Title: Lizmas
Author: Drogyn
Rating: TEEN
Type: CC M/L All
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell nor any of the characters in it. No disrespect is intended towards its owners and creators.
Summary: Until Christmas last year, Liz Parker was the sunshine of the office and everybody’s best friend. However, in the past year she transformed into a cold and bitter woman who liked nothing and hated everything, most especially Christmas. What happened last year and what will happen when she meets a guy who makes her feel again, around Christmas of all times?
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Have fun reading this Christmas fic. It has three parts and the other parts will be posted posted today and tomorrow (maybe one day later if I can't find time on Christmas day). For everybody who's reading We Hate Men and Shattered Illusions, this is the reason why there's been no updates. I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. Forgive me?
Have fun reading and don't forget to let me know what you think.
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Part 1
"No way, not a chance, nuh-uh!" Billy said disbelievingly as he looked in the eyes of a very serious looking Alex Whitman. This was, quite literally, unbelievable. "Really?" he asked again, still not quite being able to believe what he heard.
Alex smiled and comfortably leaned back in his office chair. "How many times do I need to say it?"
"Until I believe it, and to tell you the truth, that could take awhile. You're seriously saying that you met Isabel Evans and that she even talked to you?" Billy asked again, his eyes as wide as the first time Alex told him.
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Alex asked. The moment those words left his mouth, he could already hear the numerous insults and sarcastic comments pile up in Billy’s head. "On second thought, don't answer that.”
"Hey, if you say it happened, it happened,” Billy said with a smirk, making it clear that he still didn’t believe a word Alex just said. “So what happened then? Did the two of you get back to your apartment and uh... get to know each other a little better," Billy said, not noticing the unamused look on Alex' face until he finished saying it. Clearly, Alex didn't think it was all that funny. "Okay relax dude; I was only kidding. It’s not like an international supermodel like Isabel Evans would jump in the sack with someone like you."
Alex squinted his eyes and pretended to think hard. "I’m trying to remember… why are the two of us friends again?"
“Because I make a boring weekday more fun. Besides, would you rather be friends with the Grinch?" Billy said, pointing his thumb towards the only door in the office, indicating the office across the hall. "No, I didn't think so. That bitch has us working over twelve hours a day, just because she's too cheap to hire an extra programmer. Seriously, if I didn't really need the money, I'd be out of this dump."
"But you do need the money, so shut up and get the fuck back to work!" Liz' voice sounded through the room. Billy took an intake of breath and looked at the door where Liz Parker now stood with her arms in her side and a severely annoyed expression on her face. "Well?!" Liz said loudly when Billy just stared at her.
"Sorry, we were just..." Billy said, not really sure how to finish the sentence. He could feel droplets of sweat forming on his forehead as Liz was giving him an impatient questioning stare. "Sorry."
Liz sighed deeply. "Great. You’re sorry; my life is now complete," she said sarcastically. "How far are we?" she asked, turning sharply towards Alex.
"We're on schedule," Alex assured her, offering her a smile.
"On schedule? Alright, keep going," Liz said, satisfied with the answer.
“Uh Liz..." Billy cautiously asked. "It’s been over seven pm. We’ve been here for over eleven hours already.” Across the room, Alex was already smirking. True, he didn't like Liz' dictatorship any better than Billy did, but it was just so funny to see that macho persona crumble every time Liz walked in.
“Your point being?” Liz asked sharply. “You have somewhere else to be? Something more important than securing your job?” From any other person, this could be interpreted in a number of ways, but with Liz, Alex knew very well what this meant. He worked for her long enough to know.
Billy didn’t know Liz that well though and automatically uttered the words he really shouldn't have said. “Well, I was kind of hoping to spend some time with my family tonight. It’s almost Christmas, you know.”
Alex noticed that Liz was squinting her eyes and her nostrils flared. Alex knew from experience that this was definitely not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. “He’s just trying to say that we’re getting a little tired.” Liz’ eyes opened wide and a frown appeared on her face and Alex knew that he better choose his next words wisely. “Don’t you have any Christmas shopping to do? The stores don’t close for another two hours,” he said with a genuine smile.
Liz rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. “Fine, go,” Liz said in a dissapointed and slightly angry tone before walking out of the office, heading to her own one.
“Pfff. Like she has any friends to shop for,” Billy muttered under his breath. His expression changed drastically when Liz stopped dead in her tracks a few steps outside of the office. “No way did she hear that,” Billy whispered to Alex.
“You really should know when to keep your mouth shut,” Alex hissed. Liz was known to have a fiery temper and a very good hearing; not a good combination in this case. Both of them took an inhale of breath when Liz looked at them over her shoulder, and they let out a breath of relief when she turned away and continued her walk towards the office and slammed the door behind her.
“Well, I’m gonna count my blessings and get the hell out of here before Darth Parker changes her mind,” Billy said before shutting down his computer and walking towards the coatrack in the corner of the office.
“Look, I know Liz is not easy…” Alex started.
“Oh come on man! Don’t start defending her,” Billy said, trying to keep his voice down. “I’m outta here. See you tomorrow.” And with that, he quickly exited the office and walked out the building.
Alex just sat there for a minute. Liz was acting even grumpier than usual. Not that she was usually cheerful, but lately it seemed to get worse and worse. After gathering his courage, he stood up and walked towards Liz’ office where he knocked on the door twice.
“Come in!” Liz voice sounded from inside the office. She sounded pissed; really pissed, but Alex figured he couldn’t back down anymore and slowly opened the door. Liz was sitting behind her desk, staring at her computer screen.
“Hi Liz,” Alex said, trying not to sound as nervous as he was. Angry Liz definitely rated high on the creepout scale.
“What do you want, Alex?” Liz asked with a frown without looking away from the screen.
“Are you alright, Liz? You seem a little… bitchier than usual,” he said, holding his breath when he realized which exact words just left his mouth.
“I’m fine,” Liz said flatly, finally looking away from the screen and towards him. She looked tired; also more than usual.
“Why don’t you go home too? You look like you could use some rest,” Alex tried. He knew he was pushing it, but for some reason, he cared about his bitchy boss.
“Maybe. Goodnight Alex,” Liz said forcefully. Alex turned around, ready to leave, when Liz spoke again. “And Alex?… don’t think that just because you’re Maria’s brother that you can call me a bitch. Do it again and we’re gonna have a problem. Comprende?”
“Right,” Alex said with a nod. “I don’t even know why I bothered.”
“Don’t you have a cat at home who needs feeding or something?” Liz asked sharply, intending to get him out of her office as fast as she could. She could tell that she hit a nerve when a look of hurt flashed over his face.
It was gone as fast as it came though. “Do you get extra money for each sarcastic comment you make or something?” Alex asked. “Or do you just like your employees to hate you?”
Liz looked at Alex for a second. “Don’t pretend like you know what it means to run a company, because you don’t.”
Alex couldn’t stifle a snort. “Oh please! For some reason, you’re angry and hurt and the only thing that comforts you is taking it out on the people who work for you. What could possible have happened to make you act like such a bitch?!”
“Are you done?” Liz asked through her teeth, her expression betraying immense anger.
“I’m worried about you, Liz,” Alex said sympathetically, “I’ve known you for years and the last year, you’ve changed. Everybody used to love you, and now everybody hates you. What do you have to say to that?”
“Maybe you’re forgetting that I can fire you,” Liz said.
“You can’t fire me; I have a contract and my work has been nothing but first-rate,” Alex responded. “So don’t think you can hurt me or anything. Just talk to me,” he continued, smiling inwardly at his growing confidence.
Liz narrowed her eyes and looked at him. Without taking her eyes off him, she picked up the phone and pushed a few numbers. “Hello Billy, this is Liz Parker. Don’t bother coming in tomorrow; you’re fired,” she said calmly before hanging up, leaving a probably very confused Billy on the other end. “Our conversation’s over, Alex. Better get back to work; I heard that Billy is not coming back to work tomorrow.”
“Wha… what did you do that for?” Alex asked, completely shocked.
“To make a point. Now get out of my office,” Liz said slowly and softly.
Alex walked closer to Liz’ desk and looked right in her eyes. “Come on Liz; the guy has a wife and a two-year-old son. You can’t fire him two days before Christmas. You can’t possibly be that heartless.”
“I’m making a business decision. Why are you still here?” Liz said stoically.
Confused and shocked, Alex stepped out of the office. “What did I just do?” he whispered to himself.
~~
“How about this?” Max asked, keeping up a crimson sweater.
Tess looked at the sweater critically before she shook her head. “No, that’s not it.”
Max smiled and with a sigh, he hung the sweater back on the rack. That was about the twentieth perfectly fine Christmas gift that didn’t pass Tess’ high standards. “So what’s wrong with this one?”
“It’s ugly,” Tess just said, scanning around the store like an eagle looking for its prey. “There!” she said loudly and quickly moved her small figure through a large crowd to make her way towards a rack of brightly colored shirts. She then took a light-purple one from the rack and showed it to Max, who seemed to be having more trouble to push through the crowd. “What do you think?”
“That depends. Did you hear any rumors of my dad being gay?” Max asked, raising his eyebrows.
Tess punched him in the shoulder playfully, making Max flinch. “Not for him; for me.”
Max decided to keep his pride and not make a comment about how hard Tess could hit, even though he could have sworn he could already feel a bruise forming on his shoulder. “Isn’t Christmas shopping about buying gifts for, you know, other people?”
Tess smiled at Max. “I’m just giving you some ideas to prevent getting a gift like last year’s.”
“What? You didn’t like Buddhism for Beginners?” Max said, barely able to keep from laughing at the thought of last year. The whole gang was there and everyone was enjoying themselves, until Tess opened a package and found Buddhism for Beginners with a nice red ribbon around it. Max had never admitted that he was the one who bought it, but Tess knew anyway. For a second, he wondered if Advanced Buddhism was also available.
“Very funny Max. I spent an hour explaining to my dad that his only daughter was not converting to buddhism,” Tess said, frowning just thinking about it. “It took him two months for him to stop saying young grasshopper after every sentence. I swear to God Max, if you try a thing like that again, I’ll buy you a stack of gay porn for Christmas and watch you try to explain that to the parentals.”
Max studied Tess, who was looking right back at him, and tried to determine whether or not she was kidding. She most definitely wasn’t. “So, light-purple huh?” he said with an embarrassed smile, pointing to the shirt Tess was still holding in her hands.
“That’s called violet. Honestly, do you always have to be such a guy?” Tess said with a sigh, smiling as she hung back the shirt.
“Violet is not a color; it’s a flower. And while we’re on that subject; peach, lemon, lime and pumpkin are fruits, chocolate is a snack and salmon is a fish. None of those are colors.”
“And you wonder why you’re still single?” Tess scoffed.
Max smirked as he looked back at Tess. “Must I make the obvious statement?” Max asked. Tess hadn’t been on a date since Easter last year, a fact that he knew she was more than a little embarrassed of.
“You're not trying to depress me during our Christmas shopping, are you?” Tess asked with an uncomfortable smile.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said before changing the subject, “Now, I still need a present for my dad and you still need something to give Michael and please please don’t let it be another Metallica CD. Why don’t you try a nice Mozart or something?”
“Because I don’t hate Michael,” Tess said pointedly.
“Wait until you spend an entire day with him,” Max countered with a smile. “After ten hours of Metallica, you’ll be just about ready to throw his stereo out the window, just to stop the noise it’s making.”
“I think you’re exaggerating… but very well, no Metallica,” Tess said, smiling at Max’s relieved smile. “Got any suggestions what to get him then?”
“Tess, I’ve been looking for a present for my father for the last hour. The man is not picky, has a lot of hobbies and still I can’t find a decent present for him. I am not exactly the person who can give you shopping tips.”
“Well, what did you get Michael?” Tess asked.
“The DVD of Crouching Tiger. I talked to Michael a few days ago and he said he accidentially ruined his copy.”
Tess looked at Max with raised eyebrows. “Didn’t I hear him call it Crapping Tiger one time?”
“I’m sure he meant it in the most affectionate way,” Max said with a wide smirk. “And I threw in a Metallica T-shirt just in case.”
“That’s probably a wise decision. But that doesn’t really help me with my problem.”
“Alright,” Max said pointedly, “Why don’t we switch? I will buy a gift for Michael and you will buy a gift for my dad.”
“You’re supposed to buy the Christmas presents yourself,” Tess scolded him before sighing. “But on the other hand, I really don’t feel like spending another two hours in this place. I’d much rather sit at Valenti’s with a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie.”
“Amen,” Max said, licking his lips. The apple pie at Valenti’s Diner was definitely the best one in town. On the other hand, he knew very well that the real reason Tess wanted to go to Valenti’s had more to do with the manager there than with the apple pie.
As if on queue, both of them reached blindly in the shelf behind them. Max’s hands grabbed a black sweater and Tess held a light-blue tie in her hands. “Okay, done,” the both of them said in unison.
~~
The restaurant looked nice and cozy. It was the kind of restaurant that she liked to eat at, but still she didn’t particularly like this one. With determination, she walked towards the reception and waited impatiently for about twenty seconds before anyone seemed to notice her. One of the waiters quickly hurried towards her and took her coat and hung it on the coatrack. “Good evening miss Parker. Miss DeLuca is waiting for you at table nine.”
Liz narrowed her eyes and scanned through the room. “Funny, I don’t see any numbers magically floating above the tables. Or am I supposed to memorize the tablesetting before coming here?”
The waiter remained calm and friendly, obviously being used to these sort of things. “My apologies. Please let me escort you to your table ma’am,” he said in a friendly voice and escorted Liz to a table across the room where she saw Maria talking loudly on her cellphone.
“Can I just tell you how much I really don’t care?” Maria spoke into the phone, still oblivious to Liz, who was now sitting across the table. “Okay, we’re done talking!” Maria said loudly before hanging up the phone, a severely annoyed expression on her face. Only then did she see Liz sitting there and Maria shot her an apologetic smile.
“Denny again?” Liz just asked.
“You guessed it,” Maria said with a sigh.
“You’d think that you throwing a vase at his head would be his queue to stop calling,” Liz said with a smirk.
“Apparently, he now thinks he can explain why he was screwing Melissa Vargas when I came home early last month.”
Liz let out a short laugh. “I pity him if he tries again.”
“And he keeps telling me how much he misses me, like he actually thinks I want him back. It’s been over a month, for crying out loud!”
“He’ll stop calling eventually,” Liz offered.
“I won’t hold my breath. But enough about this… I just talked to Alex a few minutes ago,” Maria said cautiously.
“Oh for God’s sake! Let me guess; he asked you for help?”
“He told me you fired someone because the two of you had an argument. Now, I told him that he was talking nonsense because you wouldn’t do something like that.”
Liz looked back at Maria without saying anything for a few seconds before she spoke. “I made a business decision… and I’ll be sure to have a talk with Alex about questioning my decisions.”
“Liz?” Maria said. “I know it must be hard; you know, Christmas and all.”
“I really don’t wanna talk about that,” Liz said softly.
“Come on Liz. It’s not healthy to keep this sort of thing bottled up.”
“What part of I don’t wanna talk about it do you not understand?” Liz asked sharply.
“You act like you want everyone to hate you. That’s no way to live.”
“I don’t want everyone to hate me. I just don’t care whether they hate me or not.”
“Potátoes, potàtoes,” Maria countered.
“Look, I can talk about it all I want, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Now just drop the subject… please,” Liz said, adding the last word with a tremble in her voice.
“Of course honey,” Maria offered with a warm smile. “Just remember that if you want to talk, you can always come to me.”
“Thanks,” Liz said softly before regaining her composure. “Where the hell are the menus?”
~~
“Where the hell are the menus?” Kyle repeated in a soft whiny voice before he sighed deeply. Some people were so impatient it was just tiring. His demeanor quickly changed when he saw Tess Harding walk in. He smiled widely but that smile quickly fell as soon as he saw that Max was with her. After letting out an inaudible curse towards Max, comparing him to a certain part of the male anatomy, he put on a smile and walked towards the two.
“Good evening.” he said cheerfully.
“Hi,” Tess said with a sheepish grin on her face.
“We’ve come for your apple pie and we're prepared to take hostages,” Max said with a grin.
“Well follow me,” Kyle said, escorting Tess and Max to a table not far away from Liz and Maria. When Kyle pulled out Tess’ chair, she let out a giggle that made Max let out a loud laugh before an icy look from Tess made him quickly shut his mouth.
“What?” Kyle asked innocently
“Nothing. I was just replaying a scene from Ace Ventura in my head,” Max quickly said.
Kyle seemed to accept that and smiled at the both of them. “So what can I get you two?”
“I’ll have a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie,” Max said. He then looked at Tess who was just staring at Kyle with a dreamy expression. He gave her a soft nudge with his foot which seemed to snap Tess out of it.
“I’ll have the same,” she quickly said.
Kyle smiled at the both of them again. “Alrighty then,” he said in his best Ace Ventura-voice before walking back towards the counter.
Max looked at Tess who was staring at Kyle as he walked away. “You really need to get laid sometime soon,” he joked, soft enough to make sure no one else would hear it.
“Yeah well, I think it’s safe to say you just ruined any chance I had with Kyle,” Tess complained, running her right hand through her hair in frustration.
“You really like him, don’t you?” Max asked with a small smile.
“I guess I do. I can’t help it,” Tess said softly. “He’s just so nice and funny, not to mention scrumptious… doesn’t he look scrumptious?”
“Then why don’t you just ask him out?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What if he already has a girlfriend? What if I make a complete and utter fool of myself in front of him? What if he laughs in my face? What if…”
“Tess… breathe,” Max said with a smile. “If you ask me, he’s completely smitten about you too.”
Tess smiled widely. “You know, this whole thing is worth it just to hear you say the word smitten. But if he likes me so much, why hasn’t he given any clue?”
“Oh God,” Max muttered. “He immediately drops everything he’s doing when we come in, he pulls out your chairs and he does his best to be funny, abeit not very successfully. What more do you want; a flashing neon sign?”
“Well, if he likes me so much, why doesn’t he say anything?”
“Are you seriously asking me that?”
“Well yeah!”
“Alright, imagine this. It’s a thursday afternoon and Kyle comes to visit your art gallery accompanied by some gorgeous redhead. They walk around for awhile and stop to admire the pride of your collection; the original Monet. You approach Kyle and you say…?”
Tess looked confused for a second. “Uh… I… look, that is a totally different situation!” Tess muttered. “I mean, it’s not only my place of work but it would be so incredibly inappropriate for me to come on to him if he was with that redh… ” Tess added, stopping mid-sentence when she realized what he was trying to say. “Oh God! You don’t think he…”
Max smirked and nodded. “Curses me with some unspeakable disease every time I walk in here with you?”
“No! No! He can’t think that!” Tess said desperately, shooting Max an indignant glare when she saw his amused look.
“Come on blondiebear, it’s easy to fix this,” Max said in an amused tone of voice.
“I’ll never free myself of that nickname, will I?” Tess said in a defeated voice.
“Nope,” Max said. “But luckily for you, there is an easy fix for your Valenti problems. See you tomorrow.” He then stood up and quickly walked towards the exit, nearly bumping into an elderly woman on his way out.
“Max? Max!” Tess called after Max, but Max didn’t listen and was out of the restaurant in moments.
Kyle looked at the scene with great interest and quickly made his way over to her. “Are you alright?” he asked and for the first time, Tess noticed the hint of nervousness in his voice.
From outside, Max peered through the window, grinning at the exchange. He didn’t see a petite brunette woman in the background smiling widely at the whole situation. Instead, he smiled even wider when he saw Kyle sitting down next to Tess. “Cupid is signing off for today.”
~~
The next morning, Liz arrived at work at around seven in the morning, which was not unusual for her. She liked getting an early start and she liked the total silence that filled the office. She was more than a little surprised however when the front door was already unlocked and a faint light emitted from one of the offices. Not being scared easily, Liz got inside without making a sound and cautiously moved towards the office in question. When she peeked in, she saw two men inside. One was Alex, but she didn’t know the other guy, even though he looked somewhat familiar.
“Gentlemen!” Liz said loudly as she stood herself in the doorway.
Both men jerked their heads towards the doorway in surprise. “Liz,” Alex said with a definite note of terror in his voice. “This is Max. He’s just collecting some of Billy’s stuff.”
Max approached her. “Nice to meet you,” he said as he extended his hand and shot her a wide smile. “I heard a lot about you.”
Liz snorted, but shook his hand regardless. “Pleasure, but if you really heard so much about me, you wouldn’t be saying that.”
Max smiled. “Not true. Anyone who can sing Mandy in front of an entire school because her best friend got cold feet is someone I’d love to meet.”
A small smile appeared on Liz’ lips. “Well, thankfully, my performance resume is limited to that onetime event.”
“Not the point. I hope you don’t mind me picking up Billy’s stuff. He’s a little… well, he’s not doing so well.”
The smile on Liz’ face disappeared immediately. “If this is some sad trick to get me to rehire him, you can forget about it,” she said without a single emotion.
“Not at all. I just figured you might want to know how he’s doing,” Max said, his expression unclear as to whether it was an apology or an accusation.
“Well, I hope he’ll do better soon,” Liz said with a fake smile.
“I’m sure he will,” Max said, returning a mich more genuine smile. “He was just surprised by what happened, but I’m sure you know what you’re doing. Gotta keep personal and business separated, right?”
“Right,” Liz said with a smirk.
“I have a business too, and I don’t let my personal life collide with it. Because that wouldn’t be fair on anyone,” Max continued.
The smile had already disappeared from Liz’ face at this point. It took her a few seconds to realize what he was actually saying. “Well, good luck with that. I’ll be in my office,” she said and immediately made her way out of Alex’ office.
“She has certainly got spirit,” Max said with a small smile.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Alex said, smiling at the delicate words before he got more serious. “So how is Laurie taking it?”
“She’s freaking out, and I can’t say I blame her,” Max sighed.
“Can’t he work for you?” Alex asked.
“I wish he could, but I don’t have any openings and I can’t very well fire someone else just to hire Billy. That’s exactly what I meant with not mixing personal and business.”
“Right…” Alex said, pausing for a second. “So what’s he going to do?”
“I don’t know, but begging for his job back didn’t seem out of the question when I saw him last night,” Max said with a dead-serious look.
“He’s wasting his time if he does that.”
Max nodded. “Mayby, but what else is he supposed to do? He has a family and no income. He’s desperate.”
“I still can’t believe Liz fired him,” Alex said with a sad look. “I don’t wanna sound like I’m in kindergarten or something, but it was just… mean.”
“Mean or not, this is how it is. I’ll get this stuff back to him. Thanks for the trouble,” Max said before picking up the box with Billy’s stuff. “How about we have lunch?” he asked.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll have time for that,” Alex said softly.
“Sure you do. I’ll pick you up at twelve-thirty,” Max said before walking out of the office, not giving Alex another chance to object.
Alex watched as Max walked out of the office and then out of the building. He sighed but then made his way towards Liz’ office. He knocked twice. “Stay out!” he heard Liz say in a forceful and almost scared tone.
“Liz, are you alright?” he asked softly. He knew Liz would be able to hear him through the closed door.
“Peachy,” Liz said, her voice so soft that it was barely audible.
With that, Alex turned around and made his way back to his office. “Oh, this is gonna be a fun day,” he told himself in a sarcastic tone.
~~
“Hi,” Max said, peeking his head around the corner. “Alex and I are having lunch and I was wondering if you’d like to join us.”
Liz didn’t know what to say. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not? Everybody’s gotta eat,” Max insisted.
“Well yes, I suppose I do have to eat, but I…” Liz said hesitantly.
“Great!” Max said cheerfully. “Pack your coat and lets go.”
Slightly baffled by Max’ forwardness, Liz did as he asked and stood up, packing her coat and following Max. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“I know this great little place just a few blocks away. Trust me, you’ll love it,” Max said cheerfully.
“Trust you?” Liz asked suspiciously.
“Uh-huh,” Max said with a nod. “Don’t worry, my intentions are totally honorable. Alex, you coming?” Max said, peeking his head in Alex’ office.
“Yeah, I…” Alex said, stopping his sentence abruptly when he saw Liz standing right behind Max. “It’s alright if I’m going to lunch, right?” he asked nervously.
Max smiled. “She’s coming with us.”
Alex looked confused. “She’s coming with us? Seriously?”
Liz frowned. “Standing right here, Alex!” she said coldly.
Max’ smile grew wider. “I have some charm… I do, right?” he asked, turning towards Liz.
“Maybe just a little,” Liz admitted. “I’m gonna use the restroom for a second before we go.”
Liz walked towards the bathroom and Max gave Alex a harsh stare. “What the hell are you doing?” Alex said softly.
“What? I invited the only other person here to have lunch with us. It’s called good manners,” Max said.
“That is the person who just fired one of your friends. I think it’s a little weird that… oh,” Alex said, suddenly realizing something. “Max, I know she’s a babe, but think about what you’re doing.”
Max smiled. “I like a challenge,” he said.
“You’re not trying to get even here, are you,” Alex asked softly. “Because regardless of her recent behaviour, she’s really not a bad person.”
“I’m not trying to get even,” Max assured. “And for some strange reason, I like your bitchy boss.”
“Then I’d be extra-careful… and don’t forget to wear protection,” Alex said.
Max smiled and his eyes opened wide. “Protection?”
“Yes, like a steel plate to protect your nuts,” Alex clarified with a grin.
“You’re a hoot,” Max said. “Come on.”
The three of them walked to a small café two blocks away. As soon as they stepped through the door, a petite redhead hurried from behind the counter towards them. “Good afternoon mr Evans,” she said, giving a polite nod towards Alex and Liz but clearly focussing on Max.
Max smiled. “Hello Serena, do you have a table available for three hungry workers… or actually, me and two hungry workers,” he corrected.
“Of course sir. Please follow me,” Serena said, guiding the three towards a table near the window. “I’ll be right back with the menus,” she said after the three of them were seated.
Max smiled as he looked at Alex and Liz. “I told her a million times to call me Max.”
“Is this your business, Max?” Alex asked.
“This? No,” Max denied. “This place belongs to a friend of mine; Michael Guerin.”
“I see…” Liz said. “So if Alex and I came in here without you, service would probably not be this immediate.”
Max smirked. “Well, you’ll just have to find that out for yourself.”
“Well, I have to admit the place looks beautiful,” Liz said softly.
“I’ll be sure to tell Michael when I see him. Coming from you, that compliment means a lot,” Max admitted.
Liz squinted her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Max shrugged. “Well, you seem like the type of person who says what she means. I don’t think you’d hesitate to call this place a dump if that’s what you thought.”
Liz smiled. “Yes, I guess you have a point there. You should have seen the chef’s face at Hanks diner when I told him his steak tasted like a marinated shoelace.”
“He was probably imagining you chewing on a shoelace,” Max said with a loud laugh.
Liz’ expression fell as she thought about that for a second making Max smirk even wider. “Maybe next time, I should just say it tasted awful,” she said softly.
“Or just keep your mouth shut, leave no tip and never set foot in there again,” Max offered. “That’s when I did when I was unfortunate enough to try one of Hanks steaks,” he added.
“It wasn’t like it was just the bad food, you know,” Liz added. “I don’t think the floor had been vacuumed for at least two months preceding my visit and I have never seen service that bad, and that includes my visit to the Greek Restaurant three blocks away where the person who was supposed to wait my table was chewing his chewing gum so loudly that I wondered how on Earth he could make out any word I said.”
“Are there any restaurants you do like?” Max asked with a smile.
“Of course. I just want the place to be clean, the food to taste good and the waiters to treat me with some respect. Is that too much to ask for?”
“Absolutely not,” Max agreed. “But why make a scene? Why go through the trouble of asking for the chef and telling him what he really doesn’t want to hear.”
“Sometimes people need a wakeup call,” Liz answered.
“Sometimes they do,” Max agreed. “So what’s your favorite place?”
Liz considered it for a moment. “Well, there’s a nice little place on the corner of Sixth and Pine, and there’s always Valentis.”
“Ah, now we’re both on the same page,” Max agreed with a smile. “If you haven’t tried their apple pie, you haven’t lived. Don’t you agree?”
Liz smiled. “Well, the food is decent and my best friend absolutely loves the place.”
Max let out a short laugh. “Believe it or not, but I know exactly what you mean.”
At that point, Serena returned with three menus which she offered to Liz, Alex and then Max. “Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked kindly.
“I’ll have a glass of orange juice,” Liz said.
“Yeah, I’ll have the same,” Alex chimed in.
“Just water for me,” Max added.
“Alright, I’ll be right back,” Serena said and quickly hurried back towards the bar.
Alex looked at Max questioningly. “Is she afraid of you or something?”
“Oh no,” Max said with a smile. “She’s afraid of Michael and what he’ll do if he finds out one of his employees was being even the least bit of rude. Seriously, he’s been known to shout.”
“I see. Well, if the food is as good as the service, I’m not complaining,” Liz said with a small smile.
Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. Liz was actually being nice. She was still sceptic and all, but she was being nicer than Alex had seen her since before Christmas last year. He knew it wouldn’t last and that the slightest bad remark would make her shift back into bitch-mode, but this moment made him realize that maybe Liz wasn’t as far gone as he had feared and that maybe, just maybe, there was still hope.
~~TBC~~