realised it's Friday the 13th....so watch out for black cats and ladders folks...and isn’t it weird I posted part 13 on the 13th??
I’m looking a song about finding yourself. I’d prefer an older song, a classic or mellow country, nothing too pop or rock for this one. If you want to know more PM, and if you have a suggestion PM me. If I like your song I’ll answer ONE question about this fic, all put the one you all really want to know, ‘Will Max get his sight back’, everything else I’ll answer!!! SO PM or email me your song and your question, the winner gets both the question answered and the knowleage they chose the theme song to my new fic!!!
Clueless – Thank you and well thanks
POM – How could I leave it there? Easy..and my wrist umm not really but I’ll live.
Maxsgurl – That was the bonus chapter, talking AND kissing…:)
RhondaAnn – Ta
Behrsgirl1230 – Sorry you’re crying again, you might want to watch this chapter then…. :wnk:
Dreamer 4 Ever – I think Max feels like Liz is the only person who wont judge him.
Ellie – Oh not to worry the uncomfortable silences will be back, but they’re getting better at opening up.
Cherie – Men do have a one-track mind don’t they?
begonia9508 – Thanks
su-lyn – I want the parents to all be nice in this fic, so they’ll act just like normal parents…annoying as hell!! Thanks for coming out of lurkdom…
KatnotKath – Thanks, I do think that Liz blaming herself will never completely go away. I’d always have a slight case of guilt if that was me.
Mareli – So my note worked!! Thanks for stopping by.
Alien614 – Not to worry I’m back with more.
Anonymousarfan – NO…but am I lying??
Clueless – Ta
Rosbuffyangelfanatl – And so you shall have more.
Lurkers – Thanks for reading, feel free to pop in and say hi…
Chapter Thirteen
Liz couldn’t breathe, and she was more than happy not to, Max Evans was kissing her. She leaned in a little more and wrapped her hands around his neck, careful to avoid his wound, as she felt his hands move from her face to run through her hair. She gently worked her hands through the soft curls at the nap of his neck as they continued to kiss. Liz felt Max nudge her lips open and without a second thought she opened her lips and allowed his tongue access, relishing in the dance they now played.
Max was in shock, one second he was crying; scared and angry at the world and the next he was kissing Liz. He’d never kissed a girl before and what a girl for his first time. He felt her hands make their way to his neck, and he almost died when he felt her run her hands through his hair. Letting out a small sigh, Max couldn’t believe it when a second later, Liz’s lips opened up and before he knew what was happening, her tongue was in his mouth and he was in heaven. Max ran his hands through Liz’s hair, overwhelmed by it’s softness beneath his fingers.
“Maxwell?” Michael’s voice boomed out through the courtyard, startled by the intrusion Max and Liz jumped apart.
“Sorry” Max said as he felt Liz stiffen at Michaels voice, why did he have to arrive now?
“Ah, there you are. Hey, Liz, the nurses said you were down here. What’s up?” Michael sat down next to Max, not realising what he had just interrupted.
“Umm, I should go. Bye, Michael, Max” Liz stood up on shaky legs and started to walk off. Sorry? Liz was in heaven and now he was apologising for kissing her, damn the world she thought.
“Liz?” Max didn’t know what to do, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to take Liz in his arms and kiss her again; he wanted Michael to leave and to never have to have the feeling of his arms empty again.
“I’m sorry, Max, I really have to go.” Liz walked off with tears in her eyes; Max didn’t mean to kiss me, Liz thought as she walked to her car.
It took Max a few minutes to persuade Michael to walk him back up to his room, and when he got there is wasn’t really up to Michaels company.
“What’s up with you, Max?”
“Nothing, well you, umm” Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to Michael about the kiss, was it something he should talk to Michael about?
“Me what?” Michael sat down next to Max and turned on the TV, flipping the channels until he found the news.
“You kinda interrupted something earlier.” Max sat further up on the bed, kicking off his shoes, listening as the bounded off the bed and onto the floor. He knew he should have put them down she he knew where they were, but right now he didn’t care.
“Interrupted? What? Shit did you hear that?” Michael was only half listening to Max; the rest of his attention was to the news where he was enthralled in a show about the rising cost of college.
“Michael…” Max couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. As long as Max had known Michael he’d always been outraged at the cost of college. Sure, he Michael didn’t even want to go to college, that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was expensive and Michael felt like everyone was getting ripped off.
“Sorry, ok, the 15% increase in collage tuition this year can wait. So, Liz and you? I interrupted something….oh, no way, I didn’t, did I?” Michael took a closer look at Max and noticed a slight shade of pink on his lips, he’d seen that before…”Oh you kissed? And I interrupted it, didn’t I? Man, I’m so sorry.” Michael could have kicked himself, he knew that Max needed Liz as much as Liz needed Max and from the looks of things he’d just interrupted their first kiss.
“Yeah, it just kinda happened and I wasn’t sure it was real, but then I knew it was, and it was perfect Michael.” Max fell back against the bed with a sigh, but a second later he heard a laugh from his side.
“Dude, when did you become a woman? Perfect? Jeez, so you kissed and it was good, then? So what now?” Michael couldn’t control his laughter as he watched Max flop down on his bed; he had never looked so much like Isabel than he had in that moment.
“I have no idea…I mean I was upset, she was upset and suddenly we kissed and then you came and she left and now I’m sitting here talking about college prices with you.” Max could see the slight humour in the situation, granted he wished Michael wasn’t here, but this felt normal, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long while.
“Yeah well it’s a scam, college…Liz, well you need to talk to her then, man. Want me to get her number?” A few days ago, Michael wasn’t so sure about Liz Parker. Oh sure he liked her, but he wasn’t sure why she was around, but after spending an evening with her friends, he understood where she was coming from. She liked Max and had for a while and although she felt guilty about what happened, that it wasn’t why she spent so much time at the hospital.
“No, I think she might have regretted it. Did you hear her when she left? I think I did something wrong.” More than anything Max wanted Michael to find Liz’s number and call her. He wanted to talk to her, explain to her his feelings and make sure she knew he didn’t blame her.
“Aww, I’m sure that’s not it, well maybe later then. So it’s ummm 2.47pm so what do you want to do?”
“I’m actually a little tired so I might just have a nap. You really don’t have to be here Michael, I’ll be fine having an afternoon to myself.” If Max couldn’t be with Liz, then he’d rather be alone to wallow in self-pity.
“Are you sure? I can just read while you sleep?” Michael wasn’t sure if Max should be alone right now, but that’s what he wanted then he’s leave.
“Yea, thanks for coming though, Michael.” A few minutes later Max was alone in his room, and as he lay in bed there was only one thing on his mind, Liz Parker and that kiss.
Liz ran out to her car, tears flowing down her cheeks as she thought of what just happened. For one brief moment it was perfect, Max was kissing her and it was better than she’d ever imagined. But now, barely 10 minutes later she was in her car crying her eyes out. He was sorry that he kissed her? She’d never had any complaints before about her kissing; hey Kyle had even complimented her on more than once occasion. Starting the car her hurt turned to anger as she drove home thinking of what she could say to Max about this.
Walking through the back of the Crashdown intent on going upstairs to write out a list of things to talk to Max about, she was stopped by her harried looking father.
“Liz, I thought you’d be gone all day, anyway, can you please work? Agnes is sick and Maria is on her own.” Jeff stopped and looked at his daughter a little more closely. “Are you ok honey? Is Max ok?”
“Oh everything is just fine, dad, Michael arrived early and I bumped my head in the car on the way out just now. I’ll just run upstairs and change.” Liz took off upstairs vowing to not think about Max Evans for at least the next few hours.
A few hours later Liz had realised that the more she tried not to think about Max, the more she thought about him. When she’d gone downstairs Maria had asked her what happened at the hospital today, then her mother had, then it seemed every customer in the café wanted to know how Max was. That alone with the fact she couldn’t walk to the back of the café without looking down on the ground and having a picture of Max laying there covered in blood flash through her mind. So Liz wasn’t in the best frame of mind as she sat down to dinner that night. Both of her parents noticed the change and decided that they weren’t going to sit ideally by anymore.
“Ok honey, what’s wrong? I know it’s something.” Nancy placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of Liz as they sat down on the couch.
“Nothing, seriously nothing is wrong. I’m just tired today that’s all.” Liz took a sip of the drink and briefly closed her eyes, willing her parents to disappear for a few moments of peace.
“Nope, not going to work tonight Liz. Did something happen at the hospital?” Jeff and Nancy exchanged a look as Liz sat up a little straighter.
“No…”
“Liz , we’re just trying to help you. If you need to talk then we’ll listen. Or if you want to talk to someone else, we’ll take you to someone else.” Nancy took her daughters and rubbed it between her own.
“Ok, you want to know what happened? Fine? Well I yelled at Max and he yelled at me. There that’s that.” Liz placed her mug on the table and stood up.
“Not that’s not that, why did you two yell at each other then?” Jeff stood up and placed his hands on Liz’s shoulders pushing her gently down until she was sitting again. Once Liz was on the couch he placed himself on the table opposite, effetely blocking her in.
“Nothing really, I just kinda said he was too calm about all this, because he is, dad. He hasn’t had a tantrum, or even screamed or yelled. I mean that’s not normal, well I didn’t think so..” Liz stopped and looked at her parents, who nodded for her to continue. “So I kinda yelled that he needed to blame someone and that maybe it would help to blame me, because well it was my fault.”
“Liz..” her father started but was cut off by Nancy.
“Elizabeth Parker, stop thinking like that. We’ve all said it a thousand times; it was not and never will be your fault. I’ve said it, dad’s said it, the Sheriff has said it, and even Max has said it hasn’t he? So, stop blaming yourself.” Nancy had thought Liz had stopped blaming herself, but she guessed that Liz would always deep down have some guilt over Max.
“Yeah, well, anyway so I said that and he got angry, saying did I want him to hate me, and blame me? And then some other things I’ll keep to myself, and now that I’m saying it out loud, I feel stupid and wrong.” Just the few minutes of talking things over with her parents made her realise how stupid she had been, of course Max didn’t want people to see him upset and crying…she didn’t want that, they both had a million sets of eyes on them as is waiting for them to crack.
“I guess we’re good for something then; but Liz you have to stop blaming yourself, ok? It’s not good for you or for Max.” Nancy stood up and pulled her daughter into a hug a second later Jeff joined in. A few minutes later Liz gently pulled back and wished her parents good night, she had one thing on her mind and that was Max and she wasn’t going to sleep before she’d fixed this.
Liz stared at the phone, the phone number on a piece of paper in front of her. She’d been sitting in the same position for over an hour, trying to figure out the best way to apologise to Max. He’s obviously kissed her to shut her up today, she could see that so clearly now, he was sorry for yelling her at and kissed her so she wouldn’t yell back. Sighing Liz picked up the phone and began to dial.
Max sat of his bed hanging up the phone; he’d been on the phone to his family for 4 hours. Four long, trying hours of ‘Are you sure you ok?’ and ‘Tell the nurses if you need anything’. Apparently his mother and sister were well enough to visit tomorrow and would be in first thing, he was dreading it. Even though Max loved his family with all his heart, the lat fee days without them around was peaceful, well when you take away the blinding headache and the conversation with Liz it’d been peaceful.
Max felt for the remote, looking forward to listening to Jay Leno when the phone rang again. Sighing Max picked it up and spoke into the mouthpiece. “Mum I told you I’m fine, I’ll ask if I need anything, which by the way I don’t and I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon with Lilly.” Max was about to hang up when he heard a totally different voice on the other end.
“Max?” Liz was about to hang up but something made her stay on the line.
“Liz?” Max would know her voice anywhere.
“Yeah, hi, I umm…wanted to call up and apologise for yelling at you today. I didn’t…” Max cut off Liz.
“You don’t need to apologise Liz, I think the moment got away from both of us. No hard feelings ok?” She called, was all that Max could think about, Liz called him and thought she had done something wrong. How could she think that? Doesn’t she know how much she means to me? Max pondered the question for a split second before Liz once again started to apologise.
“Well I shouldn’t have yelled though Max, you don’t deserve that and you don’t need to hear my petty problems either.” Liz just wanted Max to accept her apology and let her get off the phone so she could cry in peace and quiet.
“Your problems aren’t petty, Liz…” This time Liz cut Max off.
“To you they should be, Max, you have enough problems of your own and I shouldn’t be unloading mine onto you. I think it’s best if I stop coming to visit.” Liz let a tear fall down her face as she spoke words she didn’t mean. Liz told herself off for not asking the one question that was on her mind, the kiss. The kiss that was so magical and special to her yet seemed to mean nothing to Max.
“NO, I mean please don’t stop visiting Liz, seriously you’re the only one keeping me sane.” She didn’t want to visit anymore? Max was in shock, maybe he was a burden to Liz, maybe this was her way of saying she didn’t want to come, but without actually saying the reason. Should I be selfish and guilt her into visiting? Max’s brain went into overdrive.
“Max…I just think things might be a little weird after today. I mean about what happened out in the courtyard and all and that maybe..” It seemed that neither Max nor Liz was willing to let the other finish what they wanted to say as Max interrupted Liz again.
“The yelling or the kiss?” Max closed his mouth with a pop, he actually mentioned the kiss…stupid, stupid, stupid. Liz obviously didn’t want to talk about it so what do I do? Bring it up; Max cursed the bullet for not taking his voice as well as his sight.
“Neither, both I don’t know Max. It was just I thought things were you know nice and then you kiss me and then apologise for it; how am I supposed to feel?”
“I wasn’t saying sorry for kissing you, I said sorry because Michael kinda interrupted us. And then you left and I thought you were sorry it happened.” Max could feel his cheeks reddening. This would have to be the most embarrassing conversation of his life. If he thought asking Liz to prom was hard, talking to her about the kiss would surely kill him.
Liz sat up straight on her bed, he wasn’t sorry for kissing her? Does that mean he wanted to kiss her? Liz realised that Max was waiting for her to say something, so she shut her eyes and said what was in her heart “Oh, well no, I liked it, Max, I like you Max and I’m not sorry it happened at all.” Liz opened her eyes and looked at the wall in front of her, waiting to see where the conversation would go, where they would go.
“Me either, you know I like you Liz and well I just wish Michael hadn’t interrupted us so we could well maybe have talked about it.” Max wanted to say more, to profess his undying love for Liz but before he could make a fool of himself he heard his hospital room door open.
“Hi Max it’s Anna, time to take your blood pressure and give you your medication. I’ll be back in a sec so you can finish your call in private.” The nurse shut the door and walked into the next room.
“Liz I’m really sorry but I have to go, the nurses need to do their thing.”
“I heard.”
“Will you come and visit me tomorrow morning? Everyone is coming in in the afternoon, but I’d really like your company in the morning Liz. Maybe we can talk more?” Max prayed she’d say yes…
“Ok, I’ll see you in the morning Max. Good night.”
“Night Liz.” Max hung up the phone and a few seconds later the nurse returned and he went through his nightly medical ritual. He spent the whole time thinking of Liz.
Liz hung up the phone and placed it on the table next to her, setting her alarm clock for 8am Liz turned the light off and lay down. She thought she’d have trouble falling asleep that night, but was asleep almost instantly, thoughts of Max’s lips on hers on her mind.
A/N: I've just realised it's Friday the 13th....so watch out for black cats and ladders folks...and isn’t it weird I posted part 13 on the 13th??
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Thanks for all the amazing feedback guys. I’m hoping to update this again soon, but my wrist has actually gotten worse not better and so typing is annoyingly slow. I do have most of the next chapter done, so hopefully the wait wont be too long. On Friday the 13th news, it was the beginning of a few very bad days. Not really for me but for all my friends, break-ups and job problems have left me consoling 3 different friends the last 4 days…leaving no time to write…I’ve turned my phone off today and hidden the cordless under some towels, so fingers crossed no one will knock on my door!!
Oh, thanks for all the song suggestions, as yet nothing has jumped out at me. I’m very fussy with songs, it took me about 3 weeks and about 5 titles before I came up with By Your Side… So if you still have ideas, feel free to send them through!!
Maxsgurl – Yes stupid boys!!
clueless – Well the 13th was the beginning of a string of bad events…so I was cursed!! I’m not sure how to write Michael, so I’m basing him on a friend of mine who kinda reminds me of him.
anonymousarfan - Thanks
Behrsgirl1230 – Not to worry, I foresee lots more kisses in the future.
POM – Drama is my middle name baby...ok it’s not but it’s much better than the one I’ve got anyway.
Ellie - I think Michael is like a typical male, he’s got blinkers on..
Maxsgurl - I think I’ve seen you here before
begonia9508 – Michael is a male Maria…hmm I wonder if they’ll be good together?
RhondaAnn - Thanks
Alien614 – Thanks for reading, glad you like it.
ISLANDGIRL5 - I have NO idea how you could miss a part!!! Yes parents…what will they say??
KatnotKath - You make me blush
…you’re too sweet!!
cherie - Thanks
omwf – Glad you found it, welcome.
NorafanofMaxandLiz - Glad you’ve found it…I was laughing when you mention Lilly thinking Max was cute, because only Liz and ME can do that!! Vegemite hey? Well if it’s vegemite I have to update then!
janesdilemma – Welcome, lucky for you I’m ready to post more now!
Chapter Fourteen
Max woke up the next morning smiling, determined that today was going to be a good day. The nurses last night had briefly mentioned that he might be going home either today or tomorrow and the very thought of his own bed and room made Max smile. Yesterday had started off great but had gone downhill when Liz left after they kissed, but after the talk on the phone last night it seemed that was merely a case of miscommunication.
Getting out of bed, Max slowly worked his away towards the other side of the room, feeling his way to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, he felt for the light switch, then realised it was a fruitless effort. At least he’d save money on light blubs, he thought as he undressed and stepped into the shower. Max relished the first shower he’d been able to have alone since the shooting, they’d always insisted on having a nurse in the room, but last night he’d been told he was allowed in there alone. He grabbed the shampoo, he knew it was to the left of the taps, and washed his hair making sure to rinse it properly. He then went to grab the conditioner bottle, but it wasn’t in its normal place, to the right of the taps. Silently cursing he felt around in the shower knocking over the soap in the process. Leaning down he felt around on the floor for the bottle, almost slipping on the dropped soap, finding the bottle and the soap Max stood up triumphantly. Placing the soap back in its holder and squirting out some conditioner Max smiled; he’d done it, as simple as it was, he’d found the conditioner that was lost.
Stepping out of the shower, Max dried himself, being careful not to bump into anything in the small bathroom. Feeling for the clothes that had been left out for him, he quickly dressed. After he was dressed, Max grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste, brushing his teeth with care. The last thing on Max’s grooming agenda was shaving, before today a nurse or his father had done it for him, but today Max was turning a new leaf, today he was going to do it himself. Taking the electric shaver his father had brought in, he proceeded to carefully shave his face. After Max was satisfied he’d shaved properly and would look ok to others he left the bathroom, once again feeling his way across the room to his bed. Before he sat down, he felt for his shoes, finding them neatly underneath his bed, picking them up he walked around the bed and sat at the small table by the window. Well he assumed it was a window, not that it really mattered to him anymore, one good thing about being blind, he didn’t need a view anymore which would make apartment hunting easier.
Sitting down he put on his shoes and reached for the remote, knowing it was on the bedside table closest to him. Finding that, he turned the TV on, switching channels until he heard Katie Couric’s voice. ‘Today’ would bring him up to date on the outside world. A few minutes later, the door opened and the smell of hospital food filled the room, Max heard the tray being placed in front of him and Max waited for a nurse to come into the room to tell him where his food was. After only a few days, he knew he routine, the orderly would bring in the food, and then a nurse would come in and tell him what was on his tray and where it was. At first, they helped him eat, but the last few days he’d been allowed to do it on his own. He guessed everything was a sort of test, if he could eat and shower safely by himself he could go home, if so Max was more than willing to try.
“Morning Max, it’s Shelia; hey, looking good. I see you’ve taken full advantage of your shower privileges; you did a good job, Max. Now onto breakfast, what do we have here? Ok, your hand sir? Here we go…” Shelia proceeded to take Max over his tray of food, letting him know where the eggs were, where the toast sat and where the juice was. After she was sure Max had it she left him to eat in peace. Max ate slowly, listening to the TV as he learnt that it was raining in Seattle and that Denver was expecting a spring blizzard that night. Max decided that he hadn’t missed any life changing news while in hospital.
After finishing his breakfast, Max found his cane and decided to go for a walk. He hadn’t walked the halls of the hospital alone yet, but he was getting itchy feet and needed to get out and about. Stepping out of the room Max felt for the wall and kept his left hand running along it as she walked down the hall slowly. Moving his cane slowly from side to side as Lilly had shown him Max managed to manoeuvre his way around a group of chairs and a bin, before making it to the nurses station. He stood there for a second before he heard footsteps come up to him.
“Max, did you need anything?” He recognised the voice of Shelia, the nurse that had helped him with breakfast. Making a snap decision Max asked to be helped outside. A few minutes later he was sitting on the bench he’d kissed Liz on yesterday, Shelia left vowing to return in an hour to help him back upstairs.
Sitting in the morning sunshine, Max shut his eyes and tilted his head back. He wasn’t sure why he shut his eyes; it wasn’t like the sun was annoying him, but it seemed appropriate for some reason. Max realised he felt normal, sitting in the sun, enjoying the day, he felt normal. He didn’t feel blind, didn’t feel like a burden to anyone, he just felt like a normal 17 year old boy on spring break.
Liz walked outside and shielded her eyes from the blaring sun, squinting she looked around for Max. After going up to his room and finding it empty, she was told he was sitting out in the sun. Finally spotting him sitting on same bench as yesterday, Liz made her way towards him. As she got a little closer, Liz slowed down and the stopped a little way away. Max was sitting there resting against the back of the chair, his head up turned to the sun with a small smile on his face, Liz couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He looked perfect; the past week he’d looked like he had the world on his shoulders but right now he looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Liz wished she had a camera; she wanted to capture this moment forever. Realising she’d been standing there for a while Liz started to walk forward but once again stopped. Max had mentioned on more than one occasion he never had a moment alone, so maybe she should sit back for a little while. Looking around Liz saw another bench and made her way over, sitting down Liz turned slightly and watched Max.
When she’d woken up that morning, Liz had felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Not only had Max kissed her yesterday, but after a few hours of being unsure of the situation, he’d admitted he liked her and wanted to kiss her. To Liz, that had felt like a dream come true, something she had wished for but never had thought would be a possibility. But what did it mean? Did Max want to date? Was he going away to school? Liz shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind of the thoughts; there was nothing she could do without talking to Max. Turning her attention back to Max she started to watch him again, something she had never really done. Max had always been allusive at school and when the opportunity to spy on was available, Liz had always felt self conscious about it. But now she had the perfect opportunity to do so Liz decided to take it.
Liz looked at Max closely; she took in his toned body, his tan skin, his hair as it flopped over his eyes. She watched as he just sat there, doing nothing but seemly enjoying himself in the peace and quiet. Liz was so rapt in Max she didn’t even notice the blond walking towards him, a look of excitement in her eyes.
“Max Evans?” Max turned his head towards the voice. He didn’t recognise it, and all the nurse and doctors always said who they were.
“Umm, yes.” Max sat up a little straighter on the bench.
“I’m Kate Harper from the Roswell Gazette. I was just leaving the hospital when I saw you out here, would you mind me asking a few questions?” Kate sat down next to Max, quickly taking out her notebook.
Max was uncomfortable; he wanted to get away but was nervous about walking outside by himself still before he had a chance to worry anymore about he heard his angel speak.
“There you are, Max, we’re running late. Oh sorry was I interrupting something?” Liz touched Max’s arm and a second later he stood grabbing her arm with one hand, his cane in the other.
“No, is it that time already? Sorry, Kate, I have to go.” And with that Max let Liz lead him back inside the hospital.
“Hi Max.” Liz stopped at the lift and pressed the up button.
“Hi Liz, did you know you have the worlds best timing?” Max couldn’t believe that just when he needed someone, Liz was there. He didn’t question it, just took her arm and let her lead him away. Right now she could lead him anywhere and he’d go.
“Yeah well...sorry I didn’t make it over sooner. It took me a second to realise who she was.” They stepped into the elevator and waited as it took them upstairs.
“You knew who she was?” They stepped out of the elevator and walked towards Max’s room.
“A reporter from the paper right? She came to career day last month, the only reason I remember her is that all the guys went to her workshop due to her well assets.” Liz led them into Max’s room. “Ok we’re back in your room.” Max let go of Liz’s arm and made his way back to his bed, sitting down on the edge.
“Oh I remember her now, blonde?” Max thought back to career day, he barely remembered anything about that day. It had been a warm day for February and Liz had worn a tank top that hugged her curves in such a way Max could barely think straight.
“Yeah, that’s her. I’m assuming she wanted to talk to you about the shooting?” Of course he’ll remember her, she was blonde, with big breasts that seemed so perfect, she was every teenage boys wet dream.
The two sat next to each other on the, awkward silence filling the room as they listening to each other breathe, neither wanting to make the first move.
“So,” Max said at the same time as Liz.
“So…”
“You go…” Liz jumped in first, more than happy for Max to start talking first.
“Oh, I wasn’t really going to say anything.” Max inwardly cursed himself for being such an idiot.
“Me either, we’re a pair, aren’t we?” Liz saw Max loosen up a little bit and she let out a small laugh.
“Thanks for coming to today Liz, oh they think I’ll be able to go home either today or tomorrow.” Max smiled in the general direction of Liz.
“Really? That’s fantastic Max.” And without a second thought she launched herself into Max’s arms.
Max was shocked when he felt Liz’s arms wrap around his body as she took him in a hug. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her and his mind flashed back to being in a similar position yesterday. After a few seconds Liz pulled back and tucked a stand of hair behind her eyes, her cheeks red from embarrassment.
“Sorry, I seem to have a habit of hugging you, don’t I?” Liz was glad that Max couldn’t see her face right now, she was sure it was as red as a tomato.
“I don’t mind.” Max reached over towards Liz finding her hand and grasping it.
“Umm, so do you think we should talk about yesterday?” Liz hated to bring the topic up but she wanted to know what the kiss meant. Sure they had spoken about it last night, but she wanted to have everything out in the open.
“Oh…” Was she regretting the kiss now Max wondered if he’d stepped over the line, again.
“It’s just that, and I can’t really believe I’m saying this, but I can’t not, you know?” Liz saw Max nod, so she continued with her speech. “I like you Max, I have for a while and when you asked me to Prom I was so shocked and so excited and scared all at once. And then the shooting happened and the past week has been a blur and then yesterday happened and I was back to excited for a second. Then Michael came and you said sorry and I was scared again. But after our phone call last night well it seemed that things were ok again. But what are we, Max?”
“I don’t know, I’ve liked you for a while as well, you know that now. When I asked you to Prom I hoped it would be the beginning of something for us, but well, we know how that day turned out…” Max stopped talking as he heard a gunshot in his head. He hadn’t told anyone but he was starting to remember things about being shot. The thing that he remembered most was the sound of the gun as it went off…he doubted he’d ever forget it again.
“Is it just me or is this conversation a little weird?” Liz couldn’t hold it in, she felt like she was in some alternate universe, having this conversation with Max.
“No it’s not you…I’ve never talked about this with anyone really, and now I’m talking about it with you and I don’t really want to talk about it..”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Liz stood up, but was stopped from moving away but Max’s grip on her hand.
“Don’t go; I want to ask you a question, Liz. I was wondering and you can say no if you don’t want to,” Max stood up and pulled Liz a little closer, taking a deep breath he continued, “but would you be my girlfriend?”
Oh, thanks for all the song suggestions, as yet nothing has jumped out at me. I’m very fussy with songs, it took me about 3 weeks and about 5 titles before I came up with By Your Side… So if you still have ideas, feel free to send them through!!
Maxsgurl – Yes stupid boys!!
clueless – Well the 13th was the beginning of a string of bad events…so I was cursed!! I’m not sure how to write Michael, so I’m basing him on a friend of mine who kinda reminds me of him.
anonymousarfan - Thanks
Behrsgirl1230 – Not to worry, I foresee lots more kisses in the future.
POM – Drama is my middle name baby...ok it’s not but it’s much better than the one I’ve got anyway.
Ellie - I think Michael is like a typical male, he’s got blinkers on..
Maxsgurl - I think I’ve seen you here before
begonia9508 – Michael is a male Maria…hmm I wonder if they’ll be good together?
RhondaAnn - Thanks
Alien614 – Thanks for reading, glad you like it.
ISLANDGIRL5 - I have NO idea how you could miss a part!!! Yes parents…what will they say??
KatnotKath - You make me blush
…you’re too sweet!!cherie - Thanks
omwf – Glad you found it, welcome.
NorafanofMaxandLiz - Glad you’ve found it…I was laughing when you mention Lilly thinking Max was cute, because only Liz and ME can do that!! Vegemite hey? Well if it’s vegemite I have to update then!
janesdilemma – Welcome, lucky for you I’m ready to post more now!
Chapter Fourteen
Max woke up the next morning smiling, determined that today was going to be a good day. The nurses last night had briefly mentioned that he might be going home either today or tomorrow and the very thought of his own bed and room made Max smile. Yesterday had started off great but had gone downhill when Liz left after they kissed, but after the talk on the phone last night it seemed that was merely a case of miscommunication.
Getting out of bed, Max slowly worked his away towards the other side of the room, feeling his way to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, he felt for the light switch, then realised it was a fruitless effort. At least he’d save money on light blubs, he thought as he undressed and stepped into the shower. Max relished the first shower he’d been able to have alone since the shooting, they’d always insisted on having a nurse in the room, but last night he’d been told he was allowed in there alone. He grabbed the shampoo, he knew it was to the left of the taps, and washed his hair making sure to rinse it properly. He then went to grab the conditioner bottle, but it wasn’t in its normal place, to the right of the taps. Silently cursing he felt around in the shower knocking over the soap in the process. Leaning down he felt around on the floor for the bottle, almost slipping on the dropped soap, finding the bottle and the soap Max stood up triumphantly. Placing the soap back in its holder and squirting out some conditioner Max smiled; he’d done it, as simple as it was, he’d found the conditioner that was lost.
Stepping out of the shower, Max dried himself, being careful not to bump into anything in the small bathroom. Feeling for the clothes that had been left out for him, he quickly dressed. After he was dressed, Max grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste, brushing his teeth with care. The last thing on Max’s grooming agenda was shaving, before today a nurse or his father had done it for him, but today Max was turning a new leaf, today he was going to do it himself. Taking the electric shaver his father had brought in, he proceeded to carefully shave his face. After Max was satisfied he’d shaved properly and would look ok to others he left the bathroom, once again feeling his way across the room to his bed. Before he sat down, he felt for his shoes, finding them neatly underneath his bed, picking them up he walked around the bed and sat at the small table by the window. Well he assumed it was a window, not that it really mattered to him anymore, one good thing about being blind, he didn’t need a view anymore which would make apartment hunting easier.
Sitting down he put on his shoes and reached for the remote, knowing it was on the bedside table closest to him. Finding that, he turned the TV on, switching channels until he heard Katie Couric’s voice. ‘Today’ would bring him up to date on the outside world. A few minutes later, the door opened and the smell of hospital food filled the room, Max heard the tray being placed in front of him and Max waited for a nurse to come into the room to tell him where his food was. After only a few days, he knew he routine, the orderly would bring in the food, and then a nurse would come in and tell him what was on his tray and where it was. At first, they helped him eat, but the last few days he’d been allowed to do it on his own. He guessed everything was a sort of test, if he could eat and shower safely by himself he could go home, if so Max was more than willing to try.
“Morning Max, it’s Shelia; hey, looking good. I see you’ve taken full advantage of your shower privileges; you did a good job, Max. Now onto breakfast, what do we have here? Ok, your hand sir? Here we go…” Shelia proceeded to take Max over his tray of food, letting him know where the eggs were, where the toast sat and where the juice was. After she was sure Max had it she left him to eat in peace. Max ate slowly, listening to the TV as he learnt that it was raining in Seattle and that Denver was expecting a spring blizzard that night. Max decided that he hadn’t missed any life changing news while in hospital.
After finishing his breakfast, Max found his cane and decided to go for a walk. He hadn’t walked the halls of the hospital alone yet, but he was getting itchy feet and needed to get out and about. Stepping out of the room Max felt for the wall and kept his left hand running along it as she walked down the hall slowly. Moving his cane slowly from side to side as Lilly had shown him Max managed to manoeuvre his way around a group of chairs and a bin, before making it to the nurses station. He stood there for a second before he heard footsteps come up to him.
“Max, did you need anything?” He recognised the voice of Shelia, the nurse that had helped him with breakfast. Making a snap decision Max asked to be helped outside. A few minutes later he was sitting on the bench he’d kissed Liz on yesterday, Shelia left vowing to return in an hour to help him back upstairs.
Sitting in the morning sunshine, Max shut his eyes and tilted his head back. He wasn’t sure why he shut his eyes; it wasn’t like the sun was annoying him, but it seemed appropriate for some reason. Max realised he felt normal, sitting in the sun, enjoying the day, he felt normal. He didn’t feel blind, didn’t feel like a burden to anyone, he just felt like a normal 17 year old boy on spring break.
Liz walked outside and shielded her eyes from the blaring sun, squinting she looked around for Max. After going up to his room and finding it empty, she was told he was sitting out in the sun. Finally spotting him sitting on same bench as yesterday, Liz made her way towards him. As she got a little closer, Liz slowed down and the stopped a little way away. Max was sitting there resting against the back of the chair, his head up turned to the sun with a small smile on his face, Liz couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He looked perfect; the past week he’d looked like he had the world on his shoulders but right now he looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Liz wished she had a camera; she wanted to capture this moment forever. Realising she’d been standing there for a while Liz started to walk forward but once again stopped. Max had mentioned on more than one occasion he never had a moment alone, so maybe she should sit back for a little while. Looking around Liz saw another bench and made her way over, sitting down Liz turned slightly and watched Max.
When she’d woken up that morning, Liz had felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Not only had Max kissed her yesterday, but after a few hours of being unsure of the situation, he’d admitted he liked her and wanted to kiss her. To Liz, that had felt like a dream come true, something she had wished for but never had thought would be a possibility. But what did it mean? Did Max want to date? Was he going away to school? Liz shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind of the thoughts; there was nothing she could do without talking to Max. Turning her attention back to Max she started to watch him again, something she had never really done. Max had always been allusive at school and when the opportunity to spy on was available, Liz had always felt self conscious about it. But now she had the perfect opportunity to do so Liz decided to take it.
Liz looked at Max closely; she took in his toned body, his tan skin, his hair as it flopped over his eyes. She watched as he just sat there, doing nothing but seemly enjoying himself in the peace and quiet. Liz was so rapt in Max she didn’t even notice the blond walking towards him, a look of excitement in her eyes.
“Max Evans?” Max turned his head towards the voice. He didn’t recognise it, and all the nurse and doctors always said who they were.
“Umm, yes.” Max sat up a little straighter on the bench.
“I’m Kate Harper from the Roswell Gazette. I was just leaving the hospital when I saw you out here, would you mind me asking a few questions?” Kate sat down next to Max, quickly taking out her notebook.
Max was uncomfortable; he wanted to get away but was nervous about walking outside by himself still before he had a chance to worry anymore about he heard his angel speak.
“There you are, Max, we’re running late. Oh sorry was I interrupting something?” Liz touched Max’s arm and a second later he stood grabbing her arm with one hand, his cane in the other.
“No, is it that time already? Sorry, Kate, I have to go.” And with that Max let Liz lead him back inside the hospital.
“Hi Max.” Liz stopped at the lift and pressed the up button.
“Hi Liz, did you know you have the worlds best timing?” Max couldn’t believe that just when he needed someone, Liz was there. He didn’t question it, just took her arm and let her lead him away. Right now she could lead him anywhere and he’d go.
“Yeah well...sorry I didn’t make it over sooner. It took me a second to realise who she was.” They stepped into the elevator and waited as it took them upstairs.
“You knew who she was?” They stepped out of the elevator and walked towards Max’s room.
“A reporter from the paper right? She came to career day last month, the only reason I remember her is that all the guys went to her workshop due to her well assets.” Liz led them into Max’s room. “Ok we’re back in your room.” Max let go of Liz’s arm and made his way back to his bed, sitting down on the edge.
“Oh I remember her now, blonde?” Max thought back to career day, he barely remembered anything about that day. It had been a warm day for February and Liz had worn a tank top that hugged her curves in such a way Max could barely think straight.
“Yeah, that’s her. I’m assuming she wanted to talk to you about the shooting?” Of course he’ll remember her, she was blonde, with big breasts that seemed so perfect, she was every teenage boys wet dream.
The two sat next to each other on the, awkward silence filling the room as they listening to each other breathe, neither wanting to make the first move.
“So,” Max said at the same time as Liz.
“So…”
“You go…” Liz jumped in first, more than happy for Max to start talking first.
“Oh, I wasn’t really going to say anything.” Max inwardly cursed himself for being such an idiot.
“Me either, we’re a pair, aren’t we?” Liz saw Max loosen up a little bit and she let out a small laugh.
“Thanks for coming to today Liz, oh they think I’ll be able to go home either today or tomorrow.” Max smiled in the general direction of Liz.
“Really? That’s fantastic Max.” And without a second thought she launched herself into Max’s arms.
Max was shocked when he felt Liz’s arms wrap around his body as she took him in a hug. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her and his mind flashed back to being in a similar position yesterday. After a few seconds Liz pulled back and tucked a stand of hair behind her eyes, her cheeks red from embarrassment.
“Sorry, I seem to have a habit of hugging you, don’t I?” Liz was glad that Max couldn’t see her face right now, she was sure it was as red as a tomato.
“I don’t mind.” Max reached over towards Liz finding her hand and grasping it.
“Umm, so do you think we should talk about yesterday?” Liz hated to bring the topic up but she wanted to know what the kiss meant. Sure they had spoken about it last night, but she wanted to have everything out in the open.
“Oh…” Was she regretting the kiss now Max wondered if he’d stepped over the line, again.
“It’s just that, and I can’t really believe I’m saying this, but I can’t not, you know?” Liz saw Max nod, so she continued with her speech. “I like you Max, I have for a while and when you asked me to Prom I was so shocked and so excited and scared all at once. And then the shooting happened and the past week has been a blur and then yesterday happened and I was back to excited for a second. Then Michael came and you said sorry and I was scared again. But after our phone call last night well it seemed that things were ok again. But what are we, Max?”
“I don’t know, I’ve liked you for a while as well, you know that now. When I asked you to Prom I hoped it would be the beginning of something for us, but well, we know how that day turned out…” Max stopped talking as he heard a gunshot in his head. He hadn’t told anyone but he was starting to remember things about being shot. The thing that he remembered most was the sound of the gun as it went off…he doubted he’d ever forget it again.
“Is it just me or is this conversation a little weird?” Liz couldn’t hold it in, she felt like she was in some alternate universe, having this conversation with Max.
“No it’s not you…I’ve never talked about this with anyone really, and now I’m talking about it with you and I don’t really want to talk about it..”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Liz stood up, but was stopped from moving away but Max’s grip on her hand.
“Don’t go; I want to ask you a question, Liz. I was wondering and you can say no if you don’t want to,” Max stood up and pulled Liz a little closer, taking a deep breath he continued, “but would you be my girlfriend?”
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Howdy partners…I was all ready to post this the other day, but we’ve been having blackouts on and off since Thursday. It’s really hot here and well I think the heat is frying something somewhere. But here is the next part, and I already have the next one finished so you wont have to wait too long for it.
I have to add a few things first...I was watching BBC World the other day and they had a story about a woman who was blind for 26 years, had a heart attack and got her sight back!!!! She's some huge medical miracle; they have no idea why she can see again. So who knows what will happen to Max.
Also in trying to make this as realistic as possible, I actually went to the movies the other day and half way through closed my eyes and 'watched' it like that. I was so bored, I would have walked out if it weren’t for my friend who was enjoying herself, it was an interesting experience. I also asked my neighbours kids to walk me around the block blindfolded...not sure if that was a good idea as they thought it was funny to walk me into things, but yet again an interesting experience. I had visions of Charlotte in 'Sex And The City' when she goes shopping blindfolded, I didn't have a Burberry mask though, it was a Qantas one!!
Maxsgurl – I’m sorry you look crazy, really I am…and if you really want to come ALL the way to Australia to kill me…bring it on baby! Oh and I’m glad I made you day and week, I hope this part makes your month.
Ellie – Isn’t Max the gentleman asking her? And well we all know Max watched Liz, so it’s time for Liz to watch Max. Oh and I love your signature…what a chest
Maxssoulmate – I can and I will!! If you die because you don’t know what happens, I’m sorry and I’ll send flowers!
janesdilemma – Yep, baby steps!
Alien614 Yes I left it there!
Behrsgirl1230- I love you too…oh wait you love Max and not me right?
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Oh I love a good comment, and well yours are almost as long as my chapters. Well prom is about 2 and a half months away.. Yes Max being blind has made him less shy, I think it’s the whole life flashing before your eyes thing. I do love my vegemite, but not a fan of VB, I don’t really drink at all but it’s a Corona if I do.
cherie – Wasn’t it sweet? A friend of mine was asked just liked that, and it sounded so innocent that I had to steal it.
RhondaAnn – Max does seem to have a little more confidence in himself…but will it last?
POM – Oh good, I’m glad only one person wants to kill me, I can hide from one!
begonia9508 – YES!! Oh not me right?
KatnotKath – Has the daydreaming stopped? It hasn’t right?
clueless – Please tell you didn’t stay on the edge of your seat for a week?
kay_b – Isn’t it embarrassing when you reading something and start saying ‘Oh that’s so cute’, I do it all the time and well I think I need to stop!!
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Happy to feed any legal addiction, chocolate is mine…yum…opps off topic again…I don’t sleep much really, and it’s so hot here who can sleep anyway? Oh and Hewitt was knocked out...poor guy, how embarrassing.
Ellie – Rest is for the tired...oh that’s me…actually 3am is pretty normal for me to be up at.
POM – Really? I’m yelling at mine, why? Because it doesn’t yell back!
youre my dreamgirl – Yes they are cute…
clueless – The wait is over!!
Chapter Fifteen
Liz wondered if she’d heard right, but from the apprehensive look on Max’s face and the damp hand holding hers, Liz realised it was true. Max Evans had just asked her to be his girlfriend!!! Unsure if it was appropriate to scream out in joy, Liz did the second best thing. Taking Max’s other hand, she pulled him flush with her body. Leaning in, she placed her lips against his and whispered, “Yes”.
Max felt Liz’s breathe on his lips, and hearing her say ‘yes’ almost made his knees wobble. “Yes?”
“Yes, Max. I would love nothing better than to be your girlfriend,” Liz said as she felt Max smile against her lips, without a second thought, she moved her lips forward and kissed him. She wondered if it was unusual that it felt so right, so normal, when they’d only kissed once before, but did. It was almost as if Max knew she liked her hair stroked, as his hands made their way up around her waist, resting on her hip as the other made it’s way up her back.
He was in heaven. Not only had Liz said yes, something that was still ringing in his ears, but they were kissing and it felt so right. Max took a step back and his knees hit the bed and before he knew what was happening he was falling back onto the bed, pulling Liz down with him.
“Whoa...” Liz pulled back suddenly and realised she was lying on top of Max on his hospital bed, moving off him she rolled on her side next to him.
“Sorry.” Max couldn’t believe that he pulled Liz onto the bed with him; they’d only been going out a whole minute!!
“No, really, it was fine, but maybe we should take it a little slower. You know leave the bed for another day.” Liz meant to say it as a joke, but it came out in a breathless tone, and she cringed at the seductiveness of the statement. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that…” Max moved his hand to Liz’s face, resting it on her cheek, and cut Liz off with a slow kiss.
“I know what you mean, Liz, and you’re right. I want to get to know you more, I know that sounds stupid I’ve known you since the third grade, but I want to know you.” Max lay his head back down on the bed beside Liz, their hands intertwining between them.
The two lay side by side for the next few hours, they talked about everything and anything. Max learned that Liz’s favourite ice-cream flavour was vanilla and that she dreamed of going to Harvard. Max opened up about his passion for Steinbeck’s novels and that he had no idea what he wanted to study. Max found out about Liz’s shorter-than-short relationship with Kyle the summer before, and was secretly pleased that it meant nothing to her. The spoke about the possibility of Max going away to school, Max heard more about how Isabel and Michael felt about him leaving. Max asked Liz’s opinion and she merely said she wanted what was best for him. They were so caught up in each other they didn’t hear the door open up and the Evans family walk in.
Diane and Isabel rushed down the hall of the hospital, excited to see Max after Phillip had banned them. Opening the door, they both stopped short at the sight before them. Max and Liz were lying side by side on the bed; there feet swing slowly in time together off the side of the bed. They both had there eyes closed as they spoke to each other, but what shocked Diane and Isabel the most was the intertwined hands that were resting on Max’s thigh. To Diane, they looked like the perfect couple. Not wanting to embarrass the pair, she pushed a stunned Isabel back out the door, shutting it behind them.
“Did you know about them, Isabel?” Diane thought Max had a little crush on Liz, but it seemed like it was more than that.
“Well I had no idea about that, but I know they both like each other.” Although Isabel was happy for her brother, she was still in shock he’d asked Liz to the prom, and now seeing them so close, it was almost too much to take in.
“Well it seems a lot has happened in the last few days!! Don’t embarrass them, honey, let’s not mention it unless they do, ok?” Diane took Isabel’s hand and placed a quick kiss on her check, Isabel nodded with a smile.
“Ok, let’s say hello, then.” Diane reached up and knocked on the door “Hello? Max? Without waiting for a response, she pushed the door opened again and caught Max and Liz sitting up in a hurry to make themselves look respectable.
“Max it’s so good to see you honey.” Diane let go of Isabel’s hand and engulfed her son in a hug, reaching next to her she pulled Liz in. “You too Liz. Phillip said you’ve been taking care of Max for us. We can’t thank you enough for that.” Pulling back Diane noticed both teens blush at the comment. Smiling, Diane stepped back fully, allowing Isabel to greet her brother.
“Max, Dad said I have to be nice to you or you’ll whack me with your cane.” Isabel said with a teasing tone, as she hugged him. When Max started to pull back, Isabel whispered in his ear “I’m so happy for you and Liz,” letting him go before he could say a thing. She then hugged Liz briefly before settling down on a chair opposite them.
“Something like that, Izzy.” Max sent a look in the general direction of his sister.
“So tell me everything that’s been going on since I last saw you. You look so good honey, really you do. Doesn’t he look well, Isabel?” Diane sat next to Max, taking his hand in hers; she was surprised how well he did look; after all he was in a coma less than a week ago.
“Oh yea, Mom. He’s a real looker…isn’t he, Liz?” Isabel tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it when a look of shock ran over Liz’s face. Deciding not to be play with them, Isabel quickly covered her tracks, “Only kidding, you look good, Max. How do you feel?”
“Pretty good, actually; not much pain and the stitches are all out and there hasn’t been any infection. Dr. Pierce says it looks good.” Before the stitches had come out, Max was worried he’d be left with a huge scar on his neck, another graphic reminder the shooting. But after they’d been taken out, he was allowed to feel the scar before more bandages went back on. It was small, about an inch long, and seemed like it would be pretty much hidden by his hair and his ears. For once, Max was actually thankful for his ears.
“Yes, I spoke to him briefly this morning, he’s impressed with how quickly you’re recovering. Lilly Kleeman is outside having a quick word to him, and then they’ll both be joining us for a talk about you coming home. It wont be today, honey; Lilly had a look at the house this morning and we need to make a new little changes, Dad’s organising that right now.” Diane watched as Max’s face fell, she knew he wanted to come home, but they had to do what was right for him, and right now, they needed to change a few things at home to make it safe.
Liz sat and watched Max; more than anything, she wanted to take his hand and comfort him, but with his family there, it didn’t seem right. Before yesterday, she was more than comfortable holding his hand around his parents and friends, but now that there were officially going out, it now seemed wrong. Liz decided that she would leave the Evans’, thinking that maybe Max would prefer her not to be around for the upcoming conversation. Standing up, ready to make up an excuse to leave she was stopped by Diane.
“Well I’m going to run out to call your father, I forgot to tell him something. Isabel why don’t you go and get yourself and Max some snacks from the gift shop.” Diane could see Liz was uncomfortable and was about to leave, so she decided to at least, let them say goodbye alone.
“Aww, Mom I just sat down.” Isabel was surprised her mother was sending her to get snacks; didn’t she have enough in her bag? Noticing the slight nod towards Liz, Isabel caught on. “Oh, sure, actually I wouldn’t mind a coke. Max? Liz? Can I get you anything?
“A cherry coke if they have it.” Max wasn’t sure what was going with his mother, she’s only sat down a minute ago, but he’d stopped questioning her years ago.
“Nothing for me, I should be going anyway. I’ll just wait until you get back.” Liz sat back down.
“Ok, we’ll I’ll be back in about 10 minutes then.” Diane left the room, Isabel following a second later.
“Umm, what was that about?” Liz said as she watched the door shut.
“They know about us.” It was the only answer that Max could come up with; he knew Isabel knew, so maybe his mother did too.
“Really how?” Liz stood up again but this time started pacing. They knew? Not that it was a big deal, but it was so new to Liz she wasn’t sure how to take it all in.
“No idea; Isabel just knows stuff, it’s her thing. You’re not upset about that are you?” Was Liz already regretting their relationship?
“No, it’s knew, you know, and having people know when I barely know is just a little weird.” Liz could see that Max was getting worried, so she sat back down next to him, this time taking his hand. “It’s fine Max, but I’d still better go and let you deal with all this.”
“Ok.” Max knew she was right, although he wanted Liz there, he knew that some things they had to do apart, that he couldn’t rely on her for support all the time.
“I’ll call you later and you can let me know when you’re going home ok?” Max nodded, and a felt the bed shift as Liz moved in to hug him. As she tried to pull back, he cupped her face with his hand, and moved into kiss her, feeling as Liz met him halfway.
Liz couldn’t believe this was only the third time they’d kissed. It not only seemed so right, but it felt so natural. The way he cupped her face with one hand while the other one held her close. The way his tongue caressed her lips, as it begged for entrance, she granted it and felt the most amazing sensation flow through her body.
Max once again was in heaven, this day was just getting better and better. Liz had not only agreed to be his girlfriend, something he still needed to pinch himself about, but she was currently kissing him in such a way he was sure to embarrass himself if they continued. Knowing his mother and sister would be back soon, and that Liz would be mortified if they were caught kissing, he slowly pulled away.
“Wow.” Max heard Liz laugh against his chest.
“Are you going to say that every time we kiss, Max?” Liz loved to hear Max sounding so light hearted.
“Well if you keep kissing like that, I might.” They separated, and Liz stood up for the final time, grabbing her bag.
“Then I guess I’d better get used to it then. I’m going now.” Liz leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Max’s cheek, pulling back before he could pull her back onto the bed.
“More than happy for you to continue kissing me like that, then. I’ll talk to you tonight. Bye, Liz.” Max closed his eyes as she pulled back and with a ‘bye’ she was out the door. Flopping back on the bed, Max wished his family would disappear so he could just lie there and think about Liz and her kisses. The door opening interrupted his wish and within seconds, it seemed his room was full of people.
An hour later Max’s head was spinning. Lilly was bringing up more things he needed to learn, more things he needed to change in his life. But the biggest question was still to come.
“So I guess the last major question for the day is do you want to go away to school? I need to let them know today or they’ll give the place away.” Lilly had gone through the changes that were being made Max’s house, which although weren’t major, would make it easier and safer for Max to get around. But she felt like they had been dancing around the real question, Texas.
Max took a deep breathe, “No, but I think it’s the best thing.”
“Max, are you sure? I’m sure we could get a tutor to come here.” Isabel jumped up from her seat and went to sit next to her bother; he couldn’t go away to school. What if he needed something and no one was around to help him.
“I have to Izzy, I can’t just sit around, and it’s what’s best. Right, Mom?” Although Max was going to go, he wanted to go with his families and friends support.
“I think so, honey. It’s going to be hard for all of us while you’re gone. But I’ve spoken to some parents whose children have gone there and they do nothing but praise the school. It seems the best place in the country for this sort of thing.” Diane didn’t want her son, her baby, to go away, she knew exactly what Isabel was feeling but she knew it was best. She wanted Max to have a normal life, to be confident and have the best opportunities he could, and it all started at the Texas School for The Blind.
“Ok great, I spoke to them this morning and apparently school starts next Wednesday for a 3 day family orientation that your parents and Isabel attend with you, then you start the normal program the following Monday. Now this means you’ll be at home for a week before you go, and I recommend you get out during that week. Even if it’s just walking around the block with someone, that’s better than sitting around inside. Invite your friends over to listen to music, to eat pizza, hey, even watch a movie, you’d be surprised now much you can understand by just watching (watching? Or should it be listening? J) it.” Lilly wanted to make sure Max didn’t just lock himself away for the next week; she doubted it, but she also knew the hospital was safe to him and that once he was out in the real world his confidence might disappear.
“Ok, sure.” Max nodded, a week? He would be leaving in a week, it seemed too soon, but at the same time, he wanted to go away so he could come back.
Max tuned out for the rest of the conversation, he heard a few things, but he didn’t pay much attention. His mind wandered back to a certain person whom he’d spent the morning with. Suddenly, Max felt a pinch on his arm and heard Isabel whisper for him to pay attention.
“So, I think that’s it, I’ll go and make some calls and get things moving along on the school issue. Diane, I’ll call you later today when I have all the details. I’ll see you tomorrow, Max, and if you have any questions just give me a call, ok?” Lilly left a few minutes later, leaving Isabel and Diane to fuss over Max. When the nurse came in to give him his afternoon medication he was relived when she suggested that he rest for a bit. Not long after Diane and Isabel left, vowing to come back with Michael and Phillip later on that afternoon.
Max laid his head on his pillow and within seconds was asleep, the emotionally charged day catching up with him.
Liz rolled over and looked at the clock, 7:34pm, was it too early to call Max? She’d been watching the clock for 3 hours now, stopping briefly for dinner, she was now back to the clock watching game. She’d called at 8.48 last night, but Max had had to go when the nurse came in. So maybe if she called earlier they could talk longer?
Deciding to just call him now, Liz picked up the phone and dialled the numbers; a few seconds later she waited while the phone rang in her ear.
Max woke up to a strange sound; he’d already been woken for dinner so it wasn’t that…what was the noise? A moment later his brain registered it was the phone, turning towards the noise he reached out, knocking over the plastic cup of water sitting there. Cursing, the phone continued to ring as Max fumbled around trying to find it, he was sure it was at the end of the table, but seemed to have been moved since last night. Finally finding it behind the flowers his mother had brought with her in the afternoon he picked it up.
“Hello?” Max took a deep breath, why was finding the phone such hard work?
“Max, it’s Liz, is everything ok?” Liz heard the breathless tone in Max’s voice and hoped she hadn’t interrupted something.
“Hi, no, I just couldn’t find the phone.” Max sat back against the bed, settling in, hoping Liz would want to talk for a while.
“Oh, well, how are you?” Liz couldn’t remember why she called anymore, would every conversation with Max feel this uncomfortable?
“Good, I’m going home tomorrow morning.” Max smiled. Home, he didn’t think he’d ever miss it as much as he had the past week.
“Really? That’s fantastic, Max, really it is. I can’t believe you’re going home already.” Liz could hear the excitement in Max’s voice; she gathered he was excited about going home.
“Well it’s felt like I’ve been here for weeks. I’m going to dream about my own bed tonight, I think, and the food. Good food, Liz, that’s what I miss.” He sighed as he thought about all the things he’d make his mother cook for him; lasagna, pot roast, Mexican, the list was endless.
“Let me guess you’re already forming a list in your mind about what’s she’s going to cook for you every night for the next month.”
“Umm, no.” Max realised that he hadn’t told Liz about him going away next week. He knew she knew it would most properly happen but she didn’t know when, but she was his girlfriend now and he had to tell her.
“No?” Liz heard Max’s voice drop, had she said something wrong?
“I decided to go to school in Texas, but it starts next week, we’re leaving on Monday.” After his short nap, his mother had returned, along with his father, Isabel and Michael. She had told Max she’d already been in contact with the school and was waiting on an email outlining what he’s need to take. After a brief conversation with her, Max had agreed to leave on Monday so they’d have a day to settle in before the orientation.
“Oh, Monday? Wow, that’s only a week away. That seems so soon, wow, Monday?” Liz couldn’t believe it; she knew it was coming, but Max saying it made it real, Monday. Selfishly, she wanted him to stay, she wanted to get to know her new boyfriend and the thought of not seeing him for 4 months was almost too much to think about.
“Yeah Monday, Mom’s going to invite you to a cookout on Sunday if you wanted to come.” Please come, please come, please come, flowed thought Max’s mind.
“That’ll be great. Maybe if you’re up to it, I could drop by tomorrow, I mean if you…” Liz wasn’t sure if she was being too forward, she didn’t remember being this unsure of herself with Kyle.
“Sure, that’ll be great, I have to have some final tests done in the morning but I should be home by lunchtime, so anytime after that would be great.” Max had realised today that he’d be bored at home. At the hospital, if he didn’t have a visitor the nurses were always popping in and chatting, which although annoying did make time go quickly. But at home what would he do? The things he used to do, he no longer could, reading, the Internet, studying, running, all things he enjoyed that were now taken away from him.
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to intrude or anything?”
“Trust me Liz you’re never an intrusion.”
“Ok, sure I’ll come by sometime in the afternoon then. So, are you excited about Texas? I mean it’ll be pretty interesting.” Liz couldn’t help but be happy at the way Max quickly made her know she was welcome tomorrow, was he just as anxious to spend time with her as she was with him?
“Interesting is properly the right word, it blows my mind all things I’m going to have to learn. Lilly was talking about it today and I wonder is 4 months going to be enough time? But at the same time I don’t want to be away for that long either, but at least I’ll never be bored.” According to Lilly, classes were run 7 days a week, even relaxing was apparently something he now needed to learn how to do.
Max and Liz talked for another two hours, both surprised when the nurse came in for his nightly check-up. After an uncomfortable start to the conversation for both of them, they seemed to be able to talk about almost anything together. When they finally hung up for the night, Liz realised she had learnt more about Max during the two conversations today than she had in the past 10 years combined.
Max was sitting on his bed the next morning, showered and dressed as the orderly brought his breakfast in. He didn’t care today that the eggs tasted like cardboard and that the bacon was rubbery, because the next breakfast he’d be eating would be at home and would taste perfect. Finishing off what they called breakfast he sat back on the edge of the bed waiting for them to take him for his final test. He really didn’t care what they did to him, as long as he got to go home today.
Three hours and who knows how many tests later, Max was back on the bed as his parents spoke to the doctors outside and Isabel packed up his room, freedom was so close he could taste it. He’d have to come in on Thursday and then Monday for Dr. Pierce to check him again…Max really wasn’t sure what they were checking anymore. There were scans done, he was poked and prodded all over, his eyes were held open as they put drops and various other things in them. But of course, nothing happened, he was still Max Evans, blind teenager.
“Ok I think that’s it…stereo, check; clothes, check; shoes…on feet, cane…cane? Max where is your cane?” Isabel checked off things in her mental list, Isabel loved to organise and for once, Max was more than happy to hand the reins over to her.
“I’ve got it Isabel. Can you go and see how much longer it’s going to be?” As sweet as Isabel was, right now all Max wanted was to walk to the car and go home.
“They’re coming now, let me just check the bathroom for the last time.” He heard the door open to the room and feet shuffle in.
“That’s it Max, all checked out. We’ve made you appointments for the next week, we have you medication and so we can go. Where’s your sister?” Diane said as she walked into the room
“Bathroom, checking to see if she missed anything…again.” Max grabbed his cane and stood up, extending it before him.
“Well Phillip you might as well head down and bring the car around. Isabel, Max and I will be down as soon as Isabel has checked the room for the tenth and last time.” Diane moved and grabbed the bags on Max’s bed handing them to Phillip.
“Ok then, is this it?” With a nod from Diane, Phillip left to go and move the car.
“Isabel get a move on, I’d like to get home before dinner time.” Diane stood next to Max tapping her feet on the ground, “Are you sure you want to come home, honey? At least here you don’t have to be around Isabel?”
“I’m sure, Mom, I’ll take Isabel over the hospital any day.” Max stood next to his mother; he could feel her just to his left. He was nervous, this was it; he was about to hit the real world again. The hospital was safe, outside wasn’t. Before Max had to have a full-blown panic attack, Isabel re-entered the room.
“Ok I’ve double checked and nothing has been left behind. Dad’s gone down with the bags? Ok, good, lets get going then.” Isabel headed out of the room leaving Diane and Max to follow her.
“Apparently we can go now. You ready, Max?” Seeing him nod his head, Diane picked up Max’s left hand and placed it on her right arm, waiting until he moved his arm into a comfortable position, before stepping out of the room.
They didn’t get far; Max was stopped by the nurses at the desk wishing him luck at school and with his life. Thanking the nurses for their help Diane and Max soon made their way to an impatient Isabel by the lift. A few minutes later, they were making their way through the hospital lobby.
“Oh there’s Dad, Isabel go around the other side of the car so Max doesn’t have to move over.” Max was led to the car and somehow managed to get in without bumping his head or tripping, something he was secretly proud of.
“Feel good to be out of the hospital, Max?” Phillip pulled the car out of the hospital and onto the street.
“Yea, it’s great to be out. It was starting to feel like a prison. It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed again.” Max laid his head back against the headrest, happy to feel almost normal again.
“I bet, we’ll be home in a few minutes and you can have a nap if you want. I have to go back to work for the afternoon, but Mom and Isabel will be around.” Phillip looked in the rear-view mirror and watched his son. He looked normal; right now, you couldn’t tell he was blind, unable to see even the slightest light.
“We’re here.” They all made their way out of the car and slowly into the house. Max stood in the hallway of the place he’d lived the last 10 years and realised that it felt the same as it had when he’d left to go to the Crashdown over a week ago. He had changed; not the house, not his family, him.
“I think I’ll just go to my room for a bit, if that’s ok?” Max could feel everyone around him and he wanted some space.
“Sure, honey, I’ll bring you in a sandwich for lunch in a minute. Phillip, take his bags in to his room.” Max headed off in the direction he knew his room was in. Slowly, he walked with his cane moving from side to side in front of him. Lilly had said in time he’d be able to walk around his house without it, but in the beginning it was best to use it. Hitting the cane against the wall in front of him, Max knew he was at the end of the hall, turning left, he felt against the wall for his door, finding the handle, he pushed it open and made his way to his bed. Sitting down on the edge, he felt someone enter the room.
“Here are your bags, Max; do you need anything before I go?” Phillip had watched Max walk to his room, saddened to see that he wasn’t even confident in his own house to walk without a cane.
“No it’s fine, thanks, Dad.” Max waited until he heard his father leave, then lay down on the bed, smelling the clean sheets, no hospital smell here. Before he had time to enjoy the peace and quiet, he heard footsteps down the hall and a knock on his door.
“Max? I’ve got your lunch.” Diane walked into the room and placed the plate into Max’s outstretched hand, placing a can of cherry Coke on the table next to his bed. “It’s turkey and tomato on wheat like you like it, and there’s a cola on the table next to your bed, ok?”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Just shout if you need anything, ok?” With a nod from Max, Diane left the room.
Max sat and ate his lunch; he couldn’t believe how quiet it was at home. He could hear Isabel walking around upstairs; most probably cleaning her room, and the occasion clatter of pans from the kitchen meant his mother was going to cook something big for dinner. Feeling the table next to him Max placed his empty plate down and reached for the coke can, accidentally hitting the clock radio he was shocked when a robotic voice said the time. Pressing it again Max let out a small sigh, so this was one of the ‘little’ changes that had been made in his absence. Standing up he walked toward his desk, he’d left it covered in books and notes for school, running his hand over the surface he found it empty. Max slowly made his way around his room, noticing small changes here and there. Everything was much cleaner than he’d left it; the floor was clean, as was his dresser. Max made his way to the en suite bathroom walking around the small room he noticed that his toothbrush and toothpaste now sat in a cup on the sink, rather than in his drawer somewhere.
Back in his room, Max sat back down on his bed, and wondered what he was supposed to do now? Normally this was when he’d read or study, but right now, those options were out. Reaching beside him he hit the clock again, 1:56pm, he had hours to kill before he could go to bed. Taking another sip of his drink, he felt a remote on the table, music! He could listen to music, turning on the stereo he pressed play, and lay on his bed as the Counting Crows filled his room.
Oh…for those who haven’t signed up for the Dreaming Among Stars Enigma Challenge you only have a week to do so. It tests how much you know about Roswell, the show, the music, the books, the fics, everything and anything to do with Roswell. Have a look at DAS website and sign up in you dare. You need to be in a team of 3, so grab your friends, and sign up…I’m still teamless so anyone is interested in being in Team ??? (We need a cool name) let me know.
I have to add a few things first...I was watching BBC World the other day and they had a story about a woman who was blind for 26 years, had a heart attack and got her sight back!!!! She's some huge medical miracle; they have no idea why she can see again. So who knows what will happen to Max.
Also in trying to make this as realistic as possible, I actually went to the movies the other day and half way through closed my eyes and 'watched' it like that. I was so bored, I would have walked out if it weren’t for my friend who was enjoying herself, it was an interesting experience. I also asked my neighbours kids to walk me around the block blindfolded...not sure if that was a good idea as they thought it was funny to walk me into things, but yet again an interesting experience. I had visions of Charlotte in 'Sex And The City' when she goes shopping blindfolded, I didn't have a Burberry mask though, it was a Qantas one!!
Maxsgurl – I’m sorry you look crazy, really I am…and if you really want to come ALL the way to Australia to kill me…bring it on baby! Oh and I’m glad I made you day and week, I hope this part makes your month.
Ellie – Isn’t Max the gentleman asking her? And well we all know Max watched Liz, so it’s time for Liz to watch Max. Oh and I love your signature…what a chest
Maxssoulmate – I can and I will!! If you die because you don’t know what happens, I’m sorry and I’ll send flowers!
janesdilemma – Yep, baby steps!
Alien614 Yes I left it there!
Behrsgirl1230- I love you too…oh wait you love Max and not me right?
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Oh I love a good comment, and well yours are almost as long as my chapters. Well prom is about 2 and a half months away.. Yes Max being blind has made him less shy, I think it’s the whole life flashing before your eyes thing. I do love my vegemite, but not a fan of VB, I don’t really drink at all but it’s a Corona if I do.
cherie – Wasn’t it sweet? A friend of mine was asked just liked that, and it sounded so innocent that I had to steal it.
RhondaAnn – Max does seem to have a little more confidence in himself…but will it last?
POM – Oh good, I’m glad only one person wants to kill me, I can hide from one!
begonia9508 – YES!! Oh not me right?
KatnotKath – Has the daydreaming stopped? It hasn’t right?
clueless – Please tell you didn’t stay on the edge of your seat for a week?
kay_b – Isn’t it embarrassing when you reading something and start saying ‘Oh that’s so cute’, I do it all the time and well I think I need to stop!!
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Happy to feed any legal addiction, chocolate is mine…yum…opps off topic again…I don’t sleep much really, and it’s so hot here who can sleep anyway? Oh and Hewitt was knocked out...poor guy, how embarrassing.
Ellie – Rest is for the tired...oh that’s me…actually 3am is pretty normal for me to be up at.
POM – Really? I’m yelling at mine, why? Because it doesn’t yell back!
youre my dreamgirl – Yes they are cute…
clueless – The wait is over!!
Chapter Fifteen
Liz wondered if she’d heard right, but from the apprehensive look on Max’s face and the damp hand holding hers, Liz realised it was true. Max Evans had just asked her to be his girlfriend!!! Unsure if it was appropriate to scream out in joy, Liz did the second best thing. Taking Max’s other hand, she pulled him flush with her body. Leaning in, she placed her lips against his and whispered, “Yes”.
Max felt Liz’s breathe on his lips, and hearing her say ‘yes’ almost made his knees wobble. “Yes?”
“Yes, Max. I would love nothing better than to be your girlfriend,” Liz said as she felt Max smile against her lips, without a second thought, she moved her lips forward and kissed him. She wondered if it was unusual that it felt so right, so normal, when they’d only kissed once before, but did. It was almost as if Max knew she liked her hair stroked, as his hands made their way up around her waist, resting on her hip as the other made it’s way up her back.
He was in heaven. Not only had Liz said yes, something that was still ringing in his ears, but they were kissing and it felt so right. Max took a step back and his knees hit the bed and before he knew what was happening he was falling back onto the bed, pulling Liz down with him.
“Whoa...” Liz pulled back suddenly and realised she was lying on top of Max on his hospital bed, moving off him she rolled on her side next to him.
“Sorry.” Max couldn’t believe that he pulled Liz onto the bed with him; they’d only been going out a whole minute!!
“No, really, it was fine, but maybe we should take it a little slower. You know leave the bed for another day.” Liz meant to say it as a joke, but it came out in a breathless tone, and she cringed at the seductiveness of the statement. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that…” Max moved his hand to Liz’s face, resting it on her cheek, and cut Liz off with a slow kiss.
“I know what you mean, Liz, and you’re right. I want to get to know you more, I know that sounds stupid I’ve known you since the third grade, but I want to know you.” Max lay his head back down on the bed beside Liz, their hands intertwining between them.
The two lay side by side for the next few hours, they talked about everything and anything. Max learned that Liz’s favourite ice-cream flavour was vanilla and that she dreamed of going to Harvard. Max opened up about his passion for Steinbeck’s novels and that he had no idea what he wanted to study. Max found out about Liz’s shorter-than-short relationship with Kyle the summer before, and was secretly pleased that it meant nothing to her. The spoke about the possibility of Max going away to school, Max heard more about how Isabel and Michael felt about him leaving. Max asked Liz’s opinion and she merely said she wanted what was best for him. They were so caught up in each other they didn’t hear the door open up and the Evans family walk in.
Diane and Isabel rushed down the hall of the hospital, excited to see Max after Phillip had banned them. Opening the door, they both stopped short at the sight before them. Max and Liz were lying side by side on the bed; there feet swing slowly in time together off the side of the bed. They both had there eyes closed as they spoke to each other, but what shocked Diane and Isabel the most was the intertwined hands that were resting on Max’s thigh. To Diane, they looked like the perfect couple. Not wanting to embarrass the pair, she pushed a stunned Isabel back out the door, shutting it behind them.
“Did you know about them, Isabel?” Diane thought Max had a little crush on Liz, but it seemed like it was more than that.
“Well I had no idea about that, but I know they both like each other.” Although Isabel was happy for her brother, she was still in shock he’d asked Liz to the prom, and now seeing them so close, it was almost too much to take in.
“Well it seems a lot has happened in the last few days!! Don’t embarrass them, honey, let’s not mention it unless they do, ok?” Diane took Isabel’s hand and placed a quick kiss on her check, Isabel nodded with a smile.
“Ok, let’s say hello, then.” Diane reached up and knocked on the door “Hello? Max? Without waiting for a response, she pushed the door opened again and caught Max and Liz sitting up in a hurry to make themselves look respectable.
“Max it’s so good to see you honey.” Diane let go of Isabel’s hand and engulfed her son in a hug, reaching next to her she pulled Liz in. “You too Liz. Phillip said you’ve been taking care of Max for us. We can’t thank you enough for that.” Pulling back Diane noticed both teens blush at the comment. Smiling, Diane stepped back fully, allowing Isabel to greet her brother.
“Max, Dad said I have to be nice to you or you’ll whack me with your cane.” Isabel said with a teasing tone, as she hugged him. When Max started to pull back, Isabel whispered in his ear “I’m so happy for you and Liz,” letting him go before he could say a thing. She then hugged Liz briefly before settling down on a chair opposite them.
“Something like that, Izzy.” Max sent a look in the general direction of his sister.
“So tell me everything that’s been going on since I last saw you. You look so good honey, really you do. Doesn’t he look well, Isabel?” Diane sat next to Max, taking his hand in hers; she was surprised how well he did look; after all he was in a coma less than a week ago.
“Oh yea, Mom. He’s a real looker…isn’t he, Liz?” Isabel tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it when a look of shock ran over Liz’s face. Deciding not to be play with them, Isabel quickly covered her tracks, “Only kidding, you look good, Max. How do you feel?”
“Pretty good, actually; not much pain and the stitches are all out and there hasn’t been any infection. Dr. Pierce says it looks good.” Before the stitches had come out, Max was worried he’d be left with a huge scar on his neck, another graphic reminder the shooting. But after they’d been taken out, he was allowed to feel the scar before more bandages went back on. It was small, about an inch long, and seemed like it would be pretty much hidden by his hair and his ears. For once, Max was actually thankful for his ears.
“Yes, I spoke to him briefly this morning, he’s impressed with how quickly you’re recovering. Lilly Kleeman is outside having a quick word to him, and then they’ll both be joining us for a talk about you coming home. It wont be today, honey; Lilly had a look at the house this morning and we need to make a new little changes, Dad’s organising that right now.” Diane watched as Max’s face fell, she knew he wanted to come home, but they had to do what was right for him, and right now, they needed to change a few things at home to make it safe.
Liz sat and watched Max; more than anything, she wanted to take his hand and comfort him, but with his family there, it didn’t seem right. Before yesterday, she was more than comfortable holding his hand around his parents and friends, but now that there were officially going out, it now seemed wrong. Liz decided that she would leave the Evans’, thinking that maybe Max would prefer her not to be around for the upcoming conversation. Standing up, ready to make up an excuse to leave she was stopped by Diane.
“Well I’m going to run out to call your father, I forgot to tell him something. Isabel why don’t you go and get yourself and Max some snacks from the gift shop.” Diane could see Liz was uncomfortable and was about to leave, so she decided to at least, let them say goodbye alone.
“Aww, Mom I just sat down.” Isabel was surprised her mother was sending her to get snacks; didn’t she have enough in her bag? Noticing the slight nod towards Liz, Isabel caught on. “Oh, sure, actually I wouldn’t mind a coke. Max? Liz? Can I get you anything?
“A cherry coke if they have it.” Max wasn’t sure what was going with his mother, she’s only sat down a minute ago, but he’d stopped questioning her years ago.
“Nothing for me, I should be going anyway. I’ll just wait until you get back.” Liz sat back down.
“Ok, we’ll I’ll be back in about 10 minutes then.” Diane left the room, Isabel following a second later.
“Umm, what was that about?” Liz said as she watched the door shut.
“They know about us.” It was the only answer that Max could come up with; he knew Isabel knew, so maybe his mother did too.
“Really how?” Liz stood up again but this time started pacing. They knew? Not that it was a big deal, but it was so new to Liz she wasn’t sure how to take it all in.
“No idea; Isabel just knows stuff, it’s her thing. You’re not upset about that are you?” Was Liz already regretting their relationship?
“No, it’s knew, you know, and having people know when I barely know is just a little weird.” Liz could see that Max was getting worried, so she sat back down next to him, this time taking his hand. “It’s fine Max, but I’d still better go and let you deal with all this.”
“Ok.” Max knew she was right, although he wanted Liz there, he knew that some things they had to do apart, that he couldn’t rely on her for support all the time.
“I’ll call you later and you can let me know when you’re going home ok?” Max nodded, and a felt the bed shift as Liz moved in to hug him. As she tried to pull back, he cupped her face with his hand, and moved into kiss her, feeling as Liz met him halfway.
Liz couldn’t believe this was only the third time they’d kissed. It not only seemed so right, but it felt so natural. The way he cupped her face with one hand while the other one held her close. The way his tongue caressed her lips, as it begged for entrance, she granted it and felt the most amazing sensation flow through her body.
Max once again was in heaven, this day was just getting better and better. Liz had not only agreed to be his girlfriend, something he still needed to pinch himself about, but she was currently kissing him in such a way he was sure to embarrass himself if they continued. Knowing his mother and sister would be back soon, and that Liz would be mortified if they were caught kissing, he slowly pulled away.
“Wow.” Max heard Liz laugh against his chest.
“Are you going to say that every time we kiss, Max?” Liz loved to hear Max sounding so light hearted.
“Well if you keep kissing like that, I might.” They separated, and Liz stood up for the final time, grabbing her bag.
“Then I guess I’d better get used to it then. I’m going now.” Liz leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Max’s cheek, pulling back before he could pull her back onto the bed.
“More than happy for you to continue kissing me like that, then. I’ll talk to you tonight. Bye, Liz.” Max closed his eyes as she pulled back and with a ‘bye’ she was out the door. Flopping back on the bed, Max wished his family would disappear so he could just lie there and think about Liz and her kisses. The door opening interrupted his wish and within seconds, it seemed his room was full of people.
An hour later Max’s head was spinning. Lilly was bringing up more things he needed to learn, more things he needed to change in his life. But the biggest question was still to come.
“So I guess the last major question for the day is do you want to go away to school? I need to let them know today or they’ll give the place away.” Lilly had gone through the changes that were being made Max’s house, which although weren’t major, would make it easier and safer for Max to get around. But she felt like they had been dancing around the real question, Texas.
Max took a deep breathe, “No, but I think it’s the best thing.”
“Max, are you sure? I’m sure we could get a tutor to come here.” Isabel jumped up from her seat and went to sit next to her bother; he couldn’t go away to school. What if he needed something and no one was around to help him.
“I have to Izzy, I can’t just sit around, and it’s what’s best. Right, Mom?” Although Max was going to go, he wanted to go with his families and friends support.
“I think so, honey. It’s going to be hard for all of us while you’re gone. But I’ve spoken to some parents whose children have gone there and they do nothing but praise the school. It seems the best place in the country for this sort of thing.” Diane didn’t want her son, her baby, to go away, she knew exactly what Isabel was feeling but she knew it was best. She wanted Max to have a normal life, to be confident and have the best opportunities he could, and it all started at the Texas School for The Blind.
“Ok great, I spoke to them this morning and apparently school starts next Wednesday for a 3 day family orientation that your parents and Isabel attend with you, then you start the normal program the following Monday. Now this means you’ll be at home for a week before you go, and I recommend you get out during that week. Even if it’s just walking around the block with someone, that’s better than sitting around inside. Invite your friends over to listen to music, to eat pizza, hey, even watch a movie, you’d be surprised now much you can understand by just watching (watching? Or should it be listening? J) it.” Lilly wanted to make sure Max didn’t just lock himself away for the next week; she doubted it, but she also knew the hospital was safe to him and that once he was out in the real world his confidence might disappear.
“Ok, sure.” Max nodded, a week? He would be leaving in a week, it seemed too soon, but at the same time, he wanted to go away so he could come back.
Max tuned out for the rest of the conversation, he heard a few things, but he didn’t pay much attention. His mind wandered back to a certain person whom he’d spent the morning with. Suddenly, Max felt a pinch on his arm and heard Isabel whisper for him to pay attention.
“So, I think that’s it, I’ll go and make some calls and get things moving along on the school issue. Diane, I’ll call you later today when I have all the details. I’ll see you tomorrow, Max, and if you have any questions just give me a call, ok?” Lilly left a few minutes later, leaving Isabel and Diane to fuss over Max. When the nurse came in to give him his afternoon medication he was relived when she suggested that he rest for a bit. Not long after Diane and Isabel left, vowing to come back with Michael and Phillip later on that afternoon.
Max laid his head on his pillow and within seconds was asleep, the emotionally charged day catching up with him.
Liz rolled over and looked at the clock, 7:34pm, was it too early to call Max? She’d been watching the clock for 3 hours now, stopping briefly for dinner, she was now back to the clock watching game. She’d called at 8.48 last night, but Max had had to go when the nurse came in. So maybe if she called earlier they could talk longer?
Deciding to just call him now, Liz picked up the phone and dialled the numbers; a few seconds later she waited while the phone rang in her ear.
Max woke up to a strange sound; he’d already been woken for dinner so it wasn’t that…what was the noise? A moment later his brain registered it was the phone, turning towards the noise he reached out, knocking over the plastic cup of water sitting there. Cursing, the phone continued to ring as Max fumbled around trying to find it, he was sure it was at the end of the table, but seemed to have been moved since last night. Finally finding it behind the flowers his mother had brought with her in the afternoon he picked it up.
“Hello?” Max took a deep breath, why was finding the phone such hard work?
“Max, it’s Liz, is everything ok?” Liz heard the breathless tone in Max’s voice and hoped she hadn’t interrupted something.
“Hi, no, I just couldn’t find the phone.” Max sat back against the bed, settling in, hoping Liz would want to talk for a while.
“Oh, well, how are you?” Liz couldn’t remember why she called anymore, would every conversation with Max feel this uncomfortable?
“Good, I’m going home tomorrow morning.” Max smiled. Home, he didn’t think he’d ever miss it as much as he had the past week.
“Really? That’s fantastic, Max, really it is. I can’t believe you’re going home already.” Liz could hear the excitement in Max’s voice; she gathered he was excited about going home.
“Well it’s felt like I’ve been here for weeks. I’m going to dream about my own bed tonight, I think, and the food. Good food, Liz, that’s what I miss.” He sighed as he thought about all the things he’d make his mother cook for him; lasagna, pot roast, Mexican, the list was endless.
“Let me guess you’re already forming a list in your mind about what’s she’s going to cook for you every night for the next month.”
“Umm, no.” Max realised that he hadn’t told Liz about him going away next week. He knew she knew it would most properly happen but she didn’t know when, but she was his girlfriend now and he had to tell her.
“No?” Liz heard Max’s voice drop, had she said something wrong?
“I decided to go to school in Texas, but it starts next week, we’re leaving on Monday.” After his short nap, his mother had returned, along with his father, Isabel and Michael. She had told Max she’d already been in contact with the school and was waiting on an email outlining what he’s need to take. After a brief conversation with her, Max had agreed to leave on Monday so they’d have a day to settle in before the orientation.
“Oh, Monday? Wow, that’s only a week away. That seems so soon, wow, Monday?” Liz couldn’t believe it; she knew it was coming, but Max saying it made it real, Monday. Selfishly, she wanted him to stay, she wanted to get to know her new boyfriend and the thought of not seeing him for 4 months was almost too much to think about.
“Yeah Monday, Mom’s going to invite you to a cookout on Sunday if you wanted to come.” Please come, please come, please come, flowed thought Max’s mind.
“That’ll be great. Maybe if you’re up to it, I could drop by tomorrow, I mean if you…” Liz wasn’t sure if she was being too forward, she didn’t remember being this unsure of herself with Kyle.
“Sure, that’ll be great, I have to have some final tests done in the morning but I should be home by lunchtime, so anytime after that would be great.” Max had realised today that he’d be bored at home. At the hospital, if he didn’t have a visitor the nurses were always popping in and chatting, which although annoying did make time go quickly. But at home what would he do? The things he used to do, he no longer could, reading, the Internet, studying, running, all things he enjoyed that were now taken away from him.
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to intrude or anything?”
“Trust me Liz you’re never an intrusion.”
“Ok, sure I’ll come by sometime in the afternoon then. So, are you excited about Texas? I mean it’ll be pretty interesting.” Liz couldn’t help but be happy at the way Max quickly made her know she was welcome tomorrow, was he just as anxious to spend time with her as she was with him?
“Interesting is properly the right word, it blows my mind all things I’m going to have to learn. Lilly was talking about it today and I wonder is 4 months going to be enough time? But at the same time I don’t want to be away for that long either, but at least I’ll never be bored.” According to Lilly, classes were run 7 days a week, even relaxing was apparently something he now needed to learn how to do.
Max and Liz talked for another two hours, both surprised when the nurse came in for his nightly check-up. After an uncomfortable start to the conversation for both of them, they seemed to be able to talk about almost anything together. When they finally hung up for the night, Liz realised she had learnt more about Max during the two conversations today than she had in the past 10 years combined.
Max was sitting on his bed the next morning, showered and dressed as the orderly brought his breakfast in. He didn’t care today that the eggs tasted like cardboard and that the bacon was rubbery, because the next breakfast he’d be eating would be at home and would taste perfect. Finishing off what they called breakfast he sat back on the edge of the bed waiting for them to take him for his final test. He really didn’t care what they did to him, as long as he got to go home today.
Three hours and who knows how many tests later, Max was back on the bed as his parents spoke to the doctors outside and Isabel packed up his room, freedom was so close he could taste it. He’d have to come in on Thursday and then Monday for Dr. Pierce to check him again…Max really wasn’t sure what they were checking anymore. There were scans done, he was poked and prodded all over, his eyes were held open as they put drops and various other things in them. But of course, nothing happened, he was still Max Evans, blind teenager.
“Ok I think that’s it…stereo, check; clothes, check; shoes…on feet, cane…cane? Max where is your cane?” Isabel checked off things in her mental list, Isabel loved to organise and for once, Max was more than happy to hand the reins over to her.
“I’ve got it Isabel. Can you go and see how much longer it’s going to be?” As sweet as Isabel was, right now all Max wanted was to walk to the car and go home.
“They’re coming now, let me just check the bathroom for the last time.” He heard the door open to the room and feet shuffle in.
“That’s it Max, all checked out. We’ve made you appointments for the next week, we have you medication and so we can go. Where’s your sister?” Diane said as she walked into the room
“Bathroom, checking to see if she missed anything…again.” Max grabbed his cane and stood up, extending it before him.
“Well Phillip you might as well head down and bring the car around. Isabel, Max and I will be down as soon as Isabel has checked the room for the tenth and last time.” Diane moved and grabbed the bags on Max’s bed handing them to Phillip.
“Ok then, is this it?” With a nod from Diane, Phillip left to go and move the car.
“Isabel get a move on, I’d like to get home before dinner time.” Diane stood next to Max tapping her feet on the ground, “Are you sure you want to come home, honey? At least here you don’t have to be around Isabel?”
“I’m sure, Mom, I’ll take Isabel over the hospital any day.” Max stood next to his mother; he could feel her just to his left. He was nervous, this was it; he was about to hit the real world again. The hospital was safe, outside wasn’t. Before Max had to have a full-blown panic attack, Isabel re-entered the room.
“Ok I’ve double checked and nothing has been left behind. Dad’s gone down with the bags? Ok, good, lets get going then.” Isabel headed out of the room leaving Diane and Max to follow her.
“Apparently we can go now. You ready, Max?” Seeing him nod his head, Diane picked up Max’s left hand and placed it on her right arm, waiting until he moved his arm into a comfortable position, before stepping out of the room.
They didn’t get far; Max was stopped by the nurses at the desk wishing him luck at school and with his life. Thanking the nurses for their help Diane and Max soon made their way to an impatient Isabel by the lift. A few minutes later, they were making their way through the hospital lobby.
“Oh there’s Dad, Isabel go around the other side of the car so Max doesn’t have to move over.” Max was led to the car and somehow managed to get in without bumping his head or tripping, something he was secretly proud of.
“Feel good to be out of the hospital, Max?” Phillip pulled the car out of the hospital and onto the street.
“Yea, it’s great to be out. It was starting to feel like a prison. It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed again.” Max laid his head back against the headrest, happy to feel almost normal again.
“I bet, we’ll be home in a few minutes and you can have a nap if you want. I have to go back to work for the afternoon, but Mom and Isabel will be around.” Phillip looked in the rear-view mirror and watched his son. He looked normal; right now, you couldn’t tell he was blind, unable to see even the slightest light.
“We’re here.” They all made their way out of the car and slowly into the house. Max stood in the hallway of the place he’d lived the last 10 years and realised that it felt the same as it had when he’d left to go to the Crashdown over a week ago. He had changed; not the house, not his family, him.
“I think I’ll just go to my room for a bit, if that’s ok?” Max could feel everyone around him and he wanted some space.
“Sure, honey, I’ll bring you in a sandwich for lunch in a minute. Phillip, take his bags in to his room.” Max headed off in the direction he knew his room was in. Slowly, he walked with his cane moving from side to side in front of him. Lilly had said in time he’d be able to walk around his house without it, but in the beginning it was best to use it. Hitting the cane against the wall in front of him, Max knew he was at the end of the hall, turning left, he felt against the wall for his door, finding the handle, he pushed it open and made his way to his bed. Sitting down on the edge, he felt someone enter the room.
“Here are your bags, Max; do you need anything before I go?” Phillip had watched Max walk to his room, saddened to see that he wasn’t even confident in his own house to walk without a cane.
“No it’s fine, thanks, Dad.” Max waited until he heard his father leave, then lay down on the bed, smelling the clean sheets, no hospital smell here. Before he had time to enjoy the peace and quiet, he heard footsteps down the hall and a knock on his door.
“Max? I’ve got your lunch.” Diane walked into the room and placed the plate into Max’s outstretched hand, placing a can of cherry Coke on the table next to his bed. “It’s turkey and tomato on wheat like you like it, and there’s a cola on the table next to your bed, ok?”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Just shout if you need anything, ok?” With a nod from Max, Diane left the room.
Max sat and ate his lunch; he couldn’t believe how quiet it was at home. He could hear Isabel walking around upstairs; most probably cleaning her room, and the occasion clatter of pans from the kitchen meant his mother was going to cook something big for dinner. Feeling the table next to him Max placed his empty plate down and reached for the coke can, accidentally hitting the clock radio he was shocked when a robotic voice said the time. Pressing it again Max let out a small sigh, so this was one of the ‘little’ changes that had been made in his absence. Standing up he walked toward his desk, he’d left it covered in books and notes for school, running his hand over the surface he found it empty. Max slowly made his way around his room, noticing small changes here and there. Everything was much cleaner than he’d left it; the floor was clean, as was his dresser. Max made his way to the en suite bathroom walking around the small room he noticed that his toothbrush and toothpaste now sat in a cup on the sink, rather than in his drawer somewhere.
Back in his room, Max sat back down on his bed, and wondered what he was supposed to do now? Normally this was when he’d read or study, but right now, those options were out. Reaching beside him he hit the clock again, 1:56pm, he had hours to kill before he could go to bed. Taking another sip of his drink, he felt a remote on the table, music! He could listen to music, turning on the stereo he pressed play, and lay on his bed as the Counting Crows filled his room.
Oh…for those who haven’t signed up for the Dreaming Among Stars Enigma Challenge you only have a week to do so. It tests how much you know about Roswell, the show, the music, the books, the fics, everything and anything to do with Roswell. Have a look at DAS website and sign up in you dare. You need to be in a team of 3, so grab your friends, and sign up…I’m still teamless so anyone is interested in being in Team ??? (We need a cool name) let me know.
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Helllllo! Well it’s another scorching day here, for anyone watching the Tennis they’ll know that Melbourne is in another lovely heat wave. Anyway got any snow they could send to me? The state is covered in bushfires and although they are a long way from the city, because of the wind you can smell them like they were next door. Very freaky!!
It's Australia Day today, so to all Aussies, Happy Australia Day!! I gt sent this very funny email on Australia the other day, so if you want to know what we're really like check it out.
I forgot to post this yesterday; my brain is all fried right now, sorry about that. I currently have about 3 chapters done and writing about one a day, so the next update should be before the weekend.
Maxssoulmate – Thanks!!
begonia9508 – Max is being pretty courageous going to Texas, but I think he knows he has to go.
Maxsgurl – I think Max is realising what life will be like, but he’s only seeing the negatives..
Ellie - Well if I wrote as slow as I did for the first two weeks of this story, which was more than a part a day they’d be spending over 100 chapters apart…but I’m not going to go that!! When they are apart though the chapters will be either Max or Liz related not both.
RhondaAnn – Texas will be very interesting for Max..
KatnotKath - Oh Kat? I updated! And thanks for trusting me, I hope I wont let you down.
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Once again you are way to close to some things that are happening for my liking, are you sure you’re not hacking into my computer? An American who likes the mite, very unusual, my brother in law is from Iowa but lives here and we’re always forcing it down his throat, and he HATES it still. Although he does like the Tim-Tams and other chocolaty goodness we have here!
Alien614 – Yep, 4 months is a long time.
cherie – The research was interesting, my neighbours now want to walk me around blind folded everyday. But like I said it’s only because they think it’s funny to walk me into trees!!
Evelynn – I think I remember you! Don’t mention the angst Evelynn…it’s a secret!!! Not to worry all I have it all under control…hopefully.
janesdilemma – Texas starts in the next chapter, no wait the one after that. Thanks for reading.
clueless – I’m not looking forward to the separation either, but it needs to be done. Hopefully Texas is just what Max needs to become as ‘normal’ as possible.
Evelynn – Tag, you’re it!!
Lurkers – Thanks for reading.
Chapter Sixteen
Liz stood nervously at Max’s front door, she’d been pacing her room for the last hour, wondering if it was too early to go to visit Max at home. Liz was surprised at how much she wanted to see Max today, the past week she’d enjoyed seeing Max, but ever since yesterday, she’d been almost been jumping out of her skin to see Max again. In part, it was because she wasn’t sure if yesterday actually happened. Did Max actually ask her to be his girlfriend? And did she actually say yes? It almost seemed too good to be true. Raising her hand to knock on the door Liz was startled when it opened suddenly.
“Liz, shit you scared the crap out of me” Isabel jumped back when she opened the door to find someone standing on the other side.
“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to knock.” Liz stepped forward into the house when Isabel stepped to the side, opening her arm for Liz to enter.
“Hi” Once Liz was in the house Isabel leaned in for a quick hug. For some reason Liz made Isabel feel all calm. She was surprised at how much she actually liked Liz, could Liz be her first real girlfriend?
“Hi, how are you?”
“Good, Mom’s sending me to the store for stuff for dinner. I think she’s planning on cooking every single meal Max likes, and we have like, no food so I have to go and buy everything. Did you come to see Max?” Of course, she came to see Max, Isabel thought.
“Yea if that’s ok. I mean if you wanted help I could go to the store with you.” Liz wanted to be as helpful to the Evans’ as she could, but at the same time, she wanted to spend as much time with Max as she could.
“No it’s fine, I might sneak to the mall for a little bit anyway.”
“Isabel? Have you left? I also need…oh, Liz, come on in, honey. I didn’t hear the door.” Diane walked into the hall wearing an apron holding a piece of paper.
“I opened the door and there she was.” Isabel was eyeing the paper in her mother’s hand; it looked like she wanted another hundred things!!!
“We also need all this, honey. Do you think you can find it all? Oh and don’t forget to pick Michael up on your way back.” Diane turned her attention to her daughter for a moment.
“Umm, yes. Wait what is corn flour? And rice flour? Isn’t flour, flour?” Isabel wondered why did her mother needed 3 different types of flour?
“No, one’s made of corn, and one of rice, and normal flour is made of wheat. Maybe I should come with you, we’d get it done quicker that way…hmm?” Diane turned to Liz with a twinkle in her eye, “Liz, you wouldn’t be able to stay and keep Max company for an hour or so would you? I don’t think he should be left at home alone just yet, Phillips at the office and I really think I need to go to the market with Isabel. She’ll end up at the mall if I let her go alone.” Liz watched Isabel poke her tongue out at her mother behind Diane’s back.
“I saw that, honey. So, Liz, is that ok?” Diane knew Liz wouldn’t mind, but she also knew that Liz wanted to help out them out, so really she was killing two birds with one stone. Letting Liz think she was helping, and letting Liz and Max have some alone time.
“Of course, did you want me to start cooking while you’re gone?” Liz couldn’t believe her good luck, she was nervous about seeing Max at home for some reason but being alone took some of the pressure off.
“No, it’s fine. Let me grab my bag. Max is in his room down the hall to the right. Umm, that’s it we’ll be back in an hour or two” Diane left the room for a brief second then returned with her bag. Before Liz could blink, she and Isabel were out the door and she heard a car start. Shutting the door, Liz turned and looked down the hall. She’d never been in the Evans house before, she’d been at the front door last week when she’d gotten some clothes for Max when his parents had been sick, but this was the first time inside.
Dropping her bag under the table, Liz walked down the hall looking at all the photos on the wall. Max and Isabel’s entire life was on these walls. Their first photo in the hospital, birthdays, holiday and class pictures. Liz looked closer and saw herself sitting in front of Max in the grade three photo, looking at it a little closer Liz noticed Max was actually looking at her. Smiling Liz continued done the hall, turning right at the end, she stopped in front of a partly open door. Inside she could hear music playing softly. Unsure if she wanted to disturb Max’s quiet time, Liz stepped back. Should she go in? Or just sit in the lounge and wait for Diane and Isabel to come back? Deciding that she should at least let Max know she was here, Liz knocked gently of the door, pushing it open a little more.
“Yea?” Max lifted his head up from his pillow and looked towards the door. He wondered if there’d become a time when he wouldn’t look at things anymore?
“It’s Liz, your mom and sister went to the market, and I just wanted to let you know I’m the only one here.” Liz stepped into the room and looked around. The room was so Max, she thought.
“Hey, I didn’t hear the door, come in.” Max up on the edge of the bed, he’d almost been asleep when Liz had knocked, but he’d much rather talk to her than sleep any day.
“I didn’t get a chance to knock…how are you doing? Glad to be home?” Liz stood in the middle of Max’s room, looking for somewhere to sit down. There was his desk chair, but that would put her on the other side of the room. She could wheel it across but maybe it wasn’t a good idea to move furniture around just yet. Moving to sit on the bed next to Max, she watched as he moved slightly, giving her a little more room.
“You wouldn’t believe how glad I am to be home, it feels like I’ve been gone for years, but at the same time, only a few days.” Max could feel Liz’s warmth as she sat next to him and more than anything he wanted to touch her. He wanted to make sure she was real, that she wasn’t just a figment of his over-active imagination.
“I bet. I like your room, it seems to be very much you, and I love the Counting Crows, OH, I brought you a present, one sec.” Liz jumped off the bed and run down the hallway to grab her bag. Back in Max’s room, she sat down right next to him. “First, this is a stress reliever.” Liz opened her bag and handed something to Max.
“What is it?” Max felt something being put in his hands, it was soft and squishy and felt like plastic. Squeezing it Max was surprised when it popped. “Bubble wrap? It’s bubble wrap isn’t it?” Max started to laugh as he squeezed the roll again, another round of pop’s cold be heard in the room.
“Yep, I love the stuff and I figured you might be frustrated with things and well this is perfect for that. It’s a 2 foot roll, so it should last you a while.” Liz smiled as she watched Max feel the bubble wrap, popping it every now and then.
“Thanks Liz, this is a great gift, but you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“It’s bubble wrap Max, not a car. Ok, so here is the other present, it’s a CD I burned for you. Nothing interesting really, but they’re pretty much my favourite songs so I…” Liz was interrupted by Max taking her hand in his and pulling her towards him.
“Thank you, Liz.” he wanted to kiss her, but was unsure if it would be too forward. Sure, they were going out, but he’d never gone out with anyone before and didn’t know kissing etiquette. The decision was made for him when he felt Liz’s lips on his; dropping the CD on the bed, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close.
Together they both lay on their sides as they continued to kiss. As she rolled over so that she lay of top of Max, Liz heard a pop and pulled back laughing.
“I’m sorry the…” Liz was cut off when Max pulled the bubble wrap from underneath him and dropped it to the floor. He then pulled Liz back on him and crashed their lips together in another heated kiss. After a few minutes, they pulled apart gasping for breath.
“It’s not, I mean we’re not going too fast are we, Liz?” Max really didn’t think Liz didn’t want to kiss him, but did she think that all Max wanted from her was this?
“No, I think we have a lot of time to make up for. I mean you’re about to go away for 4 months. That’s a lot of Saturday nights I wont be able to kiss you.” Liz pulled Max to her and allowed herself to be swept away by him.
Soon Liz found herself on her back with Max gently pressing her into his bed. His hands had moved, one was now in her hair twirling it around and the other one was by her hip. Her own hands had worked their way down Max’s back and were resting at the base of his spine.
Max moved his legs and felt as his erection brush against Liz’s thigh, a second later Max felt Liz stiffen underneath him. Moving so that he was no longer lying on top of her, he broke their kiss.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” Max had never been more embarrassed in his entire life. He’d been trying to hide the fact that he was excited by Liz, but had obviously failed miserably.
“You didn’t, it’s just that I’ve never umm, I guess, felt one before. Oh god, this is embarrassing. I mean I’ve never gone this far before, not that we’ve got very far.” Liz looked up at Max and noticed he was as red as she felt.
“I guess this is new to both of us then.” Max leaned forward with a smile to give Liz a kiss on her lips but misjudged and ended up with his lips on her eye. Sitting up quickly in embarrassment, Max rubbed his hands over his face.
“Max?” Liz sat up and straightened her clothes; she looked over at Max and saw he looked upset. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Liz didn’t know what happened, one minute everything was fine, the next Max looked like he was about to cry.
“I’m sorry, everything felt so normal and then bam, I can’t even find your lips.” Max let the tears that were hiding slip from beneath his eyes, but before they could touch his cheeks, he felt Liz’s soft lips catching them.
“So what, lips, eye, nose, ear, it’s all the same to me Max. Tell you what, you kiss me anywhere you want, and I’ll kiss you anywhere I want.” Liz worked her way down Max’s face kissing his tears as they feel until she reached his mouth. She kissed him as her hands went to his back and pulled him into her, her tongue ran alone Max’s bottom lip and Liz felt him relax before opening his mouth up in response. She gently lay back on the bed pulling Max down with her. And that’s how Max’s dad found them 45 minutes later.
It's Australia Day today, so to all Aussies, Happy Australia Day!! I gt sent this very funny email on Australia the other day, so if you want to know what we're really like check it out.
I forgot to post this yesterday; my brain is all fried right now, sorry about that. I currently have about 3 chapters done and writing about one a day, so the next update should be before the weekend.
Maxssoulmate – Thanks!!
begonia9508 – Max is being pretty courageous going to Texas, but I think he knows he has to go.
Maxsgurl – I think Max is realising what life will be like, but he’s only seeing the negatives..
Ellie - Well if I wrote as slow as I did for the first two weeks of this story, which was more than a part a day they’d be spending over 100 chapters apart
…but I’m not going to go that!! When they are apart though the chapters will be either Max or Liz related not both. RhondaAnn – Texas will be very interesting for Max..
KatnotKath - Oh Kat? I updated! And thanks for trusting me, I hope I wont let you down.
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Once again you are way to close to some things that are happening for my liking, are you sure you’re not hacking into my computer?
An American who likes the mite, very unusual, my brother in law is from Iowa but lives here and we’re always forcing it down his throat, and he HATES it still. Although he does like the Tim-Tams and other chocolaty goodness we have here! Alien614 – Yep, 4 months is a long time.
cherie – The research was interesting, my neighbours now want to walk me around blind folded everyday. But like I said it’s only because they think it’s funny to walk me into trees!!
Evelynn – I think I remember you! Don’t mention the angst Evelynn…it’s a secret!!!
Not to worry all I have it all under control…hopefully.janesdilemma – Texas starts in the next chapter, no wait the one after that. Thanks for reading.
clueless – I’m not looking forward to the separation either, but it needs to be done. Hopefully Texas is just what Max needs to become as ‘normal’ as possible.
Evelynn – Tag, you’re it!!
Lurkers – Thanks for reading.
Chapter Sixteen
Liz stood nervously at Max’s front door, she’d been pacing her room for the last hour, wondering if it was too early to go to visit Max at home. Liz was surprised at how much she wanted to see Max today, the past week she’d enjoyed seeing Max, but ever since yesterday, she’d been almost been jumping out of her skin to see Max again. In part, it was because she wasn’t sure if yesterday actually happened. Did Max actually ask her to be his girlfriend? And did she actually say yes? It almost seemed too good to be true. Raising her hand to knock on the door Liz was startled when it opened suddenly.
“Liz, shit you scared the crap out of me” Isabel jumped back when she opened the door to find someone standing on the other side.
“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to knock.” Liz stepped forward into the house when Isabel stepped to the side, opening her arm for Liz to enter.
“Hi” Once Liz was in the house Isabel leaned in for a quick hug. For some reason Liz made Isabel feel all calm. She was surprised at how much she actually liked Liz, could Liz be her first real girlfriend?
“Hi, how are you?”
“Good, Mom’s sending me to the store for stuff for dinner. I think she’s planning on cooking every single meal Max likes, and we have like, no food so I have to go and buy everything. Did you come to see Max?” Of course, she came to see Max, Isabel thought.
“Yea if that’s ok. I mean if you wanted help I could go to the store with you.” Liz wanted to be as helpful to the Evans’ as she could, but at the same time, she wanted to spend as much time with Max as she could.
“No it’s fine, I might sneak to the mall for a little bit anyway.”
“Isabel? Have you left? I also need…oh, Liz, come on in, honey. I didn’t hear the door.” Diane walked into the hall wearing an apron holding a piece of paper.
“I opened the door and there she was.” Isabel was eyeing the paper in her mother’s hand; it looked like she wanted another hundred things!!!
“We also need all this, honey. Do you think you can find it all? Oh and don’t forget to pick Michael up on your way back.” Diane turned her attention to her daughter for a moment.
“Umm, yes. Wait what is corn flour? And rice flour? Isn’t flour, flour?” Isabel wondered why did her mother needed 3 different types of flour?
“No, one’s made of corn, and one of rice, and normal flour is made of wheat. Maybe I should come with you, we’d get it done quicker that way…hmm?” Diane turned to Liz with a twinkle in her eye, “Liz, you wouldn’t be able to stay and keep Max company for an hour or so would you? I don’t think he should be left at home alone just yet, Phillips at the office and I really think I need to go to the market with Isabel. She’ll end up at the mall if I let her go alone.” Liz watched Isabel poke her tongue out at her mother behind Diane’s back.
“I saw that, honey. So, Liz, is that ok?” Diane knew Liz wouldn’t mind, but she also knew that Liz wanted to help out them out, so really she was killing two birds with one stone. Letting Liz think she was helping, and letting Liz and Max have some alone time.
“Of course, did you want me to start cooking while you’re gone?” Liz couldn’t believe her good luck, she was nervous about seeing Max at home for some reason but being alone took some of the pressure off.
“No, it’s fine. Let me grab my bag. Max is in his room down the hall to the right. Umm, that’s it we’ll be back in an hour or two” Diane left the room for a brief second then returned with her bag. Before Liz could blink, she and Isabel were out the door and she heard a car start. Shutting the door, Liz turned and looked down the hall. She’d never been in the Evans house before, she’d been at the front door last week when she’d gotten some clothes for Max when his parents had been sick, but this was the first time inside.
Dropping her bag under the table, Liz walked down the hall looking at all the photos on the wall. Max and Isabel’s entire life was on these walls. Their first photo in the hospital, birthdays, holiday and class pictures. Liz looked closer and saw herself sitting in front of Max in the grade three photo, looking at it a little closer Liz noticed Max was actually looking at her. Smiling Liz continued done the hall, turning right at the end, she stopped in front of a partly open door. Inside she could hear music playing softly. Unsure if she wanted to disturb Max’s quiet time, Liz stepped back. Should she go in? Or just sit in the lounge and wait for Diane and Isabel to come back? Deciding that she should at least let Max know she was here, Liz knocked gently of the door, pushing it open a little more.
“Yea?” Max lifted his head up from his pillow and looked towards the door. He wondered if there’d become a time when he wouldn’t look at things anymore?
“It’s Liz, your mom and sister went to the market, and I just wanted to let you know I’m the only one here.” Liz stepped into the room and looked around. The room was so Max, she thought.
“Hey, I didn’t hear the door, come in.” Max up on the edge of the bed, he’d almost been asleep when Liz had knocked, but he’d much rather talk to her than sleep any day.
“I didn’t get a chance to knock…how are you doing? Glad to be home?” Liz stood in the middle of Max’s room, looking for somewhere to sit down. There was his desk chair, but that would put her on the other side of the room. She could wheel it across but maybe it wasn’t a good idea to move furniture around just yet. Moving to sit on the bed next to Max, she watched as he moved slightly, giving her a little more room.
“You wouldn’t believe how glad I am to be home, it feels like I’ve been gone for years, but at the same time, only a few days.” Max could feel Liz’s warmth as she sat next to him and more than anything he wanted to touch her. He wanted to make sure she was real, that she wasn’t just a figment of his over-active imagination.
“I bet. I like your room, it seems to be very much you, and I love the Counting Crows, OH, I brought you a present, one sec.” Liz jumped off the bed and run down the hallway to grab her bag. Back in Max’s room, she sat down right next to him. “First, this is a stress reliever.” Liz opened her bag and handed something to Max.
“What is it?” Max felt something being put in his hands, it was soft and squishy and felt like plastic. Squeezing it Max was surprised when it popped. “Bubble wrap? It’s bubble wrap isn’t it?” Max started to laugh as he squeezed the roll again, another round of pop’s cold be heard in the room.
“Yep, I love the stuff and I figured you might be frustrated with things and well this is perfect for that. It’s a 2 foot roll, so it should last you a while.” Liz smiled as she watched Max feel the bubble wrap, popping it every now and then.
“Thanks Liz, this is a great gift, but you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“It’s bubble wrap Max, not a car. Ok, so here is the other present, it’s a CD I burned for you. Nothing interesting really, but they’re pretty much my favourite songs so I…” Liz was interrupted by Max taking her hand in his and pulling her towards him.
“Thank you, Liz.” he wanted to kiss her, but was unsure if it would be too forward. Sure, they were going out, but he’d never gone out with anyone before and didn’t know kissing etiquette. The decision was made for him when he felt Liz’s lips on his; dropping the CD on the bed, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close.
Together they both lay on their sides as they continued to kiss. As she rolled over so that she lay of top of Max, Liz heard a pop and pulled back laughing.
“I’m sorry the…” Liz was cut off when Max pulled the bubble wrap from underneath him and dropped it to the floor. He then pulled Liz back on him and crashed their lips together in another heated kiss. After a few minutes, they pulled apart gasping for breath.
“It’s not, I mean we’re not going too fast are we, Liz?” Max really didn’t think Liz didn’t want to kiss him, but did she think that all Max wanted from her was this?
“No, I think we have a lot of time to make up for. I mean you’re about to go away for 4 months. That’s a lot of Saturday nights I wont be able to kiss you.” Liz pulled Max to her and allowed herself to be swept away by him.
Soon Liz found herself on her back with Max gently pressing her into his bed. His hands had moved, one was now in her hair twirling it around and the other one was by her hip. Her own hands had worked their way down Max’s back and were resting at the base of his spine.
Max moved his legs and felt as his erection brush against Liz’s thigh, a second later Max felt Liz stiffen underneath him. Moving so that he was no longer lying on top of her, he broke their kiss.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” Max had never been more embarrassed in his entire life. He’d been trying to hide the fact that he was excited by Liz, but had obviously failed miserably.
“You didn’t, it’s just that I’ve never umm, I guess, felt one before. Oh god, this is embarrassing. I mean I’ve never gone this far before, not that we’ve got very far.” Liz looked up at Max and noticed he was as red as she felt.
“I guess this is new to both of us then.” Max leaned forward with a smile to give Liz a kiss on her lips but misjudged and ended up with his lips on her eye. Sitting up quickly in embarrassment, Max rubbed his hands over his face.
“Max?” Liz sat up and straightened her clothes; she looked over at Max and saw he looked upset. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Liz didn’t know what happened, one minute everything was fine, the next Max looked like he was about to cry.
“I’m sorry, everything felt so normal and then bam, I can’t even find your lips.” Max let the tears that were hiding slip from beneath his eyes, but before they could touch his cheeks, he felt Liz’s soft lips catching them.
“So what, lips, eye, nose, ear, it’s all the same to me Max. Tell you what, you kiss me anywhere you want, and I’ll kiss you anywhere I want.” Liz worked her way down Max’s face kissing his tears as they feel until she reached his mouth. She kissed him as her hands went to his back and pulled him into her, her tongue ran alone Max’s bottom lip and Liz felt him relax before opening his mouth up in response. She gently lay back on the bed pulling Max down with her. And that’s how Max’s dad found them 45 minutes later.
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
People, you all have dirty minds!! When I wrote about the kissing, the kissing you’re all thinking off actually never crossed my mind once!!! That just tells you where my mind was when I wrote it. Lets not forget they’ve only been going out a week, and it’s a pretty high stress time for them, and as much as I’d like to just have Max throw Liz down and to him his way with her, this Max wouldn’t do that. One day? In the words of Mr. Big, abso-fucking-lutely, but not today…
Evelynn – I'm glad you're enjoying it..and I'm glad you want more..oh and isn't your turn to update?????
clueless – Thanks for reading, here you go:)
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Well it’s cooled down now..finally! You’re right, so many sighted people are blind to people’s feelings, so at least Max is one up on them. So much to comment with you feedback…but I’ll restrain myself.
RhondaAnn – Yep, oh shit!
Alien614 – Your welcome, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Ellie - Damn mothers and there third eye! I’m a big fan of bubble wrap!
begonia9508 – Max is 17 and with his first girlfriend, who just so happens to be the girl of his dreams…hmmm I wonder what will happen?
cherie – Yes my neighbours are great Well I better not leave you hanging, so here you go!
ISLANDGIRL5 – We’ll all find out what Phillip soon, he may ‘slightly’ overreact.
katnotkath – Well exams are over, so I can distract you without guilt!
Shadowlynxbehr – I think Max is pretending to be stronger than he is so people don’t think he’s weak. But that can’t last forever…but Liz will be waiting for him, but she might need to run to his arms, as he might miss!
LegalAlien – Thanks, I hope you enjoy this part.
Lurkers - Hi, stop by and say HI
Chapter Seventeen
“I’m going to miss you.” Liz hugged Max a little tighter and let a tear fall down her cheeks as she felt a soft kiss on her neck.
“Hey, no tears, ok. I’ll call you when we arrive, ok? And you can call anytime you want to talk, ok?” Max wanted to cry as well, he couldn’t believe it was Monday already; the past week had gone by so quickly.
“Four months, Max; how will I last four months?” Liz knew she shouldn’t get so worked up about Max going away but they’d gone so far in the last week it felt like they’d been together for years. Everyone now knew of their relationship, after Phillip had walked in on them he called her parents over and they all had a little ‘chat’.
“Phillip, you’re home early. Help me with the bags, would you? Oh Nancy, Jeff hi.” Diane stopped short when she noticed the Parkers on the couch, and Max and Liz sitting side-by-side red-faced.
“Hi Diane.” When Nancy had gotten the call from Phillip, she was surprised. Although they had spoken a few times on the phone the last week, and she’d bumped into Diane at the market just yesterday she wasn’t expecting a phone call from Phillip claiming her daughter was getting all hot and heavy with Max.
“Mom, I’m not carrying all this in by myself…whoa, what’s going on?” Isabel walked in the room carrying half a dozen bags. Why was everyone here?
“Isabel and Michael, could you please finish unpacking the car and put everything away? Diane you might as well sit down.” Phillip gave Isabel the ‘Do as I say’ look and she left the room in a huff with Michael following behind her. Diane sat down and looked at the group.
“Well?” Diane figured it had something to do with Max and Liz, but what would have made Phillip act like this.
“I came home early from work and I thought Max might be asleep so I walked into his room and found these two getting all hot and heavy on Max’s bed” Phillip stood up and paced the room.
“Dad, we weren’t ‘hot and heavy’ we were umm...” Max didn’t really want to admit he was all hot and heavy with Liz on his bed not 20 minutes ago. Jeff Parker was in the room and Max knew he was overly protective of his daughter.
“Yes, Max, please finish the sentence.” Jeff watched as Max squirmed in his seat, he also watched as Liz took his hand and he calmed down straight away.
Nancy and Diane gave each other looks across the room, they’d spoken about Max and Liz’s blossoming relationship yesterday and both were happy for the couple. But what could you do with overprotective fathers?
“Dad, stop it. Max and I were making out; it’s that simple, ok. We weren’t doing anything wrong, Phillip and we’re not embarrassed about us.” In truth, Liz was mortified when Phillip had walked into the room.
“And what exactly is ‘us’ then?” Phillip was pulled to sit down by his wife and he did so grudgingly. He wasn’t sure why the sight of Max and Liz had disturbed him so much, he liked Liz and he knew Max liked Liz, so what was his problem?
After they’d talked over their very new relationship the Parkers had stayed for dinner, and everyone got to know each other a little better. By the next afternoon, Phillip seemed to have embraced their relationship and had even brought Max a new voice activated cell phone to phone Liz on while he was away.
“Four months? You’ll be fine. With finals coming up, you wouldn’t have had any time for me anyway.”
“I guess, I mean you are a distraction.” Liz pulled back and smiled. She knew she had to lighten the mood; it was unfair on Max to make him feel bad about leaving.
“Hey, at least I hope I’m a good distraction.” Max could hear the strain in Liz’s voice. It amazed him that after only a week together, he seemed to know so much about her.
“The best kind.” Liz stood on her toes and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
“Max, we have to go, honey, if we want to make it to Sonora by nightfall” Diane didn’t want to split the two up but she knew the longer they stayed like that the harder it would get. They had a 5-hour drive to Sonora, Texas where they’d stop for the night before continuing on to Austin in the morning. They would have liked to have left early but Isabel had to go to school for the day and get all of her assignments for the week and hand in her work she had to do over spring break. Diane looked over at Isabel who was talking quietly with Michael. She knew she’d had hard day at school, from what Michael and Liz had told her every person and their dog had stopped her and wanted to know how Max was doing.
“Ok, Mom” Max turned back to Liz and cupped her face in his hands, leaning in for one last kiss. “Take care of Izzy for me, ok? And if she gets all Princess on you, just call me.”
“Ok, I will. Bye Max.” Liz pulled back and watched as Max gave Michael a manly hug and then got in the car. Letting the tears flow down her face, Liz watched as the Evans backed out of the drive way and Max left her life for the next four months.
Liz turned around and was surprised by the small gathering behind her, blushing slightly at what she was just doing.
“Nicely done, Liz; impressive goodbye.” Kyle Valenti gave Liz a small clap, trying to lighten the mood. When he’d come by to see Max last week, he had no idea that a week later he’d feel so comfortable with the new and unusual group of friends.
“Max? Kyle Valenti is here and wanted to know if he could say hi.” Diane was surprised when she opened the door, expecting Liz she instead found a sandy haired boy who introduced himself as the sheriff’s son. He’d informed her he didn’t want to intrude, but if Max was up to it, he’d like to say hello.
“Kyle Valenti? Really?” It seemed since he’d been home a hundred people had come by to see how he was. He hadn’t gone out to see many but he’d seen a few. Like the school principal who’d informed him that he had enough credits to pass this year and when he wanted to return to school, he’d do everything in his power to make it easy for him. He’d also spent time with Maria and Alex; in fact, along with Michael, Isabel and Liz they’d spent an evening talking and eating pizza. Max wasn’t surprised how much he liked the two, after all, they were Liz’s best friends, but the 6 seemed to get along so well together.
“Yes, he said you don’t have to see him if you don’t feel up to it.” Diane didn’t want to push Max into visiting with people, but at the same time knew he had to do it at some time.
“No, it’s fine, I’ll come out.” Max reached for his cane and followed his mother out. The first night he was home, after Liz and her parents had left, he’d spent hours walking around the house with Isabel and Michael following, making sure he didn’t walk into anything. He now knew where everything was and was pretty confident in making his way around. Although he wasn’t quite ready to stop using the cane inside, he knew he would be soon.
“Hi, Kyle.” Max walked into the living room and stood there hoping Kyle would let him know where he was.
“Hey, Max, how you doing? Oh shit, I bet you hate that question, right?” Kyle had a whole speech worked out in his head when he arrived and it’d all flown out the window. Ever since he’d found out it was Max that was shot, Kyle had been in shock. Although he didn’t know Max Evans well, what he did know was that he was a good guy, and for some reason he felt the urge to come and see if he was going ok.
“Yeah, just a little bit” Max felt for the couch and sat down opposite Kyle. “But I’m doing ok, thanks, lucky to be alive.”
“That’s what Dad keeps saying. I don’t think I’d ever seen him work so hard on a case before, you know. He’ll catch whoever did this, Max, don’t you worry.” Seeing Max like this was scaring Kyle, the fact that someone had walked into the Crashdown and shot him without a second thought was terrifying. When he’d found out, Kyle’s whole life had flashed before his eyes, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
“Your dad’s been great, Kyle, but from what I’ve heard, no matter how hard he works there isn’t much to go on.” If Max was surprised Kyle was here, he was even more surprised at how nice he seemed to be. They’d never really spoken before, and yet Max felt almost comfortable around him.
“Nah, it just takes some time you watch they’ll catch them. Now, I have a question for you, I heard about you going away to school?”
“Yeah, I leave on Monday for 4 months.”
“Wow 4 months…that’s a long time. How will you cope without Liz?” Kyle had heard from his dad that Max and Liz gotten close while he was in hospital and he was fine with that. But hey, he couldn’t give up a chance to tease Max about it.
“We’ll call and…wait, Liz? How’d you know?” Although it was no longer a secret they were going out, since they hadn’t actually been out, Max didn’t think anyone they hadn’t told knew.
“I know all, my dad’s the Sheriff remember. It’s cool she’s a nice girl. Oh, you’d appreciate this little piece of gossip I heard last night. You know Mr. Stinger at the hardware store? Well…” Kyle told his story and had Max laughing in minutes. The continued to talk until Liz and everyone else turned up. Kyle stayed and after that afternoon he was part of the unusual new group.
“Shut up, Valenti.” Michael liked Kyle, but there was no way he was going to let him know that.
“Yeah, Kyle, shut up. And what the hell was your dad doing coming over to my house this morning and talking to my mom. What’s he going to arrest her for now?” Maria stood in front of Kyle and started to poke his chest.
Pushing Maria away, Kyle started to walk back into the Evans’ house. Michael was staying there for a few days while he moved apartments and the Evans’ had insisted they all make themselves at home while they were away.
“Don’t you walk away from me mister.” Maria followed Kyle in to the house, hands on her hips.
“Ok, then, so Liz, how are you doing, ok? You need anything?” Alex wrapped his arm around Liz as they made there way into the house.
“I’m fine, really it’s just so much has happened in the last few weeks.”
“Tell me about it. But hey it’s only 4 months Liz, I’m sure it’ll fly by.” Michael felt bad for Liz; he’d seen the support she’d given Max over the past few weeks and how he’d come out of his shell since she’d been around.
“Yeah, what’s 4 months really?” Liz wiped her eyes and lifted her head; she could do 4 months.
“Nothing at all, now if I remember correctly, Mrs. Evans baked some cookies today. How about we go and get some milk and eat cookies?” Alex smiled at Liz when she nodded and the three walked inside.
*************
That night, Liz lay in bed reading a book for English. She was supposed to read it over Spring Break but with all that had happened, she’d forgotten. Luckily, the teacher had felt sorry for her and hadn’t called on her in class today, but she knew that wouldn’t last long, so she was determined to finish it tonight. With her stereo playing music softly, Liz was so engrossed in the book she jumped when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Max sat on his bed in the hotel room he was sharing with Isabel. She’d just gone to have a shower, so he was using the time alone to call Liz.
“Hi, how was the drive?” Liz put the book down and turned off the stereo.
“Ok, I listened to my disk man most of the way. Isabel just went to have a shower so I finally have a few minutes alone.” Even though they’d only been talking a few seconds, Max was beginning to relax with Liz’s words.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow? I mean arriving at school and all?”
“Kinda, what if I don’t like it?”
“Then you come home. Max, no one will feel any less of you if you need or want to come home.” Liz and Max had already spoken about this, but she knew he was still worried he wouldn’t be able to cope alone for 4 months.
“I can’t come home, I need to do this, Liz. I need to be as normal as I can be and this is the only place I can do that.” Max flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes.
“So, if it gets too much you call your parents, call Michael, call me and we’ll help you as much as we can.” Liz needed Max to know that just because he wasn’t around he couldn’t ask for help.
“I know, I just don’t want to let anyone down.” Max had always been afraid of failure and now more than ever he didn’t want to fail anyone.
“You wont be letting anyone down Max.” Liz sat up straight in bed, there was no way she’d let Max allow himself to think that he was failing anyone.
“But…”
“No buts, Max. You’re the strongest person I know, so don’t ever think you’re letting us down or you’re weak Max. You are so far from weak it’s not funny.”
“Liz…” Max didn’t know what to say right now; at this very moment he was in love, but knew that after only a week together, it wasn’t the right thing to say.
“Bathroom’s all yours, Max.” Isabel walked out towel around her head and noticed Max was on the phone. “Oh sorry, I’ll…” Isabel turned to go back into the bathroom.
“No, it’s ok, Iz. Liz, I better go. I’ll call you tomorrow, ok?” Max sighed into the phone, the last thing he wanted to do was hang up on Liz. But his parents had said that although he could call her whenever he liked, he should remember who was paying the phone bill.
“Yea, I should finish this book for English. Good luck tomorrow, Max. I know everything will work out for you, ok?” Liz wanted to talk to Max all night, his voice was like chocolate, but she knew she should get her schoolwork done.
“Yeah, bye, Liz.”
“Bye, Max.” Liz heard the phone click and she held it for a second before she hung up. So this was what the next 4 months would be like, 5 minute conversations? Sighing Liz knew she wouldn't finish the book tonight she turned of the light and closed her eyes, the thoughts of Max’s voice lulling her to sleep.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, Max.” Isabel knew Max needed to talk to Liz, and she wasn’t going to make him feel bad about having her in his life.
“It’s ok Iz, really. I’m pretty tired anyway. Can you show me the shower?” Max stood up and waited as Isabel crossed the room, a few minutes later he was standing under the hot water as he thought about Liz. She sounded like she was in bed, oh god the next 4 months are going to be hell, he thought.
Evelynn – I'm glad you're enjoying it..and I'm glad you want more..oh and isn't your turn to update?????
clueless – Thanks for reading, here you go:)
NorafanofMaxandLiz – Well it’s cooled down now..finally! You’re right, so many sighted people are blind to people’s feelings, so at least Max is one up on them. So much to comment with you feedback…but I’ll restrain myself.
RhondaAnn – Yep, oh shit!
Alien614 – Your welcome, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Ellie - Damn mothers and there third eye! I’m a big fan of bubble wrap!
begonia9508 – Max is 17 and with his first girlfriend, who just so happens to be the girl of his dreams…hmmm I wonder what will happen?
cherie – Yes my neighbours are great
Well I better not leave you hanging, so here you go!ISLANDGIRL5 – We’ll all find out what Phillip soon, he may ‘slightly’ overreact.
katnotkath – Well exams are over, so I can distract you without guilt!
Shadowlynxbehr – I think Max is pretending to be stronger than he is so people don’t think he’s weak. But that can’t last forever…but Liz will be waiting for him, but she might need to run to his arms, as he might miss!
LegalAlien – Thanks, I hope you enjoy this part.
Lurkers - Hi, stop by and say HI
Chapter Seventeen
“I’m going to miss you.” Liz hugged Max a little tighter and let a tear fall down her cheeks as she felt a soft kiss on her neck.
“Hey, no tears, ok. I’ll call you when we arrive, ok? And you can call anytime you want to talk, ok?” Max wanted to cry as well, he couldn’t believe it was Monday already; the past week had gone by so quickly.
“Four months, Max; how will I last four months?” Liz knew she shouldn’t get so worked up about Max going away but they’d gone so far in the last week it felt like they’d been together for years. Everyone now knew of their relationship, after Phillip had walked in on them he called her parents over and they all had a little ‘chat’.
“Phillip, you’re home early. Help me with the bags, would you? Oh Nancy, Jeff hi.” Diane stopped short when she noticed the Parkers on the couch, and Max and Liz sitting side-by-side red-faced.
“Hi Diane.” When Nancy had gotten the call from Phillip, she was surprised. Although they had spoken a few times on the phone the last week, and she’d bumped into Diane at the market just yesterday she wasn’t expecting a phone call from Phillip claiming her daughter was getting all hot and heavy with Max.
“Mom, I’m not carrying all this in by myself…whoa, what’s going on?” Isabel walked in the room carrying half a dozen bags. Why was everyone here?
“Isabel and Michael, could you please finish unpacking the car and put everything away? Diane you might as well sit down.” Phillip gave Isabel the ‘Do as I say’ look and she left the room in a huff with Michael following behind her. Diane sat down and looked at the group.
“Well?” Diane figured it had something to do with Max and Liz, but what would have made Phillip act like this.
“I came home early from work and I thought Max might be asleep so I walked into his room and found these two getting all hot and heavy on Max’s bed” Phillip stood up and paced the room.
“Dad, we weren’t ‘hot and heavy’ we were umm...” Max didn’t really want to admit he was all hot and heavy with Liz on his bed not 20 minutes ago. Jeff Parker was in the room and Max knew he was overly protective of his daughter.
“Yes, Max, please finish the sentence.” Jeff watched as Max squirmed in his seat, he also watched as Liz took his hand and he calmed down straight away.
Nancy and Diane gave each other looks across the room, they’d spoken about Max and Liz’s blossoming relationship yesterday and both were happy for the couple. But what could you do with overprotective fathers?
“Dad, stop it. Max and I were making out; it’s that simple, ok. We weren’t doing anything wrong, Phillip and we’re not embarrassed about us.” In truth, Liz was mortified when Phillip had walked into the room.
“And what exactly is ‘us’ then?” Phillip was pulled to sit down by his wife and he did so grudgingly. He wasn’t sure why the sight of Max and Liz had disturbed him so much, he liked Liz and he knew Max liked Liz, so what was his problem?
After they’d talked over their very new relationship the Parkers had stayed for dinner, and everyone got to know each other a little better. By the next afternoon, Phillip seemed to have embraced their relationship and had even brought Max a new voice activated cell phone to phone Liz on while he was away.
“Four months? You’ll be fine. With finals coming up, you wouldn’t have had any time for me anyway.”
“I guess, I mean you are a distraction.” Liz pulled back and smiled. She knew she had to lighten the mood; it was unfair on Max to make him feel bad about leaving.
“Hey, at least I hope I’m a good distraction.” Max could hear the strain in Liz’s voice. It amazed him that after only a week together, he seemed to know so much about her.
“The best kind.” Liz stood on her toes and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
“Max, we have to go, honey, if we want to make it to Sonora by nightfall” Diane didn’t want to split the two up but she knew the longer they stayed like that the harder it would get. They had a 5-hour drive to Sonora, Texas where they’d stop for the night before continuing on to Austin in the morning. They would have liked to have left early but Isabel had to go to school for the day and get all of her assignments for the week and hand in her work she had to do over spring break. Diane looked over at Isabel who was talking quietly with Michael. She knew she’d had hard day at school, from what Michael and Liz had told her every person and their dog had stopped her and wanted to know how Max was doing.
“Ok, Mom” Max turned back to Liz and cupped her face in his hands, leaning in for one last kiss. “Take care of Izzy for me, ok? And if she gets all Princess on you, just call me.”
“Ok, I will. Bye Max.” Liz pulled back and watched as Max gave Michael a manly hug and then got in the car. Letting the tears flow down her face, Liz watched as the Evans backed out of the drive way and Max left her life for the next four months.
Liz turned around and was surprised by the small gathering behind her, blushing slightly at what she was just doing.
“Nicely done, Liz; impressive goodbye.” Kyle Valenti gave Liz a small clap, trying to lighten the mood. When he’d come by to see Max last week, he had no idea that a week later he’d feel so comfortable with the new and unusual group of friends.
“Max? Kyle Valenti is here and wanted to know if he could say hi.” Diane was surprised when she opened the door, expecting Liz she instead found a sandy haired boy who introduced himself as the sheriff’s son. He’d informed her he didn’t want to intrude, but if Max was up to it, he’d like to say hello.
“Kyle Valenti? Really?” It seemed since he’d been home a hundred people had come by to see how he was. He hadn’t gone out to see many but he’d seen a few. Like the school principal who’d informed him that he had enough credits to pass this year and when he wanted to return to school, he’d do everything in his power to make it easy for him. He’d also spent time with Maria and Alex; in fact, along with Michael, Isabel and Liz they’d spent an evening talking and eating pizza. Max wasn’t surprised how much he liked the two, after all, they were Liz’s best friends, but the 6 seemed to get along so well together.
“Yes, he said you don’t have to see him if you don’t feel up to it.” Diane didn’t want to push Max into visiting with people, but at the same time knew he had to do it at some time.
“No, it’s fine, I’ll come out.” Max reached for his cane and followed his mother out. The first night he was home, after Liz and her parents had left, he’d spent hours walking around the house with Isabel and Michael following, making sure he didn’t walk into anything. He now knew where everything was and was pretty confident in making his way around. Although he wasn’t quite ready to stop using the cane inside, he knew he would be soon.
“Hi, Kyle.” Max walked into the living room and stood there hoping Kyle would let him know where he was.
“Hey, Max, how you doing? Oh shit, I bet you hate that question, right?” Kyle had a whole speech worked out in his head when he arrived and it’d all flown out the window. Ever since he’d found out it was Max that was shot, Kyle had been in shock. Although he didn’t know Max Evans well, what he did know was that he was a good guy, and for some reason he felt the urge to come and see if he was going ok.
“Yeah, just a little bit” Max felt for the couch and sat down opposite Kyle. “But I’m doing ok, thanks, lucky to be alive.”
“That’s what Dad keeps saying. I don’t think I’d ever seen him work so hard on a case before, you know. He’ll catch whoever did this, Max, don’t you worry.” Seeing Max like this was scaring Kyle, the fact that someone had walked into the Crashdown and shot him without a second thought was terrifying. When he’d found out, Kyle’s whole life had flashed before his eyes, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
“Your dad’s been great, Kyle, but from what I’ve heard, no matter how hard he works there isn’t much to go on.” If Max was surprised Kyle was here, he was even more surprised at how nice he seemed to be. They’d never really spoken before, and yet Max felt almost comfortable around him.
“Nah, it just takes some time you watch they’ll catch them. Now, I have a question for you, I heard about you going away to school?”
“Yeah, I leave on Monday for 4 months.”
“Wow 4 months…that’s a long time. How will you cope without Liz?” Kyle had heard from his dad that Max and Liz gotten close while he was in hospital and he was fine with that. But hey, he couldn’t give up a chance to tease Max about it.
“We’ll call and…wait, Liz? How’d you know?” Although it was no longer a secret they were going out, since they hadn’t actually been out, Max didn’t think anyone they hadn’t told knew.
“I know all, my dad’s the Sheriff remember. It’s cool she’s a nice girl. Oh, you’d appreciate this little piece of gossip I heard last night. You know Mr. Stinger at the hardware store? Well…” Kyle told his story and had Max laughing in minutes. The continued to talk until Liz and everyone else turned up. Kyle stayed and after that afternoon he was part of the unusual new group.
“Shut up, Valenti.” Michael liked Kyle, but there was no way he was going to let him know that.
“Yeah, Kyle, shut up. And what the hell was your dad doing coming over to my house this morning and talking to my mom. What’s he going to arrest her for now?” Maria stood in front of Kyle and started to poke his chest.
Pushing Maria away, Kyle started to walk back into the Evans’ house. Michael was staying there for a few days while he moved apartments and the Evans’ had insisted they all make themselves at home while they were away.
“Don’t you walk away from me mister.” Maria followed Kyle in to the house, hands on her hips.
“Ok, then, so Liz, how are you doing, ok? You need anything?” Alex wrapped his arm around Liz as they made there way into the house.
“I’m fine, really it’s just so much has happened in the last few weeks.”
“Tell me about it. But hey it’s only 4 months Liz, I’m sure it’ll fly by.” Michael felt bad for Liz; he’d seen the support she’d given Max over the past few weeks and how he’d come out of his shell since she’d been around.
“Yeah, what’s 4 months really?” Liz wiped her eyes and lifted her head; she could do 4 months.
“Nothing at all, now if I remember correctly, Mrs. Evans baked some cookies today. How about we go and get some milk and eat cookies?” Alex smiled at Liz when she nodded and the three walked inside.
*************
That night, Liz lay in bed reading a book for English. She was supposed to read it over Spring Break but with all that had happened, she’d forgotten. Luckily, the teacher had felt sorry for her and hadn’t called on her in class today, but she knew that wouldn’t last long, so she was determined to finish it tonight. With her stereo playing music softly, Liz was so engrossed in the book she jumped when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Max sat on his bed in the hotel room he was sharing with Isabel. She’d just gone to have a shower, so he was using the time alone to call Liz.
“Hi, how was the drive?” Liz put the book down and turned off the stereo.
“Ok, I listened to my disk man most of the way. Isabel just went to have a shower so I finally have a few minutes alone.” Even though they’d only been talking a few seconds, Max was beginning to relax with Liz’s words.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow? I mean arriving at school and all?”
“Kinda, what if I don’t like it?”
“Then you come home. Max, no one will feel any less of you if you need or want to come home.” Liz and Max had already spoken about this, but she knew he was still worried he wouldn’t be able to cope alone for 4 months.
“I can’t come home, I need to do this, Liz. I need to be as normal as I can be and this is the only place I can do that.” Max flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes.
“So, if it gets too much you call your parents, call Michael, call me and we’ll help you as much as we can.” Liz needed Max to know that just because he wasn’t around he couldn’t ask for help.
“I know, I just don’t want to let anyone down.” Max had always been afraid of failure and now more than ever he didn’t want to fail anyone.
“You wont be letting anyone down Max.” Liz sat up straight in bed, there was no way she’d let Max allow himself to think that he was failing anyone.
“But…”
“No buts, Max. You’re the strongest person I know, so don’t ever think you’re letting us down or you’re weak Max. You are so far from weak it’s not funny.”
“Liz…” Max didn’t know what to say right now; at this very moment he was in love, but knew that after only a week together, it wasn’t the right thing to say.
“Bathroom’s all yours, Max.” Isabel walked out towel around her head and noticed Max was on the phone. “Oh sorry, I’ll…” Isabel turned to go back into the bathroom.
“No, it’s ok, Iz. Liz, I better go. I’ll call you tomorrow, ok?” Max sighed into the phone, the last thing he wanted to do was hang up on Liz. But his parents had said that although he could call her whenever he liked, he should remember who was paying the phone bill.
“Yea, I should finish this book for English. Good luck tomorrow, Max. I know everything will work out for you, ok?” Liz wanted to talk to Max all night, his voice was like chocolate, but she knew she should get her schoolwork done.
“Yeah, bye, Liz.”
“Bye, Max.” Liz heard the phone click and she held it for a second before she hung up. So this was what the next 4 months would be like, 5 minute conversations? Sighing Liz knew she wouldn't finish the book tonight she turned of the light and closed her eyes, the thoughts of Max’s voice lulling her to sleep.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, Max.” Isabel knew Max needed to talk to Liz, and she wasn’t going to make him feel bad about having her in his life.
“It’s ok Iz, really. I’m pretty tired anyway. Can you show me the shower?” Max stood up and waited as Isabel crossed the room, a few minutes later he was standing under the hot water as he thought about Liz. She sounded like she was in bed, oh god the next 4 months are going to be hell, he thought.
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
HI All, Hope you’re all doing well. Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m doing a Dreaming of the Stars authors chat next Friday the 10th at 8pmEST… So think of all your questions and come and ask me.
Oh this part is dedicated to Kat, she knows why!!
Evelynn – I’m sure my mind wasn’t going there….for now! And your NaNo doesn’t suck, I highly doubt you can write something that sucks
RhondaAnn – Oh I love a good road trip!!
begonia9508 – Four months is nothing, I’ve been away for that long and the only thing I missed was my dog
Alien614 – Thanks
youre my dreamgirl – Well there is fast and then there is fast, so I think it’ll be fast.
Ellie – Well you got to love Kyle, I love Kyle so I had to have him.
clueless – Well we’re a little way off from that the sort of progress you’re thinking about, it will happen but not quite yet.
NorafanofMaxandLiz – I think the reason Liz is having less of a hard time treating Max normally is because she wasn’t really around him before, so she has no bad habits to break. And yes they do make Braille keyboards.
Lurkers - Hi
Chapter Eighteen
“Shit” Max stumbled as he tried to walk across the room using his cane. He’d been at school for almost a month and overall, things had been going well, but for some reason, today nothing was going right.
“That’s ok, Max, you kinda stopped using your cane for a while, didn’t you? In your own house it’s fine, but remember we’re pretending this is a shop so we’ve moved everything around today.” Mark Jones watched as Max made his way back to the side of the room. Mark thought Max was doing extremely well for someone who had only been blind a few weeks before he started school. Most of the kids had had a few months of adjustment before they arrived.
“Ok, Louise, you try. Pull the cane close to you and try to make your way across the room. Be careful not to swing the cane too much as you don’t want to hit anything too hard, ok? Good.”
Max stood and listened as Louise made her way across the room, he heard her cane hit things lightly as she made her away around them, why couldn’t he do that today?
“Great, Louise. Ok, Max. Want to try again?” Mark knew Max wouldn’t rest until he’d completed the task.
“Ok.” Max pulled his cane close and started to walk slowly to the other side of the room. As his cane hit an object he dragged it across the ground until it moved forward again, Max stepped towards the empty space and continued forward. Max thought he’d reached the other side when his cane hit something in front of him hard. Before he had a chance to recover from the impact he lost his balance and fell onto the ground.
“Whoa, Max, easy does it.” Mark rushed to Max’s side and helped him up. He could see the anger and embarrassment on Max’s face and knew he must be having a bad day. Everyone was surprised he hadn’t had one yet. He’d been so confident and ready to learn when he arrived, but the last few days they’d all noticed a change in him.
“I can’t do this shit.” Max pushed Mark off him when he was standing and stormed out of the room. He felt his way down the hall to his dorm room, slamming the door behind him. Walking to his bed he flopped down and let the tears flow freely down his face. Why was today so hard? Why couldn’t he walk across a simple room?
Beside his bed Max’s cell phone started to ring, Max listened to the ring tone and realised it was Liz calling. He wanted to talk to her, but wasn’t sure if he could hide his current state. Deciding he needed to talk to Liz, Max leaned over and answered the phone.
“Hey, Liz.” he couldn’t hide the fact he was upset in his voice.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Liz could hear something was wrong in Max’s voice.
“Nothing, everything is fine.”
“No, it’s not, tell me what happened?”
“Nothing is wrong Liz, just leave it alone.” Max knew he was taking his frustration out on Liz but he couldn’t stop himself.
“Fine, I’ll talk to you later.” Liz hung up the phone and started to cry. Her day wasn’t going very well to begin with and now it seemed she and Max had just had their first disagreement.
Max lay back on his bed holding the phone in his hands cursing himself. He knew he was being rude to Liz and that was the last thing she deserved. Walking into his bathroom, he splashed water on his face, taking a few deep breaths. Making his way back to the bed Max felt for his phone as someone knocked on his door.
“Yea?” Max knew someone would come and talk to him. They’d explain to him that he’d have good days and bad days and that over all he was doing pretty well.
“Max, it’s Joanna. There’s someone I think you should meet.” Joanna wasn’t surprised when Mark had come and said Max had a bad day and had gone to his room upset. Deciding that it was time for Max to realise how lucky he was they called up a friend of the school Kat Walker.
“I’m really don’t want to meet anyone tonight, Joanna.” Max wished they’d just leave him alone.
“Bad luck, come to Common Room B in 30 minutes Max.” Joanna walked off knowing Max would follow shortly.
30 minutes later, Max knocked on the door to Common Room B. He knew he should have called Liz back, but he had no idea how to apologise to her so he just lay on his bed thinking.
“Come in.” Kat stood up as she heard Max walk into the room.
“I was told to come here, I’m Max Evans.” Max had no idea who he was meeting with but he was sure he didn’t recognise her voice.
“Hi Max, my name’s Kat Walker, have a seat.” Kat shook Max’s hand then returned to her seat. “I guess you have no idea why you’re here, right?”
“Not really.”
“Well, I come to the school and talk to each group, normally when you start, but I was away. They called me up today and said that maybe I should come and talk to you, so here I am.” Kat could hear in Max’s voice that he didn’t want to be here, but she hoped he’d at least stay and listen.
“Why?” Max wanted to know why he was singled out as needing a ‘special’ talk.
“Well, like you, I’m 100% blind, most of the students here can at least see a tiny bit of light, but we can’t see anything, right?” Kat didn’t wait for an answer. “Well I’ve been blind since birth, my mother was sick while she was pregnant and one of the medications unfortunately made me blind.”
“You’ve never seen anything?” Max couldn’t comprehend life not having seen anything.
“Nope, not a flower or a cloud, not a family member or a friend, not a animal or a clown. All I have are my other 4 senses, people can explain what a cloud is to me 100 times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get it right in my mind. I mean how can something white and fluffy and float in the sky? I don’t even know what white is, or what the sky looks like.” Kat no longer felt sorry for herself, she’d had 30 years to get used to her life, being blind was the only thing she knew.
“Are you angry?” Max was angry he was blind, and each day that anger built up a little more and right now he was ready to explode.
“At who? My mother would have died without the medication so I would have died. We’re going back 30 years; they had no idea what it would do to me. When I was younger, sure, I was mad, I hated my friends who could see movies, and gossip about fashion. But if it’s the choice between being alive and being blind or being dead, I’ll take alive any day. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess.”
“Tell me about yourself, Max. Tell me who you are.”
“Well before the shooting I…” Kat interrupted Max.
“Don’t think in terms of before and after, Max. You’re still the same person you were before, with one difference.” Kat wanted Max to realise he was still the same person, that he still liked and disliked the same things.
“I like to run, I tried to run at least 4 days a week. Not that I was fast or anything, but I liked the feeling. I love to read, I’m trying to get through the great American classics before I finish high school. I’m pretty good at school, but I have no idea what I want to study, who knows what I can do now.” Max sighed and stopped talking. For a moment, he almost believed he could be the person he was before.
“You can do anything you could do before, Max, just because you can’t see, that doesn’t mean you can’t think.” Kat had heard people like Max before, so confused and lost about their new life. “Tell me how you became blind, Max.”
“I was shot in the head, well, neck but the bullet went under my skull and lodged it’s self on my optic nerve.” Max knew he’d being saying that sentence for the rest of his life and he dreaded it.
“So, you were shot? Where? When?” Kat had heard Max’s story on the news, the whole country had but she wanted him to talk about it. She’d been told that Max never spoke about what happened when he was shot, only what happened after.
“I…I was at a local café, The Crashdown and two guys got into a fight and one of them pointed the gun at me and it went off. I woke up 5 days later.” Max didn’t want to talk about it; he knew everyone knew the story anyway. He’s been shocked when he got out of hospital and his parents told him he’d made the news all over the country. Apparently a boy getting shot and becoming blind was big news, luckily by the time he’d gotten out of hospital some celebrity or another had a sex scandal leaving Max all alone.
“Wow, so this Crashdown, was it a place you went to a lot?”
“Yea, I went there all the time, it’s the town hangout, I guess.” Max smiled at the thought of the Crashdown; to him Liz wearing that uniform would always be the Crashdown to Max.
“So was anyone you knew there when you got shot?” Kat wanted Max to open up, to be able to talk about what happened.
“Maria and Liz were there, I…I was trying to get to them when I was shot.”
“Maria and Liz? Girlfriends of yours?” Kat wanted to lighten the heavy mood a little bit.
“Liz is my girlfriend, but Maria? Umm no, never ever!” Max had to laugh at the very thought of Maria and him going out.
“Tell me about Liz, then.”
“The day I was shot was the day I asked her out on our first date, she saved my life by stopping the bleeding after I was shot. I don’t think I can ever thank her enough for that.” Max realised then he hadn’t thanked Liz for saving his life yet.
“So she’s a pretty special girl then huh?” Kat could hear the smile in Max’s voice as she listed to him talk about Liz. After a few minutes Max stopped and Kat asked a question.
“So what does Liz look like then?”
“She’s shorter than me, maybe 5’3”, and has this beautiful shoulder length brown hair. Well it’s more chocolate than brown, and she’s got these eyes that always made me get lost inside them. When she’s nervous or confused she nibbles on her bottom lip, and she has this smile that can light up a whole room. I used to be able to watch her for hours, I don’t think she ever knew.” Max couldn’t get the picture of Liz out of his mind, smiling Max realised he liked it there.
“She sounds beautiful, Max, do you realise how lucky you are to have actually seen her?”
“I guess.”
“You are, Max. you’ve got this image of her in your head and you’ll have that forever. I’m married, have been for 8 years and I have no idea what my husband looks like. I have 2 kids, and I have no idea if they look like their dad or me. I don’t understand the concept of chocolate hair or eyes that you can loose yourself in. All I have is a image in my mind that for all I know looks nothing like a person.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel…” Kat interrupted Max.
“No it’s not about making me feel sad, or you feeling guilty. I’ve gotten over that Max it’s about you realising that life isn’t all that bad. You have Liz in your mind, your friends and family all locked in images I’ll never have. You have sunrises and sunsets, moons and clouds, rainbows and stars all in you mind and some people will never have that. Don’t you see, Max? You are lucky. Sure, you’re blind and trust me it sucks, but it could be worse, life can always be worse.”
“But that’s the thing, I know that, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I still can’t walk across a room without tripping.” The memory of his afternoon flashed through his mind.
“So what? Don’t tell me you never had a bad day before you were blind? I’m sure you walked into a table or two, dropped a plate, wore mismatching socks, and you didn’t die and you wont now.”
“I guess”
“What about Braille, how are you going with that?”
“Pretty good, well I think I’m going pretty good. I’m almost done with my first book.”
“What are you using?” Kat wasn’t surprised Max was picking it up quickly; she’d been told he was a good student and studied it every night.
“Uncontracted at the moment, but I’m trying to pick up contracted as I think school will be easier with it.”
“You’re right, contracted is easier in the long run, it’s quicker to read and write, but it’s much harder to learn. For some, it can take a few years before they really understand it, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t master it in 4 months.”
“What do you do, Kat?” Max had suddenly realised he knew nothing about Kat except she’d been blind since birth.
“I’m a psychologist.” Max had to laugh at that. “What’s so funny?”
“It just seems like an appropriate job for you. I’ve been here for a month and haven’t talked about half of these things. You have a way of sucking information out of you.”
“Why, thank you, I have a 6 year old and she’s just beginning to understand that. So why do you think you were off today? Any special reason?”
“Kinda, it’s my birthday on Friday and I’m a twin and it’s our 18th and we’ve never had one apart and I’m going to be alone out here.”
Max and Kat spoke for another hour, and when they parted Max felt so grateful for meeting her. She made him realise how luckily he was, not only was he still alive; after all, the bullet should have killed him, but he did have images of everyone and everything in his head. Sure, life was different now and sure, it would be harder than normal, but he had the support from everyone around him and as long as he kept trying he could do anything.
Walking out of the room, Max made his way back to his room. He’d missed dinner but he’d rather call Liz than chase up some food. He needed to apologise for earlier, he had no right to take his frustrations out on Liz, all she’d ever done was support him. As Max passed the office, he heard his name being called.
“Max, your mom called, she’s been trying to get onto you all evening. She wanted to make sure you were ok.” Joanna looked at Max and saw that he looked better after speaking to Kat; they knew she’d be able to help him.
“Why?” Max knew his parents had a phone conference once a week about how he was progressing, but today was Monday so unless something was wrong they wouldn’t need to talk to the school. Oh god, what’s wrong?
“What’s wrong?”
“She said to not worry because she’s fine, 100% totally fine, but apparently Liz was in a car accident today.” Max didn’t wait for any more details but once again took off in a jog for his room with one thing on his mind, Liz.
A/N – Just a quick note about the Braille, Braille is made up of 6 dots raised from the page. It’s two dots across and 3 down, each combination of raised dots reads a different letter or number. Contracted Braille is when each letter and number has it’s own symbol, so every word is made up of individual symbols, it’s the easier of the two to learn as you just need to learnt he alphabet and work it out from there. Uncontracted Braille is there common words have a symbol as well so it makes it’s faster to read, but it’s much harder to learn as you don’t have to just learn the 26 letters and 10 numbers, but 100’s of individual words. Most people do learn it eventually as it makes life easier and more normal, but the average time to be proficient is about 2 years..
Oh this part is dedicated to Kat, she knows why!!
Evelynn – I’m sure my mind wasn’t going there….for now! And your NaNo doesn’t suck, I highly doubt you can write something that sucks
RhondaAnn – Oh I love a good road trip!!
begonia9508 – Four months is nothing, I’ve been away for that long and the only thing I missed was my dog
Alien614 – Thanks
youre my dreamgirl – Well there is fast and then there is fast, so I think it’ll be fast.
Ellie – Well you got to love Kyle, I love Kyle so I had to have him.
clueless – Well we’re a little way off from that the sort of progress you’re thinking about, it will happen but not quite yet.
NorafanofMaxandLiz – I think the reason Liz is having less of a hard time treating Max normally is because she wasn’t really around him before, so she has no bad habits to break. And yes they do make Braille keyboards.
Lurkers - Hi
Chapter Eighteen
“Shit” Max stumbled as he tried to walk across the room using his cane. He’d been at school for almost a month and overall, things had been going well, but for some reason, today nothing was going right.
“That’s ok, Max, you kinda stopped using your cane for a while, didn’t you? In your own house it’s fine, but remember we’re pretending this is a shop so we’ve moved everything around today.” Mark Jones watched as Max made his way back to the side of the room. Mark thought Max was doing extremely well for someone who had only been blind a few weeks before he started school. Most of the kids had had a few months of adjustment before they arrived.
“Ok, Louise, you try. Pull the cane close to you and try to make your way across the room. Be careful not to swing the cane too much as you don’t want to hit anything too hard, ok? Good.”
Max stood and listened as Louise made her way across the room, he heard her cane hit things lightly as she made her away around them, why couldn’t he do that today?
“Great, Louise. Ok, Max. Want to try again?” Mark knew Max wouldn’t rest until he’d completed the task.
“Ok.” Max pulled his cane close and started to walk slowly to the other side of the room. As his cane hit an object he dragged it across the ground until it moved forward again, Max stepped towards the empty space and continued forward. Max thought he’d reached the other side when his cane hit something in front of him hard. Before he had a chance to recover from the impact he lost his balance and fell onto the ground.
“Whoa, Max, easy does it.” Mark rushed to Max’s side and helped him up. He could see the anger and embarrassment on Max’s face and knew he must be having a bad day. Everyone was surprised he hadn’t had one yet. He’d been so confident and ready to learn when he arrived, but the last few days they’d all noticed a change in him.
“I can’t do this shit.” Max pushed Mark off him when he was standing and stormed out of the room. He felt his way down the hall to his dorm room, slamming the door behind him. Walking to his bed he flopped down and let the tears flow freely down his face. Why was today so hard? Why couldn’t he walk across a simple room?
Beside his bed Max’s cell phone started to ring, Max listened to the ring tone and realised it was Liz calling. He wanted to talk to her, but wasn’t sure if he could hide his current state. Deciding he needed to talk to Liz, Max leaned over and answered the phone.
“Hey, Liz.” he couldn’t hide the fact he was upset in his voice.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Liz could hear something was wrong in Max’s voice.
“Nothing, everything is fine.”
“No, it’s not, tell me what happened?”
“Nothing is wrong Liz, just leave it alone.” Max knew he was taking his frustration out on Liz but he couldn’t stop himself.
“Fine, I’ll talk to you later.” Liz hung up the phone and started to cry. Her day wasn’t going very well to begin with and now it seemed she and Max had just had their first disagreement.
Max lay back on his bed holding the phone in his hands cursing himself. He knew he was being rude to Liz and that was the last thing she deserved. Walking into his bathroom, he splashed water on his face, taking a few deep breaths. Making his way back to the bed Max felt for his phone as someone knocked on his door.
“Yea?” Max knew someone would come and talk to him. They’d explain to him that he’d have good days and bad days and that over all he was doing pretty well.
“Max, it’s Joanna. There’s someone I think you should meet.” Joanna wasn’t surprised when Mark had come and said Max had a bad day and had gone to his room upset. Deciding that it was time for Max to realise how lucky he was they called up a friend of the school Kat Walker.
“I’m really don’t want to meet anyone tonight, Joanna.” Max wished they’d just leave him alone.
“Bad luck, come to Common Room B in 30 minutes Max.” Joanna walked off knowing Max would follow shortly.
30 minutes later, Max knocked on the door to Common Room B. He knew he should have called Liz back, but he had no idea how to apologise to her so he just lay on his bed thinking.
“Come in.” Kat stood up as she heard Max walk into the room.
“I was told to come here, I’m Max Evans.” Max had no idea who he was meeting with but he was sure he didn’t recognise her voice.
“Hi Max, my name’s Kat Walker, have a seat.” Kat shook Max’s hand then returned to her seat. “I guess you have no idea why you’re here, right?”
“Not really.”
“Well, I come to the school and talk to each group, normally when you start, but I was away. They called me up today and said that maybe I should come and talk to you, so here I am.” Kat could hear in Max’s voice that he didn’t want to be here, but she hoped he’d at least stay and listen.
“Why?” Max wanted to know why he was singled out as needing a ‘special’ talk.
“Well, like you, I’m 100% blind, most of the students here can at least see a tiny bit of light, but we can’t see anything, right?” Kat didn’t wait for an answer. “Well I’ve been blind since birth, my mother was sick while she was pregnant and one of the medications unfortunately made me blind.”
“You’ve never seen anything?” Max couldn’t comprehend life not having seen anything.
“Nope, not a flower or a cloud, not a family member or a friend, not a animal or a clown. All I have are my other 4 senses, people can explain what a cloud is to me 100 times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get it right in my mind. I mean how can something white and fluffy and float in the sky? I don’t even know what white is, or what the sky looks like.” Kat no longer felt sorry for herself, she’d had 30 years to get used to her life, being blind was the only thing she knew.
“Are you angry?” Max was angry he was blind, and each day that anger built up a little more and right now he was ready to explode.
“At who? My mother would have died without the medication so I would have died. We’re going back 30 years; they had no idea what it would do to me. When I was younger, sure, I was mad, I hated my friends who could see movies, and gossip about fashion. But if it’s the choice between being alive and being blind or being dead, I’ll take alive any day. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess.”
“Tell me about yourself, Max. Tell me who you are.”
“Well before the shooting I…” Kat interrupted Max.
“Don’t think in terms of before and after, Max. You’re still the same person you were before, with one difference.” Kat wanted Max to realise he was still the same person, that he still liked and disliked the same things.
“I like to run, I tried to run at least 4 days a week. Not that I was fast or anything, but I liked the feeling. I love to read, I’m trying to get through the great American classics before I finish high school. I’m pretty good at school, but I have no idea what I want to study, who knows what I can do now.” Max sighed and stopped talking. For a moment, he almost believed he could be the person he was before.
“You can do anything you could do before, Max, just because you can’t see, that doesn’t mean you can’t think.” Kat had heard people like Max before, so confused and lost about their new life. “Tell me how you became blind, Max.”
“I was shot in the head, well, neck but the bullet went under my skull and lodged it’s self on my optic nerve.” Max knew he’d being saying that sentence for the rest of his life and he dreaded it.
“So, you were shot? Where? When?” Kat had heard Max’s story on the news, the whole country had but she wanted him to talk about it. She’d been told that Max never spoke about what happened when he was shot, only what happened after.
“I…I was at a local café, The Crashdown and two guys got into a fight and one of them pointed the gun at me and it went off. I woke up 5 days later.” Max didn’t want to talk about it; he knew everyone knew the story anyway. He’s been shocked when he got out of hospital and his parents told him he’d made the news all over the country. Apparently a boy getting shot and becoming blind was big news, luckily by the time he’d gotten out of hospital some celebrity or another had a sex scandal leaving Max all alone.
“Wow, so this Crashdown, was it a place you went to a lot?”
“Yea, I went there all the time, it’s the town hangout, I guess.” Max smiled at the thought of the Crashdown; to him Liz wearing that uniform would always be the Crashdown to Max.
“So was anyone you knew there when you got shot?” Kat wanted Max to open up, to be able to talk about what happened.
“Maria and Liz were there, I…I was trying to get to them when I was shot.”
“Maria and Liz? Girlfriends of yours?” Kat wanted to lighten the heavy mood a little bit.
“Liz is my girlfriend, but Maria? Umm no, never ever!” Max had to laugh at the very thought of Maria and him going out.
“Tell me about Liz, then.”
“The day I was shot was the day I asked her out on our first date, she saved my life by stopping the bleeding after I was shot. I don’t think I can ever thank her enough for that.” Max realised then he hadn’t thanked Liz for saving his life yet.
“So she’s a pretty special girl then huh?” Kat could hear the smile in Max’s voice as she listed to him talk about Liz. After a few minutes Max stopped and Kat asked a question.
“So what does Liz look like then?”
“She’s shorter than me, maybe 5’3”, and has this beautiful shoulder length brown hair. Well it’s more chocolate than brown, and she’s got these eyes that always made me get lost inside them. When she’s nervous or confused she nibbles on her bottom lip, and she has this smile that can light up a whole room. I used to be able to watch her for hours, I don’t think she ever knew.” Max couldn’t get the picture of Liz out of his mind, smiling Max realised he liked it there.
“She sounds beautiful, Max, do you realise how lucky you are to have actually seen her?”
“I guess.”
“You are, Max. you’ve got this image of her in your head and you’ll have that forever. I’m married, have been for 8 years and I have no idea what my husband looks like. I have 2 kids, and I have no idea if they look like their dad or me. I don’t understand the concept of chocolate hair or eyes that you can loose yourself in. All I have is a image in my mind that for all I know looks nothing like a person.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel…” Kat interrupted Max.
“No it’s not about making me feel sad, or you feeling guilty. I’ve gotten over that Max it’s about you realising that life isn’t all that bad. You have Liz in your mind, your friends and family all locked in images I’ll never have. You have sunrises and sunsets, moons and clouds, rainbows and stars all in you mind and some people will never have that. Don’t you see, Max? You are lucky. Sure, you’re blind and trust me it sucks, but it could be worse, life can always be worse.”
“But that’s the thing, I know that, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I still can’t walk across a room without tripping.” The memory of his afternoon flashed through his mind.
“So what? Don’t tell me you never had a bad day before you were blind? I’m sure you walked into a table or two, dropped a plate, wore mismatching socks, and you didn’t die and you wont now.”
“I guess”
“What about Braille, how are you going with that?”
“Pretty good, well I think I’m going pretty good. I’m almost done with my first book.”
“What are you using?” Kat wasn’t surprised Max was picking it up quickly; she’d been told he was a good student and studied it every night.
“Uncontracted at the moment, but I’m trying to pick up contracted as I think school will be easier with it.”
“You’re right, contracted is easier in the long run, it’s quicker to read and write, but it’s much harder to learn. For some, it can take a few years before they really understand it, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t master it in 4 months.”
“What do you do, Kat?” Max had suddenly realised he knew nothing about Kat except she’d been blind since birth.
“I’m a psychologist.” Max had to laugh at that. “What’s so funny?”
“It just seems like an appropriate job for you. I’ve been here for a month and haven’t talked about half of these things. You have a way of sucking information out of you.”
“Why, thank you, I have a 6 year old and she’s just beginning to understand that. So why do you think you were off today? Any special reason?”
“Kinda, it’s my birthday on Friday and I’m a twin and it’s our 18th and we’ve never had one apart and I’m going to be alone out here.”
Max and Kat spoke for another hour, and when they parted Max felt so grateful for meeting her. She made him realise how luckily he was, not only was he still alive; after all, the bullet should have killed him, but he did have images of everyone and everything in his head. Sure, life was different now and sure, it would be harder than normal, but he had the support from everyone around him and as long as he kept trying he could do anything.
Walking out of the room, Max made his way back to his room. He’d missed dinner but he’d rather call Liz than chase up some food. He needed to apologise for earlier, he had no right to take his frustrations out on Liz, all she’d ever done was support him. As Max passed the office, he heard his name being called.
“Max, your mom called, she’s been trying to get onto you all evening. She wanted to make sure you were ok.” Joanna looked at Max and saw that he looked better after speaking to Kat; they knew she’d be able to help him.
“Why?” Max knew his parents had a phone conference once a week about how he was progressing, but today was Monday so unless something was wrong they wouldn’t need to talk to the school. Oh god, what’s wrong?
“What’s wrong?”
“She said to not worry because she’s fine, 100% totally fine, but apparently Liz was in a car accident today.” Max didn’t wait for any more details but once again took off in a jog for his room with one thing on his mind, Liz.
A/N – Just a quick note about the Braille, Braille is made up of 6 dots raised from the page. It’s two dots across and 3 down, each combination of raised dots reads a different letter or number. Contracted Braille is when each letter and number has it’s own symbol, so every word is made up of individual symbols, it’s the easier of the two to learn as you just need to learnt he alphabet and work it out from there. Uncontracted Braille is there common words have a symbol as well so it makes it’s faster to read, but it’s much harder to learn as you don’t have to just learn the 26 letters and 10 numbers, but 100’s of individual words. Most people do learn it eventually as it makes life easier and more normal, but the average time to be proficient is about 2 years..
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Thanks again for the feedback, I love reading it and seeing everyone’s ideas on the story. It seems you’re all in shock over Liz’s accident, I hope your hearts held out. If you want to discuss anything to do with the fic in more detail, feel free to PM me, as those who have know I have loose fingers and am always giving things away Oh and there is once again a psychic in the group….watch out in the next few parts and that person should be very happy
Evelynn – Genius? Why yes I am!
Behrsgirl1230 – Ok
Maxssoulmate - Thanks
NorefanofMaxandLiz – Once again your feedback is almost as long as the part. I think (well I know) that Diane was worried Max would worry even if Liz said she was fine so she wanted to make sure he understood she really was fine.
Ellie – Didn’t time just fly? The more I learn about being blind the more I wonder how people manage to live such normal lifes.
Erina – Well if I wrote what you though would happen how boring would that be? I’m hoping I can still shock people every now and then.
RhondaAnn - Yes aren’t all Kat's fantastic? And well bad days, I think my life made up of bad days, which turn into bad weeks and bad years…:?
begonia9508 – Max feel guilty? Never
POM – Yep, I think Max is feeling like crap, but I also think Liz is…so at least they are crappy together.
uw51 – Well it’s not completed but I promise to finish it no matter what. And I wonder if you realised you said it was insightful, pun intended?
cherie – Sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean, well I kinda did but well I promise to be nice‘ish’ for a while now.
KatnotKath – Well I’m glad you liked the other chapter, and since I sent you this one without Kat I hope you enjoyed this one. And yes you do sound crazy and yes it does make sense to me, does that make me crazy?
youre my dreamgirl – You’ll find out soon how serious it was.
maya – Thanks
rosbuffyangelfanatl – Yeeeeeeeeees I can. Don’t fall off, I’ve got more for you now.
LegalAlien –
Evil is my middle name, actually how cool would that be? Max does need to talk about what happened to him bottling things up never really works in the long run does it?
clueless – I can believe it, you should wait for the chapter where opps, well just wait
Evelynn – Yo back
clueless – Thanks
Chapter Nineteen
Liz lay on her bed nursing her broken arm, unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. She wasn’t in any real physical pain, but the emotional pain from her brief conversation with Max was overwhelming. How could only a few words feel like they were breaking her heart?
The second Liz had gotten home from the hospital she had called Max. She knew he spoke to his family every night and since they knew about the accident, she wanted to make sure she told him first. But when he’d answered the phone, she could hear something was wrong in his voice and all thoughts of her accident flew out of her mind. Liz didn’t know what hit her, less than a minute later she was hanging up on him, and throwing her phone across the room. That had been more than an hour ago and he hadn’t called back. Why hadn’t he called back? Liz didn’t know who to turn to.
She couldn’t call Maria, she was currently being hovered over by Amy; after all she did manage to total her mother’s car only a few hours ago. Alex? No, he was sick with the flu and didn’t need to hear her problems, Isabel and Michael were out, and they’d be on Max’s side. Kyle? Could she call Kyle? No, although he’d become more of a friend the past month it wasn’t quite up to the point where she could call him up crying.
The last month had been harder than she thought it would be; Max going away and the school gossip mill had made the weeks since Spring Break difficult. The first week back, all she’d heard were questions about the shooting, although a lot of people had come into the Crashdown during Spring Break, she’d been firm about not talking about it. But apparently, now she was back at school she couldn’t escape the stares and questions from her fellow classmates. She could see the teachers wanting to ask questions but at least they held them in. Liz, along with Maria and Michael, had been called into the school counsellor’s office the first day back. She wanted them all to know they could talk to her about anything; the three looked at each other and quietly left the room.
A innocent comment of Maria’s had the school rumour mill running hot, were Max Evans and Liz Parker actually dating? It had taken Kyle, Michael and Alex walking Liz to class the first few days to stop the boys making rude and crude jokes about her and Max. Apparently, a lot of jokes could be made up about a blind male having sex. Once Isabel returned it had gotten worse, everyone wanted to talk to poor blind Max’s sister. He’d been a private person, but that didn’t stop people from wanting to know everything about the shooting, his blindness and his future.
Turning over on her bed, Liz buried her head under her pillow and allowed a scream to pass through her lips. Why wasn’t he calling her back? Should she call him? What if something really was wrong with Max? Liz looked over at her bedside clock. 6:59pm; he’d be at dinner still. She’d wait to 8pm and if he hadn’t called back, she’d call him. Once again burrowing her head under her pillow, Liz remembered the day Isabel returned to school after taking Max to Texas.
“So then Tony said something about you and you should have seen the look on Mickie’s face.” Maria babbled as she drove Liz to school.
“Since when do you call Michael, Mickie, and why were you both walking down the street at the same time anyway?” Liz didn’t want to talk about yet another thing that had been said about her relationship with Max. She had no idea it would be such a big deal to everyone at school. What was the difference between she and Max going out now and a month ago? On the top of missing Max, something she still wasn’t used to, it was Isabel’s first proper day back at school and she knew it would be hard for her.
“Well it pisses him off and you know how much I like that, and well we kinda bumped into each other and somehow ended up walking down Main for a while, well until we ran into Tony…” Maria continued to talk but Liz tuned her out. As they reached the school car park, Liz eyes sought out the jeep she knew Isabel would be in, noticing it at the end, she nudged Maria and she parked the car next to it.
The two girls stepped out and a second later the driver’s door of the Jeep opened and Isabel stepped out.
“Thank goodness you’re here. Michael isn’t coming today. His job isn’t paying enough to rent somewhere decent and so he’s looking for work today. I couldn’t stand walking in there alone.” Isabel looked around the car park, she was already being looked at and pointed at.
“What kind of job?” Liz asked as she noticed everyone noticing Isabel.
“What? Oh sorry, anything really…why, you know of one?” Isabel knew Michael wanted to get out of the guest room and back into his own place. When his parents had died, they’d had a big mortgage on the house and limited life insurance. So, even though Michael still owned the house, the rent he received just covered the mortgage, leaving him having to work to survive.
“Well I know Dad’s looking for an after-hours cook, 2 or 3 nights a week and the weekends. Do you think he’d be interested?”
All it took was a call to her father to see if he’d talk to Michael and a call to Michael to tell him to see Jeff Parker, and before they’d even walked into the school, Michael was the new cook at The Crashdown Café.
“So are you ready for today?” Liz had spoken to Isabel last night; she’d called when they’d arrived home to let Liz know what the school was like. She’d also asked that Maria and Liz meet her in the car park before school.
“Not really, I’m up to date with work, I think. But the questions, it’s been bad, hasn’t it? It was bad enough last week and I didn’t even go to class.” They slowly made their way inside the building whispers surrounding them as they all walked to their lockers.
“Has this been happening all week?” Isabel had spoken to Liz once or twice while she was away and Liz hadn’t mentioned a thing about this.
“Oh it’s been worse than this.” Maria opened her locker and got what she needed for her morning classes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Isabel looked over at Liz who was getting books from her locker.
“Because I didn’t want you to tell Max, so you can’t, Isabel.” Liz slammed her locker shut and the three walked down the hall.
“Oh, that reminds me, have a look a these.” Isabel pulled her cell phone out and showed the pair some photos she’d taken of Max’s room and the school. They were so caught up in the photos they missed Andrew sliding up to them.
“So Isabel how’s Max doing?” As he asked Isabel, he racked his eyes up and down Liz.
“Fine” Isabel turned away ignoring him, knowing Andrew was a sleaze.
“So Liz, since Max is away how about I show you how a real man can make you feel?” Andrew lifted his arm to touch Liz but it was jerked away by a very angry looking Kyle.
“Hey Andrew, I hear your girlfriend is looking for you, why don’t you run along and leave Liz and the girls alone...forever.” A second later Andrew was off down the hall as Kyle watched him leave.
“You ok, ladies?” Kyle turned back and saw the shocked look on all their faces.
“Yea thanks Kyle, I have no idea why this is happening.” Liz was sick of guys coming up to her and suggesting things to her, she was the same person she was before Spring Break!! All that was different was she now had a boyfriend.
The girls continued on with their day, and at lunch, the 6 sat together with Isabel telling them all about Max’s school and what he’d be learning. Over the next few weeks, things settled down into a routine. In the mornings they’d meet up before school, and walk each other to class. If they were free at lunch they’d all sit together. On the weekends and some evenings they’d get together to study, but the whole time they all realised they were missing something, well someone, Max.
Liz’s thoughts were broken by a knock on her door.
“Liz honey Max is on the phone, he sounds a little upset.” Nancy pushed open the door and handed the phone to Liz who was still on her bed. Brushing the hair out of her eyes she looked at her daughter, she’d gone through so much the past few months. Being in the accident today was the last thing she needed.
“I just came up to check on you and the phone was ringing, didn’t you hear it?” Nancy was working Liz’s shift in the Crashdown and had quickly come upstairs to make sure Liz was ok, as she opened the apartment door she heard the phone and was surprised it was Max, he normally called Liz’s cell phone.
“I guess I was dozing, thanks mom.” Liz watched as her mother left the room closing the door behind her. Looking down at the phone she brought it up to her ear with a sigh.
“Hello?” Liz could hear Max’s deep breathing the second the phone was too her ear.
“Liz?” Was it really her?
“Yeah.” Liz knew she was being rude, but she was still angry that it took Max 3 hours to call back.
“Oh thank god, I thought something had happened to you. I’ve been calling you for half an hour, I’ve tried your cell and no one was picking up you home phone.”
“What? No I’m fine, I didn’t hear the home phone and I guess I broke my cell phone when I threw it.” Liz looked over at her phone, which was lying, beside her wall.
“You threw it?”
“At the wall.” Liz got off her bed and picked up her phone, she put the battery back in and pushed the power button.
“Why?” Max couldn’t figure out why Liz would throw her phone at the wall.
“I was…umm…why were you worried about me?” Liz didn’t want to tell Max she had been pissed at him, the second she’d heard his voice it had suddenly seemed stupid.
“Mom called to reassure me that you were ok after your car accident. What happened, baby?” Max’s mind flew back to the first time he’d called Liz baby.
He’d been away for a week and was starting to get a little homesick.
“Max, did you hear what I said?” Liz had been talking for 5 minutes but she wasn’t sure Max had heard a thing.
“Sorry, baby, I wasn’t really listening.” Max sighed, he knew he should be paying attention to the words, but her voice was so soothing.
“Baby?” Liz gasped slightly at the affectionate tone.
Max suddenly got worried, maybe Liz didn’t like being called baby. “Is…is that ok?”
“Only if I can call you baby as well.” Liz wanted to kiss Max right now; suddenly the distance seemed greater than it was.
“Deal” They both smiled as they continued the conversation.
“Maria left her English book at home and Mr. Matthews was sick in 3rd so she decided to go home and get it. I was bored so I tagged alone, we were on our way back when some dickhead drove through a red light and into her car, well Amy’s car.”
“Oh god, are you sure you’re ok?” Max couldn’t believe Liz had to go through something like that.
Liz looked down at her broken arm, sighing she knew she had to tell him. “I broke my arm, but it’s ok really. I’m fine Max.”
“You broke your arm? Is it a bad break?” Max wanted to take Liz into his arms and never let her go. The thought of her hurt and not being able to comfort her was almost too much.
“It’s not bad at all, amazing since the car hit the passenger side. The doctors think they’ll take the cast off in a few weeks and just bandage it. No big deal at all.” Liz could hear the worry in Max’s voice and was trying to down play the whole incident.
“I'm so sorry Liz.” Max realised his petty problems were nothing compared to the thought of loosing Liz.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t hit the car.”
“No about before, I was pissed about something and took it out on you. I shouldn’t have.”
Liz wondered if he was ready to talk about what ever it was yet. “You wanna tell me what pissed you off then?”
“Not really, it was such a little thing and I blew it out of proportion. I had no right to talk to you like that.” The more he thought about it the more he was embarrassed about it.
“No, don’t say that, I’m sure it wasn’t just some stupid thing at all. I’m here and if you want to be pissed, be pissed, just don’t lock it up inside, Max, please?”
Suddenly Max had to talk, he had to tell someone what he felt and he knew Liz was the perfect person. “It’s just so hard sometimes, Liz and it feels like I’m never going to make it.” Max could feel tears forming in his eyes and knew he wouldn’t be able to hold them in very long.
Liz could hear Max’s voice catch and before she knew it a tear rolled down her cheek. “Aww, Max, you will make it, not because you have to or because we want you to, but because you want to. Things have to get hard before they get easy.”
They talked for almost an hour that night, Max told Liz about what had upset him that day and about his meeting with Kat. Liz gently told Max about what was happening at school, and assured him it had settled down after Pam Troy was caught in a compromising position with a Junior High boy. And when they both hung up, they once again thank the stars for allowing them to be together.
Just a reminder that I have a DAS chat on Friday night at 8pm EST so I hope you can make it.
Oh and there is once again a psychic in the group….watch out in the next few parts and that person should be very happy Evelynn – Genius? Why yes I am!
Behrsgirl1230 – Ok
Maxssoulmate - Thanks
NorefanofMaxandLiz – Once again your feedback is almost as long as the part. I think (well I know) that Diane was worried Max would worry even if Liz said she was fine so she wanted to make sure he understood she really was fine.
Ellie – Didn’t time just fly? The more I learn about being blind the more I wonder how people manage to live such normal lifes.
Erina – Well if I wrote what you though would happen how boring would that be? I’m hoping I can still shock people every now and then.
RhondaAnn - Yes aren’t all Kat's fantastic? And well bad days, I think my life made up of bad days, which turn into bad weeks and bad years…:?
begonia9508 – Max feel guilty? Never
POM – Yep, I think Max is feeling like crap, but I also think Liz is…so at least they are crappy together.
uw51 – Well it’s not completed but I promise to finish it no matter what. And I wonder if you realised you said it was insightful, pun intended?
cherie – Sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean, well I kinda did but well I promise to be nice‘ish’ for a while now.
KatnotKath – Well I’m glad you liked the other chapter, and since I sent you this one without Kat I hope you enjoyed this one. And yes you do sound crazy and yes it does make sense to me, does that make me crazy?
youre my dreamgirl – You’ll find out soon how serious it was.
maya – Thanks
rosbuffyangelfanatl – Yeeeeeeeeees I can. Don’t fall off, I’ve got more for you now.
LegalAlien –
Evil is my middle name, actually how cool would that be? Max does need to talk about what happened to him bottling things up never really works in the long run does it? clueless – I can believe it, you should wait for the chapter where opps, well just wait
Evelynn – Yo back
clueless – Thanks
Chapter Nineteen
Liz lay on her bed nursing her broken arm, unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. She wasn’t in any real physical pain, but the emotional pain from her brief conversation with Max was overwhelming. How could only a few words feel like they were breaking her heart?
The second Liz had gotten home from the hospital she had called Max. She knew he spoke to his family every night and since they knew about the accident, she wanted to make sure she told him first. But when he’d answered the phone, she could hear something was wrong in his voice and all thoughts of her accident flew out of her mind. Liz didn’t know what hit her, less than a minute later she was hanging up on him, and throwing her phone across the room. That had been more than an hour ago and he hadn’t called back. Why hadn’t he called back? Liz didn’t know who to turn to.
She couldn’t call Maria, she was currently being hovered over by Amy; after all she did manage to total her mother’s car only a few hours ago. Alex? No, he was sick with the flu and didn’t need to hear her problems, Isabel and Michael were out, and they’d be on Max’s side. Kyle? Could she call Kyle? No, although he’d become more of a friend the past month it wasn’t quite up to the point where she could call him up crying.
The last month had been harder than she thought it would be; Max going away and the school gossip mill had made the weeks since Spring Break difficult. The first week back, all she’d heard were questions about the shooting, although a lot of people had come into the Crashdown during Spring Break, she’d been firm about not talking about it. But apparently, now she was back at school she couldn’t escape the stares and questions from her fellow classmates. She could see the teachers wanting to ask questions but at least they held them in. Liz, along with Maria and Michael, had been called into the school counsellor’s office the first day back. She wanted them all to know they could talk to her about anything; the three looked at each other and quietly left the room.
A innocent comment of Maria’s had the school rumour mill running hot, were Max Evans and Liz Parker actually dating? It had taken Kyle, Michael and Alex walking Liz to class the first few days to stop the boys making rude and crude jokes about her and Max. Apparently, a lot of jokes could be made up about a blind male having sex. Once Isabel returned it had gotten worse, everyone wanted to talk to poor blind Max’s sister. He’d been a private person, but that didn’t stop people from wanting to know everything about the shooting, his blindness and his future.
Turning over on her bed, Liz buried her head under her pillow and allowed a scream to pass through her lips. Why wasn’t he calling her back? Should she call him? What if something really was wrong with Max? Liz looked over at her bedside clock. 6:59pm; he’d be at dinner still. She’d wait to 8pm and if he hadn’t called back, she’d call him. Once again burrowing her head under her pillow, Liz remembered the day Isabel returned to school after taking Max to Texas.
“So then Tony said something about you and you should have seen the look on Mickie’s face.” Maria babbled as she drove Liz to school.
“Since when do you call Michael, Mickie, and why were you both walking down the street at the same time anyway?” Liz didn’t want to talk about yet another thing that had been said about her relationship with Max. She had no idea it would be such a big deal to everyone at school. What was the difference between she and Max going out now and a month ago? On the top of missing Max, something she still wasn’t used to, it was Isabel’s first proper day back at school and she knew it would be hard for her.
“Well it pisses him off and you know how much I like that, and well we kinda bumped into each other and somehow ended up walking down Main for a while, well until we ran into Tony…” Maria continued to talk but Liz tuned her out. As they reached the school car park, Liz eyes sought out the jeep she knew Isabel would be in, noticing it at the end, she nudged Maria and she parked the car next to it.
The two girls stepped out and a second later the driver’s door of the Jeep opened and Isabel stepped out.
“Thank goodness you’re here. Michael isn’t coming today. His job isn’t paying enough to rent somewhere decent and so he’s looking for work today. I couldn’t stand walking in there alone.” Isabel looked around the car park, she was already being looked at and pointed at.
“What kind of job?” Liz asked as she noticed everyone noticing Isabel.
“What? Oh sorry, anything really…why, you know of one?” Isabel knew Michael wanted to get out of the guest room and back into his own place. When his parents had died, they’d had a big mortgage on the house and limited life insurance. So, even though Michael still owned the house, the rent he received just covered the mortgage, leaving him having to work to survive.
“Well I know Dad’s looking for an after-hours cook, 2 or 3 nights a week and the weekends. Do you think he’d be interested?”
All it took was a call to her father to see if he’d talk to Michael and a call to Michael to tell him to see Jeff Parker, and before they’d even walked into the school, Michael was the new cook at The Crashdown Café.
“So are you ready for today?” Liz had spoken to Isabel last night; she’d called when they’d arrived home to let Liz know what the school was like. She’d also asked that Maria and Liz meet her in the car park before school.
“Not really, I’m up to date with work, I think. But the questions, it’s been bad, hasn’t it? It was bad enough last week and I didn’t even go to class.” They slowly made their way inside the building whispers surrounding them as they all walked to their lockers.
“Has this been happening all week?” Isabel had spoken to Liz once or twice while she was away and Liz hadn’t mentioned a thing about this.
“Oh it’s been worse than this.” Maria opened her locker and got what she needed for her morning classes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Isabel looked over at Liz who was getting books from her locker.
“Because I didn’t want you to tell Max, so you can’t, Isabel.” Liz slammed her locker shut and the three walked down the hall.
“Oh, that reminds me, have a look a these.” Isabel pulled her cell phone out and showed the pair some photos she’d taken of Max’s room and the school. They were so caught up in the photos they missed Andrew sliding up to them.
“So Isabel how’s Max doing?” As he asked Isabel, he racked his eyes up and down Liz.
“Fine” Isabel turned away ignoring him, knowing Andrew was a sleaze.
“So Liz, since Max is away how about I show you how a real man can make you feel?” Andrew lifted his arm to touch Liz but it was jerked away by a very angry looking Kyle.
“Hey Andrew, I hear your girlfriend is looking for you, why don’t you run along and leave Liz and the girls alone...forever.” A second later Andrew was off down the hall as Kyle watched him leave.
“You ok, ladies?” Kyle turned back and saw the shocked look on all their faces.
“Yea thanks Kyle, I have no idea why this is happening.” Liz was sick of guys coming up to her and suggesting things to her, she was the same person she was before Spring Break!! All that was different was she now had a boyfriend.
The girls continued on with their day, and at lunch, the 6 sat together with Isabel telling them all about Max’s school and what he’d be learning. Over the next few weeks, things settled down into a routine. In the mornings they’d meet up before school, and walk each other to class. If they were free at lunch they’d all sit together. On the weekends and some evenings they’d get together to study, but the whole time they all realised they were missing something, well someone, Max.
Liz’s thoughts were broken by a knock on her door.
“Liz honey Max is on the phone, he sounds a little upset.” Nancy pushed open the door and handed the phone to Liz who was still on her bed. Brushing the hair out of her eyes she looked at her daughter, she’d gone through so much the past few months. Being in the accident today was the last thing she needed.
“I just came up to check on you and the phone was ringing, didn’t you hear it?” Nancy was working Liz’s shift in the Crashdown and had quickly come upstairs to make sure Liz was ok, as she opened the apartment door she heard the phone and was surprised it was Max, he normally called Liz’s cell phone.
“I guess I was dozing, thanks mom.” Liz watched as her mother left the room closing the door behind her. Looking down at the phone she brought it up to her ear with a sigh.
“Hello?” Liz could hear Max’s deep breathing the second the phone was too her ear.
“Liz?” Was it really her?
“Yeah.” Liz knew she was being rude, but she was still angry that it took Max 3 hours to call back.
“Oh thank god, I thought something had happened to you. I’ve been calling you for half an hour, I’ve tried your cell and no one was picking up you home phone.”
“What? No I’m fine, I didn’t hear the home phone and I guess I broke my cell phone when I threw it.” Liz looked over at her phone, which was lying, beside her wall.
“You threw it?”
“At the wall.” Liz got off her bed and picked up her phone, she put the battery back in and pushed the power button.
“Why?” Max couldn’t figure out why Liz would throw her phone at the wall.
“I was…umm…why were you worried about me?” Liz didn’t want to tell Max she had been pissed at him, the second she’d heard his voice it had suddenly seemed stupid.
“Mom called to reassure me that you were ok after your car accident. What happened, baby?” Max’s mind flew back to the first time he’d called Liz baby.
He’d been away for a week and was starting to get a little homesick.
“Max, did you hear what I said?” Liz had been talking for 5 minutes but she wasn’t sure Max had heard a thing.
“Sorry, baby, I wasn’t really listening.” Max sighed, he knew he should be paying attention to the words, but her voice was so soothing.
“Baby?” Liz gasped slightly at the affectionate tone.
Max suddenly got worried, maybe Liz didn’t like being called baby. “Is…is that ok?”
“Only if I can call you baby as well.” Liz wanted to kiss Max right now; suddenly the distance seemed greater than it was.
“Deal” They both smiled as they continued the conversation.
“Maria left her English book at home and Mr. Matthews was sick in 3rd so she decided to go home and get it. I was bored so I tagged alone, we were on our way back when some dickhead drove through a red light and into her car, well Amy’s car.”
“Oh god, are you sure you’re ok?” Max couldn’t believe Liz had to go through something like that.
Liz looked down at her broken arm, sighing she knew she had to tell him. “I broke my arm, but it’s ok really. I’m fine Max.”
“You broke your arm? Is it a bad break?” Max wanted to take Liz into his arms and never let her go. The thought of her hurt and not being able to comfort her was almost too much.
“It’s not bad at all, amazing since the car hit the passenger side. The doctors think they’ll take the cast off in a few weeks and just bandage it. No big deal at all.” Liz could hear the worry in Max’s voice and was trying to down play the whole incident.
“I'm so sorry Liz.” Max realised his petty problems were nothing compared to the thought of loosing Liz.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t hit the car.”
“No about before, I was pissed about something and took it out on you. I shouldn’t have.”
Liz wondered if he was ready to talk about what ever it was yet. “You wanna tell me what pissed you off then?”
“Not really, it was such a little thing and I blew it out of proportion. I had no right to talk to you like that.” The more he thought about it the more he was embarrassed about it.
“No, don’t say that, I’m sure it wasn’t just some stupid thing at all. I’m here and if you want to be pissed, be pissed, just don’t lock it up inside, Max, please?”
Suddenly Max had to talk, he had to tell someone what he felt and he knew Liz was the perfect person. “It’s just so hard sometimes, Liz and it feels like I’m never going to make it.” Max could feel tears forming in his eyes and knew he wouldn’t be able to hold them in very long.
Liz could hear Max’s voice catch and before she knew it a tear rolled down her cheek. “Aww, Max, you will make it, not because you have to or because we want you to, but because you want to. Things have to get hard before they get easy.”
They talked for almost an hour that night, Max told Liz about what had upset him that day and about his meeting with Kat. Liz gently told Max about what was happening at school, and assured him it had settled down after Pam Troy was caught in a compromising position with a Junior High boy. And when they both hung up, they once again thank the stars for allowing them to be together.
Just a reminder that I have a DAS chat on Friday night at 8pm EST so I hope you can make it.
-
lazza
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:03 pm
- Location: In the special place where all is right in the world of Roswell...aka Australia
- Contact:
Hi all, I start a new job on Monday so hopefully that wont disrupt the updating too much….thanks for the feedback and on with the story.
Maxssoulmate – Thanks
Evelynn – Well if it’s ok with you it’s ok with me
Ellie – Yep high school boys are idiots well all but Max.
RhondaAnn – I think Maris just like to piss him off actually, a hobby for her now.
KatnotKath – I think Liz wanted Max there as well, but then she thinks that her problems are less important than his.
begonia9508 – I think baby is such a cute term
youre my dreamgirl – Yep, with the boys there and Maria’s mouth I think they’ll be fine
Behrsgurl*87 – Thanks for stopping by.
norafanofMaxandLiz – Can I just say yes to everything?
clueless – Thanks for reading anyway
Evelynn – I didn’t hear any bells
Shadowlynxbehr –Thanks for reading
Chapter Twenty
Liz, Isabel and Michael walked down the hallway; somehow, they’d all gotten lost and now had no idea where they were.
“Are you sure this is the right way, Isabel?” Liz looked around at the empty classrooms and hallways.
“I’m sure. Well, I think I’m sure.” In truth, Isabel had gotten turned around and was completely confused about where they were.
“Maybe we should head back to the office and start again?” Michael said as he turned to look in the direction they came, looking down the hall, he tried to see if there were any signs pointing them in the correct direction.
“Well if you can figure out which way that is, I’m sure we could do that, but I have no idea.” Isabel stopped walking and opened her cell phone, dialling she waited a few seconds until it was picked up. “Mom? Sorry to interrupt but we’re lost…Umm, Classroom 8…ok left…right…up the stairs and to the right…got it, thanks.” She hung up the phone and turned towards the other two. “Got it, lets go.”
Once again, the trio walked down the hall, reaching the end they turned left then right, once up the stairs they turned right.
“Ok, I know where I am now, Max’s room is down the end of the hall.” Isabel led them as they walked down the hall; most of the doors were open lightly. Looking in they noticed most people were in their teens and seemed to be reading Braille, listening to music or talking on the phone. In fact they were all surprised how ‘normal’ it all looked. As they rounded the corner, they saw a door with the name Max Evans on it.
“Aha! What did I tell you?” Isabel smiled at Liz and Michael who gave each other a small smile. After being in the car for 8 hours, they were just glad to finally be here.
“No comment.” Michael stood behind the girls as Isabel lifted her hand to knock on the door.
Max was lying on his bed reading a book. Before he was blind, he’d always thought Braille would be impossible to learn, but after only a month he felt that he was fairly proficient at it. Granted they had 5 hours of classes a day, 6 days a week so he’d be worried if he weren’t picking it. Reaching over to his side table he presses the clock “Five Oh Two PM”, dinner was in an hour, just enough time to call Liz, but before he got a chance there was a knock on his door. Waiting for whoever it was to announce themselves, he was surprised when no one did. It was one of the first things they had learnt, to always announce who you where when knocking on a door.
“Come in.” Max sat up as he heard the door open, he could tell it wasn’t just one person so he wondered who it was.
Michael decided to break the silence “Hey, Max.”
“Michael? What are you doing here?” Was it really Michael?
“Well if I remember correctly it’s your birthday tomorrow and we couldn’t have you spending it alone could we, ladies?”
“Nope.” Isabel saw as Max’s eyes light up.
“Not a chance.” Liz smiled as she watched Max’s head whip around following her voice.
“Liz?” Max just stood there, he couldn’t believe they were all here. One minute, he’s about to call Liz and the next she’s standing in his room.
“Hey what about me?” Isabel teased.
“Hey Iz.” A second later Max felt his sister hug him followed quickly by a manly hug from Michael. As Michael stepped away, he felt another person in his arms and he pulled her in tight. “I can’t believe you’re here, I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” Liz said as she felt Max lean down and cup her cheek with his hands, she knew what was coming, a long kiss, something she didn’t really want to do with Isabel and Michael in the room. Quickly kissing Max on his lips, she pulled back, but, a second later, Max pulled her forward.
“Is that all I get?” Max wanted to take Liz into his arms and kiss her senseless.
“The rest will have to wait until we’re alone…” Liz felt Max sigh and let out a small laugh, speaking louder so Isabel and Michael could hear “Which brings us to your other surprise. Isabel?” Liz turned herself around in Max’s arms and leant against his chest, loving the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her.
“Oh yes, we need to pack you a bag, Max, we’re breaking you out and we’re all going to Corpus Christi for the weekend!!” Isabel was not only excited that she and Max would be together for their 18th birthday, but that she’d have some time at the beach, something Roswell and New Mexico in general was lacking.
“You’re kidding me?” Max was still trying to get his head around the fact that Isabel, Michael and Liz were actually there, but now they were spending the weekend together? Wait where were his parents? “Do mom and dad know about this?”
“Umm yes, they’re talking to your teachers now, checking up on your progress. You didn’t think we all skipped school and drove up to see you without them?” Isabel had to laugh at the look on Max’s face, she could tell his was overwhelmed with everything right now, but being his sister she couldn’t give up the chance to rib him.
“No, I…”
“Ok, enough chit chat people, we need to get moving. Isabel, find a bag to put Max’s shit in and lets get going.” Sure, Michael was glad to see Max, but he’d already been in a car for almost 9 hours and they still had 3 hours until they reached a bed.
“What can I do?” Liz pulled away from Max and looked around his room, for the first time she noticed now sparse it was. There were a few pieces of paper stuck over his desk, but from what she could see they were blank. He had a new looking laptop on the desk, which had an unusual looking keyboard beside it. It was so different from his room at home, no posters on the wall, no magazines lying about it was almost clinical.
“Get the bathroom things, Max tell her what you need.” Isabel reached into his drawer and pulled out some underwear, giving a face she placed them into the bag Michael was holding.
Max and Liz made their way into the bathroom, Max not letting Liz go.
“So what do you need? Shampoo, conditioner…umm toothbrush…” she was cut off by Max’s lips trailing down her shoulder.
“Can I add you to that list?” Now that they were alone, Max was going to collect on that kiss he was promised.
“If you so desire.”
“Oh, I very much desire.” Max turned Liz around and before he could blink, her lips met his, her tongue tracing his bottom lip as Liz’s hands ran through his hair. They stayed like that for a few minutes, forgetting everything and everyone but each other. However, their little world was broken by Isabel.
“I’m not coming in there, but if you’re not out here in two seconds, I’ll send Michael in,” Isabel knew exactly what they were doing and as much as she’d like to let them continue, she knew they should get going.
Liz and Max pulled apart taking deep breaths, looking at Max’s flushed face Liz couldn’t resist giving his lips another kick peck.
“Ok, lets get going.” Liz picked up the things she’d collected earlier and headed out of the bathroom. Max followed her slowly and before he knew what was happening he was enveloped in another hug.
“Oh Max, you’re looking so well. Phillip, isn’t he looking well?” Diane pulled back and looked at her son, he looked so grown up.
“Yes, Diane. How are you, Max?” Phillip waited until Diane had smoothed Max with her hug before reaching in and having his turn.
“I’m good, I can’t believe you are all here!” Max felt like he was about to wake up from an amazing dream and be alone in his room.
“Well we couldn’t let you have your birthday alone could we? Isabel, is Max all packed? We should get going, we can talk in the car.” Diane noticed a bag on Max’s bed and pushed Phillip towards it to pick it up. A few minutes later, they were all in the car and headed south towards the coast.
****
“So, Isabel and Liz you have this room, and the boys can share the joining room. We’re down a floor in 806 if you need us. Ok?” Diane watched as the four kids nodded their heads. “Great. Ok, so breakfast at 9am? We’ll meet in the lobby? If you’re still hungry now order some room service or use the vending machines, NO mini bar.”
“Max, a quick word?” Phillip wanted to make sure that Max knew that he was being trusted pretty much sharing a room with Liz. Although he knew that Isabel and Michael were there as well, he was a teenager once and being so close to his girlfriend could be tempting.
“Yea, Dad” Max was pulled slightly away from the open door.
“I just want to tell you that both your mother and I, and Jeff and Nancy are trusting you and Liz to behave like responsible adults while together. I don’t have to spell out what that means, do I?”
“No, dad.” Max was mortified; who did they think he was? Oh, right; a horny almost 18-year-old boy.
“Good, see you in the morning, then.” Phillip squeezed his son’s shoulder and walked off down the hall to the lift.
“That doesn’t mean we have to actually be responsible adults, does it?” Liz had been listening from behind the door, stepping out as Phillip left she took Max’s hand.
“I’ve never been very responsible anyway.” Max couldn’t believe how happy he was right now, Liz was in his arms and his family was here for his birthday, two things he’d been wishing for just hours earlier.
“Guys? We’re ordering room service, want anything?” Isabel called out as she and Michael looked over the menu. Max and Liz walked into the room and sat down on one of the beds as Isabel read off the menu, an hour later the food was finished and the four were lying about talking.
“Oh, what’s the time?” Michael suddenly looked at the bedside clock, noticing it was only 10:45 he switched on the TV.
“What are you doing?” Isabel looked at Michael like he’d lost his head.
“Seeing what’s starting at 11, hotels always have cool movies…crap...crap…crap…perfect.” Michael stopped flicking when he came to a channel showing the movie starting in 15 minutes.
“You’re kidding me? ‘Jaws’? Michael we’re at the beach!” Isabel couldn’t believe he wanted to watch a movie about sharks, just hours before she wanted to go swimming.
“It’s a classic, Isabel.”
“Fine, I’ll watch it with you if you go to the vending machines and get me a water and some Oreos.” Isabel flashed her smile at Michael who gave her a look. She knew he’d go; he wouldn’t want her walking around the hotel alone.
“I’m only going because I could do with some chips. Max, Liz, you guys want anything?”
“Actually I’ll come with you, Michael.” Liz jumped off the bed and grabbed her purse. “Max, you want anything?”
“Water.” Max wasn’t sure why Liz suddenly jumped up and decided to go with Michael. Should he offer to go with them? Deciding that maybe Liz just wanted to stretch her legs, he just listened as the door to the room opened and closed.
“Ok, here’s the deal, Max. I know you want to spend some alone time with Liz and I’m fine with that. But I don’t want to get in trouble from Mom and Dad for letting you share a room. Sooo, I’m going to watch ‘Jaws’ with Michael which gives you about 2 hours of quality time with Liz before I come in and kick you out for the night, ok?” Isabel knew Max wanted some alone time with Liz, and she knew Liz wanted alone time with Max. She’d decided when Max and Liz first announced they were going out that she wasn’t going to become a bitch about them wanting time alone, so being the caring sister she was, she’d try and give them some time now.
“Are you sure? I mean if you don’t want to watch ‘Jaws’ you don’t have to.” Max once again was shocked by his sister, she was actually willing to give Liz and him some time alone…in a hotel room. It all seemed a little surreal.
“I’m sure, but Max, I don’t want to have to say this but I’m going to. Umm ok, well, I just think that maybe it’s a little too, well, early in your relationship for you too, argh, this is hard, to have, well, sex.” Isabel was blushing bright red and she could see Max was turning a similar shade.
“ISABEL! Geez please tell me I didn’t hear you just say that? Because that’s wrong on so many levels.” Max spluttered out, he knew he must be as red as a tomato right now.
“Well let’s pretend I didn’t, ok? But it’s out there, so think about it?” With a nod from Max she continued, “Good, well I’m going to change into my PJ’s and then come back here for the movie.”
“Wait a sec, I want to change as well, can you grab my bag? And can you show me the bathroom?” Isabel grabbed Max’s bag and got out the clothes he wanted. She then walked him through to the bathroom, surprised at how it was second nature to her already. A few minutes later, she was in her room changing as Max used his bathroom.
“So, Liz…” Michael and Liz couldn’t find any water on their floor so were currently checking each floors vending machines looking for 4 bottles.
“So, Michael…” Liz started munching on a packet of Oreos.
“Umm… so what’s the deal with Maria?” Michael always felt uncomfortable when it was just he and Liz. He knew how much Max liked her and he didn’t want to put her off at all.
“The deal?”
“Yeah, I mean, what’s her deal?”
“Well, I really have no idea what you mean…do you like her, Michael?” Liz had seen how the two always seemed to bicker when they were together.
“NO! Well not really, she’s a little weird for me, she’s weird right? I mean it’s not just me?” Michael had watched as Maria sniffed some sort of oil and seemed to always be popping some vitamin or another.
“Well, she’s my best friend, so no, I don’t think she’s ‘weird’, but I can see that others might. You do like her!” Liz watched as Michael started to squirm as she studied him.
“Don’t tell her, ok? Please? Oh, look water! Great. They’re on me.” Michael shoved some bills into the machine and brought half a dozen bottles of water. Not wanting to look at Liz, he then moved to the snack machine and brought more Oreos, chips and chocolate.
“Got enough food, Michael?” Liz laughed as he tried to grab it all and carry it. “I won’t say a thing, but you might want to. I think she has something for you as well.” With that, Liz turned and walked back towards the lifts with Michael following behind her, reeling at what she’d just said.
They made their way back to their rooms in thought. Liz was wondering who’d kill the other one first if they did start dating and Michael wondered if he’d be able to put up with Maria. When they reached the room, they let themselves in and found Isabel lounging on one of the beds in her pyjamas.
“Ohh, water! Thanks!” Isabel took a bottle and drank half the contents. “Max is changing too.”
“I guess I should get into something a bit more comfortable, I’ll be right back.” Liz walked though the connecting door shutting it behind her. Walking to her bag she picked out her pyjama pants and t-shirt, deciding to change in the bathroom in case Isabel came back to the room for something. Once in the bathroom, she looked at the shower, she had been in the car for almost 12 hours. A few minutes later, Liz stepped out feeling much cleaner. Getting dressed she realised she didn’t have her hairbrush with her, so with her hair wrapped in a towel she went back out into the room. After brushing her wet hair for a few minutes, she heard a knock coming from the boys’ room.
“Come in.” Liz turned her back to find her moisturiser.
“Hey,” Max walked into the room and shut the door behind him, not knowing where anything was he decided it was best to stay where he was for now.
“Max, sorry has the movie started? I’m almost done.” Liz quickly picked up the bottle, turned to face her boyfriend and was lost for words. He was standing with the dim light of the bathroom highlighting his features, dressed only in a pair of shorts and a cotton t-shirt. Before Liz realised what she was doing she’d walked over to him and taken him in her arms, her mouth crashing onto his.
Maxssoulmate – Thanks
Evelynn – Well if it’s ok with you it’s ok with me
Ellie – Yep high school boys are idiots well all but Max.
RhondaAnn – I think Maris just like to piss him off actually, a hobby for her now.
KatnotKath – I think Liz wanted Max there as well, but then she thinks that her problems are less important than his.
begonia9508 – I think baby is such a cute term
youre my dreamgirl – Yep, with the boys there and Maria’s mouth I think they’ll be fine
Behrsgurl*87 – Thanks for stopping by.
norafanofMaxandLiz – Can I just say yes to everything?
clueless – Thanks for reading anyway
Evelynn – I didn’t hear any bells
Shadowlynxbehr –Thanks for reading
Chapter Twenty
Liz, Isabel and Michael walked down the hallway; somehow, they’d all gotten lost and now had no idea where they were.
“Are you sure this is the right way, Isabel?” Liz looked around at the empty classrooms and hallways.
“I’m sure. Well, I think I’m sure.” In truth, Isabel had gotten turned around and was completely confused about where they were.
“Maybe we should head back to the office and start again?” Michael said as he turned to look in the direction they came, looking down the hall, he tried to see if there were any signs pointing them in the correct direction.
“Well if you can figure out which way that is, I’m sure we could do that, but I have no idea.” Isabel stopped walking and opened her cell phone, dialling she waited a few seconds until it was picked up. “Mom? Sorry to interrupt but we’re lost…Umm, Classroom 8…ok left…right…up the stairs and to the right…got it, thanks.” She hung up the phone and turned towards the other two. “Got it, lets go.”
Once again, the trio walked down the hall, reaching the end they turned left then right, once up the stairs they turned right.
“Ok, I know where I am now, Max’s room is down the end of the hall.” Isabel led them as they walked down the hall; most of the doors were open lightly. Looking in they noticed most people were in their teens and seemed to be reading Braille, listening to music or talking on the phone. In fact they were all surprised how ‘normal’ it all looked. As they rounded the corner, they saw a door with the name Max Evans on it.
“Aha! What did I tell you?” Isabel smiled at Liz and Michael who gave each other a small smile. After being in the car for 8 hours, they were just glad to finally be here.
“No comment.” Michael stood behind the girls as Isabel lifted her hand to knock on the door.
Max was lying on his bed reading a book. Before he was blind, he’d always thought Braille would be impossible to learn, but after only a month he felt that he was fairly proficient at it. Granted they had 5 hours of classes a day, 6 days a week so he’d be worried if he weren’t picking it. Reaching over to his side table he presses the clock “Five Oh Two PM”, dinner was in an hour, just enough time to call Liz, but before he got a chance there was a knock on his door. Waiting for whoever it was to announce themselves, he was surprised when no one did. It was one of the first things they had learnt, to always announce who you where when knocking on a door.
“Come in.” Max sat up as he heard the door open, he could tell it wasn’t just one person so he wondered who it was.
Michael decided to break the silence “Hey, Max.”
“Michael? What are you doing here?” Was it really Michael?
“Well if I remember correctly it’s your birthday tomorrow and we couldn’t have you spending it alone could we, ladies?”
“Nope.” Isabel saw as Max’s eyes light up.
“Not a chance.” Liz smiled as she watched Max’s head whip around following her voice.
“Liz?” Max just stood there, he couldn’t believe they were all here. One minute, he’s about to call Liz and the next she’s standing in his room.
“Hey what about me?” Isabel teased.
“Hey Iz.” A second later Max felt his sister hug him followed quickly by a manly hug from Michael. As Michael stepped away, he felt another person in his arms and he pulled her in tight. “I can’t believe you’re here, I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” Liz said as she felt Max lean down and cup her cheek with his hands, she knew what was coming, a long kiss, something she didn’t really want to do with Isabel and Michael in the room. Quickly kissing Max on his lips, she pulled back, but, a second later, Max pulled her forward.
“Is that all I get?” Max wanted to take Liz into his arms and kiss her senseless.
“The rest will have to wait until we’re alone…” Liz felt Max sigh and let out a small laugh, speaking louder so Isabel and Michael could hear “Which brings us to your other surprise. Isabel?” Liz turned herself around in Max’s arms and leant against his chest, loving the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her.
“Oh yes, we need to pack you a bag, Max, we’re breaking you out and we’re all going to Corpus Christi for the weekend!!” Isabel was not only excited that she and Max would be together for their 18th birthday, but that she’d have some time at the beach, something Roswell and New Mexico in general was lacking.
“You’re kidding me?” Max was still trying to get his head around the fact that Isabel, Michael and Liz were actually there, but now they were spending the weekend together? Wait where were his parents? “Do mom and dad know about this?”
“Umm yes, they’re talking to your teachers now, checking up on your progress. You didn’t think we all skipped school and drove up to see you without them?” Isabel had to laugh at the look on Max’s face, she could tell his was overwhelmed with everything right now, but being his sister she couldn’t give up the chance to rib him.
“No, I…”
“Ok, enough chit chat people, we need to get moving. Isabel, find a bag to put Max’s shit in and lets get going.” Sure, Michael was glad to see Max, but he’d already been in a car for almost 9 hours and they still had 3 hours until they reached a bed.
“What can I do?” Liz pulled away from Max and looked around his room, for the first time she noticed now sparse it was. There were a few pieces of paper stuck over his desk, but from what she could see they were blank. He had a new looking laptop on the desk, which had an unusual looking keyboard beside it. It was so different from his room at home, no posters on the wall, no magazines lying about it was almost clinical.
“Get the bathroom things, Max tell her what you need.” Isabel reached into his drawer and pulled out some underwear, giving a face she placed them into the bag Michael was holding.
Max and Liz made their way into the bathroom, Max not letting Liz go.
“So what do you need? Shampoo, conditioner…umm toothbrush…” she was cut off by Max’s lips trailing down her shoulder.
“Can I add you to that list?” Now that they were alone, Max was going to collect on that kiss he was promised.
“If you so desire.”
“Oh, I very much desire.” Max turned Liz around and before he could blink, her lips met his, her tongue tracing his bottom lip as Liz’s hands ran through his hair. They stayed like that for a few minutes, forgetting everything and everyone but each other. However, their little world was broken by Isabel.
“I’m not coming in there, but if you’re not out here in two seconds, I’ll send Michael in,” Isabel knew exactly what they were doing and as much as she’d like to let them continue, she knew they should get going.
Liz and Max pulled apart taking deep breaths, looking at Max’s flushed face Liz couldn’t resist giving his lips another kick peck.
“Ok, lets get going.” Liz picked up the things she’d collected earlier and headed out of the bathroom. Max followed her slowly and before he knew what was happening he was enveloped in another hug.
“Oh Max, you’re looking so well. Phillip, isn’t he looking well?” Diane pulled back and looked at her son, he looked so grown up.
“Yes, Diane. How are you, Max?” Phillip waited until Diane had smoothed Max with her hug before reaching in and having his turn.
“I’m good, I can’t believe you are all here!” Max felt like he was about to wake up from an amazing dream and be alone in his room.
“Well we couldn’t let you have your birthday alone could we? Isabel, is Max all packed? We should get going, we can talk in the car.” Diane noticed a bag on Max’s bed and pushed Phillip towards it to pick it up. A few minutes later, they were all in the car and headed south towards the coast.
****
“So, Isabel and Liz you have this room, and the boys can share the joining room. We’re down a floor in 806 if you need us. Ok?” Diane watched as the four kids nodded their heads. “Great. Ok, so breakfast at 9am? We’ll meet in the lobby? If you’re still hungry now order some room service or use the vending machines, NO mini bar.”
“Max, a quick word?” Phillip wanted to make sure that Max knew that he was being trusted pretty much sharing a room with Liz. Although he knew that Isabel and Michael were there as well, he was a teenager once and being so close to his girlfriend could be tempting.
“Yea, Dad” Max was pulled slightly away from the open door.
“I just want to tell you that both your mother and I, and Jeff and Nancy are trusting you and Liz to behave like responsible adults while together. I don’t have to spell out what that means, do I?”
“No, dad.” Max was mortified; who did they think he was? Oh, right; a horny almost 18-year-old boy.
“Good, see you in the morning, then.” Phillip squeezed his son’s shoulder and walked off down the hall to the lift.
“That doesn’t mean we have to actually be responsible adults, does it?” Liz had been listening from behind the door, stepping out as Phillip left she took Max’s hand.
“I’ve never been very responsible anyway.” Max couldn’t believe how happy he was right now, Liz was in his arms and his family was here for his birthday, two things he’d been wishing for just hours earlier.
“Guys? We’re ordering room service, want anything?” Isabel called out as she and Michael looked over the menu. Max and Liz walked into the room and sat down on one of the beds as Isabel read off the menu, an hour later the food was finished and the four were lying about talking.
“Oh, what’s the time?” Michael suddenly looked at the bedside clock, noticing it was only 10:45 he switched on the TV.
“What are you doing?” Isabel looked at Michael like he’d lost his head.
“Seeing what’s starting at 11, hotels always have cool movies…crap...crap…crap…perfect.” Michael stopped flicking when he came to a channel showing the movie starting in 15 minutes.
“You’re kidding me? ‘Jaws’? Michael we’re at the beach!” Isabel couldn’t believe he wanted to watch a movie about sharks, just hours before she wanted to go swimming.
“It’s a classic, Isabel.”
“Fine, I’ll watch it with you if you go to the vending machines and get me a water and some Oreos.” Isabel flashed her smile at Michael who gave her a look. She knew he’d go; he wouldn’t want her walking around the hotel alone.
“I’m only going because I could do with some chips. Max, Liz, you guys want anything?”
“Actually I’ll come with you, Michael.” Liz jumped off the bed and grabbed her purse. “Max, you want anything?”
“Water.” Max wasn’t sure why Liz suddenly jumped up and decided to go with Michael. Should he offer to go with them? Deciding that maybe Liz just wanted to stretch her legs, he just listened as the door to the room opened and closed.
“Ok, here’s the deal, Max. I know you want to spend some alone time with Liz and I’m fine with that. But I don’t want to get in trouble from Mom and Dad for letting you share a room. Sooo, I’m going to watch ‘Jaws’ with Michael which gives you about 2 hours of quality time with Liz before I come in and kick you out for the night, ok?” Isabel knew Max wanted some alone time with Liz, and she knew Liz wanted alone time with Max. She’d decided when Max and Liz first announced they were going out that she wasn’t going to become a bitch about them wanting time alone, so being the caring sister she was, she’d try and give them some time now.
“Are you sure? I mean if you don’t want to watch ‘Jaws’ you don’t have to.” Max once again was shocked by his sister, she was actually willing to give Liz and him some time alone…in a hotel room. It all seemed a little surreal.
“I’m sure, but Max, I don’t want to have to say this but I’m going to. Umm ok, well, I just think that maybe it’s a little too, well, early in your relationship for you too, argh, this is hard, to have, well, sex.” Isabel was blushing bright red and she could see Max was turning a similar shade.
“ISABEL! Geez please tell me I didn’t hear you just say that? Because that’s wrong on so many levels.” Max spluttered out, he knew he must be as red as a tomato right now.
“Well let’s pretend I didn’t, ok? But it’s out there, so think about it?” With a nod from Max she continued, “Good, well I’m going to change into my PJ’s and then come back here for the movie.”
“Wait a sec, I want to change as well, can you grab my bag? And can you show me the bathroom?” Isabel grabbed Max’s bag and got out the clothes he wanted. She then walked him through to the bathroom, surprised at how it was second nature to her already. A few minutes later, she was in her room changing as Max used his bathroom.
“So, Liz…” Michael and Liz couldn’t find any water on their floor so were currently checking each floors vending machines looking for 4 bottles.
“So, Michael…” Liz started munching on a packet of Oreos.
“Umm… so what’s the deal with Maria?” Michael always felt uncomfortable when it was just he and Liz. He knew how much Max liked her and he didn’t want to put her off at all.
“The deal?”
“Yeah, I mean, what’s her deal?”
“Well, I really have no idea what you mean…do you like her, Michael?” Liz had seen how the two always seemed to bicker when they were together.
“NO! Well not really, she’s a little weird for me, she’s weird right? I mean it’s not just me?” Michael had watched as Maria sniffed some sort of oil and seemed to always be popping some vitamin or another.
“Well, she’s my best friend, so no, I don’t think she’s ‘weird’, but I can see that others might. You do like her!” Liz watched as Michael started to squirm as she studied him.
“Don’t tell her, ok? Please? Oh, look water! Great. They’re on me.” Michael shoved some bills into the machine and brought half a dozen bottles of water. Not wanting to look at Liz, he then moved to the snack machine and brought more Oreos, chips and chocolate.
“Got enough food, Michael?” Liz laughed as he tried to grab it all and carry it. “I won’t say a thing, but you might want to. I think she has something for you as well.” With that, Liz turned and walked back towards the lifts with Michael following behind her, reeling at what she’d just said.
They made their way back to their rooms in thought. Liz was wondering who’d kill the other one first if they did start dating and Michael wondered if he’d be able to put up with Maria. When they reached the room, they let themselves in and found Isabel lounging on one of the beds in her pyjamas.
“Ohh, water! Thanks!” Isabel took a bottle and drank half the contents. “Max is changing too.”
“I guess I should get into something a bit more comfortable, I’ll be right back.” Liz walked though the connecting door shutting it behind her. Walking to her bag she picked out her pyjama pants and t-shirt, deciding to change in the bathroom in case Isabel came back to the room for something. Once in the bathroom, she looked at the shower, she had been in the car for almost 12 hours. A few minutes later, Liz stepped out feeling much cleaner. Getting dressed she realised she didn’t have her hairbrush with her, so with her hair wrapped in a towel she went back out into the room. After brushing her wet hair for a few minutes, she heard a knock coming from the boys’ room.
“Come in.” Liz turned her back to find her moisturiser.
“Hey,” Max walked into the room and shut the door behind him, not knowing where anything was he decided it was best to stay where he was for now.
“Max, sorry has the movie started? I’m almost done.” Liz quickly picked up the bottle, turned to face her boyfriend and was lost for words. He was standing with the dim light of the bathroom highlighting his features, dressed only in a pair of shorts and a cotton t-shirt. Before Liz realised what she was doing she’d walked over to him and taken him in her arms, her mouth crashing onto his.