Re: Falling (AU, M/L Teen) 01/18/2010
Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:35 am
With the exception of the one excursion to Las Vegas with Jim Valenti, Liz and Max kept a pretty low profile that first six months. Although they were invariably together – usually hand-in-hand – there was little of the awkwardness and fumbling usually seen with middle school kids taking their first attempts at boy-girl relationships – and certainly none of the acting out or in-your-face sort of stuff that some of their classmates – Pam Troy comes to mind – were doing.
To their parents it seemed -superficially – that little had changed. They bicycled to school together and bicycled back home. Generally they did homework together – and would sometimes get together after dinner for a movie on DVD – invariably in either the Parker of the Evans living room – and generally under the watchful eye of one or the other sets of parents. If they were at the Parker residence Max would say his goodnight to the parents after the movie and Liz would accompany him to the foyer for a quick and very discrete kiss – and that oftentimes just on the cheek – before leaving. If Liz was at the Evans house Max would dutifully escort Liz home – make sure that he greeted her parents and made polite conversation before again retreating briefly into the foyer with Liz prior to returning home.
Both parents noticed the change in their children – yet neither set of parents could really describe the change as anything but an improvement. The change in Max was the most profound. He would – perhaps – never be as outgoing as someone like Maria Valenti but his shyness had almost vanished. Oh, sure, he still was tied to Liz, but the nature of that relationship had changed profoundly. The love no doubt had long been there, but now there existed a self assurance – a realization that what he had always dreamed was impossible wasn't impossible at all.
Perhaps he realized that this world was indeed his and that for Liz to be happy he was going to have to be an active participant in the goings on in it. Liz too had changed – although perhaps her parents were the main ones to notice and mainly her mother at that. Liz still had ambition – and any number of plans – but she also had a contentment – a sense of knowing who she was and where her life was going that in its own way was almost as profound as the change in Max.
Despite the reservations that both sets of parents had about their childrens' youth and how suddenly they became engaged to each other the six months went surprisingly well. The kids had promised to take things slowly and they were doing precisely that. Their grades were good and – at least after the hubbub of the recall of the school board member – even their schoolmates and the school administration itself just gradually adjusted to the fact that they were always seen together – always hand-in-hand. If there was a kiss at school or a hug – or even an arm draped possessively around a hip – well, nobody ever saw it.
By the second six months Max had become somewhat of a fixture at the Parker household – as had Liz at the Evanses. Three days a week Liz would come to dinner at the Evanses – three days a week Max would have dinner with the Parkers. One day a week they would go out to eat together – although more often than not even that was in public at the Crashdown or double, triple, or quadruple-dating with one of the Valenti kids or Isabel.
After that first year little changed at school. Other kids were starting to pair up and attending dances. Of course few of these pairings were very persistent – and of those few that were Liz and Max were sort of accepted as background noise. They had been a pair since the third grade – they still were. They were now more sociable, less isolated, and even if Liz DID wear an engagement ring – they really didn't seem to be DOING anything about it. If anyone was watching boy-girl pairings, it was the unexpected ones. Ice Princess Isabel and a lanky computer geek – now that was news. The constant bickering of Maria Valenti and Michael Guerin – now their was a show. How those two stayed together no one understood – but stay together they did. The other Valenti child's ongoing relationship with 'the new girl' got less comment than the others – Tess saw to that. A lot of people somehow didn't even notice the girl – especially not if she noticed them first.
On the home front though, there were changes occurring. For one thing, Max was shaving every other day, rather than once a week if he needed to or not. Liz was – as her father described it – filling out. While their behavior around their parents seemed – superficially – unchanged, that was only because the changes were occurring so gradually – but over the course of the next six months the changes were real. For those who were paying particular attention – in this case Nancy Parker, the changes were noticed.
It was 11 PM on a Friday as Nancy drove up to the Evans door to pick up her daughter. It had been the night for dinner and a DVD for Max and Liz at the Evans residence. Diane met Nancy at the door and motioned her in.
“Want a cup of coffee? There was quite a fight over the DVD to be seen – Michael and Maria again – ultimately the girls won the vote when Max and Alex sided with them. It's a chick flick , “Say Anything...,” but it's not quite done. It shouldn't be long though...”
“OK, better make it decaf though. It's a little late for me to have regular. You have quite a crowd tonight.”
“Well, Maria and Isabel are going to have a sleepover at Tess's. I will be surprised if either of them get any sleep. More likely they will be up all night singing old Elvis songs. Kyle and Michael are going over to Alex's place. I believe it's going to be an all night video game tournament.”
“Hmm – I'm surprised Max isn't going too – or that Liz isn't going off with the girls...?”
“Max just wasn't interested I guess. Liz said that it's been a long week – that she'd rather go home and get a good night's sleep.”
“Mmmm,” nodded Nancy, sipping on her coffee.
Five minutes later the party broke up and the six other teenagers wandered off to their sleep-overs. Nancy watched in silence as Liz said goodnight to Max. The kiss was brief – but certainly not passionless. Oh, it wasn't the kiss itself really, it was the way her daughter leaned in to it – the way her body pressed against his – but what Nancy saw most was the look in her daughter's eyes – the longing there that was almost palpable. Max's eyes were much the same.
Nancy watched her daughter – whose hand seemed for some time unwilling to leave Max's hand – finally turn away with a deep sigh and look up toward her mother, she smiled back.
“I'm surprised you aren't going over to the Elvis show at the Hardings..?”
“No, I think I'll just go home and get to bed, Mom. Max and I are going hiking in the morning. I want to get a good night's sleep.”
As they left the Evans residence, Liz looked back and sighed, the look of longing still there. They drove home in silence and Liz kissed hr parents and went up the stairs to her room. Nancy quietly went to the phone and called Diane.
“Diane – would you meet with me tomorrow. I really need to talk with you?”
“Sure, Nancy. The Crashdown?”
“Actually, I'd prefer something a little more private. How about the Garden Cafe – for lunch? I'm pretty sure that neither of our husbands would be caught dead there – and this is sort of a girl thing.”
“Sure -what would be a good time?”
“Noon would be good.”
“That's fine – I'll see you there.”
Saturday, 12PM, The Garden Cafe
Roswell New Mexico.
Nancy had come early – talked to the proprietor – gotten the small private room in back. When Diane Evans came she was already seated. They ordered quickly – ate in relative silence – just superficial stuff – until the waitress had given them their check and they were sitting there by themselves over cups of coffee.
“OK, Nancy, we seem to be alone … What's this all about?”
Nancy sighed deeply. “Diane – before we have this discussion I want you to know – I love your son. From that very first day when I saw him standing there – staring down that big dog that I was sure was going to rip the throat out of my little girl – Max has always been so special to me. I need your advice on something – but I don't want you to think – ever – that I'm upset with Max.”
“What on earth is wrong, Nancy?”
“Diane – I want to share something with you about Liz. I know she was always the teacher's pet – the 'perfect Miss Parker,' but all those years she really wasn't that. For much of her life Liz was sort of self-centered actually. That doesn't mean she was a bad kid – but at times she could be pretty goal-oriented. Everyone laughed about her always having a plan – but even that was a part of her being self-centered.”
“Nancy, I don't think that Liz is like that at all...,” protested Diane.
“Well, today I think you are right. It's just that – I want you to understand how much of what I'm going to say is because of Liz and not because of Max.”
“Max hasn't done something....?”
“No, I told you – this isn't about Max. Well, that's silly, of course it is about Max. She certainly wouldn't be interested in anyone else but.... Oh dear, maybe I need to go back to the beginning...”
“I guess you do...”
“Do you remember the night we came back from Pine Lodge? Liz and I had our first woman to woman talk then. The whole idea of Liz being a 'scarlet woman' … well, it really hadn't bothered me because I knew it was just a ruse. I mean – the news about Max was a surprise – but I was so giddy about having my daughter back – and so concerned about the two of them not becoming some sort of sideshow in tabloids – and I guess I never even considered the possibility that the two of them being there that night might actually do something. Even when I heard the judge reading them the charges I really thought it was all just part of the cover story – even when that nice officer Benning came up to me after the hearing and said that she'd recommended to Liz she get herself evaluated for the morning after pill – I really just thought that Liz had made up a good story. But when we got back home I was so giddy about having my daughter back that that I went in to talk to her right after she got out of the shower. One look at her and that's when I decided she and I needed to talk.”
“The shower?” asked Diane, obviously uneasy.
“Now don't over-react – and certainly not toward Max. Liz only had about three bras back then. The one that she'd taken off – her sportsbra – covered more area than her two other bras. The one she was wearing didn't really cover the marks.”
“Marks...?”
Nancy looked at her friends wide eyes and shook her head gently. "
“Maybe we better go back to the REAL beginning so you can really understand," she said smiling. "...and you don't need to worry - it's OK."
To their parents it seemed -superficially – that little had changed. They bicycled to school together and bicycled back home. Generally they did homework together – and would sometimes get together after dinner for a movie on DVD – invariably in either the Parker of the Evans living room – and generally under the watchful eye of one or the other sets of parents. If they were at the Parker residence Max would say his goodnight to the parents after the movie and Liz would accompany him to the foyer for a quick and very discrete kiss – and that oftentimes just on the cheek – before leaving. If Liz was at the Evans house Max would dutifully escort Liz home – make sure that he greeted her parents and made polite conversation before again retreating briefly into the foyer with Liz prior to returning home.
Both parents noticed the change in their children – yet neither set of parents could really describe the change as anything but an improvement. The change in Max was the most profound. He would – perhaps – never be as outgoing as someone like Maria Valenti but his shyness had almost vanished. Oh, sure, he still was tied to Liz, but the nature of that relationship had changed profoundly. The love no doubt had long been there, but now there existed a self assurance – a realization that what he had always dreamed was impossible wasn't impossible at all.
Perhaps he realized that this world was indeed his and that for Liz to be happy he was going to have to be an active participant in the goings on in it. Liz too had changed – although perhaps her parents were the main ones to notice and mainly her mother at that. Liz still had ambition – and any number of plans – but she also had a contentment – a sense of knowing who she was and where her life was going that in its own way was almost as profound as the change in Max.
Despite the reservations that both sets of parents had about their childrens' youth and how suddenly they became engaged to each other the six months went surprisingly well. The kids had promised to take things slowly and they were doing precisely that. Their grades were good and – at least after the hubbub of the recall of the school board member – even their schoolmates and the school administration itself just gradually adjusted to the fact that they were always seen together – always hand-in-hand. If there was a kiss at school or a hug – or even an arm draped possessively around a hip – well, nobody ever saw it.
By the second six months Max had become somewhat of a fixture at the Parker household – as had Liz at the Evanses. Three days a week Liz would come to dinner at the Evanses – three days a week Max would have dinner with the Parkers. One day a week they would go out to eat together – although more often than not even that was in public at the Crashdown or double, triple, or quadruple-dating with one of the Valenti kids or Isabel.
After that first year little changed at school. Other kids were starting to pair up and attending dances. Of course few of these pairings were very persistent – and of those few that were Liz and Max were sort of accepted as background noise. They had been a pair since the third grade – they still were. They were now more sociable, less isolated, and even if Liz DID wear an engagement ring – they really didn't seem to be DOING anything about it. If anyone was watching boy-girl pairings, it was the unexpected ones. Ice Princess Isabel and a lanky computer geek – now that was news. The constant bickering of Maria Valenti and Michael Guerin – now their was a show. How those two stayed together no one understood – but stay together they did. The other Valenti child's ongoing relationship with 'the new girl' got less comment than the others – Tess saw to that. A lot of people somehow didn't even notice the girl – especially not if she noticed them first.
On the home front though, there were changes occurring. For one thing, Max was shaving every other day, rather than once a week if he needed to or not. Liz was – as her father described it – filling out. While their behavior around their parents seemed – superficially – unchanged, that was only because the changes were occurring so gradually – but over the course of the next six months the changes were real. For those who were paying particular attention – in this case Nancy Parker, the changes were noticed.
It was 11 PM on a Friday as Nancy drove up to the Evans door to pick up her daughter. It had been the night for dinner and a DVD for Max and Liz at the Evans residence. Diane met Nancy at the door and motioned her in.
“Want a cup of coffee? There was quite a fight over the DVD to be seen – Michael and Maria again – ultimately the girls won the vote when Max and Alex sided with them. It's a chick flick , “Say Anything...,” but it's not quite done. It shouldn't be long though...”
“OK, better make it decaf though. It's a little late for me to have regular. You have quite a crowd tonight.”
“Well, Maria and Isabel are going to have a sleepover at Tess's. I will be surprised if either of them get any sleep. More likely they will be up all night singing old Elvis songs. Kyle and Michael are going over to Alex's place. I believe it's going to be an all night video game tournament.”
“Hmm – I'm surprised Max isn't going too – or that Liz isn't going off with the girls...?”
“Max just wasn't interested I guess. Liz said that it's been a long week – that she'd rather go home and get a good night's sleep.”
“Mmmm,” nodded Nancy, sipping on her coffee.
Five minutes later the party broke up and the six other teenagers wandered off to their sleep-overs. Nancy watched in silence as Liz said goodnight to Max. The kiss was brief – but certainly not passionless. Oh, it wasn't the kiss itself really, it was the way her daughter leaned in to it – the way her body pressed against his – but what Nancy saw most was the look in her daughter's eyes – the longing there that was almost palpable. Max's eyes were much the same.
Nancy watched her daughter – whose hand seemed for some time unwilling to leave Max's hand – finally turn away with a deep sigh and look up toward her mother, she smiled back.
“I'm surprised you aren't going over to the Elvis show at the Hardings..?”
“No, I think I'll just go home and get to bed, Mom. Max and I are going hiking in the morning. I want to get a good night's sleep.”
As they left the Evans residence, Liz looked back and sighed, the look of longing still there. They drove home in silence and Liz kissed hr parents and went up the stairs to her room. Nancy quietly went to the phone and called Diane.
“Diane – would you meet with me tomorrow. I really need to talk with you?”
“Sure, Nancy. The Crashdown?”
“Actually, I'd prefer something a little more private. How about the Garden Cafe – for lunch? I'm pretty sure that neither of our husbands would be caught dead there – and this is sort of a girl thing.”
“Sure -what would be a good time?”
“Noon would be good.”
“That's fine – I'll see you there.”
Saturday, 12PM, The Garden Cafe
Roswell New Mexico.
Nancy had come early – talked to the proprietor – gotten the small private room in back. When Diane Evans came she was already seated. They ordered quickly – ate in relative silence – just superficial stuff – until the waitress had given them their check and they were sitting there by themselves over cups of coffee.
“OK, Nancy, we seem to be alone … What's this all about?”
Nancy sighed deeply. “Diane – before we have this discussion I want you to know – I love your son. From that very first day when I saw him standing there – staring down that big dog that I was sure was going to rip the throat out of my little girl – Max has always been so special to me. I need your advice on something – but I don't want you to think – ever – that I'm upset with Max.”
“What on earth is wrong, Nancy?”
“Diane – I want to share something with you about Liz. I know she was always the teacher's pet – the 'perfect Miss Parker,' but all those years she really wasn't that. For much of her life Liz was sort of self-centered actually. That doesn't mean she was a bad kid – but at times she could be pretty goal-oriented. Everyone laughed about her always having a plan – but even that was a part of her being self-centered.”
“Nancy, I don't think that Liz is like that at all...,” protested Diane.
“Well, today I think you are right. It's just that – I want you to understand how much of what I'm going to say is because of Liz and not because of Max.”
“Max hasn't done something....?”
“No, I told you – this isn't about Max. Well, that's silly, of course it is about Max. She certainly wouldn't be interested in anyone else but.... Oh dear, maybe I need to go back to the beginning...”
“I guess you do...”
“Do you remember the night we came back from Pine Lodge? Liz and I had our first woman to woman talk then. The whole idea of Liz being a 'scarlet woman' … well, it really hadn't bothered me because I knew it was just a ruse. I mean – the news about Max was a surprise – but I was so giddy about having my daughter back – and so concerned about the two of them not becoming some sort of sideshow in tabloids – and I guess I never even considered the possibility that the two of them being there that night might actually do something. Even when I heard the judge reading them the charges I really thought it was all just part of the cover story – even when that nice officer Benning came up to me after the hearing and said that she'd recommended to Liz she get herself evaluated for the morning after pill – I really just thought that Liz had made up a good story. But when we got back home I was so giddy about having my daughter back that that I went in to talk to her right after she got out of the shower. One look at her and that's when I decided she and I needed to talk.”
“The shower?” asked Diane, obviously uneasy.
“Now don't over-react – and certainly not toward Max. Liz only had about three bras back then. The one that she'd taken off – her sportsbra – covered more area than her two other bras. The one she was wearing didn't really cover the marks.”
“Marks...?”
Nancy looked at her friends wide eyes and shook her head gently. "
“Maybe we better go back to the REAL beginning so you can really understand," she said smiling. "...and you don't need to worry - it's OK."