Thank you, thank you so much for you guys patience, your nominations and votes, and your hilarious bumps. This chapter is a lengthy one that I was gonna cut off, but I figured, hey, I owe it to you guys, so go on ahead and keep the party going. Now to answer some questions:
1. Max hasn't seen his mom in five years? Yes, he hasn't seen his parents or his sister in a little under five years, it explains him not knowing his nephew's age. You'll understand why in the next chapter.
2. Peter ... can we have a scene where Max and Michael go and kick his ass in the present day, you know, for old time's sakes? Thinking about it.
3. What happened to the old banner for this fic? The one with Max and Liz in the car? Yeah, the first step to accepting you have a problem is, admitting you have a problem. I have an addiction to changing my banner. Jazzy and Kris have been threatening me with intervention, but it's hard to kick the habit, you know. But I still intergrated the car pic into the new one. It's there, in case you missed it.
Now on to the update!
<center>_____________________________________________________
Chapter 11
DeLuca Residence – 9:15 p.m.</center>
“Alrighty, Tess,” Maria exhaled proudly, with her hands on her sides and a grin on her face, as she looked at the assortments of entertainment she gathered up and set on the coffee table. “You got Sorry, Clue, chips, dip, Lord of the Rings…the works.”
“And tell me again, why do I need all this stuff,” Tess questioned, picking up the first installation to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and examining the case front to back.
“Well,” Maria stammered as she looked to Michael, who was standing beside her, “I, uh, I need to pick up my cousin, so you might need these things to…you know, occupy your time.”
“You’ll be gone long enough for me to watch entire trilogy of the Lords of Rings?”
“Hopefully,” Michael muttered before catching an elbow to the rib cage, “ugh!”
“We’ll probably take 10 minutes, tops,” Maria quickly corrected with a nervous laugh, “we just didn’t want you to be bored while we’re gone.”
“Michael’s going too?”
“Thankfully,” Michael mumbled beneath his breath before getting his toes stomped on by the heel of Maria’s boot, “Maria!”
“I can’t drive at night for the life of me,” Maria waved off with a nervous chuckle and then fluffed her hair.
“So why can’t I go too?”
“Well…” Maria trailed off, looking to Michael for help.
“You see Tess, it’s like this,” Michael coolly spoke as he took a step forward, “Maria’s cousin…he’s a stoner.”
“Michael,” Maria exclaimed in dismay.
“What? He is,” Michael justified with a snort and shrug before returning his sights on Tess, who was looking at the two in bewilderment, “and if he sees you and all your flashy gadgets, he’s gonna rob you and sell your bling for hash.”
“Michael!”
“What? He would,” Michael shrugged again.
Taking a frustrated breath, he looked to Tess again, and then forced out a smile. “Look, Tess. We’d take you, but your jewelry is safer here,” he smirked and then snapped his fingers, “you know what,” he says as he starts to unhook his watch, “you better hold on to this for me.”
“Michael!” Maria shouted, smacking him on his arm as he handed over his watch to Tess.
“What?” He shouted back to her in annoyance.
“Forget it. Let’s just go.”
<center>Roswell Inn – 9:30 p.m.</center>
All she had to do was go to Chez Pierre and confront him…to ask him why. Why he never answered any of her letters. Why he never took her out of that hell hole of a boarding school and whisked her away like she always dreamt about.
But who was she kidding?
She was a coward.
There was no way in hell she could face him after all these years to hear the reason as to why she wasn’t good enough for him to follow all the way to Vermont, and there was no way she could face him in front of his new arm candy.
He definitely looked different and was probably even a different person now.
Perhaps he was some big shot basketball player now, who didn’t have time for an old fashion girl, like her, anymore. His style seemed to be more polished since their puppy love years in high school. Chez Pierre, a blonde bombshell with designer threads…how could she compete?
Pimp Evans at his greatest.
Pimp Evans? No…that didn’t sound like her Max at all. Her Max was sweet, attentive, down-to-earth, and most importantly loved her more than she ever thought anyone could. He was always that way with her, even in the beginning…
The weekend had passed and yet, Monday morning, she was still on cloud nine about the kiss on the cheek she gave Max at the quarry. She was surprised at herself that she had mustered up enough courage to kiss him, and survived from the butterflies fluttering in her stomach to retell her bold actions to Maria.
“Wait, wait. Tell me again. Was it like a one, two, three, kiss, or was there a pause involved?”
“Maria,” Liz groaned in humiliation as she hid her head inside her opened locker.
“Just tell me,” Maria pleaded as she jumped up and down in excitement and clapped.
“I told you like fifteen times already,” Liz exhaled in exasperation as she rolled her eyes and then returned to preparing for books for her first class. “I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of it. I mean, it’s not like I kissed him on the lips.”
“Yeah but how bad did you want to?” Maria questioned as she nodded and wiggled her eyebrows in mischief.
Liz spun around, unable to hide her glow of rapture, “Maria, you have no idea how much,” she sighed in deep bliss as she rested her head against the locker next to hers. “I mean, I didn’t even kiss him on the lips and I’m like walking around with a stupid smile on my face.”
“I’ve noticed,” Maria replied casually with a nod.
“And so have I,” Liz heard a husky voice say behind her. She quickly spun around, sucking in her breath at the sight of Max standing before her with a smug smirk on his face.
“Max,” Liz choked out in shock. “H-h-how long have you been standing there,” she asked, only getting a smile from him as a response before he waved to Maria. It was clear in that moment to Liz, that there was no need to introduce Maria and Max to each other, because they seemed to already know each other.
“Well,” Maria spoke, clearing her throat as she dusted off her hand, “my work her is done,” she announced before waving good-bye to Liz. “Maxie,” she bid farewell with a pat on the shoulder and then ran off into the crowd.
The utter shock that her best friend would deliberately set her up for such a compromising position was what prevented Liz from running off to hide under a rock. Instead, her feet were glued to the linoleum and she had no choice but to watch Maria run off into Michael’s expecting arms, who just as surprisingly had been watching the entire time.
‘Friends,’ she cursed in her mind.
Looking slowly to Max, Liz chewed on her bottom lip nervously, to see he was still looking at her with the same smug smile.
“You heard everything, didn’t you?” She asked, lowering her head to hide the fact that she was blushing uncontrollably.
“I heard enough,” he replied in a relaxed tone as he nodded.
“God, this is so embarrassing,” Liz blushed as she turned to hide her face in her locker again.
“Why, because I know your inner most thoughts about me,” he asked with a careless shrug and a huge smirk that could make the Cheshire cat envious.
“You say that like it’s not a big deal,” Liz snorted as she turned to face him, completely flushed.
“It’s not like I WASN’T HOPING YOU’D KISS ME TOO,” he shouted out loud, making the students passing by, stare and laugh.
“Shh!” Liz hissed pulling him closer to her as she used him as a shield to hide herself from the on-lookers. “Oh…my-God, I can’t believe you just did that,” she mumbled as she covered her face with her hand.
“Go out with me,” he whispered back instead with a jubilant half-smile.
“What?”
“Go out with me this weekend,” he repeated with an exhilarated breath as he moved as close as he possibly could to her without stepping on her toes.
“Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now,” Liz blushed as she rubbed the side of her face.
“Why not,” he questioned and he leaned up against the lockers.
“Because,” she shrugged.
“Because why?”
“Because, because,” she giggled nervously as she close her locker, about to turn away when she felt his hand grab hold of her arm, and turned her to face him, where he cupped the side of her face and connected his lips against hers.
Like she said…attentive, loving, down-to-earth…all the characteristics that made her fall head over heels in love with him.
So why would he change all of a sudden?
“Friday,” he whispered with his forehead against hers, “I’ll pick you up at seven okay?”
Liz’s voice seemed to be lost in the moment, only being able to lower her head, bite her lip, and nod in agreement. Max smiled on her bashfulness and tucked her hair softly behind her ear, before lifting up her chin and whispering, “And I love your smile. No matter how stupid you think it is.”
Her swooning memories came to a complete hold, when the faint taps of someone knocking, grew louder and more demanding.
“Go away,” Liz shouted, still with her chin resting on her hand, intending to return to her blissful memories of the life her and Max had…but the knocking persisted…and persisted.
Completely irked that the unwanted visitor wouldn’t leave, Liz stomped off to the door and then swung it open to reveal the obnoxious knocker leaning on the door's molding. "Who the--Maria," Liz quickly gasped in surprise before covering her mouth.
She couldn’t believe it.
Maria!
Without making a sound, Liz closed the door, and watched as Maria calmly entered the room in silence and examined the rooms decor with her back turned to her.
Five years and her best friend appeared out of the blue. It couldn’t be. Maria DeLuca was in her room, but yet Liz found herself questioning whether if her presence was a figment of her imagination or if she truly was there.
"Maria," Liz called out as she pressed her back against the door. "H-h-how did you know I was here?"
Looking to Liz over her shoulder before she fully turned around to face her with her hand on her hip, Maria dryly replied, "I have my sources," and then continued looking around.
Biting her lip, Liz lowered her head and stared absentmindedly to the shag carpeting of the room until she heard keys land on the bed.
"Okay, Liz," Maria spoke firmly, tossing her purse by her keys and then rubbed the sides of her head to relieve some of the tension that had suddenly build up from seeing Liz again. "I planned to stroll in here , playing it all cool and Casanova smooth, maybe start off with a 'Hey Doll face, thought I'd drop by', but I can’t. I really, really can't."
"Maria-"
"Where the hell have you been, Liz?! You owe me at least that," Maria demanded.
Liz didn’t understand it. Maria came storming in, questioning where she was, when it was her that had no clue what happened to Max, Michael, and Maria.
“Well?”
"I-I told you," Liz stammered, frightened since it was the first time she ever saw Maria really angry with her.
"Told me," Maria repeated with a mixture of anger and disbelief in her voice.
"I told you," Liz repeated firmly, glancing to the door, and wondering if Maria had come alone.
"No, Liz, what are you talking about? You didn't tell me anything. The last thing I ever heard from you was 'Maria, cover for me' –”
"What?"
"—and then vamoose, you disappear out of thin air—"
"Wait, Maria, what are you talking about? I wrote you all those letters," Liz declared in her defense.
"—I was so worried because you always check in—"
"Maria?"
"—I mean, it's what I told Michael, ‘she-always-checks-in’," Maria rambled as she pronounced each word as she slapped the palm of her hand with the back of the other.
"Maria!" Liz shouted, holding her by her shoulders. "I wrote you letters."
"Letters," Maria repeated with a huff of doubt. "What letters? I never got any letters."
"I wrote you..." Liz paused, feeling the chunks of misery trying to creep out of her throat at the thought of Max not receiving her letters as well, "…and Max," she mumbled as she slow pieced together an explanation. "Oh God, I thought...for a year...he didn't answer, not a one, I wrote him and he never wrote me back," she sobbed as she fell down to her knees. "I wrote you all."
"Liz," Maria called out, with her demeanor changing from angry to concerned, before she rushed over to console her.
“Nothing again,” Eileen questioned as she looked over Liz’s shoulder to see the stack of letters Liz was flipping through.
“No,” Liz replied in defeat and then dropped the junk mail in the wastebasket, like she routinely had been doing ever since she stepped foot in Winnaman, and then ran off to her bed, to sulk again. “I don’t understand,” she cried with her face buried in her pillow, “they should’ve written to me by now.”
"I don't understand, Maria," Liz cried as she looked to Maria for some sort of explanation, "how could this have happened?"
"I'm just as lost as you, Chica."
"God, five years,” Liz spoke as she wiped away a stray tear with her sleeve, “five years, it just doesn't make sense," Liz questioned herself, "even when I called-"
Pulling Liz back by her shoulders, Maria arched her eyebrow and looked at her quizzically, "called from where?"
"Winnaman Academy," Liz finally answered after a long pause.
“Winnaman Academy,” Maria repeated in shock, “What the hell were you doing there?"
"My parents made me go that night...the night I asked you to cover for me," Liz added as she was briefly swept away by the memory of that particular night.
“Max,” Liz called out softly when they pulled up in front of the Crash.
“Yeah?”
“Promise me you won’t do anything to make your parents take you away from me.”
“What?”
“Please, just promise me.” Liz pleaded as she picked at her nails, “you know what will happen if you get into another fight,” she reminded as she scooted closer to him, “so please, please promise me.”
Closing the space between them, Max cupped the sides of Liz’s face and then brushed away the wild strands of hair that draped over her eyes, “I promise,” he whispered before kissing her forehead and then tilted her head up to face him when he repeated his vow with assertion, “I promise okay?”
”Okay,” Liz nodded with a breath of relief and happily accepted the presence of Max’s lips against hers. “Good night,” Liz bid in between their kiss as she slowly pulled away.
“Call me tomorrow, okay?” Max requested, with his forehead resting against hers.
“I’ll miss you,” she pouted in response before stealing another kiss.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You better,” Liz warned with a devilish smirk.
“I will,” he laughed, sliding back in his seat.
“Go,” Liz signaled with a pout, “the faster you go, the quicker you get your butt back here, and back to me,” she sighed and then blew him one last kiss before he mouthed the words ‘I love you’ and then drove off.
Hugging herself, she walked up to the side door leading directly to her house, and then began to search her purse for her house keys.
Just as she inserted her key into the keyhole, an unruly sense of someone watching her, made her shiver. Lifting her head, she wondered if Peter Gulla had returned, to get vengeance for what had happened at school, but was relieved to hear the sound of heels approaching.
On alert, Liz kept her sights on the street, waiting for the night walker to appear. The heels moved faster and before she knew it, the owner of the heels appeared. “Ms. DeLuca,” Liz called out as she watched Maria’s mother climb into the passenger side of the Sheriff’s truck crying, before the Sheriff pulled out and drove off.
She had never seen Amy DeLuca crying, and now that she had, her thoughts were of Maria, wondering if something had happened.
Quickly, she stepped inside and then cautiously closed the door behind her as she made a mental note to herself to call Maria to see if she was alright.
By the time she reached her room, she found herself humming in delight and practically floating on air as she stripped herself of her jacket that was engulfed in Max scent, and then bee-lined her way straight into her bathroom.
Running the water in her sink, Liz splashed her face a few times, before she froze, wondering if she imagined something…wondering if she imagined seeing someone sitting on her bed.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Liz questioned herself. Her room was dark. It was probably a shadow or something. ‘It’s probably nothing,’ she thought to herself, but decided to take a look none the less. Slowly, peeking out from the bathroom, Liz stiffened at the sight of not only her mother, but her father as well, sitting on the edge of the bed with their arms and legs crossed, and directly behind them, a packed suitcase.
“What’s going on,” Liz questioned suspiciously as she walked further into her room.
“Where were you,” her father responded instead, not hiding the fact that he was fuming.
“I told you guys,” Liz mumbled as she nervously picked at her nails, “I was at Maria’s.”
“Okay,” her father exhaled in dissatisfaction as he stood up and then scratched his chin, displaying his loss of patience, “I’m gonna ask you again, but this time, try not to lie to me,” he warned coolly as he crossed his arms in intimidation. “Where were you?”
“I…I was with Max,” Liz confessed, biting her lip in regret.
“Max,” her father repeated between his clenched teeth and then looked to Nancy, for her to take over the lecture.
“We’ve...” her mother stammered before taking a breath of confidence and then speaking once again, “your father and I have decided you would be better off in Winnaman’s Academy for Girls.”
“Vermont?” Liz coughed out with her eyes drawn to the suitcase…her suitcase. It was obvious it was something they had settled on, despite what she had to say, so the least she could do is find out why. Why, so when she got a hold of Max in the morning, she’d know what to tell him.
“You leave tonight,” her father informed her firmly.
"But why,” Maria questioned pensively as she shook her head.
‘Why, indeed,’ Liz thought to herself as she shook her head and bit down on her lower lip to keep it from trembling.
“I always thought Winnaman was for post-whorish Madonna's who were sent there when the cops couldn't handle them or..."
"Or what," Liz questioned as she wiped the traces of tears off her cheeks.
"Well, it's known for that or a secluded place for teen mother's to have their babies...oh my God," Maria gasped, covering her mouth and then touched Liz's wrist, "you didn't like go to Winnaman to like have Max's illegitimate baby did you and then like have the baby taken from your maternal arms right after a painful labor so it could be sold on the black market?"
"Maria…you gotta stop watching Lifetime," Liz laughed weakly before covering her face.
“You leave tonight,” her father informed her firmly.
“But…but why?” Liz questioned with a whimper as she pleaded with them. “Because I lied about where I was gonna be tonight? Is that it?”
“Amongst other things,” her mother snickered back as she closed her sweater around her tightly.
“But we didn’t do anything wrong,” Liz pleaded, pushing back the images of her and Max on his desk as she knelt down beside her father, who was trying his best to look away from her. “Dad, we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“This is not negotiable,” her mother spoke bitterly as she crossed her arms, “the tuitions been paid and Dean Hawkins is expecting us by tonight.”
“You’re sending me away,” Liz sobbed in disbelief, clutching on to her father’s arm, “because-because of Max?”
“This isn’t about Max,” her father assured her, “but it can be if you don’t get your butt to that school, young lady, because if you don’t...”
“If I don’t, what,” Liz repeated, challenging him to finish his threat.
“If you don’t,” Jeff repeated tightly, “the Sheriff would get a phone call from me, about Max, the 18 year old, punk-kid, who has been sleeping with my 16 year old daughter. He would go to jail, ruin his chances of college…and you can prevent all that. All you have to do is get in the car and go to Winnaman.”
It had surprised her then that her parents had known the particulars of how far her relationship with Max progressed, but the fact that her father assured her that Max had nothing to do with her cast off, had left her unconvinced.
Why else would they send her away?
“Hey,” Maria called out softly before nudging her, “are you okay?”
“No,” Liz replied in a squeak as Maria draped her arm around her, “you?”
“I’ve been better,” she shrugged before looking absentmindedly to the carpet, like Liz, and then shook her head. “I just don’t get how we could go five years without hearing anything about each other.”
“Maria, please, you gotta know I tried,” Liz pleaded as she turned to face her, “believe me, I did.”
“Liz,” Maria inhaled as she held Liz by her shoulders, “five years or not, I could always tell when you’re lying to me.”
Liz’s eyes widened in admiring disbelief, of how even after five years, Maria could still read her like a book. There wasn’t any secret Liz could hide from the infamous Maria DeLuca, which in her freshman year she considered it to be maddening. But now, she couldn’t even begin to explain how incredibly alleviating it was to have that transparency once again.
“Liz,” Maria called out with skepticism, “there are a million questions I gotta ask you—”
“I know,” Liz whispered as she lowered her head in sorrow and nodded.
“—but the one I just have to ask you right now is—”
“Do I still love Max?” Liz assumed, getting a nod from Maria. “I do,” Liz answered with a half smile before a whimper escaped her when she thought back on the blond he was kissing at Chez Pierre. “But it’s too late, Maria,” she sniffled in between sentences, “I saw him tonight…at the restaurant…”
“With Tess,” Maria presumed with an understanding nod.
‘Tess,’ Liz repeated to herself silently. So the blonde bombshell had a name. She was expecting something like “Candy” or something expensive like “Paris” or “Mercedes”, never something as simple as “Tess”.
“Does he love her,” she asked with a terrified expression. She kicked herself mentally for asking, but she just had to know.
Maria simply laughed, and answered, “If you could only see him with her, then you’d have your answer.”
Liz didn’t understand.
She had seen him with her and he seemed to treat her as affectionately as he would with her when they were together. The kiss on the head, the kiss on the cheek, it was all too much for her, and then the thought of how affectionate he must be when the two were intimately close, crept in her head, making it enough to make her want to vomit.
But again…she needed to know.
“Are they…” Looking to Maria from beneath the cover of her lashes, it was apparent that Maria knew what she was hinting towards, and the very expression Maria carried was enough to answer her, a look of apology.
“Liz, it’s been five years—” Maria began to justify with a shrug.
“Right, right, forget I asked,” Liz quickly responded as she shook the thought from her head. “It’s a stupid thing to ask anyway.”
“Have you?” Maria questioned as she looked to Liz curiously, and then widen her eyes in surprise when Liz finally responded with a nod.
“Once,” Liz whispered softly. It was the year she met Chris, and the year she had finally given up hope that Max was never coming to get her. “I cried the whole time,” Liz confessed with a knot in the center of her throat.
Maria remained in silent wonder, thinking to herself that if she and Michael had ever been separated long enough for them to move on with other people, she’d bet that she would react the same way Liz did. Michael was her third grade crush, and when he finally asked her out, she imagined herself being with him always as she still did that very moment.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Liz spoke, wiping her tears away as she attempted to appear unaffected.
“What? No, Liz, you can’t give up,” Maria protested in desperation. “Right now, there’s a lazy lug, sitting and waiting in the car outside, that can assure you as much as I can, that Max STILL loves you. Now I don’t know about you, but that screams hope for me.”
“Maria,” Liz huffed with exasperation, “he has a girlfriend, right?”
“But he’s unhappy,” Maria pleaded in a whine as she shook her joined hands in agony.
The thought of her walking into Chez Pierre like some shampoo commercial, with her hair blowing in the wind, and a dress to kill as she strutted over to their table and showed Max he belonged with her with a hot, steamy kiss, crossed Liz’s mind. But fantasy aside, there was only one thing standing between them…her values. She would never be “the other girl”, and as long as Max had a girlfriend, it was just who she’d be.
“He has a girlfriend,” Liz repeated decisively as she shook her head in disapproval.
“God, Liz. I’m not asking you to go and populate the universe with him on table 12 now.” Maria snickered as she rolled her eyes. “All I’m asking you is to talk to him, see where things go from there.”
“Talk,” Liz questioned with suspicion.
Crossing her heart and holding up her hand in oath, Maria guaranteed with a happy grin, “talk, and nothing more.”
Holding her breath, Liz looked absentmindedly to side and wondered what it would be like to speak with Max after so long. She wondered if he’d ask her where she’d been, right off the bat, or, in like her fantasies, if he would stalk straight to her and kiss her hard like she had longed to be kiss by him after five years.
“So…” Maria questioned with her eyebrow arched in anticipation.
Releasing her breath, Liz looked to Maria in conquer, and then nodded in acceptance, “fine.”
