It is.the talk between Tess and Kyle is hopefully coming soon.
Christina:
Liz definitely thinks that leaving town is the best thing for her. Whether it really is or not remains to be seen.Of course, I don't think running away is ever the answer to any problem, but I know that a lot of people end up doing that only to regret it in the long run.
Plus, Tess has something that Liz doesn't: friends. She's got people there to support her and help her. Liz's only friend is Kyle, but they're not close friends like the Core 4 are.Of course, if she thinks that'll be the best way for her to cope with the situation and heal from it, then good. But it just shows how much stronger Tess is than she is.
Yeah, Kyle was extremely plastered, but having sex with Tess? Oh yeah, Kyle could get it up no problem.Yeah, you're probably right. I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. Especially since Kyle was as drunk as he had been. If guys are THAT drunk then they usually have trouble getting it up, or... well, I'll just stop typing now. But yeah, it's entirely possible they just did some naked heavy making out before passing out.
For anyone else, it might not have . . . risen. But for her, it was not an issue. 
tequathisy:
She thought about doing it sooner, but she didn't. Better late than never maybe.I think Liz leaving is the best possible thing she can do and the only shame is that she didn't do it sooner.
Sara:
Yep, he does know where she lives, but if he realizes how bad he's hurt her, he might just leave her alone. Which would be good for her.she needs a new start, Max-free. Unfortunately he knows where she lives, that can't be good.
Eva:
Yeah, every once in awhile, Liz actually says something good and smart.Tess has to take Liz's advice. It's a very good one.
nibbles:
Well, Maria is a lot more . . . experienced than him. It's probably a little nerve-wracking for him knowing he has to keep up with her. But his main reason for saying no to sex right now is that he doesn't want to rush things. He's worried that rushing will get them in trouble.I think that Michael is having stage fright.
She won't find out, so no drama there.But I don't know how Tess will feel if she finds out that the reason Kyle didn't call was because he was with Liz.
That's what I tend to think. Even though she can't solve all her problems by leaving town, she can't solve any of her problems if she stays. She's just too messed up, and Max just how too strong of a pull on her.Leaving town might be the cowardly way out bit I also think its the most sensible option for Liz. She's a mess right now and the only way she's going to sort herself out is by getting away from Max.
Ginger:
That Maria at the beginning of this story might have done that, but nowadays, she wouldn't even consider it, especially knowing that Michael's been hurt/cheated on before.Just how long is Maria willing to wait? Will she go out and have a one night stand because she has an itch that needs scratching?
Exactly. Obviously what Max did to Maria is pretty much the worst, but Maria doesn't allow that to dictate her entire life. She's moved on from it. But Liz can't move on from Max, so that's saying something about her, not him.She definitely has some serious issues she needs to take care of and I don't think Max is her biggest problem, she's her biggest problem.
I really think that they passed out naked before doing anything and that's why they don't remember.
Nice try! But they totally did it. Nove:
I hope Michael's right that things will work out for the core four. He has a great way of being comforting.
He's like the backbone of their group.Exactly. It's true that Max is his own person, and he's made his own choices; but it's really hard to choose to be a good guy when the person you're closest to tells you that you shouldn't or can't be a good guy. Not that I'm trying to excuse any of his actions. What he's done to the people in this story is still very wrong. It's just sad that he was raised to think hurting people is okay.I agree with you. I think Philip is worse than Max. Max has been so submersed in the poor sense of being a human being is like that it's going to take a lot of work getting out of it.
Zoi:
You're quite an ineresting person then! No wonder you're the life of the party!I guess I'm like Maria sober and Kyle when I'm drunk.
killjoy:
Ohhh man...to be able to sleep with Tess but than not be able to remember it the next day....that's got to be the worst kind of torture ever!!
I knew you'd say that.Tess won't find out that Kyle was at Liz's. Oddly enough, Tess doesn't feel intimidated by Liz, at least not when it comes to Kyle. She knows that, as friends, she and Kyle are closer than he and Liz ever were. And now after the drunk sex, they're most definitely closer.I'm going to say this...I don't think Tess will be all that upset over her and Kyle sleeping with each other...BUT...what she will be upset over is if she finds out the reason Kyle didn't call her was because he was with Liz.......OR...it might be a jealous mad if she thinks Liz is now over Max and trying to move in on Kyle....now that might be fun to see.
Krista:
She's so confusing, isn't she? She's definitely a mixture of a good girl who wants to be bad and a bad girl who wants to be good.And Liz? I don't think she wants to be a bad girl. Which is why she hates that she feels something for Max because he makes her feel like one, but she likes it at the same time.
Have no fear! The avoidance stops in this part.And you know what I hate? I hate when characters avoid each other after drunken sex so much that it becomes annoying and you want to just rip your hair out. Please don't make this one of those things. Pretty please.
Absolutely. Couldn't have said it better myself. Max and Liz are never going to ride off into the sunset on a big white horse. It'd just be ridiculous and unrealistic within the context of this fic.I'm not one of those dreamers wishing for Max and Liz to have their happy ending, but I do think that they are kind of perfect for each other. But I'm inclined to think that their ending would never be truly happy, it would be... content.
I hope your sick bunny feels better!
lilah:
That's right, I'd never let you off that easy! In Kyle's case, the alcohol probably removed his inhibitions and his "stage fright."That's hilarious!!! And probably true in Kyle's case.. I mean think about it...virgin, girl of his dreams (both equal stage fright) and then seeing if he could drink his weight in alcohol, doesn't exactly add up to mean sexual prowess. But April probably won't let us off that easy. They probably did have sex and now we have to have a weird awkward situation.
BLONDIE:
Maybe. Maybe not.I'm really feeling sorry for Liz. Its sad that she's leaving but it won't be the last we see of her...right?
Yeah, the waiting is driving her crazy!Maria's really starting to get antsy about the whole sex thing. She might just jump Michael's bones any second
spacegirl23:
I have this very bad habit of not letting them be a couple until the very end of the story. I think I've done that about three times in recent history. So I figured I'd better try something different with this fic and--gasp!--actually let them be happy.It's so cute how Michael + Maria are as a couple, their shared smiles, inside jokes and all around cuteness. I totally love them. They deserve to be happy, and they deserve to be basking in the glow of newfound coupledom.
Monica:
I love it that you update frequently! You're one of the best updater I know off !
Thanks! I try to update on a regular basis, partly because I hate to keep readers waiting, but partly because I haven't the patience to wait myself! Sometimes there's a really big or surprising part that I just can't wait for you guys to read.Nobody wants to be alone. Not even Max.I am hoping Max has some some of inner talk with himself and realises that money doesn't really buy everything. Who wants to be alone huh?
Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone! I appreciate it as much as ever. The fact that you guys are willing to stick with such a long story means so much.
I'm dropping off more music, and I'm kind of embarrassed about this one. Because it's "Giving It All Away" by Ashlee Simpson. Yes, Ashlee Simpson. I can't stand the girl, and her music isn't my usual kind of music, except I really love this song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fl_relMpog So maybe try it when you see
Ashlee Simpson. I can't believe myself. Okay, whatever. I'll come back with two kick-ass songs on Sunday. Onward!
Part 41
Max walked into his office the next day, or at least what he thought was his office, only to find it wasn’t his office anymore. Tony was sitting behind the desk, smiling and looking perfectly at ease. At first, Max assumed the worst, thinking he’d been fired, but Tony quickly put the fears to rest. The best of the best employees were getting an ‘environmental upgrade.’ His father had awarded several men with bigger, better offices.
Max stood outside his new office looking inside. It was definitely fancy. He had a skylight, a great view overlooking the city, a mahogany desk, his own mini-bar, and a big-screen TV. Apparently his father wanted him to live at work and for work, because it looked more like a home than anything else.
“Oh, you ruined the surprise,” Phillip said, approaching him. “It’s a nice office, isn’t it? Biggest one in the building, besides mine, of course.”
Neither the quality nor the quantity of it could be denied, but Max couldn’t help but wonder why he was getting it. He’d been distracted lately. “I already made my decision. You don’t have to bribe me,” he grumbled, still upset that he’d had to make a decision to begin with.
“It’s not a bribe. Think of it as a reward, a commendation for clear, level-headed judgment in the arduous battle of head vs. heart.” Phillip smirked. “Now if you’d like, I could arrange to have some more ‘rewards’ come by your place tonight, say around 10:00. Maybe a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead.”
Max shook his head, not interested in hooking up with any more random whores. For the time being, at least. “Don’t bother.”
“Don’t bother?” His father sounded surprised. “Please, don’t tell me you fell in love with that annoying girl.”
“I did no such thing,” Max denied adamantly and immediately.
His father looked at him skeptically. “If you say so.” He gave his son a pat on the back and said, “Enjoy your office,” before heading away.
Max sighed and stepped into his ‘environmental upgrade.’ A month ago, this would have thrilled him to no end. But this wasn’t a month ago.
He sat down in his plush desk chair and imagined Liz walking in that door with a seductive smile on her face, maybe bringing him lunch or sex. Or even just a conversation. Something.
He felt horrible for ending things with her, and he hated feeling that way. He wished there were some way to have both of the things he wanted, corporate success and the girl. And he knew there was. That way involved the usual secrecy and lies, but keeping secrets and telling lies were two things he was very good at.
It was a despicable, jackass thought, but it enticed him. He and Liz had already had an affair once. Why couldn’t they just do that again?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Since neither one of them had class on Friday, Maria took Tess shopping. Even though she was more inclined to go to the mall, she settled for Sears since the furniture department was geared towards Tess’s occupational ambition.
“I can’t believe you bought so much stuff,” Maria remarked, staring at Tess’s cart in astonishment. It was packed full of lamps, pillows, pictures, and plants.
“Oh, please, taking an interior designer to a furniture store? That’s like taking a crack-whore to a drug-dealer,” Tess responded, “especially considering the emotional state I’m in.”
It was true. Tess was pretty damn high-strung at the moment. She didn’t look to have slept at all the night before. “Well, do you feel any better?” Maria inquired.
“No.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. Nothing’s gonna make me feel better right now.”
Even though Maria wasn’t sure whether it would be best to talk about Kyle or not talk about him at all, there was just something she had to know. “Was it . . . bad sex?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Tess replied as they neared a bedroom display. She skimmed her hand across the bedspred adn asked, “Can we sit down? My feet are killing me.”
“Sure.” The two girls sat down on the bed, and Maria remarked, “I still can’t believe you had sex with Kyle.”
“I can’t believe Kyle was a virgin.”
Maria laughed. “Okay, how did you not know? That was so obvious.”
Tess shrugged helplessly. “So he really doesn’t remember anything whatsoever?”
“Whatsoever.”
“Wow.” Tess hung her head. “He really doesn’t drink, does he?”
“He didn’t. Michael and I probably shouldn’t have told him anything, huh? We should’ve just left him in the dark.”
“No, I’m glad you guys told him. It saves me from having to break the news,” Tess said, running her fingers through her hair. “I bet he’s mortified.”
“Or thrilled, whichever.” Maria smiled. “No, he’s shocked, just like you.”
“It’s crazy,” Tess said, staring blankly in front of her. “A few months ago, I didn’t even remember Kyle’s name. Now I’m laying out the sexual welcome mat.” She shook her head regretfully. “I’m such a slut.”
“No, you’re not a slut,” Maria assured her, scooting closer. “You are just . . . going through something huge right now.”
“I think it was huge,” Tess mumbled. “You know . . . it.”
Maria made a face. “Oh, ew, too much information. This is Kyle we’re talking about here, the least sexual being on the planet . . . to me, at least.”
“Well, it’s not exactly easy for me to think of Kyle that way, either. Although it is easier now.”
“You never thought about hooking up with him?”
“Well, I was with Max until recently,” Tess replied, not really answering the question. “Let’s remember.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that was really satisfying,” Maria muttered sarcastically. “Look, it took this huge moment for me to realize how I felt about Michael. Maybe this is just what it took for you to realize how you feel about Kyle.”
“But he’s my friend,” Tess protested.
“And Michael was my friend. And he still is.” Maria felt weird. It wasn’t very often that she was the one dishing out relationship advice.
“Yeah. I can’t really think about the future right now, though,” Tess said. “I can’t even remember the past. Oh, well. I’ll roll with the punches. That’s what I’ve always done.”
Maria grinned and gave her friend a little punch in the arm.
“Ow.” Tess laughed.
“Okay, I realize the consummation’s, like, big news right now,” Maria acknowledged, “but can we talk about something else for just a minute?”
Tess looked relieved. “Please.”
“Okay. So Michael and I haven’t had sex yet,” Maria started in.
“Yeah.”
“But I wanna have sex. Like badly.”
“And he doesn’t want to?” Tess guessed.
“No, he wants to. He just, like, stuck on this whole ‘being a gentleman’ thing. He wants us to wait until the time’s right.”
“That’s a good idea, though,” Tess agreed.
“I know, but . . . I wanna rush. Rushing’s in my nature. And the making out is phenomenal in enough itself, but . . .” She sighed longingly. “Oh, I’m so horny for him.”
“Blunt.”
“Honest. And then I found out about you and Kyle. Kyle?” This was just one thing she couldn’t get past. “Kyle’s having sex and I’m not? Do you know what that means? It’s like the world’s rotating backwards or something. It’s like hell froze over. It’s like completely and totally wrong and unfair.”
“So why aren’t you telling Michael this?” Tess asked.
“Because he won’t give in.”
“Sure he will,” Tess assured her, grinning mischievously. “He may be a gentleman, but he’s still a man. If you wanna sleep with Michael, just make it so he can’t resist.”
Hmm, Maria thought, considering her own capabilities. I can do that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michael walked in the door after his class ended that afternoon, pissed that he wasn’t going to get to stay home all afternoon. “Hey, Maria?” he called. “Guess what? I got called into work today. I don’t suppose you did, too?” He really hoped she had. Work was so much more interesting if she was there.
“No, but I am working on something important today,” she called back from the bedroom.
He set his backpack down beside the couch and asked, “What’re you workin’ on?”
She came out of the bedroom with a neon green object in her hands. “Just a little thing I like to call personal satisfaction.”
Michael’s eyes zoomed in on the object. It was a . . . vibrator? “What is that?” he asked, even though he knew.
She grinned. “Exactly what you think it is.”
He tensed, unable to disguise his reaction. “Well, why do you have it?”
“Uh, because I’m a girl.”
“Yeah, but . . . I haven’t ever known you to use it.”
“I haven’t had to use it for awhile,” she said, “but unfortunately, I’m going through a sex drought the size of Texas.” She held up her vibrator and proudly proclaimed, “That’s why I’ve got Billy.”
His eyes bulged. “Billy?” Had he heard her right? “You-you named your vibrator . . . Billy?” Out of all the damn names in the world . . .
“Yep,” she said, running the head of the vibrator suggestively along her pelvis. “I like him; because even though he doesn’t always get the job done, he never passes up the chance to make me scream.”
Like I do, he thought, realizing what she was doing, what she was trying to persuade him to do.
“Now if you’ll excuse us, Billy and I are gonna go do our sweet funky,” she announced, slipping into the bathroom. With Billy. With a pathetic plastic replacement for the real thing.
He stood out in the living room, completely dumbfounded, and listened as the purring sounds of her vibrator began. “Mmm, yeah,” he heard her moan. He couldn’t help but picture the scene in his mind, and even though it was hot . . . it pissed him off. And Billy? Did she really have to name it Billy?
The front door swung open but did little to break him out of his stupor. “Dude,” Kyle said, running towards him. “Dude, look at this.” He held up a crumpled napkin in front of Michael’s face. “She was in my house. I was emptying the trash, and I found this in there. Look, it’s her handwriting. It’s Tess’s handwriting.”
“Oh, yes,” Maria moaned from the bathroom.
“What was that?” Kyle asked.
“Mmm . . .”
“Was that--”
“Oh, fuck yeah!” Maria suddenly screamed. “Billy . . .”
Kyle staggered backwards, flailing his arms to keep his balance, and spat, “What the . . . hell?”
“She’s using her vibrator,” Michael told him solemnly.
“And she named it Billy?”
He bit back his anger. “Yeah.”
Kyle shook his head in astonishment. “Oh, that’s just cruel.”
“Oh, god, yes!” Maria cried out. Michael had a hard time believing her vibrator was really doing that much good.
“Okay,” Kyle said awkwardly. “I’m just gonna go now. But I’ll leave this here as photographic evidence.” He pressed the napkin into Michael’s hand and started for the door. “Tell Maria—oh, and Billy—I said hi.” He laughed at Michael’s expense.
“Get outta here,” Michael told him.
Kyle kept laughing and slipped out the door.
Michael shook his head as Maria’s pleasure sounds continued. He knew what her plan was. She wanted him to get all worked up imagining what she would sound like in bed with him . . . and dammit, her plan was working like a charm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Since Michael was working and Billy the vibrator had been completely unsatisfying, Maria decided to do something worthwhile and pay Liz a visit that evening. She felt weird about it, but it was something that needed to be done. Liz had looked really upset in statistics yesterday. She probably needed someone to talk to, and as much as Maria didn’t want to be that person, she didn’t have anything better to do.
The door to Liz’s dorm room was open. Maria peered inside and found it to be suspiciously empty; and lo and behold there was Liz, cleaning out her closet, stuffing all her clothing into a large black suitcase.
Maria crossed her arms over her chest and remarked, “Well, it’s too late for Christmas and too early for spring break. You must be leaving indefinitely.”
Liz barely even looked up from her task. “Or definitely, probably,” she mumbled quietly. “Did Kyle tell you?”
Kyle knew? Since when was that loser such a social butterfly? “No,” Maria answered. “He’s too busy obsessing over the drunk sex he had with Tess to think about much else.”
Liz grunted. “God, things can change.”
“Tell me about it.” She was still grappling with the fact that, a little over a week ago, she’d been more interested in hooking up with Tate and Luc and Brad and all those other losers than being with Michael. Crazy. “You know, I’d say I’m gonna miss you,” she said, “but . . . I’m only gonna miss the person you used to be. I was friends with that girl.”
“Yeah, well, that girl wasn’t me,” Liz said. “This girl, the one who’s not above being the other woman, the one who stays with the jerk even though she knows he can’t change . . . this is who I am. You don’t have to like me.”
Maria swallowed hard. “Good, ‘cause I don’t.” She wasn’t going to sugarcoat it. “Max Evans did things to me without my consent, and anyone who gives him a second chance after knowing that isn’t worth my respect. But . . .” She paused dramatically, thinking of the right way to say it. “I don’t hate you. I hate what you did, but it’s not like I haven’t done similar things in the past. But at the end of the day, if it comes down to me being friends with you or being friends with Tess, Tess is gonna win even on her worst day.”
Liz nodded understandingly. “I know. I’m glad you guys are friends again. And I’m glad you and Michael are being more than friends.”
Maria blushed.
“Yeah, I heard about that; and I’m happy for you. You deserve good things, Maria.” She sighed wistfully. “He’s like your Prince Charming, huh?”
Maria thought about it and agreed, “Yeah, he is.”
Liz smiled. “Do you think there’s someone like that out there for me?”
She sounded so desperate, so pleading. Maria couldn’t help but feel bad for her. “I hope so,” she said.
“Yeah,” Liz whispered. “Me, too.” She turned away and started pulling clothes out of her closet again. “Goodbye, Maria.”
So she was really leaving. Maria hoped it worked out for her, but she had her doubts. “Bye,” she returned, leaving the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tess mustered up all the courage and positive thinking she could. She took several deep, hopefully calming breaths and stood before the closed door to Kyle’s apartment. You can do this, she told herself. You can do this. She grimaced and knocked on the door. She listened as Kyle came to answer the door. “Dude,” she heard him say, “are she and Billy still goin’ at it?” He opened the door and fell silent when he came face to face with her.
“Huh?” she asked. Billy? Who and Billy?
“Oh, I . . . never mind,” Kyle stammered.
“Can I come in?” she asked, unable to look him in the eye but unable to look at any other part of him, either. She ended up looking at her own two feet. “Kyle?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry.” He held open the door and stepped far back to give her space as she came in. She glanced down the hallway into the bedroom and tried to appear unaffected. But she was affected. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
“Cold?” he asked, shutting the door.
Was he offering to heat her up? “I’m fine,” she lied.
“Okay.” He shifted from side to side nervously and said, “Hey.”
“Hey.” She frowned. Usually a greeting like that came at the beginning of a normal conversation, but . . . well, she doubted anything about this conversation would be normal.
“Nice weather today, huh?” he asked.
“Uh, I guess.” She shook her head, unable to talk about the weather or any other trivial thing that wasn’t the thing. “Okay, Kyle, let’s just not do this whole awkward dance around the real reason why I’m here thing,” she said. “We both know small-talk isn’t gonna cut it, ‘cause we . . .” She drew it out, wishing this wasn’t so strange. “. . . had sex last night.”
He nodded slowly. “So I’m told.”
“Once. Or twice, maybe.”
His face lit up. “Ooh, you think?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. And I know you don’t, either.”
“I was so drunk.”
“So was I.”
He took a few steps towards her, then immediately took a few steps back. “Look, I just want you to know, it wasn’t like what Max did to Maria. I really had no clue . . . and I would never do anything like that to you. To anyone.”
“Oh, god, Kyle, I know.” She was touched that he felt the need to reassure her of that, though. “That wasn’t even a question in my mind.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, so . . . we were just both under a really, really heavy influence. That’s the only reason why it happened. I mean, it never would’ve happened otherwise.” She waited for him to agree with that, but he didn’t, so she prompted, “Right?”
“Right.”
“Right.” She stuffed her hands in her pockets and mumbled, “And I’m so sorry; I know it was your first time and--”
“Oh, that’s embarrassing.”
“No, I think it’s cute,” she said, although she imagined ‘cute’ wasn’t really a word any guy liked to hear. “I mean, it’s good that you waited. I’m just sorry I couldn’t make it more special for you.”
“No, it was special,” he assured her readily. “It was with you, so it was special.”
That took her aback. “Wow.” She wasn’t really sure what he meant by that, but it was sweet, something Max would have never said.
“I’m just sorry I couldn’t make it more fun for you,” he apologized in return.
“Now who said it wasn’t fun? Granted, my memory’s kinda foggy, but I remember . . . having fun.” She liked the euphemism, so she used it again. “In fact, I remember one specific moment where I had lots of fun.”
“Oh.” Kyle’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “You-you mean you . . .?”
She smiled. “Yeah.” That had to make him feel good about himself.
“Ooh, that’s . . . wow. Did I?”
“I think so.”
“Oh, that’s good—wait.” Suddenly he looked horrified. “Was I wearing a condom?”
She shrugged cluelessly. “I don’t know.”
“And did I . . .” He thrust his hips forward slightly in demonstration. “. . . inside?”
Again, she didn’t know. “Probably,” she figured. “Look, there’s nothing we can do about it now, so . . . let’s just not worry about it.” She was on the pill. She felt protected for the most part.
“Okay, yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “Well . . .”
She hated this. She hated that they didn’t know what to say to each other. “It just happened,” she summed it up.
“It just happened,” he echoed, sounding a little sad. “But where does that leave us now?”
He kept asking her for all the answers, but she didn’t have hardly any. “I was kinda hoping you could tell me,” she admitted.
“I can’t,” he said. “I mean, I want whatever you want, so . . .”
“Whatever I want?”
“Uh, well, you know . . .”
She didn’t know. She didn’t know what she wanted, and she didn’t know what he was hinting at. “Um . . . well, see the thing is, I just broke up with Max not long ago,” she reminded him. “I mean, he cheated on me; you know that. And everything’s a mess right now, and I’m a mess, too. And I just don’t think it would be very wise for me to jump head-first into something with someone else. And I don’t wanna risk what we already have, because I think we have something pretty great as it stands.”
He hung his head and nodded slowly. “As it stands.”
“Right.” She could tell he was disappointed, and that unhappy feeling in the pit of her stomach felt a lot like disappointment, too. “So . . . we’re good?”
“Absolutely.” He said that with conviction, but she wasn’t convinced.
“Okay,” she said. “I mean, did you want us to . . .?”
“I just don’t ever wanna lose you,” he blurted.
Her heart swelled with adoration. He was so sweet, so adorable, and he cared about her so much and never expected anything in return. “Oh, well, Kyle, that’ll . . . that’ll never happen,” she promised. She opened up her arms for a hug and walked towards him. “Come here.”
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her at a distance, but she pulled him closer to let him know that they were still close. This didn’t have to change anything if they didn’t want it to. If they didn’t want it to.
She held onto him, and warmth flooded her. She felt safe standing there with him, like nothing could hurt her. She’d been hurt way too much. Kyle would never hurt her. He was good. He was a good person, and he was warm . . .
She began to pull away slowly as the confusion crept in, but neither one of them let go of each other. She tried to smile at him, but she couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. She couldn’t even remember what it felt like to kiss him.
Maybe it was time for a refresher.
They kissed each other slowly, neither one quite sure if it was a good idea or not. And Tess couldn’t find it in herself to care. She felt a naturalness in that kiss that she couldn’t remember feeling. Ever. With anyone. It was a kiss of equal give-and-take. Kyle was neither too forceful nor too reluctant, and neither was she. It was oddly and awkwardly perfect.
The kiss ended slowly. She felt her lips holding onto his for dear life, but they had to let go. They stood in silence, mere inches away from each other. She slowly lifted her eyes to gaze into his. She saw that he was confused, too, but happy, and knowing that she was the reason for that happiness filled her with pride. They stared at each other questioningly, and the answer was to keep kissing.
Their mouths crashed together with a desire that was as unexpected as it was sudden. Kyle wrapped his arms around her and pressed his hands flat against her back, bringing her body in close to his. She likewise let her hands do the talking, smoothing her hands up his chest to claw at his shoulders uncontrollably before tangling in his hair. They stumbled down the hallway towards his bedroom, much as they must have done in their drunken state. She stepped on his feet. He ran into the wall. The bedroom got closer.
She tore her mouth away from his for only a moment to concentrate on ridding him of his clothes. She furiously unbuttoned every tedious button on his shirt and shoved it down his shoulders and onto the floor. She cascaded her hands down his bare chest to tug on the belt loops of his jeans, pulling his lower body close to hers, grinding him against her. Before she knew it, her arms were in the air, and he was pulling her shirt upward. She shook her hair free and looped her arms around his neck. He hoisted her up into his arms, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his midsection. She took a moment to smile softly and let him know that she was happy, too, as he carried her backwards towards his bed. She tucked her hair behind her ear and sought out his lips again as they sank onto the mattress together.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max stepped off the elevator on the fifth floor of Liz’s dormitory and made his way down the hallway, ignoring the looks from naïve freshman girls who smiled at him, blushed, and whispered giggles to their friends. He knew something wasn’t right when he saw the door to Liz’s room hanging open, but he ignored it and walked closer, not sure how he was going to ask her to give him another chance, another affair. It wasn’t honorable. It didn’t have to be.
He walked into the room, but it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. It was empty. All of Liz’s things were gone, and so was she. The quilt from her great grandmother that lay at the bottom of her bed, the bridal Barbie she kept hidden on her top shelf and thought no one knew about . . . all gone. All that was left was a note on the bed.
Max picked up the note and read what it had to say. Tess, you deserve better. Simple enough. Liz knew Tess deserved better, and apparently she now knew she deserved the same thing.
Max crumpled up the note in his hand, silently cursing at himself for being such an idiot. Liz Parker was the one person in the world he gave a damn about . . . besides himself. And now she was gone. She was gone because of him.
He stood in the empty room, soaking in the role reversal of being the one abandoned, the one left behind. He knew she wasn’t coming back. He’d wasted all his chances, and he had no one to blame but himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So, question of the day,” Maria said to Michael, leading him towards the bedroom by the hand. “Who looks better in your boxers, me or you?” Her boyfriend’s boxers were so warm and comfortable, her new favorite clothing item.
“Definitely you,” he replied, slipping his arms around her waist to hold her against him. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, eliciting a smile.
“Mmm, correct,” she commended. “Although you look pretty good in ‘em, too.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.” She slipped into bed and crawled beneath the covers.
“Tired?” he asked.
“Yeah, Billy wore me out today.”
“Funny.” He got into bed beside her and held out his arm so she could snuggle close.
“Mmm,” she murmured, resting her head atop his chest. She thought she could hear his heart beating, but when she listened closer, she realized it was something else. “Wait a minute,” she said, lifting her head up. “Do you hear that?”
“What?”
“Shh.” It was coming from Kyle’s apartment. It sounded like something was thumping against the wall. Like a . . . a headboard. A headboard of a bed. “Oh my god.” She propped herself up on her elbows. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” he asked again.
“Shh.” She climbed out of bed and scurried over to the wall. She pressed her ear against it and listened intently. Mixed in with the thumping headboard were moaning and groaning sounds that were gradually getting louder. “Oh my god, those are sex sounds!” she shrieked. “Kyle and Tess are boinking again! Ew!” She shuddered exaggeratedly and shook her arms and legs to rid herself of the yuckiness. “Oh, that’s so gross!”
Michael grinned and got out of bed. “Are they really?”
“Ew, yes.” She gladly hopped back into bed, wishing she hadn’t overheard that.
Michael pressed his ear against the wall, too, looking surprised. “Huh, go for it, Kyle,” he said.
“I need to wash my ears.”
“Are we gonna have to listen to that all night?”
Maria grunted. “No way does he have that much stamina.” Former virgin Kyle doing the nasty with his one and only dream girl? She was surprised he could last thirty seconds.
Michael got back into bed and said, “I don’t think I can sleep with their sex sounds as a background track.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, cuddling up against him again. She drummed her fingers on his chest and pondered, “You know, if we were having sex, we could drown out their sounds with our sounds. Or we could make it a duel, you know. Who can have the loudest, craziest sex? We’d win for sure. I’m a screamer.”
He chuckled.
“Come on,” she urged, draping one leg over his. “Doesn’t hearing other people have sex make you wanna have sex?”
“Not when those people are Kyle and Tess.”
“Hmm, that’s true,” she agreed. “I have a hard time picturing Kyle fucking anything other than his own hand.” She cringed as mental images flooded her head. “And now I’m picturing that. Ew!”
“You still wanna have sex?” he asked.
“Yes, do you?”
“Yes,” he replied.
Her eyes lit up and she swore her ovaries tingled in anticipation. Was this it? Was it finally happening?
“But . . .”
She sighed in disappointment.
“Not yet,” he finished. “Billy’s just gonna have to keep you occupied for a little while longer. I can’t believe I just said that.”
She couldn’t, either. A vibrator named Billy? How had that not done the trick? “You so frustrate me,” she told him, settling down into his arms again. She rested her head atop his chest again, and this time, she did hear his heart beating. Fast. He was nervous. “It’s gonna be so worth it when it does happen, though,” she assured him. Of that she had no doubt.
“Yeah,” he agreed, stroking her hair.
Maria closed her eyes and breathed evenly as sleep drew nearer, but a euphoric female shout on the other side of the wall disrupted the calm. “And that would be the O,” Maria remarked, hoping her future held some shouting of its own.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tess rolled over onto her back, breathing heavily. “Oh my god, Kyle,” she gasped, staring at the ceiling in amazement. “That was incredible.”
“Yeah?” he panted raggedly. “I thought so, too.”
“Much better than I remember it,” she joked, laughing a little.
“Much better,” he agreed. “So, where does this leave us now? We can’t blame this one on alcohol.”
“No, we can’t.” She looked over at him and smiled reassuringly. “Kyle, all I know is, wherever we are in our relationship right now . . . there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t sad or mad or worried about anything at all.
He smiled back at her, and she giggled, meeting him in the middle of the bed for an eager kiss.
TBC . . .
-April
There's no point in denying it.
Amy the butcher, hahaha
I'm evil, you know.
Every once in awhile, I hear a song like this and get this idea for, like, a montage of scenes.