.Sorry, I guess I caused some confusion with Liz’s ‘British clothes’ comment. I just meant that clothing styles in London are different from clothing styles in California, so Liz might feel out of place at UCLA. In my experience (and in talking to Americans who have studied abroad in the UK), it seems that British women tend to get much more dressed-up for simple things like going to class or going shopping than US women, who are more casual... so in England, think 4- or 5-inch heels, trendy tops and leggings, dresses, lots of make-up/fake tan/hair extensions… and that’s just in the daytime! If you look at what the celebrities are wearing in the magazines (not the red carpet dresses, but the designer fashions), that’s pretty much what a lot of UK women will be wearing to the mall or even just to the supermarket on a Sunday morning
.Lairabehr4 – Thanks
.keepsmiling7 – Thanks
.Yep, she isLooks like Liz is getting settled in......
.See my note at the topJust curious.....what are "British clothes"..???
.Alien_Friend – Thanks
.Yeah, it looks like things are going well for them at the momentAwesome part! It was very pleasant. I'm glad Liz is settling in well in L.A. I would be nervous too. That's lots of big changes at once. Max is really sweet, being the supportive loving boyfriend he is.
.Yeah, I sort of don’t want to end it, but at the same time, it’s naturally coming to an end.I can't say I won't be sad to see this end though. It's such a joy to read.
Yeah, I didn’t know either, until he told me about it! Anyway, there was a surprise twist from him at the end of last week… he managed to bag himself a stuntman part in the new Pirates of the Caribbean film too! He spent Friday and Saturday dressed up in the soldier costumes they wear in the films and chasing Jack Sparrow’s carriage down a muddy road in the middle of London. He said he was mostly working with the 3 stunt doubles for Jack, but Johnny Depp was in the carriage they were chasing and at one point on Friday my brother was standing about 15 metres away from him!Wow that's so cool!!! That's definitely a lot of fun. I didn't know there was going to be a new X-men movie. I was hoping there would be. I can't wait to see it.
begonia9508 – Thanks
.Not so much the labels, but just the style of clothes that people wear in general – in my experience US styles are more casual and laidback than some of the UK styles.Yeah, I wonder too!!! Do you mean by that f.e. jeans with another label than the ones in the USA? bc it never really entlisted my attention in the USA!
Anyway, loved how well they started their new life together! always exciting such an experience but also complicated... two different caracters and more!
Thanks
. Yeah, it’s not easy moving to a new country and getting used to everything there, but they have each other .sarammlover – Thanks
.I love lasagneLasagna.....mmmm, that sounds so good. Its almost lunchtime and I am starving. I am glad Liz is finally in LA. It seems things are going really well for those two. I am so happy for them!!!
. Yeah, things are going well for them now – they’re finally starting a life together and are able to maintain a more normal relationship now.mary mary – Thanks
.Well, it looks like things are moving right along here...hope they continue that way, but I don't trust you guys any farther than I can throw you so I'm sure that something will happen before too long.
Don’t worry, we're coming towards the end, so there won’t be too much in their way now
.***
Part Thirty-One
It took a good couple of weeks for it to happen, but if she was honest, Liz had been expecting it earlier. She’d known it would only be a matter of time before the secret was out and it looked like her nine a.m. Biology lab in the third week of the semester was going to be the inevitable day. She had put some finishing touches to that day’s topic up on the blackboard while her class worked on the lab task and now she was making the rounds of the room, checking that no one had any problems with the assignment. All was going smoothly until she passed a table occupied by two young freshman girls, Josie and Sam, who more often than not, seemed much more interested in gossiping about boys than actually getting on with their class work.
“I’m telling you, it’s her,” whispered Josie urgently as she pointed to something on her lap. “Look, it’s so obvious.”
“It is not,” whispered Sam back. “No way.”
“It is!” insisted Josie. “She even has the same name.”
“Everything okay here, girls?” inquired Liz just then, keeping her voice neutral and focused although her ears were burning with curiosity over what the two girls had been discussing. “Any trouble with the lab today?”
“Oh no, Liz, not at all,” claimed Josie with put-on wide-eyed innocence. “We’re just fine.”
“So, there’s nothing you need help with, then?”
“No, it’s all good,” added Sam.
“Well, okay, then.”
Liz started to turn away towards the next table, but then she heard another whisper from Josie.
“Go on, ask her.”
“Um, Liz?” came Sam’s timid voice a moment later.
“Yep?” she turned back to face the two girls with a smile pasted onto her face. She had an awful feeling that she knew what Sam was about to say.
“I… well, Josie and I were just wondering…” Sam started hesitantly. “Um, is this you?”
The young girl held up a magazine, open to a page containing a picture of Max… and herself… dining at a restaurant in Santa Monica. The picture must have been taken a couple of days ago when they’d spent the day together at the pier.
“Um,” Liz gave a nervous laugh, wracking her brains for a way to answer that without giving too much away. “W-why would you think that?”
“Well, for a start, that woman looks just like you,” cut in Josie eagerly. “Plus, her name is Liz too. That can’t just be a coincidence. So come on, you gotta spill, Liz; how do you know Max Evans?”
“You know Max Evans?” came a shocked gasp from another girl, Carly, sitting a couple of tables away. “Oh my God, that’s so cool!”
“You’re friends with a movie star?” wondered one of the guys. “But you’re from England; how did that happen?”
Liz groaned internally as suddenly the entire class came to life, having overheard the tail end of the conversation and now wanting to know the gossip.
“Okay, okay, everyone. Just calm down and I’ll explain.” Liz held up her hands and walked back to the front of the room. “Okay, yes, I know Max Evans. He’s my boyfriend. We live together here in L.A.”
“Your boyfriend?” Josie’s jaw dropped in shock. “Oh my God, how did you manage that one?”
Liz couldn’t help but try to hide a smile at the starstruck look on the girl’s face, a look that was also now present on the majority of the faces in the room.
“I don’t think you guys need all the details, okay,” she said firmly. “All I can tell you is that we met when he was filming in England earlier this year and now we live here in L.A.”
“Spoilsport,” muttered Sam, as she and Josie exchanged rolls of their eyes.
“Maybe so,” replied Liz, with a stern gaze. “But that’s all you’re getting out of me. Now get on with your assignments, or you’ll have extra homework to contend with this week.”
Thankfully the class started to settle down a couple of minutes later, and Liz let out a sigh of relief as the fascination over her and Max died down. She might have known the questions about their relationship would come eventually, but that didn’t make it any easier to know how to deal with them when they actually arose. She just hoped she hadn’t just opened a whole can of worms by discussing it with her class.
When she got home from school that night, she mentioned the situation to Max, but he didn’t seem too worried about it. In fact, he was barely fazed by the incident at all, which was something that puzzled Liz slightly.
“Look, Liz, something like this was bound to happen eventually,” he reasoned, as they relaxed outside on the patio after dinner, curled up on one of his large sun loungers, enjoying the evening sunshine. “We both knew that.”
“I know,” she sighed, leaning her head back against his T-shirt-clad chest. “It’s just… I guess I’m just not used to so much attention yet. It would be nice to keep some things private, you know?”
“Yeah, it would be nice,” agreed Max, with a hint of sadness in his tone, one that made Liz’s heart ache slightly. “But that’s not how it works when you’re, well, me. Nothing’s private anymore when you’re in the media, you know that.”
“I know,” she repeated. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”
“Look,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to her ear, his warm breath against her skin sending shivers down her spine. “It kills me that you have to be involved in the craziness that is my life and I wish I could keep you out of it, but if we’re going to be together, it’s something that you’re going to have to learn how to deal with too.”
“Yeah,” sighed Liz in resignation. “I get it. I just don’t want to be seen as just ‘Max Evan’s girlfriend’, you know?”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, brushing his lips across her neck. “I know it’s hard; but we’ll handle it, okay? We can’t let things like this come between us.”
“Okay,” she nodded, although she still felt a little hesitant about the whole thing.
“Look, there are plenty of celebrity couples who manage to stay out of the spotlight,” reasoned Max. “We’ll just have to try extra hard not to end up in the papers, okay?”
“Sure.” Liz couldn’t help but smile. “Although, I have a feeling that you’re going to be considered hot gossip for quite a while longer… so really I don’t have a choice but to suck it up and deal with the attention, now do I?”
Max chuckled at that, “I suppose not.”
“I guess I just have to keep going to class every day and not let it affect me, huh?”
“Looks like,” agreed Max.
“So, anyway, enough about me,” Liz changed the subject then. “How was your day?”
“Not much to report,” he admitted. “A couple of meetings with my agent, a long, boring phone call to my accountant… oh, and my mom called this afternoon.”
“Yeah? How is she?”
“She’s great,” he replied with a smile. “Looking forward to meeting you, by the way.”
“Really?” Liz shot him an apprehensive look. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to ‘meet the parents’ yet.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you’re ready,” he countered. “With everything Mom’s heard about you from your parents and from me, she’s eager to get to know you in person.”
“Right, okay.”
“She’s invited us down to Roswell for Thanksgiving,” he revealed then. “What do you think? You up for it?”
“Well, apart from the all-encompassing terror I’m feeling at the thought of meeting your family, I’d say it sounds like a great idea.”
“Come on,” scoffed Max. “It’s not like they’re going to bite your head off or anything. I’ll have you know that my mom and dad are very nice people. You don’t have anything to be scared of, I promise.”
“Well, okay then,” grinned Liz, rolling her eyes at herself in embarrassment. “Let’s go to Roswell for Thanksgiving.”
***
“Are you okay?” asked Max with an amused smile as he and Liz disembarked from the small private plane that had carried them from the Albuquerque Sunport down to the small airport located just outside Roswell. “You look a little… tense.”
“I’m fine,” murmured Liz so softly he barely heard it, as she clasped his hand in hers suddenly.
He frowned suspiciously, “You sure? You’re not worried about this, are you? Because you know that there’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just Thanksgiving.”
“I know that… logically,” she sighed, “but that still doesn’t stop me from being nervous.”
“They’re gonna love you,” he smiled, releasing his hand from hers so he could slip it around her shoulders and hug her to him, as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.
Max was aware that there were a few photographers lurking around – they weren’t doing as good a job of hiding themselves as they obviously thought – but at this point, he didn’t care. He’d been away on a press tour on the east coast for the last couple of weeks and, as Liz couldn’t take any time off from school, he’d had to leave her behind at home while he was away. It had been a tough two weeks on his part, and apparently so on hers too, from what she’d told him, so now that he was back, he was determined to spend as much time with her as possible.
“I hope so,” murmured Liz, her tone apprehensive as they made their way through the small airport building and out to where a car was meeting them.
Max shot a small, sympathetic smile in her direction; he understood her uneasiness over meeting his parents. He would probably have felt the same way had he not met Liz’s family before he’d met Liz herself. He also knew that while she was happy to be here in the US with him, she was also missing home quite a bit right now.
The first few weeks of the school year had been quite stressful for her as she adjusted to an unfamiliar education system and tried to juggle her classes and teaching responsibilities alongside her relationship with him, and sometimes all her emotions would just build up and spill over, causing her to break down in tears. He had tried to do his best to be there for her and help her through the adjustment and homesickness, but sometimes, like the last couple of weeks, that just hadn’t been possible and although she hadn’t admitted it to him, he knew that she’d had a bit of a tough time while he’d been out of state.
“Come on,” he said to her as they approached the shiny black car that was waiting for them outside the terminal. “Let’s go celebrate your first ever Thanksgiving.”
***
The large car came to a stop in the driveway of a relatively normal-looking home in the suburbs of Roswell and Liz let out a shaky sigh as Max thanked their driver and then opened his door and climbed out, shooting her a quick grin as he did so. He made his way around to her side of the car and opened her door in a very gentlemanly-like fashion.
“Why, thank you, Mr. Evans,” she couldn’t help but tease as he held out his hand to her and helped her out of the plush vehicle. “To what do I owe this sudden display of old-fashioned manners?”
“Well,” he shrugged. “My mom raised me to be a gentleman… and well, I don’t want to get into her bad books on my first visit back home in almost a year and a half.”
“A year and a half? Really?” She was surprised that he could go that long without seeing his family.
“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, as he took their bags from the driver and gave him a generous tip. “I’ve been busy with a lot of new projects lately.”
“Yeah, I suppose you don’t get much time off,” she agreed with a nod.
“Exactly,” he replied. “I’ve been working pretty much non-stop for months; it doesn’t exactly leave a lot of time for family gatherings. That’s why I decided not to take on another project right after Paris – I wanted to be able to spend more time with you on a regular basis.”
“And I really appreciate that, Max,” she told him sincerely. “I’ve loved being able to see you every day… well, except for the last two weeks, of course.”
“I know,” he told her as he began carrying their bags towards the front door of the house. “But I don’t have any other trips planned in the next few weeks and I’m not filming again until the New Year, and even then, the majority of the shooting will be in L.A., so we’ll have plenty of time to be together.”
“Yeah,” she grinned happily at him. “We will.”
They came to a stop outside the Evans’ door and Max reached out to ring the doorbell.
“You ready?”
She nodded, “I think so.”
“Good. Here goes,” he replied as the door opened to reveal an elegant-looking blonde woman in her late-50s, wearing a large, welcoming smile on her face.
“Max, you’re here!” she exclaimed happily, before reaching out to give him a warm hug. “It’s so good to see you.” Turning her head slightly, her gaze fell on Liz, who shifted uncomfortably beside Max, “Oh, and this must be Liz! It’s wonderful to finally meet you, dear. I’m Diane. Your mom has told me so much about you over the years… oh, and Max has spoken of you quite a bit, of course.”
Liz managed a small, self-conscious smile as Diane Evans pulled her into a tight hug, before gesturing for them to step inside the house.
“Come in, come in,” she insisted, “we can’t have you standing out there in the cold all day.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Evans,” murmured Liz softly as Max ushered her inside ahead of himself.
“Oh, please, it’s Diane,” insisted Mrs. Evans, placing a motherly arm around Liz’s shoulders and guiding her towards the living room. “‘Mrs. Evans’ makes me sound old!”
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Liz shot Max a panicked look back over her shoulder, but he simply shrugged and grinned, before nodding towards the stairs and heading up with their bags.
“So, sweetie, how are Nancy and Jeff doing?” continued Diane. “I haven’t spoken to your mom in a few weeks.”
“Oh, they’re great, thanks, Diane,” replied Liz nervously as Max’s mum gestured towards a large comfortable couch in the comfortable living room and she took a seat.
“Nancy and I were so pleased when you two kids got together,” said Diane with a warm, motherly smile. “A match made in heaven.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far,” murmured Liz, “but, yeah, we definitely hit it off.”
“You make a lovely couple,” Diane assured her. “Anyway, can I get you something to drink? Tea, coffee, orange juice?”
“Tea would be great, thanks,” nodded Liz.
“Lovely,” she smiled. “I’ll just go and put a pot on. Make yourself comfortable; I’m sure Max will be back downstairs in a minute and I’m sure my husband, Phillip, is around here somewhere too.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Diane left the room and Liz took the opportunity to take in her surroundings more fully. The Evans’ home was just like any other family home really, nothing out of the ordinary at all. Liz wasn’t sure exactly what she’d been expecting, to be honest, but judging by the size and splendour of Max’s house in L.A., she’d imagined that his parents might live in a similar sort of luxury. Obviously this was not the case though, but Liz actually found she was glad of that. After the months of expensive hotels, restaurants and cars that she’d experienced with Max, it was nice just to be in a normal setting. It reminded her that Max had once been just a normal kid, like everyone else.
She smiled when she made her way over to the mantelpiece and noticed the photographs placed there. One was a picture of Max, Michael and Isabel Ramirez together on a beach of some kind. Liz couldn’t tell where it was taken, but she was guessing it was a few years old. The next photo was family portrait of Max with his parents at his high school graduation. He looked so much younger in it and she had to grin. Obviously he hadn’t started working out or got a stylist until after he’d moved to L.A.; the Max in the photo was tall and lanky, with black-rimmed glasses and an unflattering side-part in his hair.
“Uh, yeah, not one of my best photos,” came his voice behind her suddenly and Liz jumped in surprise, twirling around to see him standing just a couple of feet away.
“Shit, you scared me!” she exclaimed breathlessly, feeling like she’d just been caught doing something she shouldn’t.
“You okay?” he asked in amusement. “Sorry to leave you alone with her just now.”
“Yeah, I bet you are,” Liz narrowed her eyes suspiciously; he didn’t look all that apologetic. “But I’m fine. She seems nice.”
“She’s great,” he smiled softly. “So, what do you think of my humble abode? Fancy taking the grand tour?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Come on, then,” he said, holding out his hand.
Pending cup of tea forgotten, she took it and he led her out of the living room to show her around the rest of the house.
The ‘grand tour’ only took a total of about ten minutes, but Liz learned a lot about Max and his upbringing in that time. The most interesting part was the tour of his old bedroom… the room that they would be occupying for the next few days. It looked like it had barely been touched since he was a teenager and Liz was pleased to find that his interests back then had been surprisingly similar to hers when she was in high school. In fact, they probably could have been good friends if they’d known each other back then.
“Wow, I just had a random thought,” she murmured as they exited his bedroom and started to head back down to the living room. “If my parents had never moved back to England, we probably would have grown up here together.”
Max stopped walking, looking taken aback for a second, but then his expression relaxed and he grinned, “Yeah, we probably would have.”
“Do you think we would have been friends?”
“Yeah, I do,” he smiled, reaching out to run his thumb down over her cheek, before moving closer and murmuring, “In fact, I think we would have eventually been more than just friends.”
“Really?” Liz smiled, feeling her cheeks heat up in response to Max’s proximity to her.
“Yeah,” he whispered, his lips moving closer and closer to hers and eventually capturing them in a slow, gentle kiss. “Come on, let’s go find my parents.”
By the time they made it back downstairs, they could hear Diane and Phillip talking in the kitchen and so they headed that way instead of into the living room. After introductions were made again, the four of them settled into an easy conversation. Liz offered to help Diane with the cooking, while Max and Phillip sat at the kitchen table, discussing Max’s investments and a situation he was working through with his lawyers.
“Okay,” announced Diane about twenty minutes later, “I think we’re almost set for dinner. We just have to wait for our guests to arrive and then we can eat.”
“Guests?” wondered Max, averting his attention from the conversation with his father to focus on Diane. “You didn’t mention any guests.”
“Just some old friends,” she assured him with a smile. “No need to worry.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Diane left the room to answer it. Liz could hear muffled voices coming from the hallway, but she couldn’t make out anything more. A couple of minutes later though, Diane re-entered the kitchen, with three guests in tow. Liz’s eyes widened when she recognised the first one.
“Isabel?” Max spoke first, standing from the table and giving the newcomers a wide smile. “I didn’t know you were coming home for Thanksgiving. It’s lovely to see you again, Mr. And Mrs. Ramirez.”
“Hey, Max,” nodded Isabel with a smile. “Hi, Liz. Yeah, I didn’t know myself until yesterday. I was supposed to be flying up to San Francisco this weekend, but the trip got cancelled at the last minute, so here I am instead.”
“It’s good to see you again, Isabel,” greeted Phillip, standing up to shake her hand. “Glad you could make it, Sophia, Ben.”
“Liz, I’d like you to meet my parents,” announced Isabel then. “My mom, Sophia and my dad, Ben.” She gestured to each of them in turn. “Mom, Dad, this is Liz Parker, Max’s girlfriend.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, Liz,” Sophia Ramirez smiled warmly, reaching out to shake Liz’s hand. “We’ve heard a lot about you from Diane and Phillip.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“So, is this everyone? Can we eat now?” wondered Max then. “’Cause I’m getting’ hungry.”
“Patience, Max,” Diane rolled her eyes at Liz, and Liz giggled in response. “Honestly, you’re just the same as in high school: controlled by your appetite. And no, this isn’t everyone; there are still four more to arrive.”
The doorbell didn’t ring again for several more minutes, by which time the seven of them were seated in the living room with glasses of wine. This time, Phillip got up to answer the door, as Diane was engaged in conversation with Isabel and Sophia about the wardrobe for her latest film and Liz and Max were chatting to Ben about the differences between US and UK food. However, Liz’s attention was immediately diverted towards the hallway when she heard an unmistakably familiar voice coming from the front door. Her eyes widened in shock and her gaze snapped to Max’s who had apparently heard the voice as well.
“It can’t be,” she murmured softly, almost to herself and she stood up as Phillip returned to the living room.
“Lizzie! Oh my God!” came the excited voice of her best friend as she barrelled into the room, followed closely by Michael and two older people, who she could only assume were his parents. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“Maria?!” managed Liz as she found herself swept up into a tight hug. “I can’t believe… what are you doing here?”
“Well,” grinned Maria, when she finally pulled away. “Michael’s parents wanted us to come home for Thanksgiving, but he didn’t think he could take the time off from uni to fly out here. Then, when Diane called him too and told him that you and Max would be visiting for the holiday too, I kind of persuaded him to come. So, anyway, how are you? How’s L.A. life been treating you?”
“It’s good, Maria; it really is,” replied Liz, shooting Max a smile, which he returned briefly before turning to greet Michael. “It’s great being with Max again.”
“Yeah, I bet it is,” muttered Maria, with a smirk.
“And UCLA is good too. Well, it’s hard work, but it’s good. My students all know about Max now though,” she chuckled softly. “For the first couple of weeks after they found out, they could hardly stop asking me about him, but it’s settled down a bit now.”
“Well, I would just like to say that I think California is definitely agreeing with you,” declared Maria. “You look really healthy, all tanned and everything.”
“Thanks, Maria,” grinned Liz. “You don’t look too shabby yourself though. Is that a new haircut?”
“Yeah, you like?”
Liz and Maria continued to catch up until Diane announced that it was time for dinner. Everyone filed into the dining room and took their seats, while Diane and Phillip began bringing in various plates of food. Thanksgiving dinner certainly was a special event, decided Liz, as she tucked into the delicious meal. The atmosphere in the Evans’ house was warm and welcoming and she felt right at home with Max and his family and friends. Despite the absence of her own parents, the whole day was a wonderful experience; one that she definitely wanted to repeat in the future.
TBC…