FSU/MSW-94 – Thank you for letting me bounce the ideas off…even though my muse decided to go off in her own direction towards the end. Hey, I still got there just a different route.
Earth2Mama - Sweetie, I think you missed a part
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Orphyfets - *waves* – glad you took the time to read and happy to see you are enjoying this. Thanks!
mareli
Michelle in Yonkers - *waves* to you too…hope it didn’t take too long to catch up, but I’m thankful nevertheless. I know what you mean about M&M, but well you’ll just have to read and find out. Thanks!
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Lorastar – I’ve actually met several friends from online, in person. It was a fun experience to say the least, and we got to watch on a big screen Jason’s bear booty…good times indeed! *waves* by the way
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Oz – First of all welcome…secondly sorry for the lack of sleep and third…glad you’re enjoying this. Thank you!
Lurkers
Okay guys…I spent the greater part of two days working on this update. Mainly because I’m trying to pack and fill out loads of paper work, all the while trying to avoid the cult chanting of my neighbors upstairs. Did I mention I can’t wait to move??
Anyways, thank you for the incredible feedback, it means so much to me, because not only do I put so much time into the updates, but I put a lot of myself into these characters. Hope you enjoy…and there are only 3 parts left
Chapter Eleven
<center>Feels Like Tonight</center>
“Did I do good?” he asked, just above a whisper, heatedly against her neck. She nodded against him, pulling him closer, loving the feel of his body pressed against hers.
“I think I deserve something for keeping my mouth shut.” The teasing in his voice caused a laugh to bubble forth and he pulled back at the sound, eyes narrowed.
“Come on Maria, say it,” he pressed on, pulling her back against the wall. They only had a few minutes before Liz came downstairs. She loved teasing him. It was so easy.
“Michael, I don’t know what you think you earned. I will say this much though, thank you for not telling Max and giving Liz the opportunity.”
Michael pulled away and looked down at her, his eyes almost piercing hers. She couldn’t help the shiver that traveled up her spine. What was it about Michael…whatever his last name was, that made her feel things she’d never felt with anyone else?
“I thought about what you said and I realized that Liz wasn’t a malicious person, at least she didn’t seem like it, and I figured whatever it was, was a good enough reason for her not to tell Max about Jeremy. Now, about that kiss.”
Kiss?
“What ki—” Maria never did finish that sentence, Michael’s lips descended upon hers and she couldn’t help but sigh against his mouth. No one ever kissed her the way he had.
Maria wrapped her arms around his neck, dug her fingers into his hair and willed her heart to slow down. It was going too fast, too soon and she knew it was senseless, since, after all, she was leaving town in a little over a week.
“Michael,” she panted as she broke their embrace; he however decided he hadn’t gotten enough of her, and began kissing the side of her neck.
“You know, I think you talk too much. We have other, more important things we could be doing with our free time,” he muttered against her neck as he bit gently into the skin. Maria couldn’t help but smile and let him continue on his quest, what harm could come from it?
It wasn’t as if this was anything serious.
<center>****</center>
“So where are you and Michael going?” Liz asked from the living room. It was a quarter to six and Max was due with Trevor in twenty minutes. She was nervous but anxious all the same.
“Honestly, I’m not sure.”
“Don’t give it up on your first date.” Liz said with a bright smile plastered on her face.
“Don’t feed me my words of caution. I know how to handle guys like Michael.” Maria sounded convincing enough, but Liz knew better. Knowing that Max and Michael were best friends, led her to believe that Michael wasn’t anything like the kind of guys Maria was used to dating.
“Really? So that hot and heavy make-out session I walked in on this afternoon, was…?” Liz stood and crossed the room to stand behind Maria, who was perusing herself in the mirror, near the door.
“Liz, that was nothing. I mean, so we made out. It’s not my fault I’m irresistible to the man.” Maria blushed and Liz eyed her carefully.
“You really like him don’t you? Already, I know it’s soon, trust me there’s something about the guys of Roswell that get under your skin.” Liz said speaking from her own experience with Max.
It might have been too soon, but that didn’t mean she could turn off her feelings. How could she, when it’d been so long since she’d felt anything at all?
Maria sighed and walked over to the couch, dropping herself onto the arm of it and nodded her head in assent.
“What does he think about it?” Maria lifted one shoulder in response.
“So, this could get complicated. I think you should have fun though,” Liz said the words, but had a hard time believing they left her mouth.
Maria must have felt the same way because she looked up at her friend in cautious disbelief.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m trying really hard to be normal, whatever that means. And today, I guess, when I saw you and Michael I realized for the first time that I wanted that. Even if it’s only for a little while, I still want it. Is that weird?” Liz asked, unsure of her feelings, not for the first time.
“Liz, what you’re feeling for Max is normal. Granted it takes some people months to decide how they really feel about someone, but you and Max have a different dynamic working.”
“Different how?” she asked clearly not understanding Maria’s theory on life, once again.
“Liz, Max has a son, you have a son. You both went through trying times, maybe you more so than he, but without splitting hairs, it was still hard. You both don’t have time for the normal games people who are on the dating scene play. This is real life for you guys. Real feelings. You can’t tamper with that, it’s like a…a…sacrilege or something!” Maria waved her arms in the air dramatically.
Liz nodded her head, realizing that Maria was right, even if she didn’t understand everything she’d said. She and Max both had children, and they were old enough, lived through enough, to not lie about how they really felt. They didn’t see the point in covering up their feelings and pretending to play the game, as Maria had so eloquently put it.
Liz already knew Trevor, and Liz knew that Max would not bring her into his son’s life under false pretenses.
“Now, how do I really look?” Maria stood and twirled around in her plum colored, knee length dress, with matching heels.
“You look great! Although, I don’t think you’ll be wearing the dress for very long.”
“Liz!” It was Liz’s turn to blush at her own words.
“I can’t help it! He looked like he was swallowing your face!” Liz couldn’t help but break into laughter at the expression on Maria’s face.
“You know Liz, you’ll learn that when a guy looks like he’s swallowing your face, it’s not such a bad thing.” With that Maria winked at her and then turned to walk out the front door.
Before she left though, she peeked her head inside and said, “Liz?”
“Yeah?” she called back.
“Don’t let Max swallow your face tonight.”
“Maria!”
“What? I’m just warning you, because when he looks at you, I get the impression he wants to do more than just swallow your face!” With that the door slammed closed and Liz placed her hands on her cheeks, willing the burning blush to subside.
Did she really want Max to kiss her, the way Michael was kissing Maria?
Liz thought that over for a minute before she realized she was thinking inappropriate thoughts. Of course she wanted Max to kiss her, but like that?
No.
It would be too soon.
There was that word, or rather words, again, she thought.
Max knew her entire life story, and she knew most of his, which meant that they did know each other enough.
But to kiss that intensely required a lot of feelings, didn’t it?
Frustrated with her line of thinking and her lack of experience, she pulled herself up to check on dinner.
At least with cooking, she knew she couldn’t go wrong.
<center>****</center>
Max watched her across the table. Dinner was great, everything was great, but was it wrong to want more?
He thought for a moment, he truly was selfish. He wanted more with Liz, this soon. He didn’t care anymore. Time was just that, time. It’s length and significance lied in the eye of the beholder.
To him, Liz was everything he’d wanted in another person.
She needed time, his mind reminded him.
Time was one thing he was willing to give, for her. Just her. Only her.
“Daddy, what’s that green stuff that looks like trees but they’re not brown?” Trevor asked and Max couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Little man, you know what that is.”
“It’s broccoli. Do you not like that?” Liz asked, trying to hide her smile. Max wondered what was going on in her mind.
“Grandma only gives me peas and what’s those other things? They’re long and green too,” Trevor paused looking up to Liz for an answer.
“Those are green beans, honey. How about I put a little something on the broccoli for you?”
“What?” he asked, as any curious child would. But Max knew his son. His mother had tried it all to get him to eat broccoli. He didn’t like it. Never did in fact.
Liz excused herself from the table and went to the stove, pulling a pot off and then pouring a clear, thick liquid into a small cup. Returning to the table a minute later, not only was Trevor curious as to what Liz had, Max was equally intrigued.
A moment later Liz was pouring the unknown liquid over Trevor’s broccoli and then urged him softly to try it.
Trevor eyed the broccoli indecisively, but then dug his fork into it and took a bite. It was sweet; it didn’t taste anything like it did all those other times his grandma made him eat it.
“Do you like it?” Liz asked Trevor, but turned her smiling eyes to Max, who sat in astonishment as his son devoured the vegetable every child hated at one time or another in their lives.
“It’s sweet,” Trevor responded between bites. For the remainder of dinner he sat in silence eating.
“Maybe I need to get that secret recipe from you.” Max said later that evening, as he helped Liz wash the dishes. She’d insisted that he need not help, but he liked spending time with her, so he offered to dry.
“Oh, you think I would just give it to you, if you asked?” Liz tried not to blush at her flirting, Max could tell, but it made him fall even more for her.
“I think if I’m patient you’ll give me everything I want.” Max said, and then realized the multitude of meanings his words could take on.
“I didn’t mean that…I mean…I did…but….” He stumbled over his words but Liz turned and eyed him carefully, pining him with a glance that caused the air to rush from his lungs.
“I know what you mean. But, I think I’ll save that secret for our cooking lesson.”
Max smiled, she wasn’t upset, and she didn’t read more into the implications of his words. Although, a part of him, a very big part of his being wanted everything with her, he would be patient just as he’d told her.
They stood facing one another, not a word passing, and he wanted to pull her into his arms, he physically ached for it. It wasn’t sexual, he thought, it was more than that. It was the simple, unadulterated fact that he craved to be near her.
The shrill of Jeremy awakening from his long nap pierced the air between them.
“Excuse me. Looks like someone wants their dinner now.” Liz smiled and moved around Max. He took a deep breath, taking in her scent. Light, fresh, and a hint of baby powder, he smiled.
He decided to wait for Liz in the living room where his son was watching cartoons, while he waited patiently or rather as patient as he could be for Liz’s dessert to be served.
“Is the cake done?” he asked the second Max walked into the room.
“Not yet. Trev, daddy has to talk to you about something for a minute.” It was now or never, Max had yet to tell Trevor about Jeremy. He was sure, however, that it would all go over well.
“Is it about the baby crying? Cause I didn’t do anything.” Trevor played with the sleeve of his father’s shirt.” Max pulled Trevor into his lap and lowered the television.
“I know you didn’t. But it’s about the baby, Liz’s baby.”
“Liz has a baby? That means he’s smaller than me, right?” Max couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“Yes, she does champ. And yes, he’s smaller than you. He’s only three months old, so he’s very little. And his name is Jeremy.”
Max watched his son, gauging his reaction, when he received none he wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Was he upset? Did it not make a difference? Maybe, Max thought too far into Trevor’s feelings for Liz. Maybe he just liked her, but there was no attachment, yet.
That wasn’t such a bad thing at all. In fact, it allowed his relationship with Liz to take the slower pace she needed.
In that next moment Liz entered the room, Jeremy perched up on her shoulder and she looked to him hesitantly. Max smiled with assurance at her and inched over on the couch, making room for her, and her son.
<center>****</center>
She was nervous, really nervous. It wasn’t as if Max didn’t know she had a son, he’d already seen him, but this was different. The environment and circumstances were different.
When she’d taken a seat next to him and Trevor on the couch, she immediately felt at ease. How did he make her feel so comfortable with just a smile, she wondered giddily.
“Is that your baby?” Trevor asked from his place on his father’s lap.
Liz turned Jeremy in her arms, so that he faced both Max and Trevor. “Yes. Trevor meet Jeremy.” Trevor’s eyes lit up at the sight of the small bundle in Liz’s arms.
“Oh, he’s so little, daddy said he would be little, but he’s really little. Can I hold him?” Trevor asked anxiously, looking first to Liz then to his father.
Max looked at Liz for permission, to which she nodded her head.
“How about you sit between your father and me, that way I can put Jeremy in your lap to hold him?” Liz said as Max moved Trevor into position. His eyes were fixed on the baby.
Liz then placed Jeremy in his arms, as Max guided Trevor on how to hold the baby. Trevor’s face grew serious for a moment before he looked up to Liz in question.
“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.
“Does he drink milkshakes too?” Liz screwed her eyebrows together in confusion, but shook her head.
“No, he’s still too small. He can’t have those for a little while.”
“Oh. Okay,” Trevor said and then looked back down at the baby and smiled.
“Daddy, he’s smiling at me.”
Max leaned over his son and looked down, and sure enough Jeremy was smiling up at his son.
“He’s never seen a baby up close, let alone held one before.” Max spoke to Liz above his son’s head.
“I figured as much. Up until three months ago, neither did I. I can understand his…his…”
“Awe?” Max finished for her.
“Yes. Exactly.” Liz smiled shyly and then since her heart had decided it wanted out of her chest, she looked back down and focused her attention on Jeremy and Trevor.
An hour later, Trevor was settled on the living room floor, playing with the toys he’d brought over with him. Liz and Max were settled on the couch; Jeremy sat in his seat at the foot of the couch. Max placed his arm behind her and she relaxed against him, watching a re-run episode of Friends.
“I missed all the seasons, so this is the only time I get to catch them. They’re not in order so half the time I’m trying to figure out who is with who, but I like it anyway.” Liz said as she tried hard to focus on the television and not Max. His scent and warmth drew her in, causing her to lose most of the logical parts of her mindset. She really wanted him to kiss her, as inappropriate as it would have been with Trevor sitting right in front of them.
“I can honestly say I’ve only seen a handful of episodes.”
“Not masculine enough for you?” she quipped lightly and he laughed. He really did have a beautiful smile.
“No. Not if you think Sponge Bob is more masculine than Friends,” he responded with a smile tugging on his lips.
“Uhm, no I’d say I’ve got you beat there.” She tilted her head up to face him, and fought to unglue her eyes from his lips.
What the hell was wrong with her!
Max leaned in a moment later, she froze and thought, he was going to kiss her! He was finally going to press his warm lips, because she knew they’d be warm, to hers. She would finally get to feel…
“I think he was a little jealous of Jeremy,” he said breaking her from her reverie.
She snapped up and leaned back a little to regard him. “Why do you say that?” she asked just as softly.
“Because he asked about the milkshake. There was a little territorial hint to his voice when he asked. I know my son, and if you’d said Jeremy could, then Trevor would have had a problem with it.” Max smiled down at her and she swallowed thickly, not taking in the full severity of what he’d just told her.
If she had, she would have realized that Trevor wasn’t the only Evans that had already fallen for her.
<center>****</center>
“What do you mean it won’t start?” Maria asked as the rain clouds rolled in above them. They were at least an hour from Roswell and in the middle of the desert, and now Mrs. Harding’s car wouldn’t start. So much for a shopping extravaganza, she thought with mock amusement. She knew better, it was New Mexico, not New York; the word fashion was not in the vocabulary.
“Maria, I think when I’m referring to the car, it should be pretty self-explanatory when I say ‘it doesn’t start’.” Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Well, what are we going to do? I missed class when they were discussing auto mechanics. Can we just call a tow truck?”
“Maria, not only do we not have any telephone reception, I don’t know where we are.”
“What?! You pulled over here, how could you not know where we are? I mean it’s the desert! I’m from Jersey; we have buildings and green grass, not…well…whatever the hell the desert has! Oh God! We’re going to get stung by those scorpion things and the snakes, there are snakes out here, oh hell and now it’s getting dark and it’s going to rain. We are as good as dead out here…” Maria continued to ramble on. She didn’t like the outdoors, she never went camping and she sure as hell didn’t take detours in the middle of the desert.
“Maria, in case you forgot, you were the one that wanted, ‘Out of Roswell’.” Liz got out of the car and waved her hands around.
“Is this far enough?” she let out brashly, and then began to laugh at the look on Maria’s face.
“And what, may I ask, is so funny? I see nothing humorous about being lost in this wasteland.” Maria crossed her arms over her chest, but looked at Liz now laughing against the side of the car, and couldn’t help but join in the hilarity of the situation.
“Don’t try and blame me, I didn’t tell you to pull off and use the restrooms in the middle of nowhere. If we’d just continued on we would be somewhere at least you knew.”
“Honestly, Maria who would have thought we’d find the only abandoned rest stop? I should have just pulled over. So now what? Do you have any ideas?” Liz asked, propping herself up on the hood of the car.
“Since we have no reception. I think we should try walking a little, lock the car up and if it starts to rain, we haul ass back here and wait until…well let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Maria didn’t want to think about spending the night in the car, in hopes that someone drove by before tomorrow. People did drive down this road, didn’t they, she wondered with a chill running up her spine. They had better.
Liz nodded and they proceeded to lock up the car, making sure the windows were all closed and then took off on foot quickly, hoping one of their cell phones would get reception within the next few minutes.
So much for a girl’s day out, next time they stay within the city limits of Roswell, Maria thought as she followed a footstep behind Liz, praying the rain didn’t come too soon.
<center>****</center>
Max knew he just saw Liz two days ago, and spoke to her that very morning, but would it hurt to see her again tonight?
He thought not.
Which is why he was on his way with both Michael and Trevor to the Crashdown. They’d just left his parents house after dinner and Max and Michael both decided they needed a little snack.
“So, how are things with Maria?” Max asked as he pulled into the parking space in front of the diner.
“They’re going. She’s leaving though, so ask me in a few days and I’ll be better able to answer that.” Michael joked and Max couldn’t help but laugh.
“Daddy, is Liz going to be here?” his son called from the backseat.
“Yes, she is.”
Michael turned to regard him. “How are things going in your neck of the woods?” Max couldn’t hide his smile.
“They’re going really good.”
At Trevor’s insistence they exited the car a moment later and walked through the front doors. Max quickly scanned the place but didn’t see Liz. Maybe she was in the back getting something, he thought with a smile. He couldn’t wait to see her.
They took a seat, in their now usual booth, he wondered if there was a reason why it was always empty. Maybe Liz had it reserved for him and Trevor, he thought with another sappy smile. He needed to get himself together.
“Hi, my name is…”
“Where’s Liz?” he couldn’t help but ask abruptly. He looked around again, and still no sign of her, where the hell was she? She’d told him just that morning she’d be working.
“Oh, ah, Liz isn’t here right now. Can I get you something to drink?”
Max narrowed his eyes in confusion and turned to Michael who looked equally as confused.
“Actually, is Patricia around?” The waitress eyed him curiously but nodded her head.
“I’ll go get her.”
“I wonder what’s up.” Michael took the words right out of his mouth. A minute later though Patricia came through the swinging back door, with Jeremy in her arms, looking a little distraught. Max’s heart sped up, something wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, standing, with Michael following his movements a second later.
“Maybe we should go to the back.” Mrs. Harding didn’t say another word, but suddenly the feeling of dread swept over Max. He tried to shake it off. In fact, the second, he, Michael and Trevor reached the back room; his heart literally froze in his chest.
“Max, this is…”
“Jim, what’s wrong?” Max asked one of his best friend’s father, and Sheriff.
“Right now we’re not really sure. Liz and Maria apparently left about nine hours ago, shopping, but no one has heard from them since.” Max swallowed thickly, willing his heart and mind to just slow down. There had to be a logical explanation for it. He turned to Michael, but Mrs. Harding was already leading Trevor upstairs with Jeremy in her arms.
“What do you mean? Have you called her cell phone? What about Maria’s?” he fired out the questions, even as he himself pulled out his own phone to call.
“Max, we did. Right now we have an APB out on the car and them. I’m sure they just ran out of gas or maybe the car broke down.” Max knew Jim was only trying to help but Max didn’t like it. He turned to Michael and asked him if he knew where they were going exactly.
“No. I mean, Maria mentioned a few stores that she’d found online and…” Michael and Max both froze and apparently had the same thought.
“The computer. It would have a history of wherever Maria looked at wouldn’t it?” he asked Michael, who knew far more about computers than he did.
“Yeah. Where’s it at?” he asked as Max turned and bolted up the stairs. He knew Liz only had one computer, and it was the laptop.
Knowing that he needed to keep in control and that he was probably panicking for nothing, he stopped just outside the door. He couldn’t let Trevor get upset, so he waited and then opened the door. No one was in sight though, but Liz’s laptop sat in the corner on her desk.
“Let me get to it.” Michael said breezing passed him. Max felt helpless, what if Michael didn’t find anything? What if they were lost or…no, he wouldn’t let his mind wander any further than them being lost and out of gas.
Yes. That was all it was.
“Can’t you go any faster?” Max asked, knowing that Michael was trying his best.
“Maxwell, relax. They’re women. They probably lost track of time and their cell phone batteries died out.” Michael said, and that made him feel infinitely better. In fact, that was more than likely the scenario.
After about ten minutes, Michael had pulled up the entire browsing history for the past three days.
“Okay, look, she went to this site twice, then she did a directions search. If I go there, it might have saved her last look up address.” It was the best shot they had, he thought as he turned and saw the Sheriff and Mr. Harding now standing in the room.
“You give me the address and I’ll send units to check there and the surrounding areas.” Jim Valenti said and Max felt better by the second. He’d known the Sheriff for seven years, ever since he’d opened his business.
“Got it! Looks like they would have taken the old highway, straight through, but…” Michael paused, once again causing Max to become unsettled. He wasn’t sure his nerves could handle much more of this.
“What?”
“They are doing construction on it. I thought Kyle mentioned that.” Max turned to the Sheriff.
“That’s right. They shut down the end, there’s a detour that leads you straight back to Roswell’s city limits. And there are only two rest stops there. If they did go that way, then we shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.” Both the Sheriff and Michael looked satisfied with the scenario.
Max however wouldn’t feel better until he saw Liz again. Not until he knew nothing happened to both her and Maria.
<center>****</center>
“It’s freezing in here. I thought this was the desert? Isn’t it supposed to be hotter than hell ninety-nine percent of the time?” Maria said hours later as they huddled together in the back seat of the car.
They had walked for half an hour before the rain began to pelt down on them; they had no choice but to head back. It was not only raining but also dark. It was bad enough being lost and having the shelter of a car, but being lost out in the middle of the desert with no shelter, was much worse.
“Maria, it gets chilly in the desert. The sun isn’t shining twenty-four hours a day. Now, we just need to hope that someone comes tonight. I might just freeze to death.” Liz said from under the blanket they’d found in the trunk of the car earlier.
“I’m hungry,” Maria grumbled and Liz couldn’t help but laugh.
“Again, I must be funnier when I’m starving.” Maria quirked up her eyebrow in confusion.
“I’m sorry. This is just bad, and I feel awful but honestly this is something that would never happen to me, if I wasn’t with you.”
“So now I’m bad luck?”
“No, Maria, you’re not. I have had so much fun with you, not just today, but ever since you got here. I never had that. I have no sisters or brothers, no one I could call a friend. So even though this sucks, and I really want to just hold my son and snuggle under the covers of my bed, I can’t be upset.” Liz smiled genuinely at her friend.
“You sure someone isn’t missing from that picture?” Maria asked knowingly and Liz blushed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Liz said, thankful the night sky hid her burning cheeks.
Maria dug through her purse and triumphantly pulled out a candy car and waved it up in the air.
“You’re making a draft!” Liz groaned out.
“I have sustenance!”
“You do? Where?” Liz pulled the covers from her head to see the brown wrapper of probably the best candy bar on the planet earth, a Snickers.
“You’re going to share that right?” Liz asked in a sweet voice.
“I think, you owe me an honest answer,” Maria teased.
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to let me starve if I don’t talk about Max?”
“Ah, I didn’t say that, but since we’re on the subject of Max, why don’t you tell me if he’s kissed you yet?”
“No,” she mumbled out and then made a grab for the candy bar.
“Ah, ah. He hasn’t swallowed your face yet? Well hell Liz, am I going to have to teach you everything?” Maria’s voice carried a smile Liz was sure she had on her face, even though she couldn’t see it.
“No. I’m not sure I’m his type.”
“His type? For what?”
“You know…kissing and stuff.” Liz shrugged in the dark.
“Kissing and stuff…well by stuff what exactly are we talking about?” Maria pulled the blanket off of them, revealing both their faces.
Liz looked out the window trying to avoid the subject. Maria wouldn’t hear of it, instead she reached out and tilted her head back to face her.
“Are you saying that you want to, well, do more than kiss with him?”
“I don’t know. But I can’t even get to the kissing part,” Liz tried not to whine, she truly did, but she was frustrated.
“I talked to my therapist and everything. I asked her if my feelings were typical.” Liz had decided to go back to therapy to try and work through her latest feelings. Mainly they had everything to do with Max.
“And she said?”
“Yes. She said that based on what I told her about Max, and about this entire situation that my feelings were on target. What does that mean?” Maria shrugged.
“I asked her the same thing. She said that just because I went through what I went through didn’t mean that my heart or my mind shut down. Maybe, she said, it has a lot to do with the fact that I wasn’t awake for most of my attack. I thought that was a good thing, so now I’m just stuck.”
“Stuck how sweetie?” Maria asked, pulling Liz’s head against her shoulder.
“I want things with Max, but only him. I don’t think that’s normal. Why him? Why after all this time, was it him? I could have met anyone online, Maria. Anyone. But it was him, and then it turns into this whole other experience when I find out he’s the guy that I saw from the diner. What are the odds?” It wasn’t a question and she was thankful Maria didn’t try and answer it.
“Liz, have you talked to Max about this?” She shook her head.
“I don’t know how. And you know he’s really easy to talk to, and I’m afraid I’ll say too much. What if, for him, this is going too fast? He said that we could take it as slow as I need to. And I do, need to take it slow. But I was thinking more like syrup than molasses.”
“I think you should just talk to him. I’m telling you, Max is crazy for you. Whether you want to admit it, or see it, it’s there. You’d have to be blind not to notice. And Trevor, bless his heart is in love with you.”
“You think so?” Liz smiled at the thought of Trevor. He held a very special place in her heart and life already.
“I know so. Liz, I know this isn’t easy and you can’t just pick up and act like you’re life before doesn’t matter. It’s who you are, it’s a big part of you and so I can understand the constrictions it puts on you. But, I really think you should just go with what feels right. We spend our whole lives trying to figure things out, so whether you choose today, or tomorrow, or next year, the struggle won’t end, and it won’t get easier.”
“When did you get so smart?” Liz asked teasingly.
“Please girl, I was born this way. And besides, every now and then we all have to throw caution to the wind, and go with the flow.” Maria smiled and Liz snatched the candy bar from her hands.
“Give it back! You still haven’t told me how you’re going to get Max to swallow your face!”
“I’m not telling, because I don’t have a plan and I don’t want to have my face swallowed! I just want a kiss! And I’m hungry!” Liz grumbled out as she tore at the wrapper, Maria however dove over her to snatch it back.
They struggled for a few minutes until the headlights of an oncoming truck illuminated the interior of the car, distracting Maria.
“We’re saved!” Maria shouted as Liz sunk her teeth into the sweet, chewy bar.
A minute later, the truck stopped, both Max and Michael climbed out.
“Oh, Juliet, it’s Romeo!” Maria said in a singsong voice as she climbed over the drivers seat as Max knocked on the window.
“Are you guys okay?” he asked, somewhat breathless.
Maria answered by opening the door, the rain poured in. Max kneeled down by the car to look for Liz.
“Don’t worry she’s back there. She stole my candy bar and is now devouring it,” she said and Liz just smiled and waved at Max. Then Maria added, “Without sharing!”
“I can’t help…you…got the…door,” Liz said between chewing. She was thirsty now and Max looked really good wet. Did she just think that? Obviously lack of food works wonders on the mind, she thought with a smile.
While Michael pulled Maria from the car to check over her even though she insisted she was fine and didn’t need a ‘pat down’, Max climbed into backseat with her.
Max eyed her for a minute, then she asked, “What, do I have chocolate on my face?” He couldn’t help but smile and pulled her into his lap.
“You had me so worried, you know that?” She shook her head and said, “Sorry.”
“Next time you go somewhere, you take my car,” he rushed out, pushing her hair away from her face. The candy bar she’d just eaten, long discarded somewhere on the seat beside them.
“Max, the car just stopped working and we…”
“I don’t care. I was so damn worried about you. I didn’t even know where you went for sure, and…it was hours. I felt like…like…” She watched him search for the words and then he paused and looked directly at her.
And then, just like she’d seen in the movies a thousand times, only this time was better because it was happening to her, he cupped her cheek, dragging his thumb over it gently, and then without any other warning he closed the distance between them and then…
Stopped
Liz was about to protest, openly, but instead Max pinned her with a serious look. She swallowed audibly.
“Is this too fast for you?” he asked and bent his head even closer to hers. She shook her head and waited until she felt his lips press against hers. Waited until she felt her first real kiss.
And then it came, sweet, moist, warm, and perfect.
It wasn’t until Max placed his hand at the base of her neck, tilting it so that he could slide his lips over hers, deeper, that she realized he was trying to swallow her face.
Suddenly, she thought getting her face swallowed wasn’t so bad after all, not bad at all.
TBC…
) Thank you for letting me entertain you for a few minutes at a time.