****
Lifting herself out of the pool, Mac heard a phone ring. Following the sound, she located Max’s cell on a table. She glanced over at Max in the poolside shower.
“Max!” she called, “Phone!.”
“Answer it !” he called back.
Mac picked up the cell and after registering who it was, a devilish smile spread across her face.
“Hi Tess,” she sang, her voice sugary sweet.
“Who am I speaking to?” came the polite question.
“Mac,” she replied.
“Oh.”
Glad to hear from you too.
“Can I talk to Max”. It was more of a demand than a question and Mac was just in the right mood to have some fun.
“Sorry, he’s in the shower right now, can I take a message?” she answered sweetly.
The pause was enough to send her into silent snickers.
This hadn’t been part of the plan, but neither was Tess’ obvious I’ll-get-whatever-I-want-even-if-I-have-to-mindwarp-people plan. Tess and Max, for now, were still a go, but who said that personal fun couldn’t be had on the side?
****
“What’s going on?” asked Michael.
Covering her hand over the phone, Tess answered displeased. “Apparently, Max is in the shower.”
“Why would he be-“
“Let’s not go there Iz,” interrupted Michael.
Tess wholly agreed with him until that is, he turned around and politely asked for the phone by grabbing it from her hand.
She clenched her jaw as her annoyance and curiosity rose.
Was Mac lying or was Max really in the shower?
Why is he in the shower? She wondered.
****
The dull sounds of some sort of movement that she had heard previously were replaced by a rude, “Who’s this”.
“Who’s this?” she countered.
“None of your business, put Max on the phone.”
“You must be Micheal,” she greeted him with a smile. She liked his bluntness.
“ And you must be Mac, now that we have the introductions over and done with, put Max on the phone,” he demanded.
She grinned wryly as Max made his way over to her.
“Don’t I get a please?” she asked sweetly.
“No.”
Grinning, she handed Max the phone. “It’s for you,” she whispered joking.
Taking it, he grinned wryly, “thanks”.
Mac dried off while eavesdropping on the one-sided conversation, the gist of which was that Max was half an hour late for something and was typically, really apologetic about it. Mac doubted that Michael would graciously accept the apology and so, deciding that Max was too much of a nice guy to suffer unwarranted abuse from Michael, she took it upon herself to help her friend.
She grabbed the phone from him. “Michael.”
“Mac?”
“Relax, we’ll be there in 13 minutes, tops. Later.” After ending the call, she handed the phone back to a stunned Max.
She shrugged, “You were wasting time apologizing. Grab the keys to the viper,” she ordered, “I’ll meet you in the car.”
As they hurried out of the swimming pool area, Max pointed out an obvious problem. “My clothes are all wet and I’m just wearing my boxers.”
She rolled her eyes, like there was anything he needed to be ashamed of.
“I’ll get you and me something dry,” she responded, “now go!.”
Without waiting for anymore discussion, Mac raced off to find something dry for him.
This is a highly comical situation, she mused.
****
This cannot be happening, thought Max.
How had a few hours at Mac’s turned into a few hours at Mac’s plus being late for the meeting with the others?
He was never late and this was an important meeting. He turned at the sound of the door opening, and watched strangely amused at the sight of Mac racing across the room with a bunch of clothes, barely dressed, to reach him.
“Here,” she said thrusting the clothing in him arms. “They’re Dominic’s, Carmen’s nephew. They should fit you. Change in the car. Keys,” she demanded and Max gladly obliged.
Mac slipped into the driver’s seat next to him and hurriedly pulled on a skirt. Noticing his quizzical look, she replied, “I’ll put on a shirt later, but right now,” she revved up the engine, “we have to get you to the church on time.”
****
Max had only managed to put on the dry trousers when they came to a screeching halt in front of the jeep and jeta where Isabel, Michael, Liz, Tess, Kyle, Maria and Alex were gathered. Closing his mouth and taking deep breaths, he slowly turned to Mac. “Never drive that fast in town again.”
“Max, relax, I used the shortcuts, plus I can handle my car and reflexes? Don’t even go there. I have the reflexes of a cat,” she said confidently.
I don’t doubt that, thought Max. He had never seen or been in a car with anyone who could drive that fast and still keep the car perfectly controlled.
She glanced at her watch and flashed him a smile, “And what do you know, a minute to spare.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly.
“Not a problem,” she smiled.
They sat smiling at each other, till Mac focused her gaze on something else. “Umm…”. He followed her gaze to the unimpressed faces of Michael, Tess and Isabel. “…I think that your friends are waiting,” she finished.
They were back in the real world. His world of responsibilities and pain. “Right,” he nodded slipping on his shirt.
This should be fun.
He turned to Mac. “Wanna say hi?” he asked.
“Why not?” she shrugged.
****
All jaws dropped as eyes darted between the two partially dressed unkempt individuals.
The evidence was analysed: Max’s wet hair, the unbuttoned shirt he was quickly buttoning up, clothes that he hadn’t been wearing the last time he had been seen. Mac, his accomplice, wet hair in tow, was dressed in a knee length skirt, hastily buttoning up her shirt.
The evidence was analysed and conclusions were made.
****
Max glanced at the faces, mystified as to the reason for the shocked expressions. Realisation dawned on him as he hastily buttoned up his shirt.
“Um,” glancing at Mac, he realized that she was also trying to look more presentable. The comical nature of the situation did not go unnoticed, Max met Mac’s gaze and they both burst out laughing. “Sorry, I’m late,” he blushed with embarrassment as he and Mac came together in front of the car.
“Guys, this is Mac,” he said, “Mac,” he introduced them in turn, “ Isabel, Michael, Tess, Maria, Kyle, Alex and um, Liz…”.
The girl who broke my heart, he said silently.
“… whom you’ve already met,” he finished aloud.
The group greeted her with a cautious and curious series of nods and hellos.
I can really feel the love, she mused. She knew what they were thinking, it was written all over their faces, each had a theory to account for her and Max’s appearance. The whole situation was hilarious because while in different circumstances, Max would be a possibility for romance, in these circumstances, it was far from the truth.
“ Hey,” she nodded back.
An awkward silence passed and Mac took it as her cue to exit. She stood up from the car bonnet on which she had been resting. “I got places to be and so do you,” she told Max, “so..” a mischievous grin passed across her face.
She did it before she could think.
Smacking Max on the backside, she responded to his surprised reaction by saying, “ I needed a little get back for your towel whipping around the pool, granted it’s not with a towel but it’s the same effect.”
She shook her head as his cheeks turned the shade of pink she was now growing accustomed to. She playfully bumped against him, “So, later?”.
“Definitely,” he replied.
Mac nodded briefly with satisfaction, it had only been a few days but Max was starting to understand and be comfortable with the way she talked. “See you later,” was too long a word, she liked to cut to the chase.
As she opened the door to the driver’s side, she couldn’t help but give Tess one more thing to obsess thinking about.
“Oh and Max?”.
He turned.
“You can just pick up your clothes whenever and we can pick up where we left off,” she winked.
She saw Tess narrow her eyes and congratulated herself. She flashed Max a farewell smile before getting into the car and starting the engine.
While the day had been fun, spending time with Max had revealed a lot. She had been ordered, programmed, to protect him but now, Mac knew that she wanted to protect him with her life and that Tess, was maybe not a solution but a very big problem.
“And there’s no future Max to fun my ideas by,” she muttered to herself, “ fabulous.”
****
The bright red car turned into a blur of colour which eventually disappeared down the street. Its disappearance signaled Liz to tune back into conversation.
“Tension in the ranks,” whispered Kyle.
Liz drew her attention to the three aliens crowded around the jeep, who were far from happy with Max.
“I said I was sorry,” he said and then added a comment which surprised her, “ what do you want from me, blood?”.
It was like looking at a somehow improved Max, he seemed somehow relaxed, in control and wasn’t sparing any words when it came to the others like he usually did. Liz had seen him passionately argue something before but this was different and she was impressed.
“Max, that’s not the point,” argued Michael, “ your lack of responsibility is.”
Wow, now that’s a reversal of roles, she mused, Michael lecturing Max on responsibility.
“You didn’t call to say that you’d be late,” added Isabel, “ we weren’t exactly sure where you were and after Nasedo, you can see why we were worried.”
“I understand that, and thank you, but you guys have to chill,” he said.
Liz raised a surprised eyebrow. When did Max say things like “chill”? I guess he’s changing…time with Mac must be good for him.
“Chill,” repeated Isabel incredulously.
Instead of a retort, Max walked over to the drivers side of the jeep, “Are we going to stand here or do we have places to be?”.
All eyes were on the rest of the aliens as they struggled to adjust to this new version of Max.
“Let’s go,” said Isabel finally, “but I’m driving.”
“I guess aliens in the jeep and humans in the jetta,” said Kyle, “ and don’t worry Liz, I’m sure there must be an explanation other than the-“
“Obvious?” she supplied.
“Yeah.”
She smiled sadly. Kyle had tried to talk to her throughout the week about Max, but she had avoided him or when he had managed to get to the subject, told him point blank that Max was not up for discussion. Kyle was the only one who had the power to destroy the obviously successful plan she had devised, and so far, he was doing the job well. She just had to make sure that, he truly believed that she didn’t want Max.
“Max and I aren’t together anymore Kyle, so I don’t care,” she said.
“Right,” he responded in a tone Liz couldn’t quite decipher.
As long as he doesn’t say anything to anyone, then I’m fine, we’re safe.
****
The Promise (CC,M/L,Mature), part 10, 17 jun [WIP]
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willowbv
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Thursday (part 3 )
“Max, what is wrong with you?!” asked Isabel.
Here we go, he groaned silently.
“Wrong?” he sighed, “Nothing’s wrong Iz. If anything, I feel…normal”.
“That’s what I’m talking about!…”
Her outburst caught him off guard. He glanced at her mystified, a quick glance in his direction told him all he needed to know, that she did not approve of his new life.
“What is up with that?!”.
Max took a moment to let her take a breath and calm down. He also took a moment to make sense of the absurd situation he was in. They were all mad at him because he was late and that somehow had turned into a big issue?!
“I know I was late,” he began slowly, “but I apologised, I trulyam sorry.”
“That’s not the point Max,” floated Tess’ input from the back of the jeep.
“Well someone please tell me what is!” he said in exasperation.
“Mac, she’s the point,” said Michael.
Mac is none of your business, he thought instinctively. Mac had been the one thing in his horror of a week that made sense and kept him sane, she was something he wanted to keep to himself…away from the world of alien chaos.
“What about her?” he asked guardedly.
“Don’t tell me you’ve slept with her,” said Isabel.
The idea was incredibly ridiculous, in another situation he would have laughed and just corrected her assumption but this wasn’t that time. This time, they were invading what sense of normalcy he had acquired and he wasn’t in the mood to just placate them with an answer.
“That,” he began in a controlled manner,” is none of your business.”
He felt Tess’ warm hands settle gently on his shoulders and fought the puzzling urge to shrug her off. “It is our business to look out for you,” she said, “especially so soon after Liz”.
At the sound of her name, he automatically tensed and focused only on the empty desert road ahead of them.
“Liz has nothing to do with this,” he said in a low voice.
Liz wasn’t a part of his life in the way he wanted her to anymore, she wasn’t going to interfere with the stability he had created for himself.
Michael raised his eyebrow in disbelief. Liz had everything to do with it. Everything both of them had done all week had been influenced by each other and they wouldn’t even admit it.
“No offense Maxwell,” he said, “ but a Liz break up kinda clouds your judgement.”
To his surprise, Max didn’t even turn around to face him. Instead he replied in a determined collected tone. “A personal life is personal for a reason.”
Michael sat back in stunned silence. Max was being…less Max, he was forthright and wasn’t attempting to please them. He had no idea to respond to that, he wasn’t looking at the same Max Evans he had seen a week ago, this Max said what he thought and was obviously doing what he wanted to do. It was unnerving.
He shared a look of helplessness with Isabel through the car mirror.
She nodded and took over.
“We get that Max, but how much do you know about Mac?” she asked.
“I know enough,” he replied. “Mac is a good friend, who I enjoy spending time with. In fact, I’ve made other friends who I also like, is that going to be a problem?”.
“As long as they’re not aliens out to exterminate us, no,” he quipped. “You’re our leader Max-“
“And I know that Michael,” he said. This time, he did turn around to face him and spoke to him with earnestness and conviction. “ I’m trying to figure out how to be that…I do know that having a life is a factor…”
Michael gulped. He had been unprepared for that answer. Usually Max got all defensive and then he would get defensive and they would get into a heated argument and nothing would be resolved, but now in public with other people in the car, Max was open.
“…I can’t be a good leader if I’m closed off and…I don’t know, Mac and the rest of the guys make me feel normal”
Normal. That was what they had always wanted.
And now that’s what he seems to be getting.
“…and…chill,” his voice adopted a faraway, excited tone and Michael was caught between being happy and envious of him, “ I can hangout with them and not worry about my responsibilities and I need that, I need that break.”
Silence filled with jeep. Michael battled with conflicted thoughts. The real source of his unease was because he was scared of losing Max. In the space of a few days he seemed to have gained a new life, with new friends with whom he felt he could be more open with than him or Isabel…but he was happy and that was all that mattered.
“So, what do you do with them anyway?” he asked.
Max smiled and accepted the unspoken approval. “Just stuff.”
“Like…” he queried.
Max broke into a grin. “I’ll bring you along sometime.”
****
“What do you think they’re talking about?” asked Alex.
In the corner of his eye, Kyle saw Liz tense. He watched her as she momentarily sat stock still, staring straight ahead of her.
Great conversation starter Alex, he thought wryly.
“Max, Max and Mac, same thing we’re thinking about” replied Maria.
He hid back a smile. Leave it to Maria to say what we’re all thinking.
Mac and Max were going to be a much talked about couple both within their group and throughout the school. Mac was absolutely stunning, every guy Kyle had talked to the past few days, wanted her.
And she chose Max, the guy on the rebound.
Nothing of course was confirmed but from the way the situation they had previously witnessed looked, Max and Mac were obviously very close.
He glanced at the closed off soul beside him and sighed.
And I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, he thought silently.
On the one, very important, hand, Liz had wanted to break up with Max, she was the one who had come up with a plan and everything. She wanted him out of her life and they had succeeded. Max also seemed to be getting on with his life, in a few days, Mac had awakened in him the confidence and presence, which Kyle had only glimpsed a few times but which now promised to be more prominent.
“Did you hear the way he talked to them?,” he asked, “That wasn’t like Max, but am I the only one who was surprised but in a good way?”.
“Nope,” replied Alex.
“I guess that’s what spending time with Mac had done for him,” said Liz.
The uneasy silence that followed reminded Kyle, of the negative consequences of the break up and Max and Mac situation. Liz was heartbroken, it was as if the break up was not her suggestion, as if she was the victim. Both Max and Liz when they were in the same space, exhibited the same symptoms of heartbreak and pain. That was the main reason Kyle was tempted to just tell Max the truth. He hoped that maybe, that would lessen the pain between both of them somehow.
As if reading his thought, Liz met his eyes. “It’s okay guys,” she said finally, “ I’m fine with it, really,” she insisted.
Kyle nodded imperceptibly.
The whole situation puzzled him, he was sure that there was something Liz hadn’t told him about the whole thing and that was why he remained silent and just watched emotional strain on both sides. She had to have a reason for what she did. He knew how much Max meant to her, so he was sure that whatever the reason, it was very important and he had to respect her wishes no matter how he felt about it.
“If you say so,” he said unconvinced.
She responded with quivering lips and hesitation. “I do.”
That told Kyle all he needed to know.
“Max, what is wrong with you?!” asked Isabel.
Here we go, he groaned silently.
“Wrong?” he sighed, “Nothing’s wrong Iz. If anything, I feel…normal”.
“That’s what I’m talking about!…”
Her outburst caught him off guard. He glanced at her mystified, a quick glance in his direction told him all he needed to know, that she did not approve of his new life.
“What is up with that?!”.
Max took a moment to let her take a breath and calm down. He also took a moment to make sense of the absurd situation he was in. They were all mad at him because he was late and that somehow had turned into a big issue?!
“I know I was late,” he began slowly, “but I apologised, I trulyam sorry.”
“That’s not the point Max,” floated Tess’ input from the back of the jeep.
“Well someone please tell me what is!” he said in exasperation.
“Mac, she’s the point,” said Michael.
Mac is none of your business, he thought instinctively. Mac had been the one thing in his horror of a week that made sense and kept him sane, she was something he wanted to keep to himself…away from the world of alien chaos.
“What about her?” he asked guardedly.
“Don’t tell me you’ve slept with her,” said Isabel.
The idea was incredibly ridiculous, in another situation he would have laughed and just corrected her assumption but this wasn’t that time. This time, they were invading what sense of normalcy he had acquired and he wasn’t in the mood to just placate them with an answer.
“That,” he began in a controlled manner,” is none of your business.”
He felt Tess’ warm hands settle gently on his shoulders and fought the puzzling urge to shrug her off. “It is our business to look out for you,” she said, “especially so soon after Liz”.
At the sound of her name, he automatically tensed and focused only on the empty desert road ahead of them.
“Liz has nothing to do with this,” he said in a low voice.
Liz wasn’t a part of his life in the way he wanted her to anymore, she wasn’t going to interfere with the stability he had created for himself.
Michael raised his eyebrow in disbelief. Liz had everything to do with it. Everything both of them had done all week had been influenced by each other and they wouldn’t even admit it.
“No offense Maxwell,” he said, “ but a Liz break up kinda clouds your judgement.”
To his surprise, Max didn’t even turn around to face him. Instead he replied in a determined collected tone. “A personal life is personal for a reason.”
Michael sat back in stunned silence. Max was being…less Max, he was forthright and wasn’t attempting to please them. He had no idea to respond to that, he wasn’t looking at the same Max Evans he had seen a week ago, this Max said what he thought and was obviously doing what he wanted to do. It was unnerving.
He shared a look of helplessness with Isabel through the car mirror.
She nodded and took over.
“We get that Max, but how much do you know about Mac?” she asked.
“I know enough,” he replied. “Mac is a good friend, who I enjoy spending time with. In fact, I’ve made other friends who I also like, is that going to be a problem?”.
“As long as they’re not aliens out to exterminate us, no,” he quipped. “You’re our leader Max-“
“And I know that Michael,” he said. This time, he did turn around to face him and spoke to him with earnestness and conviction. “ I’m trying to figure out how to be that…I do know that having a life is a factor…”
Michael gulped. He had been unprepared for that answer. Usually Max got all defensive and then he would get defensive and they would get into a heated argument and nothing would be resolved, but now in public with other people in the car, Max was open.
“…I can’t be a good leader if I’m closed off and…I don’t know, Mac and the rest of the guys make me feel normal”
Normal. That was what they had always wanted.
And now that’s what he seems to be getting.
“…and…chill,” his voice adopted a faraway, excited tone and Michael was caught between being happy and envious of him, “ I can hangout with them and not worry about my responsibilities and I need that, I need that break.”
Silence filled with jeep. Michael battled with conflicted thoughts. The real source of his unease was because he was scared of losing Max. In the space of a few days he seemed to have gained a new life, with new friends with whom he felt he could be more open with than him or Isabel…but he was happy and that was all that mattered.
“So, what do you do with them anyway?” he asked.
Max smiled and accepted the unspoken approval. “Just stuff.”
“Like…” he queried.
Max broke into a grin. “I’ll bring you along sometime.”
****
“What do you think they’re talking about?” asked Alex.
In the corner of his eye, Kyle saw Liz tense. He watched her as she momentarily sat stock still, staring straight ahead of her.
Great conversation starter Alex, he thought wryly.
“Max, Max and Mac, same thing we’re thinking about” replied Maria.
He hid back a smile. Leave it to Maria to say what we’re all thinking.
Mac and Max were going to be a much talked about couple both within their group and throughout the school. Mac was absolutely stunning, every guy Kyle had talked to the past few days, wanted her.
And she chose Max, the guy on the rebound.
Nothing of course was confirmed but from the way the situation they had previously witnessed looked, Max and Mac were obviously very close.
He glanced at the closed off soul beside him and sighed.
And I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, he thought silently.
On the one, very important, hand, Liz had wanted to break up with Max, she was the one who had come up with a plan and everything. She wanted him out of her life and they had succeeded. Max also seemed to be getting on with his life, in a few days, Mac had awakened in him the confidence and presence, which Kyle had only glimpsed a few times but which now promised to be more prominent.
“Did you hear the way he talked to them?,” he asked, “That wasn’t like Max, but am I the only one who was surprised but in a good way?”.
“Nope,” replied Alex.
“I guess that’s what spending time with Mac had done for him,” said Liz.
The uneasy silence that followed reminded Kyle, of the negative consequences of the break up and Max and Mac situation. Liz was heartbroken, it was as if the break up was not her suggestion, as if she was the victim. Both Max and Liz when they were in the same space, exhibited the same symptoms of heartbreak and pain. That was the main reason Kyle was tempted to just tell Max the truth. He hoped that maybe, that would lessen the pain between both of them somehow.
As if reading his thought, Liz met his eyes. “It’s okay guys,” she said finally, “ I’m fine with it, really,” she insisted.
Kyle nodded imperceptibly.
The whole situation puzzled him, he was sure that there was something Liz hadn’t told him about the whole thing and that was why he remained silent and just watched emotional strain on both sides. She had to have a reason for what she did. He knew how much Max meant to her, so he was sure that whatever the reason, it was very important and he had to respect her wishes no matter how he felt about it.
“If you say so,” he said unconvinced.
She responded with quivering lips and hesitation. “I do.”
That told Kyle all he needed to know.
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willowbv
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Thursday (part 4)
****
The two cars pulled up to the now familiar location in the New Mexico desert. The group, aliens first, then humans, all led by Max, walked up the hillside towards the entrance of the place of their birth. The Pod Chamber.
Max placed his palm against the silver handprint, which appeared on the cave wall. The cave door opened and they all stepped in.
“I’m all for the cloak and dagger routine guys,” began Alex nervously, “but can someone please tell us what we’re doing here?”.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” added Kyle.
Without turning, Max led the way and answered with a cryptic reply. “You have to see it to fully grasp what we’ll tell you”.
Alex decided to just accept his answer. This Max wasn’t the same as before, his reaction was unpredictable and Alex certainly didn’t want to rock, the already too rocked, boat.
The group followed as he led them to a wall by the side of the hatched pods. Alex watched as once again Max waved his hand over a portion of the rock and once again, the silver handprint appeared. He placed his palm to match it and the rock opened
That will never get old, he thought impressed.
Before entering, he turned to address them. “You can go through there”, he signalled to the pods, “ but a few days ago, we found the door.”
“Good,” said Kyle, “ because I don’t relish the idea of crawling in your although dried, alien-hatched pods.”
Tess shook her head in amusement and playfully shoved him in, “Get in there.”
Alex watched their casual banter with a smile. It was strange how things were turning out. In the group dynamics, he was in the background. The one who was always there for everyone and everyone’s best friend. While that role came with the burden of being “just friends” with Isabel, it also came with the reward of noticing things which were oblivious to the rest of his friends. For example, He still had faith that Max and Liz would get back together. He seemed to be the only one who did, but he also believed that there was something there between Tess and Kyle.
But they’re all not with who they’re supposed to be, he thought sadly.
****
Max waited for all of them to enter the room, he noticed that Liz was the last and that she looked very uneasy.
That makes two of us, he thought grimly.
They all stood around it, essentially creating a circle around it. To his surprise, Max found himself standing opposite Liz. Their eyes met and both could read the surprise and panic in each other’s eyes. Each knew that they could have moved, but decided that it would have seemed rude. And in a way incomprehensible to both, they knew that by moving, they would hurt each other.
Max dragged his gaze from Liz to the reason for their meeting.
“Here it is,” he said.
All eyes were fixed on the object that was in the middle of them. A large, black, glittering, cone. It’s very size made them awestruck, but what momentarily silenced them was the powerful energy is seemed to exude. It couldn’t be seen but it was very much felt.
“What is it exactly?” asked Kyle finally.
The reply came out it came out as a whisper but in the quietness was magnified and pierced straight to Max’s heart.
“The Granolith,” breathed Liz.
The moment she heard herself say the words, Liz felt his eyes burn into her.
“How did you-“
“Listen to me all of you…” she began urgently.
She cut him off for two reasons, because what she had to say was important and secondly, it was because she knew his question and didn’t want the bitter memories of that night to burst through her protective shield of thoughts.
“ The Granolith. It’s very powerful,” her gaze rested on each of her friends in turn and despite her reluctance, came to rest on Max. “you cannot let it get into the wrong hands.”
Mistrust, fuelled, she knew by the pain she had caused, was the prominent thing she registered in his eyes.
You have to believe me, she pleaded silently.
She had not come this far, sacrificed her life’s happiness to save the world for them not to trust her and possibly hand over the Granolith to their enemies.
“Why should we believe you?” asked Tess in an accusatory tone.
Liz clenched her jaw to suppress the irritation which had arisen within her.
“Yeah.” Isabel joined the Tess bandwagon of suspicion, “ we haven’t even told anyone…”
Maria felt like it was time to step in and help her friend from the oncoming claws. She moved to open her mouth but Michael’s expression silenced her.
“How do you know that the Granolith’s powerful?” he asked. His tone was devoid of the accusatory tone Isabel and Tess’ remarks had, instead he was calm and just seemed to take it in his stride.
Well, this is knew, she thought taken aback.
She watched as Liz took a deep breath. “I just do okay?” she answered.
“Not good enough,” retorted Isabel.
Maria had had enough. She knew that Isabel was just being vicious to avenge her brother but things were going too far!
“Hey-“ she began.
“What else do you know?” asked Max.
Maria was silenced by his tone. It wasn’t hateful, or accusatory. It was neutral, devoid of emotion.
The atmosphere suddenly changed as she watched their eyes lock.
That’s it, time for us to disappear and leave the floor to them.
“Nothing, just that. I can’t tell you who told me…” replied Liz. She was trying to keep her frustration about the situation and about the past week controlled but it was a lost cause.
She was desperately searching him. He tried to look away but he couldn’t, her desperation drew in, he was trying so hard to push the pain away so that he could just believe her but it was a hard thing to do.
“…This isn’t about you and me, Max,” she continued passionately, “ it’s about all of us.”
She’s right, it is about all of us, he grudgingly agreed. Despite what had happened between them, other lives were at stake. He was the King. He had responsibilities and one of them was to take care of the lives of the people who had entrusted their lives into his hands.
“So I know what I’m asking you to do is hard, but trust me…please?”
Max opened his mouth to reply but Michael cut him off.
“I’m all for that,” he said.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
His response was simple and to the point. “Liz is smart, she wouldn’t screw with us.”
Max hide back a smile.
Trust Michael to tell it like it is, he thought fondly.
His focus returned to Liz. Feeling happy and sad at the exact same time, he replied gently. “He’s right,” a small nostalgic smile broke through, “you wouldn’t.”
She gave a small nod of thanks and smiled back.
Max didn’t know how much time had passed between her smile and Kyle’s interruption but from his tone, he guessed that it was quite a while. The most peculiar thing was that he didn’t remember anything else apart from feeling content just being there with her, without speech or touch, inspite of everything.
“Okkkkaaay” interrupted Kyle, “…now that that’s sorted out, do we know what it does?”.
Max turned to Liz. “Liz?”.
“I have no idea,” she replied.
Max knew that that was a half-truth.
****
The cave door opened and out stepped Michael and Maria, Liz and Kyle, Alex and Isabel and Max and Tess.
At the opening of the cave, Max felt the familiar energy flow through him. He gripped the wall as the flash overwhelmed him.
It was of Tess walking towards him on their wedding day.
She was beautiful.
She loved him.
He loved her.
They were going to spend their lives together.
Til the end of our days.
The sentence reverberated in his mind as he felt her gentle touch bring him back to the present.
“Are you okay?” she asked her voice filled with concern.
Max nodded.
“You had a flash didn’t you?” she asked earnestly.
Like I didn’t know, she thought in satisfaction.
Max nodded and then looked at her with such strong emotion that it left her breathless.
This, this is what it’s supposed to be like. You’re supposed to be looking at me like that, not her.
“Of what?” she managed to ask.
“Guys, hurry up. I need food!” shouted Michael.
Tess clenched and unclenched her fist at the interruption.
Has he never heard of timing, she thought irritated. I’m trying to get the love of my life back here!.
“Later,” Max replied. He focused on Michael who was standing by the car. “Coming!”.
They walked down to the others
No problem, she thought to calm herself, I have plenty of time.
To her surprise, Max held her hand and squeezed it gently.
She beamed with joy.
This feels so right, she thought happily.
“That is so wrong”, said Maria as she watched the pair come towards them.
“Tell me about it,” said Michael.
“That’s a surprise,” she said. “I thought you’d be cheering them on.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said.
Well, that’s cryptic, she thought and was about to ask him more questions when Tess and Max finally reached them.
I’ll ask him later, she decided.
Kyle looked enviously at the couple. “Looks like they’re getting along fine.”
Liz glanced at him and followed his gaze to Tess and Max standing near the jeep, hand in hand. It made her feel sick. She was about to roll her eyes and order herself to think of something else when she finally managed to decode Kyle’s expression.
“Oh,” she breathed as realisation dawned on her, “ you like her. A lot.”
He didn’t deny it, he just glanced at her in defeated acceptance.” Looks like you and I are in the same boat Liz. We both want people who were aren’t supposed to be with.”
“Sucks, doesn’t it.” She said dryly.
“In a big way,” he agreed.
She smiled.
At least I’m not that alone anymore. Someone knows a bit of what I’m going through.
Kyle nudged her playfully towards the jeta doors as Maria and Alex drew nearer. “Come let’s go.”
He opened the door for her and she got in.
“Hey, bye the way, do you think you can give me a freebie at the Crashdown?”
“Not today,” she replied.
“What?!” he said in mock offence, “even after we just bonded?”.
“Especially because we just bonded,” she replied with a smile
****
****
The two cars pulled up to the now familiar location in the New Mexico desert. The group, aliens first, then humans, all led by Max, walked up the hillside towards the entrance of the place of their birth. The Pod Chamber.
Max placed his palm against the silver handprint, which appeared on the cave wall. The cave door opened and they all stepped in.
“I’m all for the cloak and dagger routine guys,” began Alex nervously, “but can someone please tell us what we’re doing here?”.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” added Kyle.
Without turning, Max led the way and answered with a cryptic reply. “You have to see it to fully grasp what we’ll tell you”.
Alex decided to just accept his answer. This Max wasn’t the same as before, his reaction was unpredictable and Alex certainly didn’t want to rock, the already too rocked, boat.
The group followed as he led them to a wall by the side of the hatched pods. Alex watched as once again Max waved his hand over a portion of the rock and once again, the silver handprint appeared. He placed his palm to match it and the rock opened
That will never get old, he thought impressed.
Before entering, he turned to address them. “You can go through there”, he signalled to the pods, “ but a few days ago, we found the door.”
“Good,” said Kyle, “ because I don’t relish the idea of crawling in your although dried, alien-hatched pods.”
Tess shook her head in amusement and playfully shoved him in, “Get in there.”
Alex watched their casual banter with a smile. It was strange how things were turning out. In the group dynamics, he was in the background. The one who was always there for everyone and everyone’s best friend. While that role came with the burden of being “just friends” with Isabel, it also came with the reward of noticing things which were oblivious to the rest of his friends. For example, He still had faith that Max and Liz would get back together. He seemed to be the only one who did, but he also believed that there was something there between Tess and Kyle.
But they’re all not with who they’re supposed to be, he thought sadly.
****
Max waited for all of them to enter the room, he noticed that Liz was the last and that she looked very uneasy.
That makes two of us, he thought grimly.
They all stood around it, essentially creating a circle around it. To his surprise, Max found himself standing opposite Liz. Their eyes met and both could read the surprise and panic in each other’s eyes. Each knew that they could have moved, but decided that it would have seemed rude. And in a way incomprehensible to both, they knew that by moving, they would hurt each other.
Max dragged his gaze from Liz to the reason for their meeting.
“Here it is,” he said.
All eyes were fixed on the object that was in the middle of them. A large, black, glittering, cone. It’s very size made them awestruck, but what momentarily silenced them was the powerful energy is seemed to exude. It couldn’t be seen but it was very much felt.
“What is it exactly?” asked Kyle finally.
The reply came out it came out as a whisper but in the quietness was magnified and pierced straight to Max’s heart.
“The Granolith,” breathed Liz.
The moment she heard herself say the words, Liz felt his eyes burn into her.
“How did you-“
“Listen to me all of you…” she began urgently.
She cut him off for two reasons, because what she had to say was important and secondly, it was because she knew his question and didn’t want the bitter memories of that night to burst through her protective shield of thoughts.
“ The Granolith. It’s very powerful,” her gaze rested on each of her friends in turn and despite her reluctance, came to rest on Max. “you cannot let it get into the wrong hands.”
Mistrust, fuelled, she knew by the pain she had caused, was the prominent thing she registered in his eyes.
You have to believe me, she pleaded silently.
She had not come this far, sacrificed her life’s happiness to save the world for them not to trust her and possibly hand over the Granolith to their enemies.
“Why should we believe you?” asked Tess in an accusatory tone.
Liz clenched her jaw to suppress the irritation which had arisen within her.
“Yeah.” Isabel joined the Tess bandwagon of suspicion, “ we haven’t even told anyone…”
Maria felt like it was time to step in and help her friend from the oncoming claws. She moved to open her mouth but Michael’s expression silenced her.
“How do you know that the Granolith’s powerful?” he asked. His tone was devoid of the accusatory tone Isabel and Tess’ remarks had, instead he was calm and just seemed to take it in his stride.
Well, this is knew, she thought taken aback.
She watched as Liz took a deep breath. “I just do okay?” she answered.
“Not good enough,” retorted Isabel.
Maria had had enough. She knew that Isabel was just being vicious to avenge her brother but things were going too far!
“Hey-“ she began.
“What else do you know?” asked Max.
Maria was silenced by his tone. It wasn’t hateful, or accusatory. It was neutral, devoid of emotion.
The atmosphere suddenly changed as she watched their eyes lock.
That’s it, time for us to disappear and leave the floor to them.
“Nothing, just that. I can’t tell you who told me…” replied Liz. She was trying to keep her frustration about the situation and about the past week controlled but it was a lost cause.
She was desperately searching him. He tried to look away but he couldn’t, her desperation drew in, he was trying so hard to push the pain away so that he could just believe her but it was a hard thing to do.
“…This isn’t about you and me, Max,” she continued passionately, “ it’s about all of us.”
She’s right, it is about all of us, he grudgingly agreed. Despite what had happened between them, other lives were at stake. He was the King. He had responsibilities and one of them was to take care of the lives of the people who had entrusted their lives into his hands.
“So I know what I’m asking you to do is hard, but trust me…please?”
Max opened his mouth to reply but Michael cut him off.
“I’m all for that,” he said.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
His response was simple and to the point. “Liz is smart, she wouldn’t screw with us.”
Max hide back a smile.
Trust Michael to tell it like it is, he thought fondly.
His focus returned to Liz. Feeling happy and sad at the exact same time, he replied gently. “He’s right,” a small nostalgic smile broke through, “you wouldn’t.”
She gave a small nod of thanks and smiled back.
Max didn’t know how much time had passed between her smile and Kyle’s interruption but from his tone, he guessed that it was quite a while. The most peculiar thing was that he didn’t remember anything else apart from feeling content just being there with her, without speech or touch, inspite of everything.
“Okkkkaaay” interrupted Kyle, “…now that that’s sorted out, do we know what it does?”.
Max turned to Liz. “Liz?”.
“I have no idea,” she replied.
Max knew that that was a half-truth.
****
The cave door opened and out stepped Michael and Maria, Liz and Kyle, Alex and Isabel and Max and Tess.
At the opening of the cave, Max felt the familiar energy flow through him. He gripped the wall as the flash overwhelmed him.
It was of Tess walking towards him on their wedding day.
She was beautiful.
She loved him.
He loved her.
They were going to spend their lives together.
Til the end of our days.
The sentence reverberated in his mind as he felt her gentle touch bring him back to the present.
“Are you okay?” she asked her voice filled with concern.
Max nodded.
“You had a flash didn’t you?” she asked earnestly.
Like I didn’t know, she thought in satisfaction.
Max nodded and then looked at her with such strong emotion that it left her breathless.
This, this is what it’s supposed to be like. You’re supposed to be looking at me like that, not her.
“Of what?” she managed to ask.
“Guys, hurry up. I need food!” shouted Michael.
Tess clenched and unclenched her fist at the interruption.
Has he never heard of timing, she thought irritated. I’m trying to get the love of my life back here!.
“Later,” Max replied. He focused on Michael who was standing by the car. “Coming!”.
They walked down to the others
No problem, she thought to calm herself, I have plenty of time.
To her surprise, Max held her hand and squeezed it gently.
She beamed with joy.
This feels so right, she thought happily.
“That is so wrong”, said Maria as she watched the pair come towards them.
“Tell me about it,” said Michael.
“That’s a surprise,” she said. “I thought you’d be cheering them on.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said.
Well, that’s cryptic, she thought and was about to ask him more questions when Tess and Max finally reached them.
I’ll ask him later, she decided.
Kyle looked enviously at the couple. “Looks like they’re getting along fine.”
Liz glanced at him and followed his gaze to Tess and Max standing near the jeep, hand in hand. It made her feel sick. She was about to roll her eyes and order herself to think of something else when she finally managed to decode Kyle’s expression.
“Oh,” she breathed as realisation dawned on her, “ you like her. A lot.”
He didn’t deny it, he just glanced at her in defeated acceptance.” Looks like you and I are in the same boat Liz. We both want people who were aren’t supposed to be with.”
“Sucks, doesn’t it.” She said dryly.
“In a big way,” he agreed.
She smiled.
At least I’m not that alone anymore. Someone knows a bit of what I’m going through.
Kyle nudged her playfully towards the jeta doors as Maria and Alex drew nearer. “Come let’s go.”
He opened the door for her and she got in.
“Hey, bye the way, do you think you can give me a freebie at the Crashdown?”
“Not today,” she replied.
“What?!” he said in mock offence, “even after we just bonded?”.
“Especially because we just bonded,” she replied with a smile
****
-
willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
- Location: in a vegas chapel
- Contact:
AN : Hey guys, we're still on Thursday, it's a little short but there's more to come...
Thursday ( part 5)
The moment they entered the restaurant, Kyle spotted the dark haired knock-out who had caused minor tension between the alien quartet, seated in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. He controlled the urge to go and join her. He had feelings for Tess, that was a give, but that didn’t mean that he was going to put his life on hold when she was getting on with hers just fine. No doing that would lead him to end up like Liz, she was in a place he never wanted to be.
His focus returned to Mac. The girl was beautiful, and if nothing was going on between them as he had heard Isabel tell Alex, then he would be stupid not to try his luck. He slid into the booth the group had picked out but positioned himself so that he could still see her.
“Kyle”. Liz kicked his foot, the pain was dulled by the vision he was starting at but it was successful in drawing his focus to Liz.
“Huh?” he asked distracted.
Liz fixed him with a disapproving look. “What about Tess?” she asked in disbelief.
He shrugged as he fought the urge to gaze at her once again. “I have to move on.” His reply was more than an answer, it was the reality he needed to hear to get him out of the booth. He flashed Liz a smile before walking towards her.
He took a nervous breath at each step.
Here goes nothing.
****
Mac noticed him coming and from the nervousness he tried to hide in his expression, she knew exactly what he wanted and grinned into her straw.
Here we go.
He came to a stop in front of her, she refused to acknowledge his presence and just started at the menu in front of her. She knew about Kyle from what Max- what Future Max had told her: a jock…but a good guy. Still he wasn’t her type and she was definitely not in the mood to be subtle.
“Hi-“ he began.
She didn’t bother to look up. “I’m not interested,” she interrupted and took another sip of her milkshake.
“I was just-“
She shook her head. “Nope.”
She felt for him, she really did but he had to be shot down and fast, she never was one for prolonging the inevitable. It was like a band-aid, you had to rip it off in a flash, no slow pain allowed.
“Would you-“
Sighing, she finally met his eyes. “Not gonna happen.”
“Could you let me finish?!” he said in exasperation.
She shrugged and turned her attention back to the menu. “I’m just saving time.”
“For your information, I wasn’t going to ask you out,” he said.
She suppressed the urge to laugh. “Oh really?”
“Really,” he replied with confidence and earnesty.
Looking up from the menu, she adopted an accommodating tone. “Then please, do go on.”
She waited expectantly as he no doubt thought up some plausible excuse that would redeem his embarrassment.
“I was wondering if…you were…using that ketchup.” The last few words came out in a rush.
Mac handed him the ketchup and flashed him a smile. “Go crazy.”
He flashed her a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with over-exaggerated enthusiasm.
****
Kyle took the walk of shame and defeat back to his friends. He had crashed and burned in a big way. She had shot him down just like that, she was definitely a no-beating-around-the-bush kind of girl and surprisingly that made her even more attractive.
“Any luck?” asked Liz.
He despondently shook his head.
Liz patted his hand consolingly. “Well, keep trying.”
“Yeah, if you really like her don’t give up after a first try,” said Isabel.
Kyle paused before responding to their remarks.
“Yeah, um, the whole encouraging thing? Let’s not do that. I’d rather wallow alone”
“Whatever floats for your boat,” shrugged Michael, “Oh great, the foods here, finally.”
****
“If we don’t go in, ideas are going to fly,” she said.
“Ideas already are,” he said sharply.
She recoiled slightly taken aback by his tone. What was wrong with him? Things were going to plan, she didn’t need extra problems.
“Sorry,” he apologised, “you’re just trying to help.”
“Which is why you should go in there,” she encouraged him, “you can’t let her have that power over you.”
That responsibility belongs to me.
She watched as various emotions crossed over his face. He was someone in turmoil, she could understand that, but she was going to help him through it and the next step was for him to go into that stupid restaurant and get over all the feelings of Lizness he was sure to feel.
“Let’s go,” he said finally.
You don’t have to tell me twice, she thought joyously.
He got out of the car and held his hand out to her. She gladly took it.
This is more like it, she glowed.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“Petrified…” he answered honestly.
To her surprise, his answer hurt her. She knew that he had strong feelings for Liz, but somehow to hear him say something that like with such emotion and honesty, it really hurt.
“…soo many things between us happened here.”
It hurt.
But it was something that she could get over.
She squeezed his hand gently. “That’s why you need to face them”.
And get over them.
Max took a deep breath, pushed the door open and walked in. His eyes swept through the café and memories along with it. Memories of watching and wanting Liz, memories of the day that changed his life forever and of everything after that. He found it hard to breathe until his focus returned. He registered the members of his group and then Mac who sat in the far corner, drinking milkshake alone.
The whole situation was out of character, Mac didn’t sit alone at the Crashdown looking slightly depressed, that was his role in their friendship.
He turned to Tess. “Listen, Mac’s over there and she doesn’t look too good. I’m gonna go see her. I’ll come over later okay?”.
“Sure,” she nodded.
He smiled gratefully, walked past the booth and acknowledged everyone’s presence but his eyes glazed over Liz. He was aware of their eyes focused on him, they knew where he was going and he knew what they were all thinking but he really didn’t care.
His life, his friends, his rules.
****
Thursday ( part 5)
The moment they entered the restaurant, Kyle spotted the dark haired knock-out who had caused minor tension between the alien quartet, seated in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. He controlled the urge to go and join her. He had feelings for Tess, that was a give, but that didn’t mean that he was going to put his life on hold when she was getting on with hers just fine. No doing that would lead him to end up like Liz, she was in a place he never wanted to be.
His focus returned to Mac. The girl was beautiful, and if nothing was going on between them as he had heard Isabel tell Alex, then he would be stupid not to try his luck. He slid into the booth the group had picked out but positioned himself so that he could still see her.
“Kyle”. Liz kicked his foot, the pain was dulled by the vision he was starting at but it was successful in drawing his focus to Liz.
“Huh?” he asked distracted.
Liz fixed him with a disapproving look. “What about Tess?” she asked in disbelief.
He shrugged as he fought the urge to gaze at her once again. “I have to move on.” His reply was more than an answer, it was the reality he needed to hear to get him out of the booth. He flashed Liz a smile before walking towards her.
He took a nervous breath at each step.
Here goes nothing.
****
Mac noticed him coming and from the nervousness he tried to hide in his expression, she knew exactly what he wanted and grinned into her straw.
Here we go.
He came to a stop in front of her, she refused to acknowledge his presence and just started at the menu in front of her. She knew about Kyle from what Max- what Future Max had told her: a jock…but a good guy. Still he wasn’t her type and she was definitely not in the mood to be subtle.
“Hi-“ he began.
She didn’t bother to look up. “I’m not interested,” she interrupted and took another sip of her milkshake.
“I was just-“
She shook her head. “Nope.”
She felt for him, she really did but he had to be shot down and fast, she never was one for prolonging the inevitable. It was like a band-aid, you had to rip it off in a flash, no slow pain allowed.
“Would you-“
Sighing, she finally met his eyes. “Not gonna happen.”
“Could you let me finish?!” he said in exasperation.
She shrugged and turned her attention back to the menu. “I’m just saving time.”
“For your information, I wasn’t going to ask you out,” he said.
She suppressed the urge to laugh. “Oh really?”
“Really,” he replied with confidence and earnesty.
Looking up from the menu, she adopted an accommodating tone. “Then please, do go on.”
She waited expectantly as he no doubt thought up some plausible excuse that would redeem his embarrassment.
“I was wondering if…you were…using that ketchup.” The last few words came out in a rush.
Mac handed him the ketchup and flashed him a smile. “Go crazy.”
He flashed her a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with over-exaggerated enthusiasm.
****
Kyle took the walk of shame and defeat back to his friends. He had crashed and burned in a big way. She had shot him down just like that, she was definitely a no-beating-around-the-bush kind of girl and surprisingly that made her even more attractive.
“Any luck?” asked Liz.
He despondently shook his head.
Liz patted his hand consolingly. “Well, keep trying.”
“Yeah, if you really like her don’t give up after a first try,” said Isabel.
Kyle paused before responding to their remarks.
“Yeah, um, the whole encouraging thing? Let’s not do that. I’d rather wallow alone”
“Whatever floats for your boat,” shrugged Michael, “Oh great, the foods here, finally.”
****
“If we don’t go in, ideas are going to fly,” she said.
“Ideas already are,” he said sharply.
She recoiled slightly taken aback by his tone. What was wrong with him? Things were going to plan, she didn’t need extra problems.
“Sorry,” he apologised, “you’re just trying to help.”
“Which is why you should go in there,” she encouraged him, “you can’t let her have that power over you.”
That responsibility belongs to me.
She watched as various emotions crossed over his face. He was someone in turmoil, she could understand that, but she was going to help him through it and the next step was for him to go into that stupid restaurant and get over all the feelings of Lizness he was sure to feel.
“Let’s go,” he said finally.
You don’t have to tell me twice, she thought joyously.
He got out of the car and held his hand out to her. She gladly took it.
This is more like it, she glowed.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“Petrified…” he answered honestly.
To her surprise, his answer hurt her. She knew that he had strong feelings for Liz, but somehow to hear him say something that like with such emotion and honesty, it really hurt.
“…soo many things between us happened here.”
It hurt.
But it was something that she could get over.
She squeezed his hand gently. “That’s why you need to face them”.
And get over them.
Max took a deep breath, pushed the door open and walked in. His eyes swept through the café and memories along with it. Memories of watching and wanting Liz, memories of the day that changed his life forever and of everything after that. He found it hard to breathe until his focus returned. He registered the members of his group and then Mac who sat in the far corner, drinking milkshake alone.
The whole situation was out of character, Mac didn’t sit alone at the Crashdown looking slightly depressed, that was his role in their friendship.
He turned to Tess. “Listen, Mac’s over there and she doesn’t look too good. I’m gonna go see her. I’ll come over later okay?”.
“Sure,” she nodded.
He smiled gratefully, walked past the booth and acknowledged everyone’s presence but his eyes glazed over Liz. He was aware of their eyes focused on him, they knew where he was going and he knew what they were all thinking but he really didn’t care.
His life, his friends, his rules.
****
-
willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
- Location: in a vegas chapel
- Contact:
****
Thursday (part 6)
“Hey.”
The instant she had registered his presence in the restaurant, she knew that he would dump whatever he was doing and come sit with her. Max was like that, a straight-arrow, caring and loving. She was glad that he hadn't seen her reject Kyle, she could just imagine the lecture on tact, he would give her but she wasn't in the mode for anymore guys hitting on her, she like to get straight to the point.
“Hey,” she responded.
He took it as an invitation to slide in opposite her. She didn't object. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a concerned tone.
“A bundle of fun," she responded dryly.
He smiled that sweet knowing smile of his. It was enough to drag her out of her depressed state. “That’ why you’re eating ice-cream alone?” he asked.
She had known Max for a week and of all her friends, he was the only one who felt comfortable enough in such short a time to call her on bull – in his typical Max shy-boy style.
“Eating ice-cream alone is not just for the depressed you know," she replied defensively.
Oh yeah, even I don't believe that one, she told herself.
He fixed her with an unrelenting stare until she finally admitted defeat. “Jason called," she said.
Jason, unfortunately, was not a false person she was using to get closer to Max. Nope, he was a real guy she had fallen for and he had proceeded to screw her over. She supposed that was why it was so easy for her to connect with Max, they were both going through the same thing. She wondered if Future Max had known that when he contacted her. There were so many questions that had gone unanswered during their meeting but one thing had been made clear and that was her duty: to make sure Max and Tess got together.
It had started out easy enough, she just detached herself from the situation but the more she spent time with Max, the more she cared about him and the more she wanted to take Tess out of the equation.
“Oh," he said.
“Yep. Sweet, sincere voice, apologies and everything...He wants us to be friends.”
“And you said…”
“Well omitting a few expletives, I in essence hang up on him. I figured he’d take it as a hell no. It annoys me when they want to be friends so soon after they stomp all over your heart. “
“I know. It seems to be easier for them..." he paused. Mac could tell that he was having another deep intellectual and emotional conversation with him safe and bit back a smile. "No," he continuted, "... I guess it’s difficult on both sides.”
He was right of course, but the duty focused part of her also knew that it was the perfect opportunity to "help him move on". It made her feel sick, but she had to do it.
“Yeah, whatever, don’t delude yourself Max," she said bitterly, "They have it a whole lot easier than us. Case in point, who’s eating the ice-cream while they’re having fun with the homewreckers?”
He paused contemplating what she had said before answering. “I guess..." he said. The look of pain and sadness that crossed his face made her feel like a homewrecker and she quickly looked away.
"Speaking of which," he said rising up from his seat, "I need a spoon.”
In the front of her, Mac saw Liz get up and head to the counter.
Panic swept her. Max and Liz had to have as minimal contact as possible because she had seen it with her own eyes, when those two made eye to eye contact, the rest of the world vanished.
“I’ll get it,” she said quickly getting up.
“I don’t mind.”
“I know," she said quickly, "but I want to.”
Max sat slowly down and looked at her suspiciously. “Okay.”
Mac sighed with relief and headed to the counter.
Max glanced in her direction and saw Liz heading for the counter too. Realisation dawned on him as he watched the pair meet.
****
“Hey Carla, a bottle of tobasco sauce please,” she called.
“And could I have a spoon?"
She turned at the sound of the familiar voice and sure enough, Mac stood next to her, looking as usual.
"Hi," she said with a smile, " it's Liz right?”
“Yeah," she answered slowly, " and you’re Mac.”
“Right.”
A period of awkward silence descended. A few polite smiles were exchanged but Liz had no idea what to say to her.
What do you say to the girl that you're jealous of because she is closer to your soulmate than you are?
Luckily, Mac decided to put them out of the excruciating silence, with a conversation starter Liz wasn't expecting.
“Listen, Max and I are-“
“I don’t want to know about you and Max, Mac," she responded.
Any detail about the pair would cause her to think and obsess about the whole situation again. It was better that she knew as little as possible.
“Okay, how about this," said Mac, "I’ll still talk and you can stay or leave.”
It didn't require any thought, Liz knew that her legs would not allow her move from where she was standing.
“Max and I are just friends, very good friends and that’s it," she said, " I’m not in some sort of will-they-won't-they denial or anything, we are what we are.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked confused. Mac did not need to justify or explain her relationship with Max to her, they barely knew each other.
“Just out of the general public interest," she replied.
Liz nodded and took it as an opportunity to satisfy her curiousity.
“Well," she began," just out of general public interest, I just wanna say that friends don’t appear hastily dressed and then smack each other’s butts.”
“They do, if said female friend wants to give a little get back to a certain blond gerbil.”
“Tess,” she said in puzzlement.
Mac winked and grabbed her spoon. “Later.”
****
Max watched her approach and as she slid into the booth, he pounced on her.
“What was that about?” he asked casually.
“Nothing much," she shrugged nonchalantly, "we were just talking about regular stuff, school, life.”
“Oh," he said crestfallen.
“She didn’t ask about you if that’s what you want to know," she said.
Max blinked. Was he that obvious?. “I didn’t think she would," he lied.
“Max. I know where you are, I've been where you are and I know that there’s always that hope.”
He could have continued in his denial but he knew that Mac would see past it. In a week, she could read him and he her. His first non-alien related human friend and she was amazing. She exuded a confidence he had never seen in someone his age before, she was wise, straight-talking, knew what she wanted and went after it. She was blunt and pushed him in a way no one had before and he admired her and thanked her for that.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She seemed okay. She seems…nice.”
“She is," he agreed, " and that’s why I love her- loved her I mean.”
“I know what you mean, Max," she said, " I guess it's better to admit your feelings than bottle them up. You still love her…but you have to move on. Which is why I’m glad we’re doing this.”
“Eating ice-cream?” he asked mystified.
“Yeah. If you need to cry for three days to deal then go for it, if you need to binge on ice-cream then power to you and therefore to us. As long as we deal and not suppress it, otherwise it would explode in other more destructive ways," she finished brightly.
“ Okay," he responded with the same enthusiasm. He took a spoonfull of ice-cream and raised it to her. "Here’s to you moving on," he toasted.
She followed suit, and they clicked their spoons together.
“To us moving on," she agreed.
****
Saturday 2 a.m.
Liz desperately fought the forces that was nagging her to wake up. She was in a good place, it was warm and she was happy. Reality was not a place to wanted to go back to, so she compromised between the two and settled for that state between dreaming and wakefulness.
The first thing she registered and savoured, was his body heat and his rhythmic heartbeat – her beacon of safety and contentment.
Nestled in his arms with her head resting against his chest, an uncontrollable smile of happiness swept across her lips. She closed her eyes, inhaled and savoured his scent, his heartbeat and the way it felt to be in his arms again.
Max Evans.
Tears filled her eyes as happiness twinged with sadness overwhelmed her.
The love of her life.
She shifted from her position and looked up at his peaceful slumbering face. Illuminated by the moonlight, he took her breath away. A wave of powerful love overcame her as she studied his chin, cheekbones and lips. Her mind marvelled at the number of times she had kissed those lips, the times they had kissed her, the sensations they had created – and then his eyes!. They were closed now, but she knew the intensity of his gaze and the emotions that had poured out only for her.
He has such beautiful lashes, she thought in wonderment and resisted the urge to lightly kiss them.
His damp hair settled over his forehead – the hair her fingers had trailed through numerous times. She held her breath, in fear of disturbing him, and carefully moved her arm. Her heart stopped for a moment as she felt him stir, she lay still until his heart rhythm settled. Then, she lifted her arm again and lightly trailed her fingers across his face, tracing his contours, settling on his lips.
"I love you," she whispered tearfully. She nestled closer to him and as if in response to her words, Max tightened his hold around her, pulling her closer to him, inhaling the scent of her hair.
Liz swallowed the large lump rising in her throat as more silent tears flowed. Clinging to the t-shirt he had borrowed from Michael's drawer, she rested her head against his chest and with a trembling voice, she whispered, "I love you, but I'm letting you go."
A smile swept her lips as once again, she was lulled by his heart beat, wrapped in his arms and wholely at peace, her heavy lids lulled her back to the realm of dreaming.
Ten minutes after Liz welcomed deep sleep, in a world where everything was the way it was supposed to be, Max smiled in contentment.
In Michael's room, asleep on his bed with Liz nestled in his arms, Max's smile mirrored that of his dream self. He inhaled her scent and with pure joy, he breathed her name, "Liz."
****
Friday morning 7.00 am
Journal entry: 7 days after the Max break up
Last night, I decided something. I decided that I can't put my life on hold anymore. In the big scheme of things, Max is just a boyfriend and in future retrospect, I will see him that way. He's just a boy. So I took all our pictures and mementos, put them in a box and grieved for what we once had.
The tears came and went, until all I could do was sob without tears. The weird thing is, in those tears, some of the pain filtered out.
Max Evans is dead.
I mourned our life together and now it's time to focus on me.
Then to top if off, I was watching late night re-runs of Felicity – the episode where she cuts her hair after the Noel and Ben angst and I got inspired. I downloaded the theme tune, New Version of You, off Kazza. That is my anthem and today, I'm skipping two classes to follow in her footsteps. It's exactly what I need, to detach myself from the girl who thought that she would marry Max Evans, to just plain old Liz Parker. I'd like to be me again.
I'll tell you about how it all works out.
****
Thursday (part 6)
“Hey.”
The instant she had registered his presence in the restaurant, she knew that he would dump whatever he was doing and come sit with her. Max was like that, a straight-arrow, caring and loving. She was glad that he hadn't seen her reject Kyle, she could just imagine the lecture on tact, he would give her but she wasn't in the mode for anymore guys hitting on her, she like to get straight to the point.
“Hey,” she responded.
He took it as an invitation to slide in opposite her. She didn't object. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a concerned tone.
“A bundle of fun," she responded dryly.
He smiled that sweet knowing smile of his. It was enough to drag her out of her depressed state. “That’ why you’re eating ice-cream alone?” he asked.
She had known Max for a week and of all her friends, he was the only one who felt comfortable enough in such short a time to call her on bull – in his typical Max shy-boy style.
“Eating ice-cream alone is not just for the depressed you know," she replied defensively.
Oh yeah, even I don't believe that one, she told herself.
He fixed her with an unrelenting stare until she finally admitted defeat. “Jason called," she said.
Jason, unfortunately, was not a false person she was using to get closer to Max. Nope, he was a real guy she had fallen for and he had proceeded to screw her over. She supposed that was why it was so easy for her to connect with Max, they were both going through the same thing. She wondered if Future Max had known that when he contacted her. There were so many questions that had gone unanswered during their meeting but one thing had been made clear and that was her duty: to make sure Max and Tess got together.
It had started out easy enough, she just detached herself from the situation but the more she spent time with Max, the more she cared about him and the more she wanted to take Tess out of the equation.
“Oh," he said.
“Yep. Sweet, sincere voice, apologies and everything...He wants us to be friends.”
“And you said…”
“Well omitting a few expletives, I in essence hang up on him. I figured he’d take it as a hell no. It annoys me when they want to be friends so soon after they stomp all over your heart. “
“I know. It seems to be easier for them..." he paused. Mac could tell that he was having another deep intellectual and emotional conversation with him safe and bit back a smile. "No," he continuted, "... I guess it’s difficult on both sides.”
He was right of course, but the duty focused part of her also knew that it was the perfect opportunity to "help him move on". It made her feel sick, but she had to do it.
“Yeah, whatever, don’t delude yourself Max," she said bitterly, "They have it a whole lot easier than us. Case in point, who’s eating the ice-cream while they’re having fun with the homewreckers?”
He paused contemplating what she had said before answering. “I guess..." he said. The look of pain and sadness that crossed his face made her feel like a homewrecker and she quickly looked away.
"Speaking of which," he said rising up from his seat, "I need a spoon.”
In the front of her, Mac saw Liz get up and head to the counter.
Panic swept her. Max and Liz had to have as minimal contact as possible because she had seen it with her own eyes, when those two made eye to eye contact, the rest of the world vanished.
“I’ll get it,” she said quickly getting up.
“I don’t mind.”
“I know," she said quickly, "but I want to.”
Max sat slowly down and looked at her suspiciously. “Okay.”
Mac sighed with relief and headed to the counter.
Max glanced in her direction and saw Liz heading for the counter too. Realisation dawned on him as he watched the pair meet.
****
“Hey Carla, a bottle of tobasco sauce please,” she called.
“And could I have a spoon?"
She turned at the sound of the familiar voice and sure enough, Mac stood next to her, looking as usual.
"Hi," she said with a smile, " it's Liz right?”
“Yeah," she answered slowly, " and you’re Mac.”
“Right.”
A period of awkward silence descended. A few polite smiles were exchanged but Liz had no idea what to say to her.
What do you say to the girl that you're jealous of because she is closer to your soulmate than you are?
Luckily, Mac decided to put them out of the excruciating silence, with a conversation starter Liz wasn't expecting.
“Listen, Max and I are-“
“I don’t want to know about you and Max, Mac," she responded.
Any detail about the pair would cause her to think and obsess about the whole situation again. It was better that she knew as little as possible.
“Okay, how about this," said Mac, "I’ll still talk and you can stay or leave.”
It didn't require any thought, Liz knew that her legs would not allow her move from where she was standing.
“Max and I are just friends, very good friends and that’s it," she said, " I’m not in some sort of will-they-won't-they denial or anything, we are what we are.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked confused. Mac did not need to justify or explain her relationship with Max to her, they barely knew each other.
“Just out of the general public interest," she replied.
Liz nodded and took it as an opportunity to satisfy her curiousity.
“Well," she began," just out of general public interest, I just wanna say that friends don’t appear hastily dressed and then smack each other’s butts.”
“They do, if said female friend wants to give a little get back to a certain blond gerbil.”
“Tess,” she said in puzzlement.
Mac winked and grabbed her spoon. “Later.”
****
Max watched her approach and as she slid into the booth, he pounced on her.
“What was that about?” he asked casually.
“Nothing much," she shrugged nonchalantly, "we were just talking about regular stuff, school, life.”
“Oh," he said crestfallen.
“She didn’t ask about you if that’s what you want to know," she said.
Max blinked. Was he that obvious?. “I didn’t think she would," he lied.
“Max. I know where you are, I've been where you are and I know that there’s always that hope.”
He could have continued in his denial but he knew that Mac would see past it. In a week, she could read him and he her. His first non-alien related human friend and she was amazing. She exuded a confidence he had never seen in someone his age before, she was wise, straight-talking, knew what she wanted and went after it. She was blunt and pushed him in a way no one had before and he admired her and thanked her for that.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She seemed okay. She seems…nice.”
“She is," he agreed, " and that’s why I love her- loved her I mean.”
“I know what you mean, Max," she said, " I guess it's better to admit your feelings than bottle them up. You still love her…but you have to move on. Which is why I’m glad we’re doing this.”
“Eating ice-cream?” he asked mystified.
“Yeah. If you need to cry for three days to deal then go for it, if you need to binge on ice-cream then power to you and therefore to us. As long as we deal and not suppress it, otherwise it would explode in other more destructive ways," she finished brightly.
“ Okay," he responded with the same enthusiasm. He took a spoonfull of ice-cream and raised it to her. "Here’s to you moving on," he toasted.
She followed suit, and they clicked their spoons together.
“To us moving on," she agreed.
****
Saturday 2 a.m.
Liz desperately fought the forces that was nagging her to wake up. She was in a good place, it was warm and she was happy. Reality was not a place to wanted to go back to, so she compromised between the two and settled for that state between dreaming and wakefulness.
The first thing she registered and savoured, was his body heat and his rhythmic heartbeat – her beacon of safety and contentment.
Nestled in his arms with her head resting against his chest, an uncontrollable smile of happiness swept across her lips. She closed her eyes, inhaled and savoured his scent, his heartbeat and the way it felt to be in his arms again.
Max Evans.
Tears filled her eyes as happiness twinged with sadness overwhelmed her.
The love of her life.
She shifted from her position and looked up at his peaceful slumbering face. Illuminated by the moonlight, he took her breath away. A wave of powerful love overcame her as she studied his chin, cheekbones and lips. Her mind marvelled at the number of times she had kissed those lips, the times they had kissed her, the sensations they had created – and then his eyes!. They were closed now, but she knew the intensity of his gaze and the emotions that had poured out only for her.
He has such beautiful lashes, she thought in wonderment and resisted the urge to lightly kiss them.
His damp hair settled over his forehead – the hair her fingers had trailed through numerous times. She held her breath, in fear of disturbing him, and carefully moved her arm. Her heart stopped for a moment as she felt him stir, she lay still until his heart rhythm settled. Then, she lifted her arm again and lightly trailed her fingers across his face, tracing his contours, settling on his lips.
"I love you," she whispered tearfully. She nestled closer to him and as if in response to her words, Max tightened his hold around her, pulling her closer to him, inhaling the scent of her hair.
Liz swallowed the large lump rising in her throat as more silent tears flowed. Clinging to the t-shirt he had borrowed from Michael's drawer, she rested her head against his chest and with a trembling voice, she whispered, "I love you, but I'm letting you go."
A smile swept her lips as once again, she was lulled by his heart beat, wrapped in his arms and wholely at peace, her heavy lids lulled her back to the realm of dreaming.
Ten minutes after Liz welcomed deep sleep, in a world where everything was the way it was supposed to be, Max smiled in contentment.
In Michael's room, asleep on his bed with Liz nestled in his arms, Max's smile mirrored that of his dream self. He inhaled her scent and with pure joy, he breathed her name, "Liz."
****
Friday morning 7.00 am
Journal entry: 7 days after the Max break up
Last night, I decided something. I decided that I can't put my life on hold anymore. In the big scheme of things, Max is just a boyfriend and in future retrospect, I will see him that way. He's just a boy. So I took all our pictures and mementos, put them in a box and grieved for what we once had.
The tears came and went, until all I could do was sob without tears. The weird thing is, in those tears, some of the pain filtered out.
Max Evans is dead.
I mourned our life together and now it's time to focus on me.
Then to top if off, I was watching late night re-runs of Felicity – the episode where she cuts her hair after the Noel and Ben angst and I got inspired. I downloaded the theme tune, New Version of You, off Kazza. That is my anthem and today, I'm skipping two classes to follow in her footsteps. It's exactly what I need, to detach myself from the girl who thought that she would marry Max Evans, to just plain old Liz Parker. I'd like to be me again.
I'll tell you about how it all works out.
****
-
willowbv
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Hi all, here's the next part to Friday, enjoy 
Friday afternoon – lunchtime
When the bell rang for lunch, Maria rushed over to Liz's locker. She hadn't been in bio and she was worried. She had excused herself from class and rang Liz who to her surprise answered the phone in an eerily cheerful tone. She had told her that she was fine and had a surprise for her and arranged to meet at her locker after class.
Maria screeched to a halt in front of her best friend's locker.
The clothing style was the same – she was wearing low rider jeans with a cute deep red off-the shoulder sweater top.
What was different about her friend was her hair.
"Oh my gosh!" she screamed, " your hair! What did you do?!".
Gone were the gorgeous silky locks and in their place was a short bob with deep-red streaks matching the colour of her top.
"I felt like a change," she shrugged non-chalantly.
A change was switching your shade of gloss, favourite pizza selection, music or choice of t.v. show. This was more like shock therapy.
"Is this because of Max, 'cause if it is-"
"It's not about Max Maria! ".
Anyone else would have been taken aback by her outburst, but Maria knew it as the standard Liz reaction to anyone's attempt to talk about the break up.
"Why does everything I do have to do with Max?!" she continued, "This is about me okay?"
"If you say so," she said in disbelief.
"I do."
She raised her hands up in surrender. "Fine, but you do know that people pay to have extensions the length of your hair right?," she asked.
"I do," she replied. Moving her head from one side to the other, she modeled her hair for her. "Now what do you think, you like?"
"It's...spunky...I can get used to it," she replied honestly.
"Me too. I mean it doesn't feel like me," she said.
"Then who does it feel like?" she asked.
"Like someone...free," replied Liz.
Maria pursed her lips together to stop herself from bursting her friend's bubble.
"Well, I'm happy for you," she said instead," Now is there anything else I should know?" she asked, "piercings, tatoos?"
"Well, now that you mention it..."
Her eyes grew wide.
"Just kidding," giggled Liz.
"Good and can I just say that you're extra chirpy today."
"I know, I'm a completely different person," she responded happily.
Maybe on the outside but definitely not on the inside, Maria responded silently.
"Come on," said Liz, " are we going to lunch or what?"
"Let's go," she said.
****
"Hey Liz! New haircut," said a surprised Alex.
"Yeah, I cut class to do it this morning," she replied.
He locked eyes with Maria. This wasn't good.
"You rebel," he said slowly, "...no seriously, I like the do, it's..."
"Spunky?" supplied Maria.
"That's exactly the right word," he said.
"I agree," said Kyle, " it looks hot."
"Why thank you gentlemen," said Liz adopting a southern accent.
"You're welcome, maam," responded Kyle.
Alex once again met Maria's eyes. Liz was extra chirpy, it was unsettling.
He waited till a sufficient period of general conversation he had taken place before signaling Maria with a slight sharp tilt of his head.
Maria replied with a slight nod, "Um," she said getting up, "I'm gonna grab a chocolate from the machine, anyone want to come with?"
"I will," he said quickly getting up. He turned to Liz and Kyle, "do you want anything?" he asked.
"No thanks," said Liz.
"I'm good," replied Kyle.
"Okay, see you in a bit," he said before leaving with Maria.
****
Kyle watched them go with a smirk on his face. "You do know that they're going to be talking about you right?"
"Oh yeah," she replied, "and it's sweet that they care but I'm fine now."
"yeah, I can see that," he said.
"Kyle, let's not get into this."
"I'm just saying-" he began.
"It's just a haircut," she responded.
****
"It's so not just a haircut Alex-" babbled Maria.
"I know," he agreed.
"I mean, Liz loves that hair-"
"Yeah."
She was passing along the steps, in typical Maria-freak-out fashion.
"She loved it long."
"Yeah, Maria, I know!" he shouted.
He was in the same position as she was, powerless to help Liz. She was usually the one who helped them or they helped each other. They never went solo especially if it was alien related. Their relationships with the aliens was uncharted territory and in that kind of territory, you needed someone to hold you hand.
She stopped pacing and faced him. "Sorry, I'm just concerned and frustrated."
He wrapped her arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. They settled down to sit on the steps. "I am too," he said softly.
"She's still shutting us out, Alex," she said, "She won't talk about it and she hasn't cried with someone else about it. She's just doing it all alone."
"I wanna help her too Maria but there's nothing we can do. If we push it, she still won't talk."
"And you've noticed how she's too happy today right? Almost on a psychotic level?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's like she's on some highly dosed antidepressant," he replied.
"I just think it's all leading up to something...bad."
"Well, we'll have to be there when it happens, that's all."
"Yeah, I guess," she sighed, "I just wanna shake her, to get something out."
"Yeah, I don't think that would work well," he joked.
"Me neither," she laughed.
They got up and she turned to go in the opposite direction to him.
"Hey where are you going?" he asked.
"Vending machine," she replied, "I really do want chocolate. Coming?"
"Sure."
****
"Hi Valenti."
Liz glanced in the direction of the voice and found Evan Tyler standing behind her.
"Parker," he greeted her with a sly smile.
Evan Tyler was good looking and he knew it. He was a major flirt and had asked her out a couple of times. She had refused him on all occassions because in general he was a good guy but with girls, he was a dog.
"Evan," she replied in the same tone.
"What's up Evan," greeted Kyle.
"Nothing much, just wanted to know if you guys were coming to David's party tonight. His parents are out of town. Music, booze, girls," he glanced at Liz, "and guys. It should be a good time."
"Thanks for the invite, but-"
"We'll think about it," she said.
"We will?" Kyle asked incredulous. Liz wasn't in the state to go to a party with booze and guys who thought that she was up for it.
"Yeah, I mean, like he said, it could be fun."
"Definitely," agreed Evan.
"Well, sure," he said.
"That's good, thinking about it is good," said Evan," and Liz, for added incentive..."
"Yeah?"
He flashed her a sexy knowing smile, "I'll be there."
"Goodbye Evan," she laughed turning her back on him.
"Liz were you serious, you want to go? 'cause I don't think that it's a good idea" he said.
"I was toying with the idea, but probably not, you're right," she said.
He looked at her uncertain of whether to believe her or not. She struck as slightly unbalanced, the haircut, the creepy happiness instead of the gloomy behaviour she had exhibted the past week. She was unpredictable, but he knew that she would never go to a party alone.
So don't worry about it, he told himself, but somehow, he couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling in his stomach.
****
Friday afternoon – lunchtime
When the bell rang for lunch, Maria rushed over to Liz's locker. She hadn't been in bio and she was worried. She had excused herself from class and rang Liz who to her surprise answered the phone in an eerily cheerful tone. She had told her that she was fine and had a surprise for her and arranged to meet at her locker after class.
Maria screeched to a halt in front of her best friend's locker.
The clothing style was the same – she was wearing low rider jeans with a cute deep red off-the shoulder sweater top.
What was different about her friend was her hair.
"Oh my gosh!" she screamed, " your hair! What did you do?!".
Gone were the gorgeous silky locks and in their place was a short bob with deep-red streaks matching the colour of her top.
"I felt like a change," she shrugged non-chalantly.
A change was switching your shade of gloss, favourite pizza selection, music or choice of t.v. show. This was more like shock therapy.
"Is this because of Max, 'cause if it is-"
"It's not about Max Maria! ".
Anyone else would have been taken aback by her outburst, but Maria knew it as the standard Liz reaction to anyone's attempt to talk about the break up.
"Why does everything I do have to do with Max?!" she continued, "This is about me okay?"
"If you say so," she said in disbelief.
"I do."
She raised her hands up in surrender. "Fine, but you do know that people pay to have extensions the length of your hair right?," she asked.
"I do," she replied. Moving her head from one side to the other, she modeled her hair for her. "Now what do you think, you like?"
"It's...spunky...I can get used to it," she replied honestly.
"Me too. I mean it doesn't feel like me," she said.
"Then who does it feel like?" she asked.
"Like someone...free," replied Liz.
Maria pursed her lips together to stop herself from bursting her friend's bubble.
"Well, I'm happy for you," she said instead," Now is there anything else I should know?" she asked, "piercings, tatoos?"
"Well, now that you mention it..."
Her eyes grew wide.
"Just kidding," giggled Liz.
"Good and can I just say that you're extra chirpy today."
"I know, I'm a completely different person," she responded happily.
Maybe on the outside but definitely not on the inside, Maria responded silently.
"Come on," said Liz, " are we going to lunch or what?"
"Let's go," she said.
****
"Hey Liz! New haircut," said a surprised Alex.
"Yeah, I cut class to do it this morning," she replied.
He locked eyes with Maria. This wasn't good.
"You rebel," he said slowly, "...no seriously, I like the do, it's..."
"Spunky?" supplied Maria.
"That's exactly the right word," he said.
"I agree," said Kyle, " it looks hot."
"Why thank you gentlemen," said Liz adopting a southern accent.
"You're welcome, maam," responded Kyle.
Alex once again met Maria's eyes. Liz was extra chirpy, it was unsettling.
He waited till a sufficient period of general conversation he had taken place before signaling Maria with a slight sharp tilt of his head.
Maria replied with a slight nod, "Um," she said getting up, "I'm gonna grab a chocolate from the machine, anyone want to come with?"
"I will," he said quickly getting up. He turned to Liz and Kyle, "do you want anything?" he asked.
"No thanks," said Liz.
"I'm good," replied Kyle.
"Okay, see you in a bit," he said before leaving with Maria.
****
Kyle watched them go with a smirk on his face. "You do know that they're going to be talking about you right?"
"Oh yeah," she replied, "and it's sweet that they care but I'm fine now."
"yeah, I can see that," he said.
"Kyle, let's not get into this."
"I'm just saying-" he began.
"It's just a haircut," she responded.
****
"It's so not just a haircut Alex-" babbled Maria.
"I know," he agreed.
"I mean, Liz loves that hair-"
"Yeah."
She was passing along the steps, in typical Maria-freak-out fashion.
"She loved it long."
"Yeah, Maria, I know!" he shouted.
He was in the same position as she was, powerless to help Liz. She was usually the one who helped them or they helped each other. They never went solo especially if it was alien related. Their relationships with the aliens was uncharted territory and in that kind of territory, you needed someone to hold you hand.
She stopped pacing and faced him. "Sorry, I'm just concerned and frustrated."
He wrapped her arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. They settled down to sit on the steps. "I am too," he said softly.
"She's still shutting us out, Alex," she said, "She won't talk about it and she hasn't cried with someone else about it. She's just doing it all alone."
"I wanna help her too Maria but there's nothing we can do. If we push it, she still won't talk."
"And you've noticed how she's too happy today right? Almost on a psychotic level?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's like she's on some highly dosed antidepressant," he replied.
"I just think it's all leading up to something...bad."
"Well, we'll have to be there when it happens, that's all."
"Yeah, I guess," she sighed, "I just wanna shake her, to get something out."
"Yeah, I don't think that would work well," he joked.
"Me neither," she laughed.
They got up and she turned to go in the opposite direction to him.
"Hey where are you going?" he asked.
"Vending machine," she replied, "I really do want chocolate. Coming?"
"Sure."
****
"Hi Valenti."
Liz glanced in the direction of the voice and found Evan Tyler standing behind her.
"Parker," he greeted her with a sly smile.
Evan Tyler was good looking and he knew it. He was a major flirt and had asked her out a couple of times. She had refused him on all occassions because in general he was a good guy but with girls, he was a dog.
"Evan," she replied in the same tone.
"What's up Evan," greeted Kyle.
"Nothing much, just wanted to know if you guys were coming to David's party tonight. His parents are out of town. Music, booze, girls," he glanced at Liz, "and guys. It should be a good time."
"Thanks for the invite, but-"
"We'll think about it," she said.
"We will?" Kyle asked incredulous. Liz wasn't in the state to go to a party with booze and guys who thought that she was up for it.
"Yeah, I mean, like he said, it could be fun."
"Definitely," agreed Evan.
"Well, sure," he said.
"That's good, thinking about it is good," said Evan," and Liz, for added incentive..."
"Yeah?"
He flashed her a sexy knowing smile, "I'll be there."
"Goodbye Evan," she laughed turning her back on him.
"Liz were you serious, you want to go? 'cause I don't think that it's a good idea" he said.
"I was toying with the idea, but probably not, you're right," she said.
He looked at her uncertain of whether to believe her or not. She struck as slightly unbalanced, the haircut, the creepy happiness instead of the gloomy behaviour she had exhibted the past week. She was unpredictable, but he knew that she would never go to a party alone.
So don't worry about it, he told himself, but somehow, he couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling in his stomach.
****
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willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
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****
The day so far, had gone according to plan. Liz felt cool, confident and as light as a feather. A new haircut signalled a new version of herself, one that wasn't stuck in the Max-Evans-heartbreak-abyss. Sighing happily, she strolled through the crowded halls on her way to her english class.
"Liz."
Before she could respond to the voice, a hand held her in a firm grip and pulled her aside out of the way of the flowing students. She looked the hand gripping her arm to its owner and then back again. Tess obviously got the hint and let go of her arm.
"What is it Tess?," she asked in surprise and irritation. The blonde flashed her a bright innocent smile. Liz wanted to slap her.
"Well, I haven't really had a chance to thank you," she said.
"Thank me for what?" she asked puzzled.
"You know, for sleeping with Kyle, breaking up with Max, crushing his heart – basically helping us get together," she answered.
Liz acknowledged the attack with a slight nod of her head. Pursing her lips together, she responded with a tight restrained smile.
"Don't worry about it Tess, I mean, I knew you wouldn't have a chance with me in the running, so I took the best," she pointed to herself, "me, out."
The expression on her face was priceless, Liz bit back a grin and maintained her earnest expression.
"New haircut," she began.
"Yes," she said suspicious. She wondered where this was going.
"It suits you," she continued," it finishes the look."
She should have left then, but call her a sucker for punishment, she stayed.
"What look?" she asked.
"You know," she looked her up and down as if it was the most obvious thing in the word,"the waifish boyish body and now the hair."
Liz had no come back to that because Tess had touched upon one of her insecurities. Tess, like Isabel and Maria, was the blonde bomshell. With Isabel, it was beautiful everything, Maria had the hair, the attitude and the lips and Tess had the larger bra size, the hair and she was small and could pull off the whole damsel image. Next to Tess, she felt plain. Every guy wanted her and surely if he had to choose between the two purely on looks, Max would choose Tess. He was a guy afterall.
"Well, I'll see you later," she said brightly before pushing past her and breezing down the hallway as guys made way for her.
"Yeah," she breathed.
Things just got worse as continuing her journey but lost in thought, Liz bumped into him. Of course since she had rushed into his chest and caused him to drop the armload of books he had been carrying, she hadn't bothered to look up at the face. Instead, in the rapidly thining out hallway, she instantly got on her knees and started helping him pick up his books.
"I am so sorry," she apologised.
"It's fine," he said.
At the sound of his voice, she froze and finally looked up at his face.
She stopped breathing.
"Max."
"Liz."
The force of the awkward tension between them forced them to get up from their positions on the floor. They both got up at the same time which made it harder for her to breathe at a natural pace because the space around her was filled with Max, either his body or the memories of him.
As all the emotions she had tried so hard to convince herself she was free from, came back all at once, she wanted to turn around and run, but the new version of her forced her to stay.
"How are you?" she asked.
Struggling from a powerful breakup, he replied silently.
"Okay," he replied. That one word was so hard to say, it seemed to take all the effort in the world. A moment of silence passed. His heart beat at a painfully rapid pace, Max felt that rather than turning around and bolting down the hallway, he should say something.
"You?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, um, I fine," she replied.
He stared at her as the image in his mind of his Liz disappeared and was replaced by the short-haired Liz standing before him.
"You, um, cut you're hair," he said.
The silky locks he had so loved to play with were gone. In their place was a short bob with red streaks.
"Uh yeah," she said tugging it self-consciously. Held under his scrutiny, all her confidence vanished. "I felt like a change."
"I like it," he said.
"Really? Why?" she asked.
"Why I like it?" he asked.
She nodded. "And please, don't say it's because it makes me look spunky."
"Well, it kinda does..." he grinned. She rolled her eyes with a smile. "-but honestly?"
"Honestly," she confirmed.
"You don't look like my Liz anymore...and it, um, hurts less to be around you," he explained.
"I'm still the same girl who loves-who loved you," she said.
"But you're still the same girl who broke my heart...with your hair like that, it helps separate the two," he smiled sadly, "every little bit helps Liz."
He had stayed too long in her presence, he could feel it, he had to leave. "I gotta get to class," he said brushing past her.
He forced himself not to look back.
Liz stood in shock. Stung by his words, she looked blindly at the object in her hand until the bell for class jolted her back to reality.
"You forgot your book," she said to herself. It was stupid, she should have just gone to class but suddenly giving him back the book was the most important thing she had do, so following the direction down the hall he had taken, she raced after him. She remembered that he had French this period so that was probably where she was going.
When she rounded the corner, an arrow pierced her heart and she was hit by a truck. Stumbling back, she found it hard to breathe and her heart really hurt. She felt like she was having a heart attack. She wanted to look away but her eyes wouldn't obey her heart's desperate cry.
Standng in the hallway, blind to the world, with his French class just a door away, Max and Tess were locked in a passionate heart destroying kiss.
Liz didn't go to her english class.
****
The day so far, had gone according to plan. Liz felt cool, confident and as light as a feather. A new haircut signalled a new version of herself, one that wasn't stuck in the Max-Evans-heartbreak-abyss. Sighing happily, she strolled through the crowded halls on her way to her english class.
"Liz."
Before she could respond to the voice, a hand held her in a firm grip and pulled her aside out of the way of the flowing students. She looked the hand gripping her arm to its owner and then back again. Tess obviously got the hint and let go of her arm.
"What is it Tess?," she asked in surprise and irritation. The blonde flashed her a bright innocent smile. Liz wanted to slap her.
"Well, I haven't really had a chance to thank you," she said.
"Thank me for what?" she asked puzzled.
"You know, for sleeping with Kyle, breaking up with Max, crushing his heart – basically helping us get together," she answered.
Liz acknowledged the attack with a slight nod of her head. Pursing her lips together, she responded with a tight restrained smile.
"Don't worry about it Tess, I mean, I knew you wouldn't have a chance with me in the running, so I took the best," she pointed to herself, "me, out."
The expression on her face was priceless, Liz bit back a grin and maintained her earnest expression.
"New haircut," she began.
"Yes," she said suspicious. She wondered where this was going.
"It suits you," she continued," it finishes the look."
She should have left then, but call her a sucker for punishment, she stayed.
"What look?" she asked.
"You know," she looked her up and down as if it was the most obvious thing in the word,"the waifish boyish body and now the hair."
Liz had no come back to that because Tess had touched upon one of her insecurities. Tess, like Isabel and Maria, was the blonde bomshell. With Isabel, it was beautiful everything, Maria had the hair, the attitude and the lips and Tess had the larger bra size, the hair and she was small and could pull off the whole damsel image. Next to Tess, she felt plain. Every guy wanted her and surely if he had to choose between the two purely on looks, Max would choose Tess. He was a guy afterall.
"Well, I'll see you later," she said brightly before pushing past her and breezing down the hallway as guys made way for her.
"Yeah," she breathed.
Things just got worse as continuing her journey but lost in thought, Liz bumped into him. Of course since she had rushed into his chest and caused him to drop the armload of books he had been carrying, she hadn't bothered to look up at the face. Instead, in the rapidly thining out hallway, she instantly got on her knees and started helping him pick up his books.
"I am so sorry," she apologised.
"It's fine," he said.
At the sound of his voice, she froze and finally looked up at his face.
She stopped breathing.
"Max."
"Liz."
The force of the awkward tension between them forced them to get up from their positions on the floor. They both got up at the same time which made it harder for her to breathe at a natural pace because the space around her was filled with Max, either his body or the memories of him.
As all the emotions she had tried so hard to convince herself she was free from, came back all at once, she wanted to turn around and run, but the new version of her forced her to stay.
"How are you?" she asked.
Struggling from a powerful breakup, he replied silently.
"Okay," he replied. That one word was so hard to say, it seemed to take all the effort in the world. A moment of silence passed. His heart beat at a painfully rapid pace, Max felt that rather than turning around and bolting down the hallway, he should say something.
"You?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, um, I fine," she replied.
He stared at her as the image in his mind of his Liz disappeared and was replaced by the short-haired Liz standing before him.
"You, um, cut you're hair," he said.
The silky locks he had so loved to play with were gone. In their place was a short bob with red streaks.
"Uh yeah," she said tugging it self-consciously. Held under his scrutiny, all her confidence vanished. "I felt like a change."
"I like it," he said.
"Really? Why?" she asked.
"Why I like it?" he asked.
She nodded. "And please, don't say it's because it makes me look spunky."
"Well, it kinda does..." he grinned. She rolled her eyes with a smile. "-but honestly?"
"Honestly," she confirmed.
"You don't look like my Liz anymore...and it, um, hurts less to be around you," he explained.
"I'm still the same girl who loves-who loved you," she said.
"But you're still the same girl who broke my heart...with your hair like that, it helps separate the two," he smiled sadly, "every little bit helps Liz."
He had stayed too long in her presence, he could feel it, he had to leave. "I gotta get to class," he said brushing past her.
He forced himself not to look back.
Liz stood in shock. Stung by his words, she looked blindly at the object in her hand until the bell for class jolted her back to reality.
"You forgot your book," she said to herself. It was stupid, she should have just gone to class but suddenly giving him back the book was the most important thing she had do, so following the direction down the hall he had taken, she raced after him. She remembered that he had French this period so that was probably where she was going.
When she rounded the corner, an arrow pierced her heart and she was hit by a truck. Stumbling back, she found it hard to breathe and her heart really hurt. She felt like she was having a heart attack. She wanted to look away but her eyes wouldn't obey her heart's desperate cry.
Standng in the hallway, blind to the world, with his French class just a door away, Max and Tess were locked in a passionate heart destroying kiss.
Liz didn't go to her english class.
****
-
willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
- Location: in a vegas chapel
- Contact:
****
Mac was on her way to her car to dump the books Max had given her when a familiar brunette brushed past her.
"Liz!" she called. She watched as the girl broke into a full run down the side exit steps. Intrigued, Mac followed her to the football field. She found her under the bleachers sitting on the ground, hugging her knees, staring into space.
"Liz," she called softly.
Liz just sat there, emotionally deaf to her calls.
She's in some sort of shock, she realised.
What made Mac stay was the lost child look Liz was sporting, nobody looking like that should be left alone, she decided.
"Okay," she said slowly ducking her head and moving further into the bleacher, "I'm just gonna," she settled herself next to her, " sit here next to you and read." She opened a book for effect.
Liz said nothing. She said nothing for the ten minutes Mac tried to formulate a strategy on how to approach the situation and for the twenty pages of Catch-22 that she actually read. It was an interesting book, she decided, not exactly Jackie Collins but it would do.
"It's really over," Liz said finally.
"What's really over?" she asked.
Liz didn't look at her, she was still staring blankly into nowhere.
At least she's talking, she thought relieved.
"Max and I. I guess I always thought in my heart, that we'd get back together somehow, that he'd fight for us or-"
"That he wouldn't choose Tess either and spend the rest of his life unattached and mooning over you?" she supplied.
"It's selfish, I know-"
"Don't worry about it," she shrugged, "it's a girl thing."
"Well either way, it doesn't matter," she said despondently.
"Do you mind me asking what happened?" she asked.
"I saw them kissing."
Like hell you did!
The reaction was automatic and Mac was relieved that she had only thought it. Accusing Liz of hallucinating was a sure fire way to keep her in silence.
"I'm sorry what?" she asked incredulous. She knew Max and she knew the relationship level him and Tess were at and they definitely were not onto public making out. They weren't even at kissing yet!
"Full on kiss in front of his French class door," she replied emotionless.
"When was this?" she asked.
"A few minutes ago, when the bell for class rang," she replied.
What? That's not possible, she said silently, I was just with Max.
He had been on his way to French but he had to give her the books she needed first. The bell had rang while she was still talking to him and then some. There was no way that he could have been in a passionate liplock with Tess.
Unless...
"Can we back up here, what happened before class?" she asked.
"I had run in with Tess on my way to english, then I bumped into Max and helped him pick up some books. He forgot one, I ran after him and there they were."
Mac was glad that Liz wasn't focused on her facial expression or it would have given the game away. She gritted her teeth with only one name in her mind.
Tess.
The girl was shamless and scheming. She was beginning to be very dangerous. Continual mindwarps were dangerous and Liz seemed to be the target of most of them.
This is so not good.
"You know what? I don't care!," she shouted suddenly, " I just want this to end. I want to stop feeling like this."
Mac looked at her helplessly. "I'm sorry, I can't help with that," she said softly. She wished she could but there was no way.
She had an uneasy feeling that things we not playing out the way Future Max thought they would. First Tess and now Liz. Mac couldn't put her finger on it but there was something that wasn't right with the way she was taking the Max and Tess thing. The girl had cut her hair. It was a cool do, but it screamed drastic to her. When Future Max had described his relationship with Liz, she had known that it was powerful but now that she was in the thick of it, she could feel how powerful it was. The bad news was, the power was very negative.
"I'm sorry," she said finally looking at her, " you don't even know me and I'm just loading all my problems onto you."
"Any ex girlfriend of Max is a friend of mine," she said.
Unless they're called Tess Harding, she added silently.
"He talks about me?" she asked.
Mac detected the hopeful tone in her question and felt an incredible sadness.
How can these two being apart be right? she questioned.
"He doesn't have a bad word to say about you," she answered.
"See, that's the thing," said Liz, " It would be so much easier if he was a jerk, but he's-"
"A great guy," she finished.
"Yep."
They sat in silence for a while. Each in their own world of problems till Liz glanced at her watch and started to get up. "I better get going. I might as well do some work in the library before my next class."
"I'm done for the day," she said.
As they moved to go their separate ways, Mac couldn't help but offer the same consolation Future Max had given her about Jason.
"Liz?" she called.
"Yeah?"
"It will get better."
"You know what? Everyone says that. I just don't think in my case that it's true." With that she turned and headed in the direction of the library.
Mac stood watching her go, speechless and feeling the weight of the future on her shoulder.
****
Journal entry: Friday evening
I NEED TO FORGET.
I NEED ONE NIGHT OF FEELING NOTHING NO MATTER HOW FLEETING.
I'M NOT WORKING TONIGHT, HOMEWORK CAN GO TO HELL.
I AM IN DIRE NEED TO PARTY.
****
Liz glanced at her watch. It was 8pm, the party started at 7pm, it was an alnighter and that's exactly what she needed. A whole night of feeling nothing.
She dialled Evan's number.
"Liz Parker, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked cheerfully.
She ignored the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "I need to party" she replied.
****
Mac was on her way to her car to dump the books Max had given her when a familiar brunette brushed past her.
"Liz!" she called. She watched as the girl broke into a full run down the side exit steps. Intrigued, Mac followed her to the football field. She found her under the bleachers sitting on the ground, hugging her knees, staring into space.
"Liz," she called softly.
Liz just sat there, emotionally deaf to her calls.
She's in some sort of shock, she realised.
What made Mac stay was the lost child look Liz was sporting, nobody looking like that should be left alone, she decided.
"Okay," she said slowly ducking her head and moving further into the bleacher, "I'm just gonna," she settled herself next to her, " sit here next to you and read." She opened a book for effect.
Liz said nothing. She said nothing for the ten minutes Mac tried to formulate a strategy on how to approach the situation and for the twenty pages of Catch-22 that she actually read. It was an interesting book, she decided, not exactly Jackie Collins but it would do.
"It's really over," Liz said finally.
"What's really over?" she asked.
Liz didn't look at her, she was still staring blankly into nowhere.
At least she's talking, she thought relieved.
"Max and I. I guess I always thought in my heart, that we'd get back together somehow, that he'd fight for us or-"
"That he wouldn't choose Tess either and spend the rest of his life unattached and mooning over you?" she supplied.
"It's selfish, I know-"
"Don't worry about it," she shrugged, "it's a girl thing."
"Well either way, it doesn't matter," she said despondently.
"Do you mind me asking what happened?" she asked.
"I saw them kissing."
Like hell you did!
The reaction was automatic and Mac was relieved that she had only thought it. Accusing Liz of hallucinating was a sure fire way to keep her in silence.
"I'm sorry what?" she asked incredulous. She knew Max and she knew the relationship level him and Tess were at and they definitely were not onto public making out. They weren't even at kissing yet!
"Full on kiss in front of his French class door," she replied emotionless.
"When was this?" she asked.
"A few minutes ago, when the bell for class rang," she replied.
What? That's not possible, she said silently, I was just with Max.
He had been on his way to French but he had to give her the books she needed first. The bell had rang while she was still talking to him and then some. There was no way that he could have been in a passionate liplock with Tess.
Unless...
"Can we back up here, what happened before class?" she asked.
"I had run in with Tess on my way to english, then I bumped into Max and helped him pick up some books. He forgot one, I ran after him and there they were."
Mac was glad that Liz wasn't focused on her facial expression or it would have given the game away. She gritted her teeth with only one name in her mind.
Tess.
The girl was shamless and scheming. She was beginning to be very dangerous. Continual mindwarps were dangerous and Liz seemed to be the target of most of them.
This is so not good.
"You know what? I don't care!," she shouted suddenly, " I just want this to end. I want to stop feeling like this."
Mac looked at her helplessly. "I'm sorry, I can't help with that," she said softly. She wished she could but there was no way.
She had an uneasy feeling that things we not playing out the way Future Max thought they would. First Tess and now Liz. Mac couldn't put her finger on it but there was something that wasn't right with the way she was taking the Max and Tess thing. The girl had cut her hair. It was a cool do, but it screamed drastic to her. When Future Max had described his relationship with Liz, she had known that it was powerful but now that she was in the thick of it, she could feel how powerful it was. The bad news was, the power was very negative.
"I'm sorry," she said finally looking at her, " you don't even know me and I'm just loading all my problems onto you."
"Any ex girlfriend of Max is a friend of mine," she said.
Unless they're called Tess Harding, she added silently.
"He talks about me?" she asked.
Mac detected the hopeful tone in her question and felt an incredible sadness.
How can these two being apart be right? she questioned.
"He doesn't have a bad word to say about you," she answered.
"See, that's the thing," said Liz, " It would be so much easier if he was a jerk, but he's-"
"A great guy," she finished.
"Yep."
They sat in silence for a while. Each in their own world of problems till Liz glanced at her watch and started to get up. "I better get going. I might as well do some work in the library before my next class."
"I'm done for the day," she said.
As they moved to go their separate ways, Mac couldn't help but offer the same consolation Future Max had given her about Jason.
"Liz?" she called.
"Yeah?"
"It will get better."
"You know what? Everyone says that. I just don't think in my case that it's true." With that she turned and headed in the direction of the library.
Mac stood watching her go, speechless and feeling the weight of the future on her shoulder.
****
Journal entry: Friday evening
I NEED TO FORGET.
I NEED ONE NIGHT OF FEELING NOTHING NO MATTER HOW FLEETING.
I'M NOT WORKING TONIGHT, HOMEWORK CAN GO TO HELL.
I AM IN DIRE NEED TO PARTY.
****
Liz glanced at her watch. It was 8pm, the party started at 7pm, it was an alnighter and that's exactly what she needed. A whole night of feeling nothing.
She dialled Evan's number.
"Liz Parker, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked cheerfully.
She ignored the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "I need to party" she replied.
****
-
willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
- Location: in a vegas chapel
- Contact:
Okay, now back to the fic, lol.
I bet you’re all wondering what will happen at the party, well here goes…
Previously…
****
Journal entry: Friday evening
I NEED TO FORGET.
I NEED ONE NIGHT OF FEELING NOTHING NO MATTER HOW FLEETING.
I'M NOT WORKING TONIGHT, HOMEWORK CAN GO TO HELL.
I AM IN DIRE NEED TO PARTY.
****
Liz glanced at her watch. It was 8pm, the party started at 7pm, it was an alnighter and that's exactly what she needed. A whole night of feeling nothing.
She dialled Evan's number.
"Liz Parker, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked cheerfully.
She ignored the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "I need to party" she replied.
****
I bet you’re all wondering what will happen at the party, well here goes…
Previously…
****
Journal entry: Friday evening
I NEED TO FORGET.
I NEED ONE NIGHT OF FEELING NOTHING NO MATTER HOW FLEETING.
I'M NOT WORKING TONIGHT, HOMEWORK CAN GO TO HELL.
I AM IN DIRE NEED TO PARTY.
****
Liz glanced at her watch. It was 8pm, the party started at 7pm, it was an alnighter and that's exactly what she needed. A whole night of feeling nothing.
She dialled Evan's number.
"Liz Parker, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked cheerfully.
She ignored the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "I need to party" she replied.
****
-
willowbv
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 4:40 am
- Location: in a vegas chapel
- Contact:
Friday night (part 2)
****
The instant they entered David’s party, Evan saw Liz’s mood change. In the car ride, she had been quiet, kind of focused, like she was on a mission. Which he guessed she was, she wanted to party. He knew about her break up with Max Evans and about her fling with Kyle, he figured that she needed to blow off steam. His eyes travelled up her petite frame.
And with the way she’s looking tonight, she’s gonna blow off a lot of steam.
She was wearing a knee length black skirt, which would have been conservative except for the two slits on either side of her thigh which stopped just below her ass. Her hair complimented her dark red transparent top in which all she had was a black lacy bra.
There was no doubt about it, to Evan and the other hot-blooded males they walked past, Liz Parker was hot property.
And of all people she could have picked to bring her here, she picked me.
Evan couldn’t help but feel honoured.
He placing his hand on the small of her back, he protectively led her through the crowd.
“Hey!!!, welcome,” the drunken Ned Drew offered them both cups of beer, “want a drink?”
Liz grabbed it immediately, after a quick thanks and to Evan’s surprise, she downed it in one go.
“Is there a bar with stronger stuff here?” she asked.
“Yep,” Ned directed her, “right through there.”
“Thanks,” she said. She turned to him, “I gotta go-”
“Liz, I-”
She took his hand, squeezed it and flashed him a brilliant smile. “I’ll save you a dance,” and with that she went in search of the bar.
Evan stood still conflicted as whether to follow her or let her go. He liked and respected Liz, he didn’t want her to do anything she might regret when sober, but then again, she seemed to know what she was doing.
She’s a big girl, he decided. I’ll just check on her later.
In the meantime, He had business of the female kind to attend to. He spotted a hot blonde alone in the corner and decided to introduce himself to her.
****
“I am a hot, good looking girl!“ she told the girl standing next to her whose name she didn‘t know, “I don’t need him. He should be begging for me.“
The girl smiled politely and turned her gaze towards a guy over Liz’s shoulder. Liz followed her gaze, sized him up and turned to her.
“Is that your guy?” she asked.
The girl shook her head and blushed.
“You just like him don’t you?” she asked with a look of understanding. She could see so much of herself in the girl that she took it upon herself to save her the pain and heartache that was sure to follow with the ‘leech-player-extraordinare’ she was wrongly infatuated with.
The girl shrugged.
“Well, I can tell you now he is not worth your time. For one, you’re a brunette, he’s probably gonna cheat on you with a blonde, big breasted stunner but that’s okay ‘cause you can do soo much better, I mean,” she pointed to a blonde haired guy stood in a corner politely looking around. “Now he’s your man. Cute, but in that intelligent sort of way and looking oh so bored. His friends probably dragged him here but this is his lucky night if I have anything to do with it, which I do ’cause I’m talking to you - a wait, that rhymes,” she laughed, “Anyway, I’m telling you, I’m good with these things if you do anything tonight, talk to that guy.”
Without waiting for the girl to reply or react, Liz turned her attention to the bar. “Line ‘em up!”, she shouted.
“No problem,” said Chad, her bartender for the night. She loved the fact that Dave was loaded enough to have four bartenders tending a free bar and she was enjoying the benefits immensely. She and Chad a partnership, he dished out the shots of apple sourz, martinis, zambruca and vodka and she drank them. Leaning against the bar table for support, she drank every shot, one after another and she felt great. Everything was brighter, funnier, she had no concerns and worries.
There was just one more need to take care of and that was the need to dance. The music with its thudding hypnotic baseline was calling to her.
Evan suddenly appeared next to her. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” he asked.
Liz rolled her eyes. He was so sweet. She slammed her shot glass on the table and turned to him.
“You know what? You might be known as a dog to the female population of Roswell High Evan,” she lifted her arm and poked his chest with her finger, “but you are a very sweet guy.”
He shook his head in disbelief, he had seen many of his fellow students in the drunken state Liz was in, but it was a state he had never dreamt of finding her in.
“Thanks but I think-”
“And you’re upfront with the ladies, they know what they’re getting into and that’s cool but me, I had no idea. I mean Czechoslovakians and all, I mean, who is prepared for that?! and that‘s just a code word I‘m telling you,” her voice was rising to a level of hysteria and anger.
Evan looked around him anxiously looking for somewhere quiet to take her to calm down.
“Liz,” he took her hand pulling her along, trying to get her outside,” I think that-”.
She pulled her hand away and returned to her ranting.“ I mean, they take over your life and like inflict all this pain on you.” She paused and took a breath and to Evan’s surprise when he thought she would turn on him and hit him, she instead flashed him a bright smile. “But, I am soo totally over that now. I mean, I feel good, no pain, it’s great. I am doing this more often.”
Her eyes adopted a mischievous glint. “You wanna know a secret Evan, one nobody in this whole wide world knows about me?” she asked giggling.
Evan couldn’t help but be curious, drinking was like a truth serum and if Liz wanted to get something off her chest, she was more than welcome to.
“Ahh, you know you want to,” she teased him. Using her index finger, she beckoned him to come closer. Evan complied.
“I. Saved. The world.,” she said and a bright triumphant smile spread across her lips. “How about that huh? Bet you didn’t know that about me did you?” she asked.
Evan shook his head. She was totally trashed and making nonsensical statements. “No Liz, I didn’t.”
“You know what?!” she said suddenly, her forceful tone momentarily shocked him, “I think I have had enough to drink for now. Let’s dance.” Without waiting for his reply, she took his hand and led him to the dancing area.
The familiar chords of “It’s My Party” by Fabulous reached her ears and Liz went wild. She raised her hands in the air with delight.
“This is my parttyyy,” she sang. Turning to face Evan, she closed her eyes, drowning in the intoxicating rhythm of the song, she let her hips, arms and body do as they pleased.
Evan had to pick up his jaw from the ground.
Who the hell knew that Parker could dance like that?
His eyes grew wide as their bodies touched.
Who knew that Liz Parker could grind like a pro? He thought amazed but without complaint. She was having fun and so was he.
Besides, of all the people she could be dancing with, I’m the safe bet ‘cause I’m only in it for the dance, he thought to himself.
Liz opened her eyes, loving the way Evan felt pressed against her, his hands felt great and in her state of intoxication, she imagined them to belong to the only boy who ever had her heart.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Pam Troy dancing with Tony Edmonds, who was moderately cute.
Payback is a bitch, she thought mischievously.
She quickly excused herself from Evan and sauntered over to the couple. Slowly, she started dancing around them, then she caught Tony’s eye and kept it as she continued her sensual movements.
She changed tactic and started dancing behind him, she smiled as she felt him tense at their initial body contact. She knew he wanted her, and the moment she felt his hand quickly pat her ass, she knew she had him. A second later, he stepped away from Pam and turned to join her. Liz looked past him at Pam’s outraged expression.
Her job was done.
Moving away from a surprised Tony, she brushed past Pam, but not before telling her a home truth. “See Pam, I can have anyone you have and even better than that. I just don’t bother.”
Liz felt powerful and sexy as she made her way back to Evan. “Sorry about that,” she said as they resumed dancing, “had to take care of something.”
He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.
Liz smiled. Tonight, she thought blissfully, I’m not worried about anything.
****
****
The instant they entered David’s party, Evan saw Liz’s mood change. In the car ride, she had been quiet, kind of focused, like she was on a mission. Which he guessed she was, she wanted to party. He knew about her break up with Max Evans and about her fling with Kyle, he figured that she needed to blow off steam. His eyes travelled up her petite frame.
And with the way she’s looking tonight, she’s gonna blow off a lot of steam.
She was wearing a knee length black skirt, which would have been conservative except for the two slits on either side of her thigh which stopped just below her ass. Her hair complimented her dark red transparent top in which all she had was a black lacy bra.
There was no doubt about it, to Evan and the other hot-blooded males they walked past, Liz Parker was hot property.
And of all people she could have picked to bring her here, she picked me.
Evan couldn’t help but feel honoured.
He placing his hand on the small of her back, he protectively led her through the crowd.
“Hey!!!, welcome,” the drunken Ned Drew offered them both cups of beer, “want a drink?”
Liz grabbed it immediately, after a quick thanks and to Evan’s surprise, she downed it in one go.
“Is there a bar with stronger stuff here?” she asked.
“Yep,” Ned directed her, “right through there.”
“Thanks,” she said. She turned to him, “I gotta go-”
“Liz, I-”
She took his hand, squeezed it and flashed him a brilliant smile. “I’ll save you a dance,” and with that she went in search of the bar.
Evan stood still conflicted as whether to follow her or let her go. He liked and respected Liz, he didn’t want her to do anything she might regret when sober, but then again, she seemed to know what she was doing.
She’s a big girl, he decided. I’ll just check on her later.
In the meantime, He had business of the female kind to attend to. He spotted a hot blonde alone in the corner and decided to introduce himself to her.
****
“I am a hot, good looking girl!“ she told the girl standing next to her whose name she didn‘t know, “I don’t need him. He should be begging for me.“
The girl smiled politely and turned her gaze towards a guy over Liz’s shoulder. Liz followed her gaze, sized him up and turned to her.
“Is that your guy?” she asked.
The girl shook her head and blushed.
“You just like him don’t you?” she asked with a look of understanding. She could see so much of herself in the girl that she took it upon herself to save her the pain and heartache that was sure to follow with the ‘leech-player-extraordinare’ she was wrongly infatuated with.
The girl shrugged.
“Well, I can tell you now he is not worth your time. For one, you’re a brunette, he’s probably gonna cheat on you with a blonde, big breasted stunner but that’s okay ‘cause you can do soo much better, I mean,” she pointed to a blonde haired guy stood in a corner politely looking around. “Now he’s your man. Cute, but in that intelligent sort of way and looking oh so bored. His friends probably dragged him here but this is his lucky night if I have anything to do with it, which I do ’cause I’m talking to you - a wait, that rhymes,” she laughed, “Anyway, I’m telling you, I’m good with these things if you do anything tonight, talk to that guy.”
Without waiting for the girl to reply or react, Liz turned her attention to the bar. “Line ‘em up!”, she shouted.
“No problem,” said Chad, her bartender for the night. She loved the fact that Dave was loaded enough to have four bartenders tending a free bar and she was enjoying the benefits immensely. She and Chad a partnership, he dished out the shots of apple sourz, martinis, zambruca and vodka and she drank them. Leaning against the bar table for support, she drank every shot, one after another and she felt great. Everything was brighter, funnier, she had no concerns and worries.
There was just one more need to take care of and that was the need to dance. The music with its thudding hypnotic baseline was calling to her.
Evan suddenly appeared next to her. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” he asked.
Liz rolled her eyes. He was so sweet. She slammed her shot glass on the table and turned to him.
“You know what? You might be known as a dog to the female population of Roswell High Evan,” she lifted her arm and poked his chest with her finger, “but you are a very sweet guy.”
He shook his head in disbelief, he had seen many of his fellow students in the drunken state Liz was in, but it was a state he had never dreamt of finding her in.
“Thanks but I think-”
“And you’re upfront with the ladies, they know what they’re getting into and that’s cool but me, I had no idea. I mean Czechoslovakians and all, I mean, who is prepared for that?! and that‘s just a code word I‘m telling you,” her voice was rising to a level of hysteria and anger.
Evan looked around him anxiously looking for somewhere quiet to take her to calm down.
“Liz,” he took her hand pulling her along, trying to get her outside,” I think that-”.
She pulled her hand away and returned to her ranting.“ I mean, they take over your life and like inflict all this pain on you.” She paused and took a breath and to Evan’s surprise when he thought she would turn on him and hit him, she instead flashed him a bright smile. “But, I am soo totally over that now. I mean, I feel good, no pain, it’s great. I am doing this more often.”
Her eyes adopted a mischievous glint. “You wanna know a secret Evan, one nobody in this whole wide world knows about me?” she asked giggling.
Evan couldn’t help but be curious, drinking was like a truth serum and if Liz wanted to get something off her chest, she was more than welcome to.
“Ahh, you know you want to,” she teased him. Using her index finger, she beckoned him to come closer. Evan complied.
“I. Saved. The world.,” she said and a bright triumphant smile spread across her lips. “How about that huh? Bet you didn’t know that about me did you?” she asked.
Evan shook his head. She was totally trashed and making nonsensical statements. “No Liz, I didn’t.”
“You know what?!” she said suddenly, her forceful tone momentarily shocked him, “I think I have had enough to drink for now. Let’s dance.” Without waiting for his reply, she took his hand and led him to the dancing area.
The familiar chords of “It’s My Party” by Fabulous reached her ears and Liz went wild. She raised her hands in the air with delight.
“This is my parttyyy,” she sang. Turning to face Evan, she closed her eyes, drowning in the intoxicating rhythm of the song, she let her hips, arms and body do as they pleased.
Evan had to pick up his jaw from the ground.
Who the hell knew that Parker could dance like that?
His eyes grew wide as their bodies touched.
Who knew that Liz Parker could grind like a pro? He thought amazed but without complaint. She was having fun and so was he.
Besides, of all the people she could be dancing with, I’m the safe bet ‘cause I’m only in it for the dance, he thought to himself.
Liz opened her eyes, loving the way Evan felt pressed against her, his hands felt great and in her state of intoxication, she imagined them to belong to the only boy who ever had her heart.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Pam Troy dancing with Tony Edmonds, who was moderately cute.
Payback is a bitch, she thought mischievously.
She quickly excused herself from Evan and sauntered over to the couple. Slowly, she started dancing around them, then she caught Tony’s eye and kept it as she continued her sensual movements.
She changed tactic and started dancing behind him, she smiled as she felt him tense at their initial body contact. She knew he wanted her, and the moment she felt his hand quickly pat her ass, she knew she had him. A second later, he stepped away from Pam and turned to join her. Liz looked past him at Pam’s outraged expression.
Her job was done.
Moving away from a surprised Tony, she brushed past Pam, but not before telling her a home truth. “See Pam, I can have anyone you have and even better than that. I just don’t bother.”
Liz felt powerful and sexy as she made her way back to Evan. “Sorry about that,” she said as they resumed dancing, “had to take care of something.”
He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.
Liz smiled. Tonight, she thought blissfully, I’m not worried about anything.
****