Roswell Fanatics

Part 21






Michael pulled into a parking place and shut the car off. He had made it to the market by now, but he had a bad feeling about being there. He wished he hadn’t left Maria behind with Max.

Maria’s fine, Michael reminded himself. She’s perfectly fine.

He started to get out of the car, but something stopped him. It was just some kind of inner feeling that was telling him something that he couldn’t block out.

Go back.

Michael started the car back up and hurried home, breaking all of the posted speed limits. He knew he was probably overreacting. He knew that Maria was probably fine. But still . . .

He hurried home, ready for the inevitable humiliation he would feel when he found out that nothing was wrong in the DeLuca household.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Stop! Please, don’t do this, Max!”

Max didn’t seem to hear her. He had his hands placed on her chest now, and he was kneading her breasts through her shirt. “Clothes,” he muttered. “Just clothes. Once we get rid of ‘em, it’s just skin. Just your skin. Just my skin. Just sex.”

She started to scream, hoping that someone would hear her, but he clamped his hand down over her mouth, silencing her. “Don’t make noise,” he told her. “It won’t hurt. Much.” With that, he tore her shirt in half. Maria could hear it ripping, and she felt the cool air hit her stomach.

“Clothes,” he kept muttering, ridding her of her shirt entirely. “We just need to get rid of all of the clothes.” He lifted his own shirt over his head and then grabbed one of her hands. He forced her to run her hands over his chest, even though she struggled. “This is just perfect, isn’t it?” he asked her, grinning.

“I hate you!” she shouted violently when he removed his hand. “You have to force me to do this because there’s no way I’d let you touch me voluntarily!”

“Maria,” he said, placing his hands at the button on her jeans. “Your fighting only turns me on.”

She tried to push him away as he undid the button to her jeans, but she once again failed. She started to cry and scream some more, and Max continued to smile in pleasure.

“Please don’t,” she whispered when she could cry and scream no more. “Somebody . . . help me. Please . . .”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Everything looked completely normal when Michael pulled into the driveway, and he mentally chided himself for being so protective. Obviously nothing was wrong. But still . . . that inner feeling wouldn’t shut up until he went inside and checked everything out.

He got out of the car and went inside. He looked around and didn’t see Maria or Max. He headed back out to the pool, thinking that they might be swimming. They weren’t out there, either. He figured that they might have gone out for a walk or something. Something romantic like that. That’s what couples did.

As Michael was heading back to the front door, he heard something. It was a faint sound, but he could hear it. It was coming from upstairs. Crying. Maria’s crying.

Michael ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. The crying was loudest when he had reached the door to . . .

Maria’s bedroom.

He froze when he saw the sight inside. Maria was pinned beneath Max. He was holding her wrists together above her head and trying to slide her jeans down her hips as she struggled against him. Her shirt had already been torn apart.

As if sensing his presence, she glanced to the side and saw him through her tears. “Michael!” she cried.

Max stopped everything that he was doing and looked up. The minute he met Michael’s eyes, Michael felt the rage inside of him take him over.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you,” he said, charging forward. He knocked Max to the ground and curled his hands into fists. “I’m gonna kill you!” he shouted over and over as he hit him. “I’m gonna kill you!”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Max tried, blocking one of Michael’s punches. Michael didn’t believe him for a second. He grabbed his head and banged it into the wall behind him. He saw blood on Max’s face. He wanted to see more.

He couldn’t think. All he knew was that he didn’t want Max to breathe again. Ever.

“She likes it rough,” Max said in between punches. He started laughing, and that only made Michael hit him harder. All he wanted to do was hurt him.

As his anger intensified, the amount of blood grew. He couldn’t control himself.

“Michael, stop!”

A familiar voice broke him out of his enraged frenzy. Maria . . .

“Get out of here,” he ordered a beaten Max Evans. “If you lay a hand on her again, I swear to fuckin’ God, I will kill you.”

Max got to his feet and stumbled out of the room as fast as he could.

“Shirt,” Maria was saying quietly. “I need a shirt.”

Michael looked over at her. She was looking all over the tousled bed for her shirt. When she finally did find it, torn down the middle, she started to cry. Michael ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her. She threw her arms around him and held onto him tightly, crying heavily.

“I’m so cold,” she whimpered. She was shivering in his arms. “I’m so cold, Michael.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her, holding her tighter. “It’s okay.”

She continued to cry. Her body was shaking, causing his to shake as he held her. “I never should have left you alone with him,” Michael said, immediately blaming himself. “I’m so sorry, Maria.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said through tears.

“I should have been here.” Michael felt tears welling up in his own eyes. How could he let this happen to her, to Maria . . . to the girl he loved.

When her crying seemed to lessen slightly, he asked her quietly, “Do you think we should report this?”

“No!” she answered immediately, her head shooting up so that she could look at him. “No we can’t! No one else can ever know about this! Ever!”

He didn’t understand. “Maria . . .”

“Please, Michael,” she begged. “Don’t tell anybody. I don’t want them to know. Please, just don’t tell anybody.”

Although he didn’t agree with her solution, he respected it. “Fine, I won’t tell anybody.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He hugged her to him again as a few last minute sobs wracked her body. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Maria,” he said, stroking her hair.

“I know,” she said. “I’m gonna be okay. I just need to . . . what is it that we say?”

“Shake it off,” he reminded her.

She nodded. “Shake it off. That’s what I need to do.”

Michael had the feeling that sexual assault wasn’t the type of thing that you just shook off.

She was so un-Maria-like. The girl in his arms was so terrified.

“Everything’s okay now,” he told her again.

She nodded in agreement, obviously holding back tears. “I think I just need to go take a shower,” she said, gradually moving out of his arms. He didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to hold her forever. She slowly made her way into the bathroom, trembling and shivering. So cold.

Michael didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t good at this kind of thing. He didn’t know how to comfort people. He didn’t know how to take care of people. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, supposed to do.

The first thing he did was clean up the few drops of Max’s blood that had landed on Maria’s carpet. Michael was surprised that it was only a few drops. He had been so angry, and he had wanted to hurt Max so badly, to kill him.

Rage did that to him, but he had never been as enraged as he had been just a short time ago when he had found Max trying to . . .

Just as Michael got the blood cleaned up, he heard a car pull up outside. He looked out the window. It was the Mercedes. Amy and Jim were home for the night, earlier than Michael had expected. He wasn’t sure if having them home was a good thing or not. If Jim made any jackass comments tonight, Maria was gonna break.

They were laughing when they came inside. Michael could hear them all the way upstairs. They were having such a wonderful night.

“How was the banquet?” Michael asked as he made his way downstairs.

“It was fun,” Amy said. “Lots of good food. Fun people.”

“Sounds fun,” Michael agreed.

“Did you find anything to eat around here?” Amy asked. “I’m sorry. I know that I haven’t been out to the market very much lately. I’m just so busy.”

“I was gonna head out to get some stuff,” Michael explained, “but I, uh . . . I never got around to it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria heard voices when she got out of the shower. She got dressed quickly and made her way downstairs slowly. She saw that her parents were home. They were talking to Michael.

She wondered if he would tell them everything that had happened. She couldn’t take it if they knew. They would give her all of these weird looks. They would check her into a rehabilitation clinic or something when that would never help her.

“What did you and Maria do tonight?” Amy asked, hanging up her coat in the closet.

“Uh . . .” Michael hesitated. Maria started to panic, thinking that he was going to tell. “We just had another Will and Grace marathon,” he replied finally. “You know. The usual.”

Maria breathed a sigh of relief, and her parents noticed her on the stairs for the first time. “What’s wrong with you?” Jim asked. He didn’t sound concerned. “You look awful.”

Maria lowered her gaze, unable to look him in the eyes.

“She’s just kinda tired,” Michael said. “And so am I. Those Will and Grace marathons can really wear you out.”

“Oh, yeah, sitting in front of the TV for hours. Sounds exhausting,” Jim commented.

“Maria, are you okay?” Amy asked, slightly more concerned than Jim. “You don’t look well.”

“It’s ‘cause I’m tired,” Maria said. Her voice was hoarse from all of the crying. “I think I’m just gonna go to bed.” She turned and headed up the stairs, slowly making her way down the hallway.

Before she entered her bedroom, she flashed onto a memory of what had taken place just a short time ago. Max. Violent. Saying things about skin. Her skin. How he wanted it.

She pushed the memory away and headed into her bedroom, trying not to notice the darker patch of carpet by the wall where she was sure Michael had just washed blood out.

She closed her door and made her way to her unmade bed. She got in and pulled the covers up to her neck, curling up in the fetal position. She closed her eyes but did not go to sleep. She kept thinking about how naive she had been. How could she have let herself believe that Max had changed overnight into a whole new person, into an understanding person.

A short time later, she heard a knock on her door. “It’s me,” Michael said from the other side. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

He opened the door slowly and stepped inside slowly. His eyes immediately went to the darker patch of carpet, too, but he looked away fast. “I brought you a sandwich,” he said, holding up a plate. “Peanut butter and jelly. I know how much you love that.” He set the sandwich down on the table beside her bed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I don’t even know if you’re hungry,” he said. “I just thought that you might . . .” He trailed off and shrugged. “I don’t know. You probably just want me to leave you alone. I’ll go.” He started for the door.

“Don’t go,” she told him quietly.

He turned around and met her eyes.

“Could you stay in here tonight?” she asked him. She felt like a weak, pitiful child asking that of him. Maybe because she was. “I just would feel better if . . . just tonight . . . if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” he said. He sat down on the edge of the bed, but he didn’t make any move to lay down beside her. He was most likely worried that he would frighten her if he got too close. Michael was the only person Maria could feel comfortable being close to at that time.

“Maria, can I ask you something?”

She nodded mutely.

“You don’t have to answer. I was just wondering . . . has Max . . . has he ever done anything like that to you before?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s never . . . this was the only time.” She found herself looking at the darkened carpet again, going through what had happened in her mind. “He said it takes a lot of patience to put up with me,” she told Michael. “He said he was only putting up with me to . . . you know.”

“He’s full of shit, Maria. You know that.”

Maria sighed, feeling tears sting her eyes. She refused to let them fall. She couldn’t waste her time and energy crying over this. “I’d be lying if I said I never thought this would happen to me,” she admitted. “But I just didn’t know that it would be with Max. That it would be so soon. But I knew it would happen. I should’ve been ready, but I wasn’t. I’m just this little innocent blonde girl.”

Michael shook his head in disagreement. “No, you’re not. You’re so much more than you know, Maria.”

Having Michael with her, talking to him . . . things seemed a little easier. She sat up and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Michael,” she said.

“For what?” He didn’t seem to understand where her gratitude was coming from.

“For getting Max away from me, for being here now. For everything, Michael.”

He ran his hands up and down her back, and she felt some of her tension and pain dissipate. She buried her face in his shoulder and started to cry some more. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”





TBC...

An extra long part due to my lack-of-updating yesterday.






Michael awoke slowly the next morning, realizing immediately that he was in Maria’s bed. He reached over to make sure she was beside him, but he didn’t feel her. He heard her rummaging through her closet, and he relaxed, knowing that she was okay. When he forced his tired eyes open, he saw her standing in front of her full-length mirror, holding up clothes in front of her.

“You’re up early,” he commented.

“I’m stressing about what to wear,” she admitted, holding up a yellow halter in front of her.

“I’d offer my opinion, but I don’t think I’m much help.”

She didn’t disagree with him. She moved the yellow halter out of the way and held up a large grey sweatshirt.

“Is that my sweatshirt?” he asked her.

She nodded. “I like it. Except for the fact that it says METALLICA ROCKS on the front. It’s comfortable. And conservative.”

“Oh,” Michael said, understanding why she was stressing. “I get what this is about.”

“I just don’t know what I should wear,” she said. “I can’t wear the wrong thing after what happened last night.”

“What exactly is the wrong thing, Maria?”

She put the sweatshirt and yellow halter down and picked up a pair of jeans and a short yellow skirt. “I don’t know,” she said. “Should I wear something conservative?” She held up the jeans and took a look at Michael’s grey sweatshirt. “Or should I wear what I usually wear?” She held up her yellow skirt and looked at the matching halter. “I just don’t know.”

Michael wanted to see Maria in the yellow outfit. He knew it was wrong, but even after what happened, he couldn’t stop his affections for her from radiating throughout his body. He couldn’t stop his heart from pounding when she cried in his arms.

“I think I should wear the yellow skirt and halter,” she finally decided, discarding the jeans by the sweatshirt. “I think normalcy is the way to go here.”

“I think you’re right,” Michael agreed, not at all disappointed in her decision.

“I can just bring your sweatshirt along so that I put it on if I want to.” She nodded, pleased with her decision, and headed into the bathroom to change, muttering something about how she hated that Max’s actions affected her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“The invitations are just gonna be great. There’s gonna be this golden border on them framing a black and white picture of me and Alex.”

Maria’s mind was too cluttered to even try to comprehend any of what Isabel was saying at lunch that day. She wanted to be able to listen to her friend and ask her questions, but she couldn’t separate her thoughts from Isabel’s words.

A few of Isabel’s words did push their way through Maria’s complicated mind, though. She heard them clearly. “Where’s Max today?”

“Max?” Maria echoed, trying to sound like she didn’t know what Isabel was talking about.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him all day,” Isabel said, searching around the lunch room.

“I don’t know where Max is,” Maria lied. She had a pretty good reason to believe that he was hiding at home. She suddenly wished she were sitting closer to Michael, and she resisted the urge to slide over more to be closer to him.

“Is he sick?” Isabel asked. “Does he have the flu, ‘cause I’ve heard that’s going around.”

“I-I don’t know,” she said. “Max and I . . . aren’t together anymore. We broke up last night.” She met Michael’s eyes for an instance and was relieved to find that he didn’t look like he was going to say anything.

“You broke up?” Isabel echoed. “Why?”

Maria struggled to stay strong as she remembered the feel of Max’s rough hands on her tiny body. “We just did,” she said. “It wasn’t working out.”

“Why didn’t you call me? We need to talk about it.”

“No, Isabel, I---” Maria felt herself weakening. She felt her hands start to shake and tears start to well up in her eyes. “I can’t talk about this.” She stared at the floor, unable to look up and let her friends see the sadness in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Isabel apologized. “I didn’t mean to . . . I’m sorry. We’ll talk about something else.”

The bell rang, and Maria eagerly grabbed her uneaten lunch and stood up. “Bell rang. I better get to class,” she said in a rush. She hurried away from the table to the nearest trash can and disposed of her lunch, then made her way to the bathroom to collect herself before her next class.

She felt better in her next class, but she still wished that Michael were there. She wanted his arms wrapped around her. She wanted him to tell her that everything was going to be okay. She felt so safe when she was with him, and she didn’t feel that way with anyone else.

The teacher was taking attendance, and when she got to Max’s name, Maria flinched. “Max Evans?” she asked, searching the large class for the student. “Does anybody know where Max Evans is today?”

Maria felt all eyes in the classroom turn to look at her as if she were expected to answer, expected to know. “Miss DeLuca,” the teacher said, “Do you know if Max is here today?”

Maria shifted around uncomfortably. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know where he is.”

It was like this for the rest of the day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Let’s call it a night,” Maria suggested eagerly that night after school. The members of the Gold Rush team agreed with her and scurried off to the locker rooms in a hurry to change back into their street clothes after a grueling practice.

“Can I get a ride home with you tonight?” Maria asked a friend of hers named Tamyra.

“Parents still aren’t lettin’ you drive?”

“Not exactly,” she said.

“Girl, that sucks. That’s aight, though. Meet me out at my car.” Tamyra grabbed her things and headed out into the parking lot, not bothering to change back into her street clothes like the other girls. Maria went into the locker room and changed back into the yellow skirt and halter that constituted normalcy and took her hair out of her ponytail. She ran a comb through it and sprayed some perfume. She glanced at herself in the mirror, noticing how tired she looked. She hated looking that way.

On her way out to the parking lot, Maria ran into Liz in the hallway. “Liz, what are you still doing here?” she asked. She didn’t really care, but it was odd to see Liz still at school at 7:00 at night. Wasn’t 7:00 like the girl’s curfew?

“I was looking for you, actually. I knew you had your little dance practice, so I waited until you got done.”

“Okay . . . why were you looking for me?”

Liz’s childish face took on a stern expression. Her arms crossed over her chest in a gesture of disapproval. “I just wanted to tell you, I think that what you did to Max was really classless.”

“What?” Maria echoed in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb,” Liz said, “although that shouldn’t be too hard.” Maria resisted the urge to insult Liz royally and let the other girl continue. “My brother told me about what happened,” Liz went on. “He told me about the way you threw yourself on him last night.”

“What?!” Maria couldn’t hide her outrage. “He told you that? He’s such a liar! Liz, I didn’t throw myself on him! He threw himself on me!”

“Yeah, like I really believe that.”

“He tried to sexually assault me, Liz!”

Liz rolled her eyes. “You are so transparent. I can tell you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Max told me how desperate you were.” Liz continued to ignore Maria’s side of the story. “You’re lucky he was too much of a gentleman to take advantage of you in your needy state.”

Maria could hardly speak. “Do you really believe any of that, Liz?”

She nodded, certain. “I’ve always known you’re nothing more than a stupid, low-life, whore, Maria. I guess last night you just proved that.”

“Your brother is full of shit, Liz! None of that happened!”

“Shut up!” Liz told her. “I don’t wanna hear what you have to say! God, you’re so low! I can’t believe you would resort to physical violence to try to sleep with my brother!”

“Physical violence? What? What are you talking about?” Maria couldn’t believe all of the lies that Max had told Liz, and she couldn’t believe that the girl had actually fallen for them.

“He told me how he got so beat up,” Liz explained. “He was defending himself from you.”

“He was not.”

“Then how did he get like that? Hmm? Tell me, Maria.”

She couldn’t tell. That part of the story wasn’t hers to tell.

“That’s what I thought,” Liz said, satisfied when Maria didn’t give her an answer. “Listen, I’m not gonna tell anybody about what you did. Max doesn’t want anybody to know. He’s too much of a gentleman to ruin your reputation.” With a devilish smirk, she pushed past Maria and headed out to the parking lot.

“Bitch,” Maria muttered, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe all of the lies Max had told his sister. She couldn’t believe they would ever be thought of as the truth.

Blowing off her homework altogether, Maria clutched Michael’s grey Metallica sweatshirt and her purse to her chest. She made it out to the parking lot in time to find Liz taking off in Max’s car, and Tamyra following her.

“I gotta get home right now, girl!” Tamyra called. “Sorry!” Tamyra pulled out into traffic, leaving Maria in a completely deserted parking lot all by herself. She looked around, hoping to find somebody else, but she didn’t. She knew that a few teachers might have stayed after, but she didn’t want to go home with them.

Maria took out her cell phone, thinking about calling Michael, but she didn’t. He had done enough for her already. She didn’t want to be a burden to him. She could walk home. It wasn’t that far.

Long Beach was different at night. It was almost frightening to Maria, now. She was all alone. She had never been out at night all alone before. She had always gone with her friends or her parents. She suddenly felt so vulnerable.

She passed homeless people who tried to grab her purse. She passed drug addicts who tried to sell to her. She passed many men whose eyes lingered on her.

“Lookin’ good, baby!” one of them called.

“How about a lap dance?” another suggested.

Maria tried to block out their voices, and she slipped Michael’s grey sweatshirt over her head when she was halfway home.

It took her longer than she thought it would to get home. It had taken her at least forty-five minutes. She completely regretted not calling someone to come and get her. She was cold and tired and she felt completely alone and unsafe.

Relief washed over her when she finally did make it home. She relaxed when she saw that the Mercedes wasn’t in the driveway. Her parents were most likely not home.

She leaned against the front door, feeling the warmth and safety emanating from the inside. She heard Michael inside cheering on his favorite hockey team, and she smiled.

Michael . . .

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael heard the door open and was relieved when Maria walked inside. It was late. Later than it usually was when her after school practices got done. He had been about fifteen minutes away from going to get her.

“I have had the worst day,” she announced, tossing her purse on the couch carelessly. She pressed her hands against the door, looking as if she was supporting herself. She looked so tired.

Michael turned off the television and got up, not saying anything. The only sound created was the sound of the fireplace, and he knew Maria would like that. Quiet was good for her. She would sound off when she wanted to, and he would listen.

He went up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. He thought for a brief moment that his touch might scare her, but it didn’t. Maria responded to touch. She understood it. At least, she understood his touch.

“Come here,” he said quietly. He sat down in his favorite chair, pulling her down with him to sit on his lap. She snuggled up into him, placing her arms around his neck and burying her head in his chest. He didn’t want to let himself think that this was anything more than it was, but he couldn’t resist imagining that she was his girlfriend and he was holding the way he dreamed of holding her.

“The whole day, people kept asking me where Max was and why he wasn’t at school,” she told him. “I wanted them to stop asking me so much. Every time they said his name, I felt like I was going to throw up.”

“That’s a nice visual.”

“Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. I just hated it.”

“Yeah.”

“And then after practice got over today,” she continued, “I came out of the locker room and ran into Liz in the hallway.”

“This can’t be good,” Michael said. He knew just by the mention of Liz that it couldn’t be good.

“It wasn’t,” Maria told him. “She told me . . . she told me she thought that what I did to Max was really low and classless.”

“What?” Michael wasn’t sure if he had heard her right.

“Max told her lies,” she explained. “He told her all these lies and she believes every single one of them. He told her that I forced myself on him and that he was too much of a gentleman to take advantage of me in my desperate state.”

Michael shook his head in disbelief. He wanted to kill Max Evans so bad in that moment, or at least hurt him. The guy deserved it. He deserved worse than that.

“Gentleman,” Maria repeated with a sarcastic chuckle. “Yeah, right.”

Michael ran his hands up and down her back, hoping that maybe he could relieve some of her tension. She relaxed more and snuggled deeper into him. “What else did she say?” he asked her.

She shrugged as best she could in her current position. “Just more lies. I guess Max told her that he got, um . . .” She trailed off, but he knew what she was trying to say.

“Beat up,” he finished for her. “It’s fine. You can say it.” What he did to Max didn’t really bother him. What Max did to Maria did.

“Right,” she said. “Beat up. He told her he got beat up defending himself from me.”

Michael couldn’t believe it. The story was complete crap, and Liz thought it was all true. “I can’t get over the fact that she believes him,” he said, running his hands through her hair. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. She didn’t seem to want him to.

“He’s her brother. She’s an idiot. I don’t think she really has a choice.”

Michael chuckled.

“She said some things, though,” Maria continued, serious again. “Things that made me just want to slap her. And Max. I don’t know how you can put up with her, Michael.”

“Hopefully she’ll stay away from us now and I won’t have to.”

“Hopefully.” Maria took in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “I hate Liz,” she said. “She made me miss my ride.”

“Your ride?”

“My ride home after school. I was talking with Liz, and Tamyra, who’s supposed to be my friend, took off without me. So I had to walk all the way home.”

So that’s why she had been so late. “Why didn’t you call me?” he inquired. “I would’ve come to get you.”

“I thought about it,” she admitted, “but I didn’t wanna be a burden.”

“You’re not a burden.”

“Well it didn’t really seem like it would be that far. But then I got going and I realized it was.”

“If your parents had taught you how to drive, you wouldn’t have this problem,” Michael said. Sometimes, it felt nice to join the Jim and Amy bashing club that Maria had created some time ago.

“Yeah, really,” she agreed.

He looked down and saw that her eyes were falling closed. “I’m just so glad to be home,” she said, trailing one of her hands down his chest. “I’m so tired.”

“Just go to sleep,” he told her. He had no problem with her falling asleep in his arms.

“You’re so warm,” she whispered as sleep moved closer to her. “So warm.”

A short time later, she was asleep. Her lips parted slightly and her breathing slowed. Her body seemed to automatically calm, and Michael couldn’t bring himself to move her out of his arms, so he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. He laid her in the bed, careful not to jar her, and he noticed for the first time as he pulled the sheets up to cover her that she was wearing his sweatshirt. He decided he would let her keep it. It looked so much better on her than it ever would on him.

He thought about kissing her forehead or her cheek, but he stopped himself. Even a tiny kiss like that would leave him wanting more, and he couldn’t risk that his want would ruin what he had with Maria already. He left the room with an undeniable urge to kiss her, but he held back.

Michael knew he wasn’t ready to go to bed. It wasn’t extremely late yet, and he had something that he wanted to do, someone that he wanted to talk to.

He hated leaving Maria alone, but she was asleep and wouldn’t even know he was gone, so he grabbed the keys to the Taurus and headed out, making the short trip to the Evans’ house. The house was not eventful like it usually was. There was no big party. There wasn’t even a small party. There were a few lights on and no audible sounds. No excitement.

Michael knocked on the door impatiently, not caring who answered. If it was Max, he would beat him up some more. If it was Liz, he would tell her off.

It was Liz. A huge smile came across her face when she saw Michael, and she squealed with delight. “Hi, Michael!” she exclaimed, trying to hug him. He backed away before she could. “You wanna come in?” she asked him.

“No,” he answered. “I wanna talk to you. Outside.”

“Okay.” She seemed confused, but she didn’t seem to mind. She closed the door and stepped outside. “Talk. That’s good. My parents will never know what we’re really doing.” She placed her hands on his chest and made a move to kiss him, but he pushed her away.

“Get off of me,” he told her. “I didn’t come here to do that. I never would.”

A flash of hurt appeared in her eyes, but it was gone almost as fast as it had shown up, and she was the cheerful idiot girl again.

“I came here to talk about Maria,” he said.

Liz rolled her eyes at Maria’s name. “Did she run home and tell you about our little confrontation after school?”

“Actually she walked home,” he said. “Missed her ride.”

Liz shrugged. “I don’t care. She doesn’t matter Michael. All that matters is you and me.”

“No, she does matter,” Michael said. “To me. She matters to me a lot. And when she told me that you believe all those lies Max told you, I was pretty pissed off. At you and Max both.”

“At me?” Liz seemed shocked. “Why?”

“‘Cause I don’t understand how you can possibly believe all the lies your brother told you about what happened last night.”

“They’re not lies!” Liz insisted. “Michael, it’s totally typical of Maria to throw herself on a guy like that.”

“Shut up!” Michael told her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! I do! I was there, Liz! Max was trying to . . .”

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

“I got there and I beat him up. Not Maria. Do you really think she could do that?”

“She’s making you say this,” Liz said more to herself than to him. “I know she’s making you say this!”

“No, she’s not. I’m saying this. I’m saying this ‘cause it’s true, and ‘cause I want to. I don’t like Max. I don’t like you. I never did.”

“You’re not saying this!” Liz shouted. “She is! That bitch is making you say this!”

Michael grabbed her by the shoulders, holding onto her violently. “Don’t ever call her that again,” he said. “Don’t ever talk to her again, and make sure Max stays the fuck away from her, or I’ll make it my number one priority to rearrange his fuckin’ face.”

Liz started crying. “Why are you being like this, Michael?” she asked, squirming out of his grasp.

“I’m just setting things straight. Maria’s the victim here. Max hurt her. I hurt Max. It’s not a hard concept.”

Liz shook her head, refusing to believe him. “None of that’s true. I believe Max.”

Michael threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “You’re hopeless, Liz! You’re obsessive and you’re stupid and you’re crazy if you think that I ever wanted anything to do with you!” He knew he was being harsh, but he didn’t care.

“No, Michael. That isn’t true.” She reached out to touch him, but he stepped away.

“Just stop,” he told her. “You and Max just stay away from me and Maria. Forever.” He turned and left, ignoring her desperate cries of what she thought was love. He got back in his car and drove home, more than angry with Max and Liz. He hoped this was the last time that he ever had to deal with either of them.

Amy and Jim were just getting out of the car when he got back. “Hi, Michael,” Amy said. “Were you out?”

“Yeah. Just went out for a drive,” he lied. He waited for them to ask him where Maria was, but they never did, so he told them. “Maria’s sleeping.” Neither parent seemed to hear him. They were too busy talking and laughing about their evening.

Michael went inside and headed upstairs. He thought about going to sleep in Maria’s room, but he didn’t want to risk waking her up, so he settled for a short glance into her bedroom. She was laying the way he had left her, sleeping peacefully. Just looking at her made all of Michael’s rage disappear, only to be replaced by a feeling that he knew was known as love.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael was downstairs eating breakfast the next day when Maria came bounding down the stairs. She looked strangely cheerful, and he couldn’t hide his confusion. Just a few hours ago, she had been telling him about her awful day.

“You look like you’re feeling well,” Michael commented.

“I am,” she agreed. “I slept good last night. And I had, like, this inspiration last night, Michael.” She sat down at the table beside him. “We should take a road trip!”

“A road trip?”

She nodded excitedly. “Not now, but after graduation. We should go all over the country. Vegas and Miami and New York and Chicago and Seattle. We should go to Hawaii. Of course, that’s not really a place you can take a road to, but we can extend our road trip to include a plane trip. What do you think?”

Hawaii was sticking out in his mind. Hawaii meant swimming. Swimming meant Maria in her bikini. That was good stuff. “Just you and me?” he asked her.

“Just you and me.”

“That does sound good,” he agreed. Holy shit, that sounded more than good.

She smiled excitedly. “It’ll be fun.”

He nodded in agreement. “So this was an inspiration, huh?’

“Not the only inspiration,” she said. “I had another inspiration. Wanna hear it?”

“Sure.” He tried to sound uninterested, but if this inspiration was anything like her first one, it was definitely something worth hearing.

“I’m not gonna date anybody ever again,” she announced.

Michael almost choked on his cereal. “Oh. Wow,” he said. “That’s, uh . . . anybody?”

“That’s right. No more dates with anybody.”

“Ever?” He could hear the horror in his voice.

“Ever.”

Her first inspiration had been much more appealing to him.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said.

“Yeah,” he lied in agreement, “but what if you meet somebody someday, or what if you already know somebody who really cares about you and really wants to be with you for the right reasons?”

She thought it over for a minute, and then she burst out laughing, hitting him playfully on the arm. “Yeah, right. Like that’s ever gonna happen.” She got up to get her own breakfast, and his eyes lingered on her. He didn’t say anything to her, but he knew that it had already happened.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

March was surprisingly nice. In spite of the whole Max thing, Maria enjoyed herself. She pushed all thoughts of Max to the back of her mind and managed to not freak out when she passed him in the halls. Liz had stopped obsessing over Michael, and Maria didn’t have to deal with her any more. She felt so much more carefree now that Max was out of her life, and even though her parents still weren’t making any big effort to be a part of her life, she didn’t let it bother her. She found that she was spending most of her time with Michael now that Isabel was consumed with her wedding. She went to parties and to clubs with Michael, and she even got him to dance with a few girls, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t able to hook him up with anyone.

Everything was going great. She and Michael were heading down the hallway to anatomy talking about what they were going to do on their road trip after graduation, and somebody tapped Maria on the shoulder. She spun around to see Billy Darden.

“Billy,” she said, wondering why he was standing there. They weren’t friends. He was an okay guy and everything, but he was a little too serious sometimes, and he was practically married to his guitar. And he was starting to hang out with Max more often these days.

“Hey, Maria,” he said. He noticed Michael. “Hey . . . um, Michael, right?”

Michael nodded. Maria was surprised that so many people still didn’t know who Michael was. It was a big school. It was very possible not to know everybody, but Michael was the kind of guy who made an impact, and with that hair of his, he was definitely recognizable. It was sad to think that most people only knew him as Maria’s stepbrother.

“So, Maria,” Billy said, “I know that every other guy has probably already asked, but would you go to the prom with me?”

“The prom?” Maria echoed. She had completely forgotten about prom.

Billy motioned to a poster hanging up on the wall in front of Maria. Maria glanced it over. “The Beat Goes On,” she read aloud. “Catchy little theme.”

“It is,” Billy agreed. “So, uh . . . what do you say? You wanna go?”

Maria turned her attention back to him. “No!” she exclaimed. She immediately felt bad. She hadn’t intended it to come out like that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so . . .”

“No, it’s okay,” Billy said. He started to stare at the floor, rejected.

“It’s just that I’m not going. With anybody.” It wasn’t a hard decision. Part of not dating anyone ever again meant that she wasn’t going to be going to the prom.

“That’s too bad,” Billy said. “I just thought I’d ask. But, hey, congratulations on being nominated.” He put on a weak smile and headed off down the hallway, not meeting Maria’s eyes.

“I was nominated?” God, where had she been?

Maria turned to look at the poster again. She felt everything that she had accomplished over the weeks start to slip away from her. The stress hit her at full force, and the sadness rained down on her to no end. She felt herself sinking back into her depressed state, and she didn’t feel like she could stop herself.

“You okay?” Michael asked.

“Yeah,” she lied. “We better get to class. Bell’s gonna ring.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked, leaning over so that he wasn’t too loud.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Maria replied. He could tell she was lying. She was keeping her eyes glued to Mr. Seligmen’s slide show presentation, and she never did that. They were boring as hell, and Maria wasn’t one for things that bored her.

“Maria, what’s wrong?” he repeated again, this time just slightly more forcefully.

She sighed, giving in. “It’s just the prom,” she said.

“Don’t let it bother you,” he told her. Personally, he didn’t see the point of proms. Or Homecoming. Or any other school dance for that matter.

“I can’t help it,” she said. “I was doing so good. Things weren’t bothering me, and now this stupid prom thing is making me all depressed again.”

That was what Michael had been afraid of. He had seen Maria at her highest highs and her lowest lows, and depressed Maria was one of her lows.

“I know it’s not really a big deal,” she said, “but prom is this whole together time where people get together and do things together. And I guess I’m just kinda sad ‘cause I’m not part of a together. Did that make any sense?”

“Strangely, yes.” He had spent enough time around Maria to understand the way she said things.

“I mean, I was fine when I didn’t even know that it was time for prom yet,” she continued. “I liked it better not knowing. I didn’t even know I was nominated. I liked that.”

Mr. Seligman cleared his throat. “Eventually, if Miss DeLuca and Mr. Guerin stop talking, the rest of the class might learn something about the Endoplasmic Reticulum.”

Maria looked up to find Mr. Seligman staring daggers at both her and Michael. The rest of the class turned around in their seats to stare at them, too. Max turned around, and he smirked irritatingly. Maria normally would have just ignored him, but she wasn’t able to now that she was back in depressed mode.

“Sorry,” she told Mr. Seligman. “Not talking.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria kicked her locker angrily and tried the combination again, cursing when she couldn’t get it open. She had had another truly bad day. It had started out okay, but ever since Billy had brought up the prom, it had gone badly. She had spilled spaghetti on her jeans, and she had to wear Michael’s sweatshirt tied around her waist to keep people from noticing it and asking questions. Then she had gotten her trigonometry test back and found out that she had failed miserably. 55%.

Some guy came up to help her with her locker. She didn’t even know his name. He got it open for her, but he also took the opportunity to ask her what many other guys had already asked her that day. “I realize it’s short notice since prom’s in only a week,” he said, “and you’re probably going with somebody else already, but I was thinking . . .”

“I’m not going to the prom!” she almost shouted. “I don’t know why everybody’s asking me! I’m not going!”

“Okay,” the guy said, taking a step back. “I just thought . . . okay.” He left in a hurry. Good.

Maria grabbed a few books out of her locker. She wasn’t even sure if they were the right ones. She didn’t care. When she closed her locker again, she turned to see two girls skipping towards her excitedly.

“Maria!” one girl exclaimed. She came up and hugged Maria like they were best friends. Maria didn’t even know who the girl was.

“Uh, hi,” Maria greeted, unsure. “Do I know you?”

“Holly,” the girl said. “Junior class.”

“Right. Holly and best friend Melanie.” She smiled at the other girl, still not sure what they wanted. They sure as hell weren’t going to ask her to the prom.

“We just wanted to tell you congratulations on getting nominated for prom queen,” Holly said. “It’s such an honor.”

Maria shrugged. She didn’t really see the big deal in these school pageantry events anymore. She had changed. “I guess. I didn’t even know I was nominated.”

“And we just wanna say,” Melanie added, “you are not just a candidate for us. You are the candidate. When it comes time to vote, it’s not even gonna be a tough decision.”

“Thank you,” Maria said, “but you really don’t need to vote for me.”

“Of course we do!” Holly exclaimed. “Isabel and Alex got homecoming. It’s only appropriate that you and Max get prom.”

“Me and Max?” Maria echoed in horror.

Holly and Melanie both nodded enthusiastically.

“Max and I aren’t dating anymore. We haven’t been for a long time.”

Melanie shrugged. “Everybody wants to see you two get it, though.”

“I don’t,” Maria told them. “I don’t want it. Don’t vote for me. Don’t vote for Max. Just vote for somebody else. I don’t want it, honestly.”

“Why don’t you?” Holly inquired.

“I just . . . I just don’t.” Maria wasn’t even sure why she didn’t want it anymore. She didn’t know if it was because of what had happened with Max or if it was because it seemed so pointless and silly anymore. “Look,” she said, “I’m not even going. So if you vote for me and I end up getting it, it’s just gonna be a huge waste. You might as well vote for somebody who’s planning on being there.”

“Why aren’t you going?” Holly was full of questions.

“I don’t have anybody to go with,” Maria told them.

“You could go with anybody you want,” Melanie told her. “Hasn’t everybody been asking you?”

“Kinda,” she admitted, not wanting to brag. “Look, the point is, I appreciate the thought and everything, but I don’t want your votes. So could you tell everyone else not to vote for me?”

Melanie and Holly looked at each other and sighed. “I guess so,” Holly said. “You should still go, though, Maria. It’ll be fun.”

Maria shook her head. “No, I’m not going. I’m not going to the prom.” She said good-bye the two girls and left the school. A few guys asked her to go with them as she made her way across the parking lot, and she completely ignored them. She didn’t care about being inconsiderate. She was through being polite. The whole prom thing was driving her insane!

She told Michael about her day on the way home. She told him about all the guys that had asked her and asked him to spread the word that she didn’t want to be the prom queen. And she also stressed the fact to him that nothing he said would get her to go to the prom.

“I’m not going,” she told him. “I’m just not going. Nobody wants to go to their senior prom alone. It would be humiliating and boring and . . . and I’m not going. Nothing’s gonna change my mind.”

When they got home, Maria was surprised to find that her mother was home. It was a rare occurrence nowadays. She spent most of the time with Jim.

“How was school?” she asked.

Michael shrugged. Maria didn’t answer. She knew if she said anything, she would start spewing out her thoughts.

“I hear you have your prom Saturday night or something,” Amy said.

Maria sunk down on the couch, holding her hands to her head. “I can’t even talk about this!” she said.

“She’s sorta stressed out,” Michael explained.

Amy sat down next to her daughter. “Has Max not asked you yet?”

Maria gave her mother a confused look. “Max? What makes you think Max would ask me? What makes you think I’d say yes?”

Amy shrugged. “Well, you two are dating.”

“No!” Maria couldn’t believe this. Did anybody realize that she and Max weren’t dating anymore. “No, we’re not dating, Mom!”

Amy looked shocked. “You broke up? When did this happen?”

“Like a month ago! I told you! Don’t you even listen to me?”

“I guess I didn’t hear you.”

Maria rolled her eyes. What a load of crap. “Yeah, I guess not,” she said. She got up and stormed upstairs. She was furious and sad all at the same time. Furious at the world. Sad because of the world. She wasn’t sure what to feel or what she was feeling. She could only wait for this prom madness to be over with.





TBC...

New Part





Saturday night came, and the DeLuca house was still. Completely still. Jim and Amy were surprisingly home. They were both absorbed in some documentary about the history of Italy. Maria was sitting upstairs in her room, and Michael was sitting outside by the pool, glancing at his watch.

It was 7:00. In an hour, Hamilton High School would be bustling with activity. Students would walk in to see that the gymnasium had been transformed into a prom paradise. They would dance the night away. Maria wouldn’t be one of them.

Michael sighed, closing his eyes. Even though Maria had been telling everyone for the past week that she didn’t want to go to the prom, it was obvious that she did. She just didn’t want to go alone. Michael had thought about taking her, but he knew it was just a thought. Maria wouldn’t want to go to the prom with her stepbrother.

But she deserved to go so badly, and it would make her so happy to go. And it would make Michael so happy to see her happy.

He could hear a car pulling up at the house next door, and he could hear how excited the girl was that she was getting to go to the prom. Maria should be that girl.

I could ask her, he thought. It doesn’t have to be a date. It can just be a way for her to get there and have a good time. I could do that.

Michael got up and went inside, heading upstairs. He went into his bedroom and searched his closet for anything formal. He didn’t have a tuxedo. He didn’t really have anything to wear to something like this. But maybe Jim would let him borrow a tuxedo.

Michael closed his closet and leaned against it, taking in a deep breath. I’m gonna do it, he thought. I’m gonna ask her. He put together all of his courage and crossed the hallway to Maria’s room. He suddenly wasn’t sure what to do. Should he knock, or should he just go right in? He didn’t want to screw this up in any way. He decided to knock.

“Come in,” she said.

He placed his hand on the doorknob and noticed that he was shaking. God, he had to calm down. This wasn’t a big deal. This was just asking a girl to a dance. And that girl happened to be a beautiful, funny, perfect girl.

She was laying on her bed, listening to music. Slow music. Love songs.

“Hey,” she said. She reached over and turned down her music some and sat up. “Are my mom and dad still watching that Italy show?”

He could barely comprehend what she was saying. He felt like he was losing it. He was so nervous. “Yeah,” he answered finally. “I think so.” He sat down on the bed, wanting to say something, but unable to think of anything to say.

“Are you okay?” she asked finally. “You look kinda . . .”

“Nervous,” he filled in. “Yeah.”

“Why are you nervous?” she inquired. “Oh my God, Michael! Are you gonna ask somebody to the prom?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “Somebody.”

“Who?” She still didn’t know it was her.

“A girl.”

She gave him a look. “Well of course a girl. Which girl?”

“Um . . . that one girl, you know.”

“I don’t know,” Maria said. “Okay, lemme guess who it is. Um . . . is it Liz?”

Michael gave her a horrified look, and she started to laugh. It was good to hear her laugh again. “Are you crazy?” he said. “I wouldn’t ask Liz if my life depended on it.”

“Smart idea. Okay, let me narrow it down here. Does she go to Hamilton?”

Michael nodded.

“Is she a senior?”

He nodded again.

“Is she in our anatomy class?”

“She is.”

“I got it!” Maria exclaimed excitedly. “It’s Joanna, isn’t it?”

“What?” Michael wasn’t even sure who Joanna was. “No.”

“Okay . . . Um, where does she live?”

“Close by.”

“Is it that girl across the street? You know, what’s her name?”

“It’s not what’s her name.”

“Okay, but she lives close by.” Michael had to keep from laughing as Maria tried to figure it out. She got a look of concentration on her face, and she fell silent as she considered the possibilities. “Does she live up by Isabel?” she asked. Michael shook his head. “By Alex?” He shook his head again. She sighed. “I’m running out of ideas on who it could be,” she said. “Give me a hint.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a hint,” he agreed. “The girl I’m planning on asking to the prom . . . she lives here.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, still not connecting the dots. “When you said she lives close by, I pretty much figured she lived in Long Beach.”

“No, she lives here.”

Maria fell silent for a bit. “You mean . . . here?” she finally said. “As in like right here?”

He nodded. “Right here.”

A smile came across her face, and a blush crept across her cheeks. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

“I know you wanna go to the prom,” he said. “Even though you act like you don’t, I know you do. You just don’t wanna go alone. So I figured, if you want to, and you haven’t decided to go with anybody else yet, maybe you might . . . go to the prom with me?”

She kept smiling. “Michael, you are just . . .”

“An idiot. I know.”

“No, you’re not an idiot,” she said. “I was gonna say you’re . . . I don’t know. You just always find a way to do something that’s totally unexpected of you.”

He shrugged. “I try.”

She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. He took a minute to enjoy the feel of her body. If she rejected him, he might never get to feel her again. “So, is this your way of accepting my invitation?” he asked, not letting go of her.

She pulled back a little to look into his eyes. “This is my way of telling you that you’re the only person I would ever consider going with,” she said. She hugged him again and the noticed the time. “Oh my God, I have to get ready!” she said. “I’ve only got an hour!” She jumped up in a hurry and tore open her closet.

“Yeah, I meant to ask earlier, but . . .” He trailed off when she ran to him and hugged him again. “Thank you so much,” she told him.

“It’s nothing,” he told her, but he was lying. It wasn’t nothing. To him, it was something. It was actually more than something. It was everything.

She was everything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was so much to do and so little time to do it in. Maria found a nice dress hidden away in her closet. She had never worn it before. It wasn’t a prom dress, but it was nice. It was a thin light blue material, and it had small straps that crisscrossed in the back. The bottom flared out slightly to accentuate the top. It would be perfect.

Maria rushed downstairs when she noticed a small hole in the side of her dress. It looked like it had gotten caught on something else in her closet, and it needed to be fixed immediately. She found her mother on the couch with her father, still watching the Italy documentary. “Mom, do you think you could sew up this little hole really quick?” she asked, holding up the dress.

Amy turned around. “Sure I can.” She got up and came to take the dress from Maria. “Is this a prom dress?” she asked her daughter.

“Not really, but I haven’t worn it before, and I think it’s nice.”

“It is,” Amy agreed. “Are you wearing it to the prom tonight?”

Maria nodded excitedly.

Amy gave her a confused look. “I don’t understand. All I’ve heard for the past week is that you’re not going to the prom.”

“I wasn’t, but now I am.”

Amy looked excited. “Tell me, who are you going with?”

“I’m going with Michael,” Maria replied, not at all ashamed. Truthfully, Michael was the only person she wanted to go with. She felt so comfortable with him. “He just asked me to go with him.”

“That’s nice of him,” Amy observed. “You’ll have fun.”

“We will,” Maria agreed. She turned and headed up the stairs quickly. She didn’t have another minute to waste.

“Your dad and I might go out tonight,” Amy called up after her. “We shouldn’t be out too late, though.”

“Yeah, okay. Whatever,” Maria called back. She wasn’t even sure what her mother had just told her. She had too many prom thoughts running through her brain to even hear anyone else.

By the time Maria took a quick shower, got dressed, curled her hair, and put her make-up on, it was already 8:30. She put on a few jewelry items at last minute, including the expensive $500 necklace Michael gave her for Christmas, and then she checked her final appearance in the mirror. She was pleased with what she saw. The blue dress worked out better than she had imagined it would.

There was a knock on her door, and Michael asked, “You ready?”

“I’m ready,” she told him, grabbing her purse and checking one last time to make sure her shoes matched her dress. When she was completely sure that she was completely ready, she opened up the door for him. He looked so . . . handsome. His hair was somewhat styled, and he was wearing a tuxedo. A tuxedo! Michael Guerin was dressed up formally!

“Does this dress make me look fat?” she asked him. It never hurt to get a guy’s opinion.

For a moment, he just stared at her, and then he said, “You look amazing.”

She felt herself blushing because of his compliment, and she wasn’t sure why. He complimented her all the time. “I didn’t know you owned a tuxedo,” she said.

He looked down at what he was wearing. “I don’t. It’s your dad’s.”

“You look good.”

He shrugged. “I tried.” He held out his arm and led her down the stairs. Amy was waiting for them when they reached the living room. Jim was still sitting on the couch, watching a show about Italian food now.

“You two look so cute!” Amy exclaimed. “Let me get the camera!”

“Cute?” Maria echoed in horror as Amy ran off to get the camera. “I don’t wanna look cute! I wanna look . . . mesmerizing or something.”

Michael wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. “You do.”

“You’re quick with the compliments tonight. I’m liking it.”

Amy came rushing back out with the digital camera in her hands. “Okay, one for the scrapbooks!”

“You keep scrapbooks?” Maria asked. Amy snapped the picture while she was talking.

“Oh, we need to get another one,” she said. “Maria was talking.”

Maria moved in front of Michael, and he held her from behind. Amy took more than one more picture. She snapped at least five before Maria told her to stop.

Michael led her out the house to the Taurus. “Sorry. No limo,” he apologized.

“That’s fine,” she told him. “The whole limo thing is really cheesy.”

“Have fun!” Amy called from the house, waving to them as they pulled out of the driveway. Maria waved back, happy to see that her mother was taking some sort of interest in her life, even if it was only for a short time.

“I’d let you drive,” Michael said, backing out onto the street, “but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea with your shoes and all.”

“They are pretty high,” Maria agreed, “but I had to wear them. You’re tall and I’m short, and it’ll make it easier to dance if we’re around the same height.”

“So we’re gonna dance, huh?”

“We’re definitely gonna dance! Michael, you and I are gonna have the best time tonight.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Even though the theme was rather lame, the prom wasn’t. It didn’t matter that it took place in the school gymnasium. It didn’t matter that it was so packed that Maria could hardly keep track of herself and her friends. It was the prom. It was fun.

Isabel and Alex seemed surprised to see both Michael and Maria that night. “Did you guys come together?” Isabel asked Maria over the music as Michael and Alex went to get them something to drink.

“Yeah, we just decided to go, like, a little over an hour ago.”

Isabel smiled. “So he brought you here?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah. That kinda goes along with us coming together.”

“So he’s like your date?”

Maria shrugged. “I guess so. Sorta. I don’t know.”

Isabel let out a dreamy sigh. “That is so romantic, Maria.”

“Romantic?” Maria didn’t get it. She was going to ask Isabel about it more when Alex and Michael came back over with punch.

“It tastes sort of sour,” Alex warned.

Isabel took a sip and her face shriveled up. “Sort of sour? It’s way sour! God, it tastes like something Liz would make.”

At the mention of Liz Evans, Michael put his punch down on the table. “I’m not drinking that. She probably poisoned me.”

“She wouldn’t do that. She probably delved into the black arts and put some kind of love potion in it. That’s all,” Maria said.

“Anything’s possible with the stalker.”

Maria took a drink of her punch and almost spit it out. “God, that is awful,” she said after forcing herself to swallow. She set her punch down. “Forget the punch. I’m gonna go dance.”

“Me, too,” Isabel said. “Alex?”

Alex shrugged. “What the hell? Why not embarrass myself horribly at my senior prom?” Isabel took his hand and led him out to join a group of people dancing.

“Are you coming?” Maria asked Michael, holding out her hand. He took her hand and let her lead him out to the group of dancers. “I’m always up for an embarrassment,” he said.

“I don’t know why you’re embarrassed. You’re a good dancer, Michael. Much better than Max and Kyle and all them.”

They danced for the next three consecutive songs. A few girls without dates started dancing around Michael, but he didn’t seem to pick up any of their hints. The poor guy. He had a lot of girls that were interested in him, and for some reason, he was blind to it.

Maria was dancing when she bumped into somebody, almost sending them toppling forward. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. She turned around to see Holly and Melanie. “Maria?” They didn’t seem to believe that it was her.

“Hi, Holly,” Maria said. “Melanie.” She didn’t want to talk to these two girls. They made her feel like she was losing brain cells.

“You decided to come!” Holly exclaimed. “That’s so great!”

“Who did you come with?” Melanie asked her. “Max?”

Maria shook her head forcefully. “No way. I came with Michael.”

“Your stepbrother?” both Holly and Melanie asked in unison for clarification.

Maria nodded.

They each gave her a strange look. She didn’t understand it, so she turned away from them and continued dancing with Michael, Isabel, Alex, and the others that had joined around them. Some juniors were just strange. Hmm . . .

Maria spent the majority of the night dancing, but she hadn’t gotten a slow dance in with anyone even when it was close to midnight. A slow song came on, and she made her way back to the table. She saw Michael sitting there by himself. Every time a slow song kicked on, he could be found at the table.

“I don’t think I can slow dance,” he told her when she looked at him expectantly.

“It’s not a prom unless you slow dance,” she said, tugging on his arms to try to get him to stand. “It might as well be a disco or something.”

Michael reluctantly got up. “Maria, I’m not gonna slow dance with anybody.”

“You’re right. You’re not slow dancing with anybody.” She took his hands and placed them around her waist. “You’re slow dancing with me.”

Michael didn’t bother to remove his hands, and he didn’t stop her when she circled her arms around his neck. He complied when she asked him to move closer to her, and he didn’t look away when she looked up into his eyes and smiled. He smiled back.

The entire time while she was dancing with him, Maria couldn’t stop looking into his eyes. They were such a nice shade of brown. Not too dark. Looking in his eyes made her feel completely at ease. His hands made her feel at ease, too. They were warm just like the rest of him, and they were strong. He was strong, and when he held her, she felt safer than she did with anybody else.

Maria couldn’t resist resting her head on his shoulder as they danced. She wanted to be close to him. She wanted him to be holding her. She wanted to be holding him. She didn’t know why, but it felt right.

The song ended much too soon, and Maria didn’t want to pull away. She felt Michael’s hands leaving her, and she took a step closer to him, gazing into his eyes. He returned to holding her, even though they were no longer dancing.

So warm, she thought. Michael . . .

She was still gazing into his beautiful eyes when the class president went up to the podium and signaled for the music to be shut off. Reluctantly, Maria turned her attention to him, but she made sure that Michael’s arm stayed wrapped around her waist. She liked it there.

“We have some awards to be presented tonight,” the class president announced, speaking into a microphone. He went on to list who had been voted class clown and so forth, and he asked the student body to give him a drum roll before he announced who had been elected prom king and queen.

“You think you’re gonna get it?” Michael asked Maria over the drum roll.

Maria shook her head. “I asked people not to vote for me. I don’t want it.”

“This year’s prom king is . . . Max Evans!”

Maria watched as Max made his way through the crowd giving a thumb’s up to his buddies. “I definitely don’t want it,” she said. Everyone cheered for Max. Everyone except for Maria and Michael. Maria didn’t feel like cheering for anyone at that moment. She had a bad feeling about all of this.

“And this year’s prom queen is . . .” The class president paused dramatically for a long time, keeping all of the hopefuls on the edge of their seats. “Maria DeLuca!”

Everyone cheered loudly again, even louder than they had for Max. Maria felt like she was frozen in place. She didn’t take a step towards the podium and towards Max, and the entire crowd started searching for her.

“Maria DeLuca!” the class president repeated. “Congratulations, Maria DeLuca!”

The spotlight left Max and the class president and flew across the rest of the crowd, landing on Maria. She hated the spotlight. It seemed like she was always in the spotlight, and she hated it. She glanced around at the faces of her classmates. They all looked perplexed as to why she wasn’t excited and going up to receive her crown. Then she glanced at Max and wished she hadn’t. He was staring at her intently, but not the good kind of intently.

“Maria, you won!” the class president said, holding up the crown. “Come on up here!”

Everyone started to fall silent as they looked at her. She knew they were expecting the prom queen to skip on up to the podium and cry as she thanked everyone for voting for her. She knew they were expecting her to dance with the prom king, Max, but she was far beyond the point of caring what was expected of her.

“I think it’s time to leave,” she told Michael quietly. He nodded in understanding and took her hand, leading her through the crowd. The spotlight tried to follow her, but the class president signaled to have it come back to him. Maria was relieved when it was taken off of her. It could be a horrible thing to bear.





TBC...

New Part






Michael was going crazy. He didn’t know how much longer he could be close to Maria and not act on his feelings. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted her to want all of the same things that he did.

He tried to concentrate on the road ahead of him as he drove home that night, but he was finding it impossible. He kept thinking back to their dance. He kept thinking back to the way her body felt in his arms. He kept wanting her so badly. He couldn’t stop.

He was aware that he was losing it. He was in love with her, even though he shouldn’t be. He thought about her during the day, he dreamt about her when he went to sleep. He was in love. In love. What a completely crazy concept. Michael had never believed that he would be in love with anyone. Ever.

Love. God, he hated that word and he hated what it was doing to him.

He almost ran into the garage when he pulled into the driveway. He couldn’t think straight. He was too distracted. Way too distracted with her beautiful, full lips. He wished he could kiss her.

They got out of the car and went inside. Maria went into her bedroom, and Michael followed her. He couldn’t stop himself.

“Sorry I made you leave,” she apologized.

Michael shrugged. “I don’t care. After-party’s probably gonna be lame anyway.”

“Probably,” she agreed, taking off her shoes, shrinking in height about two inches. “I just felt like I had to get outta there,” she told him. “They put that big spotlight on me and all those people were looking at me.”

“I don’t get all that,” Michael said. “I thought you told people not to vote for you.”

“I did,” she said. “And I told people that Max and I are not together anymore. It’s like they don’t even hear me.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He really did. Michael had noticed lately that his social circle had become increasingly small. Nobody really seemed to acknowledge his presence, except for Maria, of course. She was different than everyone else.

“I just feel like people don’t even know me,” she said, going to stand beside her window. She looked outside and shook her head wistfully. “Nobody cares to get to know me. I mean, Max never knew me. We dated for almost a year and he never knew a single thing about me. And my own parents don’t even care anymore. They don’t know anything about the person I’ve become. My mom didn’t know that I broke up with Max because she didn’t listen to me. My dad still doesn’t know.”

Michael moved up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder, comforting her.

“And even Isabel and Alex don’t really know me,” she continued. “They’re two of my best friends, but they have this whole other life starting and I don’t think there’s room in it for me right now. They just don’t have the time to know me.”

“Do I know you?” Michael asked her.

Still looking out the window, she nodded. “You do. You’re the only one.”

Michael felt his heart start to beat faster, but he stopped himself from thinking of it all as something more than it was. She just meant that they were friends. Good friends. She didn’t mean anything more. She didn’t mean anything romantic.

God, he wished she did.

“I understand what you’re talkin’ about,” he confessed. “Nobody really cares about me. Except you. You do, right?”

She chuckled, leaning back against him. “Of course I do,” she said.

He placed his arms around her, holding her to him. “Then you’re the only one who cares,” he told her. “You’re the only one who’s ever cared.” He meant it. His father had never cared. Josh and Tess had never really cared.

She let out a sigh. “I guess you and I are stuck with each other, Michael,” she said.

“That’s not a problem for me.”

She turned in his arms, running her hands up his chest. “Really? It’s not?”

“It’s not.”

“Because . . . because Max said that it’s really hard to put up with me for long.”

Michael placed his hand on her cheek. He wanted to touch her. “Max doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“But what if he’s right?” she asked tentatively. “You say it’s not a problem for you, but what if you get tired of me a few months from now and can’t stand me anymore? I mean, that’s what happens when people find out they’re stuck with me, Michael. They leave. My mom and dad left, Max left. Everybody leaves. You will, too.”

He shook his head, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “No, I won’t.”

She didn’t seem to believe him. “You can’t promise that you won’t leave.”

“You’re right. I can’t. But I also can’t see why I would even consider it. We’re gonna take a road trip after graduation, remember?”

She smiled. “Yeah.” She dropped her gaze and looked at the floor, shaking her head. “But, Michael . . .” she started.

Michael placed his hand under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him again. He met her eyes, and he was lost, lost in everything that was her. He was lost in the feel of her hands on his shoulders, in the feel of her smooth skin. He was lost in the sight of her lips, the warmth of her body.

She made him laugh. She made him smile. She made him feel like he had never felt before, and she wasn’t even aware of it. Everything he did was for her, about her. Her. Maria. She was everything.

Unable to stop himself, he started to lean in, pulling her close to him. She didn’t object, and when he tangled his hand in her hair, she whispered his name. “Michael . . .”

She was so close to him. Her breath tickled his lips and sent shivers through his body. The good kind.

He brought his lips down upon hers, kissing her softly in a way that he had never kissed anyone else. He felt like all other things in the world disappeared and they were all that was left. He felt like things were going in slow motion. He felt things that he had never felt before.

To his surprise, she kissed him back. She brought their kiss to a new level, and he responded immediately, running his one hand up and down her back, pulling her closer, pressing their bodies together. He deepened their kiss, drawing it out as long as it would go until she started to pull away slowly.

He opened his eyes to find that she still had hers closed. When she opened hers, they were filled with tears. She opened her mouth as if she were trying to say something, but no words came out.

“Maria! Michael! Are you two home?” a voice called from downstairs. Amy. She was home.

“We’re home,” Michael called back, forcing his voice to work again. He took his hands off of Maria, never breaking eye contact with her.

“Could one of you come help me?” Amy asked. “I’ve got some things I need to get inside.”

Michael reluctantly took a step back, heading for the door. He left her in her bedroom, standing by the window. He wasn’t sure how she was feeling, but he knew how he was feeling. He was feeling like he might have just ruined the best friendship of his life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria didn’t feel like she could move. Michael left the room, and she stood exactly where he had left her, trying to figure out if what she thought happened had really happened of if she had been imagining it all.

Imagining. She was kidding herself if she thought she had been imagining. Nothing imagined could have felt like that. Nothing imagined could make her feel so . . . alive.

When mobility became an option again, Maria went to close her door. She leaned back against the door and slid down to the floor, trying to make sense of what had happened, of what she had not imagined. She and Michael had been talking, and he had been saying some really nice things, and she had been opening up to him, confessing her fears, and then . . . things had changed. He had kissed her, and not just a friendly kiss. A full-blown romantic kind of kiss. He had kissed her and . . .

. . . and she had kissed him back. For whatever reason, in that moment, she had wanted nothing more than that kiss, than Michael.

She ran her hands through her hair, wondering what was happening. She couldn’t feel things about Michael. She couldn’t want to feel things. She couldn’t be up in her room kissing him. She couldn’t do things like that with her stepbrother.

She got up and changed into her pajamas, allowing herself to feel as comfortable as she could in the moment. She got in her bed and tried to block out the memory of that kiss, but it refused to leave.

She tensed when someone knocked on her door. “Who is it?” she asked. She didn’t know what she would do if it was Michael, what she would say.

“It’s me!” Amy chirped. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Maria said, surprised that her mother was actually coming into her bedroom. It seemed like it had been forever since that had happened.

“Tell me all about the prom,” Amy said, sitting down on Maria’s bed, smiling excitedly.

The one time that her mother was taking an interest, Maria did not want her to be interested.

“Michael won’t tell me a thing,” Amy said. “I’m relying on you for the details.”

Maria tensed at the mention of his name. She wondered if her mother noticed.

“Are you okay?” Amy asked. Yep, she noticed.

“I’m fine,” Maria lied. No, she wasn’t fine! She was freaking out! She wasn’t sure what was going on between Michael and her, and she didn’t know what she was supposed to do about it! “It’s just kinda late,” she said. “I’m really tired. Could I tell you about it tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Amy said. She bent down and kissed Maria on the cheek. “You get some sleep. I think I will, too.”

Maria watched her mother leave. She knew that Amy would be downstairs in her bedroom sawing logs in a few minutes, but Maria wouldn’t be. She doubted that she would get any sleep that night. Things were too busy in her mind. She felt like she couldn’t sort anything out, like she couldn’t think straight.

Even through all the clutter and chaos, she knew she had to talk to Michael. She knew she had to talk to him that night.

She got out of her bed and stepped out into the hallway. She knocked on the door to his bedroom, but she didn’t get a reply. She headed downstairs, figuring that was where he would be, and she found him rummaging around the desolate refrigerator. God, he looked good. He wasn’t wearing a shirt.

What was wrong with her? She had seen Michael without a shirt many times before, and she had never paid any attention to it. He was Michael. Her stepbrother.

Her hot stepbrother.

Sighing, he gave up on the refrigerator and spun around. When he saw her, he froze in his place. His mouth dropped open, and then he closed it again, just standing there.

“What happened,” she started, getting straight to the point, “doesn’t have to be a big deal. It doesn’t have to be this major issue. It just happened and . . . and it’s done.”

He hung his head, looking at the floor. “Right.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” she repeated, more to herself than to him. “It’s . . . it’s not. It’s not a big deal. It was . . .” She felt like someone was squeezing her heart between their fingers. It hurt. Saying these things hurt. “It was nothing.”

Michael looked up at her again. He looked sad. Maria couldn’t recall ever seeing Michael look sad before. Disappointed, yes, but never sad. “Nothing,” he echoed with no conviction.

She nodded, forcing herself to stay strong. “Nothing,” she said again. She turned and headed up the stairs. “It’s not a big deal,” she whispered quietly. She wasn’t telling that to Michael, now. She was telling it to herself. Perhaps if she said it enough, she might start to believe it.







TBC...

New Part






It was late that night, probably in the a.m., and sleep still did not cooperate with Maria. She shut her eyes, but she never slept. She tried everything she could think of. She tried counting sheep. She tried the forty winks trick. She tried clearing out her mind, but she always ended up thinking about one person, one kiss.

It’s not a big deal.

Michael. He had made her feel so awake and alive. She wanted to feel that way again.

It’s not a major issue.

God, she wanted to feel.

It’s nothing.

She was lying with her emotions in turmoil when she heard her door open. She sat up slightly in her bed to see Michael standing in her doorway. She tried to say something, but she didn’t get the chance. He crossed the distance to her bed without saying a word, and then he was kissing her.

She didn’t resist. She couldn’t resist. It felt so good, and even though she knew it would be frowned upon by many, she didn’t care. In that moment, all she could think about was Michael and the way he was holding her, kissing her, the way they were kissing each other.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, and trailed them up her back, bringing her closer to him. She slid her hands up his bare chest, burrowing one hand in his hair as he kissed his way down her cheek to the side of her neck. She suppressed a moan as his tongue flicked across her skin and his hands moved gently over her back, finding their way under her pajama top. She threw her head back in ecstacy, giving him more access to her neck as his hands made contact with her skin.

He pulled her closer to him so that she was sitting in his lap and returned to kissing her. His tongue came out to trace her lips before submerging into her mouth. She pressed her chest up into his, wanting to be closer, needing more contact. She felt passion boiling inside of her, begging to be unleashed.

“Michael,” she moaned as he kissed his way down to her neck again, letting one of his hands down to run across her thigh. “Michael . . .”

He didn’t say anything. He was lost in the moment, just like she was.

“Oh, God, Michael,” she whispered as he crushed his lips onto hers. “Michael . . .”

She was saying his name. His name was familiar to her, just as hers was to him. She had said it many times before, but never like this. She had never said it like this for a reason.

She wasn’t supposed to.

“No, no, no, Michael,” she said, gently pushing him away. She shook her head. “No, we . . .” She trailed off, looking into his eyes. It took every ounce of strength she had to continue. “What are we doing?” she asked both herself and him. “We can’t do this. We can never do this. It’s not . . .” The look of raw passion in his eyes turned to confusion, and she realized that he didn’t care what he was and was not supposed to do. He never had. “I can’t do this,” she corrected. “I just can’t. Michael . . .” She felt tears sting her eyes. “You’re my stepbrother.”

The look of hurt on his face made her feel like she was dying. She knew she was the reason for his hurt. “I just can’t--” she started, trying to explain.

“No, I get it,” he said, speaking for the first time since he had entered her bedroom. He got up off the bed and started backing towards the door. She had never seen him look the way he looked. He looked angry and sad and disappointed all at the same time.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as a tear ran down her cheek.

Michael grunted sarcastically. “Yeah.” He left the room, obviously not believing that she was sorry even though she truly was.

Maria let her tears fall freely, crying into her pillow so that he wouldn’t hear her. Had she just ruined the best and most important relationship of her life? What would she do if she lost Michael?

It doesn’t have to be a big deal, she told herself. It doesn’t have to be.

In reality, she knew that it already was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael was awake when his alarm clock went off in the morning. He reached over and slammed it off and then ran his hands through his hair, yawning. He had only slept a few minutes that night, and when he did, he dreamt about Maria and about what had happened in her bedroom that night, and he dreamt of her pushing him away. That only made him feel crappier.

He felt like such a loser. He had probably lost the one great thing in his life.

Loser.

He beat himself up emotionally for not even thinking about what she wanted. Had he even thought of the fact that maybe she didn’t want him, that maybe she didn’t want what he wanted?

Idiot.

Although it had seemed like . . .

Yeah, right.

He got out of bed and went into his bathroom to take a shower. He let the warm water run over him, pretending that it was Maria’s hands instead. Her hands would feel so much better.

Stop it, he told himself. Don’t think about her hands. She doesn’t want her hands anywhere near you, and she doesn’t want your hands anywhere near her. You gotta get over it.

But he knew he couldn’t get over it. He couldn’t get past the fact that he had screwed everything up with her so royally. They were friends. Good friends. Or at least they had been. He wasn’t sure what they were now. They had been planning a road trip together after graduation as friends. Now, he figured he would have to plan on leaving Long Beach after graduation. He didn’t want to, but he would have to eventually. He couldn’t stay forever, wanting Maria when she didn’t want him.

Typical, he thought. This was typical of him. He always wanted things he couldn’t have. He wanted a father. He got Hank. He wanted good friends. He got Tess and Josh. He wanted Maria. He would never have her.

Michael resisted the urge to put his hand through a window as he got dressed that morning. God, he felt so fucked up.

Amy was making french toast when Michael went downstairs into the kitchen. Maria didn’t like french toast.

Stop thinking about her, he told himself. You gotta stop.

“Good morning!” Amy exclaimed cheerfully. She handed Michael a plate stacked full of french toast.

“Yeah, I guess,” Michael said mournfully. This wasn’t a good morning for him. It was just the opposite.

Amy noticed his unhappy demeanor right away. “Are you okay?” she asked him. She sort of sounded concerned, but he knew she probably wasn’t.

He shrugged and sat down at the table. He picked started to eat even though he wasn’t hungry.

“You’re probably just tired,” Amy said, getting a plate of french toast for herself. “You had a late night last night.”

Yeah, he really did. “Probably,” he agreed. “Late night.”

“Are you going to tell me how the prom went?” Amy asked. “I can’t get a word out of you or Maria, it seems.”

Michael flashed back on the night. God, she had looked so beautiful. And that dance . . .

“It was alright,” he said. Understatement.

Maria came down the stairs, yawning and stretching her arms over her head. Michael turned away so that he wouldn’t stare at the stretch of creamy, smooth skin on her stomach that she revealed.

“Maria, I made french toast. You should eat some,” Amy suggested.

“I don’t like french toast,” Maria said quietly, taking out a box of cereal.

“It’s good,” Amy told her. “Much better than that cereal you’re eating, I assure you.”

“Whatever,” Maria muttered, not even glancing over at Michael or her mother.

“You look tired, too,” Amy said. “Did you sleep well?”

Maria turned around, and her eyes met Michael’s. “I slept alright,” she said, but he knew she was lying. She sat down at the counter and started to eat instead of sitting at the table.

“You can come sit with us,” Amy said.

“No, I’m okay here.” She pretended that she was all interested in reading the back of the cereal box.

Amy glanced at both of them, and Michael looked at the table so that he wouldn’t have to look at anything or anyone else. “Are you two okay?” Amy finally asked the both of them. “Really. You both seem a little upset.”

Maria barley gave her mother enough time to finish speaking. “I’m peachy,” she said. “Whatever that means.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Michael lied. “I’m great.”

“Okay.” Amy didn’t seem to believe either one of them, but she let it go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“The Industrial Revolution was an important period of growth, development, and advancement for our country. It affected the way we work, the way we act, and the way we live, shaping our nation into what it is today.”

Maria sat back in her chair and doodled on her notebook. She had to do something to keep from falling asleep. Mr. Sommers was a complete bore. He never raised or lowered his voice except for when he was angry.

Normally, Maria would have leaned over and talked to Michael. They did that a lot when they were in a class together that they both didn’t particularly like. Of course they always ended up getting yelled at by the teacher, and sometimes Michael was sent to the principal because the teachers didn’t like him, but it was worth it. Talking with Michael made the day go faster, and it was enjoyable.

But she couldn’t talk to him now. If she leaned over to say something, she would be saying it to Billy Darden. He was sitting next to her. Not Michael. Michael was on the other side of the room. She had sat far away from him, just so things would be easier.

Things were only harder.

She found herself looking over at him. He had his head on his desk, his eyes closed. Michael had a tendency to fall asleep during classes, and she always tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up. But she couldn’t do that when she was on the opposite side of the room.

“Fortunately for us,” Mr. Sommers continued in his monotone voice, “the Industrial Revolution did not allow for slackers.” He went over to stand beside Michael’s desk. “Mr. Guerin!” His voice rose in pitch. That meant he was angry.

“What?” Michael asked, jerking awake.

“It’s nice to know that you find my class so uninteresting that you can’t stay awake.” He took Michael’s book from him and opened it up to the correct page of discussion.

“I just dozed off,” Michael muttered quietly, obviously annoyed by the teacher.

“Well I’m sure that dozing off will lead you to a bright and shining future,” Mr. Sommers said sarcastically, heading back up to the front of the classroom. “McDonald’s, perhaps?” Some people in the class laughed. Mr. Sommers laughed at himself. Maria didn’t laugh at all. “Mr. Guerin,” Mr. Sommers continued, serious again. “I have a waiting list full of students who would like to take this class this semester and who would stay awake to take it. So if you’re planning on falling asleep, then you’re just wasting my time. Stay awake, or you’re out of here. Got that?”

“Sure,” Michael answered, barely audible.

“Yes,” Mr. Sommers corrected. “Say ‘yes’ like you understand what I’m saying. That is, assuming you do.”

Maria wanted to stand up and talk some sense into the teacher. She knew she could do it. She could take up the entire rest of the class period getting him to apologize to Michael. She wanted to, but she didn’t. She stayed seated and didn’t say anything to defend him, even though he had always defended her. He had defended her against Max.

Mr. Sommers continued with the lesson, and Maria continued to watch Michael. He looked so alone. She hated seeing him look like that.

He turned and met her eyes, and she looked away. She couldn’t bear it. Simple things like that were complicated now, and if she looked into his eyes for too long, she would give in. She would run across the room to him and kiss him and let him know that he wasn’t alone.

She couldn’t allow herself to do that. She wouldn’t.







TBC...

I haven't updated for almost two days! That's so strange for me! hehehe



New Part





Maria was lying on her bed, listening to angry girl music that night when the phone rang. She wasn’t going to pick it up, but when no one else bothered, she did reluctantly, not wanting to talk to whoever it was.

“Hey, it’s me!” Isabel said on the other end.

“Hey,” Maria said unenthusiastically. She reached over to turn down her music.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called lately,” Isabel apologized. “I know we used to talk every night, but I’ve been busy.”

“I understand,” Maria said. “Big day soon.”

“Yeah, two and a half months. It’s getting close.”

“You nervous?” Maria asked her.

“Nervous?” Isabel didn’t seem to understand the concept of the word. “No. Stressed, but not nervous. Why would I be nervous?”

“Well, it’s just that you’re doing something really big and really important, and you don’t know if it’s all gonna work out in the end, if it’s gonna last forever. I-I mean, I’m not saying that you and Alex won’t last forever. I’m sure you will. You’re meant to be together. That’s obvious. I’m just saying . . .” She trailed off. “Never mind. Forget it.” She wasn’t asking Isabel. She was asking herself.

“You sound upset,” Isabel commented. “Are you okay?”

She was getting sick of people asking her that. “I’m fine,” she lied.

“You don’t sound fine,” Isabel said. “I think you need to do something fun.”

“Something fun?”

“Yeah,” Isabel said. “That’s actually why I called. You see, Alex is out of town visiting his grandparents, my parents aren’t home, and the wedding is more or less taken care of, so I’m kinda bored. I don’t really have anything to do tonight, so I was wondering if you might wanna head out to The DanceLands with me. It could be a girls’ night. It would be fun.”

A small smile made its way to Maria’s face. “You know, that actually sounds like a good idea. Give me an hour and I’ll be ready to go.”

Isabel squealed with excitement. “Great! I’ll come pick you up in an hour. See you then!”

“Bye.” Maria hung up the phone and turned off the angry girl music. She headed to her closet to pick out something to wear. She wanted to look hot. That was the point of girls’ night. Look hot, dance, meet a new guy.

New guy. Translation: Not Michael.

She found a pair of leather pants that she had never summoned up the courage to wear and decided to wear them with a thin silver halter that showed her stomach. The look was hot, exactly what she wanted.

When she was through doing her hair and make-up and accessorizing, she headed downstairs to wait for Isabel. Michael was looking through the refrigerator again. Even through his shirt, she could see the lines of his body, the shape of his arms, the muscles of his abdomen. She flashed back on the memory of running her hands up his bare chest quickly, and then she pushed it away. She wasn’t thinking about that. Ever again. She was going to try not to, anyway.

When he saw her, it was clear that he liked what he saw. “Are you going out?” he asked.

“That I am.” She checked her hair in the mirror, fixing a strand that was out of place.

“Where are you going?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know. Someplace I can dance. Probably the DanceLands or something.”

“Who are you going with?”

Maria turned to face him, giving him a look. “A friend,” she answered simply. It didn’t hurt to keep him guessing.

“Oh,” he said. “A friend. Isabel?”

“If you must know, yes. We’re gonna have a girls’ night.”

“Oh,” he said again. “Are you gonna need a ride home?”

A car horn honked from outside, and Maria knew it was her friend. “No,” she told him. She checked her reflection one more time and headed out to the car. Time for girls’ night. Time to not think about Michael.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A wave of uncomfortableness hit Maria the moment she walked into the DanceLands. There was a shady crowd there that night, and she realized it was because a local gothic band was playing. Goths weren’t the only ones there, though. Among the crowd were Max and Kyle, two people she really didn’t like.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” Maria suggested.

“What?” Isabel asked over the loud music. “I can’t hear you!” She grabbed Maria’s hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. Isabel started dancing right away, but Maria felt hesitant for once. She saw the looks she was getting from the guys. Maybe the leather pants weren’t such a good idea.

“Come on, Maria!” Isabel urged. “Bust a move! I know you’ve got lots of them.”

Gradually, she got more into it. She started to feel comfortable again just when a pair of arms came to hold her from behind. Maria recognized the feel, and she stopped dancing. “Stay away from me, Max,” she told him, speaking loud enough so that he and only he could hear her.

“Why should I?” he asked her, leaning down and speaking in her ear. “I don’t see Big-Boy Michael here tonight.”

God, she wished he was there. Especially now.

“Get away from me,” she said, turning around. She pushed him away from her and disappeared into the crowd, trying to find Isabel again. Her friend seemed to have vanished. Maria immersed herself in a crowd of people, pretending she was one of them. Anything to keep herself invisible to Max.

This was so not what she had expected out of girls’ night.

Maria was dancing with the group of strangers, ignoring the looks the guys were giving her, and she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and was glad that it was only Isabel and not Max.

“I think I need to go!” Isabel shouted over the music. Maria could barely hear her. “I’m not feeling so well! You can call Michael! He’ll come get you!”

“What? Isabel! Wait!” Isabel didn’t hear her, so Isabel didn’t wait. Maria watched as her friend exited the club. She thought about going after her, but she decided against it. If Isabel wasn’t feeling well, she deserved to get home.

“How come my rides are always ditching me?” Maria asked herself. She reached into her purse for her cell phone, but she didn’t dial the number. The thought of riding home alone in a car with Michael . . . tempting, but probably hard to take.

She put her cell phone away and scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar face that might be inclined to give her a ride. She found Billy and squeezed through the throng of dancers to talk to him. “Hey, Billy!” she said. “You have a car, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I have a car,” he replied with a nod.

“Do you think you could give me a ride home?” she asked him.

“Well I would,” he told her, “but my car’s in the shop. Sorry, darlin’.”

Darling?

“It’s okay.”

“I’m gettin’ a ride home with Max, though,” he said. “He might be able to take you home, too.”

“Oh, no. That’s not an option,” Maria told him. “I’ll just find another way.” She said good-bye to Billy and headed back the way she had come. She bumped into a few girls from Hamilton, but they all just gave her strange looks and walked away talking about the prom.

“. . . didn’t even go up . . . didn’t get her crown . . . weird . . .”

Maria shrugged them off and kept looking for someone. Unfortunately, the Goth crowd didn’t look very ride-friendly.

Maria sighed and headed outside where it was quieter. She took out her cell phone. There was only one person to call, and she really didn’t want to call him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael was lying on the couch picturing Maria out at a club dancing with strange people while guys looked her over, and then the phone rang. Amy and Jim were too busy talking about Italy to make an effort to answer the phone, so Michael sat up and picked it up. “Yeah?”

“Michael, it’s me.”

Michael glanced at his watch. “It’s early.”

“I know,” she said. “Look, I’m in a predicament. Isabel just bailed on me ‘cause she’s not feeling well or something, so I don’t have a way to get home. Unless I wanna ride with Max, which I’d rather not.”

“So you want me to come get you?”

“Please,” she pleaded. “I have no way to get home. I’m stranded at the DanceLands and I really don’t want to be.”

It wasn’t even a question in his mind. Maria needed him, he would go to her. “I’ll be there,” he told her. He hung up the phone and got up off of the couch. He got the keys and put on his shoes and headed out to the car. Amy and Jim didn’t even notice him leave.

When he arrived at the popular club, he found Maria sitting outside next to a guy that was smoking up a storm. She had her arms wrapped around herself like she was cold. When she saw Michael, a look of relief came across her face, and when she got into the car, a look of discomfort replaced it.

“Thanks for coming,” she said as they started home.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t doing anything anyway.” Hell, even if he had been doing something, that wouldn’t have kept him from going out to get her. Nothing would keep him from Maria. Nothing and no one.

They drove home in silence. Maria looked out the window instead of looking at him. She didn’t even ask him if she could drive home like she used to. Things were so different.

I had to kiss her, didn’t I? Michael thought. I couldn’t just be happy with her friendship.

When they pulled into the driveway, neither one of them made an effort to get out of the car. “Maria . . .” he started. It felt good to say her name again. “We need to talk about what . . .”

She threw her hand up in the air to stop him. “I can’t talk about it,” she said.

“We have to talk about it sometime.”

“No, we don’t,” she said. She met his eyes, and the look on her face was begging him to agree with her, just to make things easier. “I told you Michael, it doesn’t have to be a big deal!”

“It already is a big deal!” he pointed out. No small deal could feel this big.

“No, it’s not!” she said, still not accepting the reality of the situation. “Michael, it was nothing!”

That word felt like a knife in his gut. “It’s nice to know that you think kissing me was nothing.”

“I didn’t kiss you, Michael! You kissed me!”

“Okay, from what I understand, kissing’s pretty much a two-way thing.”

“Whatever!” she shouted. “That’s not the point, Michael! The point is, we just need to get over this and stop talking about it and get back to normal!”

She continued to yell at him. She was fiery the way she was when he first met her. He remembered that he had respected her boldness. Now, he was turned on by it.

He tried to lean down to kiss her, but she wouldn’t let him. “No,” she told him, her voice softer now as she struggled. She put her hand on his arm and pushed him away. “You can’t.” She opened the car door. “I’m going inside.” She got out and slammed it behind her, hurrying up the steps to the front door. She disappeared inside without giving him so much as a second glance.

“Dammit!” Michael cursed, hitting the steering wheel. How much more could he screw things up between them? Why not go for the world record? After what had just happened, he would be lucky if Maria ever spoke to him again.






TBC...

Thanks for the feedback. As for Tess and Josh, I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin anything. I will say that they are not out of the picture for good, but they're not going to do anything crazy or dangerous like vandalizing the school again. -April


Part 27


Amy called to her daughter as she ran up the stairs. “Maria! Maria!” Even if Maria heard her, she didn’t stop. She didn’t even look back. Amy heard the bedroom door slam, and she sighed, shaking her head. Maria got like this a lot, but this time was different. Usually, Maria would talk to Michael about whatever was bothering her. This time, Michael seemed to be just as bothered.

He walked into the house looking defeated. He ran his hands through his hair and leaned against the couch, holding his head in his hands like he was getting a migraine.

“Are you okay?” Amy asked him.

He shrugged. “I guess.”

“Is Maria okay?”

Michael looked up the stairs and then back at Amy. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Amy couldn’t hide her surprise.

“No. I don’t know everything about her.”

“Yes, you do!” she joked. She laughed at herself, but Michael did not. “It’s just,” she explained, “you two are very close.”

“Yeah,” Michael agreed. “Really close.”

“I know I probably shouldn’t be asking this,” Amy said, moving closer to him, “but are you and Maria in some kind of fight? You seem upset with each other.”

“I’m not upset with her,” he said. “And we’re not in a fight. We just had a small . . . misunderstanding.”

“That’s understandable.” She leaned on the couch, standing beside him. “Brother/Sister misunderstandings happen all the time.”

Michael tensed slightly. “That’s not it,” he said. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Okay,” she said, confused by that.

Michael sighed and headed for the stairs. “I’m tired,” he said, his voice full of unhappiness.

“Okay,” Amy repeated. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to tell him that she hoped he and Maria worked it out, but he was already gone.

They had to work it out. Maria needed him. He needed her. That much was obvious. They were such close friends.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria cursed when the bell rang. The halls started to clear out, and she was still digging around in her locker for her stupid pencil. She really needed to learn to be more organized.

Giving up, she slammed the door to her locker, and turned to head down the stairs. She bumped into Billy as she did so. Her books and papers went flying all over. “I’m sorry, Billy,” she apologized, bending down to retrieve her things.

“No, I’m sorry,” Billy said. “Here, let me help you.” He bent down beside her and picked up some things for her.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “You’ll be late.”

“I’m already late,” he said with a shrug. “What’s another few minutes?”

“I guess you’re right,” she said, collecting her last paper. She stood up as he did, wondering why he was hanging around her. He looked like he had something to say.

“I, uh . . . I kinda wanted to talk to you,” he finally said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He looked nervous. “A bunch of us are going to that new club that opens tonight. Uh, what’s it called?”

“Horizon, I think.”

“Horizon, right. Anyway, it’s the grand opening, you know, so I thought I might let you know in case you decide to show up. It should be pretty fun.”

“Yeah,” Maria agreed, “it should be, but I think I’m going through this stage where things that are fun for everyone else really aren’t fun for me.”

He gave her a confused look.

“I’m just not really into parties and clubs and stuff lately,” she clarified.

“What are you into?” he asked.

An image of Michael and herself sitting on the couch laughing at Will and Grace seasons one and two flew across Maria’s mind. “Simple stuff,” she replied. “At least I thought it was simple.”

“Uh . . .” Billy was getting lost.

“I’m sorry, I’m going off here,” she said. “I just . . . thank you for letting me know about Horizon tonight, but I probably won’t be there.”

“Okay,” Billy said. “If you change your mind though . . .” He trailed off and spun around, heading for the stairs.

Maria watched him go, wondering if she had just made a huge mistake. Billy was a nice, solid guy. Maybe he could help her get over her feelings for Michael.

“Billy, wait!” she called as he headed down the stairs. He stopped near the bottom step and turned around to look at her. “On second thought,” she said, heading down the stairs to join him. “I might make an appearance. Maybe this is just what I need to take my mind off of other things.”

Billy smiled, nodding. “Maybe.”

“I think I’ll be there,” she told him.

He nodded again. “Good to know.”

Maria waited on the stairs as he left. She was trying to be excited about a night of fun, but she couldn’t manage it, because all she could think about was Michael and how much she would rather be sitting at home with him than doing anything else.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was going to be another night sitting in front of the TV for Michael. His nights rarely consisted of anything more nowadays. He was rummaging around the kitchen for popcorn when Maria came down the stairs. He pretended to not even notice her, and she seemed to be pretending that she didn’t notice him, either.

When he couldn’t take pretending any longer, he snuck a glance at her. She was wearing tight white pants and a small black top. Her hair was up and she had jewelry on. “You going out again?” he asked her.

“Yep,” she said.

“With Isabel?” Oh, God, please say she was going out with Isabel and not some guy.

“I’m just meeting a group of people at that new place Horizon,” she told him, checking herself out in the mirror.

A group. That meant there could be other guys in the group. Just wonderful. Wonderful. “How are you getting up there?” he asked her.

She looked down at her feet, obviously having not thought of that. “This would all just be so much easier if I could drive.”

An idea was occurring to him, slowly taking shape and form. “Actually, this works out pretty well,” he said. “I was planning on going up there tonight.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “You were?”

He nodded, lying.

“Alone?”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on being alone the whole night,” he said. “I was looking to hook up with somebody.”

The shocked look on her face was almost enough to make him burst out laughing, but he held it together. “Are you serious?” she shrieked.

“I’m dead serious,” he lied with a convincing nod. It didn’t hurt to make her envious. “That’s the whole reason why I’m going up there.”

“But I’ve tried to hook you up tons of times, Michael, and you’ve never been interested.”

“Yeah. Now I am. Besides, maybe they’ll play some rock music.”

“I can’t believe this,” she muttered, shaking her head. For a brief second, she looked slightly hurt, but it disappeared, and a huge smile came across her face. “That’s great, Michael,” she said. “Maybe you’ll find your soul mate.”

Everything hurt. Looking into her eyes hurt. Standing so close but yet so far away from her hurt. The words soul mate hurt like hell. “Doubtful,” he said quietly.

They stood staring at each other in silence for a moment, and Michael wanted nothing more than to run to her and pick her up in his arms. Instead, he spoke. “So this works out,” he said. “I’ll take you up there with me and we’ll go our separate ways for the night.”

She nodded. “Right. Sounds good.”

It sounded awful. “I’m gonna go get ready,” he told her. “I won’t be long.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria saw Billy and his group of friends, including Max, the minute she walked into Horizon. They were laughing and having fun and pounding beers even though it was supposed to be illegal. She tried to avoid them. She tried to avoid everyone. She wasn’t in the mood to party. She wasn’t in the mood to dance. She wasn’t in the mood to do anything except lean against the wall and observe what Michael did.

He integrated himself with everyone right away. He looked uncomfortable at first, and Maria was beginning to believe that he would never hook up with anyone, but then he found a girl with dark brown hair and a nose ring. She was dressed like trailer trash, and she wasn’t the best dancer.

“I’m Cassandra,” Maria heard the girl say as she and Michael started up a conversation. She watched as Michael introduced himself and then extended her an invitation to dance. She accepted.

Crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive manner, Maria kept her eyes on the pair as they made their way out onto the dance floor. They were dancing far away at first, and then Michael put his arms around Cassandra’s waist and pulled her to him, turning her around so that he was holding her from behind. She moved her hips around seductively against his lower body, and he leaned down and spoke something into her ear that made her laugh.

She’s nothing special, Maria thought. I am such a better dancer than she is. And I’m way hotter. That nose ring does nothing for her.

When Michael’s hand found its way to Cassandra’s ass, Maria had to contain herself from running over there and pushing Cassandra out of his arms. She wasn’t jealous or anything. She just didn’t like it.

They danced every song together for the next fifteen minutes, and that whole time, Michael kept glancing up and meeting Maria’s eyes. She looked away every time he did so, trying not to be obvious. Michael didn’t need to know that she was watching him.

She wasn’t jealous. It just wasn’t right. Michael and Cassandra were not right together. He could have at least hooked up with someone who did more than shaking her hips when she danced.

“Hey, Maria!”

Maria tore her eyes away from Michael to see who was addressing her. “Hey, Billy,” she said. She took a quick glance back at Michael to see if he was watching. He wasn’t.

“I’m glad you made it,” Billy said.

Maria gave him a small smile and returned to watching Michael. God, how much closer could he get to her?

“So, I was wondering,” Billy said, “do you wanna dance?”

“Dance?” she echoed. She gave him an apologetic look. “Oh, Billy, I’m sorry. I’m just . . . I’m not really in the mood to dance right now.”

“That’s okay,” he said, but he was looking at the ground again like he did every time that she rejected him. “Maybe later.”

“Maybe later,” she agreed, watching him walk off to join his friends again. She felt bad for never giving him a chance, but she had more important things to do right now. She had to watch.

But she wasn’t jealous.

The song switched to a faster song, and Cassandra started to move faster. Michael responded to her movements, grinding against her slightly. Maria couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open in horror. How could he dance like that with her? She was repulsive!

Michael looked up at her and smirked as he moved against Cassandra. That was it. He wanted to play that way, she would play.

Maria walked through the crowd over to Michael and Cassandra. A few guys followed her and watched in pleasure as she broke out a few of her new moves. They started clapping and hollering when she rolled her body down to the floor and then back up again seductively.

Beat that, Cassandra, she thought. Amateur.

Maria rolled her hips and ran her hands over her body, giving Michael quite a show to let him know what he was missing when he was wasting his time with that trash. The guys around her responded favorably, and a three of them came up to dance with her at once.

“Ooh, so many offers,” she said as one guy wrapped his hands around her from behind and the other two danced in front of her. “I guess I’ll just have to dance with you all at once.”

Michael tightened his grip on Cassandra and reached out, grabbing some random girl, dancing with her, too. Maria responded by rolling her hips over the guy behind her and running her hands up the chests of the guys in front of her. She kept her eyes locked with Michael’s the whole time, enjoying the frustration she was seeing build up there while he watched her, but Michael didn’t back down. He reacted to her sultry movements by pressing himself up into Cassandra again and slapping the other girl’s ass.

Maria increased the sexuality of her movements, and so did the guys dancing with her. The guy behind her started to take things a little too far when he ran his hands up her stomach to cup her breasts. “Okay,” she said, pulling his hand away. “Don’t do that. One of the other guys tried to put his hand up her shirt. “Stop,” she told him, pushing his hand away. The other guy in front of her took it way to far when he tried to stick his hand down her pants. “Stop it!” she shouted, struggling against them.

Suddenly, Michael was there, literally throwing them away from her. “Keep your damn hands off her!” he warned them. He threw one of them to the ground violently, curling his hand into a fist. The guys all scampered away, and Maria and Michael were left in the middle of the scene, receiving a few strange looks from the other people.

“Let’s get outta here,” Michael said, heading for the exit without even saying goodbye to Cassandra and the other girl. “This club blows.”

“Wait a minute!” Maria shouted after him, following him to the exit. She grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t wanna go?” She waited for an answer, but he didn’t say anything. Giving in, she sighed. “You’re right. It blows. Let’s go.”

Michael turned and headed for the exit again, and she followed him. She caught up with him in the parking lot. He gave her a satisfied look and said, “Jealous?”

“Jealous?” she shrieked. “Me?”

He nodded, still looking pleased with himself.

“I was in no way, shape, or form jealous!” she told him. “I had nothing to be jealous of!”

“Right, so that’s why you were staring at me the whole night.”

“I wasn’t staring,” she corrected. “I was glancing at you now and then because . . . because I don’t like that Cassandra girl.”

“You don’t even know her,” Michael pointed out, taking out the keys. “She doesn’t go to our school.”

“Well I’ve heard some things about her from some people,” she lied. “She’s nothing but a whore, Michael.”

“Oh yeah, and those guys you were dancing with were such Prince Charmings.”

“I was just dancing with them to have a good time,” she told him falsely.

“You were jealous.”

“I was not! You’re the one who was jealous. ‘Keep your damn hands off her,’” she mimicked in a manly tone. “What was that all about?”

“I was defending you!”

“You were defending me because you were jealous, Michael!” She put her hand out. “Give me the keys.”

“What?”

“I wanna drive!”

He shook his head, starting for the driver’s side. “I am not letting you drive when you’re like this! You’ll run us off the road!”

“Give me the keys, Michael!” she demanded. She couldn’t help but be demanding right now. She was feeling fiery, and she couldn’t pretend to be calm.

Reluctantly, he tossed her the keys and went around to the other side. “I was not jealous,” he muttered, getting in.

“Yeah, right!” She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot furiously. “You were grinding two girls at once—God, how is that even possible?—just to make me jealous. Well, it didn’t work! I wasn’t jealous!”

“I wasn’t, either!”

“Fantastic!” She reached over and turned on the radio so that rap music filled the car.

“I can’t take this shit,” Michael said, changing it to a station that played hard rock.

“I’m driving. You listen to what I wanna listen to.” She changed it back to rap.

“I’m older. It’s my car.” He changed it back to rock.

“It is not your car! It has never been your car!” She changed it back to rap.

“Who drives it the most?” He turned the radio off altogether.

“I drive it just as much as you do, Michael!” She took her eyes off the road and looked at him. “This is in no way your car!”

“Eyes on the road!” Michael shouted.

Maria swerved back out into traffic just in time to barely miss hitting a mailbox. “Look at this! You’re distracting me!”

“Well, I can see why. I’m a good-looking guy.”

“Full of yourself, much?” She took her eyes of the road again and looked at him. “You know, what Michael? You are just---”

“Maria!”

She looked up again to see that she was heading straight into a busy intersection. She slammed on her brakes and stopped just before hitting another car. “Look at what you’re doing!” she told him gripping the steering wheel hard.

“What I’m doing?”

“Yes!” She slammed down on the accelerator when the light turned green. “You’re pissing me off! You’ve been pissing me off since the day you got here!”

“Oh, I’m sure! That’s why you watched Will and Grace marathons with me all the time and slept in my bed almost every night!”

“I did not sleep in your bed almost every night,” she said. “Just a few times. And you’re one to talk! God, you slept in my bed right after that thing with Max!”

“Because you wanted me to!”

“Whatever!” she shouted. “That doesn’t matter! What matters is that you’re pissing me off tonight!”

“Actually, I think I’m just making you jealous.”

“Oh my God, do you ever just give up!” She took the turn onto her street too fast and almost spun out. “You keep saying I was jealous when it’s so obvious that you’re the one who was jealous! God, you are just so annoying! I could just---”

“You look so hot when you’re pissed.”

Maria wasn’t sure if she had heard him right. “Did you just say what I think you said?” she asked, pulling into the driveway haphazardly.

“What do you think I said?”

She turned the car off and reached over, slapping him on the shoulder. “You can’t say stuff like that, Michael! We’ve already discussed this! I don’t know why this is all such a hard concept for you to grasp!”

“Are you saying I’m stupid?”

She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Oh my God, no! Yes! I don’t know! Maybe!” She faced him, and she saw fire burning in his own eyes, matching her own. “I am so happy we’re home right now,” she said, absent-mindedly moving around to get closer to him, “because if I have to spend one more second in this car with you, I’m gonna . . .” She found herself sitting on top of him, suddenly, her body having moved without her consent.

“You’re gonna what?” he asked, noticing the way she was sitting on top of him. “What are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna freak out! That’s what I’m gonna do!”

“I’ve seen you freak out before,” he reminded her.

“You haven’t truly seen me freak out, okay?”

“Uh . . .” He surveyed her position and his. “Do I want to?”

“Yeah, you do.” She leaned forward, crushing her lips to his. She kissed him deeply and with hunger, letting her hands explore his chest. He responded immediately, sliding his hands up her legs to cup her ass. She buried one of her hands in his hair and elicited a groan from him when she pressed her lower body into his, feeling the affect she had on him.

She pulled away, breathing deeply, and threw her head back as he attacked her neck. He pushed her back against the dashboard and sucked vigorously on her skin. She moaned loudly when one of his hands left her ass and came up to brush across her breasts. Gasping for air, she took his head in her hands and brought him up to kiss her again. He immediately submerged his tongue into her mouth and he fell back in his seat as she moved her body against his.

She felt like her entire body, mind, and soul were on fire, and it felt good. She didn’t want this ever to stop . . .

. . . but it had to.

She pulled away finally, breathing heavily. She stopped moving against Michael, and he looked at her, confused. He leaned up to capture her lips again, but she moved back. “What am I doing?” she asked herself more than him. She reached over and opened up the door, climbing out of the car.

“Maria, wait!”

She didn’t wait. She headed up the stairs, straightening out her shirt and not allowing herself to look back.

“Maria, you can’t just run away from this!”

She spun around to face him, making sure that there was a safe distance between the two of them. “I’m not running away!” she told him. “I’m walking away.” She turned to head for the front door again, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Maria . . .”

“What?” She swirled around and met his eyes, feeling tears forming in her own. “What do you want me to say?”

He was silent.

“Do you think this is easy for me?” she asked him. “Do you think I like leaving you? Do you think I want to? Do you have any idea how hard it is to look at you right now and say this?”

He didn’t say anything.

“This is just as hard for me as it is for you,” she told him, “so don’t make it any harder than it already is. Just let me walk away.” She turned around again and placed her hand on the doorknob, turning it slowly. It took everything she had to walk into the house and leave him standing out in the driveway, wondering what the hell had just happened.






TBC...

I'm posting quite a long part since I didn't update yesterday. I think you'll be happy with it.



New Part



Michael stood out in the driveway for a few minutes, trying to shake the feel of Maria’s hands, of her body, trying to forget the taste of her lips, but he never did.

When he entered the house, Amy called him into the kitchen. “I got some pictures developed,” she told him.

“What pictures?” he asked, pretending to be interested. He sat down at the table and took the stack of photos Amy offered him. He flipped through quickly, not really giving most of them a second glance. They were mostly of Jim, Amy, or both of them together. He stopped when he got to a picture of himself and Maria just a few nights back. They were standing together by the stairs, holding onto each other and smiling. They were dressed in their prom attire.

“That one turned out good, didn’t it?” Amy said.

Michael couldn’t say anything. He just stared at the picture, thinking about how simple things had been then. Of course, things had never been completely simple, but they had never been terribly complicated. If he hadn’t have kissed her that night, maybe things would still be relatively simple.

But that kiss . . . Michael wouldn’t take back kissing Maria for anything, even if his life depended it. Kissing her that night made him the happiest he had ever been in his entire life, and kissing her tonight made him feel more alive than he had ever felt before.

“Michael?” Amy asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” he lied, snapping out of his daze. “I was just thinking about how stupid I look in a tuxedo.”

“You don’t look stupid,” Amy told him. “You look handsome. You should wear one more often.”

“No thanks,” Michael said. The tuxedo just wasn’t him. He handed the pictures back to Amy and headed upstairs to go take a cold shower.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Everybody was part of a together. Everybody was part of a couple. That’s how it seemed to Maria. The entire next week at school, she noticed how happy everyone else was. Isabel and Alex were all over each other, growing more and more excited about the wedding. They looked so happy all the time, and they weren’t the only ones. Everyone was happy and in love like that. Even Liz had a boyfriend.

Maria sighed as she watched everyone. She stood by her locker, wishing that one of those girls was her. She felt lonely. She had been staying away from Michael since their intense session in the car a few nights back. Every time she was around him, she was struck by the memory of that night, and she wanted it again. It was too hard to even look at him anymore.

She wanted to be a part of a together, and she wanted him to be the other part of the together. She wanted it desperately.

“Hey, Maria.”

“Hey, Billy.” Poor Billy. He was such a nice guy, and he was clearly interested in her, and she hadn’t even paid him any attention. But he never seemed to let it get to him.

“You look like you could use someone to talk to.”

She shook her head. “Not really. I don’t wanna talk.”

He was looking at the ground again, showing the signs of being rejected. “Well, do you think you could?” he finally asked, lifting his head up to look at her again. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay,” she said. “What’s up?”

“I like you,” he said, getting straight to the point. “I know we haven’t spent a lot of time together, but I think I might like spending time with you.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“I wanna get to know you better,” he went on, “‘cause I really, really like you, Maria.”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

“I was thinkin’ that, if you don’t have anything going on after school today, we could go to that new aquarium that opened up where the old one used to be. We could go together. On a date.”

“Aquarium?” she echoed. That was a strange place for a date.

“Do you like aquariums?”

“Well, I don’t think I dislike them.”

“I know it’s not your typical dinner and a movie,” he said, “but it’s supposed to be really cool, and a bunch of people I know might show up there.”

“Oh, so it’s a group date?”

He shook his head. “No, not at all. It would just be you and me, after school, hangin’ at the aquarium, talking, getting to know each other, and having a good time together.”

Together. She had the opportunity to be part of a together, even though the other part wasn’t Michael.

Billy was a nice guy, and she had rejected him enough. She really hadn’t given him a fair chance, and he deserved one. Plus, if she ended up really liking him and having strong feelings for him, he might be the perfect person to help her get over Michael.

“You and me,” she echoed, “after school, hanging at the aquarium. Sounds like a plan to me.”

A huge smile came across Billy’s face, and he looked like he was going to start jumping up and down. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Wow.” He let out a sigh of relief. “I thought you were gonna say no.”

“Why would I say no?”

“Aside from the fact that you’ve said no to basically every other thing I’ve asked you . . .”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry about that, Billy,” she said. “I just had some stuff going on, you know. But that’s all in the past. It’s over.”

Yeah right, she thought. It’s everything except over.

“It’s completely done with,” she lied. “Completely.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael couldn’t help but listen in on Billy’s and Maria’s conversation. Any time another guy so much as looked at Maria, it set off something inside of him, and he became insanely jealous. He knew Maria had been jealous when he danced with Cassandra a few nights back, too, but of course she refused to admit it to him, just like he did.

He heard Billy suggest going to the aquarium on a date after school. Was the kid born in a barn or something? You didn’t ask girls to go with you on a date to the lame-ass aquarium! Even Michael was aware of that. You gave them pink roses and asked them to go see a romance movie and go out for Mexican food.

The most shocking thing was that Maria accepted. What the hell? The aquarium wasn’t Maria’s kind of thing. She expressed an obvious disgust with all things related to biology in any way. And Billy wasn’t her type of guy. She didn’t date guys like him. She dated guys like Max which, granted, weren’t any better. Billy wasn’t good enough for her.

I’m not good enough for her, Michael thought. She’s a somebody. I’m a nobody. She’s too good for me. She always has been.

He felt like giving up, but something inside of him would not let him do that. He leaned against the row of lockers, listening to the way Maria was laughing at something Billy said, and some part of him would just not back down. He couldn’t give her up that easily.

Michael glanced around the crowded hallway, searching for a girl. He found Courtney Banks at her locker, admiring herself in a mirror. She would do.

“Courtney,” Michael said, stepping up behind her. “Hey.”

She turned around, surprised to see him. She didn’t look disappointed, though. “Hey there, Mikey G.”

“What?”

“Mikey G,” she repeated. “Michael Guerin.”

Well at least she knows my name, Michael thought. “Okay, whatever,” he said, ignoring the stupid nickname. “Look, I gotta ask you something.”

“Yes,” she answered before she even heard the question.

“What?”

“Yes. My answer is yes.”

“You haven’t even heard the question.”

“I know the question,” she said. “Yes, I will join you in the eraser room, Michael.”

“That’s not what I was gonna ask.”

“Oh.” She didn’t seem embarrassed at all. “Well, I will join you in there.”

“Courtney, shut up.” At his request, she did, and he continued. “Look, there’s this new aquarium or something and I want you to go with me after school.”

“Aquarium?” She laughed. “That’s so lame, man.”

“I know,” he agreed, “but I got my reasons why I need to go, and I need you to go with me.”

She gave the idea in thought and the nodded knowingly. “I get it,” she said. “You wanna go on a date with me so you can get in my pants.”

“Well, actually . . .”

“We can go back to my place afterwards,” she told him. “Or your place if no one’s home. Or that bench at the park.”

“Bench?”

“Yeah, but if we go there, I wanna be on top. It’s not comfortable.”

“Whoa, hold up,” Michael said, taking a step back. “I just wanna go to the aquarium.”

“Yeah,” Courtney drawled sarcastically. “Whatever, dude. I’ll let you take me to the aquarium.” She shut her locker and took a step closer to him, holding her face a mere inches from his own. “I’ll let you take me anywhere.” She walked off down the hallway with a suggestive smile and a wave goodbye.

“That went well,” Michael said to himself. He looked back to where Maria and Billy had been talking. They were still talking. He made his way over and stood beside Maria. “Hey,” he said, greeting the two of them.

Maria looked up at him. “Michael,” she said. It was the first time she had said his name in days. “What are you doing?”

“Just standing. Hey, Billy.”

“Hey.” Billy didn’t seem too pleased that Michael had interrupted them.

“We’re sorta in the middle of a conversation,” Maria told him, giving him a major hint that he was supposed to leave.

“Actually, I think I better get going,” Billy said. “I got band. My favorite class.” He said goodbye to Maria and headed off.

Band? Michael thought. Favorite class? Loser.

“Why did you do that?” Maria asked him when Billy was gone.

“Do what?” Michael asked in return, pretending like he had no idea what she was talking about. “I was just standing, Maria.”

“We were discussing things,” she told him.

“What things?”

“Our plans,” she replied.

“What plans?” he asked, acting as if he didn’t know.

“Our plans for after school,” she told him. “We’re going to the aquarium after school on a date.”

“Really?” Michael leaned against the locker, standing in front of her. “That is so weird. I was actually planning on going to the aquarium after school today, too. What a coincidence.”

“And you say I’m a bad liar . . .”

“I’m not lying,” he said, which he really wasn’t for once. “I’m seriously going there. With Courtney.”

“Courtney?” Maria shrieked in horror. “Bleach blonde Courtney?”

He nodded, satisfied that he got this reaction from her.

Maria still didn’t seem to believe it. “You’re going with The Whore?”

“She’s not a whore.” Okay, he was lying now.

“Yes she is,” Maria insisted, “and we both hate her, Michael! We founded the We-Hate-Courtney-Club! You’re the Vice President!”

Michael smiled, remembering the day in anatomy that they had decided to form that club. “True,” he said, “but I don’t think I should be Vice President anymore, Maria, because I don’t hate Courtney.”

“How can you not hate her?” Maria wasn’t backing down. “She’s not real, Michael! Nothing on her is real! Not her hair. Not her boobs. You don’t wanna touch something with fake boobs, do you?”

“Maybe they’re not fake,” he suggested. “I’ll let you know when I find out, okay?”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’re gonna sleep with her?”

He shrugged. “She seems interested.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on the face and the way her hands were curling into tiny fists at her sides defensively.

“Are you kidding me, Michael? Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“No,” he answered. “I’m really taking Courtney to the aquarium because I wanna get to know her more.” Like hell . . .

“Why the aquarium, though? You don’t like the aquarium.”

“Either do you,” he pointed out.

“I’m going for Billy,” she told him.

“I’m going for Courtney.”

Maria looked like she was holding in some laughter. “I’m sorry, but Courtney doesn’t strike me as the type who’s real interested in fish and stuff.”

“She is,” Michael lied. There was only one thing Courtney was interested in. “She is interested in fish and stuff. What about Billy? I thought he was only interested in music.”

“A person can be interested in more than one thing, Michael. Billy has many sides to him.”

“How many sides?”

She smiled mischievously. “I’ll let you know when I find out.” The bell rang, and she started off down the hallway.

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, following her. “What do you me ‘when you find out’?”

“I mean, if all goes right,”—She made a big display of crossing her fingers hopefully—“I’ll be seeing every side of Billy tonight.”

“What?” Michael shrieked. “Are you serious?”

“As serious as you are about sleeping with Courtney.”

“Well, I’m not really that serious.”

“I am.”

He couldn’t tell if she was joking with him or not. “Well, actually . . . I am, too! Yeah! I’m dead serious! We might even do it on a park bench!” He spoke too loudly, and a few students passing by gave him some strange looks.

“A park bench?” Maria echoed in disgust. “That’s . . . that’s exhibitionism, Michael!”

“Yeah, so?” he said, pretending like it was nothing. “Don’t freak out on me again.”

She reacted and recoiled because of his statement, and she turned around, heading down the hall.

“Maria, I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to . . .”

She didn’t stop to listen to his apology. She just kept going, and he just stood there, feeling like he should hit himself for bringing that up again. No wonder Maria wasn’t going to be with him. He somehow always managed to screw everything up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Wow! That fish can lose the entire bottom half of its body and still survive!” Billy exclaimed, pointing to a bluish, silverish fish swimming around with dozens of others in one of the many tanks. “And that one can eat something twice its size!”

“Interesting,” Maria said, not really paying attention. She wasn’t even looking at the fish. Once a person had seen one fish, they had seen them all.

“Look at that one, Maria!” Billy peered into the tank. “It’s awesome. Take a look.”

She didn’t take a look. She stood still and looked straight in front of her. “She’s all over him.”

“What?” Billy gave her a confused look and turned his head to see what she was looking at.

“What a disgusting display,” Maria commented. “She’s hanging all over him. She’s practically drooling on him.” She made a face at the way Courtney rubbed her breasts against Michael’s chest. She was like a sickness!

“Are you talking about Courtney and Michael?” Billy asked. He sighed even when she didn’t answer. Clearly he was wishing that Maria would think about their date instead of her stepbrother’s. “Maria, they won’t last,” he said. “It’ll probably just be a one night thing.”

“It shouldn’t be a one night thing!” Maria stomped her foot in frustration. “God, it shouldn’t be anything! Michael deserves somebody so much better than her! What does he possibly see in her?”

“The same things all guys see,” Billy replied. “A cute face and an easy lay.”

“Is that what you see in her?”

Billy shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think I really see anything in her.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. It didn’t feel right, but she didn’t pull away from him. “I see everything in you,” he said. “I see everything, Maria.”

You see nothing, she thought. You know nothing about me. Lucky you . . .

Courtney ran her hands up and down Michael’s chest sensually, putting on an innocent smile. Maria had to look away. She couldn’t watch anymore. She was jealous, even though she had nothing to be jealous about. She was jealous and it was driving her crazy.

Then a thought occurred to her. She could make Michael just as jealous. She had done it at Horizon a few nights back. ‘Get your damn hands off her.’ She would never forget that.

“Would you be all over me?” she asked Billy, placing her hands on his shoulders.

He seemed perplexed. “What?”

“Be all over me,” she told him. “Kiss me.”

He didn’t need much convincing. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her affectionately. There was no passion, no chemistry, no anything, but in hopes that Michael would glance over and want her more than he would ever want Courtney, Maria kissed Billy back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Get off me, Michael thought as Courtney ran her hands all over him. Hell, you really are just a whore. No wonder I’m the Vice President of your hate club.

“So, when can we get outta here?” Courtney asked him. “This place is stupid. And boring. And I wanna have sex soon.”

“We’re not gonna have sex,” he told her.

She laughed. “You’re so funny. I bet you say that to all the girls before you just throw ‘em down and . . .” She pressed her lower body up into his. “Uh . . .” she moaned, “pound away.”

“There’s not gonna be any pounding, Courtney.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m up for some riding.”

He pushed her away from him. “When are you gonna give this a rest?”

She licked her lips. “I never rest.” She moved forward again, but he placed his hands on her shoulders and held her back. “I don’t get it,” she said finally. “What are we doing? We’re not doing anything here. We’re not having fun.”

“Right about that.”

“I don’t get it,” she said again. “Why would you take me out somewhere if you don’t wanna have sex with me?”

“I have my reasons.” He stole a glance at Maria and Billy Bob Thorton, and he wished he hadn’t.

They were kissing. Really kissing. He was holding onto her and she was holding onto him, and they were kissing each other.

Michael felt his heart sink. Maybe it was time to stop trying, to give up. He didn’t want to, but Maria was making it clear that she was able to move on. Maybe it was time for him to move on as well.

But he didn’t want to move on unless he was moving in the direction of Maria. He didn’t want to move on so that he was moving far away from her.

Maybe he didn’t have a choice. Maybe he had to. Maybe he just had to get over it before wanting her so badly and not having her started to kill him.

“Michael, are you okay?” Courtney asked. When he didn’t look at her, she started slapping his face lightly. “Hey! Michael!”

“I’m fine,” he lied. “Just fine.” He pushed her away from him and started down the hallway past all of the other stupid aquatic exhibits. Courtney called after him and started to follow him, but she eventually gave up, and the only footsteps he could hear were his own. He found a room that was supposed to display something called the Brazilian Paradise Fish along with others. He opened the door and stepped inside, happy to find that no one else was in there. He closed the door behind him and just stood there, pretending that he was interested in the Paradise Fish when, in reality, the only thing he was interested in was out there kissing her new boyfriend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria was kissing Billy, and she didn’t want to be. Something about it wasn’t right, besides the fact that there was no chemistry. Every time her lips touched his, she thought about her lips touching Michael’s, and she wished they were.

She opened her eyes quickly to see if Michael was watching, and she didn’t see him or Courtney standing where they had been. “He’s not there,” she whispered to herself.

Billy pulled away, confused again. “What?”

“He’s gone.”

“Maria, what are you talking about?”

She snapped back into it, and she remembered that she was out on a date with an extremely nice guy. She pointed to a random fish in the tank. “Pretty fish, huh?” she said with a smile.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Fine. I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine,” Billy said. “I don’t get you sometimes. It’s like, one minute you’re all here, and then you’re somewhere else.”

“I’m nowhere else,” she reassured him, even though a good portion of her was. “I’m all right here, Billy. I promise.”

He didn’t look convinced.

She sighed, feeling bad for being like this to him. “Look, I’m sorry,” she said. “I just have some other stuff going on.”

“I thought you said that was all completely done with.”

Yeah, she had said that. “I know,” she said, “but I don’t think it is.”

“Is this about Michael?” he asked her, not even hesitating with his inquiry.

“No!” she answered a little too quickly and loudly. “No, it’s not about him at all. I mean, yeah, I don’t like the fact that he’s with Courtney ‘cause she’s so not right for him, but it’s not about him at all. It’s about something else.” She was starting to believe that she might take on lying as a profession.

“What else?”

“I . . . I can’t explain. Let’s just . . .” She took his hands in hers, trying to reassure him that she was there. “Let’s just have a good time, okay?”

Billy sighed and hung his head, even though he hadn’t been rejected. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll have a good time.”

They walked onto the next exhibit, and Maria tried to show some interest in the stupid fish, but her mind kept wandering. Where was Michael? Was he with Courtney? Was he kissing he like she had kissed Billy?

“Hey, look, there’s Max,” Billy said, pointing down the hallway.

Maria stiffened at the name, and she looked in the direction he was indicated. Sure enough, Max was there with his newest girlfriend. Surely she was his newest conquest.

“Hey, Max!” Billy called, waving. “Over here!”

Max looked up and led his girlfriend over in their direction.

“Maybe we should keep moving,” Maria suggested. She looked away from Max, hoping that maybe if he didn’t see her face, he wouldn’t know who she was.

“Billy,” Max said in greeting. His voice took on a cold sound when he said her name. “Maria. You two know Sarah, right?”

“Hi,” the girl beside him said cheerfully. Maria took a glance at the girl beside him. She was pretty. Dressed conservatively. She was definitely Max’s next conquest. Maria wanted to tell the girl what she was getting into in a relationship with Max, but she figured the girl might just have to figure it all out herself.

“What are you two doing here?” Billy asked.

“We’re on a date,” Max announced proudly, giving Maria a pointed look. “Sarah’s been dying to come here.”

“I love this kind of thing,” Sarah said.

“Me, too,” Max added.

Maria had to hold back a laugh at that. “I’m sure you do.”

“What about you?” Max asked her. “I don’t recall you being too big with this kind of thing.”

“I’m here with Billy,” Maria told him confidently. “We’re on a date, too.”

Max’s eyes narrowed. “Where’s Michael?”

“He’s, uh . . .” She found herself looking at the floor like Billy always did. “He’s somewhere around here. With Courtney.”

“Gosh,” Sarah said. “Everyone’s dating at the aquarium now. Weird, don’t you think, Max?”

Max didn’t answer. Maria felt his eyes on her, all over her. She could practically see the word skin flashing through his mind and in his eyes. She knew his fingers were itching with the desire to feel her skin.

She moved closer to Billy, hoping that she would feel safer, more comfortable, but she didn’t. The only person she would feel comfortable around when Max was looking at her like that wasn’t around.

“Every guy wants to feel you, Maria. That’s all they want. Your skin. Your body . . . All I want is what everybody else wants. Skin. Sweat. Sex . . . Just give in, Maria. Just let me feel you.”

That night came rushing back to her as he gazed at her, his eyes wandering up and down her body. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, but she could still see that he was looking at her.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Stop looking at me!”

“Maria, are you okay?” Billy asked, placing his arm on her shoulder. She flinched away from him. “Maria . . .”

“What’s wrong?” Max asked as if he were concerned.

“Just leave me alone,” she told everyone quietly, pushing past Billy. She hurried down the hallway to get away from them.

“I told you she’s weird,” she heard Max say.

“She is,” Billy agreed.

Maria ignored them and tried to get away from the crowds of people. She opened up a door and stepped into a room displaying something called the Brazilian Paradise Fish. She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, trying to calm herself.

She got the feeling that she wasn’t the only one in the room. She looked up and saw the only person who could have made things more complicated. She saw the only person she wanted to see.

Michael was looking at her, concerned, but he wasn’t saying anything.

“Oh great,” Maria muttered. She did want to see Michael, and she felt a sense of security and comfort wash over her, but she still wasn’t sure how to deal with their . . . situation? Relationship? What was she supposed to call it?

“You okay?” he asked quietly. She could barely hear him.

She didn’t answer. “I’m gonna go,” she said, turning the door handle. She didn’t want to, but she had to.

He was beside her, pressing the door closed before she even had it all the way open. “Don’t go,” he said. “You don’t want to.”

She sighed and released her hand from the door handle. “I don’t,” she admitted. “I . . . Max is out there.”

“Did he hurt you?” Michael asked immediately, his hands already forming into fists.

“Yeah, he hurt me in front of thirty other people.”

It took Michael a moment to realize that she wasn’t serious.

“He just makes me feel uncomfortable,” she explained to him. She took a few steps away from the door, distancing herself from him. “But it’s not really that much better in here.”

Michael looked at her, hurt. “I make you uncomfortable?” he asked.

“No,” she said. He could never make her uncomfortable. “That’s not the right word. You make me . . . I don’t know. Things are just confusing.”

“They don’t have to be,” he said, taking a step closer to her. She took a step back, needing to keep the distance. She needed to. “We could just try being together, just to see how it works out. It could make things better. Oh, but wait. You’ve got Billy now.”

“Billy?” Maria echoed. She could hardly remember his name. “I don’t . . .” She let her sentence fall, remember that he had been all over her at her own request. “You saw us kissing,” she realized.

“Yeah, I did.”

“It wasn’t what it looked like,” she told him. “I was just--”

“Trying to make me jealous?” he filled in. “Is that what you were trying to do? ‘Cause it worked, Maria. I’ll admit it. I was jealous when I saw you two. I wanted it to be me. No one else.”

I wanted it to be you, too, she thought. No one else.

“And just so you know,” he went on, “I never had any interest in Courtney. I still hate her. I still wanna be the Vice President of the club. I just went out with her to make you jealous.”

“Well, your plan worked, too,” she confessed. “I was jealous. Especially when you talked about doing it with her on a park bench.”

He smiled slightly. “I was never gonna sleep with Courtney.”

“I was never gonna sleep with Billy.”

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. “We really gotta stop trying to make each other jealous,” he said. “It’s gonna be the end of me.”

She nodded in agreement. “We really do,” she agreed. “We really have to . . .” She trailed off, and images began to flash through her mind, memories. Memories of all the things they had done together as friends, all the times they had laughed, smiled . . . lived. Memories of the times they had kissed. Memories of the way he looked at her and made her feel like the most special person on the planet. “I have to stop denying this,” she whispered. She slowly walked towards him. “I keep telling myself that this is nothing, that it’s not a big deal, but it’s all I can think about. I keep trying to get you out of my mind, but I don’t want to. I keep pushing you away, and I really just wanna pull you back.” She stood in front of him, inches away. “When I kissed Billy,” she said, “I wished I was kissing you.”

He took her hands in his and took a step closer. “I miss you,” he said. His warm breath tickled her lips.

“I miss you, too,” she returned, entwining her fingers with his. “No more walking away. Or running away. No more pushing you away.”

Their lips touched for the first time in days, and Maria finally was able to live again.






TBC...

New Part





She was too far away. She was across the table, and he couldn’t put his arms around her. Too far away . . .

“So are you gonna do the tourist thing?” Maria asked her father.

“The tourist thing?” Jim echoed, not understanding.

“Yeah, you know, are you gonna go see the sights and shop the shops and take pictures, or are you just gonna be working the whole time?”

Jim shrugged. “I don’t know. Hopefully I’ll be able to. I’m gonna be in Italy at least a year. I might as well do the tourist thing, I guess.”

“Michael and I are gonna be on a road trip this summer,” Maria said, sending Michael a smile. “We’ll be doing the tourist thing.”

She looks so happy, Michael thought. God, I love her. It wasn’t hard to think those words now. But it was going to take time to say them. A lot of time.

“I didn’t know that,” Jim said.

“I’ve only told you every day for the past month,” Maria muttered.

“A road trip, huh?” Jim said, pondering the idea. “I guess that sounds like it could be fun. Good luck spending the entire summer with my daughter, Michael.”

“Asshole!” Maria shouted, not even bothering to contain herself like she usually did. Michael hid his smile.

“What was that?” Jim asked. “What did you just call me?”

“Nothing,” Maria said. She picked up her plate and left the dinner table. “I’m done eating.” She made her way to the kitchen, and her hand brushed across Michael’s shoulder, sending electricity throughout his whole body. The simplest touch from her had such an effect on him.

Michael joined Maria on the couch after dinner. “Up for another marathon?” he asked, resisting the urge to pick her up and place her in his lap.

“Always am,” she said. “Let’s watch that one episode that we can dialogue. You be Karen and Grace and I’ll be Will and Jack.”

“Why do I have to be the girl parts?”

“Because Jack’s a dancer and Will’s hot, and I want the dancer and the hot one.”

“You think Will’s hot?” Michael asked, having not been aware of that.

She smiled and replied quietly, “Not as hot as you.”

He put his arm around her waist in the least conspicuous way, and they started acting out the episode together. Maria started laughing when Michael raised his voice and talked in a high, annoying pitch like Karen. Michael started laughing when Maria got up and did a dance just like Jack. It felt good to laugh with her again.

When Amy and Jim had gone to bed, Michael lost all interest in the marathon. He tightened his arm around Maria and pulled her closer to him. He took her face in his hands and brought his lips down upon hers. She kissed him back, no longer scared and hesitant. She reached back to grab the remote control. She turned the television off, and the room became suddenly dark. Michael couldn’t see Maria, but he didn’t need to. He could feel her.

“You’re so affectionate,” she said quietly as he kissed her cheek and ran his fingers through her long, silky hair.

“First time anyone’s said that to me.

She kissed him softly once more, and then they settled down on the couch. He held her close to him from behind, and they fell asleep in each others arms for the rest of the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Remind me what we’re doing here,” Michael said, looking around the beach.

“Celebrating the soccer team’s victory,” Maria told him. “I don’t know why they had to throw the party on the beach, though. It’s kinda cold out tonight.”

Michael reached over and started to put his arm around her, but then he remembered that they were in public, and they had made a rule a little over a week ago that there wouldn’t be any public displays of affection in public. It was difficult sometimes. When it was just the two of them, she was his girlfriend. When it was more than just the two of them, she was his stepsister and friend, but nothing more.

“Here,” he said, handing her his jacket. He wasn’t wearing it, and it looked way better on her anyway.

“Soccer’s stupid,” Isabel commented, taking a sip of her drink. She settled into Alex’s arms and rested her head on his shoulder. “We shouldn’t even be here,” she said. “There’s planning to do.”

“No, there isn’t,” Alex reminded her, stroking her hair. “We’ve planned everything.”

“I’ve planned everything,” she said.

“True,” he agreed. “But I told you I loved everything you picked out.”

Isabel sighed. “I just don’t know what to do with myself now that I’m not thinking about the wedding.”

“Have fun,” Maria suggested. “You’re at a party. Now, I realize that I haven’t been the major party-person lately, either, but they can be fun if you make them fun.”

Michael had a few ideas of how he could make the party fun, but that would violate the previously established No-PDA rule tremendously.

“Maria’s right,” Alex said, throwing his empty cup down on the ground. He grabbed Isabel’s hand and pulled her up. “We’re at a party. We’re gonna have fun.” They danced over to a small crowd of people and started dancing close together.

“We can’t dance like that,” Maria said enviously as she watched the couple.

“Yeah we can,” Michael told her. “I know it’s against the rules or whatever, but we’ve danced like that before.”

“Not like that,” she pointed out. “Michael, I’m telling you, people were giving us strange looks when we were slow dancing at the prom.”

“People are stupid.”

Maria wrapped his jacket tighter around her as the wind picked up. “That’s a nice slogan you got there,” she said.

“It’s true.”

She thought about it for a short time and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is true. I could fill a list a mile long with names of stupid people.” She glanced up and rolled her eyes. “Here comes one now,” she muttered.

Michael looked up and saw that Courtney was striding towards him. She was wearing only a bikini and appeared to have been swimming. Michael sighed in exasperation when she came to stand beside him. He had managed to avoid her for the past two weeks, and he was hoping to avoid her a few more until they all graduated.

“You look hot,” Courtney commented, running her index finger from her mouth to her breasts. “Wanna fuck me yet?”

“Whore!” Maria shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. “God, you’re not even pretty!”

“Excuse me? I am way hotter than you!”

“Well, actually--” Michael started.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure you are,” Maria retorted, “‘cause who here’s a dancer and the prom queen?”

“You didn’t even accept your crown,” Courtney muttered. “Michael, lose her and come with me.”

“Go away Courtney,” he told her. “Yeah, we went out once, but there were extenuated circumstances.”

Courtney grunted. “Fine. Whatever, dude. You’re missing out.”

“I really doubt that,” Michael muttered as she walked away. Courtney was a future Tess and nothing more.

Michael glanced around after that and saw Liz. Of course. She was always watching him, too, even though he had explained that he had no feelings whatsoever for her, even though she had a boyfriend now. God, help the boyfriend.

“Can’t these girls get it through their heads that I’m not interested in them?” he asked Maria.

“Apparently not,” she said, placing a possessive hand on his shoulder. She held it there a little longer than she should have and moved it away only when she had to. Michael immediately missed her touch.

It was getting harder, concealing how he felt about her, and he knew it was only going to get even harder. Still, no one seemed to realize what was going on.

“You guys should come dance,” Isabel said when she and Alex joined them again. “It’s fun out there!”

“You’re having fun,” Maria said. “Good for you. No wedding-planning tonight, just big fun thanks to the victorious soccer team.”

“Seriously, you should go dance,” Isabel said. “There was a really hot guy out there, Maria.” Alex gave her a look. “Not any hotter than you,” she added quietly.

“Are you trying to pair me up?” Maria asked, skeptical.

Isabel shrugged. “Sure. I’ll be the matchmaker. I’ll pair you up, too, Michael.”

“Uh, that’s okay,” he told her, moving just an inch or so closer to Maria. “Not necessary.”

“Are you sure?” Isabel asked. “There’s some cute brunettes over there.” She pointed to two barely familiar girls.

“Not those two,” Maria said. “They wanted to have a foursome with me and Michael. I think they were more interested in me than him.”

“You don’t need to find anyone for me,” Michael assured her. “Believe me, you don’t.”

Isabel sighed. “Fine.” She scanned the crowd some more and then pointed to a tall, dark-haired guy. “What about him, Maria? He looks like he could be your type. A little tall, but . . .”

“You don’t need to find anyone for me, either,” she told her.

Isabel gave her a confused look. “Why? No offense, Maria, but since Max . . . you haven’t really . . . I mean it looked like you and Billy might . . . I’m just trying to help.”

“I know,” Maria said, “but you don’t need to. I, um . . .” She paused. “I have a boyfriend.”

“What?” Isabel sounded and seemed shock. “Who? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought I did,” Maria said. “Must have just slipped my mind.”

“Who is it?” Isabel asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. “It’s that new guy Scott, isn’t it?”

Maria shook her head. “No. Actually, um . . . I met him online. He, uh . . . he’s not even from around here.”

“Where’s he from?”

“Bangladesh,” Maria blurted, probably not even thinking about what she said. Michael stifled a laugh. Maria probably didn’t even know where Bangladesh was. She wasn’t big on geography.

“Bangladesh?” Isabel echoed, making a face of disgust. “Isn’t that where all the poor people live or something?”

“Well he’s only there temporarily,” Maria said. “He’s on vacation. He lives in Paris.”

“Oh, so he went to Bangladesh for the lack of food, money, and hygiene,” Alex said. “I get it now.”

“What’s his name?” Isabel asked, still excited.

“His name?” Maria repeated. “His name is . . . Alonzo.”

“Sounds like a clown name,” Michael muttered.

“Shut up, Michael!” she said, hitting him playfully in the arm. “My boyfriend Alonzo is this totally hot, funny, amazing guy.”

Michael had a feeling she wasn’t talking about Alonzo. “Really?” he said with a smile.

She smiled back. “Really.” She started moving in closer to him and then remembered that they were out and about with other people. She snapped back into reality. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah he’s really all those things. But I guess you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“I guess not,” Michael said going along with it. When they got home, he was going to rush Maria up to his bedroom or hers, whichever they ended up in, and they were going to repeat their short interlude from out in the car, extending it until she fell asleep in his arms.

God, she was so beautiful, and it was getting almost painful not to be able to touch her in public. He wanted her so badly, all of her, but he wasn’t even going to bring that up until she convinced him that she was ready for it. Even if she wasn’t ready for years to come, he would wait. She was worth it.

“Tell me more about Alonzo from Bangladesh,” Isabel told Maria. “I wanna hear all about the internet boyfriend.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“How was the party?” Amy asked before Maria even got in the door that night.

“It was okay,” Maria replied. Her eyes followed Michael as he headed up the stairs. She hoped he was going to her room. She had gotten used to sleeping next to him lately. Waking up in her bedroom next to him gave her the most comfortable feeling she could ever imagine.

“Maria, I need to talk to you about something before you go to bed,” Amy said, sitting down at the kitchen table. She pulled out the chair beside her and patted it, signaling for Maria to sit down next to her.

“Okay,” Maria said, already worrying about what it was that her mother needed to discuss. Did she know what was going on between her and Michael? Had they been too obvious about it? Had she figured it out? Her mind spun with the possibilities.

“Of course you know that your father’s going to Italy this summer for an indefinite period of time,” Amy started.

Maria nodded, feeling relieved that this discussion wasn’t shaping up to be one about her and Michael’s secret relationship.

“What would you think if I went with him?”

“With him?” Maria echoed.

Amy nodded. “Well, I’ve always wanted to see Italy and this would be the perfect opportunity. Besides, you and Michael are planning on a road trip this summer, right?”

“Right. We’re gonna leave after Isabel and Alex’s wedding, I think.”

“So you won’t really be around for the majority of the summer,” Amy said. “I don’t really want to sit here by myself, so I think it might be fun to go with Jim.”

“Yeah,” Maria agreed. “It’s Italy. I’m sure it would be fun. You should go, enjoy the summer.”

“Well that’s the thing,” Amy said. “What if I decide to stay longer than just the summer?”

Maria wasn’t sure she understood. “Are you talking about moving there or something?”

“No, no,” Amy said. “I was just talking about staying there as long as your dad’s there filming the movie.”

Of course, Maria thought. Mom can’t be anywhere without Dad anymore. “That could be a year,” she pointed out.

“I know,” Amy said. “But a year would go fast. You could come visit. Michael, too, if he wants to. We could spend Christmas in Italy. I’m sure Uncle Ben and the family would love that.”

“They probably would,” Maria agreed. “You know what?” She pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. “You just do whatever makes you happy, Mom. If you wanna go to Italy, go to Italy and stay as long as you want. I’ll just . . .” She shrugged, heading for the stairs. “I’ll just stay here.”

She opened the door to her room feeling the familiar feeling of abandonment. She knew she would be abandoned after the wedding when her father and probably her mother left for another country. The years of growing more and more alone and isolated from her parents were all leading up to this. They wouldn’t come back. Not for her. She was sure of it.

Michael was laying in her bed when she stepped inside. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw him. He looked so good lying there, just waiting for her. She could already feel his warmth.

“Take off your shirt,” she told him. “It’s scratchy.” Truly, it wasn’t. She just wanted it off of him. Now.

“It’s not scratchy,” Michael said, lifting his shirt above his head. “I know you, DeLuca. You just wanna catch a glimpse of the abs.”

“Maybe,” Maria admitted. She reached into the top drawer, pulling out a large T-Shirt. It was one of Michael’s. She had stolen it from his room that morning because he never wore it and she wanted to wear it. It smelled like him. “Could you turn around?” she asked him.

He complied, shifting so that he was facing the headboard of her bed.

Maria lifted her shirt above her head and unclasped her bra. She smiled, knowing that she could have changed in the bathroom. It was just so much more fun this way. She knew that having her change clothes in the same room as him was torture to Michael.

She pulled the T-Shirt over her head and dropped her jeans to the floor, leaving her panties on. There was no need to be overly obvious that she wanted him so badly.

“You can turn around now,” she said when she was ready. She piled her clothes in the corner and headed for the bed, ready to be in his arms.

“That’s my shirt,” he noticed. “You like wearing my clothes, huh?”

“Even though they all say something about Metallica,” she said, settling in next to him, “they’re passable.”

Michael gently wrapped his arms around Maria, pulling her closer to him. He brought his lips down upon hers and kissed her deeply. Kissing Michael felt like nothing else. It made her forget about everything else, and there was only him. Every time he pulled away was her own torture.

“You’re a really good kisser,” she murmured against his lips. “I thought I should tell you.”

He kissed her again, running his hands up and down her sides. God, how had she lived in the same house as him for so many months and never kissed him?

“You’re tired,” he noted, pulling away slightly.

“A little,” she said. “My mom just told me that she wants to go to Italy with my dad. I think they’re gonna stay awhile.”

“Oh,” Michael said. “Well, you know, if they go to Italy, we can have this whole place to ourselves.”

“Yeah,” Maria agreed, snuggling into him. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I’m just lookin’ at the bright side,” Michael said, stroking her hair.

“It’s very bright,” she mumbled, feeling the precious state of sleeping start to overcome her. “Very bright side. So bright, it’s like the sun. Bright side, bright sun.”

“You’re falling asleep, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh,” she said. “Very soon now.”

He kissed her forehead, and she fell asleep seconds later.






TBC...

New Part






“Basketball,” Michael muttered, staring blankly at the game folding out before him. “It’s a load of crap.”

“That’s what I keep saying,” Alex said. “Finally, someone who agrees with me!”

“What the hell is the point of trying to get a ball through a hoop?” Michael went on. “Golf is more interesting, and golf sucks.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Alex said, “but I do think tennis is more interesting.”

Michael shook his head. “Hockey. It’s the ultimate sport, man. I’m tellin’ you, you should watch the game tonight.”

Maria sighed. “You shouldn’t,” she told Alex. “Michael’s made me sit through hockey games. Trust me, nothing interesting.”

Michael was about to object, but Isabel spoke up. “I prefer gymnastics,” she said.

“Me, too,” Maria agreed. “Everybody thinks it’s easy just ‘cause they make it look so easy.”

“It is easy,” both Michael and Alex said.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you try doing an arabesque on the balance beam.”

“Ara-what?” Michael asked.

“Arabesque,” Maria repeated. “It’s like when you stretch your leg out behind you and . . .”

“Hey,” some guy said to Maria as he made his way across the bleachers. “You wanna come sit with me and my friends?”

“I don’t think so,” she answered. She was so tired of getting hit on by random guys who didn’t even bother to ask her name.

The guy shrugged. “If you change your mind . . .”

“I won’t,” she said. “Bye.” She waved him off, and looking rejected and defeated, he finally left.

“He was cute,” Isabel said. “Why didn’t you go with him?”

“I don’t even know him,” Maria said. “Besides, remember Bangladesh?”

“Right,” Isabel said. “I keep forgetting. Sorry.”

A buzzer signaled the end of the first quarter, and Isabel stood up. “I gotta go cheer,” she said. “See you later.”

“Go team,” Michael muttered unenthusiastically as Isabel made her way across the bleachers.

“I should probably go, too,” Maria said. “I still gotta change.” She started following Isabel, but then she stopped and turned around. “You’re gonna watch the dance tonight, right?” she asked Michael.

“Yeah, of course I am,” he said.

“Good,” she said, smiling, “‘cause Mom and Dad aren’t here and . . .” She trailed off and leaned in, whispering in his ear. “And it’s kind of a sexy dance.”

She knew Michael was smiling. “My favorite kind,” he whispered back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria wasn’t kidding when she said it was a sexy dance. From the moment the music started, Michael couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and neither could anyone else. For once, Michael didn’t mind that every other guy there was looking at her. She fell asleep in his arms every night, not theirs.

“They’re good,” somebody commented, sitting down next to him. The voice was familiar. Michael turned his head and looked at a face that he had been hoping to never see again.

Josh.

“That’s some hot shit they’re doin’,” Josh said. “I like it.”

“What are you doing here?” Michael demanded.

Josh shrugged. “Just felt like paying you a visit. It’s a funny story, really. I spent 40 days in the slammer, and hey, you’re livin’ it up at a basketball game.”

“Leave,” Michael said, returning his attention to Maria. He’d told her that he was going to watch her dance, and he intended on doing it, even if his old influence was sitting next to him.

“Leave?” a female voice echoed in question. Tess sat down on the other side of him. “We just shelled out hard-earned cash to pay for the hotel room. We ain’t gonna leave.”

“Hard-earned cash?” Michael echoed. “You earned it giving guys a hard-on.”

“Oh, you’re so funny,” Tess said sarcastically. “What are you doin’ here, anyway? This is a school event. It’s pathetic, Michael.”

“This is hot!” Josh shouted, drawing a few strange looks from the people around them. “She dances better than you, Tess.”

“Who?” Tess asked.

“That blonde girl up front,” Josh said, pointing to Maria. “I’m gonna get her in the locker room tonight and just--”

“If you wanna live, you won’t finish that sentence,” Michael warned. He felt the familiar feeling of rage boiling up inside of him. He had felt it before when he had fought with Kyle, and he had felt it to an even greater degree when he had found Max trying to . . . He felt it again.

“She’s your chick, huh?” Josh said. “I gotta hand it to you, Michael, you ain’t done too bad for yourself.”

“She’s not . . .” Michael lied. “She’s my stepsister.”

Tess chuckled. “Any idiot can tell she’s not just that.”

Great, he thought. They know. That’s just great . . .

“Damn, I bet she’s a firecracker in the sack,” Josh said.

“Leave,” Michael repeated, still watching Maria like he promised he would. “Get out of here now.”

“So bossy,” Tess muttered.

The dance came to an end, and Josh stood up and shouted, “That’s fuckin’ hot, bitch!”

Michael had to resist the urge to punch him in the gut. He didn’t want to cause a scene.

“I think we should all go somewhere a little quieter to talk,” Tess suggested. She stood up and headed out of the gymnasium drawing a few disgusted looks from the girls and intrigued looks from the guys.

“Come on, man,” Josh said. “We just wanna talk.”

Reluctantly, Michael stood up and followed them outside, wondering why they were here and why it had to be now when everything was starting to go right.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“That was definitely a crowd pleaser,” Maria commented, bending to take a drink from the water fountain.

“Agreed,” one of her teammates said. “Everyone was really into it. Did you guys here that guy shouting when we were done?”

“Yeah,” Maria replied in unison with many others. “He was kinda rude.” She stepped away from the drinking fountain and congratulated her teammates on another great performance. She headed back into the gym just as the game was starting back up. She saw Isabel, who was supposed to be cheering, and Alex making out in the crowded bleachers, but she didn’t see Michael sitting next to them.

“Isabel!” Maria shouted, loud enough so that her friend could hear her. “Isabel!” Isabel didn’t seem to hear her. “Alex!” Alex didn’t hear her, either. He was too busy running his hand up Isabel’s tiny cheerleading skirt. It was no use trying to ask them where Michael was. They were oblivious to the rest of the world.

Maria scanned the rest of the gymnasium and then headed out to the concession stand, looking for him. He wasn’t out there, either, and there wasn’t any point in asking anyone if they had seen him. Most people didn’t even know who he was. She didn’t have any choice but to go back and wait for him.

Maria started heading back into the gymnasium when a figure caught her attention outside. There he was. Michael was talking with two people. She opened the door and walked outside. “Michael,” she said, getting his attention.

His head snapped around. “Hey,” he said, taking a few steps towards her. “I saw the whole dance. I did. It was great.”

“What are you doing out here?” Maria asked him. She glanced over his shoulder at the two people he was speaking with. They looked like they were around his age, and they looked weird. The girl looked like she was wearing a teddy and high heels, and the guy had more piercings than features. “Who are they?” she asked before he could answer her first question.

“Old friends,” the girl answered for him. “We all go way back.”

“Old friends,” Maria echoed in understanding. She took a few steps forward, pushing past Michael. “You must be Tess and Josh. Michael’s told me about you.” She tried to smile, unsure of what would be the appropriate thing to do with these people. She already felt awkward and out of place. “It’s nice to meet you.” Like hell, she thought. Michael had told her about these people. They weren’t nice, they weren’t friendly, and they weren’t the type of people you ever wanted to meet.

“Hey, you’re the dancer,” Josh said. “Michael’s chick.”

Maria shook her head. “No, no I’m his stepsister.”

Tess gave her a look. “We already know you’re his chick. Don’t lie, honey.”

Maria looked up at Michael in disbelief. “You told them?” she shrieked.

“They just knew,” he said. “I didn’t tell them anything.”

“He didn’t have to tell us anything,” Tess said. “It was completely obvious, wasn’t it, Josh?”

Josh didn’t say anything. He just kept looking over Maria, licking his lips in wanting.

“He was watching you,” Tess continued, “the whole time. The whole time you were out there, he was watching you.” She took a step closer to Maria, crossing her arms over her chest. “He used to watch me, too. He used to watch me fuck myself.” She smiled and glanced at Michael out of the corner of his eye. “Hell, he used to fuck me every night. Sometimes he left marks.”

Maria couldn’t hide her uncomfortableness with what they were discussing. He had told her stories about his life, but he had never told her things like that. He had told her that he and Tess were involved, but she had never known that they had been hardcore involved.

“What?” Tess said. “You didn’t think your boyfriend’s still a virgin, did you?”

“No,” Maria replied truthfully. “I know he’s not.”

Tess smirked and reached up, running her hands through Maria’s hair. “But you are.”

“Leave her alone, Tess,” Michael said, stepping in between them.

“Relax,” Tess said. “I was just pointing out the obvious. But, hey, don’t worry, honey. Virgins can be cool, too, I guess.”

“I guess you wouldn’t know,” Maria said.

“That’s right,” Tess said. “I don’t. And I’m glad I don’t. You know what? We should do something. The three of us.” She motioned to herself, Michael, and Maria. “Threesomes can be fun.”

“Oh my God, that is sick!” Maria shrieked in disbelief, stepping out from behind Michael. “God, I am in no way a lesbian like you obviously are!”

“I am not a lesbian,” Tess said, “unless lesbians ride boys for five hours at a time.” She ran her hands up Michael’s chest. “You remember that, don’t you, Mikey?”

Michael stepped back, taking Maria with him. “Just get outta here,” he said. “Both of you.”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere,” Josh said, getting back into the conversation. “I like staring at your bitch.”

“What did you just call me?” Maria asked in anger, taking a step forward. Michael held her back.

“I’ll do you from behind,” Josh muttered. At that, Maria brought her knee up and hit him in his balls, causing him to slump to the ground in pain.

“Nice job, honey!” Tess exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“Would you shut up?” Maria said. “I don’t even know you and I already hate you! Both of you!”

“Well that hurts,” Tess told her sarcastically, “but I’m bettin’ I can say a lot that’s gonna hurt you worse. Want me to tell you stories about me and Michael? He likes it rough. He likes it with me. He likes what I do for him. What have you done for him? Kissed him?”

“Fuck you.”

“Ooh, such big words for a little girl.”

Michael came up and wrapped his arms around Maria. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, trying to pull her away.

“I know what he likes,” Tess said as Michael struggled to pull Maria inside. “I know what he wants.”

“You don’t know anything about him!” Maria shouted, struggling against Michael for a minute. Finally, she gave in and let him pull her inside. She slumped against him, feeling all of a sudden exhausted. “I don’t like them,” she told him quietly.

“I know,” he said. “I don’t, either. But they’ll probably leave now. They just wanted to come stir up trouble or something. They’re stupid like that.”

“I don’t like them,” she repeated. “I really don’t like them, Michael.”

His hands came to cup her face, and he leaned down to try to kiss her. She pulled back slightly, placing her hands on his chest to keep him at a distance. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“Public place,” she reminded him.

He sighed and moved away from her. “Right.”

“Let’s just go home,” she suggested. She wanted to get away from Tess and Josh. She could still feel them lingering nearby, probably watching Michael and her from outside. She wanted to get away from them, and more importantly, she wanted to get Michael away from them.







TBC...