Dekes & DEBs 4/15 [Mature] [complete]

[Behrystrwbry]

Liz
~

So Tess and I had a moment earlier. Actually we've had a couple of them this past week. But now that all those warm and fuzzy feelings of elation have worn off, I'm left wondering why the only reason I'm standing here in the first place is a girl who can't or won't be here to share this with me. Not that Maria couldn’t be here, she’s just so God forsaken stubborn that she refuses to.

Max Evans, the source of much of my problems, walks through the front door. He looks to be on a mission, making his way through the crowd, headed straight towards me. Fortunately he’s stopped by a small party including his and Tess's mother. He chats with them amiably for a few minutes while I try to find a way to duck out of there. He sees my intention, excuses himself and is on my heels before I can really get anywhere.

"Liz, I am so sorry I didn't know that..." He looks around gauging the crowd, then pulls me to him and the two of us begin emulating something close to dancing. "I had no idea that Kyle was your first." he whispers in my ear.

I roll my eyes at that, "Because if he weren't, then it would be okay to put my name out there." I shoot back.

"No, it's a stupid practice I don't know why we still do it anyway. I certainly didn't have to get involved, it wasn't even supposed to be my list.” He rambles “But I wanted him to know and since you didn't seem inclined to tell him…"

"So, this is my fault?" He can’t be serious.

"No, of course not. I accept full responsibility." ‘You should’ I’m thinking to myself. But is that supposed to make this better? He sighs knowing I’m not convinced . "Look there probably isn't much I can say to make this better, at least not here. So will you come somewhere with me? I have something for you."

I don't know why I go with him but something in me wants this to work. Despite the fact that if I can cut all ties with Max I could probably patch things over with Maria. Well maybe…That’s what I’d been considering when this Deke here stalks into the Sorority House.

Reluctantly, I agree and Max takes me to his special place again. The one behind the campus. We stay in his truck this time as it's kind of chilly out. Max hands me a wooden paddle with a list of about seven names on it. "What's this?" I ask.

"This is my list, the official one I made when I was a pledge.” He explains. So seven is Max’s magic number? “There'd be a few more names on it now but…"

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He can't seriously think this will help his pitiful cause.

"Hang it on your wall," he suggests jokingly. "Or burn it, chop it up into little pieces and pick your teeth with it... It's not important. The only list I care about has one name on it and that's yours... Liz Parker."

"Are you gonna get that printed up on a t-shirt too?"

"Actually yeah and I got you one too." Max reaches around to the back seat for a shopping bag. Out of which he pulls two shirts out. One black, the other white. He hands me the white one. "This one's yours."

There is a crest split down the middle, half DEB the other half DKE. "I never did get to congratulate you." he pecks me on the cheek, and then turns the shirt around for me to read;

'Sho nuff' got to 'Do Right'

His shirt has the same thing except on both of them ‘Sho nuff’ is in yellow letters and ‘Do Right’ is in pink. I smile to myself, it’s cute admittedly, but what does it mean. "I don't get it. What's this 'Sho Nuff'?"

"That was my pledge name, short for 'Sho nuff got the good stuff.' Don't ask me to explain that one, but anyone who knows us will know we belong to each other.”

That is sweet, makes me just want to say aww, "Max..."

"And..." he pulls a box out of the glove compartment before I can say more. "I had this made when I found out you'd be my little sis."

I open the jewelry box to reveal a pendant, the crest again, split Deke and DEB. The deke side is encrusted with yellow amethyst and the DEB side has some type of rose colored crystal. He opens it to reveal that it's a locket, with his picture on one side and mine on the other. Not flashy but a nice keepsake.

But no, it’s not enough. "Max you have to stop this, you have to...” I hand him both the t-shirt and the jewelry both. I don’t want it if the rest can’t work “You can't just buy your way out of this. You say and do all the right things when we're alone. Yet you rank me on some heinous list for the entire world to see. And let’s not pretend that you weren't just cozied up with Tess and your parents."

"Cozied up. Are you kidding me? I'm not even sure that girl likes me anymore. The show was for the 'rents babe." He defends, poor though it is.

"Exactly and why can't we tell your parents? At Homecoming you didn't even tell me they were here. It's like you were trying to hide me from them. I won't be your dirty little secret anymore!"

"Nor I yours!" This whole time I’ve been wailing on him and Max hasn’t said a harsh word in response, other than try to defend himself. I guess anyone would get fed up with it, that doesn’t mean I expected it.

"What?" I ask more than a bit confounded.

"I'm not by any means blaming you for my stupidity. The t-shirts were a stupid move. But Kyle's no fool. I'm pretty sure he knows what’s been going on. I asked you time and time again for us to just be up front with him."

"…No you tried to bully me into it." It’s true, at the Homecomining picnic I wanted to rip him new one for that stunt.

"You left me no choice. You know what a jerk he can be. He kept stickin’ it to me. Our secret had to come out somehow!” He concludes folding his arms in front of him like a pouty little boy, “I love you Liz but I'm not perfect, and neither are you.”

I can’t believe he just said that. “You’re right I’m not.” I never tried to be, or wanted to be but no matter what I do people say that I think I am or call me a ‘do right goodie-two-shoes.’ Even Kyle calls me ‘wifey’ then goes and calls me prude behind my back. The fact that Max doesn’t feel that way or try to pigeon hole me into that role, might be the deciding factor in all this. “So what does that leave us?"

"The truth,” he says simply, but that is good enough for me. “Complete and total honesty, with each other first but also everyone else…”

Maria
~

"This doesn't have to mean anything." I tell him as I collect my panties from behind the toilet. Yeah right, meaningless sex, wasn’t I just crying about that the other week? Tonight however it was a much needed release. Nothing more, nothing less.

"What if I want it to mean something?" Michael is watching me as I dress.

I give him this quizzical look over my shoulder."Are you crazy? I'm giving you an easy out. Go eat, drink and be merry with your brothers." I tell him as I smooth my dress in the mirror then head back out into the diner.

Michael peeks his head out to see if anyone is there to witness him come out of the girl’s bathroom. He follows behind me as I go about discarding his untouched pie."What if I don't want that?” He asks me then, “What if I told you that for the first time in my life ever the only place I want to be is with a girl." He’s looking dead at me now waiting for some type of response.

"I would tell you not to choke on that,” I joke “but I can't be that girl because I think I'm broken.”

“Broken?” He questions.

“What kind of person trash talks her so called best friend the way I did?” I ask him, not really expecting him to have an answer. Hell… I don’t. “And even when she tried to extend the olive branch I snub her just because I could.”

“This is about the newspaper?” Michael surmises.

I shrug, “More or less.” Even though it’s not completely true I’m tired of explaining it since no one believes me anyway. It’s good to have somebody listen to me. “Liz must feel like crap. That t-shirt fiasco certainly didn’t help.” He gets this ‘how do I know’ look. “Alex told me.” I clarify.

“That was kind of my fault.” He goes on to explain that Kyle wanted to have the t-shirt made whereas he dragged Max into it; figuring it would be a harmless joke “I had to help him make it up to her.” He means Liz. “Hope it worked”

For some reason that ticks me off. Is no one immune to her charms? I roll my eyes then head over to the counter and begin wiping it down “Alex told me to take the opportunity to make things right with Liz, as she probably could have used my friendship. But I wanted her to suffer, some pain in her ‘perfect’ little life.” I mock.

He nods, and shrugs deciding not to breach that topic with me. “You know aside from the petty girl shit I really am glad about the article.” I look at him totally confused at this. “DKE and DEB are like this invincible force on campus. Nothing and no one can touch them. Half of administration is full of alums. So they get away with…all kind of crazy stuff. Maybe now… all that will stop.”

For the first time since the truth came out; I have this sense, this spirit, that everything will work out for the better, even if that means I never become a DEB.

[Behrystrwbry]

Author's Note

Okay, I know this is going to be disappointing but I will not be able to finish Dekes & DEBs. Since I started this fics my life has changed a great deal I have a job and responsibilities which simply don't allow time for writing recreationally on a regular basis. So what follows is a summary of what I intended for the end of the fic. And my schedule permits I do hope to pen some short companion pieces to this story, please keep an eye out for those. I'm terribly sorry things worked out this way. In the meantime I hope this will provide some closure:

In the story where I left things Maria & Liz are at war. Liz has just become a full member of the sorority however because of the article it's likely they will be shut down. Max & Liz are all but in love. Mike and Maria are slow to acknowledge their feelings for one another and she had resigned herself to the idea that what they're doing was meaningless hook-ups. But Mike is starting to think otherwise. Alex and Iz are hooking up as well but they are tertiary characters so I did not plan to develop them much.

We need the article to be resolved. Everyone believes Maria wrote it so in true heroine fashion she must find a way to rectify this. Ana the Lambda stole Maria's book and published her thought as those of an anonymous pledge. She did this because she wanted the DEBs out of the way for intramurals. However when the story gets picked up by the Associated Press (AP) they will want all sources of information attributed. Maria will use this to prove Ana slanderous. She will destroy all her notes forcing Ana to say she made it all up or that she resorted to unethical journalistic practices. Ana will be disgraced having to step down as editor in chief and Maria will take her place. As she all but saved their ass and is now Editor DEB will consider Maria an asset and this will put her on the top of their list for next year's bids. Shallow perhaps but I think very close to how organizations like these work.

Meanwhile on the inside Liz will be soaking up the life of DEB. Dating Max a b-ball player, member of best sorority (even while their inactive), and because of the article, Liz is for all intents the big woman on campus. She starts receiving a great deal of unwarranted attention from guys to the displeasure of Max. Liz enjoys the attention because of how reserved she was with Kyle. Though never acts on the flirtations. But Max will become insanely jealous because of the scars he suffered on account of his relationship with Tess. He stupidly turns to the Dekes to help him resolve this issue.

The Dekes has a registry, list, that any brother can put their girlfriend on. All the Dekes are then free to flirt with and ultimately try and get into the panties of this poor girl. It's a means of testing your girlfriend's fidelity. When Liz finds out that Max has put her name on the list she decides to fake him out, setting up a 'date' with one of his brothers. The guy will tell Max and jealous stalker guy Max will show up to confront her. However she will be waiting for him. They will have it out and in the end learn to trust one another.

Tess is pregnant at first scaring the crap out of both Kyle and Max. But when she goes to the doctor and finds out how far along she is it is ruled out Max is the father. However they still have to tell their parents because they are still expecting an engagement between the two. This will be when Max officially introduces Liz to his parents. But because of the circumstances surrounding the intro it does not go well. The next time that the parents meet Liz will be at the end of the year formal/conventions

The convention is where Dekes and DEB, undergrad and alums convene on the state of the organizations. This is also where chapters vote and elect leaders for the following year. Liz will be up for an office there at Duke. In such a visible role Max mother and she will have the opportunity to bond. And Mrs. Evans will see that Liz isn't the gold digger they first suspected. She will relay this information to Phillip and the parents will jointly give Max and Liz their blessing.

I want Tess parent to disown her when they discover that she is expecting. And it will be a moment of profound growth when she and Kyle realize It's time ofr them to make their own way.

The last part will be an epilogue in which the gang (M/L, A/I, K/T, and Michael) is gathered together on the lawn of the DEB house. Hey have flowers and balloons and are waiting for Maria who has received a bid. Liz has orchestrated the trappings because she feels very guilty for the way things went down a year before. It will be a very special moment for both girls. Maria will be very aware that she has the opportunity to reject those that once rejected her, but has grown past wanting that. Also Tess will be there with her newborn and they will all joke that she is a future DEB
And that's about it folks. Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions please don't hesitate.

B.