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Part 10
Isabel spent the remainder of the Monday confined in her room, laying on her back and staring up at the ceiling, in a surreal silence. Just when it was getting late in the evening , Max and Michael succeeded to drive her out, almost coercing her to have a bite of some fried chicken and a sample of one sandwich with cheese and Tabasco.
Although she didn’t feel better in any sense, she was pretty adamant on getting back to work the next Wednesday, mostly to free herself from her two stalking flatmates.
Then, time started to rush, hour after hour in a quick and yet even pace. The days just flew by, so that the daily routine would get better.
All too soon it was Friday again, and nothing apparently was different from the last week, even if so many things had changed since then. All the guys were not on very good terms with each other anymore. It felt like something was broken among them in some way, especially between Max and Liz who hadn’t even talked to each other the past few days. Neither of them had tried very hard to meet the other one halfway, essentially.
Only one of the gang could be content with the events that occurred during the previous week, truly promising for his next future: Kyle.
Friday evening came and he had been pacing the living room confines for over thirty minutes, holding the piece of paper Tracey had given him on Sunday in his right hand, while the left one grabbed his cell phone.
Once Maria came home from work, whistling a song by U2 as she stomped past the front door, she spotted her friend lost in his own thoughts, just a moment before he slumped down in the couch.
“What are you doing?” she asked with her hands on her hips, walking up to him.
“Nothing,” he mumbled in embarrassment, trying to conceal his right hand behind his back. But it was too late, Maria’s radar was already working on it.
“Mmm, numbers! Now that’s sooo cool !” she teased him, pressing her lips in a mockery line and peeking down at the note. “I’ll bet it turns out a new Zen discipline or something. Uh, let me guess! Maybe, according to the newest Buddha theories you can cleanse yourself just by contemplating some numerical sequence, right?”
“No, actually this is just a phone number,” he huffed as he slowly placed his hand on his own lap, lightly frowning at her tease.
“Interesting!” Maria remarked as she took a seat next to him on the couch arm. “Well, you have to dial the number in earnest if you do want to call someone,” she explained as she went on studying him. “It can’t be enough just dreaming of it in your imagination. No way. You have to move your fingers, buddy!” She pointed blatantly at his cell phone. “Understand now? All in all it’s pretty easy, you know.”
Kyle snorted, wearing a confused face. “It’s just… I … I don’t know whether I’m going to call or not, yet .”
Maria rolled her eyes at his comment. ‘Why do men always have to be so dense?’ she mused to herself. “Okay, let’s try to handle that,” she breathed with a cocked eyebrow. “Whose number is this to begin with?”
“Um, well, I met this girl on Sunday evening,” he responded, raising his gaze hesitantly to hers. “Her car broke down and I gave her a ride to her place. So she asked me out and …”
“… and she let you have her number,” Maria continued for him. At his slow nod she just sighed. “Fine. What does she look like? Fat, ugly and hunchbacked, huh?”
Kyle blushed as every memory of Sunday evening came back flooding through his mind. Tracey’s appealing lips, her sensuous hips, her well-shaped legs. “No! No. She looks like … a goddess!”
Maria’s eyes went wide. “What the hell are you waiting for, then?” she hissed, highlighting her scolding tone. “Call. Her. Now!
“I’m not so sure I’m going to enjoy this,” he stated in a low voice, racking his brain over and over with indecision. “What if she and I … what if we don’t get on that well with each other? What if we don’t find anything to talk about? Gee, it would be just uncomfortable!” he exclaimed as he bit on his lip.
“Hey, get a grip, man! You don’t need to get married with her, okay?” the blonde girl replied, patting supportively his shoulder. “Listen, you can just go out for a date and never meet her again, if the two of us don’t hit it off well. On the other hand, if you don’t give her a chance, you’ll never figure out what might happen. It can possibly be the chance of your lifetime!”
Kyle slowly nodded his head. Maria did have a point here. There was something else tormenting him, though, and he was fully aware of it. “That’s not all. I … I don’t want to act like an utter asshole. I mean, going out on a date, having fun while Isabel is going through a lot of … pain.”
Maria stared at him for a while, every hint of mockery suddenly abandoning her face. “Kyle, you know her even better than I do . Izzy would never expect us to be weighed down or watching our actions because of her…all right?” She paused as Kyle stared back at her, his eyes gleaming with unreadable emotions. “Do you think she’s going to approve when you don’t go out with a ‘goddess’ just because of her?”
“ I don’t think so,” the answer surged fast and loud out of him.
Isabel hadn’t ever been that type of a person who loved to be rolling in someone’s commiseration. Even though what he felt for her was much more different - much more intense - than commiseration…
“See, your problem doesn’t even exist anymore!” Maria snapped her fingers, a small smile in her chipper voice. “Just do it: stretch your fingertips, clear your throat and … CALL THE GIRL!!!” she shouted in his ear, causing him to jerk away from her in order to preserve his own hearing.
After that, she pulled up and silently made her way to the kitchen, her empty stomach commanding her attention.
As soon as she left the room, Kyle found himself back where he had started, with the note in one hand and his mobile in the other one. Plus, his heartbeat was speeding up more and more as he tried to collect himself.
That was when he made the decision: Maria was right. He would take the chance, no matter what. Without wasting another moment, he dialed the number ever so slowly, afraid of making some mistake in the process. He listened as the cell rang on the other end, until someone picked up at the third ring.
“Hello?”
It was her. He had to take in several breaths before replying.
“Hi Tracey. This is Kyle here …”
*~* ~*
Later the same evening
The Book & Co.’s employees couldn’t wait to get out of the book store as soon as possible. Luke, Kate and Celina had already made themselves scarce, sneaking out of the front door at 7:01 pm, whereas Liz and Sara remained in the dressing room and finished up changing.
“Can you feel it?” Sara inquired as she zipped her skirt up, at the same time maneuvering herself into a pair of high-heels shoes.
“What?” Liz inquired back, her eyebrows arching in puzzlement as she tugged her jeans up her own legs. She was having a hard time in the effort to keep her own balance while changing back into her normal clothes.
“Just nothing!” Sara beamed with a sweep of her arm. “That’s it! When that bitch isn’t moving around, life couldn’t be more perfect!” She was clearly hinting at the fact that Annie Winslow hadn’t been showing up in the bookshop since the previous week.
Liz worriedly eyed the closed door, before gently scowling at Sara. “Shh, Paul is still staying out there! Don’t you want him to hear you, do you?”
Sara leveled Liz a meaningful look as she buttoned up the front of her blouse. “Oh please! As if he doesn’t know the way his sister bosses us around!” she commented with a smirk. Liz just sighed in agreement. “Uh, I almost forgot! How about you and me go and take Susie from my mother’s once we are out? My sweetheart would be ecstatic to meet you. She really, really likes you, Lizzie!”
Liz’s heart swelled up with tenderness at Sara’s words. Susie was an adorable little girl, so cute and lively she could light up even your darkest day just being next to you. “That would be great! Actually, I kind of adore your daughter!” Her lips curved in a full smile, her eyes twinkling as she put on her leather jacket.
“Believe me, it’s a mutual thing!” Sara said after shutting her locker with a thud. “Okay, let’s go and give her a wonderful treat!”
“Okay!” Just when Liz was about to retrieve her own purse from her locker and turning around, a soft knock came from behind the shut door.
“Come in!” was Sara’s hasty invitation.
The moment her voice wafted trough the air, a stylish Paul Winslow made his way into the room, dressed in his newest Armani black suit, his matched button down shirt and no tie around his elegant neck.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your ‘girl talk’,” he started with his usual gentleness. Taking a few steps forward, he glanced between the two girls, until he focused on Liz as if he was suddenly oblivious of everything else. “Please, can Liz and I have a word in private here, if you don’t mind?” he told Sara even though he didn’t take his eyes off Liz.
“O… okay. I’m leaving!” Sara replied in a sheepish giggle. Then she leaned in to whisper in Liz’s ear, “I’m waiting for you outside.” Since Liz imperceptibly nodded, she waved at Paul before rushing past the door.
Liz watched her friend getting our of the room and turned to Paul who was still staring at her “I’m all ears,” she muttered with a note of anticipation as he strode to her.
When he was just in front of her, he paused for a moment. “Did I do something wrong?” he almost murmured, loud enough for her to hear him.
Liz’s doe eyes snapped up to him. “What? Something wrong?” She looked pretty much astonished, and she truly was.
“I guess I must have offended you some way,” Paul gazed her right in the eyes as if he wanted to dig deep within her soul. “I swear I didn’t mean it, Liz.” He paused again, a dismal expression all over his face. “I need to apologize to you for doing anything you thought I could have done.”
The animated conversation Paul had had with Annie on Saturday, which Liz had overheard in spite of herself, was resounding through her mind all over again. Which was why she began to feel a bit too edgy. Added to this, the way things between her and Max had been deteriorating during the past week obviously didn’t help.
“Wait, wait! Apologize to me for doing what? You didn’t do anything wrong, Paul.”
“Really? So why are you keeping me at arm’s length?” he asked and stepped closer to her. Liz didn’t feel like she could utter a word . “I thought we were friends, good friends . We used to talk to each other, we used to laugh, and now …you’re openly avoiding me. Please, can you just tell me why?” he begged in a whisper.
“It’s just complicated.” Liz squeezed her eyes closed, before blinking them open again. She just figured out she wouldn’t be able to deny what Paul had confronted her with. She really was avoiding him. She really was keeping him at arm’s length. Then again, she couldn’t tell him why. “I’m going through a sort of strange period.”
“A strange period?” Paul repeated as he scanned each and every single inch in her face through slit eyes.
“Yep… strange.” She pulled away all of a sudden and looked back, pretending to be looking for something in the nearby area. His lingering gaze, the way he was practically ogling at her right now, could just feed her rising suspicions about him. It was all she needed to put together two and two. Had he really a crush on h…?
“I’m sorry, Liz ,” Paul’s quiet voice cut off the train of her thoughts. She looked around in time to see him leaning his head down. “I realized I sounded too indiscreet.”
“Paul …” Liz called out before he could go ahead, even if she didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t worry, I perfectly understand.” His jaw line slightly clenched as he buried his hands in the front pockets of his posh jacket, walking back towards the door. “Let me just tell you one more thing . Whatever you might have thought about me, just remember that I respect what you are. I respect who you are and people you choose to be with. I know where I’m not allowed to go. I know I can’t cross the lines and trespass on someone else’s land. I’ll try my best to never forget that.” He took a last look at her, then reached out for the door handle, a faint smile parting his lips. “See you on Sunday morning for the meeting with Mr. Brown.”
When Liz was left all alone in the very silent bookshop she wondered if Paul Winslow had just read her mind like an open book . ‘I know I can’t cross the lines and trespass on someone else’s land.’ That sounded definitively self-explanatory to her.
How did he know that she knew? Was the truth written all over her face? Probably he had simply got a glimpse of her on Saturday afternoon. Probably he had presumed her stopping by at Book & Co. from some clue and yet hadn’t talked to her about it. Probably … but she wouldn’t bet on it. What if it wasn’t like that?
She couldn’t believe in nonsense like reading mind or anything, could she? She couldn’t believe in such a load of crap, could she? Truth to tell, she couldn’t believe in aliens either, before being brought back to life by one of them, in September 1999, and after that falling in love with him. So this thought wasn’t going to reassure her at all.
“Hey! What did ‘Mr. Stunning Eyes’ just tell you? Well, perhaps I’d rather say ‘Mr. All-Around Stunning’! I dare anyone to find a single not-stunning cell in his person. He looks like a total work of art!”
Liz hadn’t realized yet she was out of the bookshop, elbowing her way trough the packed sidewalk, until she heard Sara’s voice bombarding her with nonstop words.
“Hm, actually he didn’t say anything that important. He just needed to tell me … this …” she stuttered and cleared her throat. “You know, this absolutely insignificant thing.”
The fact itself was that Liz was trying to go off the point, in order to elude the real question, and yet had somehow managed to stir up the flames of Sara’s curiosity.
“Ahhh! I guess he needed to tell you this ‘absolutely insignificant thing’ ,” Sara parroted, folding her arms over her chest, “making goo goo eyes at you, mmm?”
“He wasn’t making goo goo eyes at me!” Liz shook her head in denial, a little more vigorously than normal . “He was just … gentle.”
“Gentle? Are you kidding? He was just about devouring you with all he had!” Sara gawked at her as they sauntered side by side. “How lucky can you get? Two of the hottest men alive, your hubby and your boss, drooling over you. Gee, I really wish I were in your shoes every so often!” she added in an envious and yet frivolous tone.
Nevertheless, Sara had so many good reasons to be envious of Liz. In fact, describing her sentimental life as disastrous would only be a brave euphemism, even without the exception of Susan’s father. She had always fallen in love with the wrong guy, to cut a long story short.
“Whatever!” Liz just shrugged, turning a deaf ear to her friend before shifting her head briskly. “Susie likes ice cream, doesn’t she?” she asked candidly, catching sight of the ice cream parlour sign straight across the street. “What about we go and get for her a cup of chocolate ice cream with vanilla syrup on top?” she offered to divert Sara’s attention from herself.
Without waiting for any reply, Liz was already heading to the opposite sidewalk, dragging Sara along with her.
*~* ~*
Friday night
In this tepid Autumn night, Liz was having such an awesome dream she wished it could last forever. It felt so wonderfully real, so exciting for both her body and spirit she was nearly breathless. It had all began while she lied peacefully on her side, her back to the balcony , the thin cotton blanket covering most of her relaxed body.
Liz languidly huddled herself into a little ball, her knees almost touching her breast in a fetal position. Just then she felt herself startling as something began to slide down her outer arm, sending goose-flesh all over it. It felt feather light and very warm, brushing against her flesh. Unable to swallow back a sigh even as she kept on dreaming, she wondered what was happening to her, her pulse pounding feverishly under her skin.
It couldn’t be her satin nightdress stroking like that against her arm, since it was sleeveless. It couldn’t be the blanket either, since it felt wholly different. Whatever it was had just moved up on her bared collarbone, making her whimper and reach behind her in reaction.
At the same time, Max lied in his part of the bed, having the best erotic dream of his life. A sweet tempting hand, which he was so familiar with, slithered up over the inside of his muscular thighs, searching between them for his gloriously hardened cock.
In his dream she still had her back to him, but he wanted her to look at him, so that he could see passion beginning to burn in her dark eyes. He also wanted to look back at her, savoring her with every sense of his, with all of him. In less than no time he grabbed her to roll her over, pulling her against him before lowering his body to hers.
Max got rid of her satin nightdress in one smooth motion, uncovering her naked skin beneath that, apart from her lace covered mound. Propped up on his elbow, he let his hands explore her delicate curves, his lust filled eyes attracted to her breasts just like bees to honey. A split second later, his hands were palming her small globes, cupping them from undersides, his thumbs teasing her nipples into hard buds as she let out a slight moan.
Liz’s hands weren’t idle either, she craved to return to him the same pleasure he was giving her. She greedily slid her lithe hands under his pajamas, roaming them over his sculpted abs and athletic hips, where she caressed him in circular strokes, eliciting a husky growl from him. Then she inched her fingers higher onto his gorgeous body, cherishing his large chest and his broad shoulders with slow caresses as she went.
His shirt was soon in her way, so she made short work of it and threw it away somewhere on the ground. By the time she refocused on him, her hands brushed their way from his torso, down his sides, before gliding gently behind his brawny back, causing him to quiver under her palms. When she got to the top of his briefs, she ran her hand onto the elastic band as she toyed with it, traveling her fingertips over and under the fabric just to drive him insane with desire. Finally, she decided it was enough and moved her tiny hand to his pulsing groin, where she wanted it to be at the very most.
Just when Liz was going to cup him through his briefs, Max leant over her to capture her mouth with his, pushing his tongue past her lips. His hand went under her head to pull her face up against his and keep her still, the other one wrapping around her waist to pin her between his firm body and the mattress. By kissing her, he did unbelievable things to her. Entangling his tongue with hers, he rubbed it against the underside of hers, nibbling and sucking on her lips, all the while groaning into her welcoming mouth.
Once he pulled away from her swollen lips, he led his mouth to her chin, trailing kisses down to her neck and up to her earlobe, where he allowed his tongue to lick her scorching skin. Liz’s eyes fluttered closed as she gasped at the insufficient amount of oxygen reaching her lungs. When she barely caught her breath, a string of serrated moans escaped her deepest throat, starting fireworks behind her eyelids. That was all Max needed to cave in to his own hunger and let himself go. He felt even through this mind-blowing dream he couldn’t hold on any longer. As a natural result, his right hand wandered down to her flat belly and slid past her panties, moving aside the lacy hem to make room for his incursion.
When he entered her using two fingers she felt so wet and warm it almost took his breath away, his starving eyes silently begging her to touch him once again. Liz raised her head and stretched up, more than glad to fulfill his voiceless plea, her other hand pressing into the mattress for leverage. But after his thumb brushed over her nub, his fingers pumping simultaneously inside of her, she just couldn’t make any other movement. She arched her back, her hips bucking up into his hand, her moans turning into hoarse cries of delight that rapidly would send her over the edge.
Then everything suddenly quietened down in the room, two pairs of eyes looking into each others, his hand still inside her heat, their heavy breathes trying to return to normal.
The dream was over. And the most shocking thing was for both of them to comprehend that it hadn’t been a dream. Their half-undressed bodies, together with the heap of clothes laying disregarded on the floor, gave them a pretty thorough idea about what had just happened.
It had been real.
Max and Liz spent a few minutes just staring at each other, no word needed to be said as they wondered how they could have gone so far, incredibly mixing reality to dream without even realizing it. Or instead, they had realized it and just pretended not to go on doing what they were doing?
Before they could get any answer Max broke away from her and stood up with a start, walking up to where his pajamas were laying on the floor. Then he bent over to pick the shirt up and put it on swiftly, the bulge between his legs sticking out from his outline even in the darkness.
“Max?” Liz was still out of her breath as she sat up, pulling the sheets over her bare breasts. “Where are you going?” she asked, watching him as he stumbled towards the door, after retrieving a blanket from the closet.
“G-getting some sleep on the c-couch,” he stammered with his eyes lowered, conscious that if he had looked up at her just now he wouldn’t make it.
Liz frowned, resisting the fierce urge to yell at him. “What …? Why?”
Max clinched his jaw as he approached the door. “Because … I just have to,” he answered, pressing the blanket tighter under his arm. At her nervous giggle that followed his words, he abruptly swirled around and let his eyes meet hers again. He could tell they were still charged with passion, just like his.
“God Liz, you know what’s gonna happen if I don’t leave!” Max finally said, before biting down the loud moan threatening to bubble forth at the sight of her nipples poking against the sheets.
“Well, I’d be okay with it,” Liz whispered shamelessly as she stared at his huge erection making her mouth water.
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again as if he had changed his mind at the last minute, an odd look coming over his face.
“I wouldn’t,” Max just replied, his eyes lowering again. The moment was broken, and he was back to his ordinary – ordinary as for the very current days – ice-cold demeanor.
Seconds later he stumbled out of the room, falling limp against the wall to keep from collapsing. The living room seemed so faraway from him and his legs weren’t responding anymore. ‘Will I never make it to that fucking couch?’ he wondered as he took his first step across the soundless hallway.
*~* ~*
Friday night, in the far side of the city
Annie Winslow drove her Mercedes SLK into an unusually desert San Francisco, passing up few outlying districts. Dawn was still far-off to come, so she rarely bumped into occasional night drivers, in such a suburban area. Just as planned.
She hastily pulled up to the entrance of a blind alley and turned the engine off; at the very end of the alley there was a blank wall, pretty out of sight to them who drove along the main street. She cautiously looked around, checking the whole neighbourhood. There wasn’t a living soul. Just as planned.
As she marched across the pathway, her face grimaced with impatience until she stopped in front of the wall and waited for something to happen. Her foot was already tapping the asphalt when a white-lightening glow appeared from on highest sky, piercing the obscurity and mirroring all over the wall, just before her eyes.
Annie took a quick step back in order to get a better view of the blazing images starting to materialize across the wall: three big circles, firstly positioned in a vertical line, then moving around and fusing into a bigger, brighter one. Inches below, slightly on the right, a date became visible and flashed blue:
October, 8, 2004
Thirty seconds later, the glow blurred suddenly, an evanescent haze hiding the wall. Thirty seconds more and the haze disappeared as well.
“Two weeks only,” Annie spoke to herself, making her way back to the car, a wicked sneer in her voice. “We are almost there …”
Now, nobody would hinder her plan anymore, neither Paul or anyone else. Now it was just a matter of time.
Just as planned.
TBC
Romantic Strawberry Sexual Dreamer 
so , if you're not into it, please don't read the next part! 