Between The Covers (AU, M/L, MATURE) [COMPLETE]

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thank you for your feedback . Hope everyone has had a good start to the year so far .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Fantastic part!..... I'm always looking for an update and it's always so great - I'm feeling the love there!. .... even if listening to the guy Liz got some anxiety about her relationship with Max...
She really should tell Izzy!....with the time going, the situation will grow to the positive side if they all are willing to!

Liz and Max are definitely enjoying their time together right now . Hopefully the conversation with James won’t cause problems for them though. And yeah, Izzy needs to know about Liz and Max… but how will they decide to tell her?

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

I think Liz should tell Isabel whats been happening because the longer she leaves it the harder it would get!

Luckily, it won’t be too long now .

Glad to see some Max and Liz action...lol

Lol, .


Lairabehr4 – Thanks, hun .

Oh, parents. Can't live with 'em ... yeah, that's about it.

Lol, .

Tamashii –

I really liked the scene at Max's house.

Thanks

Liz was having a really bad day, it's nice that just talking to Max made her smile. I do wonder about what she told to Maria.

Yeah, it is nice . Wouldn’t we all like to know what she said to Maria?

I hope that the talk between Liz and James doesn't bring too many problems.

Let’s hope not .

katydid –

Okay, I hope James' comments do not get Liz too frantic! Her and Max seem to talk rather easily.

Let’s hope not… it’s just given Liz something to think about .

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

I'm glad things are still good between M/L for the time being. I'm curious to know how they will work out those finer details as well. It nice of James to look out for her though.

I was looking back through the story to when Liz told James about this ‘other guy’ who kissed her and I came to the conclusion that after what Liz told him about Max, he wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about Liz getting together with him!

I like that they are still getting to know each other and are in the honeymoon stage so to speak. They still have time to figure things out.

Yeah, that’s the thing at the moment – everything’s new and exciting and they’re not worrying about all the small details just yet .

Poor Liz in the beginning of the chapter. i thought she held it together pretty well considering. Lol

Yeah, she wasn’t having a good day, was she?

sunrise102 –

I'm trying not to resent James' meddling. I'm telling myself that he's her friend and is just watching out for her like any other concerned friend would. A bit hard let me tell you but I'm trying! LOL. Ok, for real though. I know he's just worried that Liz is getting in over her head. He knows nothing about their relationship and has certainly not been privy to neither Liz's feelings or thoughts nor Max's. All he knows is Max's player reputation and doesn't want Liz to be another notch on his bedpost.

James is just watching out for her – after all, apart from Max’s reputation, the only other things he knows about Max are what Liz herself told him: he’s an arrogant jerk; he kissed her when she was too drunk to realise what she was doing; he kissed her again even though he knew she had a boyfriend etc. So none of the things he’s heard about Max are particularly flattering and you can see why he’d be worried about her now.

What this means, to me anyway, is that Liz is going to have to start bringing Max to meet and interact with her friends. Yes, there is drama awaiting with Iz being his sister and all but she will just have to deal. And so will those 2. How can her friends get to know Max and see for themselves how serious her relationship with him is if he remains the invisible boyfriend with the bad reputation? I forsee that the longer she puts this off the worse the situation will become. Max will start to wonder why he can't meet her friends, especially when she's met and hung out with his, her friends will wonder what's up too. It could get bad fast.

Well, we aren’t going to have to wait too much longer – after all, Liz has already told James and Maria about Max, so she’s not completely keeping him a secret and so the next logical step would be for them to meet him. The problem is going to be Isabel, since Max is unwilling to spend any time with her at all and Isabel is going to feel betrayed by Liz for getting together with him.

Liz is right about one thing though! She and Max do need to talk.

They do, and they will, I promise .

Was it just me or did the conversation at the end with James leave Liz having doubts about Max?

It’s not so much doubts as wondering if their relationship as it is right now is really as it should be. They’ve both, whether unconsciously or not, been avoiding talking about the heavier, more serious stuff in favour of just enjoying each other’s company and Liz is just realising that they can’t keep doing that forever. She’s not doubting the strength of their relationship though – she knows that she wants to be with him and vice versa, but James’ words have made her realise that they need to talk about some things.

Dreamerlaure – Thanks .

The driving to school late scenario is all too familiar for me lol. It seems every time I have to go back to school, whatever hour I mean to leave never works out. I always pack the night before though

Lol – I’ve been there before too .

I'm pleased things are going so well between them. The scene with their phone conversation was adorable. It's clear that they communicate about so many things so easily...but I am worried about the things they don't communicate about as well. The situation with his family has to be resolved, I just hope that Liz loses neither Isabel or Max because of it

Yeah, at the moment, they are having fun, playful easy-going conversations, but there’s a lot that hasn’t been said or discussed between them since they got together that they need to talk about.

Natalie36 – Thanks .

behrluv32 –

Yeah but hello the sex is amazing

Yes, well, there is that .

destinyc – Thanks .

Ok, I'm hoping Liz doesn't do anything to screw this up--it took them this long to get together--I'm hoping she doesn't overthink it too much!

She’s just realising that there are still quite a few things unsaid between her and Max and that they need to talk about them .

paper – Thanks .

James is just looking out for her.

Yes, he is … especially since it was Liz herself who told him some of the not-so-good things about Max .

Liz & Max need to talk things over after they have sex.

Lol

Hunter – Thanks .

Omg, did I miss an update! Sorry! I was caught up in homework for uni! You know how that goes don't you Heavenli24?

I might vaguely remember it, lol!

I love the hot scenes between M & L! So freakin hot! Much more better then I expected.

That’s good to know .


***

Part Forty

Come on, stupid purse, you have to be in here somewhere, I think to myself as I rummage frantically through my bag for it, while walking across campus towards the student union after my Thursday morning lectures. I can’t buy lunch without you.

“Crap, where is it?” I mutter under my breath. “Please don’t tell me I left it at home… I’m starving.”

“Hey,” comes an unexpected voice out of nowhere a moment later, but before I have a chance to look up I find myself colliding with a warm male body.

“Oh!”

“Careful, Liz,” the voice adds, as he quickly grabs my arms to prevent me from falling.

“Thanks,” I say gratefully, finally looking up to find Max grinning down at me.

“No problem.”

“So,” I say, as I straighten myself up. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today – I thought you had to work on your dissertation?”

“I did,” he nods. “But I hit a writing block about half an hour ago, so I decided to come up to campus and see if you wanted to get some lunch.”

“Lunch sounds great,” I grin, although my face falls a moment later. “Oh, except I’ve just realised that I’ve left my purse at home and I don’t have any money with me.”

“Don’t worry, it’s my treat,” he says, reaching for my hand as we start walking towards the union. “Where do you want to eat?”

“How about the pizza place upstairs?” I suggest. “I haven’t been in there for ages.”

“Sounds good to me,” he replies. “Let’s head up there.”

Ten minutes later, we take a seat in the small pizza restaurant on the first floor of the student union, pizzas in hand.

“Have you noticed how there always seems to be food involved when we’ve spent time together lately?” I muse as I reach for my drink – a can of Apple Tango – and open it up. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, though.”

“Well, I’m not complaining either,” he grins. “What’s there to complain about if it means I get to combine my two favourite things: food… and you?”

I bite my lip, glancing down at my pizza for a moment as I feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment at his words, even though I can hear the teasing tone in his voice.

“Well, I guess it’s good for both of us then because food and you are quickly becoming my favourite things too.”

“Yeah?” he raises an interested eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

We share a grin, our eyes locking for several seconds before we turn back to our pizzas again.

“So, how are things going with you?” asks Max a couple of minutes later. “Are you settled in for the summer term now?”

“Yeah, I am, thanks,” I smile. “It’s kind of scary that the end of the year is so close now though. It’s only a few weeks until exams.”

“Tell me about it,” he agrees. “Although summer term is the best. There’s so much cool stuff going on to take your mind off exams and everything.”

“Ooh, like what?”

“Like lazing around on the cathedral green on a sunny afternoon, or hanging out and having fun at the outdoor pool here on campus, oh and there’s the Hampton Ball, the Summer Ball and the Graduation Ball too.”

“Wow,” I grin, “sounds really cool.”

“Yeah, summer term’s great,” he nods. “Oh, and speaking of, the Hampton Ball is coming up in a couple of weeks. Would you like to go with me? Tickets officially go on sale next week, but I can get advance tickets for free ‘cause I work for the student union.”

“I’d love to go with you,” I nod enthusiastically. “Thank you.”

Hampton Ball is an annual university ball held in the grounds of the nearby Hampton Castle in May. Apparently it’s this really lavish affair held in large marquees with free food and drink, two or three dance floors, fairground rides and a casino. Maria, Izzy and I were debating trying to go when we heard about it at the end of last term, but when we found out how expensive the tickets were, we realised we couldn’t afford it.

“Great,” he grins. “It’ll be an amazing night.”

“Yeah,” I smile. “I’m looking forward to it.”

We finish our pizzas and then head out of the union as we walk around campus together for a while, killing some time until my next lecture.

“…So, you’re telling me that you’ve never been there? Not even once?”

“For the third time, no, I’ve never been there,” replies Max in an amused tone.

I frown in confusion, “But you live so close. How is it you’ve never been?”

“I dunno,” he shrugs. “I just haven’t.”

“But, Max, Alton Towers is like the best theme park in the world!” I exclaim, as if it should be obvious. “You have to go at least once in your life.”

“If you say so,” he shrugs, obviously not that bothered about it.

“Okay, that’s it; after exams are finished in a few weeks, you and I are taking a trip to Alton Towers,” I state firmly.

“Okay,” he agrees. “Fine, we’ll go sometime then.” Tightening his arm around my waist, he adds, “You can show me all the best rides.”

“Yeah?” I look up at him with a grin. “Great. It’s gonna be so cool.”

“I’m sure it will.”

“Liz? Is that you?” comes a new voice from behind us.

I turn, a smile spreading across my face when I see who it is, “Maria, hey. What are you doing up here?”

All of Maria’s lectures and seminars are held in the Drama department, which is just off campus, so she doesn’t usually spend much time here on campus.

“Oh, I had to go to the examinations office about my timetable,” she rolls her eyes. “Can you believe they scheduled two of my exams on the same morning?!”

“Oh no,” I murmur sympathetically. “Did you get it sorted out?”

“Yeah, apparently they’re going to e-mail me,” she replies, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “I hope.”

Beside me, Max moves closer and tightens his grip on my waist a little, as if he’s trying to remind me he’s still there. I see Maria’s eyes flit to him with interest before she raises an eyebrow at me and then holds her hand out to Max.

“Hi, I’m Maria, Liz’s roommate,” she smiles. “You must be Max.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Max smiles, reaching out to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Maria.”

As he releases her hand, Maria sends me a nod of approval and I grin in response.

“So, Max, Liz tells me you’re studying History.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” he nods. “I’m mostly interested in the early-to-mid Twentieth Century.”

“Nice,” she nods, although I’m pretty sure that Maria is virtually clueless about anything History-related, since, like me, she hasn’t studied the subject in years.

“Thanks,” he shoots her a smile. “So, what are you studying, Maria?”

I smile, glad that he’s making the effort to make conversation with her. Of course, he already knows that she’s a drama student… I told him during one of our phone conversations over the holidays… but it’s nice that he’s asking her anyway.

“Oh, I’m doing drama,” she replies. “Hoping to specialise in Creative Acting eventually.”

“Wow, that sounds really interesting,” says Max, as he flashes her a winning smile. “I’m sure you’ll make a great actress.”

Maria blushes at the compliment and I resist the urge to roll my eyes in response to his obvious sucking-up. Apparently it’s working though, because Maria grins and gives me a thumbs-up when he’s not looking.

“Well, I’d better get going now,” she says a minute later as she checks her watch. “I have a meeting with my tutor in a few minutes.”

“Okay, Maria,” I smile.

“Really nice to meet you, Max,” she says again. “Hope to see you around.”

“You too, Maria.”

“See you later, Liz.”

”Bye, ‘Ria,” I call out as she heads in the direction of the drama department. “Have a good meeting.”

“So, that was Maria, huh?” says Max, as we walk up to my department for my next lecture. “She seems nice.”

“Yeah, she is,” I smile. “She’s really cool… and I think she approves of you.”

“That’s good to know,” he smirks. “So, when do I get to meet the rest of your friends?”

I bite my lip anxiously, “Umm, Max, you do know that Isabel is one of those friends, right?”

He makes a face, “Oh… yeah.”

“I’m just not sure how I can introduce you to everyone without it causing problems for both you and Isabel,” I admit. “I don’t think it’s a wise idea right now. Unless, of course, you’re ready to talk to her and try to sort things out between the two of you.”

“No, it’s okay, thanks,” he grimaces and I sigh internally, wondering if he’s ever going to be ready. “You’re right. It wouldn’t be the best idea. Never mind then.”

“You could still meet Kyle and Serena though, if you want.”

“Kyle and Serena?” he questions.

“Yeah, Kyle is my lab partner and I’m pretty sure you’ve met Serena before… she was on the cheerleading squad back in November.” His expression is blank, so I try to jog his memory, “You remember, she was paired with… um, Steve Jones, I think… at the social.”

“Oh,” his expression is one of realisation. “She’s the small brunette, right? About your height?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” I nod. “She and Kyle have been together for about five months… actually, they met the night of the varsity match.”

“Really? That’s nice,” he says, and then falls silent for a few seconds.

My thoughts turn to that night and for a brief moment, I wonder if he’s thinking about the same thing I am: the night of the varsity match was the night we first kissed.

“Okay, here we are,” I pipe up when I notice that we’ve reached my building. “I’d better go in; the lecture starts in a few minutes.

“Okay,” he smiles. “I’ll let you go then… and I have to get back to writing my dissertation.”

“Good luck,” I tell him, rising up on tiptoes to kiss him softly on the lips.

“Have fun,” he grins, tightening his grip on me as he presses his lips to mine again. “I’ll see you later for the debate meeting?”

“Yep, I’ll be there.”

“Great. See you later then.”

“Bye.”

I bite my lip, a small smile on my face as I watch him leave, heading back down the hill towards the edge of campus.

“See you later, Max,” I murmur softly before turning and heading inside.

***

“Liz, hey, Liz, wait for me!”

I turn towards the sound of the frantic voice to find Maria jogging towards me, looking flushed. It’s just gone five p.m. and my lectures are all finished for the day, so I’m on my way back to the halls.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask as she comes to a stop in front of me.

“I saw you in the distance on my way back from the drama department and thought I’d try to catch you up,” she says, slightly out of breath. “Are you heading home?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Uh huh.”

We start walking in the direction of our hall, in silence at first, but I know it’s only a matter of time before Maria mentions our brief meeting earlier this afternoon.

“So, that was Max then, huh?”

And there it is.

“Yep.”

“He’s a bit of alright, isn’t he?”

I just grin at her in response.

“Although,” her expression turns thoughtful, “he looks kind of familiar… but I can’t think where I know him from…”

“Oh, um, he’s the AU president this year,” I admit.

“That’s it!” she exclaims. “I knew I’d seen him somewhere before. He came round to one of our lectures once to tell us about some sports event or something.”

“Yeah,” I smile.

“He seems really nice,” she says, nodding with approval. “You did well, Lizzie.”

“Thanks.”

“Not to mention, totally gorgeous,” she adds. “I’m telling you, Liz, if I wasn’t with Michael…”

I chuckle, “No way, Maria. You’d have to get through me first.”

“And we wouldn’t want that, would we?” she goes along with the joke. “After all, you’re the biggest, meanest girl there is.”

We just look at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing at the absurdity of the idea. Me, fighting? I don’t think so. I’m pretty much the shortest and least strong of all of us!

We chatter about boyfriends and relationships as we head towards the halls, Maria even suggesting that maybe Max and I could double date with her and Michael sometime, but just before we reach A block, I catch hold of Maria’s arm.

“Hey, do you mind not saying anything to the others about me and Max?” I ask hopefully.

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t,” she assures me with a nod.

“Thanks,” I smile gratefully. “It’s just it’s still quite new for us, especially if you don’t count the holidays when we weren’t here, you know?”

It’s not the entire reason for keeping quiet, but it’ll do for now. I’d rather Isabel not find out that I’m going out with her brother until I’ve spoken to him about it first.

“Yeah, and it’s not like Max is just some random guy or something,” she adds. “I mean, I guess a lot of people know who he is.”

“Yeah,” I nod. “It’d be nice to just keep things fairly quiet for a little bit.”

“I won’t say a word, Liz,” she says. “I promise.”

“Thanks,” I say again as I reach for my keys and let us into A block.

As we walk up the stairs, I remember something and turn to Maria.

“Hey, aren’t you going on that Drama trip tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah,” she nods with a grin. “I’m leaving in the morning for a stage management workshop in London and then a show in the evening. I should be back on Saturday sometime.”

“Sounds fun,” I tell her.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

“I think I’m a bit jealous though, I’ll just be stuck in boring biology lectures all day.”

“But, hey, at least you don’t have to spend four hours sitting on a coach tomorrow,” she says, opening the door to our room and stepping inside. “And then again on Saturday to get back here again.”

“Well, there is that,” I concede. “But I still maintain that you’re getting the better deal.”

“If you say so, Liz,” she chuckles.

***

“Max?” I ask quietly, my head on his chest as we curl up together in his bed later that night after a particularly satisfying round of lovemaking.

“Hmm?” he mumbles softly, fingers tracing small patterns along my bare arm.

“I was thinking…”

“Yeah?” his tone almost sounds amused, like he knows I’m deliberately taking my time, but doesn’t know why.

“Well,” I try again. God, why does trying to talk about serious stuff always have to be so much harder than talking about normal things? “The thing is… I mean, you know I…”

Above my head, he exhales loudly and then chuckles, saying in mock-exasperation, “Oh, for God’s sake, Liz, what is it?”

“Fine, fine,” I shake my head, deciding to just plunge in instead. “I realised yesterday that there’s still a lot of stuff we haven’t talked about since we, you know, got together.”

“Like what stuff?” he wonders, sounding genuinely curious.

I raise one shoulder in a semi-shrug, “You know, like about stuff that happened before… ”

“Before…?”

There’s a smile in his tone and I roll my eyes. Now he’s being deliberately vague.

Finally, he gives in, saying knowingly, “Okay, what’s on your mind, Liz?”

I give a small chuckle under my breath before coming straight out with it, “That night of the varsity match, when you walked me home… why did you kiss me?”

He’s silent for a moment before he answers, “It was stupid, I know, and I’m not really sure how to explain it…it’s just that there was something about you that night–”

“Yeah,” I snort, rolling my eyes again. “I was out-of-my-mind drunk.”

“I’m serious,” he replies with a small, amused snort. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off you all night… even though you’d had just a little too much to drink.”

“That’s an understatement,” I mutter, feeling slightly ashamed at myself as I remember that night.

“When I realised how drunk you were, I got worried; I couldn’t bear the thought of you not getting home safely.” He sighs then, his arm tightening around me slightly, “You know, I didn’t mean to kiss you like that. Actually, I’d spent the entire night coming up with as many reasons as I could not to kiss you – the two main ones being that you had a boyfriend and the fact that you’d made it perfectly clear that you weren’t interested – but then you stumbled and I caught you and when I looked down into your eyes, I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Wow,” I whisper under my breath at his admission, my heart clenching slightly in response to his words.

“I’m sorry,” he adds. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Max–” I shake my head, ready to tell him that it’s okay, but he cuts me off.

“Come to think of it, I shouldn’t have kissed you in that club either,” he continues. “I don’t know what came over me; I just… I saw you dancing with Jake and I saw red. For days, I hadn’t been able to get that kiss out of my head and there you were, all over him, and I couldn’t take it. When you said you didn’t remember it, I guess I just snapped… and, well, you know what happened next.”

“Yeah,” I murmur. “The best kiss of my life.”

“What?” he wonders.

I lift my head to look at him, a smile on my face, “You heard me.”

“Max, a big part of the reason that Jake and I didn’t work out was that we didn’t really have any chemistry,” I explain. “When you kissed me that night… well, both nights, actually… I felt more from that one kiss than during my entire relationship with Jake. Don’t you see it, Max? We have chemistry, we have everything that I was missing with Jake, and more.”

He gazes down at me, his expression serious, but his eyes dark and enticing as he reaches out a hand and gently traces my cheek with his fingers.

“Liz…” he mutters, shaking his head a little as his gaze draws me in.

But he doesn’t get any further because he slowly tilts my chin upward and lowers his head. His mouth is soft on mine at first, gentle, even, but then he deepens the embrace, kissing me slowly, languidly, until first my fingers and then my toes tingle with pleasure. I love being with him like this; it makes me feel complete… and now that I’ve finally discovered the pleasure of Max Evans’ company, I can’t imagine ever letting him go.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thank you for your feedback :

mary mary – Thanks .

Queen Fee – Thanks .

I'm glad that Maria approves of Max and agreed to keep it quiet for the time being.

Yeah – since Maria doesn’t know Max in either the ‘flirty, cocky player’ or the ‘Isabel’s horrid brother’ capacity, she can just base her opinion of him on how he came across to her… which is definitely a good thing .

And I like that Max explained to Liz what he was thinking when he kissed her when she was drunk and again a few nights later, it's nice to hear his point of view sometimes especially as his actions are questionable sometimes but thats cos we only know from Liz's point of view.

Yeah, we really needed to hear his side of things too… especially since Liz can only base her opinions of him on his actions from the outside and not on his feelings.

Oh and I agree with Liz, everybody needs to experience Alton Towers at least once in their lives (I love that place! )

Definitely – I love Alton Towers (totally have to go back soon – it’s been almost 2 years since I went last)… my absolutely favourite ride is Nemesis, closely followed by Air. Can’t stand Oblivion though – makes my stomach go all funny, lol. Am really disappointed that they got rid of the Black Hole though – I loved that ride!

LilLoucfer – Thanks .

begonia9508 –

Awwww! that talk was particulary sweet and loved the way Max greeted Maria!

Lol – thanks .

I understand really well why Liz doesn't want to tell Izzy now, the last one would want Liz to help arranging the situation between her and hers parents....and it's not the time for it bc finally Max has with the final decision about it!

Yeah, it’s difficult because on the one hand, Max and Izzy should be allowed to work things out in their own time, but on the other hand, Liz and Max can’t keep things a secret forever. The problem is, Max isn’t ready to talk to Isabel and I’m not sure that Isabel is in a position to accept the relationship calmly without judging them.

Hunter – Thanks .

Lol, I found it funny when Liz said Maria had to go through her to get to Max lol

Can you believe that after I finished the part, I actually had a dream that Maria did get through Liz and that she and Max got together?! Scary!!

sarammlover – Thanks .

Wow....I totally thought Liz was going to hide Max from Maria. I was glad she didn't and I am glad Maria and Max finally met. Its wonderful.

While I’m not sure that Liz would have chosen to introduce Max and Maria just yet, she also wasn’t going to run and hide if Maria should bump into them… which she did. After all, Max and Liz were walking around campus together, out in the open, meaning that anyone could potentially see them.

ANd I can totally understand where James was coming from...he needs to protect his friend....anyone else would do the same thing.

Exactly – James already has an opinion of Max and so far he hasn’t seen or heard anything to contradict that opinion, so it’s understandable that he’d be concerned for Liz.

sunrise102 – Thanks .

I must say though that I was surprised at Maria's demeanor with Max. No inquisition?? What?! lol. And I'm glad she can be counted on to keep quiet until Liz is ready to shout from the rooftops that she's with the Max Evans.

Well, I’d say that the lack of inquisition was mostly due to the lack of time they had before lectures, and also the fact that they were in the middle of campus at the time

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

Nice to see them getting to know a little better!

Yeah, they’re still learning new things and getting more comfortable around each other .

Tamashii – Thanks .

I would really love to see when Max meets Kyle and Serena.

Coming up…

I love the easy going feeling between Max and Liz.

That’s great – that’s exactly what I’ve been going for the last few parts.

Alien_Friend –

I can't believe you're on Part 40 already. It doesn't feel like that much time has past.

I know! This is already the longest story I’ve ever written (by 26,000 words so far!) and it’s still not showing signs of finishing yet .

I'm still enjoying shadowing Liz through this stage in her life.

I’m glad – I’m enjoying writing it too.

I'm glad the first attempt at working out some of the finer details was a good one. Max handled himself well. He almost seemed like he wanted to say he loved her. Considering how long she's been on his mind it wouldn't be surprising.

Maybe, although as the author, I’m just gonna say that we’re not quite there yet (on the ‘saying I love you’ front, I mean) .

Maria's meeting with Max went really well. I don't why but I'm kind of surprised. For some reason I thought Maria might want to grill Max a little more or something. Good thing Liz ran into her and not Iz though.

Perhaps if they had been in a different setting (i.e. not standing outside in the middle of campus), Maria might have grilled him a bit, but because it was a chance, kind of rushed, meeting, there wasn’t much time for anything else to be said. Maybe we’ll get to see Maria grill him a bit in another part .

This might sound unnecessarily but what exactly is Creative Acting? I'm curious.

You know what, I have no idea !! Creative Actor listed as one of the possible things that Drama students can specialise in at my undergraduate university, so I know that it’s a legitimate specialism .

I would hate to still be going to school like Liz is in June but I thought it was pretty neat how she got a whole month off for Easter. We only get Good Friday here and after high school we don't get Easter Monday.

Officially, the semester doesn’t end until July… the UK university school year tends to run from either September to May/June or October to June/July, but we get about a months off for each of the Christmas and Easter vacations, and then 3 months in the summer. I was surprised to find that there was no holiday time over Easter in the US (I had classes on both Good Friday and Easter Monday when I was there a few years ago)… in primary and secondary school here in the UK, we get a week off in October, two weeks off for Christmas, a week off in February, two weeks off for Easter, another week off in May and then 5-6 weeks in the summer!

I have to say isn't it going to awesome that this time next week the Aussies would have already started. I'm excited! lol You're the only person I know that might share a little of my enthusiasm. Murray did well winning the Doha final against Roddick this last weekend. Perhaps he might win a grand slam this year. I'm guessing it could either be the Aussie or Wimbledon if he he can get pass Nadal and Roger.

I’m hoping to see some of the Australian Open, although due to the time difference (about 10 hours ahead of the UK I think) and my work hours, I probably won’t be able see much . Everyone is saying that Murray is favourite to win… and I’ve just read that he's already through to round 2, since Pavel retired due to injury !

Lairabehr4 – Thanks, hun .

Christable – Thanks .

It's really great that Liz and Max are communicating and would be even greater for them to talk about Isabel. Isabel is Max's family and one of Liz's good friends. She needs to be in on the relationship.

Yes, they do need to discuss and involve Isabel, but at the moment, they are just enjoying their new-found relationship and not worrying about the serious stuff just yet.

Natalie36 –

great part but how angry will izzy be.

That’s the question, really? How is this all going to play out with Izzy?

destinyc – Thanks .

Awww...I'm so glad Max explained himself. It makes him seem like so much less of an ass.

Lol


***


Forty-One

“Hey, Liz, how’s it going?” asks Kyle, the next morning, as he slips into the seat beside me in the lecture hall a few minutes before the class is supposed to start.

“Not bad, thanks,” I reply with a smile. “You?”

“About as well as can be expected after a big night out last night, and then having to drag myself out of bed for a ten a.m. lecture this morning,” he deadpans.

“Ugh,” I make a sympathetic face. “Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah,” he rolls his eyes. “So, anyway, tell me, how’re things going with Max these days? You guys still good?”

“Yeah,” I reply, biting my lip in an attempt to hide the huge grin that is rapidly appearing on my face. “We’re great. I’m just having the most amazing time at the moment.”

Kyle watches me searchingly for a moment and I feel my cheeks heating up at his close scrutiny. Suddenly, he breaks out into a wide grin.

“Wow, Liz, I never thought I’d see the day you went all ga-ga for a guy,” he says, with a wiggle of his eyebrow. “Even when you were with Jake, you were never like this.”

“Like what?” I wonder, feeling slightly self-conscious now.

“Like, you’re… I don’t know… glowing, or something,” he searches for the right word. “There’s this sparkle in your eyes that I don’t think I’ve seen before.”

“Really?” I murmur. “That’s… kind of embarrassing, actually.”

“No,” Kyle shakes his head. “It’s a good thing. Really.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he grins.

“Thanks,” I smile. “So, what about you and Serena? How’s it going?”

“Really well, actually,” he says with a smile. “Although we didn’t get to see each other as much as we’d have liked over the holidays.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Couldn’t be helped,” he shrugs, before he smirks, “But we’re definitely making up for it now.”

“I’ll bet,” I chuckle.
“Yeah.”

“Oh, hey,” I remember what I was going to ask him. “Do you and Serena fancy getting together with Max and I sometime? I want him to meet you guys.”

“Sure, sounds great,” replies Kyle. “When were you thinking of?”

“I dunno, really,” I shrug, realising that I hadn’t got that far in my planning yet. “When are you free?”

“Hmm,” he thinks for a moment. “Well, we’re both around tonight, as far as I know. Is that too short notice?”

“No, I don’t think so,” I shake my head thoughtfully. “I’ll have to check with Max and see, but I think tonight would probably work.”

“Cool,” he nods, as the lecturer suddenly appears at the front of the room and begins organising his notes for the lecture. “I’ll talk to Serena after the lecture.”

“And I’ll let you know if Max can make it.”

“Great.”

We don’t get to talk any more because the professor calls us to order and begins the lecture, but as soon as it is over and I can leave the lecture hall, I pull out my phone and dial Max’s number.

“Hey, Liz,” his voice sounds over the line after three rings.

“Hi,” I reply, a little taken aback by the fact that he’s addressed me by name, but then I shouldn’t be surprised since his mobile has caller ID anyway. “Sorry to disturb you when you’re working…”

“It’s no problem at all,” he assures me. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you fancied meeting up with my friends Kyle and Serena tonight?” I ask. “I was just talking to Kyle and he says they’re free tonight.”

“Yeah, sounds good to me. What time?”

“Oh, I don’t know yet,” I tell him. “I’ll sort it out with Kyle and let you know, okay?”

“Sure, no problem,” he agrees. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Great,” I smile.

“So, how was your lecture?”

“It was all right,” I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see me. “A bit boring, but then what can you expect from a Friday morning lecture?”

“See, I told you, you should have just skipped it this morning and stayed here with me instead,” he jokes.

“And I would have too, if it wasn’t for the exams looming on the horizon and the fact that I actually want to do well in them,” I reply, secretly wishing that I had taken him up on the offer and stayed in bed this morning.

“You’ll do well, Liz, don’t worry,” he assures me.

“Thanks,” I smile, taking a quick glance at my watch. “Oh, bugger, my next lecture is about to start. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure,” he says. “Have fun.”

We say goodbye and I hang up the phone, before making my way back into the lecture hall and taking my seat next to Kyle again just as the lecture is starting. A few minutes later, he passes me a note to say that Serena is up for tonight and that we’ll meet at the edge of campus, near the clock tower, at eight o’clock.

***

Max meets me outside my hall at seven-fifty that evening and we walk to campus together to find Kyle and Serena already there and waiting for us.

“Hey, guys,” I greet as we approach them.

“Hey, Liz,” smiles Serena, giving me a quick hug before turning to Max. “Hi, Max.”

“Hi,” he smiles, holding out his hand to her. “Serena, right? I’ve seen you around, I think.”

“Yeah,” she nods, shaking his hand. “Nice to formally meet you at last.”

“And this is Kyle,” I introduce as Max lets go of Serena’s hand and looks toward Kyle, adding somewhat unnecessarily, “My lab partner.”

“Alright, mate?” nods Kyle with a smile.

“Alright?” repeats Max, also with a nod, as Serena and I share a glance and roll our eyes at their typically male greeting.

“So, let’s get going, shall we?” pipes up Serena, her tone upbeat. “What does everyone fancy doing?”

There’s some debate as we walk off campus: Kyle thinks we should go for food, while Serena suggests the cinema instead, but in the end, Max comes up with the idea of ten pin bowling, which elicits murmurs of approval from the rest of us and so we head across town to the bowling alley. When we arrive, we pay for three games and decide to split into teams – Kyle and Serena against Max and I – whereby we will combine the scores of each team member and whichever pair scores the highest wins, in a best-of-three match.

We trade in our shoes for some oh-so-flattering blue and red bowling shoes and then head over to our designated lane. As soon as we get there, Kyle eagerly busies himself with setting up the scoreboard and typing in our names, while Serena and I make ourselves comfortable on the bench beside the lane and Max offers to go and get some drinks for everyone.

“So…” Serena turns to me with a grin on her face as Max heads towards the bar. “How’s it going with Max?”

“It’s really good, Ser,” I reply with a returning grin.

“So tell me,” she nudges my side, lowering her voice a little. “Is he really as good in bed as everyone says he is?”

“Oh, please,” mutters Kyle in disgust from his position in front of the small screen. “I so don’t need to be hearing this.”

“Sorry, hun,” Serena replies sweetly, before turning back to me with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. “So?”

I bite my lip coyly and, leaning in close so that Kyle doesn’t hear me, I whisper, “He’s better.”

“Wow,” she grins excitedly. “You are so lucky.”

“Um, excuse me?” interrupts Kyle’s slightly offended tone. “What about me? Still sitting here, you know.”

Serena rolls her eyes good-naturedly, “I wasn’t talking about me; I was saying that Liz is lucky to have Max.” She stands up and moves over to him, draping her arm around his shoulder and squeezing lightly, “Just like I’m lucky to have you.”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Kyle grins, leaning up to kiss her.

“Okay,” Max announces his reappearance just then, carrying a half-pint of lager in each hand. “Here you go, ladies.”

“Thanks, Max,” says Serena, as she takes one of the glasses from him.

“Thanks,” I smile up at him as he hands me the other glasses.

He grins and nods in response, “Be right back with the other two.”

I watch with a smile as he heads back to the bar again to fetch his and Kyle’s drinks.

“Right, all the names are entered,” announces Kyle. “Anyone a left-handed player?”

“Nope,” I tell him, taking a sip of lager.

“No,” adds Serena.

“What about Max?”

I shake my head, “I don’t think so, but he’s on his way back now so you can ask him.”

Just then, Max appears again, two more drinks in hand, “Here’s yours, Kyle.”

“Thanks, mate,” nods Kyle as he takes the pint of beer from Max. “Hey, you’re not left-handed are you?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, great. We’re all set to start, then,” he nods satisfactorily. “Ser, you’re up first.”

As Serena puts her drink down on the small table behind Kyle and goes over to the ball rack to select a ball to use, Max takes a seat beside me, his warm thigh lightly brushing against mine as he gets comfortable. I smile in response to his proximity to me and a small thrill runs through my body at how good it feels to be close to him like this rather than watching him from afar like I did for all so many months before.

“So, Max, you’re the AU president this year, right?” asks Kyle as Serena selects a ball and makes her way to the edge of the lane.

“Yeah, that’s right,” nods Max, relaxing back against the plastic seat. “Although not for much longer, since the elections are coming up soon for next year’s union committee.”

“That’s right,” says Kyle. “I saw a poster floating around about the elections the other day.”

“Whoa, go Serena!” I call out, turning my attention away from the guys as she hits seven of the pins on her first bowl.

“Whoo, yeah!” exclaims Kyle, as Serena dances happily back to the ball rack and prepares for her second go.

She scores a spare, knocking the final three pins down together, and sets the pace for the remainder of the game.

As we each take our turns bowling over the next few frames, Max and Kyle manage to keep up a relatively long conversation about the merits of playing Rugby over Football, while Serena and I talk about the possibility of running for positions on next year’s Dance Soc committee, since those elections are coming up soon too.

However, as the game nears its end, our conversations begin to dwindle in favour of keeping up with the excitement of the close scores… by the last frame of the game, Kyle and Serena are leading over Max and I by ten points. We make one last desperate effort to catch up with them, but as Serena knocks down eight of her pins and then Kyle scores a strike, I feel my hopes going down the drain. Despite my valiant attempt to get a spare, but missing by one pin and then Max’s impressive spare a moment later, they still finish up ahead of us and we have to concede defeat.

The second game is much less tense and Max and I manage to find a comfortable groove, keeping a pretty steady score throughout and by the end of it, we just manage to beat Kyle and Serena by five points, bring the overall score to a tie.

Onto the third game and the tension is rising once more. It turns out that Kyle and Max can be very competitive, and this is no exception. Every little movement and decision has to be carefully analysed and critically judged, which has Serena and I rolling our eyes countless times… but at least we can tell that the two of them get on well together. The problem is, though, that they spend so much time and effort on the small details that their bowling ends up suffering and it’s up to Serena and I to bring the scores up. The last couple of frames are extremely close, but in the end, it’s Serena’s amazing strike in the last frame that secures her and Kyle the overall victory.

Afterwards, we decide to head over to the bar area and grab some food before making our way back home. We order a very healthy meal of cheeseburgers, chips and beer and tuck in eagerly, amidst the most random conversation ever involving dustbin men, plant pots and playing cricket (don’t ask me, I have no idea what it was all about either).

***

“So, Kyle and Serena are really great,” says Max, as he walks me home after we leave the bowling alley and say goodbye to the others near campus later that evening. “They’re a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, they are,” I smile. “And totally perfect for each other.”

“Uh huh,” he nods. “I can tell.”

I curl my hand around his upper arm, just above his elbow, leaning into him a little as we walk up the driveway to my hall building. He looks down at me for a moment and shoots me a breathtaking smile, which I can’t help but return.

“Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you,” I exclaim a moment later. “Kyle’s going to be living on Barrow Road next year.”

“Is he?” murmurs Max from above my head. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah,” I say brightly. “That means that he’ll be right near you. That’ll be cool, won’t it?”

There’s silence from Max and when he doesn’t reply after a few seconds, I lift my head to look up at him. His expression is serious, almost pained even.

“Max?”

“Um, Liz…” he swallows, as if he’s reluctant to say anything. “You do know that I won’t be here next year, right?”

“What?” I look at him in confusion.

Not going to be here? What is he talking about?

He shakes his head, “Liz, I’m graduating in July, remember? I’m leaving after the summer.”

“Huh?” I can’t seem to get my head around his words.

What does he mean he’s leaving? He can’t leave; I’ve only just found him.

“I’m taking a job in Southampton,” he admits. “I start in September.”

“But…” my mind is spinning. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

How did this not occur to me? Of course Max is going to be moving away; that’s what happens when you graduate and go out into the real world. And it’s not like this town exactly has much in the way of job opportunities. God, I’m such an idiot for not even considering this before.

He shrugs, looking apologetic, “Well, I kind of assumed you knew that I would have to leave, you know, after I’d graduated.”

I sigh, “Well, logically, yes, I did know that – after all, just about everyone leaves after they finish, don’t they? It’s just that it didn’t occur to me that you would be going, you know?”

He stops walking and turns to look down at me, sliding his hands up my arms to my elbows.

“I’m sorry,” he says sincerely. “I shouldn’t have assumed that you knew. I should have said something.”

I exhale heavily, feeling the disappointment swirling around and around inside me as I press my lips together in an attempt to keep my emotions in check.

It’s not the end of the world, I tell myself. He’ll only be a couple of hours away. It’ll be okay.

“Liz?” murmurs Max, his fingers gently gripping my arms, keeping me steady. “Are you okay?”

I nod, inwardly annoyed over the fact that I feel like I’m about to cry, “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” I nod again, keeping my eyes lowered as I resolve not to let it get to me any longer. “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s just, um, I just didn’t think… I should have realised…”

“Hey,” he says softly, his left hand coming up to my chin, lifting my face so that our eyes meet. “It’ll be all right. I won’t be that far away and I’ll come and see you whenever I can… and you know, we still have a good while until September. Plenty of time to be together, and make the most of it while we’re at it.”

Despite my jumbled emotions, I find myself smiling up at him, those gorgeous, dark eyes of his drawing me in, completely erasing any doubts and worries from my mind.

“Yeah, plenty of time,” I agree, taking a deep, calming breath.

He gazes down at me and my heart skips a beat at the expression in his eyes. But before I can say anything, he smiles and then lowers his head toward mine. His lips brush against mine in the lightest of caresses, sending shivers down my spine. He does it again and again, until I feel that familiar tightening in my belly and my head begins to spin. His right hand lets go of my elbow and instead curls tightly around my waist, pulling me close, as his other hand slides round from my chin to cup the back of my neck. I sigh at the feel of his warm body against mine and my hands grab onto the first thing they come into contact with – his arms – in an attempt to steady myself as the kiss deepens. I feel like I’m floating on air, my heart light, as I lose myself in his embrace.

“Max,” I murmur breathlessly, when we finally part.

“We’ll be fine, Liz,” he assures me in a whisper, his breathing slightly uneven.

“Yeah,” I nod. “We will.”

He smiles softly, pressing one last quick kiss to my lips before taking a step back, “I’d better get going.”

“No,” I protest, reaching for his arm. “Stay here tonight. Please?”

He frowns, puzzled, “What about Maria?”

I shake my head, “She’s not here tonight – she’s at a drama workshop thing in London until tomorrow.”

“Yeah?” his lips curl up into a smirk as he raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” I nod. “Come on, I’ll show you where I live.”

He grins and, with a quick nod, allows me to lead him into A-block and up to my room. The corridor is dark when we reach my floor, which either means that everyone is in bed, or they are all still out… and considering it’s a Friday night, I think I’m gonna go with the latter.

I unlock the door to my room and flick the light-switch on so that Max can go in, but I don’t really get the chance to show him around because as soon as the door shuts behind me, he’s pressing me up against it, his lips kissing me urgently as his hands slide up my sides. I manage to keep my head straight enough to reach behind me to fumblingly turn the lock on the door, but I can only manage it for a few seconds before I give into temptation and forget about everything except the feel of Max’s body against mine.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thank you for your feedback :

mary mary –

I hope Max doesn't get caught by his sister...it will make Liz's life just a little uncomfortable.

Yeah…

Love the story, started it over at Chronicles and now over here. Come back soon!

Thanks – glad you’re reading here too .

Natalie36 –

yikes, he's leaving. i wonder how that will work out

We’ll have to see how things go – but the good news is that they still have some time together before then .

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

oh no!
hopefully Max Leaving would not have a effect on their relationship!
they so belong together!!1

They do belong together – let’s just hope they can work things out when he has to leave.

destinyc –

Ah, the pitfalls of dating an older man. Hopefully they can work everything out.

Yeah… hopefully things will be just fine between them .

Will there be any fallout from Max spending the night in her dorm room?

We’ll have to see…

Queen Fee –

Nooo! He can't leave, I hope they manage a long distance relationship (I remember another fic of yours with a long distance relationship, I hope it isn't as rocky as that one!).

Don’t worry – it won’t be as rocky as in the other story .

I wonder what will happen the morning after, will Max run into Isabel when he is leaving Liz's room? Oooh can't wait for the next part!

Read on to see…

begonia9508 –

Great start of the evening for Liz and co.!.... and then, cold shower with Max's announcement!.... I guess she never thought so far away and is so much in love with him that she has only him in her head!...

That was the problem – she wasn’t really thinking much further than the next few days and she’s been so caught up with the excitement of this new relationship that it didn’t even occur to her what would happen after Max graduated!

Who wouldn't!!!!

Lol

Quite sassy, this Serena! .... asking in front of Kyle about Max's qualities in bed!. ... Some guys would be vexed about it!

Well, she was mostly trying to get some gossip out of Liz in regards to how the relationship was going, rather than asking because she wanted to know what Max was like in bed . Probably not the best idea to do it in front of Kyle, though, huh?

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

Tamashii – Thanks .

Wow ask and you shall receive! I am so glad that they have such amazing time with Kyle and Serena.

.

But, I can't believe that I didn't realize either that Max would have to go... it is so obvious.

It is obvious, but it’s not really something that Liz was thinking about just yet .

The fact that Liz wasn't able to close the door, will that be trouble in the future? I have to wonder.

We’ll have to see…

bella_svetlana – Thanks .

I missed a few updates but it was nice to have three chapters to read instead of just one.

I'm really enjoying reading about them during this time in their life. I hadn't thought about Max being older in awhile. I hope they can work everything out.

Thanks . Yeah, it’s easy to forget the age difference when they’re just hanging out and having fun .

I'm still worried about Isabel finding out about Max & Liz

We’ll have to see what happens there…

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Aww he's leaving? I didn't think of that either. I hope he's right and they will be ok. But they still have time so that's good.

Yeah, they still have some time – 9 weeks left of term, plus the summer hopefully too .

Love the double date. Glad they all got a long.

Thanks.

They have their own unique chemistry together. Kyle and Max have interesting way to communicate.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out how Max and Kyle would react to each other and eventually I decided they would probably just do the casual ‘guy’ thing and not say much at all .

Still enjoying the honeymoon stage. Liz was adorable when she was talking to Kyle about Max.

Really, that's really cool! Congrats! I'm glad to hear there is lots more to come.

Thanks . Well, I hope there’s lots more to come, at least. I still have a lot of stuff I want to include in the story, but at the same time I keep hoping that the dreaded writer’s block that often comes along during a long story won’t make an appearance anytime soon.

I hope he gets through without too much hassle in the next round. My brother and his wife are actually vacationing in Australia right now. I'm jealous. I would love to go. But it's so hot there. I don't think I would survive the heat. Hopefully we can both see some matches as the week continues.

I’m jealous too! One of my work colleagues has just flown out to Australia for a 4-week trip, while we’re all stuck here in the cold and wet . Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much tennis at all this past week – I managed to catch the first 30 mins of Murray’s 3rd round match on Saturday morning, but then I had to leave for work (score was 4-1 in the first set) and then I clicked on the live online BBC stream this morning, only to be greeted with images of Verdasco celebrating his win against Murray!!

Great chapter!

Eagerly awaiting more!

katydid – Thanks .

I was wondering when Liz would come to realize that Max is graduating...It's one of those things that I kept thinking about, but I'm glad to see that Max thinks they can still see each other when he starts his job!

Yeah, it’s one of those things that seems incredibly obvious, but completely slipped Liz’s mind that it would actually be happening to Max soon!

Also, Maria, Kyle, and Serena will eventually comment about Max in front of Alex and Isabel. So, who knows what's gonna happen there (aside from our lovely author)...

Keep on reading to see …

Okay, I'm just trying to see the obstacles you will put in the way of a happy Max/Liz...

Don’t worry, they shouldn’t be too bad…

sprayadhesive – Thanks .


***

Part Forty-Two

“Mmm,” I murmur contentedly as Max drops soft, fluttering kisses onto my shoulder, his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me to him as we spoon together in my small single bed.

“Morning,” he whispers, between kisses. “Sleep well?”

“Hmm, very,” I smile, as I carefully turn over to face him in the confined space, his arm sliding round to my back and his legs entwining with mine as I do so.

He grins at me, his eyes still sleepy as he presses a ‘good morning’ kiss to my lips, “So, Maria won’t be back for a while?”

“Nope,” I shake my head, returning the grin. “Not until this afternoon.”

“Is that so?” he raises an eyebrow suggestively.

“Yep,” I murmur, pressing a gentle kiss to his bare chest. “We have the room all to ourselves until this afternoon.”

“Well, then,” he purrs, shifting onto his back and pulling me with him. “I think we’d better make the most of it.”

“Yeah,” I grin, bracing my hands on the pillows on each side of his head and moving to straddle his waist. “We better had.”

His large, warm hands grasp my hips as I lower my head to kiss him hungrily, marvelling at the fact that he seems to have this amazing ability to make me lose my head with just one touch of his lips to mine. I shiver with pleasure as his palms gently slide up my sides, his fingers teasingly caressing the bare, sensitive skin they find there, and I deepen the kiss in response. But suddenly, I am no longer tingling with desire, but instead snorting with barely controlled laughter as he switches from gently, erotically caressing my sides to actually tickling me.

“Max… stop,” I gasp trying very hard not to laugh out loud in response to his moving fingers. “Please.”

“No,” he grins, looking up at me mischievously. “This is fun.”

“Ma-ax, no,” I protest, although it seems to fall on deaf ears. “I’m really ticklish. I can’t–”

But he doesn’t let up and instead decides to increase the pressure.

“Right, that’s it,” I decide forcefully, when I finally manage to take a breath. “You asked for it.”

And so begins the all-out tickle war, as I attack his sides with my fingers now too, causing him to squirm uncomfortably.

“No, wait, stop,” he protests, chuckling involuntarily, his hands halting their movements on my skin.

“Two can play at this game, Max,” I warn. “It’s only fair.”

“But–”

“You started it,” I remind him with a grin, walking my fingers up and down his sides, enjoying watching him squirm.

Suddenly, he stills, his eyes wide, “What was that?”

I frown in puzzlement, “What was what?”

“I thought I heard someone outside the door.”

“It’s probably just one of the others getting up,” I reassure him.

He frowns, “I could have sworn I head a knock just now.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I insist. “The door’s locked anyway. If I don’t answer they’ll just assume I’m not here.”

“Hmm, okay,” he nods, although he still looks slightly dubious.

“Hey, so where were we?” I change the subject, eager to get back to our fun.

Beneath me, he relaxes and a small grin appears on his face, as his hands reach for my hips again, “Right about here, I think.”

And then his mouth covers mine once more, nipping and sucking at my lower lip until it drives me crazy. His hands urge my hips downwards slightly and I gasp as I feel him insistently pressing against me. I roll my hips experimentally and then gasp with pleasure as his hands slide up my body once more, this time cupping my breasts, caressing them gently.

I find myself so caught up in the feelings he is inducing in me that I fail to hear yet another knock on the door and a voice calling through, asking if I’m all right. I also fail to notice the door handle turning, the door opening easily because the lock didn’t quite catch when I turned it last night.

It’s not until a loud, shocked gasp reverberates around the room and a feminine voice exclaims…

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

… that it registers that we are no longer alone.

I freeze, my eyes flying open as Max and I share a ‘deer caught in headlights’ look, before I quickly gather the sheets tighter around my body and turn to face the intruder.

“Isabel?!” I gasp faintly, my heart suddenly pounding frantically in my chest.

She looks at me with wide eyes, her cheeks tinged with red as she begins to back out of the room, “Oh, I, um… I didn’t mean to…God, this is embarrassing…”

“Um… yeah…” I mutter, suddenly wishing that the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

“I’ll just… um, go, then…” she mumbles.

Unfortunately, just then, Max shifts beneath me and as I move to accommodate him, the sheets move, exposing his upper body. The sharp intake of breath from across the room indicates the exact moment that Isabel clocks him.

“What the fuck?!” she exclaims suddenly, angrily. “Max?” Her embarrassment quickly becomes distaste and she makes a face, “Oh my God.”

“Shit,” mutters Max beside me. “Perfect.”

Thinking quickly, I reach down and grab for Max’s T-shirt and boxers from where they landed on the floor last night. Handing the boxers to him, I pull the long T-shirt over my head and slide of out the bed.

“Iz, I can expl–” I try helplessly, but she just shakes her head, ignoring me, as she advances towards the bed, her gaze completely focused on Max as he quickly pulls the boxers on.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demands to know, her voice rising with every word. “No, wait, let me guess: you’re not content with making my life complete hell, so you decide to make a move on one of my best friends instead? Some brother you are! Fuck, if you’re doing this to get back at me for disrupting your life for all of two days last month, God help me, I will–”

“Wait, Iz, it’s not what it looks like–” I try again, but she sends me a disbelieving look.

“No? Because it looks to me like my player of a brother here was about to have his way with you.” She looks back to Max, her expression a combination of disappointment and revulsion, “God you’re such an arse sometimes. What was your plan, huh? To find out who my friends were and then use them like you do everyone else?”

“Shut up, Isabel,” comes Max’s stern tone a moment later. He’s sitting up in my bed now, a stony expression on his face. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“No?” she repeats in the same sceptical tone, before turning to me, looking sympathetic. “Liz, I’m so sorry he’s done this to you; I told you what a complete bastard he can be sometimes.”

My mouth falls open in surprise; she’s got it all so wrong, “No, Izzy, you don’t understa–”

“Don’t you ever say that to her again,” demands Max, angrily.

“What gives you the right to butt into my life, huh?” retorts Isabel. “Liz is my friend and I have every right to protect her from you.”

“Yeah, well, she’s my girlfriend,” he practically snarls, standing from the bed now and moving closer to me. “And I have every right to be here.”

“What?” Isabel’s eyes widen and she looks between the two of us in shock. “Y-you two are…? Oh my God.”

“Izzy, listen, I can explain, okay?” I tell her pleadingly.

“No, Liz,” she says, in a deceptively calm tone. “You need to understand something first. Max is my brother, okay?” She shoots Max a displeased look. “The brother I told you about. The one who has made my life and our parents’ life a living hell for the last six years.”

“I think you’ve got that the wrong way round,” bursts out Max. “I think you’ll find that you three are the ones making my life a living hell.”

She ignores him, looking at me sadly instead, “Liz…”

“Iz, I know, okay?” I shake my head gently. “I know.”

“What? You know? How…?” she swallows, shaking her head as she looks at me with a hurt expression. “God, I can’t believe this. I trusted you, Liz. I confided in you about my feelings and what do you do? You go behind my back and shack up with my brother! God, I thought you were on my side.”

“This isn’t about taking sides, Isabel,” Max chooses that moment to butt in, as he supportively places his hand on my lower back. “And it’s not about you, either. This is about me and Liz.”

“You and Liz?” she questions. “How the fuck can it be about ‘you and Liz’? You barely even know each other.”

“How would you know?” retorts Max snidely. “It’s not like you ever bother to find out about my life – not that I’d want you snooping around in it anyway – all you care about is your own Goddamn feelings ‘cause God forbid anything comes along and ruins your perfect little life.”

“How dare you–?”

“Wait, guys, stop!” I exclaim just then, seeing that things are starting to escalate out of control. “Just stop, okay?!”

Max’s fingers dig into my side slightly, the only indication that he’s heard me, his hard gaze still focused on his sister; while Isabel fixes me with an angry glare.

“I think we all just need to calm down here,” I add, trying not to shrink under her fuming gaze. “Talk about things rationally.”

“How about not?” she retorts. “I think right now is as good a time as any.”

“Look, Isabel,” I plead. “Just let us get dressed, okay? And then we can sit down and talk about this.”

She scrunches up her nose as if she’s just smelled something bad and shakes her head.

“You know what, don’t bother.” She backs towards the door, “This is exactly the kind of thing I’ve come to expect from my brother… I don’t know why I was so surprised.” She stops in the doorway and starts to leave, but then turns back to face me, her expression hard, “And, Liz? I don’t even want to look at you right now.”

And with that, she is gone, slamming the door shut behind her in a final display of anger.

“Oh, God,” I moan, staring at the closed door for a second, before marching back to the bed and flopping down on it in frustration. “This is just perfect.”

“Liz, it’ll be okay.”

I roll my eyes, “I knew we should have told her about us earlier, I was just too chicken to say anything. It’s your fault, you know.”

“My fault?”

“Yeah, if you hadn’t been so stubborn and refused to talk to her, or even let me say anything to her, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

He lets out a small sigh and comes to sit next to me on the bed, “Oh, it would have happened all right. If it hadn’t been about this, it would have been something else.” He shakes his head, “It’s me she’s mad at, not you.”

“Yeah?” I raise an eyebrow. “Didn’t sound that way just now.” I sigh despondently, “What if this is it; what if she never speaks to me again?”

“That won’t happen,” Max assures me gently, slipping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. “I’m sure of it.”

I lean into him, letting myself relax into his soothing embrace, although I’m still not entirely convinced that he’s right.

“Come on, we should get dressed,” he murmurs a moment later. “Face the music and all that.”

“Okay.”

With a sigh, I sit upright and comb my fingers through my hair, before getting up off the bed and heading to my wardrobe in search of clothes. As I pull out some underwear, a clean top and a pair of jeans, I hear Max get up off the bed and rummage around for the rest of his clothes. I quickly pull my clothes on and take off his shirt, before turn round to find Max zipping up his jeans, his chiselled chest still bare.

“Here,” I say, holding out the shirt to him.

“Thanks,” he says gratefully, taking it from me with a small, sober smile and pulling it over his head, before holding out his hand to me. “So, shall we?”

“You know what, maybe I should just go and talk to her on my own,” I suggest. “She might listen to me better if you’re not there.”

“Are you sure?” he looks dubious. “Maybe a united front would come across better; you know, show that we’re serious about this?”

“I don’t think that would help,” I shake my head. “She’s really mad. Look, let me go and try to calm her down first, explain the situation. I’m sure I can get her to listen to me; after all, she’s practically my best friend.”

“But she’s my sister,” he protests. “This involves me too.”

I step over to him, lightly resting my hands on his hips, as I look up into his eyes and say softly, “Listen, right now, I know her better than you do. I’ve seen her, talked to her and spent time with her practically every day this year, but you’ve spoken to her, what, all of ten times in the last few months? And most of those times you two have ended up fighting.”

He sighs, “Okay, I guess you have a point.”

“Let me go and see her first, try to work things out a bit, just me and her, okay?”

“Okay, fine,” he agrees reluctantly. “I’ll just wait here for you, I guess.”

I smile, feeling a surge of relief sweep through me, as I rise up on tiptoes and press a soft, gentle kiss to his lips, “Thank you.”

“But I’ll be right there if things start getting out of hand, okay?”

“Okay,” I nod.

“Good luck,” he gives me a small, encouraging smile as I head for the door and make my way down the corridor to Isabel’s room.

Her door is shut when I get there, indicating that she’s not in the mood for visitors, but I knock regardless.

“Izzy? Iz?” I call out hopefully. “Can I come in?”

“Go away, Liz,” her annoyed, but muffled, tone sounds from inside the room.

“Please?” I beg. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to hear it,” comes her angry retort. “Just go back to my sorry excuse for a brother and leave me alone.”

“No, Iz, I won’t,” I refuse. “I need to talk to you.”

There’s silence from inside the room, and I can’t tell if that’s a good sign or a bad one.

“Come on, Iz, please?” I try again, warning, “I’m not going anywhere until we straighten this out.”

“It’s no good, Liz,” comes Max’s soft voice from behind me. I whip round to face him, startled. “She’s not going to come around, at least not today, anyway. She can be extremely stubborn when she wants to be.”

I look up at him, feeling my heart sink and my eyes begin to glisten with unshed tears in response to his words.

“But I have to explain, Max,” I tell him desperately, as he takes my hand and leads me back down the corridor to my room. “I have to tell her that I’m sorry; that I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Liz,” he tells me, stopping just inside my room and lifting a hand to my face, his fingers lightly stroking my cheek. “You did nothing wrong. Whatever happens between you and me, it has nothing to do with Isabel, okay?”

I nod slightly, although I’m not entirely convinced.

“Come here,” he murmurs, lifting my face to his as he gently caresses my lips with his, before kissing me meaningfully. “There’s nothing more you can do right now. And I’m in her bad books even more than you are, so it won’t do either of us any good to try to talk to her at the moment.”

“I guess…”

“Look,” he says then. “I think we should get out of here for a while. Give her some time to cool down.”

“Okay,” I nod in resignation, although I still don’t like the idea of not being able to talk to Izzy.

“Okay, then,” he gives me a small smile, reaching for his jacket, which is slung over the back of my desk chair.

I exhale heavily, gathering up my own purse and jacket and then slipping my shoes on. Max takes my hand and together we leave the building, and Isabel, behind.

***

“God, what are we gonna do, Max?” I moan, as I take seat beside him in the small, cosy coffee shop just off campus. “This is just big, horrible mess.”

He shrugs helplessly as he fiddles with the small menu propped up between the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table, his mood now much more sombre than just a few minutes ago.

“Maybe I should go back… try to talk to her again?”

“Or maybe you should just leave it alone?” he murmurs. “It’s not like it’s any of her business anyway.”

“It is partly her business, Max,” I sigh. “I’m her best friend and you’re her brother.”

“Half-brother,” he corrects, before exhaling slowly as if trying to calm himself, “God, I just don’t see why she has to have a say in it at all. It’s my life, not hers.”

“Max,” I turn to look at him; his eyes are hooded and his lips are fixed into a tight line, “If you and I are together, you’re going to end up spending time around my friends too. Isabel is one of those friends and it’s just not going to work if she’s mad at us. I know you don’t want to talk to her, and I can understand that, but we do need to get things straightened out.”

He sighs, lifting his eyes to meet mine, “Liz, I know she’s your friend and I get that you need to fix things with her, but I just don’t like the idea of her prying into our lives like this. Can’t you just tell her that we’re together and that she just needs to accept it?”

“Max,” I shake my head sadly as I reach across the table and link my fingers with his. “You know it’s not going to work like that. In order for her to accept our relationship, she’s going to need to understand why we’re together. And in order for that to happen, we’re gonna have to get her to sit down and talk with us.”

He closes his eyes, lifting his free hand to his forehead and rubbing it wearily, “Shit, I really don’t want to be dealing with this right now.”

“I know,” I say softly, tightening my fingers around his. “I know this is hard for you and I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head, lowering his hand and opening his eyes, as he nods and runs his thumb over the back of my hand. The gesture makes my skin tingle in response, despite the solemn situation.

I sigh, saying lightly, “Is it really so bad that I just want you to get on with my friends?”

“Of course it isn’t,” he gives me a small smile. “And I’m sorry too; you’re stuck in the middle of this and you shouldn’t be there.”

We share a smile and lapse into a brief, thoughtful silence, which is quickly interrupted by the shrill sound of my mobile phone ringing in my bag. With a sigh, I let go of Max’s hand and reach for the offending phone.

“Hello?”

“Liz?” the voice on the other end sounds rather frazzled.

“Alex?”

“Hey, um, where are you?”

I glance over at Max, “I’m in The Lemon Tree; what’s up?”

“What’s going on?” he cuts to the chase. “I’m here with Isabel and she’s really upset. She won’t tell me why, but she keeps mentioning your name and saying how angry she is. Do you have any idea what’s wrong?”

I press my lips together, shaking my head as a sinking feeling fills my chest.

“Al, I…” I start, but I can’t seem to finish. I take a deep breath and try again, “It’s a long story.”

“Look, maybe you should come back here, Liz,” suggests Alex. “See if you two can’t sit down and talk about whatever it is that’s happened.”

From the other end of the line, I can hear Isabel’s distant voice ask sharply, “Who are you talking to?”

I close my eyes at the accusing tone and sigh as I realise that as much as I want to set the record straight with her, now is not a good time to do it.

I sigh, shaking my head, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Alex. I get the feeling I’m pretty much the last person Izzy wants to see right now.”

“Liz, what’s going on?” he sounds both worried and confused now. “I don’t understand… what on Earth happened between you two that has her refusing to talk to you?”

“I’m sorry, Alex,” I apologise. “It’s not really something that I can tell you over the phone; maybe Isabel will tell you instead.”

“Liz…” his tone is apprehensive.

“Look, I’ll be back soon, okay?” I assure him, even though I am positively dreading going back to the halls right now. “We’ll talk about it then.”

“Okay…” he replies uncertainly. “I guess I’ll see you later, then.”

We hang up and I drop the phone onto the table before me with a sigh as I let my head fall into my hands, “Shit.”

“Hey…” murmurs Max from beside me, his palm coming to rest on my lower back comfortingly. “You okay?”

“No,” I mutter. “Not really.”

“God, what a mess,” he murmurs.

I nod, my face remaining buried in my hands for a few more seconds, before I lift my head and run my fingers through my hair.

“I guess I’m headed back up to the halls, then,” I sigh.

“I’ll come with you,” he offers.

“Thanks,” I smile. “Although it’d probably be best if you don’t come in this time.”

“Okay,” he nods, holding out his hand to me. “Shall we go?”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Part Forty-Three

Max and I leave the coffee shop and head back to campus together hand-in-hand, although the atmosphere between us is not quite as free and easygoing as it has been of late… not really surprising though, considering this morning’s turn of events.

“You okay?” asks Max, gently squeezing my hand as we walk up the driveway to my hall a few minutes later.

“Yeah,” I murmur softly, looking up at my building apprehensively as we approach it. “I guess.”

“Are you sure you don’t want be to come in with you?” he wonders, his fingers squeezing mine gently in a gesture of reassurance.

But even as he says it, I can see the thinly-veiled unwillingness in his eyes at the thought of spending any more time with Isabel today.

“Yes, I’m sure,” I nod, resolved. “Although it isn’t so much that I don’t want you to come in, but that I’m pretty sure that it won’t go down too well if you do.”

“Fair enough,” he nods, looking slightly relieved.

“Okay,” I say just before we reach A-block. “Well, I’d better go in then, I suppose.”

“Wait a sec,” he says softly. “Before you go…”

“Yeah?” I turn to face him with a gentle smile, as I come to a stop just in front of him.

He doesn’t say anything at first, just gazes down at me, his expression serious and unreadable, but then he finally opens his mouth to speak, “I–”

When nothing more follows, I can’t help but wonder, “What is it?”

“Liz…I–” he starts, but stops again, seemingly struggling for words. Eventually, he just sighs and reaches for me, “Come here.”

Suddenly his arms are around me, holding me tight against his warm body. I close my eyes and let my arms slide up his chest to wrap around his neck as I revel in the feeling of comfort that flows through me, my whole being tingling in response to his close proximity. I can’t tell you how long we stand together, wrapped up in each other’s arms, but I can definitely say that there’s nowhere else I’d rather be right this minute. Eventually, though, it has to end and I reluctantly pull back when Max’s grip on me loosens.

“Thank you,” I smile. “I really needed that.”

“Yeah, me too,” he admits with a lopsided grin, and I can’t help but hide a smile at his slight embarrassment. “I guess you should go in.”

I nod half-heartedly, “Yeah, I probably should.”

“I need to go and talk to her, Max,” I say decisively. “No matter how much she doesn’t want to see me, I need to set the record straight.”

“Okay,” he nods. “Go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yep,” I reply, adding under my breath, “providing I’m still alive by then.”

“Good luck,” he murmurs, leaning down to brush my lips with his briefly.

I nod, rolling my eyes, “I’m gonna need it.”

We say goodbye and I watch him for a moment as he heads back down the driveway, before turning towards the entrance to A-block.

With slight trepidation, I let myself in, climbing the stairs to the second floor and then stopping in front of my door to find my room key.

“Liz!” calls Alex just then and I look up to see him approaching from the other end of the corridor. “You’re back.”

“Yeah,” I give him a weak smile. “How’s Izzy doing?”

He shakes his head slightly, “She still won’t talk to me. She’s basically been stomping around her room and vigorously tidying things for the last hour.”

I exhale heavily as I open the door and head inside; this isn’t going to be easy, I can tell.

Alex frowns, following me into the room, “Liz, what’s going on here? I’ve never seen her like this before.”

I lift my eyes to his and watch him thoughtfully for a moment, before finally deciding to just bite the bullet.

“I don’t know if you heard, but I’ve been seeing someone new.”

He nods, looking a little puzzled by the topic of conversation, “Yeah, I did hear something about that.”

“Okay… well, he, um, he stayed over here last night and I thought I’d locked the door, but I guess it didn’t latch properly because Izzy kind of walked in on us this morning.”

“Oh,” his eyes widen in shock. “Well, that must have been embarrassing.”

“Yeah,” I roll my eyes.

However, then he frowns in confusion, “But that can’t be why she’s so mad, can it? It’s not really the sort of thing you would get angry about.”

I raise and then lower my eyebrows, rolling my eyes at the same time, “That’s not the whole story.”

“No?”

“The thing is, the guy I’m seeing… my boyfriend… it’s Max Evans.”

“Max Evans?” he sounds surprised. “As in…? Oh my God.”

His tone lets me know that he knows exactly who Max Evans is… and it’s not just in the AU president capacity.

I nod slowly, “Yep. As in… Izzy’s brother.”

“Liz…” he shakes his head, his tone almost disappointed.

“I didn’t know he was her brother when I met him,” I’m quick to defend. “I only found out recently.”

“So this is why she’s mad at you then, because you’ve been sleeping with her brother.”

It’s not really a question, but I answer it anyway, “Yeah. I knew I should tell her, but I didn’t really know how, and then I kinda just let myself get caught up in being with him instead.”

“Liz,” he shakes his head. “You know how much his behaviour hurts her, how much she wishes he would stop being an idiot and come home… she’s fed up with it, and now for her to find out that one of her best friends is sleeping with him…”

He leaves the rest of the sentence hanging, but I get the gist.

“Look, Alex, there’s more to this – to Max – than she realises,” I explain. “He has his reasons… valid reasons… for how he acts towards her.”

“Really?” he looks sceptical. “You’ve seen how upset she gets about the situation sometimes… it’s always seemed like he was just being selfish for the sake of it.”

“Yeah, well maybe Isabel doesn’t know Max as well as she thinks she does,” I find myself snapping.

Alex sighs, looking down at me with sympathy, “Liz, he’s her brother; she grew up with him. Don’t you think she might know him a little better than you?”

“Alex, they’ve barely spoken in the last six years,” I remind him. “Maybe she knew him better before, but she doesn’t understand what he’s been going through since then.”

“So, surely, he ought to tell her then?”

“Believe me, I wish he would,” I sigh. “Maybe then it would make everything better… but he’s refusing to have anything to do with her.”

Alex watches me for a moment, before lifting his eyes to the heavens and letting out a resigned sigh, “This is quite a mess you’ve got yourself in, huh?”

I give him a look, saying dryly, “Thanks for the vote of support, Al.”

His lips curl up into a small smile, “Sorry.”

“Look, I need to talk to Iz,” I say then. “She has to know that I’m sorry and I didn’t mean to hurt her. Any idea how I can get her to listen to me?”

“I’m not sure I should get in the middle of this,” he holding up his hands.

“Please?”

He narrows his eyes, looking thoughtful, before finally letting out a consenting sigh, “Fine. Come on then, let’s see what we can do.”

Slightly, apprehensively, I follow him down the corridor to Izzy’s room. When we get there, he knocks lightly on the door.

“Iz, it’s me, can I come in?”

There’s a pause, before a muttered grumble comes through the door and then eventually a sound of consent. Alex sends me a quick glance before turning the handle and opening the door.

“Hey,” he says softly, as he enters the room. Apprehensively, I stand behind him in the doorway as she talks to Isabel. “How are you doing?”

“Hmmph,” she grumbles, pacing around the room as she moves things around in a frustrated fashion.

“Look, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you,” he says then. “I think you should listen to her.”

Immediately, her eyes snap to me and she scowls.

“Please, Iz,” I beg, stepping further into the room. “Just let me explain.”

She sends Alex an accusatory glare, to which he gives her a pleading look. She keeps her eyes on him for a few more seconds, a silent communication passing between them, before finally she sighs.

“Okay, fine,” her eyes flit to me now.

“Thanks,” I sigh with relief.

“I’ll leave you to two alone for a minute,” pipes up Alex, before he quickly slips from the room.

“Okay, so talk,” she crosses her arms and sends me an impatient look.

“Do you think maybe we could sit down?” I venture, to which she rolls her eyes and sits down heavily on her bed.

I take a seat on her desk chair and begin tentatively, “Look, I’m really sorry, Iz.”

She rolls her eyes, “Save the apology, Liz. I just wanna know how the hell you ended up sleeping with my brother?”

“I didn’t know he was your brother; at least, not until the other week,” I start. “I met him back in October, in Fresher’s Week. He tried to pick me up in that club we went to and I turned him down. I thought that was the end of it, but then he turned up in my Debate Soc. meetings and at the cheerleading socials, and practically everywhere else I went. It was like, everywhere I was, he was there too and it annoyed the hell out of me.”

She doesn’t say anything, but just sits there watching me stoically as I speak.

“I knew about his reputation with girls and I didn’t want anything to do with him,” I tell her. “But then I also couldn’t ignore the fact that I was really attracted to him.”

Isabel makes a disgusted face at that.

“So, anyway, Jake and I broke up and then I got really involved with the fashion show and everything and I didn’t really think much of it, but one night, I went to this party at my dance partner, Dan’s house and, well it turned out that it was Max’s house too. We got to talking and soon I realised that he wasn’t actually as bad as I’d thought.”

“God, I don’t think I want to hear this.”

“Anyway, I had no idea he was your brother until about a week before the fashion show,” I explain. “I was on my way to your room to ask you something and you were on the phone to him. I only found out because I heard you say his name.”

“What, and that makes it all right, then?” she snaps.

“No, I’m not saying that, Iz,” I protest. “I’m just saying that whatever is going on between Max and I, it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s your brother, okay? He didn’t know that I knew you, either, so don’t think that this is some scheme of his.”

“Why didn’t you mention that you knew him?” she wonders, although the tone is more curious than accusatory. “It just seems like the sort of thing that might come up in conversation, you know?”

I hesitate for a moment, not really sure how to answer.

“It’s complicated,” I sigh finally. “I didn’t want to get in the middle of things.”

“Yeah, but you kind of are, though, aren’t you?”

“Maybe I am,” I concede, “being with Max and being your friend too, but the issues you guys have are between the two of you and you’re gonna have to work out things for yourselves.”

“Yeah, well easier said than done,” she snorts. “Max wants nothing to do with me or with our parents. We’ve been dealing with his selfish behaviour for six years now. He’s not gonna just suddenly decide to open up and talk to me.” She looks at me thoughtfully; almost all traces of anger gone from her face now, “I don’t suppose you would–?”

“No, Iz,” I shake my head, cutting her off before she can finish the question. “I can’t be the mediator here. I start doing that and someone’s bound to get hurt in the end.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” her expression is pained now. “How do I try to make things better when he won’t budge at all? I’m getting so fed up of this; I don’t know why I bother anymore.”

I exhale slowly, taking in her defeated posture as my heart sinks at the impossible situation. Isabel wants to fix things with Max, but she doesn’t understand why he’s acting the way he is; Max refuses to talk to Isabel and is trying his best to hate her and their parents; and I have no choice but to sit back and hope they can fix things, because nothing I say to Max on Izzy’s behalf will make him change his mind and I can’t betray his confidence by saying anything to her about his reasons for avoiding her.

Everything’s just completely stuck and unfortunately I can’t see any of it changing anytime soon.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Part Forty-Four

A few minutes after Isabel and I finish talking – the subject of my relationship with Max not completely laid to rest just yet, but at least explained somewhat – Alex decides that Isabel could do with a distraction and so suggests that they head out for the afternoon and have some fun. After they’ve left, I head back to my room, making myself comfortable on my bed before reaching for my phone to call Max.

“Hey, it’s me,” I greet softly when he picks up.

“Hey,” he replies, his tone sounding slightly relieved. “How did it go?”

“Well, we’ve talked,” I state simply. “I explained that we didn’t mean to hurt her deliberately.”

“And how did she take it?”

“Well, it could have been worse, I suppose,” I tell him. “She’s not exactly happy about it, but I don’t think she’s quite as angry anymore.”

“Well, I guess that’s good,” he murmurs, although he doesn’t exactly sound enthralled by the revelation.

“Yeah…” I trail off, an image of Isabel’s distraught face from earlier flitting through my mind.

There’s a moment of silence between us before we both speak at the same time,

“So–”

“Max–”

“Sorry, you go first,” he tells me.

I take a deep breath, before I start to speak again, “Max, I know I said I would stay out of it, but have you thought any more about talking to Izzy yourself?”

“Liz, please,” he mutters. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Okay, so I know I said I wouldn’t be put in the middle, but I can’t help trying one last time.

“She doesn’t understand what’s going on with you and it’s tearing her apart. If you would just sit down and tell her what you’re feeling, get it off your chest, it might do you both some good.”

“Why can’t you just leave it alone, Liz?” he sighs, sounding agitated now. “It’s my problem, okay? Not yours. And it’s my decision how I deal with it.”

I shake my head, not willing to get into an argument with him about this, but at the same time desperately wishing that I could make things better for him.

“But you’re not dealing with it, Max,” I respond, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “You’re bottling everything up inside and pretending that it’s all fine on the surface. That’s not dealing, that’s ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away.”

“Liz…” his voice is tight and carries a hint of warning.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay,” I apologise quickly. “I don’t want to tell you want to do, but at the same time, I hate seeing what keeping this secret this is doing to you and also to Izzy. You never know, talking about it might actually make things better for you.”

“I can’t, Liz,” he grinds out, his annoyance at the situation becoming clear. “I know you don’t understand, but I just can’t. Just stop going on about it, okay?”

I sigh inwardly, closing my eyes letting my head fall back against the wall above my bed as I curse myself for stupidly thinking he might actually listen to me. I should have known better… and now he’s angry with me. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

“Fine,” I say in defeat. “You’re right. It’s your life.”

“Thanks,” he replies tersely.

There’s another pause as I debate what to say now to lighten the conversation, but I’m not sure that Max will be all that receptive to it anyway.

“Knock, knock,” comes James’ voice as he raps lightly on my partly-closed door, before gently pushing it open and poking his head in. “Can we come in? We have pizza and movies.”

‘Sure’ I mouth with a nod, gesturing for him and Michael to enter.

“Sorry, Max,” I say into the receiver “I’ve got to go; I have company.”

“Sure,” he mutters dully.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Whatever,” he mutters.

“Bye,” I roll my eyes in frustration at his annoyed tone, but end the call anyway in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, he might actually consider my suggestion.

“So you up for an evening of classics then, Liz?” asks Mike with a grin as he holds up a handful of DVDs. “We have the Godfather Trilogy and The Shawshank Redemption, and that’s just for starters.”

“Sure,” I force a smile onto my face. “Why not?”

Mike slides a DVD into Maria’s player and we settled down to watch. About halfway through, there’s a knock at the open door and Alex steps into the room, closely followed by a tired-looking Isabel.

“Hey, guys, mind if we join you?”

“Sure, come on in,” says James. “Take a seat.”

Alex grins and slides onto Maria’s bed, while Isabel stiffly takes a seat beside him, frowning at me for a second, before finally fixing her gaze on the TV screen.

“So, what are we watching?” wonders Alex as he eagerly reaches for a slice of pepperoni pizza.

“Godfather Trilogy,” mumbles Michael between mouthfuls of ham and pineapple pizza.

“Nice.”

We turn our attention back to the film and watch in silence for a few minutes more.

“So, you guys been up to much today?” asks James then.

“Not that much,” Alex shrugs. “We went into town for a while this afternoon.”

Beside him Isabel shifts uncomfortably and shoots a glare in my direction. I sigh inwardly, sending her an apologetic glance in response, which James seems to cotton onto. He looks from Isabel to me and back again for a few seconds, his expression puzzled as he picks up on the tense atmosphere between us.

“Okay, guys, what’s going on?”

I look away from Isabel and return my gaze to the TV as I contemplate whether or not it’s wise to get everyone else involved in the situation.

“Why don’t you ask Liz?” Isabel looks at me pointedly.

How about not? I think to myself, but everyone is looking at me expectantly now.

“Um,” I shoot Izzy a slightly annoyed look. “You know what, it’s nothing.”

“Liz…” she replies in a warning tone… one that I suddenly realise sounds very much like the tone Max used earlier.

“Okay, fine,” I sigh. “I guess you guys already know that I have a new boyfriend…”

“Yep,” nods James, looking puzzled by the odd conversation topic.

“Uh huh,” adds Mike; presumably hearing about it from Maria.

“Well, uh… he kinda stayed over last night, and this morning Izzy accidentally walked in on us.”

“Oh, man,” mutters James with a groan.

“Nice one, Iz,” Mike rolls his eyes and shakes his head at her.

“Hey, I’m not the subject of the story here,” she protests, nodding towards me. “Why don’t you ask Liz who the guy was?”

Mike’s head whips round to look at me in curiosity, “Who?”

But James just frowns, as if he’s not sure what the big deal is, “It was Max Evans, right?”

At this, Michael’s eyes widen, “You’re going out with Max Evans? That guy who’s the AU president this year?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s not all he is,” adds Isabel, raising her eyebrows as she shoots me a look.

“What’s going on here?” asks James suspiciously, looking between the two of us again. “And what does Max Evans have to do with you and Izzy?”

“Hey, James, you remember I told you about that annoying older brother of mine who likes to make my life a living hell just for fun?”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, obviously not connecting the dots just yet.

“His name is Max Evans.”

“What?” his jaw drops, as Mike straightens up, looking confused. “Wait; your brother is Max Evans?”

“The one and only,” she rolls her eyes.

He turns to me, his expression one of bewilderment, “You’re dating Isabel’s brother?”

“Well, er, yeah.”

“You didn’t tell me he was her brother.”

“I didn’t know,” I tell him. “Not until recently.”

“But you knew last week when we were talking,” it’s not a question. “And you didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t really know how to,” I confess, glancing at Isabel as I continue, “and I also didn’t know if I should.”

“Maybe things would have been a lot easier if you’d just told me when you found out instead of keeping it to yourself,” says Izzy bitterly.

I shake my head sadly, “Iz, I said I was sorry…”

But she just looks at me with hurt in her eyes.

“Iz, please –”

“Hey, guys,” comes a bright, yet tired tone from the doorway, interrupting the tense moment.

Maria steps into the room, overnight bag in tow. “What a day! We got stuck in traffic on the motorway and it’s taken us almost six hours to get back from London!”

“’Ria, you’re back,” pipes up Michael quickly, presumably in an attempt to escape the bad vibes in here.

She lets out a sigh as she plops down on her desk chair and looks around the room at our tense expressions.

“So, what did I miss?”

***

“Ugh, I’m never gonna understand this stuff,” I moan in frustration as I flick through the pages of my Animal and Plant Diversity textbook on Tuesday afternoon.

I have some time off between my morning and afternoon lectures so I’m taking the opportunity to settle down in the small, secluded area of the student union that I found a few months ago and get started on some exam preparation.

Except that it’s not going well at all.

I let out a sigh as I finally decide on a chapter and start reading it through… but only a few skimmed sentences in, I groan and stop reading; nothing seems to be going in today. Tiredly, I start flicking through the pages again, in the hope that I might be inspired to do some work soon.

“I’m so gonna fail this course,” I mutter to myself, ready to give up now.

“No, you’re not,” interrupts a familiar voice, causing me to jump in surprise.

But as I look up at the newcomer, who is standing in front of the table, looking very endearing with his thumbs casually looped through the straps of a rucksack, my heart skips a beat and a smile tugs at my lips.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“You were supposed to meet me for lunch about…” he looks at his watch, “… twenty minutes ago.”

“Shit,” my eyes widen with realisation. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been trying to get some exam revision done and I totally lost track of time.”

“S’ok,” he shrugs with an adorable half-smile. “I figured you’d probably got held up somewhere, so I grabbed us some food” – he gestures to his rucksack – “and came looking for you.”

I frown in confusion, “Why didn’t you just try my mobile?”

“’Cause I accidentally left my phone at home this morning,” he says, rolling his eyes at himself.

“Oh, well, that wasn’t good,” I nod in understanding, before nodding to the chair opposite me. “But by all means, take a seat.”

“Thanks,” he smiles, moving closer, shrugging off his bag and then pulling out the chair.

But before he takes a seat, he leans down across the table and captures my lips with his in a warm kiss. I can’t help but grin when he pulls back and begins routing through his bag for some food. Despite our little disagreement over the phone on Saturday, we made up the next day over Sunday lunch at Wetherspoon’s and things have been great between us the last couple of days… well, apart from the fact that there’s still the whole issue of Isabel hanging in the air, but I’m trying my best to keep out of it at the moment.

“Ham or tuna?” he asks a moment later, holding up two packs of sandwiches, one in each hand.

“Tuna, please,” I reply eagerly, as I reach for the sandwiches in his left hand. “God, I’m starving.”

“Me too,” he nods, before his expression turns mischievous. “Although, I might not have been so hungry had you not forgotten to meet me in the coffee shop twenty minutes ago.”

“Shut up,” I narrow my eyes at him in mock-annoyance, although I’m finding it hard to keep a straight face. “If you hadn’t left your phone at home, maybe you would have found me sooner.”

“Whatever,” he rolls his eyes good-naturedly, as he turns his attention back to his bag and pulls out a can of Lilt and a Dr. Pepper.

“Here you go,” he hands the Lilt to me and I take it with a nod of thanks. “So, what are you revising today?”

I sigh, as I pull open my pack of sandwiches, “Animal and Plant Diversity.”

He scrunches up his nose, “Sounds, uh… fun?”

“Believe me, it’s not,” I reply, taking a bite out of a tuna sandwich as I flick through some of the textbook pages again. “Sometimes I wonder why I decided to take Biology at all.”

“Because you love it,” he supplies, his dark eyes searching mine as he hits the nail on the head. “Because it’s what you’ve wanted to do for practically your whole life, right?”

“Yeah, it is,” I sigh. “It’s just… sometimes it’s so easy to get bogged down in all the difficult, boring stuff that you forget the bigger picture, you know? I mean, it’s one thing to learn about all the cool things Biologists do when you’re at school, but it’s another thing entirely to actually study it at an advanced level.”

“Yeah,” he nods thoughtfully. “I suppose.”

“Sorry,” I apologise quickly, as I realise that I’ve pretty much been moaning since he got here. “It’s not a good day for me and revision today.”

“That’s okay,” he gives me a smile, before lifting the can of Dr. Pepper to his lips and taking a gulp. “So, what are you doing up here anyway?”

I smile, glancing around the small space that is partly hidden from the rest of the room by various stacks of chairs, “I dunno, I’ve kind of grown to like this little spot. It sort of feels like my place now, you know?”

“Yeah?” he grins, sitting forward in his chair and placing his lower arms flat on the table as he leans closer to me.

“Yeah,” I return the grin.

Our gazes lock and lunch is momentarily forgotten as he reaches out to caress the back of my hand with his fingertips. I shudder in response and his grin widens.

“You remember last time we were both here together?” he murmurs, his voice barely above a whisper as he refers to that day back in January, when I was trying to study with a headache and he washed all the pain away with his amazing massage skills.

“Uh huh,” is all I can manage, his touch sending shivers down my spine.

“I hated seeing you in pain that day,” he admits then, and my eyes widen at the confession. “Even though you were upset and wanted me to leave, I just couldn’t. You looked so fragile and tired… all I could think about was making you feel better.”

“You did,” I whisper, feeling the prick of tears in the corners of my eyes at his divulgence. “And I really appreciated it.”

He smiles, a warm, loving smile, and my stomach flips in response, “It was my pleasure. I’m glad it helped.”

“Oh, it did more than help,” I practically whisper.

“It did?” he sounds surprised.

“Yeah,” I smile coyly, leaning forward to murmur, “It was the best massage of my life.”

“Re-ally?” his tone is sly and full of self-confidence as he drags the word out. “How about a repeat, then? You up for it?”

I raise an eyebrow in response and shake my head, “No.”

“No?”

“Nope,” I repeat. “At least, not here.”

“Oh, okay,” he looks confused.

“But, perhaps we could do it somewhere more private? Like, maybe… your place… tonight?” I propose with a suggestive grin.

His eyes light up and he grins like the cat who got the cream, “Oh, I’m definitely up for that.”

“Great… tonight it is then.”

“Yep,” he grins, before taking a huge bite out of his sandwich and chewing it down quickly.

I chuckle, rolling my eyes at the macho display, before turning back to my own food.

“You know,” he says a few moments later, “I nearly asked you out that day.”

“What?” my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You did?”

“Well, I was going to,” he admits. “But then my phone rang and it was Sophie with this urgent crisis she was having and I had to go. But, yeah, I almost did.”

I nod, taking that in before saying slowly, “Actually, I’m glad you didn’t.”

This time it’s his turn to say, “What?”

“I would have said no,” I confess with a sigh. “I was still with Jake then, Max. I wouldn’t have agreed to go out with you while I was still seeing him.”

“Oh,” he nods in understanding, turning his attention to his can of Dr. Pepper. “Yeah, right.” He flashes me a smile, although it’s a little subdued now, “Good thing I didn’t then.”

Sensing the change in atmosphere, I bring the subject back to our plans for the evening, “So, tonight… shall I come round to yours after ballet class or do you wanna meet me on campus?”

***

“Hey, Liz, mind if I walk up with you?” asks Alex on Thursday morning as I head up to campus for my lectures.

“Sure, Al,” I smile. “What’s up?”

He shrugs, “The usual stuff: busy schedule, lots of work… you know the drill.”

“Yeah.”

We start walking in silence, but as we reach the end of the driveway, Alex speaks up.

“So, um, how are you and Max doing?”

“Good,” I nod, trying my best to hide a smile as the memory of our ‘massage date’ on Tuesday night flits through my mind. “We’re good.”

“Cool,” he nods.

“How’s Izzy doing?” I venture next.

“Okay, I guess,” he shrugs, “I mean, she’s still not all that happy about finding out about you and Max, but she’s dealing.”

“Right.”

He sighs, as we walk, “I think what’s bugging her more is this whole thing with Max, rather than the fact that you guys are together. She’s… well, she’s frustrated and angry and upset… but her issues are primarily with him. The fact that you’re involved too is kind of icing on the cake, so to speak.”

I shake my head, my heart sinking at thought of the whole situation.

“God, if only he would sit down and talk to her,” I sigh with frustration. “But he’s so completely stubborn that he’s refusing to even consider the idea.”

Alex frowns in contemplation, “You said before that he had valid reasons for his behaviour…?”

“Yeah, he does,” I admit. “But he’s refusing to accept the possibility that if he explains to Isabel what they are, it might just make things better.” I shake my head again, “But then, Izzy’s not helping things either by jumping to conclusions about his actions. Even if he does agree to talk to her, there’s always the chance that she won’t listen, and will pass judgement instead.”

There’s a pause as he takes that in, before, “Listen, I know you told Izzy you wouldn’t get in the middle, but from what I can gather, this just seems like an impossible situation at the moment. Do you think that, if I can persuade Izzy to sit down and listen to him calmly and rationally, you might be able to get Max to agree to talk with her?”

“I don’t know, Alex,” I say softly. “I’ve tried to do that before and all I’ve managed to do is piss him off, and then we argue. He asked me to leave it alone and I agreed… but I’ve already broken my promise by bringing it up with him on Saturday; and I don’t want to keep fighting with him over it. At the end of the day, it’s his decision.”

“Yeah, well, that decision of his is making my girlfriend’s life miserable,” he mutters unhappily, as we walk through the building that houses Breaker’s club on the weekends. “She’s been suffering for six long years because Max is too stubborn to see that she’s hurting. It’s about time that somebody did something about the situation.”

“I know,” I agree. “I get it; I just don’t know if there’s anything we can do about it.”

“Yeah, me neither…”

We exit the building and continue along the path up to the main part of campus in contemplative silence.

“What about if we find some way of getting them in the same room together for a while, give them no choice but to talk and get things out in the open?”

“I don’t know, Al,” I reply, feeling uneasy about the idea. “I don’t think that would go down too well.”

He shrugs helplessly, “Well, what else do you suggest? You’ve made it pretty clear that Max has no intention of ever talking to his sister if he can help it, so at this rate, nothing’s ever gonna get fixed.”

“I have no idea,” I sigh eventually, just generally confounded by the whole situation. “Not a clue.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Part Forty-Five

“Hey, Liz, you decent yet?” calls Maria’s voice through the closed door of our room as she knocks politely.

“Yeah, I’m dressed; come on in,” I call back, reaching for my hairbrush and comb.

“Wow, look at you!” exclaims Maria, opening the door and stepping into the room. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks,” I blush, smoothing out the silky skirt of my strapless, lilac-coloured dress.

“You are so lucky to be going to the Hampton Ball, you know… and for free as well,” said Maria, enviously. “I guess there are some perks to being with Max Evans, after all.”

“Maria…” I start, my voice holding a hint of warning. “Don’t start.”

She holds up her hands in defence, raising her eyebrows, “I’m just sayin’”

I ignore her and step over to the mirror above the sink to finish sorting out my hair.

Even though just a week ago, Maria had been expressing her awe of Max to me, ever since she found out his relationship to Isabel last weekend, she’s been more on Izzy’s side than mine, making slightly snide remarks about him and his treatment of Isabel whenever she can. And I guess I don’t blame her, really; she knows how much Isabel’s been hurting over the situation and she’s just being a good friend. After all, she doesn’t know Max’s reasons for his behaviour either.

“So, you excited about tonight?” she asks then, changing the subject to something slightly lighter.

“Yeah,” I smile, as I slide my favourite sparkly butterfly clip into my hair – the same clip I wore on our first date – and then carefully arrange the just-dried locks around my shoulders. “I can’t wait. Although not too sure about it being held outside… it’s only the beginning of May; I bet I’m gonna be freezing by the end of the night!”

“So take a coat,” she shrugs, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“But then I’ll have to carry it around with me all night,” I scrunch my nose up in displeasure.

“Or you could just get Maxie-boy to carry it for you,” she suggests with another raise of her eyebrows.

“I guess,” I murmur, not really liking the idea of ruining my elegant outfit with a big coat, although I’ll admit that Maria’s suggestion is a sensible one.

After a few more seconds of debate, I eventually reach for my thin, beige coat and then slip into my chosen shoes for the night – flat, lilac ballet pumps (apparently the ball is being held in a field on the castle grounds and it’s not the place for heels). Just as I’m putting the finishing touches to my make-up, Max calls to say that he’s outside and waiting for me.

“Okay, I’m off then,” I tell her, as I put my phone back into my purse and check that I have everything I need for the evening.

“Have fun,” Maria calls as I leave the room and head down the stairs to meet him.

I arrange my jacket into a comfortable position over my arm and slip my purse over my shoulder as I make my way out of the building, an excited wave of anticipation bubbling up inside of me as I think about the evening ahead.

I finally step outside the A-block door to find Max standing a few feet away from me, a single white rose in one hand. My breath catches in my throat as I take in his breathtaking appearance. Who knew he could scrub up so well in a tux? The black jacket emphasises those broad, rugby-player shoulders of his and the neat bowtie at his neck stands out in contrast to the stark white of his dress shirt. I don’t even realise that I’m staring until he steps up to me and holds out the rose.

“Wow,” he breathes, causing my eyes to flick to his face now. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks,” I murmur softly, reaching out to take the offered flower from him. I smile warmly as I bring it to my nose and inhale its wonderful aroma. “You look pretty amazing yourself, you know.”

“C’mere,” he grins, sliding his arm around my back and pulling me in close for a heady kiss.

“Wow…” I breathe when we finally part, some long moments later.

“You ready to go?” he smiles down at me, his nose lightly brushing against mine as his lips return for one more kiss.

“Yeah, I-I’m ready,” I manage, my voice catching in my throat as I try to speak.

“Come on, then,” he reaches for my hand. “We don’t want to be late and have to wait ages to get on a bus.”

“Nope, wouldn’t want that,” I murmur dazedly as I allow him to lead me down the driveway and towards campus, where our transport to the ball awaits… in the form of several large coaches.

By the time we arrive outside the union a few minutes later, there is already a queue of several dozen people waiting for the first vehicles to arrive. However, rather than coming to a stop at the end of the line of people, Max simply pulls me straight past them, toward the front of the queue. I open my mouth to protest against his blatant pushing in, but then I realise that practically everyone standing there is either smiling or nodding at hi, seemingly unbothered by it at all.

As we get closer to the front, there are a couple of calls of ‘Evans, my man!’ and ‘Alright, mate?’ and as we come to a stop, I recognise a few of the people standing there. Sophie and Jackie are two of them, plus Max’s housemate, Ollie and his girlfriend. There are a couple of guys who look sort of familiar, but I can’t place them at first; it’s only when Max starts talking Union Committee stuff with them that I realise they are two of this year’s student union staff and that I have seen them around campus and in the university paper over the last few months.

While we wait for the coaches to arrive, Max introduces me to a few people, including the two familiar-looking guys and then I get to chatting with Sophie and Jackie about the Dance Soc Committee elections which are taking place next week. About fifteen minutes later, the first of the transport vehicles shows up and we are on our way to Hampton Castle.

Much to my disappointment, we don’t actually get to see any of the castle at all, as the ball is being held in a large field located in the castle grounds but not anywhere the actual castle. However, I still let out a gasp of awe when we step off the coach to see several white marquees filled with bars, a hog roast, two dance floors and various amusements… and there’s even a fairground with Dodgem cars, Waltzers and one of those ‘Cage’ rides. Max smiles down at me and slips his arm around my waist as we hand our tickets to the ‘man on the door’ and head over to one of the bars for free drinks.

“So, what do you fancy doing first?” he asks as he hands me a glass of wine and then takes a sip of his lager.

“Shall we for a wander and check everything out?” I suggest, running my fingers along the side of the glass in my hand.

“Okay,” he grins. “Let’s go.”

Three hours, two rides on the Dodgems and a hog roast later, we end up on the dance floor, where my current favourite band, The Fratellis are playing a set. I grin up at Max as he playfully twirls me around and then grabs my waist, pulling me close.

“Having a good time?” he asks softly, his eyes gazing down into mine, making my heart skip a beat in response.

“The best.”

“I’m glad.”

He lowers his head towards mine, gently resting his forehead against mine and I shiver slightly at his close proximity.

“You look absolutely incredible tonight,” he says with sincerity. “Did I tell you that?”

“You might have mentioned something,” I manage, my voice coming out sort of breathless.

“Just…” he pauses, drawing back slightly to look at me fully with a twinkle in his eye. “Wow.”

“Thanks,” I whisper. “And you…” I reach up to tweak his crooked bowtie into place. “Are the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in a tux.”

Our eyes lock fully and there’s a short tension-filled pause between us before need takes over and our mouths fuse together in a passionate embrace. Max’s hand slides down over the silky material covering my back, before coming to rest on my lower back, while the fingers of his other hand gently caress my cheek as we kiss.

It’s the perfect end to a perfect evening as we have a blast dancing to cheesy 80’s classics like Queen and Wham!. With my legs beginning to ache and my body getting tired, Max suggests that we head home on the next coach… but not until we’ve had one last go on the Dodgem cars and a final ride on the Waltzers. With an amused shake of my head I find myself agreeing, unable to resist the pleading puppy-dog expression in his eyes.

It’s close to two a.m. by the time Max and I stumble through his front door and it’s all I can do to make it up the stairs to his room, tiredly change into an oversized T-shirt of his and collapse into bed with him. Clad in just his boxers, Max curls his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to him as we snuggle under the covers together. I fall asleep within minutes, enveloped in the warmth of Max’s body and with a contented smile on my face.

***

So at my show on Monday
I was hoping someday
You'd be on your way to better things

I pry my eyes open when the sound of The Kooks streaming out of the radio beside Max’s bed penetrates my subconscious. As my eyes adjust to the dim light in the room, I notice that it’s only nine a.m. … on a Sunday morning.

It's not about your make-up
Or how you try to shape up
To these tiresome paper dreams
Paper dreams, honey

Despite the early hour and the late night we had last night, I find myself smiling – one of my favourite songs is playing on the radio and I have a warm, sleeping Max Evans spooned behind me; his strong, muscular thighs pressing against the backs of my bare legs; his heavy arm slung across my stomach, holding me to him; his hard chest pressing flush my back; and his face buried in the curve of my neck. My stomach clenches and a wave of desire sweeps through me as he stirs, his hand flattening against my stomach as I feel his lips caress my neck.

“Mmm, morning,” he mumbles sleepily, slipping one of his legs between mine as his fingers finds the hem of my T-shirt and he slides them beneath it, caressing my warm skin. I shiver in response.

“Morn-ing.” I return, my voice catching as his hand slides up my stomach to cup my bare breast, brushing his thumb across my nipple and causing it to harden.

I suck in a small gasp when a few moments later, his fingers walk their way back down my stomach again and slide beneath the elastic of my underwear. I bite my lip, my eyes falling shut as his gentle, intimate caresses send shivers shooting up my spine. My head relaxes back against his chest as I feel him harden against me and my body begins to tremble with anticipation. Ever so gently, he eases my underwear down over my hips and then tugs my T-shirt up to just above my waist. Still spooned together, we make love slowly and sensually, as the radio continues to play music in the background.

“Mmm, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this,” I sigh several minutes later, as I turn over in his arms and try to catch my breath.

“Me either,” he smiles, gently placing a soft kiss to my nose as he tightens his arms around me.

“Last night was amazing,” I return the smile. “Thank you for inviting me to go with you.”

“As if I would ask anyone else,” he grins with a small scoff, before lowering his head and whispering, “You’re the only one I wanted to go with.”

I bite my lip in an attempt to stop the huge grin from spreading across my face, as I ask innocently, “What about all those girls you used to flirt with? Surely you would have taken one of them if we hadn’t, you know, got together?”

He shakes his head in disbelief and rolls his eyes, “Haven’t you got it by now? I might have been that guy in the past, but from the moment you walked into my life, everyone else just paled in comparison. If I hadn’t gone with you, I wouldn’t have wanted to go with anyone else.”

I duck my head self-consciously, “Yeah, okay.”

“I’m serious,” he smiles, sliding his fingers beneath my chin and lifting it so that our eyes meet. “Man, you can be so paranoid sometimes.”

“Yeah, well,” I shrug. “Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that when, for months, all I saw was you with all those girls. It doesn’t exactly do much for the confidence, you know.”

His expression sobers, “I’m sorry. You know they didn’t mean anything to me. It’s you I want to be with.”

“I know,” I nod. “And I want to be with you too.”

His grin returns and his expression becomes mischievous, “C’mere.”

“Wha–?” I try to protest, but he cuts me off, capturing my mouth in a heated kiss as he grabs my waist and flips me onto my back.

I gasp, my breath catching in my throat as he slides on top of me, situating his hips between my legs and begins a torturous assault of warm caresses and spine-tingling kisses across my bare skin.

Wow, I think I’m in heaven.

***

On Monday evening after I get back from Street Dance class, I find myself outside Isabel’s slightly open door, my hand raised to knock; but at the last minute, I chicken out and lower my hand to my side. However, before I have a chance to turn and walk back down the corridor to my room, the door swings open, revealing Izzy’s surprised face when she sees me on the other side.

“Liz!”

“Um, hey,” I murmur sheepishly, slightly caught off-guard. “I was, uh, wondering if we could talk?”

A reluctant expression flashes across her face for a moment, before she gives a small nod, “Sure, I guess. You wanna come in?”

“Thanks,” I nod, stepping into the room.

She takes a seat on the bed and I sit down next to her.

“So…?” she asks, raising her eyebrows at me in invitation.

“So… um, how are you doing?” I venture, not really sure what I came for, but just feeling like I should talk with her.

“Okay, I guess,” she shrugs. “Well as can be expected, I s’pose.”

“That’s good,” I nod, for lack of anything else to say.

There’s a pause and a few seconds of uncomfortable silence pass before I decide I have to say something.

“Look, Iz, I don’t want for this to be a big thing between us, okay?” I tell her sincerely. “You’re one of my best friends and I don’t want to lose our friendship over it.”

She shakes her head sadly. “I don’t want to be fighting with you either, but it’s hard for me, you know? The way Max is… he’s made my life miserable for so long and it’s difficult enough to deal with the fact that he hates me without me having to see you being all happy with him too.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” I deny, although I’m not sure how convincing I am.

“Yeah, right,” she scoffs. “He’s made his feelings pretty clear.”

“Iz,” I start, hoping that I’m not overstepping my bounds here. “Do you have any idea why he started acting differently when you were teenagers?”

She rolls her eyes, “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”

“Yeah… right, okay,” I nod. “What about your parents? Do they know anything about his behaviour, or the reasons for it?”

“They’ve never really said anything to me, “ she admits with a frown. “I mean, I remember hearing Mum and Dad fighting about it when he first started acting up, but I was only about twelve or thirteen then… I was kind of out of the loop, you know?”

“Yeah,” I say softly.

“But sometimes I get the feeling that they might know more about it than they tell me,” she confesses in a low voice. “Sometimes I see them sharing a look or a quick glance when Max is around… although it really isn’t very often that he is.”

“Iz,” I start, as something suddenly occurs to me. “Why did you decide to study here, at the same university he attends, if you don’t really get along?”

She shakes her head, glancing toward the ceiling, before letting out a sigh.

“It wasn’t actually intentional,” she says. “I applied here because the university offers a great course and I love the campus and the town… and then because of the grades they offered me, it ended up being my first choice. When the exam results came out I got the grades I needed to study here and so this is where I ended up.”

“Oh,” I murmur in understanding.

She sighs, “Although I guess there was also a part of me that hoped maybe being at the same university as my brother might help our relationship, but deep down, I knew it was unlikely.”

“You never know,” I say, trying to be positive. “There’s still time.”

“Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen,” she snorts. “Maybe if I had some clue as to why he’s so angry, I could try to fix things, but I just can’t figure it out.” She lets out a defeated sigh, “I just don’t understand why it’s so hard for him to sit down with the family for more than a couple of minutes. Are we really so horrible that he feels he has to avoid us all the time?”

“I’m sure it’s not that, Iz,” I murmur comfortingly. “It’s just that… he has some issues.”

“Hang on a minute,” she narrows her eyes at me, “You know something, don’t you? You know why he’s acting this way.”

I shake my head, my eyes widening, “No, no, I–I just…” I sigh, “Okay, yes, he’s mentioned something. But I promised him I wouldn’t say anything, not even to you… and I’m sorry, but I can’t betray his trust like that.”

“I can’t believe he would tell you this stuff, but not me,” she looks hurt, and more than a little upset. “He’s my brother, for God’s sake – my own flesh and blood!”

I suck in a long breath, before exhaling slowly as I try to stay calm, “Yeah, well, have you considered that perhaps that the reason he won’t talk is because he’s your brother?”

“What do you mean?” she asks, confused. “I don’t get it. We used to be so close… I don’t understand why he feels he can’t talk to me.”

I watch as she fights for control and for a moment, I can’t help but feel bad for her, for what she’s going through. But then I remember Max’s heartache over this whole situation with his past and I bristle with irritation once more.

“Maybe something changed for him,” I say with a shrug, as I stand up from the bed, feeling that the conversation is coming to an end now. “People change; they grow up and they realise that real life isn’t quite the happy fantasy they imagined as children.”

“What do you mean?”

I know I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t just stand by and not say anything anymore, “Have you ever spoken to Max about his father?”

She looks puzzled, “His father? But he died when Max was a baby; he doesn’t remember him at all. What would his father have to do with any of this?”

I shrug as I make my way to the door, turning back to face her just before reach it, “It’s just something to think about, Iz.”

As I leave the room and make my way back down the hallway, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve just made a mistake in giving Isabel a hint like that. But then again, how else is this impossible situation going to get resolved if neither party involved is willing to compromise. Maybe a nudge in the right direction is just what the two of them need.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone, sorry for the delay with this part... I was hoping to get it posted before now, but I wanted to wait until my beta had looked it over and given it the okay - and I'm glad I did because it needed a bit of work before posting . I hope it's worth the wait...


Thanks for your feedback :

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

ohh Hopefully Max does not get angry at Liz if he finds out that she gave isabel a hint!

Let’s hope not…

Queen Fee –

Ooh, I hope Liz hasn't said too much to Isabel

We’ll have to see what happens now.

Great part, Max and Liz were so sweet. I love how Max reassured her that she was the only one he wanted to be with, it's understandable that she'd feel a little insecure given the way he used to be and also what happened with her ex.

Yeah, even though Liz knows he wants to be with her, she’s also not entirely convinced that he has completely given up his playboy persona.

There is nothing better than dancing to a live band in a big tent, in my opinion

Quite right, there .

begonia9508 – Thanks .

You were right about one thing: the key of Max's problem is with his mother and step-father and I guess they won't never acknowledge it if Izzy asked for explanations....

I think that their parents have some idea that Max’s problems are in some way related to his father, but whether they know that he knows the full truth about the circumstances surrounding his Dad’s death is another question.

Max should really talk with his step-sister who is as innocent as he was when his dad died!

Yes, he should… and let’s hope he does eventually.

sunrise102 –

What an awesome date for them!! From start to the... finish.

Thanks .

I'm glad Liz said something for Iz to think about. In truth it's something she could have eventually reached on her own if she would stop being so darn self-centered, thinking that Max's attitude and feeling were revolved around her. Jeez.

Yeah, although she didn’t want to get involved, I think Liz needed to say something to Izzy – since it was looking unlikely that Isabel would realise it on her own at this point.

The reality is that for most of us family-related things are the number one (or at the top of the list at least) cause of grief. Process of elimination Iz. If it doesn't have to do with the parentals, maybe it has to do with his dad. Just because he's dead doesn't mean he never existed and anything that has to do with him won't affect Max still, even after all these years. She's obviously not that oblivious if she's noticed certain looks and glances between her parents. She's at least gathered that they know more than they are telling. Why doesn't she ask?

Perhaps she hasn’t figured out the connection herself because subconsciously she doesn’t want to dig around and bring up all the dirt. She could have asked her parents about it at any time over the past few years, but something obviously stopped her – maybe she just didn’t want to believe that there was anything seriously wrong and it was much easier to blame everything on Max being a jerk.

If it turns out that they really don't know the cause of Max's attitude, boy are they in for a big surprise. I can't imagine Max forgiving easily when it all comes to light. I don't think I could.

Yeah, I don’t think things would go well if this is the case.

Tamashii – Thanks .

The situation must suck for Liz, her friends if Maria is an example of that are likely to take part in Izzy's side because it's the only side they know. And Liz can't really share what really is going on with Max.

Very true – Max Evans is nothing more than a stranger to the rest of them… why would they consider his side over Isabel’s? And since Liz is not about to discuss Max’s issues with them, they aren’t going to understand her side of things at all

In the other hand, that was an amazing date, I could totally picture Max standing there in a tux holding a white rose. They make a wonderful couple.

They do, don’t they?

I really hope that Liz idea of giving Izzy a clue doesn't backfire, although it shouldn't be so hard for Isabel to make some calculations and see that she was conceive when Max's dad died.

Let’s hope it doesn’t backfire. You would think that Isabel might have worked something out by now anyway (the 9-month difference between the two events), but sometimes things can be staring you in the face for ages and you never quite make the connection!

Alien_Friend (x2) – Thanks .

hmm I hope Liz doesn't have to regret that hint. But I agree someone had to start the ball rolling since neither sibling can't or won't.

Let’s hope she doesn’t end up regretting it

That ball sounds really fun. I'm glad they got to go. It's nice they can have a good time without the Izzy drama.

Yeah, the Isabel stuff is just one part of their relationship .

I guess I'm not surprised Maria took Iz's side. I guess it's easier to sympathize with her since they all know her.

Exactly. While Maria may have already met and approved of Max, she really doesn’t know him from Adam… whereas, she has been friends with Isabel and stood by her through all of her struggles with her family for over 7 months now.

He beat him in the Davis Cup? That's pretty cool. Go Murray! The Davis Cup is the only team sport I like. lol I really wanted to go to Portland when U.S. went to the finals a couple years ago since my friend lives there but I didn't get to.

The Davis Cup matches don’t start until March, as far as I know. The tournament I was talking about was the ABN AMRO Tournament held in the Netherlands two weeks ago… Murray’s second ATP title of the year .

RiceKrispy –

Interfering now... bad karma.

Could well be…

Destinyc –

I think Liz is dropping one too many hints to Izzy. It could spell trouble...

Hmm, what will happen now that she’s said something?

The ball sounds lovely and so much fun!

It was based on a real ball that is held at a castle near my undergraduate university each year .


Mariael311 –

OMG!! What has that girl done? This can't be good for Liz...

We’ll have to see what happens now…

BTW, I love the Fratellis!!!!

Me too .

kay_b – Thanks .

I can't help but have that tune "Dun-dun-duun" pop in my head. It's like that imminent danger lurking around the corner and the lead character just HAS to check it out.

Lol.

I'm afraid that Liz might have done the same. I'm sure she has good intentions, and for what it's worth, I hope it doesn't bite her back in the butt.

It’s so difficult for her – on the one hand, she knows she shouldn’t interfere, but on the other hand, she’s concerned for both Isabel and Max and wants to help.

Dreamerlaure – Thanks .

Excellent updates! I'm happy that Isabel and Liz are on the mend...and I hope the hint Liz gave away at the end will help speed things up.

We’ll have to see what effect her hint has…

The Ball sounded wonderful... When you said coach, I couldn't stop smiling. It was a "coach" bus, right?

Yep, ‘coach’ as in one of these: http://www.armadillodesign.co.uk/img/news_bia_coach.jpg

The whole scene at the castle was terrific, and the following morning was the perfect end to the night.

Thanks .

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Sorry to burst your bubble, but life has been crazy over the past few days and I haven’t had time to finish the part yet. I’m working on it right now, but it won’t be ready to post today .

Christable – Thanks .

MsBuffyAnneSummers – Thanks .



***

Part Forty-Six

“Hi,” I smile, as I slide onto the bench at the table in the student union coffee bar on Thursday afternoon. “How’s the studying going?”

“Hey. It’s going,” Max shoots me a grin, before curling his fingers around my elbow and pulling my upper body towards him for a kiss. “So, I hear congratulations are in order – Sophie told me you made it onto the Dance Soc committee at the elections last night.”

“Yeah, I did,” I grin widely. “You are now looking at the new treasurer of the Dance Society.”

“And what a sexy treasurer you are,” he grins, leaning in close to press a gentle, but still goosebump-inducing kiss to my neck. “Well done.”

“Thanks,” I nod. “Although I probably could have done without all the celebrating afterwards… I felt like crap when I woke up this morning. Bloody hangover.”

“Aww,” he shoots me a playful pout. “Poor you.”

“Shut up,” I admonish with a good-natured swat to his arm.

“Oww,” he frowns, although his eyes twinkle with amusement as he rubs his arm. “When did you become so violent?”

“I’m not violent,” I protest, trying not to laugh. “You’re just a wimp.”

“I am not a wimp,” he exclaims indignantly. “You just don’t seem to realise your own strength.”

“Aww, I’m sorry,” I pout, gently placing my hand against his arm. “Do you want me to kiss it better for you?”

“Of course,” he replies, as if it’s obvious. “Although, actually I have a better idea…”

He trails off as he curls his arm around my waist and tugs me to him so that I slide along the bench and end up fitting snugly against his side. I look up at him as he slides his fingers into my hair and then lowers his mouth to mine for a head-spinning, toe-curling kiss. His lips gently caress mine for several long seconds, before he eagerly deepens the kiss, sending tingles down my spine. It’s only when we finally part a few moments later, breathing heavily, that I remember that we’re not alone.

I bite my lip in embarrassment, as I glance around the coffee bar, “God, everyone’s looking at us.”

“So?” he replies smoothly, his lips curling up in a breathtaking smile as he runs his fingers through my long hair.

“So… it’s embarrassing,” I murmur.

“Let them look,” he shrugs. “I don’t care.”

“But I do,” I reply incredulously.

He shakes his head, giving a small chuckle as he places a reassuring hand against my lower back, “Like I said before: paranoid.”

“I am not paranoid,” I protest, trying to sound annoyed but my smile betrays me. “I just don’t like drawing attention to myself.”

He pulls back, looking down at me seriously for a moment, his expression apologetic as he silently conveys his remorse, but then a mischievous grin lights up his face and he snorts, “’Bit full of yourself there, aren’t you? The whole world doesn’t revolve around you, you know.”

My mouth falls open in mock-outrage as I stare at him for a moment, but then a grin tugs at my lips and I can’t help but laugh, “Thanks a lot!”

“My pleasure,” he shrugs and sends me a playful wink, to which I just roll my eyes and instead focus on pulling my textbooks out of my bag as I prepare for an afternoon of studying with him.

I start making revision notes, while Max buries his nose in one of his History textbooks and we work in silence for several minutes. At one point, I become so engrossed in my Animal Diversity notes that it makes me jump when I feel Max’s hand on my thigh, his fingers gently caressing my leg. An indulgent smile tugs at my lips as I feel my skin tingle under his touch. I lift my eyes from the notes to find him seemingly absorbed in his book, although as I reach down and cover his hand with my own, a quick smile flitters across his face.

“Hey, Max,” a new voice interrupts the peace and quiet at the table and my head snaps up at the intrusion.

Standing at the side of the table, her fingers grazing the surface near where Max’s arm is resting, is a slim, overly fake-tanned, bleach-blonde girl. My gaze flits to Max briefly, where I see him looking up at the girl, before returning my eyes to the intruder.

“Jenny, hi,” he says. “What’s up?”

The girl – Jenny, apparently – glances towards me, scrunching her nose up slightly, before saying, “I haven’t seen you around much lately.”

“No, uh,” Max looks at me with a small smile, “I’ve been busy.”

“That’s nice,” she smiles, obviously not getting the hint. “But I was thinking… if you’re not busy this weekend, do you fancy getting together for some fun?”

My eyes widen at her blatant come-on as I glance towards Max to see his reaction. He rolls his eyes at me and I bite my lip to hide a smile.

“Sorry, I’m not available this weekend,” he declines politely.

“Oh, okay,” she quickly hides her surprise. “Well, um, how about sometime next week?”

“I’m really not available,” Max says again, more firmly this time. “At all. Sorry.”

I glance at him again, noticing his annoyance building, and I struggle to keep a straight face.

“By the way, have you met Liz?” he gestures towards me then. “My girlfriend.”

The girl straightens up, moving her hand away from the table, “Oh. You have a girlfriend? I, uh, didn’t know.”

“Yeah, well, now you do.”

Jenny plasters an obviously fake smile onto her face, “Nice to meet you, Liz.”

“You too,” I smile back sweetly.

“Actually I, uh, I have to go now; I’m late for a lecture,” she says quickly. “See you around, Max.”

“Bye, Jenny,” his voice holds an undercurrent of sarcasm.

“Wow,” I mutter as she walks away from our table and out of the coffee bar. “That was, um… forward.”

“Yeah,” Max rolls his eyes, before turning to look at me. “Sorry about her.”

“Not your fault,” I shrug. “She just obviously can’t take a hint.”

Max nods in agreement and we turn back to our books, but the peace doesn’t last and less than five minutes later we get another interruption in the form of two guys who are obviously good friends with Max. When they greet him enthusiastically and then slide onto the bench opposite me, Max rolls his eyes again and leans in close to me.

“Remind me never to suggest a study session in the coffee shop again,” he murmurs softly in my ear. “Too many interruptions.”

“Yeah,” I agree, before straightening up and looking over at his friends. “I’ll leave you guys to it for a minute – I’m just gonna go to the loo.”

I slide off the bench and, with a quick smile directed at Max, I head out of the coffee bar and down the corridor to the toilets. Once inside, I duck into a cubicle, eager to get back to Max and our table as soon as possible, but just before I reach for the flush, I hear two girls entering the bathroom, chattering loudly.

“Oh my God, can you believe how amazing the ball was on Saturday? I had the best time!”

“I know, me too!” replies another voice excitedly. “I was so drunk by the end of the night, though… I’m still not entirely sure how I ended up sleeping with Jack Thompson.”

The first girl laughs, “At least you got some though. I was aiming for a one-on-one session with Steve Wilkinson, or possibly even a chance with Max Evans instead, but no, I ended up stuck in the loo with a very drunk Hannah all night instead.”

My ears prick up at the sound of Max’s name and I try to stay as quiet as possible in the cubicle.

“Max Evans?” the second girl sounds surprised. “I don’t think you would have had much luck on that one; he spent the whole evening getting up close and personal with his new flame. Rumour has it that he’s taken now.”

Very much taken, actually, I add silently.

“What?” scoffs the first girl. “Are we talking about the same Max Evans here – Mr. ‘I’ll sleep with anyone in a skirt’? I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true,” the second girl confirms. “Didn’t you see him in the coffee shop earlier? He was all over that dark-haired girl.”

I bite my lip as I feel my cheeks redden with embarrassment. Did everyone see us earlier?

“What dark-haired girl?”

“Oh, um, I don’t know her name… Lisa, maybe? From what I’ve heard, she’s just a fresher.”

Um, it’s Liz, actually, I roll my eyes.

“Max Evans is going out with a fresher?” the first girl wonders, her voice almost incredulous. “Is it me, or is that just weird?”

Weird? I scrunch up my nose in confusion. What does she mean, weird?

“Well, it’s not exactly like him,” the second girl agrees. “Apparently, they’ve been together for a while as well – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with anyone for more than a few days!”

Oh well, that’s just great I roll my eyes. Just keep reminding me of his old ways… I don’t mind.

“So, what’s this girl like then?” wonders the first girl curiously. “She’s got to be pretty special if she’s caught – and held – his attention.”

“Well, I don’t know that much about her, but Dan says she’s really cool – she was his partner in the fashion show last term, remember?”

“Oh, her,” exclaims the first girl. “The one who did that amazing solo with him, right?”

In the cubicle, I smile at the compliment.

“Yeah.”

“Wow… she was pretty good,” she says. “Remember that lift they did – no wonder Max likes her!”

Despite feeling a little embarrassed, I still find myself grinning in response to the praise.

“I know, it was pretty cool,” agrees the second girl. “But come on, let’s get out of here. We have to meet the others in a minute.”

I keep quiet as I hear them leave the toilets, but let out a sigh of relief when the door finally closes behind them and I’m alone again. As I leave the cubicle and wash my hands, the words of the two girls run through my mind. It’s strange to think that other people have been talking about us behind our backs… but then, I suppose with Max’s social standing, it’s not all that unsurprising.

***

The next night, Maria decides to sleep in Michael’s room, as James has gone home for the weekend, so Max stays over in my room. We spend a relaxing evening curled up on my bed watching DVDs and pigging out on junk food, before snuggling up under the covers together and falling asleep in each other’s arms.

We wake up early on Saturday morning with the intention of heading into town, but just as we dress and get ready to go, I remember that I have urgent laundry to get done – I’ve been putting it off for the last couple of days and now I’m rapidly running out of clean clothes – so we decide on a change of plans, as Max offers to help me with the washing. Gratefully, I gather up my clothes and reach for the box of detergent resting on my desk, handing it to Max.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Picking up the heavy laundry bag, I head for the door, leaving Max to follow behind me with the detergent.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask as we go down the stairs and then make our way down the corridor to the laundry room. “Laundry isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to do on a Saturday morning.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” replies Max quickly, although I can’t decide if he’s just saying it to be polite. “I’m happy to help. Besides, it’ll be fun.”

“If you say so,” I reply with a raise of my eyebrows, as I wonder how exactly he can consider washing my clothes to be fun.

We reach the open door of the laundry room and I head inside, only to stop in my tracks a moment later when I realise that someone else is in the small room as well

“Oh.”

“We’ll make it fun,” says Max as he follows me into the room… and then proceeds to walk right into my still figure. “Oomph, sorry.”

“Um, hey, Iz,” I murmur apologetically. “I didn’t know you were down here.”

But she’s not looking at me; instead her gaze is fixed just above my head as she frowns at Max.

“What are you doing here?” she asks him, her tone annoyed.

“Just helping Liz out with her laundry,” he states calmly, although I feel his fingers gripping my hip in response to his sister’s presence.

“So I see,” she nods to the box of washing powder in his hand before turning back to her own laundry.

I turn my head to see Max wearing a pained expression on his face. I shrug helplessly; we’re just gonna have to grin and bear it.

“I’m, uh, just gonna go to the loo,” he says suddenly, handing me the detergent box. “Back in a minute.”

Before I have a chance to respond, he’s already darted out of the door and down the corridor to the toilets, leaving me alone with Isabel in the laundry room.

“You’re doing laundry together now?” comes Isabel’s sarcastic tone from across the room. “Must be getting serious.”

“It’s just laundry,” I shake my head as I select an empty machine and being pulling out my clothes. “He’s helping me out.”

“Yeah, okay,” she mutters. “Whatever.”

Neither of us speaks for the next couple of minutes, as I load up the machine and measure out the powder, while Isabel busies herself with folding her recently dried garments.

“Okay, I’m back,” announces Max a few moments later, as he reappears at the door, briefly leaning against it before walking over to my machine.

“How’s it going?”

“It’s–” I start, but my words are interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut.

“Shit!” exclaims Isabel just then, twirling around to face Max with blazing eyes. “What did you just do?”

“Um, I went to the toilet?” he looks puzzled.

“Not that!” she mutters angrily. “I’m talking about the door. You’re supposed to keep it open because the inside latch is broken… but because of you we’re now going to be stuck in here until someone comes down to let us out!”

“Well, I’m sorry,” he retorts, obviously annoyed. “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, well that’s just great, isn’t it?” she huffs. “I have a ton of stuff to do today and now I’m stuck in here with you two!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m enjoying being stuck in here with you either,” retorts Max.

“Hey, guys, calm down,” I try to pacify the situation. “None of us wants to be stuck in here, especially not on a Saturday morning, but the least we can do is be civil to each other, okay?” Isabel rolls her eyes, while Max just shrugs. “Do either of you have a phone on you? Maybe we can call someone and ask them to come down and open the door.”

“No, I don’t,” Isabel sighs in annoyance. “I gave mine to Alex earlier ‘cause his is broken.”

Beside me, Max shrugs again, looking apologetic, “Sorry, my phone is out of battery.”

“And I left mine upstairs in my room,” I sigh, before muttering to myself, “This is just great.”

Tension mounting in the small room, we stand around in uncomfortable silence for several long moments. Max refuses to even glance in Isabel’s direction, while she shoots him looks of barely-veiled displeasure at his presence. It takes a couple more minutes for me to pluck up the courage to make a suggestion.

“You know, since it looks like we might be here for a while, maybe now would be a good time for you two to talk? Settle your differences once and for all.”

Max’s head whips to me, his expression harsh, “Stay the fuck out of it, Liz, okay?”

“And where do you get off talking to her like that, huh?” wonders Isabel, her tone holding a hint of anger. “She’s only trying to help.”

“Because I’ve already made it very clear to her that I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he hisses angrily.

“But I don’t understand why, Max,” pipes up Iz a second later as she takes a step towards us. “Why won’t you talk to me, or anyone else, about what’s bothering you?”

“Does there have to be a reason?” he snaps in irritation.

“Um, yeah, there does,” she says, as if it should be obvious. “When it’s been going on for so long and it’s affecting our whole family like this, then yes.” She sighs, staring him down. “So tell me, Max: what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he growls, his body tense. “There’s nothing wrong.”

Isabel makes a face, shaking her head in disgust, “God, are you ever gonna stop lying to yourself? It’s obvious that something is making you hate me…and Mum… and Dad. So, come on, give it to me straight. What the fuck is wrong?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” he retorts, eyes blazing. “Mind your own fucking business for once.”

With another, calmer, shake of her head, Izzy simply stands there with her arms crossed, watching him in thoughtful confusion.

“What on Earth happened to make you so bitter and angry, Max?” she wonders. “I don’t understand where it’s coming from.”

“It’s not coming from anywhere.”

“Does it have something to do with your dad?” she inquires softly.

“What?!” beside me I see Max’s face pale and my heart lurches in my chest at his expression. “What the hell you do know about my dad?”

Isabel chances a discreet glance toward me, but Max sees it and his eyes widen in shock briefly before he turns to me, his expression thunderous.

“What the hell is going on?!” he demands to know, glancing towards Isabel, before returning his angry gaze to me. “Liz, did you say something to her?”

“Max,” I shake my head, my eyes pleading with him. “Please. I-I didn’t mean…”

“Like hell you didn’t!” he exclaims angrily, quickly yanking his hand from mine. “I can’t believe you fucking told her! I specifically told you to keep out of it and not say anything, yet of course you felt the need to blab… and to my own sister, of all people!”

“Not say anything about what?” wonders Isabel, looking very confused. “What don’t I know here?”

“It’s nothing, Isabel,” retorts Max, shooting me a hate-filled look. “Like I said: mind your own business.”

“No, I won’t mind my own business,” she snaps. “This involves me too.”

“No, it doesn’t,” insists Max. “Stay out of it.”

Izzy stops for a moment, looking at him with hurt in her eyes, “God, I don’t get why you’re so angry. Obviously there’s some issue here involving your father, but for God’s sake, it’s been, what, nineteen years? Can’t you just get over it already?”

Max turns to face his sister, his expression stone-like as he advances towards her.

“Get over it?” he snarls. “Get. Over. It? I have every right to be angry, okay? My dad is dead, alright? Dead. And if it weren’t for your father, he would still be alive today. So don’t you fucking tell me to get over it.”

“What?” I watch as Isabel pales now, her eyes widening in shock. “What are you talking about?”

Max drops his head, letting out a heavy sigh as his shoulders slump in defeat. I move to comfort him, laying a hand on his arm but he just shrugs it off and shooting me another disgusted look. With a sharp intake of breath, I recoil quickly, shocked by the angry intensity of his gaze.

“Max?” she tries again. “Talk to me. What do you mean about my dad?”

“Isabel, no…” he says warningly. “I can’t.”

Her expression becomes slightly puzzled, “Why not? What’s so bad that you can’t talk about it?”

“Because it’s my problem, not yours,” he snaps.

“Max,” I try, in an attempt to diffuse the tension. “Maybe if you–”

“Shut up, Liz,” he hisses. “I don’t need any more of your input.”

My heart sinks at his harsh words and I close my eyes as I feel a lump rising in my throat. Oh God, what have I done?

“Max, please. Just talk to me,” begs Isabel. “Whatever is it, we can work through it – I’m not going to judge you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No,” he refuses firmly.

“We used to tell each other everything, remember?” she tries again. “Like how you wanted to be an astronaut when you were nine, or when I liked Jamie Bennett in Year Eight and he humiliated me in front of everyone at school? So why can’t you tell me this?”

There’s no verbal response from Max, but I can see his hands clench and unclench as
Izzy speaks.

“Please, Max…” she sighs, suddenly getting annoyed again. “This isn’t just affecting you, you know. Your behaviour is hurting all of us. If you just laid down your stupid pride and told us the truth, maybe it would make things better?”

“Or maybe it would make things a thousand times worse!” bursts out Max suddenly, making me jump in response. “You don’t wanna know the truth.”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” protests Isabel hotly.

“Really?” scoffs Max, his expression calculating now, as Isabel’s words seem to push him over the edge. “Well, in that case, I guess you’ll be happy to hear that your precious mother is a lying, cheating bitch?”

“What?!” Isabel gasps in shock her hand flying to her mouth, as I flinch at his harsh, unforgiving words.

“And that your wonderful father is a home wrecker,” he continues, on a roll now. “Oh, and I bet you’d love to hear that the reason my dad was in his car at all that night was because your mother never came home from the office and he went out to look for her…”

“Max, please, stop,” pleads Izzy now, tears beginning to run down her face.

“But he never found her, did he?” he exclaims heatedly. “Because she wasn’t at the office. No, while he was fighting for his life in that car crash, selfish, uncaring Diane Evans was in bed with another man. And you know who that other man was? It was your father.”

“Oh, God,” Isabel gasps, her arms wrapping themselves around her body in response. “No, that can’t be right. Mum would never–”

“Oh, believe me, it’s true,” scoffs Max. “It’s all right there in her old diary. The diary I found that day when I went up to the attic to do research for my GCSE English coursework.”

“Maybe… maybe you were mistaken?” murmurs Izzy faintly. “You could have just read it wrong.”

“Nope, it’s all there in black-and-white,” insists Max, his tone slightly calmer now as his emotions begin to get the better of him. “I had to read it over and over for it to sink in.”

“Oh my God. I can’t believe this,” says Izzy faintly. “I can’t believe she would do something like that. God, how did you keep this to yourself for so long?”

“It wasn’t hard,” he retorts irritably. “I could barely stand to be in the same room as your parents without getting angry. Every time I see them, all I can about is the fact that Martin Stevenson is the reason I don’t have a father. I can’t forgive him or Mum for ruining my life and ending my dad’s. I hate them both.”

“God, Max, I had no idea.”

“I know,” he raises an eyebrow. “That was kind of the point.”

“I just can’t get my head around all of this,” she admits softly. “But at least I get it now; I can understand why you’ve been so cold and distant with them – I mean who could blame you? After what you’ve just told me, they’re not exactly top of my list of favourite people right now either … but, Max, what about me? We used to be so close, Max – why did you shut me out too?”

I see Max’s shoulders slump a little, his anger beginning to dissipate now and being replaced with weariness.

“I found something else in that diary too,” he murmurs softly.

“What was it?” wonders Izzy. “What did you find?”

He looks over at his sister with solemn eyes, “Have you ever noticed anything significant about the date that my dad died? Like any other event that it might be related to?”

Isabel frowns in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

Max closes his eyes briefly, as if he doesn’t want to be the one to break the news to her, “Philip Evans died exactly nine months before you were born, Isabel.”

She still looks confused for a moment, before the penny drops and her eyes widen in shock.

“Oh my God!” she gasps, her hand flying to her mouth for the second time. “Please don’t be telling me what I think you’re telling me.”

“I’m sorry, Iz. It was all in her diary… you were conceived that night. The night my father died.”

“God, I-I can’t…”

“That’s why I couldn’t talk to you either,” he tells her. “I couldn’t even look at you without remembering how you came to be here, so I convinced myself that I hated you too. It was too much – I couldn’t handle seeing you all being this happy family when you were part of the reason that I didn’t have a father anymore.”

“Oh, God…” murmurs Izzy. “I had no idea. I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve going been through all this time. You should have told me all of this before… you should have told Mum and Dad.”

“I couldn’t, Iz,” he shakes his head. “I was so angry with them that I couldn’t even see straight.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been living with these feelings all this time,” Isabel shakes her head sadly. “No wonder you hated coming home.”

“I couldn’t bear to be in the same room as all of you, knowing what I did about the past,” he admits. “So I stayed as far away as possible.”

Isabel nods and opens her mouth to say something more, but she’s interrupted by a frantic knock on the door.

“Hey, Isabel, are you in there?” it’s Alex. “You didn’t come back upstairs – I’ve been getting worried.”

“Yeah, I’m in here, Alex,” she calls, not taking her eyes off Max. “The door closed and we got stuck in here – do you have a key on you?”

“Yeah, I do,” he replies. “Just a minute.”

I let out a sigh of relief when I hear a key being inserted into the lock before the door opens.

“Thank God,” smiles Izzy, finally turning her attention away from her brother for a moment. “We thought we’d be stuck in here all day.”

“We?” Alex looks puzzled for a moment, before he sees us. “Oh, hey, Liz… hey, Max.”

“Hey, Al,” I smile. “Thanks for coming to our rescue.”

“No problem,” he nods. “So, you ready to go, Iz?”

“Just a minute,” she tells him, before stepping closer to Max and speaking to him quietly, “Promise me that we’ll talk later, okay? There’s still a lot we need to say.”

Max nods awkwardly before replying, “Okay.”

“Thanks,” Izzy smiles and then grabs her folded washing and heads for the door. She sends one last quick look towards Max before nodding quickly and then disappearing back upstairs, leaving Max and I alone.

Not looking at me, he begins moving towards the door, but I reaching out to catch his elbow and tug his arm towards me.

“Hey, where are you going?”

His sober expression is replaces with one of contempt as his nose scrunches up at me in a scornful gaze, “Anywhere but here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t believe you told her, Liz,” he sneers. “I trusted you… I asked you repeatedly not to say anything and you went and did it anyway. God, I don’t even want to see you right now.”

With that, he turns and stalks out of the room, leaving me alone with the laundry. As the seriousness of the situation sinks in, I find myself slumping back against the washing machine. Although I’m happy that Isabel and Max are finally sorting out their problems, I think I may have just put my relationship with Max in jeopardy because of it.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, we seem to be back on track for the updates now – I had a week off work last week (I had 2 weeks of vacation time left to take before the end of March ), so after I got all my job stuff done, I had some more time to work on the story towards the end of the week .

Thank you for your feedback :

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Oh no!.... I told you in a precedent feedback how this situation was going to kick Liz in the ass in the end and that Max was going to accuse her of everything.... and it's happened but Liz wasn't certainly responsible for all the truth Max told Izzy....

No, she wasn’t responsible for that, but she did get the ball rolling on it… and caused Max to get angry and inadvertently reveal things he never wanted to reveal.

He is furious and it's easy to take all of this on Liz: she is the ideal culprit and he can lash on her - even if he will have to apologize for one week afterwards!

It is easy for him to put the blame on Liz, so let’s hope he can make it up to her soon .

Dziumka – Thanks .

Owww.... Poor Liz... I hope Max will realize she hadn't done it to hurt him...

Let’s hope so .

Queen Fee –

I'm so glad that Max finally told Isabel the truth and I hope that they can eventually work things out.

Yeah, they seem to be on the right track now .

I hate how Max has totally made Liz out to be the bad guy (or girl.lol), I hope that he apologises to her and grovels because the way he spoke to her was just plain nasty.

He was angry and emotional and he took that all out on Liz… let’s hope they can work things out between them now .

yayaaliens –

well that just about made me want to cry when max was yelling at Liz

/

I hope they can sort out their problems...and now that Max told Iz everything they can be on better terms...Max needs to realize that Liz helped the situation out!

Yes, she did help the situation, although she perhaps went about it in slightly the wrong way… hopefully Max will be able to understand that soon.

sarammlover – Thanks .

Even though things are rough with Liz and Max now, I think what Liz did was for the greater good. Look at Iz and Max. They are going to be able to work things out. And Max...he'll come around. He knows its the right thing. I am so excited for the aftermath chapter!!!

It was for the greater good… but let’s hope Max will come around and see that soon .

RiceKrispy – Thanks .

Can't say I blame Max for reacting the way he did. He trusted her with information and she blabbed it to the one person he didn't want her to blab it to. I'd be pretty angry too.

Yeah, this was the one thing he didn’t want anyone… especially not Isabel… to know, and Liz decided to say something anyway. It’s not surprising that he’s mad

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

Oh boy. I can't say I didn't see that coming.

Yeah, it was kind of inevitable

Knowing how intensely Max can hold a grudge, I'm guessing it probably will take him a considerable amount of time to forgive her. But I'm glad Max finally told Isabel the truth. Poor Isabel though. Even though it's not her fault I'm sure she can't help but feel a bit guilty.

Yeah, it could take a while for Liz to get back into Max’s good books again and I imagine Isabel does feel a bit guilty too.

I hope this issue of trust doesn't set them too far back. Things were going so well.

Let’s hope not.

That girl Jenny was funny. No one should be that clueless. Loved the way Max handled the situation though.

Lol – some girls just refused to acknowledge what’s right in front of them .

Oh ok. I figured that out just recently. lol Second already huh, very cool. It doesn't feel like were into the year that much but I guess we are since March is just around the corner. Roddick just snagged his first titled of the year in Memphis last weekend.

Good for Roddick . I was hoping Murray would win the tournament in Dubai last week, but he had to withdraw from the quarter-finals with a viral illness and so Djokovic took the title instead . I hope he gets better in time for the next tournament though .

destinyc – Thanks .

I knew things wouldn't bode well for Liz once she slipped to Izzy. But obviously she didn't reveal too much, so I don't see why Max is acting so hateful. If he can make peace with Izzy, then why does he still blame Liz?

It wasn’t so much that she only revealed a little to Isabel, but it’s the fact that she said anything at all, that Max is angry about. It’s about a breach of trust between them, rather than what exactly was said during that breach of trust. He can finally make peace with Izzy because his secret was what was holding him back… now that he has told her and she has been understanding, he doesn’t have a reason to be afraid anymore. But with Liz, she did the one thing he begged her not to do and she betrayed his confidence in the process… and that’s hard to forgive, even if he’s made his peace with his sister now.

Lairabehr4 – Thanks, hun .

LegalAlien – Thanks .

I really hope that Liz and Max can work this out quickly, although I kinda doubt it - at least judging from Max' ability to hold a grudge.

Yeah, we’ll have to see…

Admittedly, I can understand that he feels cheated and betrayed, even if Liz' blabbing has opened the road of reconcilement for him and Isabel. The question is however, if Max can regain his trust in Liz, because after all, without trust there is no relationship. It might be easier to overcome if Liz had just had a slip of tongue, but she quite deliberately placed the hint about Max' dad.

Yeah, that’s the problem – Liz made the decision to say something and went with it… so now she has to deal with the consequences .

DreamerM&L –

Im glad Max and Isabel are sorting it out finally,,,such a sad story!

Yeah, they are finally working things out now .

But i feel soo bad for Liz!!

Hopefully things get sorted out soon!

Let’s hope so .


***


Part Forty-Seven

The last week has been the worst of my life. Max has been refusing to see me, or talk to me, or even answer my calls. I’ve tried everything I can think of to get him to listen long enough for me to explain, but he’s completely shut me out. The other day I even went to ask Isabel if she could help me out, since she’s been spending more time with him lately, but apparently he won’t even say anything to her about it either.

At this point, I’m not really sure what else I can do to rectify the situation. I have no idea if this is a temporary silence on his part or if his lack of communication means that we’re now broken up.

And I really, really don’t want to be broken up.

So now, for lack of anything else worthwhile to do on this fine Monday night, I’m drowning my sorrows in the student union bar, as I cradle a double vodka and orange in one hand and a let my eyes drift over the flyer advertising James Morrison’s gig in the Great Hall next week that I’m holding in the other.

“Liz?” a soft, male voice interrupts my moping and I lift my weary eyes to find the one person I least expected to bump into standing right next to me.

“Jake,” I murmur in surprise. “Um, hi.”

“Hey,” he sends me a small, tentative smile. “Do you mind…?” he wonders, pointing to the empty barstool beside me.

“Sure,” I shrug. “Be my guest.”

“Thanks,” he nods, sliding onto the stool. “Can I get you a drink?”

I shake my head politely, gesturing to the almost-full glass in my hand, “Thanks, but I’ve already got this one to get through first.”

“Oh, okay,” he smiles, before turning to the barman and just ordering a lager for himself. After picking up his drink, he turns back to me, “So, uh, long time, no see. How are you doing?”

I shrug again, “Been better. You?”

“Me too,” he rolls his eyes.

“How’s, er… Sarah?” I struggle to remember his girlfriend’s name.

“Oh, um, we broke up,” he murmurs with a shrug, his gaze fixed on the pint glass in front of him.

“Oh, Jake, I’m sorry,” I murmur sympathetically. “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, well, it just didn’t work out,” he mutters.

“I’m still sorry,” I tell him sincerely. “You guys seemed good together.”

“Yeah, we were,” he agrees with a sombre nod. “But that’s life, I guess.”

“Yep, that’s life alright,” I mutter.

“So, I, uh… I heard you and Evans got together,” he says suddenly. “I guess it was inevitable, really.”

I lift my head in surprise, “Jake, I told you before, there was nothing–”

He cuts me off with a finger to my lips, “It’s okay, Liz. You might have been denying it at the time, but it was kind of obvious that there was something between you two.”

“‘Was’ being the operative word there,” I mutter bitterly.

“What?” he questions in confusion. “Last I saw, you two were snuggling up together in the coffee shop.”

“Oh, God, you saw us too?” I groan, letting my head fall into my hand.

“I might have walked past on my way to the Union Ticket Office,” he admits sheepishly.

I nod, “Yeah, well, it’s not like it matters now anyway.”

“What do you mean?” he sounds concerned.

“Max kind of isn’t talking to me right now,” I admit. “In fact, I’m not even sure if we’re still together, since he’s completely refusing to communicate with me.”

“Liz, I’m sorry,” it’s his turn to sympathise now. “What happened? Is it serious?”

I glance over at him guiltily, “He told me something in confidence and I kind of hinted to someone else what it was, even though he made me swear not to tell… and so now he’s really angry with me.”

“That seems pretty harsh.”

“Yeah, maybe…” I reply quietly, feeling the prick of tears in my eyes for about the millionth time in the past week. “But I still broke his confidence, so I guess I deserve it.”

“You know what I think?” murmurs Jake, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I think you’re too good for Max Evans.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, leaning in a little closer. “And you know what else? I’ve missed you, Liz.”

“Jake…” I start to shake my head as I realise what he’s trying to say.

“I know I said breaking up was for the best and all that, but I really do miss you and I’m willing to give it another try if you are.”

My heart sinks in response to his words. What is he talking about? I never would have been completely happy if we’d stayed together and he knows that.

“Jake, I’m sorry,” I murmur softly. “It just wouldn’t work. I might be going through a rough patch with Max right now, but he’s still the one I want to be with… and I can’t give up on that.”

He sighs, removing his hand from my hair, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I guess I’ve just been feeling nostalgic the last few days… and I might possibly be on the rebound too.”

I give a small chuckle at his sheepish expression, “Don’t worry about it.”

We sit together in comfortable silence for a couple more minutes, but as I let my eyes wander around the bar, I freeze, jerking upright in my seat as my eyes widen in shock.

“Liz?” Jakes looks at me in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Max is here,” I tell him in a strained whisper.

“Oh,” he looks down at his glass again.

“He’s not alone,” I add, my eyes fixed on the large booth in the corner where my boyfriend is now sitting with a group of his friends, laughing and flirting with two girls – one blonde, one brunette… both pretty.

“Oh,” his tone becomes more understanding. “You wanna get out of here?”

“Please,” I nod.

“Come on, then, let’s go,” he smiles. “I’ll even walk you home.”

“Thanks,” I tell him with a smile, as I quickly finish my drink and stand up. “Although, you don’t have to do that, I can get home okay by myself.”

“Well, I’m going that way anyway,” he grins, as we start walking towards the exit.

“Of course you are,” I remember – he does live in the same building as me, after all.

“So,” he starts as we leave the union building. “How’s the exam revision coming along? You all prepared?”

“Almost,” I admit. “I’m getting there. I’m just so glad that lectures are finished now and that I have more time to revise. My first exam is next week.”

“Wow, that’s quick,” whistles Jake as we turn the corner and walk along the row of small campus shops. “Mine don’t start for another couple of weeks.”

“God, I’m so jealous,” I tell him. “You have at least two whole weeks left to study. I just hope I’ve done enough to pass my exams.”

“Hey, you’ll do fine,” he assures me, slinging a comforting arm around my shoulders.

The contact is a bit too close for comfort and I’m about to shrug him off, when an angry voice shouts from behind us.

“Oi, get the fuck away from her!”

In shocked surprise, I spin around to find Max standing a few feet away, a livid expression on his face.

“Max, what are you doing?”

But he ignores me and stalks right up to Jake instead, “Who the hell do you think you are? You have no right to touch her like that!”

“Max, stop it!” I exclaim incredulously as I reach for his arm to pull him away from Jake. “What is the matter with you? Jake was just walking me home.”

“She’s mine, okay?” he snarls at Jake, shaking my hand free of his arm. “So keep your filthy hands off her.”

“Max!” I try again to no avail. I send Jake a helpless look.

“It’s okay, Liz,” he says to me, before turning his attention to Max, adding coolly, “Like she said, I was just walking her home.”

“I don’t care what you were ‘just’ doing,” snaps Max, his jaw clenching and unclenching with barely-concealed anger. “Leave.”

“For God’s sake, Max,” I scoff. “This is ridiculous.”

“No, it’s alright,” murmurs Jake, taking a step back from Max. “I’m leaving. I’ll see you around, okay?”

I watch as he turns and walks away, anger beginning to rise up in my chest as I whip around to face Max.

“What the fuck was that?!” I cry, gesturing towards the direction that Jake just left in. “You can’t talk to him like that!”

“I can talk to him however I want,” he retorts. “Bastard was trying to get you into bed.”

“No, he wasn’t,” I protest. “He was doing me a favour.”

Max snorts, crossing his arms, “Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.”

“What is the matter with you?” I ask, my tone a mixture of irritation and confusion. “You don’t speak to me for a week, you block my calls and refuse to answer your door, but the moment you see me talking to another man, you’re all over him in a jealous rage.” I shake my head, “I don’t get you. You won’t talk to me and for all I know, we’re broken up. So which is it, Max? Are we still together? Or are you my ex now?”

He stubbornly sets his jaw and focuses on something on the wall of the bank beside us, rather than looking at me.

I sigh, “Look, I’m sorry I said anything to Isabel, okay? I promised that I wouldn’t tell her and I said something anyway… and I’m so sorry for breaking your confidence like that, but I just didn’t see any other way.”

He still isn’t looking at me and instead turns his back and begins to walk away, but I take a deep breath and continue, “She was really upset that you wouldn’t open up to her and she practically begged me to help her talk to you, but I told her no, that I couldn’t do that.” He stops walking, but doesn’t turn to face me. “But, Max, she was so hurt and upset… and she thought you were treating her that way out of spite, which was totally not true. In the end, I couldn’t help it; I caved and mentioned your father.”

“After I specifically asked you not to,” he reminds me harshly over his shoulder. “You betrayed my trust, Liz.”

“I know, and I can’t apologise enough for that,” I say desperately. “But I didn’t see any other way to get you two to talk to each other.”

“You still shouldn’t have done it,” he reiterates.

“But it worked though, didn’t it?” I add softly. “You guys did talk; you told her the truth and now you have the opportunity to make things better. Surely, that counts for something?”

There’s a moment of silence as we both stand stock-still outside the campus bank and for a moment, I think he’s going to turn around and say something to me, but he just moves his head to the side for a moment, not quite looking at me and then simply walks away.

“Max!” I call after him, my heart sinking. “Max, wait.”

But it’s no use; he’s not coming back. With a tired sigh, I let my shoulders slump in defeat as I turn and start walking back home. At least I got to apologise to him and explain myself, even if he’s still not talking to me.

***

For the next few days, I try my best to put Max to the back of my mind and concentrate on studying, but it’s no use. After the third straight day of moping in my room and crying into my pillow over the unfairness of the whole situation, Maria decides that enough is enough and drags me up to campus for a hot chocolate in the coffee bar and a ‘cheer Liz up’ gossiping session…

…Which works well for about ten minutes, until the coffee shop door opens and four very familiar-looking guys walk in, laughing and joking with each other as they take a seat at one of the tables on the other side of the room.

“Oh, God, what are they doing here,” I groan, ducking my head in an attempt to look inconspicuous.

“Who?” wonders Maria, looking puzzled.

I nod towards the table where Alex, James, Michael and Max are all sitting comfortably. Maria turns and follows my gaze, before inhaling sharply and muttering an annoyed, “Shit.”

“Shit… what?” I ask in confusion.

“I didn’t think they’d come here,” she mutters under her breath, although I easily catch her words.

“What’s going on?” I ask, a feeling of dread starting to build up inside me now. “Maria, what the hell is Max doing hanging out with my friends when he won’t even speak to me?”

She sighs, “He’s not hanging out with them as your friends, he’s hanging out with them as Izzy’s friends.”

“What?” I question again, still trying to grasp what’s going on.

“You know how Iz and Max have been spending more time together lately?”

“Yeah…”

Maria shrugs, “Well, Izzy thought it would be good if he met Alex, James and Mike officially and got to know them a bit better… so they met up and played a friendly game of footie this morning.”

“Oh.”

She looks at me with sympathy, “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to get upset… and I also didn’t think they would come here to hang out afterwards either.”

I nod, my eyes trained on Max, who is laughing at something that James has just said. My heart skips a beat as I watch him getting along so well with my best guy friend and a feeling of longing sweeps over me. How did everything go so wrong in such a short space of time? I thought I was doing the right thing by helping him and Izzy to finally open up to each other, but how can it have been the right thing if Max wants nothing to do with me anymore?

I feel new tears prick my eyes as my body literally aches for him to take me in his arms, and kiss me, and make love to me until we’re both so exhausted that we can’t bear to move.

I miss him so much. I miss the mischievous smirk that appears on his handsome face whenever he tries to wind me up; I miss the soft, talented lips that make my head spin with pleasure every time they touch mine; I miss feeling his large, warm body wrapped around mine as we fall asleep together in his bed; I miss the way his eyes gaze into mine, as if he can see right into my soul… I just miss him.

And I have no idea what I’m supposed to do to get him back.

“Liz?” Maria’s concerned voice penetrates my depressed thoughts, as she waves a hand in front of my face. “You okay?”

I nod, swallowing harshly as I try to blink away my tears, “Y-yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“He’ll come around,” she murmurs softly, placing a comforting hand on my arm. “I know he will.”

I tear my eyes away from Max to look at her, “I just don’t what to do, Maria. I don’t know how to fix this.”

”Give it time,” she smiles reassuringly. “I bet his emotions are all over the place right now, what with everything that’s been going on lately. He probably just needs a bit of time to sort things out in his head.”

“You don’t think this is the end for us?” I have to ask… it’s a question that’s been going round and round in my head for the past week and a half.

She shakes her head, “Liz, I saw how he used to look at you before all this Isabel stuff happened… it’s not the end by a long shot.”

“I hope you’re right,” I murmur, my gaze seeking out Max again. “’Cause I can’t stand this much longer.”

At that moment, Max’s attention turns away from James and his eyes lock with mine. My breath catches in my throat as a familiar sea of emotion washes over me in response to his penetrating gaze, but all too soon the moment is gone as he scowls and looks away. I sigh in disappointment and turn back to Maria again, who is looking now at me with an expression of worry.

“Okay, this is what you’re gonna do, okay?” she said with determination. “For the next couple of weeks you are going to forget all about Max and his bad mood and just concentrate on yourself. You are going to work hard and ace those exams and have fun with me and the rest of the gang, alright?”

“Maria, I don’t know if–”

She cuts me off with a firm shake of her head, “No, Liz; you’ve been moping over Max all week and you’ve barely done any studying at all. You can’t let him affect you like this; not when your exams depend on it. We’re gonna get you through this, okay?”

With a shuddering breath, I force myself to nod in response, “Okay.”

“Okay,” she smiles.

“Thanks, Maria,” I tell her sincerely. “You’re the best.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

***

“Hmm, this is the life,” murmurs Maria, from beside me on the large blanket, where she is lying on her back and soaking up the warm May sunshine.

“Yeah,” I smile, my attention on the papers in front of me as I flick through my notes in preparation for my first exam tomorrow afternoon. “It is.”

Maria props herself up on one elbow and raises her large sunglasses as she watches James, Mike and Alex fighting over a football, as they try to show off their footwork skills, “You know, I really don’t get men sometimes. I mean, God, it’s just a football… who cares what you can do with it?”

I roll my eyes as I lift my head from my notes and twist around from my position lying on my stomach to have a look at them.

“I know,” adds Isabel from the other side of Maria, as she takes a sip of Fanta and flicks through her own study notes. “They’re acting like a bunch of five-year-olds.”

“This was supposed to be a nice, relaxing afternoon in the sunshine, taking in the gorgeous scenery and taking some time out from exam pressure,” Maria gestures to the large cathedral in front of us and then to the wide expanse of grass surrounding it, which is currently littered with dozens of people doing exactly the thing same as us. “Yet those idiots are running around and squabbling over whose turn it is to kick a stupid ball!”

“Ooh, Liz, turn the music up!” exclaims Isabel just then, as a new track begins to play on the small radio beside me on the blanket. “I love this song!”

With a small chuckle at her excited tone, I reach over and turn the volume knob up a little. She nods in thanks before turning back to her notes, her head and shoulders beginning to move in time with the beat. I let out a wistful sigh as I watch her for a moment; she seems so much more relaxed and cheerful these days. Working things out with Max must have really lifted a weight off her shoulders, and as upset as I am that he is still refusing to have anything to do with me, I can’t help but feel glad that I was able to help them sort out their feelings.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to take Maria’s advice and concentrate on my exams and hanging out with my friends instead of crying over Max, and I think I’m succeeding… although it’s not been easy. Today, for example, I’m feeling pretty much okay – I’m soaking up the sun on the city’s Cathedral Green and having a laugh with my best friends – and right now, it actually feels like I will get through this rough time relatively unscathed. But only yesterday it was a struggle just to get up in the morning; Maria had to physically drag me out of bed and force me to sit down and get some work done. She even sat next to me the whole time and took it upon herself to quiz me over and over on the exam material until I got every single question right.

You know, it’s a good thing she doesn’t actually have any written exams, because she’s been insisting on helping me so much that she wouldn’t have had any time to study for them anyway. She really is an amazing friend though, in fact, all five of them are… they’re the best friends I’ve ever had and I can’t imagine what I would do without them.

“Hey, Liz, watch out!” Mike’s frantic shout pulls me out of my reverie and I turn around just in time to see a football flying right at me… heading straight for my head.

“Shit!” I exclaim, ducking as quickly as I can… but unfortunately, it’s not quick enough; the ball skims the top of my head and then lands right in the middle of Maria’s stomach.

“Oof!” the breath whooshes out of her mouth as she doubles over in response to the ball’s impact, before looking up at the person responsible, her expression angry, “Fucking hell, Michael!”

“Sorry, babe,” he calls out to her. “I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Next time?” she shrieks in annoyance. “There’s not going to be a next time…. Right, Michael?”

“Umm, yeah?” he shrugs. “Whatever. Can I have the ball back now?”

With a sigh of frustration, she rolls her eyes at me and I struggle not to laugh at her pissed-off expression.

“No, you cannot!” she cries, reaching for the ball and hugging it to her chest tightly. “There will be no more football playing for you this afternoon, got it?”

Mike pouts and this time I do chuckle, “Aww, come on, babe.”

“Yeah, Maria, we were in the middle of a competition,” pipes up James. “You can’t do that.”

“Yeah?” she raises an eyebrow. “Try and stop me.”

“Mate, your girlfriend sucks,” he complains to Mike, as he makes his way over to our blanket and plops down beside me. “Guess the game’s over then.”

“Well, at least it was good while it lasted,” adds Alex airily, in a not-so-subtle hint to Maria, as he takes a seat next to Isabel. “Oh, well.”

Mike just stands in front of us with his arms crossed in annoyance for several long moments… until he realises that Maria is dead serious and is not going to give up the ball anytime soon, and so decides to take a seat too.

“Hey, we haven’t had a night out all together in a while,” says James a couple of minutes later. “Anyone up for doing something next week? There’s a foam party at Warehouse on Thursday night.”

“Ooh, sounds fun!” exclaims Isabel, clapping her hands together excitedly. “I haven’t been to a foam party in ages.”

“Yeah, count me in too,” adds Alex, with a smile towards Izzy. “I only have exams on Monday and Tuesday next week.”

“And me,” I add, “My exams are Tuesday and Thursday, so I’ll be done for the week by then.”

“Cool,” nods James. “What about you, Maria?”

“Yeah, I’m up for it too,” she nods. “I think I’m in need of some fun.”

“Mike?”

Michael grunts, “Sure.”

“Well, that’s settled then,” smiles James. “Foam party at Warehouse next Thursday. I’m looking forward to it, guys.”

I let out a sigh as we settle back down into comfortable silence, just enjoying the summery day and each other’s company. At least this part of my life is pretty perfect right now… I just hope that the rest will follow soon.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone, thank you for your feedback . Sorry for my lengthly responses to your posts, but I wanted to individually address the different issues you all brought up :

DreamerM&L – Thanks .

I can understand where Max is coming from....but I feel so bad for Liz
she was just trying to help...and she got caught in the middle!!

Yeah, it’s really not fair on her.

Its funny how Max got all Jealous of Jake..lol....so maybe he is close to
forgivig Liz!

Lol – let’s hope so .

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

Yeesh, Max ... harsh. Waaay harsh, man.

Yeah… harsh

destinyc – Thanks .

I'm definitely thinking it's time for Max to let up on Liz--this is a bit harsh, even for him.

Let’s hope he does .

extingman – Thanks .

What I don't understand is why Isabel doesn't seem to notice or care how Max is treating Liz? Liz was in the middle, Isabel knew it and yet now that she has Max back in her life, she doesn't seem to care that he's no longer in Liz's, but wants him to be included in their group of friends, doesn't she see how much Liz is hurting by Max's actions? And what about Michael, James and Alex? Are they concerned or talking with Max about any of it? It seems they are all ignoring it, I just don't get it.

Basically, the different situations are being kept separate from each other here:
The time that Isabel spends with Max is purely about the two of them and their family right now.
Isabel does care about Liz, but she has already tried and failed to get Max to talk about/to Liz and honestly, there’s not much more she can do about it… we know how stubborn Max can be
Max playing football with Isabel’s friends was just that – a game of football… no discussions or feelings involved, just a few guys getting to know each other over a football and a muddy pitch, with a bite to eat afterwards. Max was never introduced to James, Alex or Michael through Liz and in turn, they currently only know Max as Isabel’s brother… it was basically a completely isolated incident – right now, they don’t know Max from Adam!

Max is acting immature and selfish, he wants to punish Liz by outwardly flirting with other girls in front of her, hanging out with Liz's friends, becoming jealous when Jake walks Liz home then refusing to talk with her in person after she exlains and apologizes, which was prior to him not answering her calls or his door.

Just a couple of points (since it wasn’t obvious in the part): Max didn’t outwardly flirt with other girls in front of Liz – he didn’t even know Liz was there until she walked out of the bar with Jake… and seeing her leaving with her ex was a shock to his system! Also, he was hanging out with people he knew as Isabel’s friends, not Liz’s friends… the fact that he spent time with them had nothing to do with Liz at all.

All she wanted was for him to make up with his sister, his own flesh and blood. She didn't have any malice intent, she just wanted him to have his sister back in his life. But he sees it as something more sinister. I guess his feelings for Liz weren't really that deep and he didn't really know her that well, he doesn't seem to miss her or want to make up with her or even give her any straight answers. What is he really thinking? Does he really hate her now?

Basically, Max is just really screwed up emotionally. He’s having trouble dealing with all of this stuff at once (his anger towards his family, Isabel finding out the truth, Liz going behind his back etc.) and because he’s trying to make things better with Isabel, his anger and frustration is being taken out on Liz… I don’t think he really knows, or understands, what he’s doing right now.

Something tells me Max will show up at this party with someone else, I think if that happens Liz should let it and him alone.

We’ll have to see…

Max needs professional help, she's not the person to provide it. Until he can work through his anger towards his father he will take it out on someone, it used to be Isabel but now it's aimed at her. She doesn't deserve it when her intentions were good. I'm not saying that Liz was blameless, but she is being an adult about it, she did apologize and has taken his grief for over a week. If Max isn't willing to face her and hash it out then it looks like their relationship was doomed from the start. She didn't and hasn't cheated on him, but can we say the same for him since then? If he is, I hope Liz doesn't find out about until after her exams, she doesn't need crappy grades on top of everything else.

Yeah, I think Max does need professional help – there is a lot of anger still there and it’s not going to be easy for him to deal with it all. Although, all we’ve seen of Max’s reaction so far has been from Liz’s POV – perhaps there’s more going on with him than there seems to be?

begonia9508 – Thanks .

Pigheadedness is brought to its high with Max this time!
If it's all Liz means to him then she is better without such a boyfriend.... and showing himself with others women is really low....even pricky!
She just told Izzy to ask her father and mother, nothing else and at least he got his sister back!....

Yeah, Max really isn’t handling things too well, is he?

She is right to try to pass her exams and let see what's happen.... Isn't Max leaving the university soon?

Yes, he is leaving soon – well in a few weeks, anyway.

sarammlover – Thanks .

so...max went a little postal on jake.....maybe jake needed it a little. He did seem too comfortable with Liz and was a little touchy feely for my liking.

Yeah, Max might have gone a bit overboard, but Jake’s obviously hurting over his break-up and is feeling a little nostalgic.

But Max was a little out of line. HOWEVER, had he not been out of line, Liz would not have been able to get off her the chest the things she needed to say...so in the end it was a good thing.

Yeah, it was a good thing in the end… at least Max now knows that she didn’t mean any harm – but let’s hope that he and Liz can work things out soon.

Araxie HRH – Thanks .

Unless (and even if) Max doesn't get past Liz talking to Iz I think Liz should write him off because he is just too emotionally damaged and he's just perpetuating the damage by his treatment of Liz. She needs to really look at the long term. Is this how she wants to be treated everytime they have an argument or disagreement, to be frozen out? I don't think so!

He is emotionally damaged and right now, he’s not handling the circumstances very well… he might be working things through with Isabel on the surface, but there are still feelings of anger and resentment buried deep inside too – and chances are, he’s taking that out on Liz because he doesn’t know how else to deal with it. If he can work through these problems and finally get past them, perhaps he will be able to handle his emotions better in the future…

And really, what IS the point of freezing out Liz? It all stemmed from NOT wanting to talk to his sister and now he is.......regularly. Is he really so focused on his anger that he can't step back and look at this objectively and see that Liz is the one who for the higher good brought him and his sister back together?

Or is his issue that Liz went against his wishes. If that's it, I think Liz should run far and run fast. Life with a man (and I use that term loosely) like that would be torment.

His issue is more with the fact that Liz promised she wouldn’t say anything and then broke that promise… it’s to do with trust issues and also Max not knowing how to handle everything that he’s feeling right now.

Oh, and flirting with other girls........WTF? It isn't enough for him to just give her the silent treatment and cold shoulder. He needs to intentionally try to hurt her (yeah, he knew she was there).

Actually, he didn’t know she was there until she walked past him with Jake.

He ran off Jake, is it because he wants to keep Liz available so he can continue to punish her with his silence? At least until he gets it out of his system. If that's the case I think he is a very young and unevolved soul that I would not want to suffer over. The more I write the less I think this version of Max is worth anyone's time. As I said before, he may be a grown man, but he isn't acting like one. RUN LIZ RUN!!!!!

(I want it known that I ALWAYS want a dreamer happy ending, but if he is this emotionally immature, Liz will forever be battling his childish behavior and moods and where would the happy ending be in that? I insist that she make him see a psychiatrist before she takes his sorry ass back!

Oh, no, don’t write him off just yet! Max is having some emotional issues right now, but he’s not a bad person… just kinda messed up at the moment . Perhaps professional help is what he needs in order to overcome his anger and resentment towards his family… and to be able to handle his emotions better.

Alien_Friend – Thanks .

The funny thing is, everyone was mad at Max and Liz now they all open there arms to Max and Liz gets raw end of the deal. She tries to make things better and still falls short. Someone had to get hurt sadly it had to be her and Max's relationship. It's good she has all her friends though. And Maria has done well to see her through it. At least one good thing came from it, that Isabel and Max are able to communicate.

I wouldn’t say they’re all opening their arms to Max… Maria is firmly on Liz’s side here; Isabel is just trying to rebuild her relationship with her brother… which is just between her and Max; and the guys were really just doing Isabel a favour and agreeing to get to know her brother a bit over a game of footie. The only real issue for Liz here is her relationship with Max.

The whole Jake scene, I thought it was interesting, this always seems to happen that two people who are in the same relationship and have completely different experiences and feelings about it. That fascinates me. I'm not surprised Max made his presence known to Liz when she was with Jake. He always has been jealous and envious of there relationship. (Marking his territory is probably something Jake needed to hear. I don't think Jake was completely going to take the first no as the final answer.)

We’ve known for a while that Jake has stronger feelings for Liz than Liz does for him… so much so, that Jake was willing to give things another go despite knowing that Liz would never feel the same way! If it had been any other guy, Max might not have gone after them and gotten territorial… it was the fear that Liz would go back to her ex that had him seeing red.

I get that Max feels completely betrayed by someone he cares for deeply and respects and trusted but he can't except to have his cake and eat to too. Or however the expression goes. He wants her for himself but yet wants her at arms length to be dealt with on his terms. It's not fair to Liz. I hope he doesn't string her a long for too long, without at least having some kind civil conversation about the situation while he deals with it however he needs to. Though his coping mechanisms aren't the most healthy.

I think the problem with Max right now is that he doesn’t know what he wants and doesn’t know how to handle everything that is going on. He doesn’t want to lose Liz but at the same time, it’s likely that because he’s trying to be civil to Isabel, his anger is being redirected towards Liz… with the excuse that she betrayed his trust… because he doesn’t know how else to handle his emotions.

The one thing Jake might have been right about is, Liz is way too kind of a person for Max. I don't think he deserve how calm, with exception of blowing up at him for doing what he did to Jake, which he totally deserve, Liz is being about the whole thing. I'm afraid he might take advantage of her kindness and compassion.

Liz is being calm about this, but she also recognises that Max has gone through a lot lately, and that there’s not much she can do apart from let him be right now.

I wasn't following Dubai much this year. That sucks for Murray I hope he's better soon. I hate it when Djokovic wins things. He doesn't need his ego inflated any more lol.

Lol – I don’t really follow Djokovic much, to be honest .

I feel bad taking Liz's side given the fact that I think he has valid reasons to be upset but I'm in 'I hate men mood' at the moment. lol Really great part! I'm glad you got to update.

Lol – it’s a hard situation… both of them have made mistakes here, so even though Max has his reasons, he’s still being hard on Liz. I’m glad I got to update too… I have another week off next week, with hopefully plenty of time to write (there was a possibility of having a job interview during the week, but unfortunately I didn’t make it through to the interview stage ).

nitpick23 – Thanks .

Have to agree with Araxie, life with this Max would not be a happily ever after. Liz screwed up big time but Max is going way overboard in trying to make her suffer. And after sticking it to her to come close to attacking Jake and going all cave-man over HIS girl.

Sorry MAx but a woman is nobody's personal property.

Max is pretty screwed up right now. He might have finally told Isabel the truth and started to rebuild their relationship, but he still has some deep-seated emotional issues that will take longer than a couple of weeks to work through.

saini87 – Thanks .

since everyone is almost done their exams, doesn't that mean max is leaving soon. since hes graduating.

Well, exams are almost over, but we have strange university semesters in the UK – my UK undergrad university had two 11-week semesters spread over three 10-week terms (so 22 weeks of classes and 8 weeks left over)… so even though exams finish in mid-June, there are still about 3 weeks left until the end of the school year (early July) and then graduation takes place about 2 or 3 weeks after that (mid-late July)… so there is still some time left for them .

Natalie36 – Thanks .

max is being an ass and liz needs to concentrate on herself so if i were her i would tell him to take a flying leap

Yeah, she probably should… let’s see what happens…

DreamerMaxBehrian – Thanks .

I came into this fic way late, and when I do that I usually just tend to stay in lurkerdom until the end. But I just had to put my two cents worth in this time…

Well, I’m glad you did – it’s always great to meet new readers .

I just think it’s really sad that Max is wasting precious time that he could have spent loving Liz, instead being so angry at her. But maybe his subconscious is telling him it will be easier to leave her if he’s mad at her??? I don’t know. Sooner or later, though, he’s going to realize what he’s done and regret it. Hopefully it won’t be any later than the foam party…

Maybe he does think it’s easier to be mad at her than to face up to the truth… after all, that’s exactly what he was doing for a long time with his family problems – perhaps old habits die hard. But let’s hope he realises his mistakes soon though .

Excellent fic, Heavenli!

Thank you .

veronica – Thanks .

loved the update, i suggest max should
forgive liz, she didnt mean to say anything

He probably should, but will he?

mary mary – Thanks .

I hope Liz doesn't let Max screw up her exams...After the way he acted with Jake, and I think Max was right about him, she needs to reevaluate things a little.

Fingers crossed that things work out in the end .

behrluv32 – Thanks .

DaleStateShorty – Thanks .

Wow .. I have come out of lurker status to post lol .. I have done a full on week and weekend of reading almost all of your completed stories and they have been awesome to read, you are now added to my list of my fave writers .. Now anyways more of this story in particular ..

Wow – thank you . I’m glad you’re enjoying my stories .

I have only read up to page 5 so far but I am liking the story and where it is going at the moment. It's a pity that Max isn't a bit more vocal with his feelings with his family and the problems that he seems to be experiencing there.

Yeah, he’s been very closed off about the whole thing.

Liz seems to be carefree with herself and very open towards guys, and only ever tenses up when Max is concerned, for example, Liz slept with Jake in a heartbeat and didn't even have the "spark" she had with Max yet she didn't sleep with Max ..

Not sure about elsewhere, but at UK universities, it’s very common for girls to have a fair amount of casual sex – there’s quite a bit of drinking, clubbing and ‘ending up in bed with a stranger’ going on, and so I wanted to portray some of that in the story. For Liz, she took the decision to sleep with Jake fairly lightly because it’s just ‘what you do at university’ and there weren’t any deeper feelings involved. But with Max, it was different – she had real feelings for him and when she finally gave in to those feelings, she wanted to do everything right and make their relationship special, so she took more time to decide to sleep with Max .

Okay so maybe I'm over analysing everything who knows? As I mentioned I've only read so much, so I will make further comment once I have caught up. Awesome M/L action by the way, it was a loooooong time coming lol ..

It was, wasn’t it? .

Looking forward to reading more on this story and more of your other stories also, thanks for sharing and keep up the excellent work!!

Thank you .

dawnuk – Thanks .

Wow I can't believe I've come out of lurkdom but since reading Part 46 and how Max went mental on Liz in the laundry room I've thought about this fic all week waiting to see what would happen next and Max certainly didn't let me down, I just knew he would keeping treating Liz like scum.

Wow – I’m glad you decided to come out of lurkdom . I definitely wasn’t expecting this reaction to part 47, so it’s been lovely to read all the posts .

I agree with every single word nitpick, extingman and Araxie posted, Liz shouldn't waste no more time crying over someone that can turn so cold and hatefull towards her. After all the time he chased after her it's now obvious that he doesn't really love her.

Maybe he doesn’t, but maybe he’s just very screwed up at the moment and doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing… or what he wants. We’ll have to see…

And as for Isabel, I think she's being a total bitch. I always see her as a bitch anyway, it doesn't matter how people try to portray her in their fics, she was a bitch on the show and in about 99% of fics I've read {and I've read a lot in the last nine years} she's a bitch in my eyes.

It wasn’t my intention for her to come across as a bitch in this story… but perhaps that’s what’s happened .

When she found out that Liz knew the reason Max was acting the way he was towards her and her parents she practiculy hounded Liz until she gave up that small piece of information about Max's dad.

She’s spent 6 years wondering what Max’s problem was and being hurt by his behaviour, so finding out that he had told Liz but not her got to her and so she didn’t react to that knowledge in the best way .

But now she's all friendly with Max she couldn't give a toss about Liz's feelings and to get Max hanging out with her friends and make Liz feel akward, like I said BITCH!!!

It’s not that she doesn’t give a toss – she has already tried to get Max to talk to Liz and he’s being stubborn and refusing to… there’s not really much more she can do. As for Max hanging out with her friends… it was just a guy’s thing – a bit of footie on a Saturday morning – and it wasn’t intended to make Liz feel awkward, since Liz wasn’t supposed to see them hanging out like that.

I haven't read anything in a long time as all my favourite authors gave up writing Liz/Max fics years ago so when I started looking for something to read I thought I'd give this a go as I'd never read anything by someone from the UK and the fic was set in Exeter which I thought was a great change

Shh, I’m trying not to explicitly mention where the fic is set … although I guess it’s probably kind of obvious, since I must have mentioned Exeter somewhere in my FB replies and anyone who has been to the city/uni campus will probably recognise it anyway .

and when you threw in the part about Max being Welsh I was over the moon being Welsh myself but now I find out what kind of person Max is I'm ashamed he's Welsh

Well, at the moment, it only appears that Max is that kind of person because all we have is what Liz is seeing through her POV… we’ll have to see how things work out over the next few parts . On the Welsh part, I have to admit I have a soft spot for Welsh accents, although in the story Max grew up in Nottingham, so he probably has more of a Brummie/Northern accent than a Welsh one .

The only way I see a happy ending here is if Max begs for Liz's forgiveness on bended knees until she graduates, anything less and all I can say is that Liz is lucky she found out what he was like before their relationship got serious were they might of married in the future.

I’m pretty much agreed on the begging part, but right now we don’t know if this behaviour is part of Max’s true self or if he is so messed up right now that he’s just dealing with everything very badly .

Ms_BuffyAnneSummers – Thanks .

wow MAX IS AN ASS!!!! he needs to realize how sorry she is and forgive her.

Yeah, he does.

Leigh – Thanks .

Isabelle a friend.....I don't think so
Like the others, I think she's a bitch.

Even in the unlikelyhood that Max asked Isabel
to stay away from Liz.....Isabel should stand by her friend and
and at least talk to her.

We’ve only actually seen three scenes from the past couple of weeks… and Isabel has only been present in one of them, so there may have been several instances where she has spoken to Liz ‘off camera’, so to speak. Isabel is talking to Liz, but we just haven’t really seen it in the scenes.

Max does'nt support his girlfriend and won't talk to her. I consider them
broken up. Max had no right to yell at Jake and Liz.

Liz did wrong, but Max is a selfcentered pig

Yes, they basically are broken up… it’s just that the lack of official confirmation for that fact that has Liz confused. You’re right, Max had no right to yell at them… it just shows how badly he’s handling his emotions right now .

***

Back with the new part in a sec...

[Heavenli24]

Part Forty-Eight

I breathe a sigh of relief as my second exam finally comes to an end and I gather up my things, leaving the exam hall and stepping out into a bright, early-June sunshine. I’m halfway through the exams now… two down, two to go; only problem is, while one of them is in two days time, but that last one is almost two weeks away! I say goodbye to Kyle, who is off to spend some time with Serena, and head down the hill back to halls, but just as I walk past the bar in the Breaker’s building, I hear my name being called from behind me.

“Hey, Liz, wait up!”

I turn to see Sophie jogging towards me, her long, blonde hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. I give a small smile as she steps through the door of the building and comes to a stop in front of me.

“Hi, Sophie.”

“Hey, sorry, I saw you walking this way and I wanted to talk to you,” she tells me, slightly out of breath.

“What’s up?”

She looks over at me, her expression concerned, “How are you doing?”

“As well as can be expected, I guess,” I shrug. “I’m just trying to concentrate on my exams and everything at the moment.”

“Yeah, good idea,” she nods with a small smile, before gesturing towards the bar. “Look, do you have time for a quick chat? I’ll buy you a drink?”

I smile, “Sure.”

We enter the bar and Sophie orders us a hot chocolate each, handing one to me as we take a seat in one of the round, comfy booths against the wall.

“I’m sorry about you and Max,” she says, taking a sip of her hot chocolate before placing it down on the table and looking over at me. “For what it’s worth though, he’s being a complete idiot about the whole thing.”

I manage a smile at her perplexed expression, although I can’t help but feel a pang of hurt in my chest at the mention of his name.

“Yeah, well, he’s made his feelings perfectly clear,” I raise an eyebrow. “He obviously wants nothing to do with me anymore.”

“See, that’s where he’s being an idiot,” she scoffs, shaking her head. “You mean the world to him, Liz, but he’s too fucking stubborn to admit that he’s made a mistake.”

“Yeah, right,” it’s my turn to scoff.

“Seriously,” she tells me, her expression solemn. “He’s not good with this emotional turmoil stuff and I don’t think even he knows what he’s doing right now.”

“Soph…” I shake my head. “It’s been more than three weeks and he hasn’t contacted me once… well, unless you count the time the other week when he went off at Jake for walking me home… It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t want to reconcile.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong, Liz,” denies Sophie. “He’s all mixed up right now; he’s overwhelmed by all of this stuff with his sister and he’s also hurting over you… and the only way he knows how to deal with it all is to pretend like it’s not bothering him, when inside, his emotions are a big mess.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” I ask, my voice trembling slightly with emotion. “I won’t let me near him so do I just wait around until he decides to grace me with his presence again?” I shake my head, “Sorry, but I’m not going to be left in limbo like that.”

She looks at me for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh, “I don’t know, Liz. I don’t know what we can do.”

“We?” I wonder in surprise.

“Yeah,” she nods. “I’m as pissed off with him as you are right now. He’s being an arse about the whole situation, but it’s like he’s in denial about it or something, because whenever I try to talk to him, he just tells me to fuck off and mind my own business.”

“This is just stupid,” I roll my eyes and sigh with frustration, as I look at her squarely. “Look, you tell him that I’m done; that’s it. I’m not waiting around for him anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I miss him like crazy, but I’ve made my apologies and now it’s his turn to do the same for me. If he’s not willing to do that, then I’m sorry, but it’s over. For good.”

At first, she seems a bit taken aback by the harshness of my words, but then she nods in understanding, a slow smile spreading across her face, “Gotcha.”

I can’t help but smile too as we nod in agreement.

“You know,” she says then. “Max might be my best friend, but God, he can be so stupid sometimes.”

“Well, he’s a bloke, isn’t he?” I quip, feeling much more in control after this chat with Sophie.

She chuckles, “You got that right.”

We sit there for a few more minutes, as we finish off our hot chocolates and joke about the downfalls of the opposite sex, but just before we get up to leave, Sophie scoots round the table a little and gives my shoulders a quick, reassuring squeeze.

“You’ll get through this, one way or another,” she tells me. “You and Max are perfect for each other, but if he doesn’t get that soon, then you’ll be better off without him.”

“Thanks, Soph,” I smile gratefully as we stand up and head for the door, my spirits lighter now than they have been in weeks and I can’t stop a mischievous smirk from playing on my lips. “I do hope he gets it soon, though, because it’s been over three weeks since I got any!”

We stop look at each other for a moment, before we both start laughing. With a smile, Sophie links her arm through mine and we walk out of the bar, “I knew there was a reason I liked you, Liz.”

***

Thursday rolls around way too quickly for my liking, but before I know it my third exam is over and done with and, with more than a week to go until the next one, I can sit back and relax for a bit… and enjoy clubbing with my friends at the foam party tonight.

After spending over an hour getting ready at the halls and then another half an hour walking to the club, the evening gets off to a good start. The six of us dance together amongst the vast quantities of foam in the small club, and I let myself enjoy the light, fun atmosphere. But as the night progresses and everyone starts splitting off into couples… Isabel and Alex and Maria and Michael, leaving just James and I to dance by ourselves… I find my good mood waning. Even worse, about ten minutes later, a pretty auburn-haired girl approaches James and with a smile, he introduces her as Helen, the girl he’s been telling me about, before heading off to dance with her and leaving me alone.

Not really feeling like dancing anymore, I dejectedly make my way over to the bar with a sigh and order a drink, before turning towards the dance floor and watching my friends frolic about in the wet foam. I feel a now-familiar ache in my chest as I observe Maria laughing as she dumps handfuls of the foam over Michael’s head, and a foam-covered Alex and Isabel sharing a heated embrace in the middle of the room, and I feel my eyes begin to well up. I’ve been trying to stay positive the last few days, but it just doesn’t seem fair that everyone else is happy, while I’m miserable and alone.

I sigh again, taking a sip of my drink as I lean against the bar counter and let my thoughts drift for a few minutes.

“Hey,” a new voice startles me out of my musings.

I turn to see a burly, blond-haired guy standing beside me, his elbow propped up on the bar counter as he smiles at me.

“Hi,” I force a smile, before returning my gaze to the dance floor.

“I’m Dave,” he holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” I repeat with a nod, as I reluctantly reach out to shake his hand.

“So, what’s your name?” he asks, getting comfortable beside me.

“Liz,” I reply, holding my free arm across my body and then supporting the arm holding my drink on it in an attempt to look unavailable.

“Nice to meet you, Liz.”

“You too,” I say with a polite nod, as I lift my drink to my lips and down the remainder of it, before placing the empty glass on the counter behind me.

“So, uh, can I buy you another drink?”

I open my mouth to refuse the offer, but as I do so, my gaze lands on something going on across the room and I quickly change my mind.

“Sure,” I agree, forcing another smile onto my face. “A rum and coke would be great.”

He grins and signals to the bartender as I try not to look at Max, who is standing across the room and looking like he’s having a lot of fun with his friends on the dance floor. As Dave nudges my elbow and hands me my drink a few moments later, I feel the overwhelming urge to make Max jealous, so I turn my attention to the man beside me and offer him a semi-flirtatious smile.

I spend the next twenty minutes trying to look attentive and laugh in all the right places, but I have to admit that first off, I’m really not interested in the guy and secondly that I am still very conscious of the fact that Max is only a few metres away.

I can’t help but glance in his direction every so often, while in front of me, Dave is still chatting away animatedly. However, after a few more minutes, as I continue to sip at my drink, I find myself struggling to focus on my surroundings. A wave of dizziness suddenly washes over me and I squeeze my eyes tightly shut in an attempt to think straight, but it doesn’t seem to work. I shake my head, but all that does is make the dizziness worse.

“Um, Dave?” I try, but he doesn’t seem to hear me and instead leans closer to me, rubbing his hand up and down my bare arm, before nuzzling my neck.

I shudder disgustedly in response to his hot breath on my skin and try to lift my hand to push him away, but for some reason, my limbs do not want to cooperate. Alarm bells suddenly ringing in my head, I attempt to take a step back and put some distance between us, but my legs feel like jelly and I reach out to grab the bar counter as I fight to stay upright. Something isn’t quite right here.

“Dave?” I try again, my limbs starting to feel heavy now. “I don’t feel very good.”

“You’ve just had a bit too much to drink, babe,” he smiles, lifting his head from my neck as he caresses my shoulder with his fingers. “You’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think so,” I try to shake my head again, but it just makes me feel sick.

Come on, babe,” he murmurs, winding his strong arm around my waist and holding me upright as he moves away from the bar. “Let’s get outta here.”

“Wait,” I mumble, bracing my hand on his chest as I try to get my lips to form the words that I want them to. “My… my friends. I, um, I need to… f-find…”

“Don’t worry about your friends, love. You’re safe with me,” he assures me, his voice sounding far away, even though he’s right beside me.

I close my eyes again, trying to sort out the mass of jumbled thoughts in my head. Something is wrong here, but I can’t figure out what… my brain doesn’t seem to want to cooperate tonight.

“I don’t…” I start, but my words trail off as my head falls backwards and despite Dave’s grip on my waist, I feel my legs begin to collapse from under me and I fall to the floor amongst the waist-high white foam.

“Oh my God, Liz!” the panicked shout barely registers as I let myself succumb to the feeling of sleepiness engulfing my entire being and my body goes limp.

“Liz? Can you hear me?” I vaguely hear the far-away voice, as a hand shakes my shoulder, but I don’t have the energy to move.

“Liz!” the distant voice says again. “Oh God. Max… Max, help me with her?”

A slight moan escapes my lips as I suddenly feel the sensation of being lifted into the air and held close to a warm, familiar body. My head falls backwards at an awkward angle, but I can’t seem to bring it upright again and as the warm body begins to move, I find myself drifting out of consciousness….

***

“… think… drugged… help her?” the frantic words slowly penetrate through the fog surrounding my brain as I drift in and out of consciousness.

“…right thing… bringing her here…” says a deep male voice. “We’ve given her… out of her system…”

“Please… sure she’s okay…” come the first voice again, as I vaguely feel something squeezing my hand.

I feel a bubble of panic starting to rise in my chest. I have no idea where I am or what’s happening around me… and my limbs feel too heavy to move.

Oh God, what’s going on?

I attempt to open my eyes, but nothing happens. Out of frustration, I try to say something, but all that comes out is a low moan.

“Liz?” says a worried voice, one that I can now identify as male, as the pressure on my hand increases. “Can you hear me?”

“Ughh,” I try again.

“Lizzie, please?” he says again, a hand coming up to my forehead, stroking gently. “Can you open your eyes?”

My heart begins to thump in my chest as I finally recognise the voice.

“M…Max?” I mumble, barely able to make my lips form the word.

“Liz…” his voice is both urgent and relieved. “Thank God.”

I try to open my eyes again, but like the rest of my body, my lids feel really heavy. Suddenly filled with determination, I put all of the energy I have into forcing them open. All I see is a blur of white and I blink a few times in an attempt to make my eyes focus.

“Liz?” he says again, and I see the outline of a dark head of hair. “I’m here. Are you okay?”

“Wh-what’s…?” is all I manage to say; anything more is too much effort.

“You’re in the hospital,” he says softly, his worried face coming into focus now as his fingers gently stroke my hair. “Someone slipped something in your drink at the club and you collapsed.”

I move my head against the pillow in a slow nod.

“We got you here as soon as we could,” he tells me softly. “They’ve run some tests and given you something to try to flush the drugs out of your system. You’ll be okay.”

“I-I feel…” I try, before swallowing in an attempt to ease my dry throat. “I’m tired… so tired.”

“I know,” he nods. “It’s okay. You’ll feel better soon.”

“Max… I…”

He just shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips, “Shh, just save your energy for now, okay?”

I manage a nod in response, closing my eyes as a wave of dizziness passes over me.

“I’m sorry,” murmurs Max then, his fingers drifting down over my temple and coming to rest on my cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

Ignoring the dizziness, I force my eyes open once more to see him looking at me, a guilty expression on his face.

“I’m a complete idiot,” he continues. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be here.”

“What… what do… you mean?” I murmur faintly, the words taking a lot out of me.

“If I hadn’t… God, you wouldn’t have… and then that guy wouldn’t have drugged you…” he mumbles almost incoherently, as he looks down at our entwined hands.

“Max… not making sense…” I mutter, as my head starts spinning again and I struggle to keep my eyes open.

“I’m just sorry,” he says more clearly, raising his head and looking down at me, as I feel my eyes sliding shut once more. “I never meant for…”

But I don’t hear anything more because everything goes black and I drift into unconsciousness again.

***

The next time I open my eyes, I feel much better; my head is clearer, my limbs feel lighter and my vision is back to normal… but there’s one thing missing: Max is not here.

“Hey, Liz, you’re awake,” comes a relieved voice from my side.

I turn my head to see Maria sitting beside my hospital bed, a smile on her face, although her expression is slightly anxious.

“Maria,” I manage with a small smile.

“God, I’m so sorry, Liz,” she murmurs apologetically. “We should have never left you alone in the club last night.”

“Not your fault,” I mumble. “It was mine.”

“No, it wasn’t, Liz,” she protests. “It wasn’t your fault at all. It was that bastard who tried to date-rape you!”

“Dave,” I remember, my eyes widening in distress. “Oh, God. What was I thinking when I let him buy me a drink?”

“It’s okay, Liz. He didn’t get a chance to do anything to you and you’re okay now,” she assures me. “God, we were so worried about you, Liz. All of us.”

I nod, shifting in the small hospital bed a little, so that I can see her properly.

“You know, Max was one who brought you here,” she tells me. “He was… God, he was like a man possessed, Liz. He refused to leave your side until he knew you would be okay.”

I nod again, “I remember.”

“You do?”

“I woke up when he was here,” I tell her softly, feeling my eyes well up as I remember the expression on his face. “He was holding my hand and stroking my hair.”

“Really?” she grins. “See, I knew he would come round.”

“He told me he was sorry and then he started saying something else, but I was drifting in and out and I didn’t hear it.”

“Well, you’re fine now,” smiles Maria, reaching out to squeeze my arm affectionately. “And the doctor said you can go home this morning, so it’s all good.”

“That’s good,” I nod, biting my lip as I debate whether or not to say the next bit. In the end I decide just to go for it, “Is he still here? Max, I mean.”

Maria shakes her head apologetically, “No, he had to go… he had an exam to get to this morning.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I roll my eyes, “God, what is he thinking? Going to a foam party the night before an important exam!”

“Yeah,” smiles Maria. “Well, it’s a good thing he did, though. He was your saviour last night.”

“Yeah?” I murmur breathlessly, feeling my heart begin to thump in my chest at her words.

“Yeah.”

I let my head fall back against the pillow as I take that in… could it be that Max is finally ready to talk to me now?

Before I get the chance to dwell on it any further, the doctor appears in my small cubicle and explains what happened to me and goes over some information about counsellors and support groups, before announcing that I am being discharged.

It’s strange though, as Maria helps me get dressed and ready to go, because I don’t really feel distressed or anything about what happened to me last night. In fact, I don’t really feel much of anything at all… I don’t exactly remember a whole lot about the ordeal anyway, and luckily my friends realised what was happening to me before that guy had time to do anything anyway. As I tell Maria as we catch a taxi back to the university, I just feel kind of numb over the whole thing… oh, and extremely grateful to Max for saving me from the creep and making sure that I was okay.

TBC…