Between The Covers (AU, M/L, MATURE) [COMPLETE]

[Heavenli24]

Hi everyone, thank you for your feedback :

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

the mystery of Isabels brother continues..though i think its probably Max. And it seems that Liz no longer thinks she should be with Jake After all she keeps thinking about Max..lol..

It won’t be too much longer before we find out more about Isabel’s brother (in fact, I’m in the process of writing that part now ). Liz is finally realising that trying to stay with Jake when her heart’s not in it is the wrong thing to do.

Waiting for more Max and Liz action...

Coming right up …

Natalie36 – Thanks .

sarammlover – Thanks .

Its kind of funny how Jake kept making plans to be with a group. It seems maybe they are both feeling the friendship vibe now

Actually it wasn’t intentional that Jake was the one who suggested the group thing – it was going to be Liz who suggested it at first, and was just supposed to be a way to catch up with everyone after a month away, but it does perhaps indicate that the relationship isn’t as intense as it might be.

......and you are one of the best feedbackers to the feedbackers....I love it!!

Wow, thank you . To be honest, I don’t usually write as detailed replies to feedback for other stories, but this one has been of my favourite projects and I’m excited about it, not to mention that you’ve all been writing some great feedback that I can’t help but reply to .

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

Cute banner. Whoever helped you choose that was a real genius.

Yeah, what a genius … thank you, Laira, for helping me choose the banner !

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

I'm actually doing my two favorite things at the moment, reading fics and watching tennis. Safin is playing Spadea leading him 2 sets to 1. And Gasquet is trying to stay in the third set with Haas. I'm not really sure who I want to win there but it is a good match up. You didn't miss too much yesterday. Nadal played a good match against Phau. He manage to win in straight sets but it was hard work. That was fun to watch. And James Blake raised by blood pressure for no apparent reason. There was no need for him to take the game to 5 sets. But it's always fun to watch night matches though. The Opening ceremony was cool. Seeing all the past and present champions together on one stage. I didn't see Pete and Andre though. That was weird.

I’ve totally sucked with keeping up with the tennis this week – I was out Monday afternoon, which I mentioned, but then I ended up working four 9-hour shifts between Tuesday and Friday and completely forgot to check the results each day! I was keeping up with Murray’s match online last night, but unfortunately, the US Open is only shown on cable here (Eurosport channel) and they showed Nadal and then Williams instead of Murray, so unfortunately I could only check the interactive scores and I didn’t get to watch any of the match .

When are we going to know who Izzie's brother is? He always seems to hide. I'm curious to know still if it's Max.

He’s ‘hiding’ on purpose because I don’t want his identity revealed until a particular scene. However, it’s not too long now until we find out – just a few more parts.

I hope so. They lack passion. But I guess Jake is a safe guy. Max is still pretty much a mystery to Liz.

Yeah, they do lack passion, but Liz feels safe with him and perhaps she’s not too willing to let him go just yet.

Oh neat! Good you were able to make some head way at least before you starting working again.

Yeah, I’m doing pretty well with the writing at the moment… although I couldn’t write while I was on vacation, I did have time to write out a detailed chapter plan during that time, so now that I’m back, I’ve been eager to get it all written down .

Hunter – Thanks .

You're welcome Heavenli24..happy you liked the banner. Great update!! Can't wait to have those Max and Liz moments!!
Come back soon!!

Max and Liz moment coming up…

begonia9508 – Thanks .

I guess the brother it's Max who doesn't really like his step-dad!....
Happen in the best family anyway...

We’ll find out for sure in a few parts’ time .

And Liz: her and Jack were saluting like I do with my brother!.... just shows that they should really stay friends.... otherwise Liz is still kipping him bc of the blanket syndrome, you know the one you get when you want to protect yourself from the bad wolf!!!!

Yeah, you could be right on that one. Liz knows that Jake isn’t who she’s supposed to be with really, but perhaps she’s having trouble admitting to herself that she needs to let him go.

veronica – Thanks .

destinyc – Thanks .

Hoping for some M/L action soon! Please, pretty please... Thanks for the update, Destiny

Fear not, Max and Liz action is on its way …


***

Part Twenty-One

The first week of term is crazy, with all my lecturers trying to cram in as much exam material as possible in the final two lectures of the semester, and trying to revise for said exams, at the same time as fitting in the beginning of the rigorous fashion show rehearsals that Sophie has scheduled for us. I barely even have time to have a conversation with Maria in our room, let alone spend much time with Jake. He and Maria, along with half the other people on our floor, are so lucky; unlike me, they don’t have any end of semester exams, which means that they get two weeks off between semesters instead of spending the first week frantically studying and the second week taking exams!

Maria has no written exams at all in her entire degree programme because, as she says, “Drama is a practical subject”, whereas all of Jake’s exams are at the end of the academic year, in June, since most of his courses are covered over two semesters. It’s only people like me, who are taking ‘modular degrees’ (so mostly the scientists it seems) which are made up of one-semester-long courses that are assessed at the end of each semester, who have exams.

Thing is, though, it’s really not all that easy to concentrate on your exam revision when everyone else around you is relaxing and having fun. I tried to study in my room a couple of times last week, but I kept getting distracted. First, Maria would just sit on her bed, either listening to her music, talking on her mobile or flicking through magazines and interrupting my train of thought every few minutes by reading gossip articles out loud to me; then Jake would come in to ‘keep me company and help me revise’ (the only time we managed to spend together all week), but unfortunately it didn’t work too well, because we’d either just end up joking around or we would get into conversation with Maria and my work would get forgotten.

In the end, I realised that if I wanted to do well in the exams, I would have to get out of the room; so on Friday afternoon, I gathered up my books and headed up to campus in search of somewhere quiet to study. First stop, sensibly, was the library, but for some reason, I actually found it too quiet. It was fine for half an hour or so, but I’ve never been good at concentrating for long periods of time without a break in between… and taking a break in the library is not that easy – there’s no food, no drink, no talking, no TV… no nothing.

So eventually I packed everything up again and trudged through the biting January wind to the student union in search of somewhere better. It took a while, but finally I found a nice secluded little area upstairs in the Junior Common Room, it was a small table, slightly hidden behind stacks of tables and chairs, but not so far away from everyone else that it was too quiet. With a sigh of relief, I pulled out my books and sat down for a Friday afternoon of revision.

Back to the present though: it’s rapidly approaching 11 a.m. on Wednesday and I’m back in my secluded spot, surrounded by books and papers for the fifth day running. Only problem is that I’m really not doing well on the studying front today. In fact, I feel like crap and should probably be taking it easy, lying in my bed back at the halls instead of revising, but I know I can’t. I must have slept awkwardly last night because I woke up this morning with sharp pains in my neck and shoulders and a banging headache. I only just made it out of bed, and very nearly crawled right back in again when the room span around me as soon as I stood up, but I didn’t have time to be ill today. I have too much work to do.

Rubbing my neck and rolling my shoulders in the hope that it will relieve some of the tension there, I lower my head to the textbook in front of me and get back to work. It goes well for a few minutes – well, as well as it can when your head is pounding and you gasp in pain every time you turn your head to a certain angle, at least – until an unwelcome voice interrupts my train of thought.

“Interesting place to study you got there, Liz.”

I close my eyes, letting out a tired sigh; I really don’t need this today.

“What do you want?” I ask flatly, as I warily lift my eyes to him, wincing slightly at the twinge in my neck as I do so.

His teasing half-smile quickly becomes a frown as he straightens up, pushing away from the stack of chairs he was leaning against and slides into the seat opposite me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Max,” I roll my eyes and return to my note taking as I wait for him to get the hint and go away. Except he doesn’t. I look up again a moment later to find him watching me. I ignore the tiny flutter of my heart as my eyes meet his deep gaze and instead I open my mouth to speak, “You didn’t answer the question; what are you doing here?”

He shrugs, “I was passing and I saw you back here, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi.”

“Why?” I question directly, not in the mood for his stupid, cryptic games today.

He watches me thoughtfully for a second, before allowing his trademark smirk to reappear as he leans forward slightly on the table, “Maybe I like you.”

My heart sinks at his words. Why can’t he just leave me alone? Especially today when all I want to do is curl up and sleep and forget about everything else.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m not interested,” I mutter, knowing full well now that it’s a lie.

“Whatever you say, Liz.”

I can hear the confident arrogance in his tone and that’s all it takes for me to snap.

“Shut up, Max, okay?!” I jerk my head up, all but shouting at him, but the sudden movement jars my neck and makes me wince once more at the sudden pain. My hand comes up to rub it, fingers brushing my hair, which is tied up in a loose bun, as I take a deep breath and add tiredly, “Just shut up.”

The smirk has disappeared again and Max now seems to be looking at me worriedly, his dark eyes concerned.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m just perfect,” I retort sarcastically, shooting him a glare.

The pain in my head intensifies suddenly and I lean forward and support it in my hands in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. I can feel the weight of Max’s gaze on me, but I am in no state to do anything about it right now. It takes a few seconds but eventually I hear his chair move backwards and feel the table move slightly as he stands up. There’s silence for a moment and it seems as though he’s left, but then I stiffen when I feel two strong hands on my shoulders, pressing down gently.

“What are you doing? Get off me,” I protest, trying to shrug his hands away.

“No,” comes his firm baritone, his fingers now lightly squeezing my tense muscles.

“Max, please,” I’m almost begging now. “I’m fine. Just go away and leave me alone.”

“No, Liz,” he states again. “You’re in pain. Let me help.”

“I don’t need your help,” I mutter, trying to shrug off his hands, but he refuses to budge and instead I’m rewarded with another stab of pain in my neck.

“I don’t care. You’re getting it.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to continue protesting, but then he increases the pressure of his hands, his fingers kneading my sore shoulders and the retort sticks in my throat. My head falls forward a little more and I let myself relax a little.

It actually feels kind of nice.

The palms of his hands begin stroking over my shoulders and upper back, each circular movement allowing a bit more tension to drain from my body, but then they are replaced by his skilled fingers, which start feeling along my skin, searching out the knots of tense muscle and I can’t help but let out a small moan of satisfaction.

“Feel good?” I hear him ask from behind me.

“Uh huh,” I murmur in agreement with a slight nod, my head still in my hands.

“Good.”

The next few minutes are spent in silence as his talented hands work wonders on my stiff, aching upper muscles. I stiffen slightly when his fingers creep further down my back and then gasp when he hits a sensitive spot halfway down my spine, but it isn’t until I feel his palms rest on either side of my neck and his thumbs begin slowly massaging up and down the back of my neck that I murmur aloud.

“Yeah, just there.”

I sigh as his fingers work their magic on my neck, thankfully easing the pain in my head a little, but suddenly the pleasant feeling of relaxation I’ve been feeling up to now shifts and changes into something else.

Before I can make sense of this new feeling, I feel my heart begin to beat faster as a tingling wave of sensation starts to radiate out from where Max’s fingers are touching my skin. It simultaneously surges down my spine, making me squirm in my seat, and flows down my arms all the way to the tips of my fingers. I let my hands drop down to the table, leaving my head to support itself as I concentrate on the delicious sensations twisting their way through my tired body.

But all too soon, his warm hands disappear and I feel cold air on my neck instead. My eyes snap open.

“Don’t stop,” I murmur.

There’s a slight pause before I feel his hands return, this time moving in large sweeping motions on my back.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he murmurs and I can hear the smile in his voice.

A few minutes later, I feel so relaxed and tingly that I’m on the verge of falling asleep right here. The pain in my neck has reduced to only a slight ache and my headache is all but gone, so now I’m just enjoying the massage. Max Evans might annoy the hell out of me on a regular basis, but man, does he have good hands! Despite my protests to his intentions earlier, I now feel a wave of disappointment when he finally stops and pulls away.

I sigh at the loss of his fingers kneading my skin, but I wait a couple of moments before prying open my eyes. And when I do, it’s just in time to see Max slide back into the seat opposite me, his eyes dark and expression softer than I’ve ever seen it before.

“You okay now?”

“Uh, y-yeah…” I mumble, not really sure what to say to him now. I feel my fingers tingling, urging to reach out and touch him across the table and I quickly pull my hands into my lap. “Um… thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he gives a lop-sided grin and I resist the urge to return the smile. “Can’t have you revising with a sore neck, now can we?”

“No, I guess not.”

He doesn’t say anything for a while and the atmosphere between us remains reasonably relaxed, so I pick up my pen again and try to make some more Microbiology notes. We sit in silence for several minutes, and just when I start to wonder why he hasn’t said or done anything else yet, he speaks up.

“Liz?”

“Yeah?” I look up to find him still watching me.

“Look, I wanted to–” he doesn’t get any further because the sound of his ‘Thriller’ ringtone interrupts him. “Shit,” he mutters as he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out. “Hey, Soph, what’s up?”

He has a small smile on his face as he talks to Sophie and I can’t help but wonder what they’re talking about. On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know. So instead I look back down, scanning through my notes until he’s done.

“Sorry, I gotta go,” he announces suddenly, snapping the phone shut and returning it to his pocket. “See you around, Liz.”

And as quickly as he’d appeared earlier, he disappears, leaving me wondering what on Earth just happened.

As I get stuck into my revision once again, I can’t help but think that maybe there’s more to Max Evans than I originally thought.

***

Thanks to Max’s massaging expertise, I manage to concentrate on another few hours of work before heading back to the halls at about four-thirty. However, when I arrive back, the floor seems to be almost empty. I dump my bag down on my bed and go in search of my friends. It doesn’t take long to find Michael and James playing cards in their room with Alex and Jake.

“Hey, guys,” I greet from the doorway. “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Liz,” says Alex, as the others grunt distracted greetings, none of them looking up from their hands of cards. “How was revision today?”

“Not bad – I got quite a lot done today actually.”

“Good for you, Liz,” replies James, while Michael gives his usual monosyllabic grunt.

“Thanks,” I smile, but my eyes are drawn to Jake who is sitting quietly across the room, his back against the wall and his cards in his hands.

I frown; he’s the only one who hasn’t acknowledged my presence yet and I observe his stoic demeanour with confusion.

“Hi, Jake,” I greet uncertainly, my heart sinking when he doesn’t acknowledge me, but instead puts down his cards and stands up.

“Okay, I’m out; you guys can carry on without me.”

He leaves the room, brushing past me without a word and heads down the corridor. I frown after him in concern and then share a confused look with James, who shrugs in puzzlement, before I turn and run after him.

“Jake, Jake, hey, wait up!”

He doesn’t stop though, and I don’t catch up with him until he reaches his room, unlocks his door and moves inside. I stop the door from closing with my foot and slip into the room behind him.

“Hey, what’s going on with you today?” I ask as he sinks down onto the bed, his hands braced on his knees. I keep my eyes on him as I take a seat on his desk chair. “Jake?”

I have to wait a few seconds, but finally he lifts his head to look at me, his expression pained, “I realised something today.”

“Yeah?” I wonder, not really sure where he’s going with this.

He sighs, averting his eyes as he runs a hand through his soft, slightly spiked sandy hair, before returning his gaze to mine again.

“Liz, are you happy?”

“Huh?”

“With me,” he clarifies, his expression sombre. “Are you happy with me?”

I frown in bewilderment, “Of course I’m happy with you Jake; we have a great time together. Why would you think I’m not happy?”

“I saw you today,” he says then, changing the subject.

Again I say, “Huh?”

“I stopped by the union earlier today,” he explains. “I thought maybe you could use a break and was gonna suggest grabbing some lunch.”

I’m confused; I don’t remember see him there today.

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because you were there with Max Evans,” he finally admits.

Oh.

“I saw you both there,” he continues. “But it looked like something of a private moment.” He sighs in frustration, “Liz, is there something going on between you and Max?”

“What? No!” I deny quickly. Too quickly. “Of course there’s nothing going on; I can barely stand the guy.”

But he’s looking at me thoughtfully and I suddenly feel self-conscious beneath his gaze.

“Liz,” he starts gently. “It kind of feels like you’ve been a bit distracted lately… like maybe your heart’s not in this; in us.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny it, to reassure him that my heart is in this relationship, but I know it’s not really true. I know that I don’t care for Jake as much as he deserves to be cared for, or as much as I think he cares for me, and that I’m not really being fair to him right now.

“Jake…” I trail off, not knowing how to continue.

“It’s okay, Liz. I get it,” he murmurs soberly.

“I’m sorry,” I apologise. “I really like you, Jake, and I enjoy being with you… spending time with you… it’s just that…”

“… You don’t feel more than that. I get it,” he finishes.

“I’m sorry,” I repeat, whispering now.

“Liz, it really is okay,” he assures me. “Look, I care for you a great deal and I can’t deny that it hurts to know that you don’t feel the same way, but we need to do the right thing here.” He moves forward and takes my hands in his. I fix my gaze on our joined hands as I wait for his next words. “I think this is the end of the road for us, don’t you?”

I lift my head to see tears forming in his eyes, knowing full well that my eyes are welling up now too. Even though I know this is the right decision all round, I can’t help but be sad that our relationship is coming to an end. I really have had a great time with Jake, and I tell him just that as we sit together, our hands still joined.

“Me too, Liz,” he smiles softly. “I’ve had a great time with you too.”

We stay in our respective positions for a few moments longer before I realise I should probably make the first move to leave. Extracting my hands from his, I suck in a shaky breath and stand up.

“I guess this is goodbye then,” I murmur quietly, when he stands up too.

“I guess it is,” he smiles, his usually piercing green eyes now shimmering with tears, and reaches out to tuck a stray stand of hair behind my ear. “We’ve had a good run, Liz Parker.”

“We have.”

He leans forward, his hand still resting by my face and presses a gentle, closed-mouth kiss to my lips.

“Bye, Liz.”

I nod slowly, as I head for the door.

“Oh, and Liz?”

“Yeah?” I turn back to face him. He had his hands in his pockets now and is watching me forlornly.

“Friends?”

“Friends,” I nod in confirmation. “I’ll see you around, Jake Matthews.”

“Bye,” he says again as I leave the room and officially close the door on our relationship.

As I walk back up the stairs to my floor, I feel the tears finally begin to fall and by the time I get back to my room, the reality of the situation is rapidly sinking in and the tears become sobs. Jake Matthews may not have been the love of my life, but he’s still been a big part of it for the last few months and I really did care for him.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone – thank you for your feedback :

Hunter – Thanks .

Omg! Omg! Omg!! Wow I loved that moment between Max and Liz!! I'm so happy!!! Thank you!!
Can't wait for them to get serious!! Wow..this part was absolutely fantastic..sad about Jake though!!
Great part!! Can't wait for more!!

Glad you enjoyed it .

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Wow!! Loved the part with Max and Liz...
Cant wait to see what happens between them now!!

Things are starting to progress now .

veronica – Thanks .

Kitten88 (x2) – Thanks .

Even though I'm a dreamer, I was really sad to see Jake go. He has been so nice and so good to Liz, I really liked him and I hope that he and Liz will remain friends in the future. Can't wait to see how things will evolve between Max and Liz now...

Yeah, Jake was a good guy and he might have been more to Liz had there been no Max, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.

carolina_moon – Thanks .

I want a Max massage!!!!!! . Oh well, sad to see Jake go, but he had to roll over at some point to make room for Max anyways .

Yeah, a Max massage would be good, wouldn’t it ?

Lairabehr4 –

You know, I could use a Max. MY shoulders are tense. Doesn't want Max want to hop a plane and come out and help me?

Max wouldn’t even have to hop on a plane next week .

sarammlover – Thanks .

Well at least they are going to be friends and I actually think they will be.

Yeah, it’s an amicable break-up, so while I don’t think Liz and Jake are going to be best friends or anything, I’m sure they won’t avoid each other on purpose either.

And the massage scene was pretty hot. I can't wait to find out about this mysterious Max Evans. I think they were about to have a serious heart to heart....damn sophie!!! Ha ha ha.

Thanks . We’re starting to get towards the point now where we’ll find out more about Max… not long to go now .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Wow!.... a man who likes to massage! .... instead of receiving it!
And Jake: it was a hard "wake-up" he had, seeing Max and Liz together in such a working!

You know, I’m not sure it was all that big of a wake-up call for Jake… as he said, he’d suspected that Liz was distracted for a while, it was just that seeing her with Max made him see what he’d missed.

Morning Dreamgirl – Thanks .

My guess? This is probably where Jake saw them. I'm curious what the interaction between Max and him were and why nothing was said. Of course I could be completely wrong, but after reading the break-up scene, it just seemed right.

You know what? I was just intending for Jake to see them but neither Max or Liz to notice him, but that makes a lot of sense .

I am intrigued by the phone call though - Max seemed to have a real opportunity to talk to Liz without sarcasm right off the bat, yet he left so quickly.

Well, there are two possibilities: either the phone call was an emergency and Max had to leave or he got cold feet was using the call as an excuse to leave before the conversation got started… but which is it?

It should be interesting to read about Max finding out that Liz and Jake are no longer together; I quite wonder what his reaction will be considering he's been so forward while she was dating. I'm curious to see if he'll take it up a notch or be more laid back.

Keep on reading to see what happens …

Definitely enjoyed this part! I'm glad to see that you're enjoying this story so much - I have to say that I think I'm enjoying it more though!

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Awww poor Liz. I feel bad for Jake but he was right it was the right thing for them to do. At least he didn't see Max kissing Liz. That probably would have stung a bit more.

Yeah – although Jake wasn’t so much angry that he had seen them together, but it was more that seeing Liz with Max opened his eyes. He knew that Liz was not completely invested and would have ended it anyway, but perhaps not right then. However, seeing them just reinforced what he already knew and encouraged him to talk to Liz that day.

That was a sweet moment between Max and Liz there, that massage. At least Max knows how what to do to calm Liz down the next time she snaps at him. He just really gets under skin. It's funny. It was nice to see them have tender caring moment. Max must really like her as he said. I wonder what Liz being single would mean to Max.

Lol – perhaps we’ll find out soon

That's good to know. I'm looking forward to the reveal. I'm eager to see who I think it is, is right or not.

We’re getting there… slowly but surely .

Re: the tennis… I am so glad that Murray finally beat Nadal !! But am very annoyed that I couldn’t watch the match anywhere… it was only on the ‘pay-extra’ sports channels on cable and I couldn’t watch online because I’m not in the US… I had to make do with looking at the live online scores and listening to it on the radio!

It was unfortunate that he lost to Federer in straight sets last night, but I think it was kind of inevitable… Nadal was out of the running and Federer was playing really well. Murray can still be proud though – he was the first British player to reach a Grand Slam final in 11 years (the last was Greg Rudeski in 1997 – although Rudeski confused me a bit because wasn’t he Canadian originally?!) .

Inkpen4877 – Thanks .

*sigh* a max massage....where can i get me one of those!??! It sounds delicious! aww poor jake, can't say I didn't see it coming

A Max massage would be great . Unfortunately, it was inevitable that a break up was on the cards for Liz and Jake.

...and hmmm I wonder what is going on with Soph and Max....

All will be revealed eventually .

Tamashii – Thanks .

Wow... I have lost a lot of parts but now I am all caught up. I have to wonder what is the deal with Max. We have never really see him with a lot of girls, he flirts with them that is for sure.

Max is still a bit of a mystery at the moment. The problem is that we don’t really know how many girls Max is with – we only know what Liz sees… and it seems like every time she sees him he’s either talking with, flirting with or dancing with a girl!

Is he really Isabel's brother?

Well, the jury’s still out on that one – we don’t know anything for sure yet.

I really liked Jake's reaction to the break-up, it was really mature of him. I hope he finds someone.

Jake is a smart guy, and he realised that however much he wanted to be with Liz, she just didn’t belong with him. He could have kept quiet and continued to pretend everything was fine, but he knew that wouldn’t be good for either of them in the long run.

Liz should realize that is not normal thinking so much about someone. And it is clear that there is something there for Max too, or he wouldn't have been so jealous about Liz's sexy dance or following her to the bathroom.

My interpretation of Liz thinking so much about Max is that she believes it’s just in her head – she’s convinced herself that there’s no chance that she would let herself end up with Max, so she’s taken to just thinking about him instead – kind of like you might daydream or fantasise about a celebrity, but you know you’ll probably never even meet them. There is definitely something up with Max too.

By the way, I loved all the parts, you are a really good writer.

Thank you so much .

Christable – Thanks .

I just found this story and I want to say that it is amazing. Love the way you are writing it. Can't wait to see what happens next. Hopefully Liz acts on her feelings for Max soon

Thank you . Lovely to see a new reader too . Things are starting to heat up a bit for Max and Liz now .

kay_b – Thanks .

Awww, I know exactly how that feels. Liz can cry, she's entitled to it. But I'm betting not a lot of tears will be shed. And I'm glad that they're going to remain as friends.

No, Liz is just a bit overwhelmed at the moment, but I’m sure it won’t take long for her to bounce back .

Now, on to my Dreamer couple please. And while you're at it, can we get rid of Sophie?

There’s still going to be some Sophie in the story, but I can guarantee a Dreamer ending, so don’t worry .

bella_svetlana – Thanks .

I'm really enjoying your story. The back and forth between Liz and Max is going to make them just freaking explosive when they finally get together. lol. I have to say I liked Jake... just not as much as Max. I'm looking forward to your next update!

Thank you . I’m hoping it will be explosive when something finally happens . Jake is a nice guy, but unfortunately he wasn’t the one for Liz.


***


Part Twenty-Two

“Well, that’s two down,” states Kyle with a grin as we exit the Great Hall, where the exams are being held, on late Wednesday morning, “and one to go. Thank God.”

“Yep, last one on Friday,” I agree, shoving my pens and pencils into my bag. “It wasn’t that bad in there today though, was it?”

“Not for you, maybe,” he scoffs. “This last hour and a half were pure hell for me.”

“I’m sure you did great, Kyle.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see.”

We head out of the building and I turn to head home, but Kyle tugs at my elbow before I can take another step.

“Hey, I’m meeting Serena and a few others in the bar for post-exam drinks in a couple of minutes, why don’t you come along too?”

“Sur–” I start to nod, but then something occurs to me. “Wait, this isn’t a pity-party invite, is it?”

“Of course not, Liz,” he almost looks offended and I suddenly feel guilty for implying it. “I know you must be hurting after what happened with Jake, but I’m not one for pity; neither is Serena. Just thought you might feel like a celebratory drink.”

“Oh, go on then.”

“Great, let’s go,” he grins and starts walking towards the student union.

I follow him with a smile as I think about how lucky I am to have friends like Kyle, and Serena, and everyone else on my floor. They’ve been really great this last week after Jake and I broke up. I know that we didn’t have this immense, ‘in love’ relationship or anything, but it’s still been a difficult few days dealing with seeing Jake around, even saying ‘Hi’ occasionally when we pass in the corridors or the dining hall, but not being ‘with’ him anymore. Luckily I’ve had the stress of the exams to keep my mind off it though.

We enter the union bar to find it relatively crowded for eleven-thirty in the morning; presumably everyone’s here for the same reason we are: to celebrate the end of an exam. It doesn’t take long to find Serena and the handful of our course mates who have already arrived though – they’re the rowdy group sitting at the largest table, right in the middle of the bar.

“Hey guys,” I greet, as we approach the table and Kyle reaches for Serena, giving her a kiss as she asks how the exam went. I can’t help but feel a swell of happiness for them; they make a really good couple.

Since it seems everyone else already has a drink, I offer to go up to the bar for Kyle and myself. With his choice and a second drink order from Serena, I grab my purse and head up to the bar counter. I give the order to the man behind the bar and lean against the counter while I wait for the drinks. However, just then there is a commotion near the door as a group of guys enter the room and head for the empty space at the bar to my left. I look up from the advertising flyer I’m studying as the other barman greets the guy at the front with enthusiasm.

“Evans, my man!” he grins, as the two of them share a somewhat complicated handshake. “Haven’t seen you in here for at least two days, mate!”

“Yeah, well, you know it is,” replies Max with a shrug and a grin. “Things to do, people to see.”

“Yeah, I bet,” winks the guy behind the bar, dressed in a union polo shirt and jeans. “So, what’s it to be, then? Pint of bitter?”

“Go for it,” replies Max. “So, how’s the rowing going? You get that new coach sorted out yet?”

“Yeah, we’re working on it,” nods the barman as he reaches for a glass and begins to fill it with beer.

“That’s good,” says Max. “But if you have any issues, just let me know and I’ll make sure it gets done for you.”

“Thanks, mate. You’re the best. Here you go,” the guy places the drink in front of Max. “That’ll be £1.50 then.”

I can’t help but watch with curiosity as Max converses with the barman. I think this is the first time I’ve seen him in a normal setting, being serious, with no sign of the usual smirk and laughing eyes, and I have to admit that this Max Evans seems like a pretty nice guy. The other barman places the first of my drinks in front of me and I am about to avert my eyes, when suddenly Max glances in my direction as he takes a sip of his beer and our eyes lock. This time though, it seems different from the other times, there’s something in his eyes that just draws me in – more so than normal – and makes me feel sort of… calm, and yet also warm at the same time.

He nods slightly and then turns to one of his friends. I look away, as the barman places the other two drinks down in front of me and tells me how much I owe. I pay him and then stare down at the drinks for a moment, wondering how I’m going to carry all three of them to the table safely.

“On your own today, Liz?” Max’s unexpected voice at my side makes me jump. “No Jake around to keep you company?”

I turn to him to find that the unidentifiable expression he was wearing a moment ago has gone and the usual smirk is back in its place.

“No, he’s not,” I say, keeping my voice as smooth and calm as possible as I talk about my now ex-boyfriend.

“Hmm,” his eyebrows rise, as if he’s considering something.

“What do you mean, ‘hmm’?” I ask, puzzled by his reaction.

He shrugs, “Well, it’s just that…”

“It’s just what?” I demand, turning to face him fully.

He sighs, “I saw him in town last night. He was with some girl.”

He was? Wow, that was fast.

We might have broken up amicably, but I can’t help but feel a little bit of hurt that he seems to have moved on so quickly already.

“So?” I retort, not really wanting to spill the details of my private life to him just now.

“Just thought you should know.”

I shrug and turn back to my drinks-carrying dilemma again. But as quickly as I turn away, I turn back to him again,

“What does it matter to you what he does anyway?”

“It doesn’t,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “But I thought perhaps you might want to know that your boyfriend’s cheating on you.”

I sigh, shaking my head, “Jake’s not cheating on me, Max.”

“You don’t need to defend him, Liz.”

“I’m not defending him,” I say patiently. “He’s just not cheating on me.”

“What, so that blonde he was looking all cosy with in town last night is his sister then?” he snorts. “I don’t think so, Liz.”

I suck in a deep breath and exhale slowly. Looks like I’m going to have to tell him the truth after all.

“Max, I know for a fact that Jake is not cheating on me, okay? And you know how I
know that? Because we broke up.”

He straightens up, looking surprised.

“Yeah, that’s right,” I answer his unspoken question. “We broke up. So he’s free to do whatever he wants now.”

Max frowns, his expression serious again, “I’m sorry, Liz.”

“Don’t be,” I shrug off his apparent concern. “It was a mutual decision.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Hey, Liz! You get lost over there?” Kyle’s shout across the room interrupts the conversation and I realise that I’ve been standing here for quite a long time now.

I look back down at the three drinks and pick up two of them, but I can’t work out how I’ll be able to hold the other one too.

“Here, I’ll carry that one for you,” Max picks up drink number three and looks at me expectantly. “Where to?”

“Over there,” I nod towards the table where Kyle and Serena are waiting for me. “Thanks.”

He nods and carries the drink over to my friends. I hand the two drinks in my hands to Serena and Kyle before reaching for my own from Max. Our fingers touch as I take it from him and my eyes snap to his, but his expression is neutral.

“Thanks,” I say.

“No problem,” he shrugs, a small smile tugging at his lips. “See you around, Liz.”

He turns and leaves, walking across the room to join his friends at a smaller table in the corner.

“Talking to Max Evans, huh?” asks Serena speculatively, nudging me with her elbow. “What was all that about?”

“Nothing,” I mutter, taking a sip of my drink as I sit down at the table. “Nothing at all.”

As I take one last look over toward Max’s table, where he is joking around with his friends, I start to wonder why it is that he can never mind his own business.

***

After spending an hour and a half in the pub with Kyle, Serena and their friends, I reluctantly head back to my desired study spot upstairs to get some more revision done for Friday’s exam. The material is pretty straightforward and I know that I understand it all, so really the afternoon is spent making a few more notes and going over some of the more important concepts that I need to know.

By four thirty, I come to the conclusion that I’m well-prepared and shouldn’t have a problem on Friday as long as I spend a couple of hours going through the syllabus one last time tomorrow, so I leave the student union and go back to the halls. I arrive just in time to meet up everyone on their way over to the main house for dinner.

“Hey, Liz,” smiles Maria in greeting when I bump into the group on my way into A block. “You’re just in time for dinner. You coming with?”

“Sure,” I nod in agreement and fall into step beside Alex, who has his arm around Isabel. “Hey, guys.”

“So, how did the exam go today, Liz?” asks Alex, as we head inside.

“Not bad, thanks, Alex. Could have been better, but I think I did okay.”

“Good to hear,” he nods. “I’ll have my fingers crossed for you on Friday too.”

I grin, “Thanks.”

We continue to chat about the day’s happenings as we all join the dinner queue, grab some food and then take our seats around one of the tables in the dining hall. We start to eat in relative silence, but about halfway through the main course, Maria starts up a new conversation.

“So, Liz, a few of us got to talking when you were in your exam this morning and the subject of housing for next year came up,” she starts, putting down her knife and fork and leaning forward on her elbows. “We’re going need to start looking for off-campus housing really soon and I thought maybe we could all try work something out for next year. What do you think?”

“Yeah, sounds great,” I say enthusiastically. “I haven’t had a chance to even think about next year yet. What’s the plan for houses, then?”

“Well, the university housing list comes out next week, so I think we should start by seeing what’s in there.”

“Okay, great,” I nod. Apparently, each year in early February, the campus accommodation office releases a housing booklet containing all of the university-approved student housing available in the city. “So, how is this going to work? Are we looking for a house for all of us or will we split up into groups?”

“Well, there are six of us, right?” replies Maria, with a grin and points around the table. “You, me, Alex, Izzy, Mike and James. I say we look for a six-bed house.”

“Um, Maria, are you sure that’s such a good idea?” pipes up James, between mouthfuls of mashed potato.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, I mean, out of the six of us, Liz and I are the only single ones. You and Mike and Alex and Izzy are both couples – is it really a good idea to be living together so soon?”

Maria fidgets in her seat, realisation dawning, “Well, we wouldn’t have to share a room if we didn’t want to. It’d be just like this year – we’ve all been living on the same floor with no problems.”

“James does have a point though,” adds Isabel then. “Hopefully it won’t happen, but it could get awkward if any of us break up.”

“Yeah, I guess,” relents Maria, her earlier enthusiasm quickly disappearing. “Maybe we should split into two groups of three instead? What does everyone think?”

“That does seem like a good solution,” says Alex thoughtfully. “But how would we decide who lives with who? I don’t know about anyone else, but I kind of like all of you.”

“How about girls in one house and boys in the other?” suggests Maria. “Me, Liz and Izzy and Mike, Alex and James?”

“Maybe, or what about Maria, me and Liz and Mike, Izzy and James?” proposes Alex.

“I hate to be awkward here,” I decide to add my opinion, “but I kind of like the idea of us all being together. It just wouldn’t be the same if we were living in different places.”

“Me too,” adds Alex.

“Yeah.” That was Michael.

“And me,” sighs Maria.

“Well, okay then, how about we just play it by ear,” suggests Isabel. “We’ll wait for the housing list to come out to see what’s available and then work it out from there. I mean, maybe there aren’t even any six-bed houses going anyway.”

“Okay, that sounds like a reasonable solution,” agrees James, as the rest of us nod. “Let’s do it.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thank you for your feedback :

Hunter – Thanks

Great update!! I wonder when Max will finally ask Liz out!! Can't wait till they get together!!

We’re getting there, don’t worry .

carolina_moon – Thanks .

Max you dork! Way to rub it in and then completley blow off your chance to make a good impression as a potential suitor.

Yeah, not a wise move, was it?

Lairabehr4 – Isn’t it?

Tamashii – Thanks .

Well, at least she saw tha he is capable if being normal and human, and nice.
Of course, he kind of ruined later with all the talk about Jake, but it's nice to see that he cares about her.

Yeah, he showed Liz a glimpse of how nice he could be, but perhaps all that Jake talk just wasn’t a good idea

I think the idea of the girls in one place in guys in other was best, just because when a couple fights they will all have to live it together and it's not the same as in the same floor with a lot a people than in a house just the six of them.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of an all-girls and an all-guys house so much because I think you need a balance of both sexes, but we’ll have to see what happens with our gang. To be honest, though, there aren’t that many people on their floor in the hall, since the group makes up about half it already.

Hopefully Liz and Max will be able to talk, to have a decent conversation soon.

Hopefully… .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Loved the part!... and for myself, I think Max's was quite "stuned" by the fact that Liz is single!!! so that why he reacted so little about the news.... certainly already plan his "attack" on her....

Yeah, he definitely wasn’t expecting that one, .

katydid – Thanks .

Max is an idiot...trying to get poor Jake into trouble. Of course, again we're only seeing things from Liz' POV, so maybe she'll finally understand everything he has done and said to her.

Yeah, Max probably shouldn’t have stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong… although since Liz and Jake aren’t together anymore, his nosiness didn’t bother Liz as much as it might have if they were still a couple (but then, if they hadn’t broken up, Max wouldn’t have seen Jake with another girl anyway).

Natalie36 – Thanks .

some how max has to live with them. that would throw liz over the edge

That would be funny, wouldn’t it? Only problem is, Max is currently in his final year of his degree and will be graduating soon… .

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Max was pretty nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuine in his concern for her over their break up. He even watched out for her to make sure Jake doesn't hurt her. That's fascinating.

Yeah, Max is concerned and is (perhaps subconsciously) looking out for her, but he probably shouldn’t have approached the subject of Jake like that.

Jake bounces back quickly at least since he's dating again. It would be interesting to see if Liz goes out with someone else again while she's still fighting her feelings for Max.

Well, we don’t know for sure if Jake is dating, since all we have is Max’s view of what he saw – perhaps he’s just trying to get his mind off Liz. As for Liz dating again… we’ll have to wait and see…

I thought about you when Andy Murray was plowing through tournament there. He definitely made a lot of progress this year. Just coming back to win after fighting against 2 set lead as he did once or twice in this tournament, was pretty impressive. I had the same trouble with final match as you did with semi's between Nadal and Murray. I had to settle for the live scores and listening on the radio because none of the channels here were showing it and since I'm not in U.S. either I couldn't watch online. I think that's so dumb though, especially for tennis, since since all of the players are from all over. But it was a great U.S. Open year. I can't wait to see what the new tennis season brings. Perhaps Murray can make to a Wimbledon final.

Yeah, I haven’t been able to watch a match since the middle of the second week – one of the channels we have was showing it but they only had the rights to certain matches, so they didn’t show anything from the Quarters onwards.

Alysluv – Thanks .

ooo sooo how is Max going to get figured into this whole housing buisness....im likin the way this is goin

Oh, uh, actually Max isn’t going to figure in at all… he’s graduating in a few months

veronica – Thanks .

kj4ever – Thanks .

So I'm not liking Max so much now. To rub something like that in her face the way he did....It's just cruel, and it makes it even worse that he thought they were together. Just plain mean. If he was doing it because he was concerned about her he wouldn't have said it the way that he did.

Yeah, Max was wrong to do that to Liz and should have phrased it better… or better yet, not said anything at all. But perhaps he is concerned about her but didn’t think through what he was saying to her… who knows what’s going through his head at this point?!

I'm guessing perhaps Isabel's parents will make her move in with her "brother" and the rest will come along for moral support!

Well, first off, we still don’t know for sure who Isabel’s brother is… and even if it is Max, he will be graduating soon and won’t need to find a house, and secondly, Isabel’s parents will have no say whatsoever in where she lives or who she lives with – she is an adult and makes her own decisions… as is everyone else in the group – they’ve moved away from home to a different city, some to the other side of the country, and have independent lives now.

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Great new part!! Wonder when Max will grow a brain and ask Liz out!!..i thought he was going to...

Not just yet, I’m afraid…

And love the idea of all of them living together...sounds exciting!!
how would Max fit into that?? Lol

Well, I’m not sure he would… he’s almost finished his final year now and he’ll be graduating in the summer.

sarammlover – Thanks .

oh liz, daft daft liz, why do you think he can't mind his own business? you are his business!!!

Exactly !

destinyc – Thanks .

Well, maybe with Jake out of the way, Max and Liz can turn the heat up a bit? Just a thought.

Maybe…;)

paper – Thanks .

Gotta agree about Max's crass behavior though. It sounded like he was trying to rub her nose in it. Then he's sorry they broke up? What is that boy thinking?

While it was wrong of him to say anything to Liz about Jake, perhaps he regretted it after Liz told him about the break-up and so then apologised. Maybe he knew he shouldn’t speak to her that way and wasn’t even intending to, but then jealousy reared it’s ugly head and he spoke without thinking.

Seems they have arrived at a crucial point now. Will Max continue to troll for babes while Liz hooks up with another random one-off that she can have some fun with? Or will Max pursue her in the open for once? Did he only want her because she was unattainable? Now that she is available, what will he do?

That’s the big question now… what are they going to do?

Perchance the Evans own a large house near the college that Max already occupies?

A large house near university in the UK? Max’s parents would have to be millionaires to afford one (which they aren’t) - even a small studio apartment costs about a quarter of a million dollars over here … most students pay for their rent out of student loans and live in rows of tiny terraced houses just off campus – only a select few with very rich parents get to live in big houses (mostly those who come from upper class backgrounds, went to private boarding schools and attend universities like Oxford or Cambridge).

azure_horizon – Thanks . It makes me happy to meet new readers – especially when they’re from the UK too .

Well, I loved this

Sat and read it all the way through in one go, lol. See what happens when I'm ill??

It's been a year or so since I read any Roswell fic but I'm glad I started with this; it really is very good!

Thank you .

Can't wait for more. Do you update weekly, or just as you write something new?

Updates are weekly (every Tuesday) as long as nothing comes up. The last couple of months have been a bit hectic for updates because I was moving around between two different continents and couldn’t update weekly at the beginning of August.

behrluv32 –

OMG!!! will they just get together already!!! they need to just stop

Lol – we’re getting there .



***


Part Twenty-Three

Exams are over with now and the second semester got underway a fortnight ago. It’s been two weeks of getting settled back into the routine of lectures and finding my balance again. Life has suddenly got very hectic though and every week I juggle the lectures with four demanding fashion show rehearsals, two dance classes (Street and Ballet) and Debate Soc meetings, not to mention trying to fit in some time to go house-hunting, which at the moment, is still all up in the air.

Having said that though, the fashion show rehearsals are going really well. The idea of the fashion show is that we put on a ‘show’ of different dances while wearing clothes and accessories provided by local clothing stores. We’ve been split into two groups – eight couples in each group – so the idea is that we alternate performances during the show. For most of them, we dance as couples, but there are a couple of boys-only and girls-only dances slotted in there too.

My partner for the couple’s dances is a third-year Geography student called Daniel, who is tall and lean with jet-black scruffy hair and, according to Jackie, is amazing in bed… apparently they were partners in last year’s fashion show and got a little… okay, a lot closer than most of the couples did during the course of the rehearsals. However, despite her warnings that he could be a bit too charming for his own good and sometimes had trouble keeping his hands to himself, I actually find him to be a pretty good partner. He’s really easy to work with and we have fun together.

“Okay, great work this afternoon, everyone,” calls out Sophie at the end of this week’s Saturday afternoon rehearsal. “We’ll leave it there for today and I’ll see you all on Monday when we’ll get started on a new routine.”

I say goodbye to Daniel and the other dancers I’ve got to know over the last few weeks and head back to the halls. When I arrive, the floor is very quiet and there seems to be no one around, which is actually quite good because I’m knackered after the gruelling three-hour rehearsal today. I leave my door ajar in case anyone stops by and then flop down onto my bed for a much-needed rest.

“Hey, Liz, you’re back,” a voice intrudes on my light slumber about twenty minutes later.

I pry open my eyes to see James leaning against the doorway, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets.

“Hey, James,” I greet as I pull myself into a sitting position and beckon for him to come in. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” he shrugs, entering the room and taking a seat on the end of Maria’s bed. “I’ve been trying to work on an essay, but I need a break. You wanna do something?”

“Sure,” I smile, stretching my arms and preparing to get up off the bed. “What do you want to do?”

“Fancy a trip down to Wetherspoon’s?” he asks, referring to the popular pub a few minutes’ walk from campus. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Sure,” I agree easily; I might be tired, but I’m always up for a trip to ‘Spoons, as we affectionately call it. It’s a really nice, big pub venue with a large garden area surrounding it.

I grab my coat, scarf and gloves from where I dropped them on the floor when I came in and pull them on, before reaching for my purse and following James out of the door. We make our way outside into the cold February evening and engage in small talk on route to the pub.

“So, where is everyone else tonight?” I ask, linking arms with him in a friendly gesture as we leave the hall grounds and turn onto the main road.

“Well, Mike and Maria are currently on a double date with Alex and Izzy,” he muses and I nod, remembering that Maria mentioned something about it to me this morning. “And Tess and Amanda have some kind of social thing up on campus, so we’re the only ones left.”

I nod again, but then frown, “I thought you were going out with that blonde girl again tonight, um… Anna?”

He shrugs, “Yeah, I was, but we called it a day – it wasn’t working out.”

“Again?” I roll my eyes. “James, have you ever managed to go out with a girl more than twice?”

“Of course I have,” he says indignantly.

“Really? When?”

“I’ll have you know that I went out with Rebecca Thompson for two months, actually,” he retorts.

“Mmm hmm, and when was this exactly?” I query, having a sneaking suspicion I know what he’s going to say.

“Um, well… Year Nine,” he admits then.

I knew it.

“Year Nine?” it’s my turn to sound incredulous now. “James, you were like, fourteen in Year Nine.”

“Yeah, well…” he starts, but quickly trails off. There’s a short pause before, “Okay, fine, you got me.”

”Tsk, tsk,” I click my tongue at him. “I think it’s time you left it up to Maria and I – we’ll find someone for you, don’t you worry.”

“Liz…” his face falls and I can’t help but grin.

“Nuh uh, you’re not getting out of it, mister,” I stop walking and take a step away, wagging a finger at him.

He glares at me for a moment, before sighing in resignation, “Okay, fine, you and Maria do your thing, but I’m not letting you pick out someone horrible, okay?”

“As if we’d do that!” I exclaim in mock-offence. “You’re just going to have to trust us, Jamie-boy.”

With that, I link my arm with his again and we keep walking. We reach Wetherspoon’s ten minutes later and I find a table for us in a not-so-noisy area of the pub while James heads off to the bar to order some drinks and a plate of hot chips to share. Even though it’s Saturday, it’s only five o’clock and it’s not too busy yet, so James reappears pretty quickly with two pints of lager and then the plate of chips arrives only a couple of minute later. We eagerly tuck into the big, chunky chips, and chat about random things, like how my rehearsal went today and what his essay topic is, but soon the conversation turns a little more personal.

“I bumped into Jake in the union the other day,” announces James, as he takes a sip of his lager.

“Yeah?” I respond, not really surprised at the news, since I know that Jake still hangs out with the guys occasionally.

“Yeah,” he nods, “we had a drink in the bar and got to talking about things.” Again, nothing new. He places his glass down on the table and looks up at me, his expression apprehensive. “Your name came up.”

“Yeah?” I frown a little, not sure where he’s going with this.

He sighs, “Look, I don’t want you to think that I believe it’s true or anything, it’s just…”

“What is it, James?” I ask impatiently, racking my brains for anything that Jake might have told him about me, or our relationship.

“Jake said that he thought you’d been really distracted the last few weeks before you broke up and that he got the feeling there was someone else…” he sighs and I look down at the half-empty plate of chips, studying the ketchup smothered on the side. “I mean, I said no, that you weren’t the type to cheat, but he seemed pretty sure of himself.”

I keep my gaze fixed on the chips, suddenly wishing that Max Evans had never existed, because technically, even though he kissed me and not the other way around, I did cheat on Jake.

“Liz?”

“What?” I look up now, into his expectant face. “Oh… no, of course not.”

”Liz?” James frowns and I can tell he’s not completely buying it. “There wasn’t anyone else… was there?”

“N-no,” I say quickly, but then realise that I can’t deny it. “I mean… well… not exactly.”

James is looking at me with a mixture of confusion and disbelief, “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’? Liz, were you cheating on Jake?”

“No, not cheating, really… I just…” I struggle for the right words. Oh, what the hell, “Well, I kind of kissed someone…”

“You did what?” asks James in shock, before his tone quickly changes to disappointment as he shakes his head, “Liz…”

“I didn’t mean to or anything,” I quickly defend. “It just happened – he kissed me.” I sigh, “James, I was drunk, and I didn’t really know what was happening. I didn’t even remember it happening the next day.”

He nods slowly, as if taking everything in, “But you remember now?” I nod. “How exactly?”

“I bumped into the guy again a few days later in Warehouse and he reminded me,” I say vaguely.

“Okay, so some guy kissed you when you were too drunk to think straight,” says James thoughtfully. “Does Jake know?”

“No,” I shake my head.

James frowns, “So why does he think you’re seeing someone else, then?”

I exhale heavily, “The guy who kissed me, well, I keep bumping into him around campus … and he and Jake sort of know each other… and…”

“Yeah?”

“Well, Jake saw us together in the union a few weeks ago and he thought that maybe there was something going on.”

“But apart from this drunken kiss you didn’t even remember, there wasn’t anything else going on, right?”

“No,” I deny, feeling guilty for leaving out that little extra detail about a certain other kiss. “It just that… Jake was right when he said I was distracted. I didn’t feel for him what I think he felt for me and then this other guy comes along and I feel more during one kiss from him than in the whole time Jake and I were together.”

“Oh,” exhales James in understanding. “But wait a sec, I thought you didn’t remember kissing this guy?”

“Oh, um, well, I said that he reminded me about what happened… well he was a bit annoyed that I didn’t seem to know what he was talking about when we bumped into each other, and so to trigger my memory, he… kissed me again,” I confess, feeling my face grow hot as I do.

“Okay,” he nods in confusion. “And because you were sober this time, you pushed him away, right?”

“Well…”

“Liz!” he exclaims with a disapproving look.

“I know, I know; it was wrong,” I admit. “But, I don’t know… I just couldn’t seem to stop myself.”

“Well, I hope you told him you had a boyfriend.”

I roll my eyes, “He already knew.”

His eyebrows raise, “He knew you were with Jake and he still kissed you? And when you were drunk, no less?” I nod and he whistles. “Wow, he sounds like a bastard.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” I sigh and James looks at me speculatively.

“But you like him.”

“I try not to, I really do,” I say. “He’s arrogant as hell, he can’t seem to take anything seriously, and has an ego the size of China, but there’s just something about him… I can’t help it.”

“Oh, Lizzie,” he shakes his head, expression a mixture of both sympathy and slight disapproval. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, James,” I mutter, lifting my pint to my lips and taking a big gulp. “I really don’t know.”

***

On Wednesday afternoon of the next week, I run straight from my four o’clock lecture down to the student union for the evening’s fashion show rehearsal. It doesn’t start until five-thirty, but by the time I’ve left the lecture room and made it all the way over to the union in the dark, it’s already five-fifteen, and so I quickly slip into the toilets just outside the hall to get changed.

As I lock myself into one of the cubicles and pull my dance leggings and tank top out of my bag, I hear the bathroom door open and close and two voices intrude on the quietness of the room. It doesn’t take long to realise that the newcomers are Sophie and Jackie, since their voices are familiar. They seem to be discussing the stores that have agreed to provide clothes for us to wear in the show, so I don’t really pay much attention, but then something catches my attention and I can’t help but eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Hey, Soph, you know what’s up with Max today?” asks Jackie, as I hear her rummaging about in her bag. “I saw him in the coffee bar at lunch and he seemed really moody; he just stormed past me without a word.”

“Beats me,” replies Sophie. “He was like that during breakfast in our kitchen this morning. He wasn’t talking, though. He just grunted at me and started shovelling cereal into his mouth so fast that I couldn’t even get a word out of him.”

My eyes widen as my mind registers Sophie’s words ‘our kitchen’. It would seem that my previous suspicions have been confirmed – Sophie and Max are together. Very much together, apparently.

“Hmm, it was kinda strange to see him like that,” muses Jackie a moment later. “He’s usually pretty upbeat.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s like the greatest guy I know,” agrees Sophie. “And he’s usually such a sweetie, you know? Which is why there has to be something really wrong if he’s acting like that today. The Max Evans I know is the sweetest, funniest, most genuine guy I’ve ever met.”

I frown at her description: Sweet? Funny? Genuine? Can she really be talking about the same Max Evans? For me, the words arrogant and ‘full-of-himself’ come to mind to describe him much more easily than ‘sweet’ or ‘genuine’.

“Not to mention that he’s also a total sex god, right?” says Jackie then, her tone turning mischievous as I hear her zip up her bag.

“Oh, yeah,” says Sophie earnestly, as they make their way out of the toilets. “Best sex I ever had.”

The door closes behind them, leaving me standing in the middle of the toilet cubicle, tank top dangling limply from my hand and my mind reeling as I try to take in everything I just heard. Two things in particular stand out as I shake my head and try to concentrate on getting dressed: 1) Who is Max Evans, really? How can it be that the Max I know seems to be completely different from the Max they know? and 2) Not only has Max apparently slept with Sophie, but they also seem to be living together.

But if they are together, then why does Max always seem to be hanging around, flirting with me and generally making a nuisance of himself? Come to think of it, why did he kiss me those times? And why did he say he ‘maybe’ liked me the other week? Is he just proving that he really is the jerk I thought he was when we met, or this there more to it than that?

God, this is so confusing. He is so confusing. I don’t even know what to think anymore.

I pull on the rest of my dance outfit and then fix my hair out of the way before I head out to the rehearsal room to warm up. I drop my bag on the floor just in the doorway and then look around the room to see Sophie and Jackie now talking to my partner, Daniel in the middle of the room.

“Hey, guys,” I greet as I approach them.

“Oh, Liz,” smiles Sophie. I smile back, despite my confusion over her apparent relationship with Max. “Great, you’re here. We were just telling Dan about some new choreography that we’d like the two of you to learn.”

“Oh?” I ask, as I wonder what they have in mind.

“Yeah, we thought it would be cool to add in a short solo in the middle of the Madonna number and we want you and Daniel to perform it.”

“Really?” I look to Daniel, who grins down at me and nods. “Sure – that would be great.”

“Brilliant!” exclaims Sophie. “Thanks, guys. We’ll just get the rehearsal underway and then I’ll come over and go through what we’d like you to do.”

With that, she and Jackie head up to the front of the room to call the practice to order. We start the rehearsal with a quick warm up and then split into our groups to run through the dances. After about fifteen minutes, Sophie approaches us again and briefs Daniel and I on the new choreography, which apparently involves a lot of lifts and turns and sounds a bit daunting, to be honest.

“You okay?” asks Daniel, as his arm snakes around my waist and he lifts me up in one of the moves that Sophie has instructed us to do.

“Yeah,” I reply, slightly breathless due to the fact that I’m currently half upside-down with my legs bent back over his shoulder. “I’m good. Just don’t drop me or anything.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I can hear the smile in his voice. “I’ve got you.”

“I know.”

You’d think that it might be kind of nerve-wracking being held upside-down and then spun around by someone you’ve only known for a few weeks, but one thing I realised early on in our rehearsals was not only that I could trust Daniel not to drop me, but also that he was deceptively strong for his fairly slight frame. Of course, he’s not skinny or anything; he has a fair amount of muscle, it’s just that he’s not big and burly like a rugby player or weightlifter or anything… which is probably a good thing since he’s currently trying to master hip-hop and street style dancing as opposed to rugby tackles.

We finish the move and then Sophie goes over the routine with us a couple more times before leaving us alone to practice. We spend about another twenty minutes trying to master the lifts while everyone else practices a different part of the number and then we split into our separate groups to rehearse the boys-only and girls-only dances at opposite ends of the room. The evening’s rehearsal ends with a run-through of all of the dances we’ll be performing in the show. Although everything seems to be coming together nicely, it’s a little daunting that the actual show is only three weeks away now and there’s so much work still do to in order to get everything perfect.

As we walk across the room to get our things at the end of the evening, Daniel stops me for a moment.

“Hey, Liz?” he asks, his hand tugging gently on my elbow so that I turn to face him.

“Yep?”

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?”

His question sets off faint alarm bells in my head as I recall Jackie’s recent warning about Daniel’s slight playboy tendencies with girls.

“Why?” I inquire, hoping that it doesn’t come across as rude, because I know that he’s basically a nice guy and I don’t want him to think that I don’t like him.

However, he must hear the hesitancy in my tone because he quickly adds, “Oh, it’s nothing that like that. It’s just that we’re having a party at my house tomorrow night and I was wondering if you fancied coming along?”

“Thanks for the offer, Dan,” I smile, feeling slightly relieved, “I’d love to come. I do have a practice debate with Deb Soc tomorrow evening, but I should be able to make it afterwards.”

“Great,” he smiles. “I couldn’t have a party and not invite my wonderful dance partner, now could I?”

“Well, I’m not sure about ‘wonderful,’” I blush at the compliment.

“No, seriously, Liz, you’ve saved my life here,” he says sincerely. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly Justin Timberlake when it comes to my dance floor moves. If it wasn’t for your amazing dancing skills helping me along, I don’t know where I’d be.”

I can’t help but blush again, “Well, thanks. But don’t sell yourself short, Dan, you’re a pretty good partner for me too.” There’s a pause as we share a grin, before I ask, “So, this party… when and where?”

He reels off the time – nine p.m. – and the place – 28 Barrow Road – and I scribble them down on a scrap of paper that I quickly dig out of my bag. Then we both grab our things and a small group of us who live in the same direction walk back home together.

However, as I say goodbye to them and head up the driveway of my hall of residence, I remember that I still need to prepare for the debate I have to give tomorrow night. I was assigned the affirmative side of the debate entitled ‘Are extramarital affairs ever acceptable or justified?’ At the moment, I don’t know my opposition will be – we basically had to draw debate titles out of a hat – but knowing my past history with debate partners, I can hazard a guess.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thanks for your feedback :

paper – Thanks .

I just meant that if he likes Liz, then he got a break because she broke it off with her boyfriend.

Oh, okay, I gotcha .

I think he likes it when Liz tells him off, because he has her attention.

You know what? I think you could be right on that one.

I really missed Max in this part, even though he got mentioned. Two weeks have gone by & no progress on getting with Liz? But if he really is with Sophie, I guess that is why.

Well, remember that this story is all from Liz’s POV and that she does have a life outside of her interactions with Max. She’s just been so busy with her new classes and the fashion show that she hasn’t had much time to think about Max. Sorry that you missed Max here, he was originally in this part, but then I shuffled the parts around a bit and his scene got moved to part 24 .

[quote[Thanks for the great part! I love Daniel, but I hope he doesn't throw a wrensch in the works. [/quote]

Hmm, Daniel… we’ll have to see on that front.

Hunter – Thanks .

Wow..I can't beleive Max was with someone the whole time he was flirting with Liz..he must really like Liz but he is an asshole. Lol but no one's perfect.

Well, we’ve only seen Liz’s interpretation of what she heard so far…

Max's flaw is being cocky and conceited but I guess that's just a defence of his ego really. He really must like Liz and is afraid of rejection..am I right? So he puts up this image of being a cocky bastard. lol

Perhaps…

Me too. I really missed Max. Hopefully he'll be in the next update right?

Don’t worry, Max will definitely be in this part .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Well, if she would forget her negative thoughts about Max, maybe she would see all the beautiful compliments he received from the girls!....

– yeah, maybe she would.

Wondering what's bothering Max so much? Living with the girl or what?

We’ll find out soon .

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

I dunno if Max was with someone..if Sophie said they were in the kitchen...it could mean that they are sharing a kitchen like they do in halls....lots of people one kitchen....

Possibly…

Liz admits that she likes him..hopefully soon Max will ask her out!

Let's hope so .

I cant believe it next time i read a new part im gonna be in uni...i dont even know if im gonna able to read it!!
but i will try my best..lol

Good luck with starting uni . I won’t be offended if you don’t get to read it… just go out and enjoy your Freshers Week

katydid – Thanks .

Nice update! Okay, Max and Sophie share the same place; however, it does not mean that they are together. Heck, one summer in college I shared a bunk bed with my guy buddy. He had the top bunk, and our room was teeny tiny.

That’s a good point.

Wow, I really think we need another's perspective of this situation! Liz keeps jumping the gun with her conclusions...

Yes she does

Kitten88 – Thanks . Max and Liz interaction coming up…

behrluv32 – Thanks .

me too and haha. i like james; he seemed so outraged it was hilarious, like how could liz ever!!! but i understand jake is one of his boys .

Lol – yes, Jake is one of his friends, but at the same time, Liz was closer to him than any of the others.

Oh and liz really needs to stop w/the eavesdropping that can only get her in trouble or learning half truths at the most. i doubt max is seeing anyone, now sleeping around, well i wouldnt put it past him. it's college, he's a hot guy, and well he seems to have a lot of different girls admitting to have experience w/him or wanting it... anyway wonderful update

Well, in Liz’s defence, it’s not like she could help the fact that she heard them talking . As for Max… we’ll find out more in this part.

azure_horizon – Thanks .

So, what was up with Max? Did he see Liz and James together in Whetherspoon's? if he did Lol.

We’ll find out what was wrong with him very soon .

So she finally admits that she likes him... while admitting that she tries not to. Interesting.

Yeah, she doesn’t want to like him, but she can’t seem to deny it any longer!

Why do I get the feeling that this latest debate is going to get heated? If Max has the same topic it could get dirty - if, of course, he is Isabel's brother then he might have issues with it.

And this party... will he be there? Or will something happen to Liz while with this Dan character? Can't wait for more![/quote]


Check out this new part to see what happens with the debate and the party .

Lairabehr4 – Thanks, hun .

sarammlover – Thanks .

Two things...first of all Jake should have asked Liz himself what was going on with her and Liz should have come clean. He should not have, whether it was intentional or not, sent James to do his dirty work.

Actually, it wasn’t quite like that: Jake was just commenting to James that he thought there might have been someone else, but didn’t intend for James to say anything to Liz at all.

However, James was curious about what Jake had said and brought it up with Liz because he was pretty sure that Liz hadn’t done anything but wanted to confirm it for himself and he was also worried about her.

Second of all, Max is still a complete and total mystery. Why is he chasing after Liz, kissing her and flirting with her, all the while seriously (or at least that is how it seems) dating Sophie...maybe we are still only getting one side to this story

Exactly – we don’t know much about Max yet and all we have to go on is what Liz has seen/heard and how she has interpreted that.

Tamashii – Thanks .

Does that had means past or that is still going on?

I guess that’s the big question, isn’t it?

I really didn´t like that after the talk between James and Jake, he came to talk with Liz either.

James was trying to look out for his friend (Liz), rather than trying to pry info out of her for Jake. He is Liz’s friend first and Jake’s second and was actually hoping to confirm that Jake was wrong about there being someone else.

The Max they know seems very possible, because until now Liz has been trying only to see the bad.

Exactly – Liz is starting to realise that perhaps her assessment of Max is not entirely correct.

I miss Max too. he needs to come before Liz gets together with Daniel

Don’t worry, Max is coming back . And we don’t know if anything will happen with Daniel.


Natalie36 – Thanks .

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Hmm very interesting part. I'm just as perplexed as Liz is about Max. He writes the definition of mix signals that one. I'm intrigued to see what their next encounter will reveal.

We’re getting much closer to finding out more about Max now .

hmmm well it says a lot Jake was taking to James about Liz. Perhaps he isn't quite at the moving on stage.

Perhaps… or maybe it was just a passing conversation between friends where Jake was just telling James his thoughts on the break up.

Gosh that's unfortunate. I would have been quite upset.

Yeah, it wasn’t fun .

Carolina_moon – Thanks .

AHHHHH. Damn. It would suck balls to overhear a convo like that about someone you like! . Is Max going to be at this party? maybe he can staighten everything out. Or maybe Liz should just get a little pro active.

We’ll have to see what happens in this part…

Christable – Thanks .

I think Max really likes Liz and acts the way he does because of his feelings. Liz is just always jumping to conclusions with him. She needs to sit down and reeeeeeaaaaalllly talk to Max and then she will see what everyone else sees. She just has to give him a chance.

Yeah. there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out here, but we are getting closer to that point now .

bella_svetlana – Thanks .

I have a feeling Liz has been jumping to a lot of wrong conclusions about Max. Hopefully I am right, lol.

Yeah, Liz may well be jumping to conclusions… let’s hope she can get things straight soon .

I have a hard time with James, does he like Liz or is he actually just her friend? He is sending off weird vibes. I hope the next chapter we get some Max/Liz interaction.

Don’t worry about James… he’s just a friend who is concerned for Liz and was surprised by Jake’s admission about her being distracted because it didn’t sound like Liz.

There will definitely be some M/L interaction in this part .

destinyc – Thanks .

I sure hope that Liz is jumping to some big conclusions. Let's hope that the debate gets fairly "heated."

Let’s hope so… on both counts .

dreamsatnight –

i don't get max. but why do i feel that there's something more to his relationship with sophie?

Yeah, we really don’t know much about Max at the moment… although that’s about to change . As for Sophie… keep on reading…

A/N - I hope you all like this part... I've been planning it and the next one for a long time ...

***


Part Twenty-Four

The next evening, I arrive at the Debate Soc meeting room in the student union several minutes early and take a seat near the back so that I can go over the notes I’ve made for the practice debate before the meeting begins. At the moment, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to make a convincing argument, since I completely disagree with the suggestion that adultery could ever be acceptable and I have no sympathy at all for those who choose to do it. However, I know that I’m just going to have to put my personal feelings on hold and argue the affirmative to the best of my ability.

When I look up a few minutes later, I find that the room is quickly filling up and at seven o’clock on the dot, the president asks everyone to quiet down.

“Welcome to tonight’s meeting, everyone. As you all know, this week is a little different, in that we have no guest speakers scheduled today. Instead, some of you have signed up to carry out practice debates for us on several different topics.”

I shuffle my notes on my lap and look around the room, to see a few other people doing the same.

“Before we begin, I’ll just run through the running order of the debates,” continues the president a moment later. “First up, we have Thomas Jacobs and Shelley Michaels discussing the Pros and Cons of Abortion, followed by a dialogue on the moral arguments of Extramarital Affairs with Liz Parker and Max Evans, and then…”

The rest of his words fade out as it sinks in that I will be up against Max in the debate this evening. Not that it comes as that much of a surprise, to be honest; these things always seem to keep happening to me lately. Reluctantly, I turn my head to see where Max is sitting, but as my eyes scan the large group of society members, I frown. He doesn’t seem to be here.

As the first debate of the night gets underway, with Shelley and Tom taking their positions at the front of the room, I wonder what I should do now. Do I go up to the front and inform the president that Max is not here, or do I just wait until it’s time for my debate and sort it out then?

The dilemma is solved a couple of minutes later when there is a scuffling noise near the door and I turn around just in time to see Max himself sliding into a seat in the back and then slumping down in his chair, his arms cross over his chest and a scowl on his face. I raise my eyebrows in apprehension at his apparent sour mood and I turn back to face the front desperately praying for the debate to go well this evening.

When Shelley and Tom finish their assigned debate a few minutes later, the society president calls Max and I up to the front to get started on our topic. I stand up quickly and head up there right away, but soon it becomes obvious that Max isn’t behind me. I turn in his direction and look at him questioningly. For some reason, his expression seems to flit between slight surprise and then reluctance, before he appears to sigh, letting his mouth tighten as he gets up and starts walking towards me.

“Okay, then,” announces the president, when we’ve taken our places up at the front. “Take it away, Max and Liz.”

I glance quickly at Max, who is watching me with those dark eyes of his, his expression giving nothing away, before I look down at my notes and start off the debate with my first affirmative argument for the justification of extramarital affairs.

“Well, first off, we have to address the question of why people choose to have extramarital affairs in the first place. Most often than not, these new relationships come about because one half of a couple is dissatisfied with their current partnership and are looking for something more than their spouse can give them. In these circumstances, the atmosphere in the family home can become strained and it may be that this can be alleviated by allowing the unsatisfied partner to seek comfort by other means,” I try desperately not to make a face as I finish up my first point, but I don’t have time to dwell on it, as Max immediately jumps in.

“How can anyone possibly justify an extramarital affair?” he challenges, his voice harsh. “Marriage is a lifelong commitment, whereby two individuals vow to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives. If a married couple is experiencing difficulties and one partner is ‘dissatisfied with the relationship’…” he practically spits out those last four words and I frown, wondering what the matter is with him today. He’s usually extremely calm and collected during these debates. “…then the answer is not to seek companionship or comfort elsewhere, but instead to communicate with the spouse and attempt to work out any relationship problems without involving anyone else.”

“Yes, but what if it’s not possible for both partners to be fully happy in their relationship? Surely if an extramarital affair has the ability to relieve the tension within the family home and allow both partners to be satisfied, what is the problem with it?” I counter, and then try not to cringe as I see Max tighten his jaw and then exhale heavily.

“The problem is that adultery is a sin,” he bites out. “And it shouldn’t be used as an excuse to make a marriage work. If the marriage is not successful and one or both partners are unhappy, then why stay in it? The solution is simple: the first step is communication and if it is not possible to solve marital problems without seeking comfort elsewhere, then the couple should consider dissolving the marriage.”

I suck in a breath as I prepare to counter his argument, but it’s not easy being convincing on this because for once, I fully agree with what Max is saying.

“What about when children are involved?” I propose. “It may be considered better for the children that they have a stable home life, and if an extramarital affair allows the married couple to solve their problems while also remaining together and raising their children in a nuclear family, then who’s to say that is it unjustified?”

“But can both partners ever be truly happy with this kind of arrangement? Surely one of them – the one who has been faithful throughout – is going to suffer in the long run. Why put them through that misery?” counters Max, his voice rising slightly.

“My point is that they don’t have to be miserable,” I retort, knowing that this debate is a losing battle. “If all involved are happy with the situation and have agreed to it, then who is anyone else to tell them that they are sinners and lack morals?”

“But it is inevitable that as some point, things are going to break down,” states Max, his stance rigid and his breathing heavy. “The faithful half of the couple will begin to resent the unfaithful partner for their actions and it’s not unheard of for the adulterous partner to get in too deep and develop stronger feelings for the third party. Not to mention the outside forces that can’t be controlled – surely the feelings of the other man or woman must be considered also. What happens when things get out of control and the adulterous couple fall in love… what then? The actions of the unfaithful partner can cause serious mental damage to the innocent half of the couple and the results can be devastating.”

I sigh, the fight within me quickly deflating as I drop the formality of the debate in order to defend myself, “I’m just trying to put forward a logical argument for a situation where an affair could be considered acceptable here.”

Max turns to face me, his lips curled up in a sneer, “Yeah, well don’t, okay? It can’t be done.”

With that, he slams his notes down on the table to his right and stalks out of the room, leaving the whole of the room to stare after him in shock as I stand up at the front on my own feeling very self-conscious.

“Okay, um well,” the society president clears his throat. “Let’s just leave it there, shall we? It’s probably not a good idea to take questions, since our Opposition side is no longer with us, so we’ll move onto the next debate instead. Thank you, Liz.”

I let out a sigh of relief as I nod and head back to my seat. I try my best to concentrate on the points made in the following debates, but I can’t get Max’s strange reaction tonight out of my head. It’s obvious that something is bothering him and as I think back to the conversation between Sophie and Jackie that I overhead in the toilets last night, I can’t help but wonder what’s going on with him at the moment.

***

The debate society meeting doesn’t go on too much longer, so once I’ve gone home to change and get ready for the party, I end up arriving at Daniel’s house only a few minutes after nine-thirty. His terraced student house is about half a mile from campus, in an area that I’ve heard is very popular with the students. Barrow Road is one of those roads that all the students try to find a house on – because anyone who’s anyone lives on Barrow Road, apparently.

The house is actually pretty small, with five bedrooms on three floors (according to Daniel when he greets me in the living room), two small bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The house shares walls with other houses on both sides and has a small garden, just big enough for a table and chairs and a barbeque stand. Despite the fact that there’s not much floor space, the house is pretty crowded when I arrive. I recognise a few people from our fashion show team and also from dance soc, but everyone else is unfamiliar.

Daniel asks me if I want a drink, to which I readily agree, and then he leads me through to the kitchen, where I spot Sophie and Jackie talking quietly in the corner. I wave at them as I select a can of Carlsberg from the fridge and then grab a handful of Doritos out of the bowl on the counter, before heading over to greet them.

The next hour passes by quickly as I mingle with the few people I already know and then get chatting to a small group of third-years who know Daniel from his degree course. However, pretty soon I find myself needing to use the bathroom and so politely excuse myself to go in search of the one that is supposed to be upstairs. I confidently climb the stairs to the first floor, but then find myself staring at three different doors along the hallway.

After a quick internal debate, I head for the door that seems most likely to be the bathroom and turn the handle. However, the door opens to reveal a dimly lit bedroom with a double bed situated along the wall. My eyes widening as I realise my mistake, I turn to leave, but then a movement from the side of the bed catches my eye and I notice that I’m not alone.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I apologise quickly. “I thought this was the bathroom.”

I watch, not really knowing how to react, as the dark head turns in my direction and then I frown in concern as I take in the unruly hair that looks as if someone’s been running their hands through it constantly, and the red puffy eyes.

“Max?”

He just ignores me and turns his head away.

“Max?” I say again as I step further into the room and close the door behind me, as I make my way over to him. “Are you okay?”

It’s obvious that he’s not, though. He’s sitting on the floor, his back resting against the side of the bed and his knees bent up in front of him. The fingers of one hand are tracing the top of a beer can, which is balanced on the floor next to him and a lit cigarette dangles from his other hand. I can see another four unopened cans of beer lying on the floor between his propped-up legs.

My heart skips a beat as I take in his drawn face and red, teary eyes that are staring out of the window at the starry sky and bright moon. He definitely doesn’t look in the mood for company, but his dejected demeanour tugs at my heartstrings and instead of leaving him alone as I know I should, I find myself sliding down onto the floor beside him and following his gaze out of the window.

We sit in silence for several minutes, as Max methodically lifts his cigarette to his lips for a long drag and then takes a gulp of his beer. It’s not until he stubs out the fag in a small ashtray on the bedside table and then pulls out another, quickly lighting it and then taking yet another long drag, that I open my mouth to speak.

“Can I?” I ask, nodding to the new cigarette in his hand. He looks down at it briefly, before nodding and holds it out to me without even glancing in my direction.

“Thanks,” I say, taking it from him and lifting it to my lips, taking a drag.

I’m not a smoker; never really have been to be honest, and apart from the odd experimental smoke with my friends when we were at school, it’s not something I’ve ever been interested in doing; not to mention the health issues associated with smoking. But, being here with Max tonight, the atmosphere in this room sombre and depressing, I find that I’m in the mood for it.

I take another drag, before handing it back to Max, who takes it from me with a slight nod, our fingers brushing briefly as he does so. He brings the fag to his lips again and then picks up his beer, finishing it off in a couple of large gulps. Discarding the can on the floor, he reaches for two more cans, holding one out to me in offering. I take it with a small smile, even though he’s not actually looking at me, and open it.

The silence continues and as we sit there together, I find myself questioning what I ought to do now. Do I try to find out what’s wrong with him, or do I just keep quiet and hope that he brings it up himself? Or maybe I should just go, leave him alone instead of trying to pry.

The decision is taken from me a couple of minutes later, when he unexpectedly starts to speak, his voice rough and slightly croaky.

“My mum had an affair,” he states bluntly, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. “It destroyed my family.”

“Oh, Max,” I mutter softly, as I begin to understand his reaction in the debate earlier tonight. “I’m sorry.”

“The debate… brought back all these memories. I couldn’t deal with it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head, “No.”

I nod, but remain quiet, not really knowing what else to say at this point. He doesn’t speak again either, so we just continue to sit there, staring out of the window, drinking our beers and sharing his cigarette. Faint sounds from the party filter into the room from downstairs, but I don’t really pay any attention to them, instead preferring to focus on the calm in here right now.

Beside me, Max inhales deeply and then lets out a somewhat shaky breath.

“Are you okay?” I ask again, turning my head to him in concern.

He glances toward the ceiling, letting out a small scoff, “I thought you didn’t care about my welfare. Last I heard, you hated me.”

“Max…” I start, but he cuts me off.

“What are you doing here anyway, Liz?” he asks tiredly. “Why don’t you just go back downstairs to the party.”

“I…” I struggle for an answer, not really knowing why I’m currently sitting in a room, drinking and smoking with him. “I don’t know… I was looking for the loo, but then I came in here by accident and saw you pretty much wallowing in misery, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He shakes his head, his lips curling up into a slight smile as he brings the cigarette to his lips once more.

“I’m okay, Liz.”

I make a face at his blatant lie, “You’re not okay, Max, I can tell that much at least.” I sigh, “Look, I don’t care if you don’t want to talk; that’s fine with me, but you look like you’re in need of some company, so I’m just going to stay in here for a while, okay?”

It’s his turn to sigh, “Sure, if you want.”

I nod and settle against the bed again, letting my head fall back against the side of the mattress. From this position, I have a perfect view of his neck and I take in the way his dark, slightly too long hair curls at the nape, brushing gently against his skin as he moves his head to take a sip of beer. I feel my chest tighten slightly as I observe him and I find myself wondering, not for the first time, who Max Evans really is.

At first, I thought he was just another egotistical flirt, albeit an extremely good-looking egotistical flirt, but perhaps I judged him too quickly. All this time, I’ve been convinced that he wasn’t worth my time and that he was just like all those other guys who are only after one thing, but as I sit here beside him in this bedroom, I realise that I don’t really know anything about him at all.

“So, what are you doing up here anyway?” I lift my head to ask a moment later, when the temptation to say something else becomes too great.

He shrugs, “It’s my room.”

Huh?

“You live here?” I ask in surprise, not expecting that one. He nods. “But I thought this was Daniel’s house?”

“It is. I live here too,” he states curtly.

“Oh.”

He nods and then frowns, “So, you know Dan, then?”

“Yeah, he’s my dance partner in the fashion show.”

“‘Dance partner’? Right. Okay.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This is Dan we’re talking about here,” he shrugs. “I know what he’s like. You do know that he was Jackie’s partner last year and couldn’t keep his hands off her, right?”

I grit my teeth; I can see what he’s doing – he’s trying to warn me, just like he tried to warn me about Jake cheating – and it pisses me off.

“Yes, I know that, thank you very much,” I retort sarcastically, as I recall Jackie’s warning to me a few weeks ago. “And anyway, you’re one to talk; how many girls have I seen you with in the last few months?”

He shoots me an irritated look, “Stop judging me, okay? You don’t know anything about it.”

“Yeah, well, stop patronising me then,” I exclaim in annoyance. “Just because Dan might be a womaniser, doesn’t mean that I’m going to let him have his wicked way with me. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, okay?”

He just raises an eyebrow as he stubs out his cigarette in the ashtray.

“And anyway,” I continue, on a roll now. “What about you? It seems like every time I see you, you have yet another girl on your arm. I mean, what does Sophie think about that?”

“Sophie?” his head whips round to face me, his expression confused. “What the hell does Sophie have to do with anything?”

I frown, “Well, you’ve slept with her, right? And from what I heard her say, you’re also living together.”

To my surprise, he suddenly starts to laugh. Despite the situation, it’s actually a good sound to hear, since the mood has been so solemn in here for the last… I don’t know how long I’ve been in here, actually.

“What?” I ask self-consciously.

But he doesn’t answer, just shakes his head at me and then turns his attention back to his beer and the window, leaving me completely puzzled by his reaction.

“So you don’t live with Sophie, then?”

“No, I do,” he replies, making me even more confused. “But not in the way you’re obviously thinking.” He shoots an amused glance my way. “Sophie lives here too, with me and Dan and a couple of others. She’s a good friend of mine.”

“But you’ve slept with her.” It’s not a question.

“Can’t get past that part today, can we?” he lets out a soft chuckle and shakes his head, before giving a nonchalant shrug. “It was a long time ago, it’s really not that important.”

“Oh, okay,” I murmur softly, as I realise that it’s none of my business anyway. “Sorry.”

“S’okay,” he mutters and then falls quiet once again, as he reaches for his beer. I take that to mean that the conversation is now closed and relax back against the bed again.

I reach for my beer, finishing it off and placing the empty can on the floor beside me as I relax back against the bed again. The beer, combined with the fact that it’s now well past midnight, means that tiredness is beginning to kick in. I let my head rest against the side of the comfortable mattress as I struggle to keep my eyes open. Beside me, Max is still staring out of the window, nursing his beer, but I can’t keep my eyes open any longer and I find myself drifting off to sleep.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey guys, first off, I'd like to drop these off:

Roswellian Chronicles Round 4 Awards:







for Between the Covers


and



Runner Up for Best 'My' Character: Nathan in All's Fair in Love and Tennis



Roswell Fanatics Round 12 Awards Nominations:

Best Lead Portrayal of Liz Parker - Between the Covers .


Thank you to everyone who nominated/voted .

***

Thank you for your feedback everyone :

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Aww she fell asleep in Max's bed! lol thats so cute..lol

Well, not exactly – both Max and Liz are sitting on the floor, resting their backs against the bed

Well atleast Liz now has an insight to the real Max Evans and the whole situation which Sophie is cleared up!

Yeah, they still have some way to go, but finally Liz is starting to come around to him.

Loved the part with the Carlsberg beer..lol...Im a Liverpool fc Fanatic..so its just awesome..lol

Lol

azure_horizon – Thank you .

Excellent! I knew that something like this was what was going on! Max all emo... so good:) Glad the thing with Sophie got cleared up. And *lol* at Liz - jealous, much?

It’s funny, I had never even heard of the word ‘emo’ until my brother mentioned it last year! I’m basing the story on the university I went to, but it’s been several years since I was a Fresher, so things may have changed since then (for example, Neighbours now being on Channel 5, lol).

carolina_moon – Thanks . Yeah, Liz is finally admitting she might have been wrong about him.

begonia9508 – Thanks .

I understand really well now why Max reacted this way!.... Kids are forced to accept changes in their father or mother's love lives but that's not always going well and without traces!

Yeah, Max seems to have some emotional issues in this area.

It's nice to see that he isn't what Liz thought he was!
Maybe becoming friends?

Maybe…we’ll have to wait an see .

sarammlover – Thanks .

so could it be Isabel is the product of said extramarital affair? and every time max sees her he is reminded of that affair? dun dun dunnnnnn......

You’re gonna have to keep on reading to see .

I am glad Liz stayed and talked to Max. They at least got a few things off their chests and can now start to understand the other a little bit better!

THis was a great update. Very revealing and eye opening.....

Thanks .

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

Yes, you're a brilliant writer.

But at least when I say "saw" I don't put an extra "R" in it. Because there isn't an "R" in "saw."

Hey, I can’t help how I talk . There isn’t a

Tamashii – Thanks .

Finally!!! Y'ay!! She now sees that she has been taking a lot of conclusions with very little information.
I am so glad that Max and Sophie it's a thing of the past, and that they just live together.

Yeah, Liz is starting to re-evaluate her opinion of Max and it seems that Sophie won’t be a problem either .

I have to wonder about Max's family situation and if it has something to do with Isabel's. It could be that they are half-brother and sister in reality. It seems that Max hasn't forget and forgive her mother's behaviour, for what he said in the debate, and that's is a great reason for not wanting to go home.

We’ll have to wait and see .

I am glad that Max and Liz got to spend some time together, and talk. Wonder what will happen in the morning

Good question… it’ll be answered in today’s part

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

I'm loving this interaction between Max and Liz. It's arguably their first sit down heart to heart. So Max's mom had an affair and that really screwed him up huh. I'm guessing he wouldn't be into stringing girls a long and cheating on them. I'm glad he's not with Sophie.

Yeah, it’s the first real time they’ve been serious together. As for Max, we’ll find out more very soon .

It's really sweet of Liz to make sure he's ok. I think it's super cute that she's falling a sleep and they could potentially have their first sleep over. Lol

- thanks .

I think you're planning paid off. Can't wait to see what you have happen next!

I’m glad you liked it .

Alysluv – Thanks .

Natalie36 – Thanks .

well isn't that convient getting alittle tired already in a comfy bed. sure just fall asleep next to the Adonis

Well, they’re not actually in the bed, just sitting beside it, but Liz is falling asleep anyway .

Christable – Thanks .

Glad that Liz is finally seeing the true Max and not what she wants to see. Hopefully she can give Max a chance and sit down with him and get to know him instead of jumping to all these conclusions.

Let’s hope so .

veronica – Thanks .

Hunter – Thank you .

Lovely update, Loved it. Wow..I am so curious about Max. I wonder why he was so cocky with Liz before and then he is upset about his mum cheating on his dad..maybe he saw himself as the other man between Liz and Jake? I dunno. Just a suggestion.

Perhaps… or maybe it could have been more to do with the debate topic he had rather than Liz.

But your Max is so fit in this story lol. Love him. Now why can't Max really exist in the uni I go to ? lol.

- thanks.

destinyc – Thanks .

Well, good, I'm glad you've cleared up the whole Sophie debacle. Whew.

Yep, nothing to worry about with Sophie now .

This scene was very sweet, I'm hoping Max picks her up and puts her in bed with him instead of waking her up and sending her home. I was also figuring that Isabel may have been a result of said affair. Hmmm. Hurry back, Destiny

Thanks . We’ll have to see what happens in the next few parts .


***


Part Twenty-Five

As I slowly become aware of my surroundings a few hours later, I realise three things: one, my neck hurts; two, I’m not in my bed, but instead am half-sitting, half-slumped against something hard; and three, that something hard is both warm… and breathing.

I shift slightly in an attempt to find a more comfortable position, but it turns out to be fruitless, so I give up and force my eyes open. I seem to be propped up against a bed, but in my sleepy state, I’m not entirely sure whose bed. I lift my head, careful not to jerk my aching neck and blink a couple of times as I pull my body into an upright sitting position and try to get my bearings, glancing around the room before me.

The faint morning sunlight streams in through the window opposite me and illuminates the features of the room. I can make out a mahogany desk situated along the wall beneath the window, and next to it, a dark, wooden wardrobe. On top of the desk I notice a sleek, silver laptop, a pile of books and a couple of photographs, although from my position on the floor, I can’t tell who is in them. I turn my head to the left to see a small, wooden shelving unit; on the top shelf sits a TV, a combined VCR and DVD player and what looks like a Playstation, and then the three shelves below contain several CD’s, DVD’s and books. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see a door next to the bed behind me.

I turn my head to the right to take in the rest of the room, but what I see makes me jump in surprise. The warm, breathing body I fell asleep on is none other than that of Max Evans. Just like me, he is also slumped against the side of the bed. His head rests at an angle against the mattress and his eyes are closed; he’s asleep. For a moment, I am completely confused, but as I glance down at all the empty beer cans on the floor and over at the used ashtray on the bedside table, the events of last night come flooding back.

This is Daniel’s house; I came here for the party last night, but then stumbled across Max and ended up sitting in here with him. I take another quick look around me as realisation dawns: I’m in Max’s bedroom… and he’s asleep beside me. That thought leads me to turn my attention back to his sleeping form again and I feel my insides churn as I watch him, peaceful in sleep. An image of him, eyes red-rimmed, cheeks damp with tears, hair sticking up all aver the place, a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, flits through my mind and for the first time, I don’t see a smug, arrogant, flirtatious Max Evans in front of me, but instead a vulnerable, tired and defenceless Max Evans.

I can’t help but study his features for a few moments. I never really allowed myself to do so before, but since he’s asleep, I take the opportunity to really look at him. He really is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen; and as I take in the way his dark locks brush his forehead and the way his long eyelashes flutter slightly with every breath, I feel my chest tighten slightly. My eyes travel down his perfectly formed, straight nose to his full lips and I lift my fingers to my mouth as I recall exactly how those lips felt against mine all those weeks ago.

Beside me, Max shifts and I quickly let my hand drop and avert my eyes, but out of the corner of my eye I see his eyes flutter open and I find myself turning my head back to him again.

“Hi,” he says, before stretching and letting out a sleep-filled yawn.

“Hi,” I reply uncertainly, not really sure what else to say right now.

I watch as he sits up, but then leans forward, bracing his head in his hands with a groan.

“Aww, shit, my head.”

I can’t help but let out an amused snort, “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you drink almost an entire six-pack by yourself.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” I hear him mutter and I feel my lips beginning to twitch.

He groans and then drops his hands from his face, slumping back against the bed again.

“God, what time is it?”

I check my watch, “Nine-fifteen.”

“Shit, I was supposed to be somewhere at nine,” he mutters. Letting out a sigh, “I can’t deal with this today. Let’s get out of here.”

He pulls himself to his feet and moves across the room, leaving me to stare after him in confusion from my position on the floor. I frown as he lifts his T-shirt over his head, revealing his muscular back briefly before he grabs a clean top out of his wardrobe and pulls it on.

He turns back to me, “You coming?”

“Coming where?” I ask, puzzled.

“Dunno, just somewhere,” he shrugs. “I need to get away from here for a while.”

I shake my head, “Max, I can’t; I have lectures today.”

He rolls his eyes as he turns and begins to rummage for something in the wardrobe, “So? No one ever died because they missed a couple of lectures.”

“Max…” I start, but quickly trail off when he shoots me an innocent, pleading look.

“Aww, come on, Liz, it’ll be fun.”

I sigh, feeling my resolve begin to weaken as I take in the hopeful expression on his handsome face.

“Okay, fine,” I mutter, standing up and straightening out my clothes. “So where are we going exactly?”

***

Ten minutes later, we’re out the door of 28 Barrow Road and walking down the road, Max in front taking large strides and me following behind as I try to catch up with him. He’s walking with determined steps, a look of concentration on his face and I wonder yet again what’s been going on in his head the last couple of days.

“So, you didn’t answer me before,” I start when I finally manage to fall into step beside him. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” is all he says and I shake my head in frustration, but continue to walk with him.

It takes another few minutes before I realise that we’re heading towards the train station. I look up at Max questioningly as we approach the entrance, but he doesn’t seem to be aware of my confusion. Once inside, he tells me to wait for a moment and then walks up to the ticket counter, leaving me staring at his retreating back as I rack my brains for the reason we’re here.

“Here you go,” he announces a couple of minutes later, as he holds out a train ticket to me.

I take it and glance down at the rectangular piece of card in surprise, “We’re going to the beach?”

“Uh huh,” he nods. “It’s only twenty minutes on the train.”

“But why?” I frown, and take a quick look outside. “Max, it’s only February, it’ll be freezing down there. Plus, it’s gone all cloudy now.”

“So?” he shrugs. “It’s not like it’s only open in the summer.”

I roll my eyes, but nod, “Fine, okay, let’s go to the beach.”

He gives me a small smile, before glancing up at the information screen and then reaching out to enclose his fingers around my wrist, “Come on then, let’s go… there’s a train leaving in five minutes.”

I allow him to guide me through the station’s main building and then up over the small bridge to the correct platform, where the small, slightly rundown train is standing, waiting for us to get on. Max lets go of my arm and takes a step back so I can get on first. The train is mostly empty, so I pick a section with a table and take the aisle seat while he slides into the window seat on the other side of the table.

While Max seems intent on staring out of the window as the train leaves the platform and exits the station, I pick up a discarded newspaper from the table and start to flick through it. The journey begins in silence, but after about five minutes he shifts in his seat and I look up to find him watching me, his dark eyes unreadable.

“What?” I ask, shifting self-consciously in my seat. But he doesn’t reply and I frown. “Max? Are you okay?”

“Hmm?” he shakes his head and shifts again, as if he’s reorienting himself. “Oh… yeah… I’m fine.”

“Okay,” I nod slowly, not sure if I believe him. He seems different than normal… more subdued and serious than I’ve ever seen him before. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, I ask, “So why exactly are we on a train to the coast instead of going to our lectures today?”

He shrugs, “I’m not in the mood for lectures and meetings today.”

“Because of last night?” I can’t help but ask. “The debate and what you said about–?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he cuts me off quickly, turning his head to look out of the window again.

“Okay,” I reply softly, getting the message. I decide to change the subject, “So, why the beach? Why not just stay at home instead?”

“Maybe I like the beach,” he says quietly, stretching his leg and propping his foot up onto the seat beside me so that his knee is bent and visible above the table.

I nod and settle back in my seat and pick up the paper again. It’s obvious that he’s not in the mood for conversation right now, but it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask why he made me come with him. His demeanour suggests that he doesn’t want company at all, yet he was the one who invited me. I just don’t get it.

The remainder of the short journey passes in silence, until the train comes to a stop at our destination. We both stand at the same time, but Max doesn’t move and instead just makes a sweeping motion with his hand.

“After you.”

I give him a small, grateful smile as I nod and move past him to get off the train. Once out on the platform, I pull my jacket tight around myself as the cold air hits me. Max doesn’t seem to notice the cold, however; he just nods in the direction of the station building and begins to guide me towards it.

“This way.”

Despite the cold, slightly windy winter day, I can’t help but find myself enamoured by the small seaside town. We walk through some lovely community gardens on the way to the beach and then take in the quaint shops and cafés along the sea front. Several times, I almost comment on the scenery or point something out, but then I glimpse Max’s serious, moody expression and decide against it. He’s both confusing and concerning me right now. Where is the teasing, flirty, over-confident man who has made it his mission to annoy the hell out of me for the last five months? It’s obvious that it has something to do with what he told me last night – about his mother’s affair – but I get the uneasy feeling that it’s more than that and I just can’t figure out what.

We get about halfway along the sea front path, still walking in silence, when Max unexpectedly stops and looks to me with a hint of a smile.

“Let’s go down to the beach.”

I glance over the sea wall and take in the pale sand below, before shrugging, “Why not?”

“Come on then,” he says, taking my wrist in his hand for the second time this morning and leading me through a small gate to the left and down the steps to the beach.

We walk along the sand for a couple of minutes, before Max decides he’s going to sit down on a flat area of the beach. It takes me a moment to realise that he’s not walking beside me anymore and when I see him making himself comfortable on the slightly damp sand I roll my eyes and turn back.

“You know, it’s not easy to keep track of you when you keep wandering off without telling me,” I say, in the hope of lightening the mood as I sit down beside him on the sand.

However, my comment doesn’t have the desired effect, because all he does is shrug and stare out at the dark ocean. I decide not to say anything else and instead join him in watching the waves. Unfortunately, I can’t stop wondering about his change in personality today and I know that it will keep nagging at me until I speak up.

“Max?” I venture tentatively.

He doesn’t reply.

“Ma–” I try again, but this time he interrupts me, his voice sounding far away as he speaks.

“My mum had an affair,” he repeats his words from the night before and I nod in understanding. “When I was little.”

He sighs heavily, placing his head in his hands as he then sucks in a large breath. When he lifts his head to look out at the ocean again, I can see that his eyes are damp.

“I was only two years old and she was sleeping with someone who wasn’t my dad,” he says then. “Of course, I didn’t know that then – I only found out a few years ago, but what she did destroyed everything.”

“What happened, Max?” I ask softly, my chest constricting at the pain in his voice.

He glances at me briefly before continuing, “My dad was looking after me at home and mum was working late… well that’s what she told him anyway. When she hadn’t arrived home by nine forty-five, Dad got worried. She wasn’t answering her office phone and so he asked our next-door neighbour to look after me while he went out to find her.”

I don’t say anything, but wait for him to continue. It’s obvious to me that what he’s telling me is difficult for him to talk about.

“About forty-five minutes later, the police arrived at the door and told our neighbour that Dad had been in a car crash,” he says quietly, his breath hitching in his throat. “He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

“Oh, Max,” I whisper, my heart clenching with compassion for him. “I’m so sorry.”

I reach out to him and curl my hand around his, offering him some comfort. His strong fingers tighten slightly around mine as he exhales and then continues to speak.

“I always knew that my Dad had died in a car crash when I was a toddler, but what I didn’t find out until much later was that while he was lying dead in his car, my mum–” his voice catches and I have a terrible feeling I know what he’s about to say. “My mum was in bed with another man.”

“God… Max, I–”

He shakes his head and lets out a slight snort, “You know what? That’s not even the worst part.”

It’s not? It seems pretty bad already and I find myself almost dreading hearing the rest.

“A few months later, Mum got remarried… to the very man she’d betrayed my dad with… and nine months after the accident, when I was three, my baby sister was born.”

My eyes widen and I gasp as my mind connects the dots, “You mean…?”

He nods bitterly, “My sister was conceived on exactly the same night that my dad was killed while out looking for my mum.” He sucks in a shaky breath as a lone tear begins to slide down his cheek. “I had no idea about any of it when I was growing up. My stepfather raised me – he’s the only father I’ve ever known – and my sister and I were close when we were kids. We were just your run-of-the-mill happy family.

“But when I was sixteen, I came across a couple of old diaries in the attic when I was searching for something and I found out the truth.” He looks down at our joined hands. “Maybe I shouldn’t, but I blame my stepfather for my dad’s death. I hate him – I can’t help it. Every time I see him, it reminds me that he’s the reason Mum didn’t come home when she was supposed to; he’s the reason my father was even in the car that night and if it weren’t for him, my dad would still be alive today.”
“Max, I don’t know what to say,” I murmur gently, leaning in toward him as I wrap my arm around his comfortingly. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“I don’t really speak to my family anymore,” he confesses then. “My sister keeps trying to persuade me to come home and spend some time with them, but I just can’t face it. It feels like I’m betraying my father by going.” He sighs, “After weeks of nagging, I stupidly agreed to spend Christmas at home this year, but it was just a big mistake.”

“Why, what happened?” I ask curiously.

He lifts his head, gazing out at the ocean, “I just couldn’t handle being there with them all… it’s like they’re this perfect little happy family of three and I just don’t fit in.”

I look down at my arm wrapped around his and nod in understanding before lifting my eyes to his face again.

“What about before you left home? How did you handle it then?”

He shrugs, “I wasn’t at home much. In fact, I made it my mission to be out of the house as much as possible after I found out the truth. I spent all my time with my friends or going out with girls so that I didn’t have to face them. By the time I finished school I knew I had to get away, so I left as soon as I could and I’ve barely been home since.”

“Did you ever try to talk to your family about what you found?” I ask curiously.

“No,” he shakes his head, looking down as his thumb begins to move back and forth across the skin of my hand, still encased in his larger one. I ignore the tingling sensation it creates in me in favour of focusing solely on Max. “Just the thought of it was too much for me. So, I did the only thing I knew how… I closed myself off and then ran away so I wouldn’t have to deal with it.”

My chest tightens in response to his soft words and my heart goes out to him for everything he’s been through.

“Maybe you should try,” I suggest gently, not wanting to overstep my bounds. “Maybe if you talk to them, tell them that you know what really happened and that you’re angry and upset, it might help.” He begins to shake his head in protest and I quickly add, “Max, you can’t keep all this anger and hatred bottled up inside forever. It’s not good.”

He turns his head to face me and our eyes meet.

“I can’t, Liz,” he says adamantly. “I just can’t.”

“Okay,” I quickly backtrack, not wanting to push the subject further than he’s willing to take it just now. “That’s okay; you don’t have to do it right now or anything. It’s just something to consider.”

He relaxes then and returns my nod, before fixing his gaze on the ocean once more. I study his profile contemplatively, as a thought pops into my mind. Isabel has been going through something similar with her brother not being close with her or her parents. Perhaps if I introduce them, she could give Max some insight into how his family might be feeling about their relationship with him. It’s obvious Max isn’t in the mood to discuss it right now, but maybe I’ll talk to her later and see what she thinks.

After spending a few minutes sitting together in silence on the damp sand, taking in the view of the grey sky where it meets the dark horizon of the sea and watching the timid waves break and rush up onto the beach, Max shifts beside me and extracts his hand from mine as he turns to face me, his features more relaxed than I’ve seen them all day.

“I’m starving,” he announces as he stands up and brushes the sand from his jeans. “You wanna get something to eat?”

“Sure,” I reply, looking up at him from my spot on the sand. “Although I don’t have any cash on me.”

I don’t have much on me at all, actually. All I took to the party last night, apart from my jacket, was my hall key.

“S’okay,” he returns the smile as he holds out his hand to help me up. “My treat.”

“Thanks.”

“No,” he shakes his head, as I take his hand and he pulls me upright. “Thank you.”

I just smile in response.

As we walk back across the sand and up the steps to the road again, I notice that Max’s demeanour has changed since earlier this morning, as if finally telling someone about his family has lifted a huge weight from his shoulders. In fact, I soon decide that it is definite a weight off his shoulders because within moments of being seated in a small, local café along the seafront and picking up the menus, he’s pretty much back to his usual teasing self. But the funny thing is, as he sends me a knowing smirk and makes a teasing comment about something on the menu, it doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as it would have a couple of days ago.

***

“So you’re telling me that you’ve never considered it? Not once… ever?”

I roll my eyes, with a slight shake of my head, “No, Max, I have never considered it.”

“Really?” he wrinkles his nose in thought. “Not even as a passing thought?” I shake my head again. “But aren’t you, like, curious or anything?”

“Max,” I sigh in exasperation, shooting him a glare as we enter the train station a few hours later. “I am never going to sleep with another woman, okay? So you can just get your mind out of the gutter and stop trying to picture it.”

“Fine,” he huffs with a pout, he shoving his hands in his pockets as he continues to walk beside me. “Spoilsport.”

I turn my head and stick my tongue out at him before heading for the platform where our train home is waiting. I can’t help but conceal a smile as I step onto the train in front of Max; today has certainly been… interesting. Actually, I don’t think ‘interesting’ is the right word; it’s actually been eye-opening. Max Evans is still something of a mystery to me, but today he’s given me a small insight into who he really is. I would never have imagined that beneath the flirting and the arrogant behaviour was an emotionally damaged, vulnerable boy.

Just like this morning, the train is virtually empty and so I choose one of the table seats again, but this time I decide to sit by the window. Max slides into the aisle seat opposite – presumably so he can stretch his legs – and shoots me a mischievous grin.

“What about threesomes?”

“Just stop, okay, Max?” I say warningly. “Never gonna happen.”

“It was worth a try,” he smirks with a shrug and then glances around the train as it begins to move.

I let out a soft snort and roll my eyes as I turn to look out of the window. It’s almost five o’clock now and because of the heavy cloud today it’s almost dark already. Despite the cold, wintry weather, I’ve had a pretty good time today. After lunch, Max and I spent some time wandering around the shops and then went for a drink in one of the local pubs when the darkening clouds finally gave way to rain. All afternoon, the atmosphere remained light – kind of an unspoken agreement between us, I guess – and so the majority of the conversation was teasing small talk, neither of us willing to bring up any serious issues after our exchange on the beach earlier.

I continue to stare out of the window into the darkness, until Max’s voice saying my name catches my attention.

“Yeah?” I ask, turning to face him. He’s looking at me thoughtfully.

“What happened with you and Jake?”

I frown at the unexpected question, but choose to answer anyway.

“We decided to call it a day,” I give a shrug. “I already told you that.”

“Why?” he asks bluntly and I frown again. “I mean, was it just not working out?”

“Why do you want to know?” I question, a little offended. “I mean, that’s kind of a personal question.”

“I’m curious,” he replies; but then his expression becomes closed and he looks away, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Just forget about it.”

I remain silent for a couple of moments, but then something compels me to speak.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” I admit. “Jake and I.”

Max nods, but keeps his gaze fixed on something further down the train.

“It wasn’t anything in particular, it was just that we didn’t have that… chemistry, I guess,” I say softly. “We sat down one day and realised that it wasn’t working out. So we agreed to break up.”

Max turns his head to face me then, his eyes dark and serious, “But you did have feelings for him?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “I just… I didn’t feel enough, you know?”

He nods, but glances away again.

“And I think maybe Jake felt more for me than I did for him,” I confess quietly, as I look down at my hands in my lap. “So, it was for the best, I guess.”

“Yeah,” murmurs Max as he shifts slightly and then props his legs up on the seat opposite him.

We settle back into silence and I rest my head against the window, the lack of sleep last night finally catching up with me. I feel my eyelids getting heavy and so I bring my legs up to rest on the seat in front of me, mimicking Max’s position and close my eyes.

After what seems like just a moment later, but must have actually been several minutes, something tapping against my leg rouses me from my light doze and I force my eyes open to find Max watching me in amusement, his chin resting on his right hand which is propped up on the table as his left knuckles rest against my leg where he was trying to get my attention.

“Huh?” I mumble sleepily.

“We’re here,” he smiles, nodding towards the window at the station platform outside. “Come on.”

I bring my hands up to my face and rub away the sleep, before nodding, sliding out of the seat and following Max out of the train.

“Come on, sleepyhead,” he smirks over his shoulder as he strides through the station toward the exit and I have trouble keeping up with his large steps.

“I’m coming,” I mutter, still a little disoriented from being woken up only a few minutes after I’d fallen asleep.

I quicken my steps in an attempt to catch up, but almost bump into him when he suddenly stops just inside the station entrance.

“Shit,” he murmurs.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, but then I notice what he’s looking at. It’s absolutely pouring with rain outside… and it’s about a twenty-minute walk home from here. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t we get a taxi back or something?”

“I don’t have enough cash left for a taxi,” he tells me, his tone frustrated. “And I don’t have my card on me.”

“Oh,” I say again. Crap. “All I have are my keys.”

He shrugs, “I guess we’re just gonna get wet then.”

I look out at the heavy rain with a raised eyebrow, “Yeah…”

“Well, we might as well get it over with,” he sighs then, holding out a hand to me. “You ready?”

I slide my small hand into his much larger one, “I guess so.”

“Okay, on three. One, two, three.”

At that, we both make a run for it. We move across the car park, trying to dodge the large puddles as the rain beats down on us. I can feel the large, heavy drops soaking my hair as we make our way to the main road and then begin to follow it back towards campus as quickly as possible. However, after a while I feel my body become tired and I tug on Max’s arm to get him to slow down. We end up alternating between walking and running until we arrive back at his house on Barrow Road again.

When we finally come to a stop outside his front door, I bend down, resting my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath.

“You okay?” I hear Max’s voice from above my head.

I nod and stand up straight again, pushing my wet hair back off my face, “Yeah, just tired… and wet.”

I lift my head and my eyes suddenly lock with his. I feel my heart skip a beat as I take in his intense expression. His hair is plastered to his forehead, making him look both sexy and endearing at the same time. I can’t help it; I take a step closer, drawn in by the look in his dark gaze and suck in a breath. I see his eyes flit lower for a second and then I feel a hand slip around my waist. Incensed by the now familiar tingling feeling that is beginning to spread through me, I lift my head in invitation, but as I watch Max’s lips lower toward mine, I find myself pulling away. I can’t do this now; it’s too much… it’s been a long, confusing twenty-four hours and I still haven’t got my head around it all yet.

“I, um, I’d better get going,” I stutter, as I take a step back.

His arm falls from my waist as I do so and he looks confused for a moment, before his expression quickly becomes neutral.

“Okay.”

“Thanks for a great day, Max,” I say a little nervously, as I take a few more steps backward, in the direction of the campus. “I had fun.”

“Sure,” he nods, his tone even. “And thanks for… you know.”

He doesn’t need to elaborate, I know what he means and I give a slight smile.

“No problem.”

I know I should move, but as I look at him, his hands now shoved into the pockets of his wet jeans, I find that I’m frozen to the spot. The rain continues to beat down, drenching our hair and clothes even more as we just stand there looking at each other. His eyes bore into mine and I feel my heart racing in reaction, but I know that I can’t give into temptation right now. Everything’s kind of confusing at the moment, and I need some time to figure it all out in my head… to get some perspective of the situation… before I do anything else.

With a resolved exhalation, I gather all the willpower I have and turn to leave.

“Bye, Max.”

“See you around, Liz,” I hear him utter the now familiar words as I begin half-walking and half-running along the dark road and back to my hall.

But all the way home, I can’t get my mind off Max Evans and the events of the past twenty-four hours. In just one day my entire opinion of him as been turned completely upside-down and I can’t quite work out how to sort it all out in my head.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, sorry for the late update today - it's been a crazy day and I just haven't had time to do it until now. I'm in the process of preparing for a job interview on Thursday, but I am also unfortunately having to work 7 days straight at my current job in order to have time off for the interview (my last day off was last Wednesday!), so I'm a little bit stressed right now and haven't had much time to concentrate on the story .

Thank you for your feedback :

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Aw... they got to know each other a little better!!

Yep – finally

I so thought that they were gonna kiss!!..lol....but I think Liz is still a little
confused about her feelings for Max.

Yeah, Liz doesn’t quite know what to think or do about her feelings.

Great update..And congratulations on the awards!! lol...

Thank you .

Cant wait to see how Max and Liz's Relationship develops. And I think Isabel is Max's sister...their situation is similar..hopefully Liz'z plan of introducing them to each other does not got wrong!

Their situations are similar… we’ll have to see if Liz follows through with her plan…

behrluv32 – Thanks .

aww that was sweet! i hope max doesnt feel all rejected and start acting up bc of it im excited about the iz part that'll be interesting to see that play out but i kinda want a little more max and liz (you know...duh) but i mean like figuring out that they're so hot for each other they cant think straight

We’re almost there now… not too long to go .

PS: congrats on the awards i love when u write anything so i hope rewards inspire you to write more if only for my own selfish reasons

Thanks . Don’t worry, I have no intention of stopping writing any time soon… my only issues might be time management as I am currently working full-time, applying for jobs and catching up with all my UK friends at the moment, so I don’t have as much time to dedicate to writing as I’d ideally like .

Natalie36 – Thanks .

Hunter –

I loved this update!! Omg did I love it!!

So happy that Max and Liz are starting to interact!!

Thanks for this great part!! Can't wait for more!!

Thank you… definitely more Max and Liz interaction coming up over the next few parts .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Liz hasn't made the connection between Max and Izzy I guess.....
Hope she won't reveal her about Max's secret!

Well, we still don’t know for definite if Izzy and Max are related, although their situations are very similar…

Loved their trip to the beach which is always great - even in winter!

Thanks – I’d been planning the beach scene since I started writing the story .

Liz is quite afraid of what could be betwwen Max and her - but some caution isn't bad and knowing him more too!

I think Liz is scared of letting go of her emotions and letting Max in… so perhaps what she needs is to get to know him better so that she can be sure that he won’t break her heart.

Lairabehr4 – Thanks, hun .

Tamashii – Thanks .

Why?? Why does she has so much willpower??? It would have been a very romantic scene...

I’m afraid that’s my fault… I was very close to writing the end of that scene a bit differently – but I’m using my willpower and sticking to my story plan .

She finally sees a new him, or in reality another part of him. I am happy that they had such a wonderful day, Max could finally talk to someone, that's good.
How interesting that Max's family doesn't really know why he doesn't want to go home.

I think Max has been bottling his feelings up for so long that they just came tumbling out in front of Liz… for whatever reason, he feels that he cannot tell his family about his problems, but lets hope things can change for him.

sarammlover –

TEASE!!!!!!

Loved this update. Just as I suspected....I just didn't realize the full scope of what happened to Max. Poor guy. I'll admit that had to have been rough!

Thanks – there is certainly much more to Max than Liz could have imagined.

RiceKrispy –

This isn't going to be like one of those romantic comedies where it takes the main couple until the end to finally kiss, is it?

Well, I’m not going to lie – it did cross my mind… but then I have all these ideas for later scenes that I don’t think I could leave it there - and technically they’ve already kissed twice .

destinyc – Thanks .

Agghh! Kiss him! Kiss him! He's bared his soul, he's vulnerable, he's wet, what more do you want?

You know I was so tempted to let Liz kiss him, but unfortunately that would have meant changing other parts of the story, so I had to be strong and make Liz walk away .

pookie76 –

LOL exactly my thought...especially the "he's wet" part...hehehe Can't wait for the next part.

- thanks .

Alien_Friend –

Congrats on your awards!! That's awesome

Thank you .

That was a really sweet part. I'm so glad they spent the day together. That's a lot Max is carrying around with him all this time. It's a really sad situation. It's nice to see he trust Liz enough to let her in though. He has a lot of different layers. I can't help thinking that it is not just a coincidence that Max and Isabel have similar family dynamics.

We’ll have to see if it’s a coincidence or not

Alien614 – Thanks .

behr_able –

I believe they call that TEASING my dear....but great chapter i like how Max opened up with Liz....really sweet

Thanks .

azure_horizon –

So I came back for a second read and doscivered that I hadn't left a comment first time around! Shame on me.

Lol – well, I’m glad you came back .

I adore this. And that almost kiss at the end... Poor Liz... She's so confued. I like your image of Max... both the confident guy she knows from the whole year but also this other guy... this "not as smarmy" guy and it is definitely helping her see that he's not all bad.

Thanks . Yeah, it seems Max is much more complicated than Liz anticipated.

I love that they went to the beach... what was the line.. "it doesn't close just because it's not summer"? Something like that - anyway, I loved that line. I laughed out loud - proper - at that. It was just so fitting with who Max is. I'm glad he finally opened up to Liz... that she got to see that side of him.

Thanks - glad it made you laugh .

behrlyliz –

I'm all caught up now and I have to say that I agree with behr_able, you definitely teased us with that last part.

Anyway, I love how you're writing the story. I love the slow progression of Max and Liz's relationship and the fact they weren't all over each other in the first few chapters. I'm vested much more in their budding friendship/relationship. Also, I find it more realistic.

Thank you – I’m glad you said that, because I’d been wondering if perhaps it was going too slow, but I have been trying to make this story as realistic as I can. I recently found a story in another fandom that I used to love (before I found Roswell fic), but when I re-read it, it just seemed kind of unbelievable… the main characters were all over each other within 24 hours of speaking for the first time and were a couple by part 2 (and it wasn’t a random hook-up, it was love from the get-go)! It definitely made me realise, not for the first time, how talented so many of the writers here are and how high the standard of Roswell fic is compared to other fandoms.

carolina_moon – Thanks . Yeah, Liz is finally seeing that there’s more to Max than she thought.


***

Part Twenty-Six

My head is still spinning when I arrive back at the hall to find everyone sitting around in my room, talking quietly, but all thoughts of my enlightening day at the beach are pushed aside when Maria jumps up from her bed in surprise.

“Liz!” she exclaims, wrapping her arms around my dripping wet clothed body. “You’re back!”

“Yeah,” I agree with a shrug, not really sure what the big deal is. “I’m back.”

Maria pulls back to look at me, her eyes round, “Where the hell have you been? No one’s seen you since yesterday! We’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours.”

“Oh, my phone died last night so I left it here,” I explain, but then frown. “I just went to a party; why is that such a big deal?”

She looks at me incredulously, “Um, maybe because you never came home? And maybe because you haven’t been around all day? You know, I bumped into your friend, Kyle, this afternoon and he told me you hadn’t been to any lectures today. Liz, we were worried that something had happened to you!”

“I’m fine, Maria,” I reassure her calmly. “I just ended up crashing at the party and then decided to spend the day doing something fun instead of going to lectures.”

“Liz Parker? Missing a lecture? Never thought I’d see the day,” comes Michael’s, sarcastic, but also slightly amused tone from his position at the head of Maria’s bed.

“Hey, everyone’s allowed a day off once in a while,” I defend myself.

“Of course you are, Liz,” pipes up Alex, ever the peacekeeper. “And you’re back home safe and sound, so everything’s good.”

“Thanks, Alex,” I shoot him a grateful smile.

“So what did you do today?” asks James. “Anything nice?”

“Not much,” I shrug, as I move further into the room. “Just went down to the beach for a while. But as you can see, I got caught in the rain just now, so I’m going to take a shower.”

I gather up my towel and toiletries and then head towards the shower, “See you in a few, guys.”

As I reach the shower and close the door behind me, I realise that I’m shivering, although I’m not really sure how much is due to the cold and how much is a reaction to the day’s events. I turn on the shower and quickly peel off my soaking wet clothes, before I step beneath the warm spray. I close my eyes, tilting my head back so that the water trickles down my face, rapidly heating my goose-bump-covered skin as I try to relax, but for some reason I can’t get the image of Max standing there in the rain, his eyes dark and full of emotion, causing my heart to ache for him, out of my head. I sigh as I reach for the bottle of shampoo at my feet. What are you doing to me, Max Evans?

***

“It’s going to be so great next year,” says Maria excitedly as we sit down at a free table in one of the bars in the city centre. “We’ll actually have our own house to live in.”

It’s Tuesday night and Maria, Isabel and I are having a much-needed girls’ night out – we’ve all been pretty busy lately with the new semester starting and so it’s been a while since we had a chance to have some fun on our own.

“Yeah, it’s all right for you two,” mumbles Izzy. “You won’t be living with two blokes.”

I frown, “I thought you wanted to live with James and Mike, Iz? You were the one who offered.”

“Only because we agreed that neither Maria and Mike, nor Alex and I should try to live in the same house together yet and it was the only combination I knew we could all agree on!”

“Aw, come on, it won’t be that bad,” soothes Maria. “Lizzie and I will only be a couple of houses away and you’ll probably end up spending time with Alex at one or other of our houses anyway.”

“I guess you’re right,” she sighs, before taking a sip of wine and wrinkling her nose. “But have you seen the state of Michael’s personal hygiene? The guy barely even knows how to do laundry.”

“Hey, that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about!”

“Sorry, Maria,” Izzy apologises, looking rueful, although she shoots me a look and rolls her eyes when Maria isn’t looking and I grin.

“Oh, what the hell,” replies Maria then. “He might be my boyfriend, but even I’ll admit that he’s definitely not one for cleaning or tidying.”

“Well, that’s just great,” mutters Izzy. “A year of untidiness and dirty clothes. Oh, well, at least I’ll have James there too to even out the balance.”

“See, it won’t be so bad, Iz,” I smile, patting her arm. “You’ll survive.”

After weeks of searching for somewhere suitable to live in second year, we finally managed to narrow it down to one three-storey six-bed house on the main road between campus and the town centre and two three-bed houses on the same road, but a few streets away – closer to the shops than to campus, actually. However, none of us could decide whether we should all try living in one house or to split into two groups of three, so on Saturday morning, the day after my beach adventure with Max, we went to view all three houses again. After much deliberation, we eventually decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea for the two couples – Maria and Mike, and Izzy and Alex – to live in the same house so soon into their relationships and so we went for the two smaller ones, with Maria, Alex and I living in one and Mike, Izzy and James in the other.

“So, right then, Liz,” pipes up Maria suddenly after a moment of silence between us. “Spill the beans… there has to be someone who’s caught your eye recently.” She takes a sip of wine and then leans across the table to look me in the eye. “I mean, it’s been almost a month since you and Jake broke up – you can’t tell me that you haven’t at least noticed anyone else yet.”

I shoot her a funny look, not really wanting to get into a conversation about guys right now, especially after everything that happened last week.

“Why does there have to be anyone? Maybe I just want to enjoy being single for a while?”

“What about your hunky dance partner… Dan, right?” continues Maria, as if she hasn’t heard me. “I saw you with him when we met you after your rehearsal tonight, and I have to say, if I wasn’t with Michael, I might go after him myself.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head, letting out a small chuckle at her conspiratorial expression, “Maria, Dan and I are just partners. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a really nice guy and all, but I don’t like him in that way.”

“So, you’re telling me there’s no one, no one at all that has taken your fancy in the last few weeks?” she asks, fixing me with a probing stare.

“Yep, that’s right,” I nod, shifting under her intense gaze and quickly reach for my glass of wine, taking a sip as I wonder if she knows that I’m lying.

Of course, I’m not interested in Dan at all, but there’s also that certain other person that I haven’t been able to get out of my head for the last few days: Max Evans. I don’t really know why I’m so reluctant to mention him to my friends – I haven’t even told James who he is, despite our conversation in the pub the other week – maybe it’s because of who he is on campus, that I don’t want to say anything… I really don’t know.

“Hey, why don’t you just leave it alone, Maria?” suggests Isabel then, reaching for the bottle of wine in the middle of the table. “So what if Liz just wants to be single for a while; what does it matter anyway? Tonight is supposed to be about the three of us letting our hair down and having fun, not interrogating each other.”

“Okay, fine,” sighs Maria. “We’ll change the subject: anyone any closer to finding a girl for James yet?”

I chuckle, “I’m not sure that’s exactly changing the subject, Maria, but my answer is no, no luck on my end yet.”

“Who knew that finding someone that James might actually date for more than a week would be so hard?” adds Isabel. “No one that we’ve suggested so far has lasted more than one date.”

“I know,” I sigh, raising my glass to my lips again and downing the remainder of the wine. “I almost wish I hadn’t suggested it now.”

I put the glass back down on the table and look up to find Maria staring at me again, a contemplative expression on her face.

“What?”

She narrows her eyes in thought, “What about you, Liz?”

“Huh?” I’m confused. “What about me?”

“James,” she clarifies. “Have you ever considered it? I think you two would make a good couple.”

My eyes widen and I find myself shaking my head; the thought of me getting together with James just seems wrong.

“No, Maria,” I tell her. “James and I are just friends. I’m not attracted to him.”

“Are you sure, because he has a great body, remember?” she adds. “And I’ve seen you two together – you’re much closer to him than either of us.”

I still shake my head, but can’t help smiling at her matchmaking attempt, “Honestly, Maria, we’re really only friends. I mean, okay, he is attractive, but I just don’t have feelings for him.”

“Okay, fine… it was worth a shot, I guess,” she finally concedes. “So anyone got any other ideas for potential love interests?”

“Well, I think I’ve pretty much exhausted all my female friends, so while you two are trying to think of someone, I’m going to get us another bottle of wine,” I announce, as I stand up from our table. “Back in a minute, guys.”

I head towards the bar, my eyes scanning the drinks offers on the wall above it as I try to decide which bottle of wine to buy, but unfortunately I fail to look where I’m going and instead of reaching the bar counter, I bump into a warm, male body.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I gasp in surprise, lifting my eyes to the person in front of me. “I didn’t mean… Jake?”

He gives me a small, somewhat awkward smile, before raising his hand in a slight wave, “Hey, Liz.”

“Uh… hi,” I reply softly, scratching my arm in a nervous gesture. “Um, so how are you?”

He smiles again, this time with more ease, “I’m good, thanks. How about you? I heard you did well in your exams.”

“Yeah,” I return the smile now. “I did – I think I’m averaging about sixty-eight percent at the moment.”

“Wow, that’s great, Liz,” he grins. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, Jake.”

We make small talk for a couple of minutes before I hear someone calling Jake’s name and I turn my attention to the feminine hand that snakes around his upper arm and the slim brunette that accompanies it.

“Hey, sorry about that,” the girl apologises, flashing a quick smile that lights up her pretty face. “I bumped into a couple of my friends in the loo and we got to talking.”

“No problem, Sarah,” Jake smiles down at her, leaving me suddenly feeling a little bit like a third wheel.

“Hi, I’m Sarah,” the brunette introduces herself, holding out a friendly hand to me. “Jake’s girlfriend.”

I nod, feeling surprised, but also a little bit jealous that he’s already moved on and found himself a new girlfriend while I’m still single and trying to juggle my busy life around my lectures. However, I quickly shake it off and give her a smile.

“Liz,” I reply, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she says. “So how do you know Jake?”

“Oh, um,” I glance back at Jake again as I debate how I should reply, but he just shrugs indicating that it’s okay for me to tell Sarah about us. “We used to go out.”

“Oh,” she looks a little surprised and then sends Jake a speculative glance, but he just smiles and nods reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, it was a while ago – I’m not out to get him back or anything,” I add quickly with a smile. “We’re just friends now.”

Jake shoots me a grateful look and I smile in return. Despite the fact that he’s my ex, I’m glad that he’s found someone else – someone who can hopefully make him happy – and Sarah seems like a nice girl.

“Well,” I say then. “I’d better go and order some drinks – my friends are waiting. It was nice to meet you, Sarah.”

“You too, Liz.”

“Bye,” says Jake and I nod, before turning towards the bar and making my way over to it.

I order another bottle of wine and let my eyes wander as I wait for the bartender to open it for me. However, I almost wish I had just kept my gaze forward when I spot Max leaning casually on the counter top at the other bar across the room, a small smirk playing on his lips, his attention seemingly completely captured by the small girl talking to him.

I frown as the bartender hands me the bottle of wine and I head back to Izzy and Maria. I still can’t quite figure the man out. Half of me thinks it’s typical and that Max Evans really is just a crazy flirt; but then I recall the time we spent together last week, everything that we spoke about and the other half of me begins to wonder if maybe there’s some other reason that he always seems to be with other girls when I see him.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thank you for your feedback :

RiceKrispy – Thanks .

That's right, they have already kissed. I seem to have overlooked it because they were like... angry kisses.

Yeah, they were angry/drunken kisses… I was just being pedantic .

I hate how Liz is oblivious to what she's feeling. That's the problem with being all-knowing when you're reading a fanfic. You see things that the characters don't but you can't do anything about it.

Yeah, unfortunately we’re just gonna have to wait and see what happens . Although, perhaps Liz knows what’s she’s feeling but, for some reason, is choosing to ignore it.

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

And Liz is still trying to figure out her feelings for Max....I think shes just confused....doesnt help
when Max presents two completly different sides of him..The Flirt and the Sensitive guy!!

Yeah, she’s feeling something for Max, but still doesn’t quite know what to think about him.

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Yay! Glad you got a chance to update. It also gave me a logical reason to not start my paper yet so thanks! Hehe

lol

That Max Evans, so mysterious. I'm fascinated to see what their next encounter will be like.

Another encounter coming up…

So no hints huh? Lol

Nope

Liz and James did cross my mind a time or two. So I don't blame Maria for bringing it up. I wouldn't be surprise if he had a slight thing for her. I hope they find him a good girl.

I’ll admit that I did consider getting Liz and James together earlier in the story, although I decided against it in the end.

So Jake and Liz shared their first awkward meet my new girlfriend moment. It wasn't too bad. I think she handled herself quite well. She has a good head on her shoulders, this Liz.

Truth is, Liz knows that Jake wasn’t the one for her and she has no objection to him finding someone else to be happy with, but she’s unfortunately feeling a bit upset that he has someone new but she doesn’t.

Great chapter! Good luck on your interview.

Thanks . Interview didn’t go too badly, although I won’t find out if I got it until early November!

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

He's a man, baby.

lol

Hey, Kirsten -

GOOOOOOOD LUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!

Couldja hear me shoutin' from this side of the pond?

Yeah, I heard it – thanks.

azure_horizon – Thanks .

You tease! That was nowhere near enough!

More! More I say!

Sorry . More coming up very soon.

Natalie36 – Thanks .

Tamashii –

I am so happy that she is open for other possibilities for that, I have to wonder about that too. Is he just a flirt or what?

Izzy living with the guys will be funny, maybe the Nazi will come to make Mike clean his mess?

lol

Good luck with your job interview

Thanks .

destinyc – Thanks .

Can we have more sensitive Max, please???

We will soon .

Christable – Thanks .

Can't Max talk to a girl without Liz thinking something.

I guess Liz is over-analysing things with Max… perhaps there’s nothing to what she saw, but her mind is working overtime to decide what’s going on!

I think Max has feelings for Liz as well as the other way around but neither one wants to really admit it or do something about it. I bet once they do it's going to be explosive

I hope so .

Hunter – Thanks .

Love the way Liz thinks, she's so funny.

lol – thanks .

caroline_moon – Thanks .

I just don't get it! Doesn't Max have a Liz radar? How did he not see her at the bar and wander over to upset her in some way? .

Perhaps he did see her, but chose not to go over… or perhaps he was not paying attention to the people around him in the bar…

Good luck with the job interview!

Thanks, it’s all over now thankfully, so I just have to wait for them to get back to me .

Queen Fee – Thanks .

I've been lurking with this fic but I just had to post to say.... gah! girl, you're killing me here!

I really want them to get together. Pretty pretty please??

Not too long now, I promise .

paper – Thanks .

So welcoming. How could she resist?

How could she, indeed?

If Max is that far gone over his Mum's affair, why did he agree to debate that subject?
How recent was his family's breakdown?

Well, he didn’t exactly agree to debate that topic…as I believe Liz mentioned in that part (or the one before), they pulled topics/names out of a hat, so they didn’t get to choose the topic or know who their opposition was until the day of the debate.

Max found out about the affair when he was 16, so it’s been about 5 years… although perhaps he’s been burying his feelings about it, all this time…

Liz must trust him pretty much to fall asleep in his room.

I guess they found some kind of companionship between them that night and the atmosphere between them was fairly relaxed. I will admit though that originally I hadn’t planned for the scene to take place in Max’s bedroom, but in a different room altogether, so the fact that it was Max’s room/bed wouldn’t have been an issue.

begonia9508 – Thanks .

What is she expecting? Isn't she looking around to other guys like Max does to girls? It's not bc he talks or a girl is talking to him that he is ready to propose!
Liz! Liz! obviously more interested as she wants to acnowledge it!

Well, Liz has been looking towards other guys because she’s confused about what she wants and is trying to find someone she can fall in love and be happy with. However, she’s refusing to admit to herself that perhaps Max could be that person… despite analysing pretty much everything he does!

sarammlover – Thanks .

maybe max has liz all figured out so he just tries to make her jealous whenever he can. who know!!

Maybe… we’ll have to wait and see .

veronica – Thanks .


***


Part Twenty-Seven

As the week continues to pass, I find myself thinking a lot about Max and his family situation – on the one hand, I feel like I want to help him… he seemed to broken and lost on that beach the other day, but on the other hand, I’m not really sure if, or even how, I can do that. It’s not until Thursday evening that I decide to ask Isabel about the problems she’s been having with her brother and to see if she will agree to talk with Max sometime and give him some idea of how his actions might be affecting is own parents and sister.

When we get back to our floor after dinner on Thursday, the guys immediately make a beeline for James and Mike’s room to get started on a computer game marathon, while Isabel heads to her room and Maria settles down at her desk to work on an essay she has to write for her lecture tomorrow morning. I try to get started on reading a chapter from my Ecology textbook, but I find I can’t concentrate on it and instead take the chance to see if I can talk to Izzy.

However, when I reach her door, which is ajar, and place my hand on it to glance through the small gap, I realise that she’s on the phone. I turn to leave, intending to come back later, but her next words catch my attention.

“Look, I don’t understand what the big deal is,” she says, agitatedly. “It’s just one weekend. Can’t you just suck it up and be civil to them for a couple of days?” There’s a pause, before, “But why not? They’re your parents too.”

She must be talking to her brother, I realise as I see Isabel sigh and run her free hand through her hair. She listens for a few seconds before replying heatedly, “What is your fucking problem, huh? What is it about them that is so bad you can’t even spend an hour in their presence anymore – what did they ever do to you for you to treat them like this?”

Another pause.

“No, I won’t just leave it, okay? Mum and Dad have done nothing but love you and care for you, but all you’ve done for the last five years is throw it back in their faces!” Her eyes narrow as he replies. “No, don’t tell me I wouldn’t understand – I’m not a little kid anymore, you know… hey, don’t you dare hang up on me, Max Evans!… Max?… Max?”

She groans in frustration as the call ends and she tosses the mobile onto her bed. I turn away from the door, resting my back against the cold, grey, brick wall of the corridor as I take in what I just heard. Did Izzy really just say ‘Max Evans’? She did, right? Yeah, I thought so. My mind begins to spin as all the pieces finally start fitting together.

Max is Isabel’s brother. Isabel’s brother is Max.

How did I not realise this before? It all makes perfect sense: Izzy’s brother is three years older than her and Max was three when his sister was born; Izzy’s brother’s dad died when he was little and so did Max’s dad; and Izzy said that her brother had a different surname – hers is Stevenson and his… seems to be Evans.

I shake my head as I straighten up and make my way back down the corridor, my mind whirling with confusion. Obviously my idea of asking Izzy to help Max with his family isn’t going to work now, since she is his family, but what do I do now? Izzy is one of my best friends and Max is… well, I’m not really sure what he is to me, but he did confide in me about his home life… so I guess I’m kind of stuck in the middle. Of course, I can sympathise with Isabel in regards to her brother’s behaviour, but on the other hand, it’s obvious that Max is dealing with a lot and I can understand why he’s acting the way he is in regards to his family – but where do I stand in all of this? Do I try to help or do I stay out of it and hope they work things out themselves? I have no idea.

***

I’m still deep in thought over the Max and Isabel situation when I arrive at the weekly Debate Soc meeting an hour later. I smile at some of the society members and nod in greeting as I take a seat in the room used for our debates, but I don’t really pay much more attention to my surroundings than that. The society president introduces tonight’s guest speakers, but it’s not until I hear the door at the back of the room open and close just as the debate is about to start that I snap out of it.

I turn my head to see one of the subjects of my confused thoughts sliding into a seat near the back. His gaze meets mine briefly as he nods, his eyes flashing with a dark intensity that makes me shiver. I nod in return as I realise that apart from when I saw him talking to that girl in the bar the other night, this is the first time I’ve seen him since we got caught in the rain last week. There are a couple of seconds of silence as he holds my gaze, but then I start to feel self-conscious and avert my eyes, turning my attention to the debate instead.

The next hour seems to pass incredibly slowly as I am all too aware of the fact that Max is sitting just a few rows behind me and I’m not entirely sure how to respond to the fact that we’re in the same room again, not just because of our impromptu trip to the beach last week, but also because of Isabel. I send a quick glance behind again to find him staring straight ahead, his expression hard and his brow furrowed as he listens to the debate. I frown in concern as I recall how his earlier conversation with Isabel ended and I wonder if perhaps he’s upset about it.

I turn back to the debate again, trying my best to pay attention to it for the last few minutes… and unfortunately failing miserably. It seems I’m just too distracted to concentrate on anything else today; so when the debate ends and I see Max quickly slipping out of his seat and heads for the door, I find myself hurrying after him.

“Max, wait.”

I see him disappear through the door and I quicken my steps in the hope of stopping him before he gets too far ahead. I finally reach him outside the side entrance of the student union building, just as he is about to turn the corner.

“Max!” I call again. “Wait a sec.”

I come to a stop a couple of feet behind him as I see his back stiffen. He turns around slowly, his eyes narrowed and expression annoyed. I take an involuntary step back.

“What is it, Liz?” he says tightly.

I frown, confused by his mood tonight, “I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m doing fine,” he states flatly. “And if that’s all, then I’m going home.”

He turns to leave, but I can’t let him go just yet.

“Max, please,” I beg, stepping forward and reaching for his arm to stop him.

“Fuck, Liz!” he spins round quickly, causing me to lower my hand from his arm. “What do you want from me?”

“What do you mean?” I frown again. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Why?” he demands to know. “What’s it to you anyway?”

“Max…”

“I thought…” he starts, before quickly shaking his head and then trailing off. “ You know, I don’t get you, Liz. One minute I think maybe you…” he trails off and shakes his head, as I wonder what he was about to say, but he doesn’t finish the sentence. “… And the next it’s like I don’t even exist. I’m fed up of playing your games.”

“My games?” I echo in disbelief, quickly starting to get angry at his behaviour now. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, Max. ”

He runs a hand through his hair, as if berating himself for something, and says tiredly, “Never mind. Just forget it.”

“What’s going on, Max?” I ask in concern, although I have a feeling I already know… he’s already told me how upset he is with his family and I’ll bet that phone conversation with Isabel earlier didn’t help much at all. “Is everything okay? Is it your family?”

He shakes his head, his eyes flicking to our surroundings as if he’s trying to decide how to answer.

“It’s nothing,” he says eventually with a sigh. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Max…” I start, but his resolute expression prevents me from saying anything else. “Look, I know you’re going through all this stuff at the moment, but if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here to listen, okay?”

“Liz…” he looks at me, determination in his eyes. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to protest that he’s obviously not fine, but I then realise that it’s unlikely to do any good right now. He’s not going to back down on this today. But I still continue to hold his gaze, as if somehow it will change his mind, and there’s a moment of silence between us. His eyes are pleading with me to let it go, but although my head says that I should leave things alone, but heart is crying out in protest, wanting to make him see that bottling everything up inside isn’t the answer. If only he would sit down and talk to his parents, or even just Isabel, about the situation, I’m sure it would help him deal with all of this.

Eventually, when I realise that this staring competition we currently have going is not going to make his change his mind, I nod.

“Okay,” I say simply. “Well, I guess I’ll just be off then.”

He nods and I see him breathe a sigh of relief when I take a step back. I turn to leave, but as much as I want to, I just can’t leave it like that, so I twist back round to face him again.

“Max,” I start softly. “I know you don’t want to, but I really think it might help if you just talked to them, explained everything.” His eyes lock with mine again, the barely veiled emotion in them shining through. There’s no need to clarify who I am talking about here. “You never know, they might just understand.”

He lets out a shaky breath, as he stuffs his hands in his pockets, “I’m sorry, Liz, but I can’t. I don’t expect you to understand, but talking to them is not an option.”

“All right,” I nod, internally not wanting to let it go until he agrees to talk to someone, but knowing that it wouldn’t do any good right now. “But just think about it, okay? Please?”

He looks at me for a moment, before nodding reluctantly, “I’ll think about it.”

But it’s obvious that he’s just saying those words to placate me and as I nod again, say goodbye and start walking away, I just hope that one day he will consider coming clean to Isabel and their parents. All they can see is that he’s being difficult and uncooperative and they don’t understand the reasons for his behaviour. I hate to see Izzy so upset all the time because of him, but at the same time, I can understand why Max doesn’t want to say anything. It’s a difficult situation and it’s so hard to know what’s best… I want to help, for both Max and Isabel’s sake, but at the same time, I’m not really sure how to go about doing that.

***

“Fun lecture, huh?” says Kyle as we exit the extremely boring ‘Plant and Animal Diversity’ lecture that we’ve just wasted almost an entire hour listening to… no, scratch that… not really paying any attention to.

“Oh, yeah,” I reply sarcastically. “Best hour of my life.”

Kyle chuckles, shaking his head as we make our way out of the building and head down towards the union for lunch, talking amicably until I realise that Kyle’s attention is no longer on the conversation, but is focused on something up ahead instead. I follow his gaze to see Serena standing at few feet away from us in front of the Great Hall.

“Hey,” she smiles, giving a small wave as we approach.

“Hi, Serena,” I greet, lifting my hand in a returning wave. I turn my head slightly toward Kyle, expecting him to say hi too, but he’s not beside me anymore. I watch with a strange feeling in my stomach as he moves forward and slides his arms around Serena’s waist, kissing her lips softly.

Not for the first time, I notice how happy they seem together and I can’t help but feel a little jealous that they’ve found each other. In fact, lately it kind of seems like everyone is attached and happy… except me. I mean, there is Mike and Maria, Izzy and Alex, Kyle and Serena, even Jake and that girl Sarah. But what about me? Why is it that I can’t seem to find anyone for myself?

Okay, granted, I have been way too busy with rehearsals and everything to actually have any time to meet new people lately, but still, there are some perfectly nice guys around… like James or even my partner Daniel, for that matter… yet I don’t feel attracted to them at all. Why is that? Why can’t I fancy them?

But even as I wonder, I hear a small voice whispering in my head: You know why you can’t, it’s saying. It’s because of Max Evans. It’s because you have all these feelings for him, but you’re too scared to take a chance on him; to admit that he might just be worth the risk.

I shake the thoughts from my head as Kyle, Serena and I made our way into the union building and upstairs to one of the lounge rooms for lunch. We grab baguettes and cookies from the small tuck shop in the corner and then settle down in some comfy chairs surrounding one of the small tables.

“So, how were your morning lectures?” Serena asks us, although her attention is focused on Kyle.

“Boring,” he replies with a roll of his eyes.

“Sleep-inducing,” I add, as I unwrap my baguette.

“How about yours?”

“Not bad,” replies Serena with a shrug. “Although I have a feeling they weren’t as bad as yours.”

We chuckle and then begin tucking into our lunch, eating in silence for a couple of minutes.

“So, Liz, the fashion show is next week, right?” asks Serena suddenly.

“Yeah, the performances are Wednesday and Thursday night,” I tell her. “You guys are still coming to watch, right? Have you got your tickets yet?”

“Yeah, we’re definitely coming,” she replies. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Right, Kyle?”

“Sure,” he says a little uncertainly and I can’t help but laugh as he makes a face at the thought of spending a whole evening watching a fashion show,

“Aww, come on, Kyle, you know you’ll enjoy it.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I wasn’t coming,” he protests. “It’s just that I’m not sure a fashion show is really my thing.”

“It is for charity, you know,” I remind him then. “And it’s not just about clothes and dancing… there’s a swimwear section as well, remember?”

I share a mischievous glance with Serena as Kyle suddenly perks up and she leans forward to speak.

“And besides, Kyle, I already bought the tickets, so you’re definitely coming, okay?”

“Okay, fine, I surrender,” he holds his hands up, as he looks at Serena’s determined face. “I’ll be there, Liz, okay? I’m sure it will be a great show.”

“Thanks, Kyle,” I grin in triumph, although to be honest, I wouldn’t really mind all that much if Kyle decided not to come, after all, fashion isn’t really his thing at all… but it’s fun to wind him up sometimes.

“So, Liz,” Serena says then. “Apart from the fashion show stuff, how are things going with you these days? I feel like I’ve barely seen you lately.”

“Yeah, I’ve been really busy the last couple of weeks,” I admit. “But things are going okay. Did I tell you that we found houses for next year? I’ll be in a 3-bed with Maria and Alex, and Izzy, Mike and James are sharing another 3-bed just down the road from us.”

“That’s great,” she tells me with a smile. “I’m glad you finally found somewhere.”

“Thanks, Ser. So, what about you guys? Have you found somewhere for next year yet?”

“Yeah, I’m getting a house down by the station with a few of the dance soc girls,” replies Serena.

“And I’ll be living with the guys from my floor,” adds Kyle. “We found a 4-bed on Barrow Road.”

“Wow, you must have been lucky to get it – I heard that the houses round there were going really fast.”

“Yeah,” he grins, “well, one of the guys has friends down there so we’re gonna move into their house when they move out after the summer.”

“It’s annoying for me, though,” says Serena then. “Because Kyle and I will be living at opposite ends of campus all year.”

“Don’t worry, Ser,” assures Kyle. “We’ll sort things out.”

Serena smiles across the table at him and they share a meaningful look, before Kyle turns to me again.

“So, Liz, what happened to you last Friday? I didn’t see you all day.”

I fidget, playing with my food, “Oh, um, I went to a party Thursday night and decided to take the day off from lectures on Friday.”

“Oh, okay,” he frowns, looking a little confused. I can understand his confusion though, I’m not really one to miss lectures if I can help it. “So, did you do anything nice instead?”

I shrug, “I just went down to the beach for a few hours.”

“All by yourself?”

“Kyle,” warns Serena, as his tone starts to sound a little accusatory.

He shrugs, “I’m just saying, it’s a bit strange to spend the day at the beach on your own.”

“There’s nothing wrong with doing things by yourself occasionally,” counters Serena. “Right, Liz?”

I look around, avoiding her and Kyle’s gazes, “Well, actually, I did go with someone… or more accurately, he persuaded me to go with him.”

“He?” questions Serena then, her eyebrows rising in interest. “Liz, you sneaky thing; how could you not tell us you’d met someone new?”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that or anything, it’s just–”

“Come on, Lizzie, spill the beans; who is this new guy?”

“Ser,” I shake my head. “It wasn’t a big deal, really.” But she’s staring me down now, her expression unrelenting and I feel myself crumbling under the weight of her gaze. “Okay, fine; it was Max Evans.”

“Max Evans?!” exclaims Kyle. “You spent the day with Max Evans… alone?” He shakes his head, “I knew it. I so knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“You and him,” he continues as if he hasn’t heard me. “I always thought there was something… but I could never put my finger on it.”

“No, you’ve got it all wrong, Kyle,” I protest, although my heart is doing little flip-flops at his words. “I’m not… Max and I aren’t… look, it’s complicated, okay? He needed some company, so I went with him.”

“He ‘needed company’, huh?” insinuates Serena then, her eyes twinkling.

I shake my head in denial, “No, it wasn’t–”

But she cuts me off, “You know, I think someone doth protest too much here, Lizzie.” She looks at me speculatively and I can’t help fidgeting under her gaze. “You like him, don’t you?”

“No, I…” I try to protest, but Kyle and Serena are both looking at me intently and I find myself blurting out, “Okay, fine. Yes, I like him.”

“So, what’s the problem, then? I’ve seen the way he looks at you sometimes… if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say he wouldn’t turn you down,” says Serena with a knowing look.

“It’s not that simple, Ser. Like I said, it’s complicated.”

“Complicated, how?”

“Well, for one, he’s going through some family issues at the moment; and two, I do like him, but at the same time, you’ve seen how he is with girls – he goes through them like there’s no tomorrow. I don’t know if I could trust him with my feelings.”

“Well, you’ll never know if you don’t try,” she says softly.

“Yeah, maybe,” I reply absently, as I turn her words over in my mind.

Could it really be that simple? I don’t think so. For one, Max is the most confusing and mysterious person I’ve ever met; I just don’t get him at all… first he’s arrogant and full of himself, then he’s sensitive, wearing his heart on his sleeve and then he’s moody and uncooperative. I just don’t know where I stand with him at all. Not to mention all this stuff with Isabel and his family. I really don’t know what to do right now; I don’t know what the right choice is.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thank you for your feedback :

Lairabehr4 –

Why you have to go and make things so complicated?

Where would the fun be if I didn’t?

Tamashii – Thanks .

I really hope that Liz can't stop thinking so much about this.
I really hope they can get together soon, although I already have a feeling that if they do get together it won't be so easy for them.

Yeah, I can’t see them having the easiest of relationships, can you? .

I totally understand both, Max and Isabel. It's a really hard situation, they are both in. Maybe he could start by telling to Isabel why he can't go home or see
their parents.

That would be a good start, but the problem is that Max is adamant that he can’t do that… let’s just hope Liz can change his mind!

DreamerM&L –

Finally!! she admitted that she liked him!

Yep, she did (although she did also kinda admit she liked him back when James asked her if there was someone else a few parts ago).

And I can see why Liz is a little wary of having a relationship with
Max but i think she just needs to get to know him a little better
So Max is Isabels Brother...Hopefully they sort things out soon
and Max and Liz get together soon!!

Yeah, Liz has only seen a couple of glimpses of Max being a good guy, so she’s not quite ready to open up to him yet. We finally know the truth about Izzy’s brother now, though, so let’s hope things will start working out soon.

Morning Dreamgirl –

See? Laira and I are agreeing - that should tell you something!

Lol.

You did well with the reveal of the whole Izzy/Max relationship, it came across really naturally which is good considering how it could have come across - with lots of yelling and having it blurted out.

Thanks, I’m glad it worked out well… I wasn’t too sure if the part was any good when I wrote it .

begonia9508 –

Big progress!!! she admitted that she likes him!..... and you can't blame her for wanting to protect her heart!... Like she said, Max's reputation isn't the best one and for someone so sweet and romantic like Liz, Max is a real challenge!

Yep, Liz is finally being honest with herself . Let’s hope that Max can persuade her that he’s not as bad as she fears.

sarammlover –

I forgot Liz didn't know Max and Isabel were brother and sister. I completely forgot about that. Interesting update. I can't wait to see how and if Liz pursues max......hugs, sara

Lol – well, technically, we weren’t supposed to find out for sure either until this part, but I’m guessing it was obvious about Max and Isabel already .

Alien_Friend –

Awww Well I'm glad Liz finally confided in her friends about Max. It's good she has a different perspective on the situation.

Yeah, she’s been refusing to acknowledge her feelings, so this was a good step forward .

I think Max likes her perhaps even just as much as she might like him. They should just come clean already and let the chips fall as they may. Though I understand the hesitation on Liz part. This could potentially be the relationship she's looking for. There is a lot on the line with this one.

Perhaps… but, yeah, there is a lot on the line here.

And I was right no hints and all! I'm relieved I was itching for mystery to be solved. But poor Liz it puts her in an awkward situation with this new revelation. I'm not even sure what the right thing to do here is. I hope whatever happens, it works out for all parties involved.

Yep, you were right . Let’s hope that Liz can help Max and Izzy sort this out.

That's a bit of a wait. I'm glad it didn't go too badly for you.

Thanks – it is a bit of a wait, but the job doesn’t start until March anyway, so it’s not a big hurry or anything .
destinyc –

I hope these two can meet somewhere in the middle soon.

Hopefully they can .

littlewind – Thank you .

Christable –

Ok did I miss something When was Liz avoiding Max? So don't know what is going on there.

Well, Max’s words were supposed to be a bit confusing, since we don’t see his point of view in the story… but perhaps Max is confused over Liz’s actions/intentions here: she says she hates him, but then gives in to his kisses; she listens to him and comforts him, but when they’re about to kiss again, she pulls away and leaves.

Loved the update and glad that Liz finally admitted her feelings for Max. Hopefully they can finally admit it to eachother and get together already

Don’t worry, not long now .

carolina_moon –

Ah Max, (sigh) What with the 'tude? She was only trying to help. If you were hoping for a confession of love then ofcourse you were going to be dissapointed. Be grateful that she stopped to see how you were doing. . and isn't it just slightly hippocritical that you would say SHE was playing games???????

Lol – in regards to who’s playing games, see my response to Christable above .

veronica – Thanks . Yeah, she’s finally admitting it .

Queen Fee –

Thats what I was thinking. Maybe he thought that something was gonna happen when they were stood in the rain and then she took off? Thats the only instance I can think of

Perhaps, or maybe Max is just as confused by Liz as he is by him?

I think Liz is gonna be stuck between a rock and a hard place with Isabel and Max, Isabel is her friend and she cares about Max. I hope everything works out *cough*andMaxandLizgetitonsoon*cough*

Yeah, it’s gonna be hard for Liz with Max and Isabel. Not long now until the last part you mentioned there .


***

Part Twenty-Eight

“Hey, guys,” greets Isabel, as she knocks on the open door and comes into our room, where Maria is lounging on her bed and I’m getting my things ready for the fashion show, which opens tonight.

We all had our hair done for the performance earlier this afternoon – I love my new hairstyle, by the way: the stylist set my hair in curls and then twisted it and pinned it up in sections, leaving a few random tendrils framing my face… it looks really cool and funky – and we have to go back in a few minutes to get our make up sorted and to check that we have all the outfits ready for each dance.

“Hi, Iz,” I smile, as Isabel takes a seat on the edge of Maria’s bed, an upset look on her face. “What’s up?”

She exhales heavily, shaking her head in annoyance, “Ugh, I am so pissed off.”

“What happened?” I ask, although I have a sneaking feeling that whatever is upsetting her might have something to do with Max.

“What didn’t?” she says bitterly. “I’ve had a terrible day. First off, I overslept this morning and was late to my first lecture – when I finally got there, the lecturer got angry with me for being late; then when I got to the refectory for lunch, there was hardly any food left and I got stuck eating lasagne; and then when my full afternoon of lectures finally finishes and I’m walking home, my brother has the nerve to call me, demanding to know why I haven’t been answering my phone today and then accusing me of being a bitch and hanging up!”

She breaks off, as tears of frustration begin to roll down her cheeks and as Maria sits up to give her a hug, I let out a sigh.

Oh, Max, what are you thinking?

I just don’t get it. Why can’t he at least try to make Izzy understand what he’s been through? I know he’s struggling with his feelings, but doesn’t he get that acting like a bastard toward her isn’t helping anything? If anything, it makes things worse.

“Oh, Iz, I’m sorry,” I say sympathetically as I cross the room and take a seat on the other side of her, rubbing her arm comfortingly.

“I just don’t know why he’s like this,” she sniffs, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Why can’t he just be even a little bit considerate of other people’s feelings?”

“Maybe you should try to talk to him?” I suggest. “Ask him why?”

Isabel snorts, “Yeah, right. We can’t even hold a simple phone conversation about everyday stuff without yelling at each other; there’s no way I’m gonna get him to sit down and pour his soul out to me. He’s not exactly forthcoming with his feelings, you know.”

Tell me about it, I sigh internally. So much for trying to help, huh? Isabel refuses to talk to Max because she thinks they’ll end up arguing and Max refuses to talk to her because… well, I don’t really understand why he won’t, but it’s obvious that he’s adamant about not doing it.

“I’m sorry,” I say again.

“Cheer up, sweetie,” adds Maria. “Whatever it is, it’s your brother’s problem. You shouldn’t have to deal with his shit too, so what do you say to having a night of fun instead? Let’s go watch Liz’s show tonight and forget all about it for a while.”

“Yeah, okay,” she nods, giving Maria a teary smile. “Thanks, guys.”

“No problem,” I smile, but then catch a glimpse at the clock and so I stand up. “Speaking of the fashion show though, I have to get going, or I’ll be late.” I grab my bag from the floor and pull on my coat. “See you later on, guys.”

“Break a leg tonight, Lizzie,” says Maria. “We’ll all be in the audience cheering you on.”

“Thanks,” I grin, nodding at both of them as I leave the room and head up to the Great Hall on campus for the show.

***

“You ready?” whispers Daniel, as we get into position on the dark stage for the first number – a contemporary-style number with semi-formal clothing provided by one of the small independent clothes stores just off the high street.

“Yep,” I whisper back, as he places his hands on my hips, ready for the music to start. “Bit nervous.”

Behind me, I feel his chest move against my back as he gives a silent chuckle, and my nerves are eased a little. A moment later, the first notes of the track begin and the lights go up. As we start moving on the stage, I feel a tiny bit shaky on my feet, but when Daniel lifts me up and spins my around in time with all the other dancing couples, all of the worries leave my mind and I let myself enjoy the spotlight.

The first half of the show seems to fly by and before I know it, it’s time for the intermission. I spend a few moments chatting with some of the other girls about how it’s going so far, but after having to spend the last hour crammed into a tiny dressing room, stripping down for costume changes in front of all of them, I decide to find a secluded spot in a quiet backstage area to get ready and prepare myself mentally for the second half – when Daniel and I will be doing our solo.

I close my eyes, pausing briefly in the adjusting of my outfit for the next dance - a black and purple swirl-print wraparound dress with a purple waist tie – to take a calming breath. I finish fastening the tie around my waist and then smooth down the front of the dress, before lifting my hands to my hair to check that it’s still in place after doing the four energetic dances on stage so far.

“Nice outfit,” comes a smooth voice from behind me, making me jump.

I spin around in surprise to find Max standing behind me, leaning against a wall with his hands casually crossed in front of his chest, an appreciative gleam in his eyes.

“Shit, Max!” I hiss, trying to recover from the shock of the intrusion. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s rude to sneak up on people?”

He just shrugs and shoots me a grin, “Nope.”

I frown, “What are you doing back here anyway? No one’s supposed to be backstage unless they’re involved with the show.”

“I am involved with the show.”

I shoot him a funny look and shake my head, “No you’re not.”

“I am,” he insists with a nod and a smirk. “I helped Sophie carry several boxes of stuff up here only a couple of hours ago.”

I roll my eyes, although I can’t help the small smile that tugs at my lips, “That’s called ‘helping out your housemate’, not ‘being involved with the show’.”

He shrugs again, uncrossing his arms and taking a step towards me, his expression suddenly sincere.

“You look great up on that stage tonight,” he murmurs, his gaze capturing mine fully now. “You’re a really good dancer, Liz.”

I feel my face flush at the unexpected compliment, “I, uh… thanks.”

His lips curl up into a smile as he takes another step closer and I feel my breath catch in my throat at the odd expression on his face.

“Liz…” he murmurs, lifting his hand up to my hair and capturing a loose curl between his fingers. I feel my heart begin to pound in response to his closeness.

Is it me, or is it suddenly hot in here?

I see his eyes flicker to my lips and I can’t stop my tongue from darting out to wet them in response, as I anticipate his next move. However as he closes the remaining distance between us, I feel a small wave of panic beginning to build up inside me. As much as I think I want him to kiss me, at the same time I’m scared to let him. I’m scared of what it will mean if he does and although I’ve been trying to deny it to myself, I’m scared of what will happen if I give into these feelings I have for him. I don’t think I could handle it if he turned out to be a complete bastard like Kevin, my friend Jess’ last boyfriend before Tom.

I gather up my courage and take a step back from him, my hair slipping from between his fingers as I move.

“I, um… I have to finish getting ready for the second half,” I murmur, turning away from him and reaching for my compact to powder my nose.

However, the lack of sound from behind me causes me to turn back round again in curiosity. He’s looking at me again, that strange expression still on his face – one that I’m not sure how to decipher.

“Do you mind?” I ask softly, indicating the powder in my hand.

“Nope,” he murmurs, his gaze not wavering.

It’s starting to make me feel a little self-conscious, so I clear my throat and try to steer the conversation somewhere else. “So, um, how are you doing?”

“Huh?” his eyes suddenly shift to mine, as if he’s snapping out of a daze.

“You okay now?” I ask. “You seem a bit happier today than last week.”

“Oh, um, yeah,” he mutters distractedly. “I guess.”

I dread the answer, but after talking to Isabel earlier, I have to ask, “So, um, did you think anymore about maybe talking to someone? Your sister, maybe?”

“Liz,” he sighs. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Look, I know it’s hard, but have you thought about how she might be feeling about the situation?” He rolls his eyes, as if it were obvious. “Max, don’t you think she – and your parents – deserve to know the real reason why you don’t go home anymore?”

“I can’t tell them, okay?” he snaps in annoyance. “God, can’t you just leave it alone for once?”

“I don’t understand why not,” I respond. “Surely, talking about how you’re feeling would only be a good thing?”

“No, it wouldn’t,” he mutters, as he turns his back to me, causing me to strain to hear his words. “If I tell them, it’ll only ruin everything. They’re doing fine without me, okay? They’re a happy family and I can’t be responsible for breaking that up.”

I sigh, at his forlorn tone, “But Max, they’re also your family. I’m sure they love and care for you and I’ll bet anything that this is affecting them as much as it is you.”

“You don’t understand, Liz,” he bursts out suddenly, spinning back round to face me. “I hate them, okay? My father is dead because of them. Even if I told my ‘parents’ the truth, it’s not going to make me hate them any less.”

“What about your sister, though; she’s innocent in this, remember? I bet she’s confused and upset that you’ve created this distance between the two of you. Maybe if you just explained your reasons, she’ll understand.”

“It’s not that easy,” he admits, facing away from me again. “She’s a student here too now… it’s hard enough to get her to leave me alone as it is; if she knew the truth, she’d probably try to get me to spend more time with her or something.”

“Max,” I start, feeling at a loss now over how I can help both he and Isabel fix things with their family. “Look, I understand that you’re hurt and angry and I get why you don’t want to, but this isn’t just about you and your feelings of betrayal. You need to start looking at the bigger picture – this is tearing your family apart; it’s tearing Isabel apart.”

“What did you just say?” he demands, suddenly whirling back round again. “How do you know her name?”

“Max,” I say again, shaking my head and sighing as I realise what I’ve just said. “I’m sorry. It’ just…” I exhale heavily as I prepare to admit the truth, “…Well, your sister is one of my best friends.”

“You what?” he exclaims, seemingly upset at the revelation. “How…?

“We live on the same corridor in halls,” I supply softly. “Isabel and I.”

“I see,” he mutters flatly. “Of course; it all makes perfect sense now. You’ve known all this time?” he demands to know. “God, I bet she put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“No, Max,” I shake my head frantically, reaching out to touch his arm, but he shakes off my hand. “Izzy has no idea that we know each other. I found out by accident last week, when I overheard her talking to you on the phone.”

“Well, that’s just great,” he bites out, looking toward the ceiling. “So, I’m guessing she’s been telling you how much of a bastard I am, then, huh?” He looks down at me sharply, “You’re not gonna tell her anything, are you?”

“Of course not,” I assure him, slightly offended that he thinks I would break his confidence like that. “But she doesn’t understand what’s going on, Max. She thinks you’re just being difficult and selfish to spite her and she’s hurting because of it. Which is why I think you need to talk to her.”

He runs a hand through his hair, “And I’ve already told you that I can’t do that.”

“But–”

“No, Liz,” he snaps angrily. “You can’t change my mind on this, okay? Why can’t you just butt out and mind your own business for once?”

His angry words sting, but I force myself not to react to them.

“Fuck, I wish I’d never said anything to you the other week,” he hisses. “I thought it would…” he pauses, leaving me wondering what he’d been about to say. “…But no, you just had to go and stick your nose in where it didn’t belong.”

“Well, excuse me for wanting to help you!” I hiss, his accusing tone suddenly too much for me to handle. “I guess I’ll just keep my mouth shut from now on.”

“Yeah, you do that,” he spits.

“Fine!” I burst out; angry at the way the conversation is going. “God, you can be such a bastard sometimes, you know that?”

Max opens his mouth to speak, but a new voice gets there first.

“Hey, Liz, are you ready?” asks Daniel as he suddenly appears beside me. “The second half is about to start… oh, hey, Max. What are you doing back here?”

“Just helping Sophie out with some stuff,” he lies as he straightens up and moves away from me, his jaw twitching in anger. “I’ll catch you later, man.”

I watch his retreating back until he’s disappeared from view and then turn back to Dan, who is watching me curiously.

“What was that about?”

“Nothing,” I tell him, as I rack my brains for a suitable cover story. “We were just arguing about where he’d put one of the costume boxes earlier. Come on, let’s go – don’t want to be late for the next dance.”

As Daniel and I take our places on stage again, I try my best to put Max and our argument to the back of my mind, but even when the show is over and I’m getting into bed later on, I can’t help but feel bad about trying to persuade him to talk to Izzie when it was obvious that he wasn’t ready to do so. As I settle down and try to sleep, I make up my mind to apologise to him as soon as I can.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thank you for your feedback :

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

POM – Thanks .

Tamashii –

I loved Max's entrance.

Thanks .

It's really hard for both Max and Isabel, and I think that Max's reaction is quite normal and obvious too. I mean he feels like he can't really talk to his family, he probably doesn't want to tear up the image that Izzy has of her parents in her mind, they were the perfect family until Max's behavior she doesn't know about how her parents truly met or how she was conceive.

This suck for Liz, because it feels like no matter what she does, she is gonna do wrong for someone. Isabel could feel really betrayed when she finds out that Liz knew all along about her family and her brother.

All and all, I think that the best Liz can do is stop pressuring Max into talking to his family, she should just be there for him. I feel like he will open up more to her that way, and he would be more inclined to listen to what she has to say about it.

Yeah, Max’s reaction is understandable, but Liz is not doing herself any favours by pressuring Max into talking to Izzy. Let’s hope they can sort things out .

Well come back soon please, I really love this story a lot. The characters are very real.

Thank you, I’m glad you think so – I try to make my stories as realistic as I can .

Christable – Thanks .

The communication between Max and Liz is horrible. They just need to admit their feelings for eachother. Can't wait for more

Yes, they do…

behrluv32 – Thanks .

Someone needs to slap some sense into both of them!!

Yeah, definitely, lol.

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Damn!!...they nearly kissed again...why did she back away??...
guess she is still confused and wary about Max

She is confused, but hopefully that will change soon…

Natalie36 – Thanks .

azure_horizon –

Gah! He's so infuriating! So is she! Gah!

Excellent writing my dear

Lol – thank you .

destinyc – Thanks .

At least Liz wants an honest relationship with Max, not just a quick make out session. I hope they settle their issues soon.

Yeah, she doesn’t just want some meaningless fling… and part of the reason she’s hesitant is because she fears that Max is the type to have flings. Let’s hope they can sort things out .

Alien614 – Thanks .

begonia9508 –

It's really hard for Liz to be in between Izzy and Max - even if she is right with what she told him!...I guess he will acknowledge it with the time going...

Yeah, hopefully he will .


Addicted2AmberEyes – Thanks .

Wow, Liz is definately in a hard place right now. At least she fought off the notion of kissing him, because if you through those feelings into the melting pot, along with the fact that she admitted to Max that she knows his sister, I'm not sure it would have ended well. Although, it didn't end well anyways.

No, it didn’t, but I doubt kissing him would have helped much at all, either .

kay_b – Thanks .

ITA! They should just hop in the sack and get it over with.

Lol… they totally should .

Seriously though, I get why Max doesn't want to tell Isabel about it. He knows that if she finds out the truth, she might hate her parents as well, and the more their family will be ruined.

But then again, Liz sees how devastated Isabel gets over this, which is why she wants to help. And Max really can't blame her, HE told her about his family and the situation he's in.

That’s the thing – both sides of the argument are understandable; Max for not wanting to ruin things for the rest of his family and Liz for seeing how badly this is affecting Isabel and wanting to help both of them sort things out. And, yeah, the thing is, Max did choose to tell Liz about his family, so really, he should have realised that Liz might do this.

Alien_Friend –

Wow! That was intense. I have to say though it did seem like Liz was just pushing the matter a little too much. I get she has the best intentions and wants to help but their time together is so few and far between the last things he needs her to do is keep telling him the same thing over and over again after he had a moment of weakness and told her in the first place.

Yes. She was pushing the matter, but hopefully not for too much longer.

I hope they manage to end their next interaction on better terms.

Let’s hope so… read on to find out .

I hope their next topic of conversation will be why Max keeps trying kiss her and why she keeps avoiding it. That's something they should address until its resolved. Though I love the Max and Liz interaction how ever they unfold.

They should address it, but will it happen just yet?

Lairabehr4 and Morning Dreamgirl -

Rice Krispy – Thanks .

But damn does Max have an attitude. You need to fix him, stat!

He does have a bit of an attitude, doesn’t he? Although perhaps he’s just not used to people getting close enough to know about his personal problems.

veronica – Thanks .

Egyptian_Kiss –

I just started reading this and I love it! Please, please, please update soon. I'm dying for Liz and Max to hook up. Can't wait for more. EK!

You won’t have to wait much longer…

paper – Thanks .

This is really great. I can just see Max getting intensely irritated because Liz keeps dodging his advances.

Then she keeps harping on his most wound inflicting circumstances.

I totally agree that they should talk about the kissing situation, or lack thereof, so Max can get a clue.

Before Liz drives the poor boy to drink (more)!

Lol – yeah, it’s not the best situation to be in! I bet Liz doesn’t even realise that the reason he’s so irritated is because she’s been running hot and cold on him too . Let’s hope they can sort things out between them soon.


***


Part Twenty-Nine

The next morning, I find myself standing in front of 28 Barrow Road, one hand holding my bag and the other poised to ring the small, round doorbell located just beside the door. I’m not really sure what I’m doing here… well, not that’s not quite true; I know why I’m here – to apologise to Max for last night… but what I’m not sure about is my decision to come here, to his house, to do it. I guess I could’ve waited until I bumped into him again, but since I have no way of knowing when that will happen, a home visit it is. Closing my eyes briefly and letting out a calming breath, I reach forward and press the bell.

There are a few moments of silence before I hear movement on the other side and the door opens to reveal a tall, well-built blond guy with shaggy hair, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Yeah, um, is Max here?” I ask uncertainly, hoping that I did in fact get the right house. “I need to talk to him.”

“Max? Uh, sure, he’s in the kitchen,” he tells me. “You wanna come in?”

“Thanks,” I smile, stepping into the hallway.

“Kitchen’s right in front of you at the end of the hall,” the guy tells me. “I’m headed out, but feel free to go on through.”

“Thanks,” I nod, as he shoots me a smile before slinging a rucksack over his shoulder and manoeuvring his way out of the door, closing it behind him.

My gaze remains on the closed door for a moment as I mentally go over what I want to say to him, before I turn in the direction of the kitchen and pull off my jacket, clasping it in my free hand, before making my way down the hallway. The kitchen door is ajar and as I reach it, I can see Max standing in front of the open fridge, dressed in jeans and a grey T-shirt. His feet are bare and his hair is slightly damp, presumably from the shower.

Coming to a stop in the doorway, I raise my hand and knock gently on the door. He pauses in reaching for something in the fridge and instead turns his head, looking over at me in shocked surprise.

“Liz?”

“Hi,” I say, a little self-conscious now about suddenly arriving with no warning.

He pulls out a carton of milk and closes the fridge door, sending me a glance over his shoulder, an annoyed expression clouding his handsome features.

“What are you doing here?” his tone is demanding and I find myself shrinking backwards slightly.

“I, um…” I struggle to gather my thoughts under his intense, angry gaze. “Sorry, for dropping by unannounced, it’s just that…”

“Just what?” he asks, placing the milk carton down on the kitchen counter beside the steaming mug of tea that rests there and turns to face me, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter, fixing me with a hard stare.

“Just…” I’m finding it difficult to concentrate on forming the right words with him glaring at me like that.

“Let me guess,” he cuts in. “My sister has been feeding you sob stories about me again and, feeling sorry for her, you decided to visit my house and persuade me to talk it out with her?”

I take a step into the kitchen, feeling my hackles rise at his cold words.

“Max, no–” I shake my head.

“Well, I’m telling you right now, it’s not gonna work,” he continues as if I haven’t spoken. “I know you probably think you can just swoop in and save the day, but nothing you, or anyone else, says is gonna make me do that.”

“God, Max!” I exclaim in exasperation, his bad mood beginning to rub off on me. “Just shut up and listen for a minute, will you?”

He narrows his eyes at me, pushing his body away from the counter as he walks toward me, not stopping until he’s only a few inches away.

“No, how about you listen, okay?” he hisses angrily. “I neither want nor need you to fight my battles for me. It’s my life and my decisions, got that?”

I gulp, as I look up into his angry, flashing eyes, suddenly feeling rather small. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all.

“Max…”

He steps back a little and then brushes past me none too gently with an impatient sigh, “Just get out, Liz, all right? I’m not doing this with you today.”

I turn and watch as he leaves the kitchen and stalks down the hallway, disappearing into what I remember to be the living room. Against my better judgement, I choose to follow him.

“Max, please,” I continue as I enter the room behind him.

I find him now sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands. He doesn’t acknowledge my presence.

“Look, I didn’t come here to fight with you, okay?” I say tightly, clenching my fingers around my bag strap in an attempt to calm myself down.

“No?” he lifts his head, a sceptical look on his face.

“No, I didn’t,” I state firmly. “So stop jumping to conclusions, all right? … If you must know, I came here to apologise.”

He gets up off the sofa, his eyebrows rising in a disbelieving expression, “You did? Somehow I’m finding that a little hard to believe.”

I sigh in annoyance at his behaviour, “Yes, I did. I wanted to say I’m sorry for upsetting you last night – I shouldn’t have pushed the issue – but it appears that would be a waste of time right now.” I shake my head, taking in his defensive stance. “You know, I don’t get you, Max. I don’t get you at all.”

“What’s not to get?” he shrugs unceremoniously, as he turns his back to me, crosses the small room and begins rummaging through a pile of DVDs beside the large TV in the corner.

“What’s not to get? … What’s not to get?!” I burst out, unable to control my emotions any longer. “You are the most annoying, most confusing person I have ever met! One minute, you’re the world’s biggest flirt, and the next you turn Mr. Sensitive on me. Then when I try to talk to you about it, you get angry. I don’t understand you at all. So what the hell you do want from me, Max?”

“What do I want?” he says incredulously, his eyes flashing as he turns and begins to advance toward me. “I want you to leave me the hell alone. I want you to butt out of my life and go on back to living yours.”

When he doesn’t stop moving, I take a couple of steps back in an attempt to put some distance between us, but then I feel my back pressing against the living room door as it closes fully behind me and I realise that I’m trapped. Max finally comes to a stop just a couple of feet away, his fists clenched and his wild eyes boring into mine. My heart begins to pound in my chest, a mixture of anger and response to his close proximity, as I open my mouth to retort.

“If you didn’t want me around, then why the hell did you tell me all that stuff about your family in the first place?” I demand to know, scrunching my face up in confusion.

“Because I thought it would make you see!” he practically yells.

“See what?!” I exclaim impatiently, beginning to wish I had just stayed at home today.

“That I’m not the bastard you seem to think I am!” he finally bursts out. “That I am capable of feeling things, okay?!”

“Max,” I murmur, gazing at him in shock. “Why?”

“You wouldn’t even give me the time of day, Liz,” he shakes his head. “I had to do something to show you…”

“Show me what?” I question when he trails off.

He doesn’t answer immediately, but instead simply stares into my eyes, his chest rising and falling in heavy breaths. I just stand there, back against the door, fingers loosely grasping my bag as it hangs limply from them, my eyes drawn to his intense gaze. My jacket slips from my other hand and falls to the floor with a soft thump. I pay no attention, my stomach lurching and breath catching as he moves toward me, the murky, mysterious depths of his dark eyes capturing me and pulling me in, and then suddenly, he’s right in front of me, barely two inches away. My heart beats faster as he leans in close, his breath hot on my cheek, the close proximity of his denim- and T-shirt-clad body overwhelming my senses.

“This–” he breathes seductively, bracing one hand on the wall behind my head, as the other cups the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my long hair.

I can’t tear my gaze from his; it’s like he’s suddenly cast a spell on me. It draws me in, arouses me, seduces me, even though I’m still not entirely sure I want it to. But there’s nothing I can do to stop it. He lowers his eyes slightly to my mouth and his tongue snakes out to lick his lips. I suck in an aroused breath, as a familiar tingling begins in my belly.

God, I want him, I realise suddenly.

“Max…” my voice is involuntarily needy.

Our gazes lock once more and my breathing becomes laboured as he watches me with hooded eyes, full of emotion, before his lips are on mine, soft and warm, yet passionate and fiery all at the same time. I close my eyes, finally giving in to the feelings I’ve been trying to hide from for so long, as his touch sends tingles shooting down my spine.

His tongue probes my lips, parting them, forcing itself inside my mouth. The contact sends shivers through my whole body. My fingers relax and the bag joins my jacket on the floor. Of their own accord my hands move up to his chest, my palms pressing flat against him as his tongue wreaks havoc on my senses.

“Max,” I say again in a gasp when his mouth eventually leaves mine and he begins pressing urgent, open-mouth kisses along my jaw and down my neck. His hand slides out of my hair and down my back, my head falling back against the wall as he gently grips my hips and I’m suddenly acutely aware of how his muscles move beneath my palms, how his body heat seeps through the thin material of his T-shirt and warms my skin.

This feels so right, I realise with startling clarity as I feel his fingers slip beneath the hem of my top, gently caressing my heated skin as his mouth returns to mine once more and I let my arms drift up around his neck.

I need this; I need him. God knows why I refused to acknowledge it before.

“God, Liz,” he groans a few moments later, abandoning my mouth again in favour of kissing a trail down to my collarbone.

My fingers tangle in his damp hair and I let out a shuddering sigh as his fingers trace patterns on my skin, burrowing further beneath my top and grabbing onto my waist as the atmosphere between us intensifies.

“Max,” I grind out, my breath coming fast now as my whole body ignites with this new feeling of passion… and desire.

I’ve never felt anything like this before. And I never want it to stop.

I shiver with desire as his hands move round to my lower back, his palms briefly flattening against my heated, sensitive skin before sliding down to cup my bottom. He presses my lower body against his and I inhale sharply as I come into contact with his arousal. He lifts his head, attacking my mouth with his once more as his hands urge me closer. I gasp at the intimate contact, my arms firmly wrapping around his neck as I lose myself in the sensations.

Leaving one hand where it is, he moves the other round to my stomach and then slides his fingers up over my torso to my collarbone. He then brings his hand up to my loose hair, fingering it gently before sliding his fingers through it and cupping my cheek and lower neck as his delicious lips work their magic on mine.

“Liz,” he mutters against my lips as he lets his hand slide down the side of my face, back down over my collarbone, to my chest. A small moan escapes my lips as he cups my covered breast in his palm, kneading it gently, causing my stomach to tighten in anticipation.

However, when his fingers move further down, walking over my stomach and then lower still, I suddenly find myself brought back to reality and I break the kiss.

“Wait,” I mutter breathlessly. “Stop.”

But he just buries his face in my neck again, his hand drifting lower, hovering over the zip of my jeans.

“Max,” I try again. “Wait a sec.”

He’s still engrossed in what he’s doing and so I have to slide my hands back down to his chest and press against him firmly to get him to stop. He lifts his head and then releases his grip on me, before taking a step back and running a hand through his hair, panting harshly as he tries to catch his breath.

“What?” he asks, his voice throaty and eyes unfocused. “What is it?”

God, he looks sexy all tousled like that, I find myself thinking absently as I watch him with hooded eyes. However, I quickly force the thoughts away.

“What are we doing here, Max?”

A small smirk graces his lips as he looks me directly in the eye, “Well, I’d have thought that would be obvious.”

“Yeah,” I concede with a smile and a roll of my eyes. “But less than five minutes ago we were screaming at each other and now… well, now, I’m a little confused.”

“Hey,” he murmurs, closing the distance between us again and threading his fingers through my hair. “Maybe you should just stop thinking so much for once, okay?”

“Max…” I shake my head, although I’m finding it hard to concentrate with his penetrating eyes looking at me like that.

“Don’t tell me you’re not feeling this too,” he challenges, as he slips his free arm around my waist and tugs me closer.

“What about the others?” I avoid the question, unsure how to answer it.

“What others?” he’s looking at my lips now.

“The other people who live here,” I clarify. “What if someone comes in?”

“I’m the only one home,” he counters, as he traces my bottom lip with his thumb before leaning in and capturing it between his lips for a moment. “They won’t be back for hours.”

“I still don’t think that we should be–”

He sighs and pulls back, an amused smile playing on his lips, “Okay, fine, how ‘bout we take this upstairs instead?”

“Max...” I say warningly as I shoot him a disapproving look, even as I feel my heart skip a beat at the implication of his words – upstairs… to his room… where there’s a bed…

He rolls his eyes, but concedes and takes a step back, breaking our contact, as he smirks at me, “Just kidding.”

I let my head drop back against the door again as I let out a sigh. As I try to regain my composure, Max moves away and takes a seat in the middle of the sofa, leaning forward and resting his arms on his thighs, pressing his palms together. On shaky legs, I push away from the door and move across the room too, so that I can sit next to him on the couch.

I place my hands in my lap, unsure of what to do with them now, as we sit together in silence for a few moments. I’m very aware of the fact that Max’s body is just centimetres from mine and I can’t help the feeling of arousal that swirls inside my belly when he shifts slightly and his right thigh presses against my left, the heat from his skin penetrating through the denim of his jeans.

“Max?” I murmur breathily, my mind still a little fuzzy from those amazing kisses just now.

He looks down at his hands, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” I turn my head to look at him fully.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats. “For yelling at you earlier… and last night.” He sighs. “I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on you – it’s been a tough few days and you were just there…”

“It’s okay,” I say, although I do feel just a tiny bit upset by how he spoke to me earlier. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He closes his eyes and I can’t help but notice how beautiful his eyelashes are, all long and thick and luscious.

“Max,” I murmur, reaching out to touch his arm.

His face snaps up and our eyes lock. I can feel the tension between us building once more, sizzling in the air as my heartbeat quickens and my fingers begin to tingle in response to his heated gaze. Before I have time to think, his mouth is on mine once again, hot and demanding. All rational thought flees my mind as he presses me against the sofa cushions, his hands sliding up my sides, leaving trails of fire in their wake. I don’t care anymore, I decide, as his warm hands work their way beneath my flimsy top, sliding up over my heated skin and cupping my breasts as his tongue duels with mine, this feels too good to be worrying about whether or not it’s the right thing to do.

My hands tangle in the hair at the base of his neck, gripping onto him tightly as his probing fingers slip beneath the thin material of my bra and gently brush my rapidly hardening nipples. He breaks the kiss and I gasp, my back arching as he kisses my neck. Of their own accord, my hands move over his shoulders and down to his lower back, reaching for the hem of his T-shirt, as he covers my neck with urgent, open-mouthed kisses. My fingers slip under the material, feeling the heat of his skin beneath as I tug, urging it upwards.

The muffled sound of a door opening and closing somewhere nearby dimly registers in my mind, but I pay no attention to it, instead choosing to concentrate on the delicious feelings that Max’s mouth and hands are creating in me. I also don’t acknowledge the fact that someone is calling Max’s name from another room, or that a moment later, the living room door opens, pushing my jacket and bag out of the way as that someone enters the room, talking quickly.

“Max, why aren’t you answering your phone? Ben’s been calling me, wondering why you’re not at your meeting– oh,” the voice comes to a surprised halt and I stiffen as Max stops what he’s doing and takes a quick glance up before lowering his head to my chest with a muttered ‘fuck’. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise…”

“Soph,” starts Max, as he pulls his hands out from under my top and scrambles to climb off the sofa. “What are you doing here?”

I feel my cheeks burning red as I sit up, my back to the newcomer – Sophie, it seems – and quickly straighten my clothes.

“My morning lecture was cancelled,” she says. “So, I decided to come home.”

“Right,” mutters Max from where he stands beside the sofa, running a hand through his hair.

“And then on my way back, I get a call from Ben who says you’re supposed to be in a meeting this morning and do I know where you are?” she sighs. “So I came to find you… but I see you’re… otherwise occupied. Hi, Liz.”

My eyes widen in shock as I slowly turn to face her, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. How did she know it was me?

“Hi, Sophie,” I manage, my voice coming out in a squeak.

She’s looking at me with an amused grin, her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised speculatively.

“What time is it?” asks Max, shooting a quick glance at me.

“Oh, only about nine-twenty,” replies Sophie airily.

“Shit!” he exclaims. “The meeting started at nine.”

“I know,” she nods, as if it were obvious. “Guess you’d better get a move on, then, huh?”

“Yeah,” he mutters distractedly, turning back to face me.

Sophie rolls her eyes.

“I’d hurry up if I were you. You don’t want to keep them waiting any longer,” she says, before turning and leaving the room.

“Liz…” our gazes lock and I gulp at the heated gaze I see in his eyes.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

“Go to your meeting, Max,” I tell him gently. “They’re waiting for you.”

“Okay,” he nods, his expression slightly dazed. “Um, I won’t be long… you’re welcome to stay until I get back if you want.”

I nod and stand up, moving toward the door as he walks out of the living room and into the hallway, where he slips on some running shoes and reaches for a jacket.

“Bye,” he says, looking at me hesitantly, as if he’s not sure whether to leave or go back to where we left off.

“Bye, Max,” I tell him. “Enjoy the meeting.”

He just nods, before opening the front door and then disappearing through it. As it closes behind him, I give a heavy sigh, letting my head fall back against the living room doorframe, my mind racing as I try to decipher what just happened between us.

“How about a cup of tea?”

Sophie’s voice startles me out of my thoughts and I look up to find her smiling at me from the kitchen doorway.

“Oh, um, sure,” I agree absently, my thoughts still on Max as I grab my jacket and bag from the living room follow her into the kitchen.

She nods towards the table in the centre and I take a seat as she moves to the counter, flicking the switch on the kettle and then reaching into one of the cupboards for two large mugs. As she places them down and picks up the carton of milk that Max abandoned earlier, she turns to glance at me.

“So, you and Max finally got it on, huh?”

“Huh? What do you–?”

She just shoots me a mischievous grin, before turning back to making the tea, leaving me to watch her in shock. Everything suddenly seems so surreal that I have no idea what’s even going on anymore.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone, thank you for your feedback :

Morning Dreamgirl –

Damn girl!

You posted that right before I was about to go to bed! (Okay, so not right before, more like a couple of hours, but still!)

Sorry – it was 9.30am here… hang on a sec – that means it was like 4.30am where you are… and you were still 2 hours away from going to bed?! I could not do that, lol.

That definitely needs a second, third, and maybe fourth read... I'll just get started on those.

Wow – you read it that many times? Not sure if I should be flattered or worried that I might have made some mistakes that are likely to be picked up on with that many reads, lol.

Natalie36 – Thanks .

Lairabehr4 – Thank you, hun .

DreamerM&L – Thanks /

I get the feeling they gonna have to talk about what happened and it will
be a little awkward!!! lol...

We’ll have to see how that talk goes .

But great to see some Max and Liz Action!!!

Let’s hope that there’ll be a lot more action in the near future .

RiceKrispy –

Loved it. Completely loved it.

Thank you

I bet people in my class thought I was crazy, smiling for no reason.

Lol – I don’t think I would have ever been able to get away with reading new parts in class (although it would have been kind of hard anyway, since I graduated 3.5 years ago, but have only had a laptop since 2007)!

begonia9508 –

Oh my! What's a difficult guy to handle!.... sometime a puddle, sometime a hedgehog!!!...
He can tell her what he wants but he isn't absolutely happy with his family situation.... so that's his way to react!

Yeah, Max is causing Liz a lot of confusion with his behaviour!

At least, he kissed her! and she liked it.....

Yep… finally, lol!

Max must have told Sophie about his feelings for Liz obviously!..... more than Liz hoped for!!!

Perhaps…

Tamashii –

Max was a jackass at first, yelling like that at Liz before she could say two words.

Yeah, he was obviously still angry about their argument the night before and wasn’t in the mood to talk.

They need to talk when he comes back. I can't believe he left.

They do need to talk, but unfortunately they also have lives too and Max was already late for an important meeting that as AU President of the university, he really couldn’t miss.

Alien_Friend –

Loved it! It was about time the pent up sexual tension dam was broken. They are making great process, finally. I'm glad Liz decided to seek Max out to apologize.

Thanks . Yeah, it was time Liz realised that her words were out of line and she needed to apologise.

I'm very intrigued to see what you have happen next.

You’ll have to read on and see .

This mystery of Max gets more and more interesting. I have a feeling Sophie might be able to give Liz some insights.

I think so too .

And that Max might be harboring feelings for Liz long before she settled on deciding what her feels were for him. He just doesn't seem to know how show it effectively. But now he's making definite strides in the right direction.

You could be right on that one .

sarammlover –

ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!!! And boy was it ever hot.

Lol – thanks .

I think Liz is going to be the key to bringing some peace back into Max's life. I hope Isabel isn't too freaked out about them dating if she ever finds out

Let’s hope so – on both counts .

Hunter –

Omg! How could I miss the last few updates!

I am so sorry! I really love this story!

Don’t worry about it – I bet you’re pretty busy with all the uni stuff . How’s it going, by the way? Are you settling into uni life okay?

Omg! I loved it when Max and Liz were getting intimate!

Thanks .

kay_b –

It's 5am and I'm giddy with this new part.

Lol – I don’t think I could do anything at 5 am!

But now I'm more curious as to what Sophie meant. Obviously she knows something we don't...well you do but we and Liz don't.

Well, we’ll all find out soon…

Alien614 –

Well i guess they are making some progress. I hope they don't jump right into bed with each other though.

Yes, they are making progress… we’ll have to see what happens on the sleeping together front though .

Christable – Thanks .

When I said they needed to talk, I didn't mean for them to yell at eachother then defour eachother after No really , they need to have a sit down talk. Have Max on one side of the room and Liz on the other if that will get them to talk and not jump eachother

.

Lol – yeah, I know they need to talk… properly talk… let’s hope they can do it soon .

destinyc –

Yea! Some hot M/L action, of course interrupted by Sophie, but action nonetheless.

Yep, there was action… and hopefully there’ll be a lot more in the future too

Egyptian_Kiss –

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said I wouldn't have to wait long were you? lol, I loved this! Amazing! Sophie walking in was just icing on the cake...the anticipation is now prime. The next chapter is going to be very interesting. Update soon. EK!

No, you started reading at just the right time, lol! Thanks – glad you liked the part… let’s see what happens next…

paper –

Gah! That was so hot, I had to stop in the middle of the part, just to have a cigarette.

And I don't evern smoke!

Lol

I hope Max doesn't find out that Liz has turned cold again by the time he gets back.
Sucks to be interupted.

Hope Sophie doesn't give Liz any more bad news.

Let’s hope not.

carolina_moon –

He really left to go to a meeting? Seriously?

He did… but it was an important meeting – one he had known about for a while and his presence was mandatory .

katydid –

Ah Sophie wants to talk...I think she's been trying to help out all along.

Possibly…

dreamerbabylioness –

Wow, amazing part!

Thanks .

Not sure I replied before, but I only started reading this a couple of days ago... love it! Can't wait for more!

Glad you’re enjoying it – it’s always great to hear from new readers .

Aurorabee – Thanks .

azure_horizon – Lol. Thanks .

Leigh –

But I wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying your Fic.....
I've spent a lot of time in the UK, so it's lovely to have a story situated there...

Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying it… it’s been my favourite story to write so far . Just out of interest, which parts of the UK have you visited?

MissyMM –

I have been a lurker for YEARS!!! But I have no come out of lukerdom (I think I just made that word up), is it to soon to ask for an update?? Maybe a Halloween present? It is a fantastic story!!

Thank you – glad you’re enjoying it. I’d have loved to give you a Halloween update, but unfortunately, I have to limit the updates to once a week (every Tuesday) so that I don’t run out of parts to post .

veronica – Thanks .

guelbebek – Thanks . Let’s hope they can finally sit down and talk soon.


***
Part Thirty

“Here you go,” says Sophie with a smile as she sets one of the steaming cups of tea down on the table in front of me and then puts her own down and slides into the seat opposite me.

“Thanks,” I reach for my cup and cradle it between my hands as I try to suppress my curiosity over her words about Max and I a couple of minutes ago.

“So,” she starts, taking a sip of tea.

“So,” I murmur, my mind still preoccupied with thoughts of Max’s talented mouth and hands on my body just a few minutes ago.

“Sorry for interrupting earlier,” she says. “I didn’t realise you were… you know.”

“S’okay,” I mutter, looking down at my mug in embarrassment. “I wasn’t planning for that to happen, though.”

“No?” she raises her eyebrow. “I got the impression it was a long time coming.”

My eyes widen in surprise, my heart not daring to hope that she’s saying what I think she is.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen the way Max looks at you sometimes,” is all she says, causing me to frown in confusion.

“What way?”

She leans forward, resting her elbows on the table, “Well, like in that bar after the varsity match last semester; I noticed his eyes on you more than once that night before he offered to walk you home.”

“Huh,” I blink in both surprise and embarrassment. Oh my God, he was watching me that night, when I got so drunk I couldn’t even stand up straight?

“I could tell he was interested, although he wouldn’t tell me anything himself, but what I didn’t know was if you felt the same. It seems that you do though.”

“Well,” I shrug, as I try to make sense of my jumbled thoughts. “To be honest, I’ve spent the last few months trying to convince myself that I hated him, but lately I’ve hardly been able to get him out of my head.”

“Really?” she looks delighted at the revelation, and I have to resist the urge to duck my head in response. “That’s great.”

“Is it?” I mumble, looking down at my tea again. “I mean, it’s like every time I see him he’s with yet another girl; how can I be sure that I’m not going to be just another notch on his bedpost?”

“Liz, hon,” she says, reaching across the table to place a hand on my arm. I look up at her. “Max is one of my best friends and he’s also one of the greatest guys you’ll ever meet. Don’t be fooled by his flirting; most of it is just harmless anyway.”

“It didn’t seem that harmless when I caught him coming out of the shower in my hall one morning last semester,” I comment, my tone coming out slightly more sarcastic than I intended it to. I’m still not sure exactly what to think at this point.

“I’m not saying he’s a saint, Liz, but he has been through a lot in the last few years, and although he won’t admit it to me, it’s kind of obvious that all the socialising and flirting is his way of forgetting his problems and pretending that they don’t exist.”

“Yeah…” I murmur thoughtfully, as I recall my conversation with him on the beach the other week. “It must have been tough for him to deal with everything that happened with his family.”

“He told you about that?” her tone sounds almost shocked. “Wow – he never talks about his family to anyone. I only found out because he got really drunk one night in first year and it all kind of slipped out.”

“Yeah, he did,” I nod, as my mind reels with the knowledge that I may actually be the only person he’s actually willingly confided in. “A couple of weeks ago.”

“Wow, you must have really gotten under his skin then. He tends to make it a point not to talk about that kind of stuff with, well, anyone.”

“Really?” I’m slightly surprised, although perhaps I shouldn’t be.

“Yeah, he might seem outgoing and social on the outside, but he doesn’t often let anyone see what’s going on beneath the surface.”

“But you guys are close though?” I ask, although it’s not really a question. After all, I already know that they’ve been intimate with each other in the past. “Surely you must talk about personal stuff occasionally.”

“Yeah,” she nods. “We do, but Max isn’t really one to share his feelings in any great depth and I accept that.” She shrugs, “Not much I can do, really.”

I nod, returning my attention to the rapidly cooling cup of tea in my hands. We sit in silence for a couple of minutes, as I take regular sips of tea and Sophie looks thoughtful. Eventually, I decide to break the silence with the question that’s been on the tip of my tongue for the last few minutes.

“Soph…”

“Yeah?” she looks over at me.

“You and Max were… together once, right?”

She looks vaguely surprised, but nods nonetheless.

“Um, yeah, we were… back in first year,” she admits, looking a little sheepish, as if she feels bad about telling me. “He was my next-door neighbour in halls and we got on really well together. We had this really great group of friends from the hall – you know a couple of them, actually: Jackie and Daniel – but occasionally Max and I would just hang out on our own.”

I nod and as she talks, I realise that her friendship with Max sounds a lot like what I have with James.

“Anyway, there was one day in spring term when Max seemed really out of it. He would barely talk to anyone; he just stayed in his room all day and even skipped dinner – which was very unusual for him, I might add. He wouldn’t open the door or answer his phone or anything and I was getting really worried, so I basically just stood outside his room and banged on the door until he let me in.”

She shakes her head sadly, “He looked terrible, Liz. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was a mess and he had a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. He was drunk and upset – not a good combination – but it was then that the whole story came pouring out about his dad dying and his mum’s affair. It turned out that it was the anniversary of his father’s death.”

I let out a gasp as I do the maths in my head, “God, I didn’t know – that’s why he’s been so moody lately, isn’t it?”

Sophie just nods, “After that night, we got even closer as friends and when he told me he wasn’t going home for the Easter vacation and suggested that we go travelling somewhere for a few weeks instead, I didn’t hesitate to agree. We ended up going backpacking in Europe and while we were there, one thing led to another and we slept together.”

I nod again, as she continues.

“We shared something really special on that trip, but when we got back to uni for the summer term, we quickly realised that we were actually better off as friends. I care a lot for Max, as I know he does for me, but in the end, I wasn’t the one he was meant to be with.”

“Really?” I mumble, my heart suddenly speeding up in my chest as she sends me a speculative look.

“He went right back to being his usual self; flirting with loads of girls and just having casual flings, and for a while I wondered if he would ever actually find anyone to settle down with… but then I saw him with you this year and it was pretty obvious that you were different than the other girls for him.”

“Me?” I wonder, still having trouble getting my head around the fact that I might not be just another girl for Max to charm into bed.

Sophie smiles then, “Yes, you. Like I said before, I’ve seen how he looks at you and if that’s anything to go by, then, yeah I’d definitely think he’s more than interested.”

“Wow,” I exhale, leaning back in my chair as I shake my head. “All this time, I’ve been trying to convince myself that he’s just another playboy and that I shouldn’t have anything to do with him, but then he tells me this stuff about his family and he kisses me like there’s no tomorrow and… I’m just really confused.”

“My advice? Talk to him,” she says simply. “Tell him how you feel.”

“Yeah,” I murmur thoughtfully.

I can do that, right? After all, we were getting pretty hot and heavy on that couch a few minutes ago, so surely I can sit down and talk to him like a normal person, can’t I?

“Yeah,” I say again, with a nod this time. “Okay. Talk to him. Right.”

“He’ll be back soon,” adds Sophie encouragingly.

“Yeah,” I agree. “Okay.”

While I finish off my now cold tea, Sophie puts the kettle on for another mug and we make small talk about last night’s fashion show performance and the upcoming one for tonight. The next thirty minutes pass quickly and before I know it, Sophie is wondering where Max is – he apparently should have been home by now. At her musings I turn my hand to look at my watch and start in surprise as I see the time.

“Shit, Sophie, I have to go!”

She looks up at me in surprise, “You what?”

“I have an Ecology lecture in twenty minutes, one that I absolutely cannot miss!” I explain frantically. “If I don’t leave now, I’m going to be late.”

“Oh,” she nods in understanding, “Okay, then.”

I stand up from the chair and grab my jacket and bag from the floor.

“Can you tell Max that I’m sorry I couldn’t stay and that I’ll see him later?”

“Sure,” she agrees, as she follows me out of the kitchen toward the front door. “I’ll tell him. Best of luck, by the way; I’m sure you guys will work everything out, no problem.”

“Thanks,” I smile as I open the door and step through. “And thanks for the tea… and the conversation.”

“My pleasure, Liz,” smiles Sophie. “I’ll see you for the fashion show later, okay?”

“See you later,” I agree. “Bye.”

As I half-walk, half-run up the road toward campus and the lecture hall, I decide that I’m feeling much more positive about the whole situation than I was this morning.

***

I just make it to the Ecology lecture in time, slipping into a seat at the front just as it’s starting, but I find that I can’t concentrate on anything that the lecturer is saying. My thoughts are purely on Max and those kisses we shared this morning. For months and months I’ve been ignoring these feelings I have for him, trying to convince myself that I hate him; but something happens when I’m around Max Evans, his presence elicits all these emotions in me and I can’t ignore them anymore.

The lecture is over before I know it and as I gather my things absently and head out of the room, I bump into Kyle.

“Liz, hey,” he greets with a grin. “Nice to see you made it this morning. Wasn’t sure you’d be up to it after the show last night!”

“No, I wasn’t going to risk getting into trouble for missing this lecture – I still can’t believe the guy actually takes a register – but I am pretty tired this morning.”

“Not surprised, you did a great job last night,” he compliments. “Serena and I were glued to our seats the whole night.”

“Thanks,” I grin. “Now that the opening night is over, I can’t wait for tonight’s show.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great,” he assures me, as we leave the room.

“Hope so.”

We come to a stop outside the building and Kyle looks at his watch.

“Sorry to love you and leave you, Liz, but Serena’s asked me to help her move some furniture around her room before our next lecture this afternoon so I gotta run.”

”Oh, okay,” I say, a little surprised by his hurried words. “That’s fine, you go ahead.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you later, okay?” he smiles. “Good luck for tonight.”

“Bye, Kyle,” I call, shaking my head in amusement as he practically runs in the direction of Serena’s hall. I can’t help but wonder if furniture moving is all they’ll be doing in Serena’s room today.

Since my next lecture isn’t for another two hours, rather than going to the student union for lunch today, I decide to stop off at the small tuck shop in the refectory near the halls and buy a Cornish pasty and some crisps to eat back in my room. I arrive back on my floor to find that no one else is around, so I turn on the TV to pass the time. However, after about ten minutes, I realise that I’m not even concentrating on what’s on the screen in front of me, so I turn it off, put on some music and settle back on my bed.

My eyes drift closed as the memory of this morning’s events replays in my mind and my breath quickens as I relive the feeling of Max’s mouth on mine, his large hands sliding across my heated skin. I’m hit with a sudden wave of guilt about leaving his house just like that this morning, even though I had to go because the lecturer would have killed me if I hadn’t turned up today, but now I feel really stupid for not leaving a note, or my phone number, or any means at all for him to contact me by. I guess I’m just going to have to wait until I see him again to explain… and maybe even take Sophie’s advice and tell him everything else.

***

The rest of the day passes quickly and before I know it, I’m back in the Great Hall again, preparing for our final fashion show performance. I still haven’t seen Max since this morning, and part of me is feeling a little anxious about that, but I force myself to concentrate on getting my hair and make-up redone and sorting out my outfits for the show instead of thinking about him.

However, right in the middle of making sure that I have all my clothes organised in the correct order for the costume changes, a smooth, familiar voice comes from my left, startling me.

“So, you disappeared on me this morning; what’s that all about?”

I jump in surprise, my hand flying to my chest, as I turn to find Max only a couple of feet away from me, leaning casually against the wall. I feel my heart skip a beat as I take in the gorgeous chocolate-y eyes, sparkling with amusement, the slightly dishevelled dark hair that almost hides them, and the well muscled arms folded casually across that perfectly-formed, firm chest.

“Max,” I gasp, my eyes widening as he pushes his body away from the wall and saunters towards me.

“You were gone when I got home,” he smirks, raising an eyebrow. “I think I’m offended.”

“Max, it’s not–” I try to explain quickly about my lecture, but he holds up a hand to cut me off.

“And you didn’t even leave a note, I had to find out from Sophie,” he continues, shaking his head. “Honestly.”

“I’m sorry, I had to go, I had a lect–”

It’s almost a natural defence to try to explain myself, but the look in his eyes is drawing me in and as I see his lips twitch with suppressed laughter, I find myself relaxing.

“Hey!” I exclaim with a frown, although I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips at his teasing. “That’s not funny.”

“Sorry,” he shrugs, although his expression is anything but apologetic. He steps closer, lowering his head slightly. “Can we talk?”

“Talk?” I repeat, suddenly feeling a little nervous as I remember my conversation with Sophie earlier – about talking to Max. “Um, sure. But not right now, okay? I really have to get ready for the show – it starts in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” he nods, although his expression is hard to decipher. “How about later – after the show?”

“Sure,” I agree, suddenly very aware of his close proximity to me. “After the show.”

“Great,” he flashes a smile, leaning in closer, the scent of his masculine aftershave assaulting my nostrils and making me shiver with sudden desire. “I’ll be in the audience. Front row.”

“Right,” I nod. “Okay.”

But he doesn’t move. Instead he just continues to look at me, his eyes drifting from mine, down lower to my lips and then back up again.

“Max,” I try, although my words sound slightly breathless. “You should go now. The show…”

“In a minute,” he murmurs, as he reaches out, curling his long fingers around my elbow as he pulls me in close.

Before I can protest, his mouth is once again wreaking havoc on my own, making my heart race and my knees buckle at the incredible sensations now flowing through my body. I let out a small moan into his mouth and my hands reach for his arms, but suddenly he pulls back, his breathing shallow as he steps away from me.

“Good luck for the show tonight, Liz,” he tells me, his voice just barely above a whisper. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

I can only nod mutely as he turns and disappears, my hand drifting to my tingling lips as I try to catch my breath.

Wow.

Whatever this thing is between Max and I, I definitely don’t want it to stop.

TBC…