Roswell Fanatics

Part 41








It was nighttime when Maria and Michael left for the beach that night. Taking advantage of the fact that neither his daughter nor his stepson were at home, Jim took the time to talk to his wife about their “investigation”.

“We’re not getting anywhere,” he told her. “We need to step it up.”

“I don’t know what else we can do,” Amy said. “We’ve talked to her friends and her teachers. We’ve talked to the neighbors. Nobody knows anything. Nobody knows anything because they have no idea what we’re asking. How can you explain to somebody that you just know that there’s something wrong with your daughter and expect them to know exactly what it is?”

“You can’t,” Jim said. “That’s why we’re done explaining. We’re done talking to people.”

“Then what are we . . .” Amy trailed off and her eyes grew huge when Jim held a tiny, expensive camera in front of her. “What is that?” she asked.

“A camera,” he answered obviously. “An expensive, small, easily hidden camera.”

“Where’d you get it?”

“A friend,” he said. “He has some connections to the FBI. Got this for me for a fancy price.” He didn’t bother to tell her how much he had paid for it. It didn’t matter, and Amy didn’t care. She just stared at the camera, fixated, until she finally shook her head.

“No,” she said. “No, we can’t spy on Maria. We can’t, Jim.”

“Sure we can,” he said, spinning the camera around between his index finger and his thumb. “I said we were gonna step it up, and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do.” He headed for the staircase.

“No, Jim,” Amy said following him. “We can’t go to extremes like this. Maybe we should just ask her. She might tell us.”

“We both know she won’t,” he reminded her. “She doesn’t even like us anymore, Amy. It’s obvious.”

His wife sighed. “I’m not sure about this.”

“You’ll be sure when we find something out,” Jim said, opening the door to Maria’s bedroom. He searched around the room to find a place to hide the camera where he would be able to see most of the room. He hid the camera in the corner of the room, placing it halfway behind one of the books on her bookshelf. Maria never even glanced at her bookshelf or any of her books, so it seemed like a logical place to put it.

“What makes you so sure we’ll find something out?” Amy asked him. “It’s a camera in her bedroom. It’s not definite path to information.”

“We’ll find something out eventually,” he told her. “It may take a few days. It may take longer.”

“We don’t have much longer,” Amy reminded him. “Italy. Hawaii.”

“It won’t take that long,” Jim assured her. “I guarantee it, Amy. Before Maria leaves for Hawaii, we’ll know exactly what she’s been hiding from us.”

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

“. . . hopefully we’ll have everything figured out soon.”

Maria kept replaying her mother’s words over and over again in her head. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were important, that they meant something.

“You wanna get in the water?” Michael asked her.

She shook her head and didn’t move from her laying position on the towel.

“Then why are we here?” he asked. “I thought I was gonna get to see you in your bikini.”

“I am in my bikini,” she reminded him. “I know you just wanna see me in the water, though. I get it Michael.”

“You’re right,” he said. “Let’s get in.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just . . . I don’t know, I just keep thinking about . . .” She trailed off. “Never mind.”

“Thinking about what?” he asked her, absentmindedly stroking his fingers across her stomach. She loved it when he did that.

“About what my mom said,” she replied. “What do you think she meant when she said something about having it all figured out someday.”

“I don’t know,” he said, “and I don’t really care.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I mean, she’s Amy. She says stuff like that a lot, you know. Stuff that doesn’t make sense. I try to just ignore her.”

“Well, I usually do, too, but I just . . .” She trailed off again, realizing that she was worrying for no reason. Michael was right. Amy was just, well . . . Amy. She did say things like that, and it was best to just ignore her, no matter what. “Forget it,” she said.

Michael continued to stroke her stomach, and he slipped one arm under her body to hold her closer to him. Maria knew it was PDA, and she knew that they had set a rule against that a long time ago, but being close to him felt so good. She didn’t want to pull away. “You really shouldn’t . . . with the arm and all. It’s too obvious,” she said.

“Then you better move away from me,” he suggested.

She shook her head. “Can’t do that.”

He grinned. “Didn’t think so.” He moved her so that she was sitting on top of him, straddling his hips and looking down at him.

“No, Michael, this is way too obvious,” she said.

“Take a look around,” he said. “Do you see anyone?”

“Yes,” she replied without even glancing around. “I see a lot of people, actually. It’s pretty crowded here tonight. Lots of people, Michael.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “I meant, do you see anyone you know? Anyone who knows you? Anyone who’s gonna give a crap if we’re way too obvious?”

This time, she did glance around. She didn’t see anyone she knew, and she didn’t think they knew her. “No,” she replied quietly, finding that she was being drawn into Michael. He always did that. It was his eyes or his hands or his something else that always kept her intrigued.

“Exactly,” he said, trailing one of his hands up her thigh.

“No, Michael,” she kept protesting, even though it was incredibly difficult. “We can’t. We shouldn’t even be close to each other right now.”

“Maria,” he said, tucking her long hair behind her ear, “I can’t not be close to you right now. Come on. I just . . .” He ran his index finger across her lips. “I just wanna be able to kiss you.”

From there, she was gone. She was kissing him before she realized what she was doing. Everyone else faded away, and it was just the two of them in her mind.

But it wasn’t just the two of them in reality.

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

Liz Parker strolled onto the beach looking for her boyfriend. She glanced around, surveying all the people. It was extremely crowded, but not one of the crowd was her boyfriend. She looked around again. Where was he? Why wasn’t he there? Maybe she was early.

As she was looking over the crowd of people, Liz’s eyes settled on a couple making out together on the beach towel, tucked back away from everyone else. She looked away, and she wouldn’t have looked back, she wouldn’t have even given them a second glance if something hadn’t caught her attention.

The guy . . . he looked really familiar. He was beautiful in a manly sort of way, and he looked like he was a really good kisser. And his hands! They were all over the girl’s body! God, he looked like he had talented hands! And the hair! That spiky hair! It was almost creepy how much he resembled . . .

. . . Michael . . .

Liz looked closer, peering through the darkness at the couple in the distance. There was only one person that could make Liz look so close and so hard, and that person was Michael Guerin.

Liz was about to look away due to jealousy, but then something else occurred to her, something that was even more shocking than just the fact that Michael seemed to have a girlfriend.

His girlfriend seemed to be his stepsister.

Maria was beautiful, too, and Liz was surprised that she hadn’t recognized her earlier. Maybe it was just because she had her face halfway down Michael’s throat.

Michael? Maria? Together? Together in a very non-sibling, non-friend kind of way?

Michael and Maria?









TBC...

Part 42







Liz felt like she was a zombie when she arrived home. She was silent and barely mobile, and all she could think about was what she had seen at the beach. She hadn’t stayed to wait for her boyfriend. There was something more important that she needed to do. She needed to talk to her brother.

Max was working out in the gym. He was lifting weights to build up his already built arms, and he didn’t bother to stop when he saw her. “You’re home early,” he commented, raising the bar for what was probably the hundredth time.

“I know,” she said. “I didn’t stay.”

“Why not?” he asked, still lifting.

“There was something weird going on.”

“Like what? Gang battles? Drug sales? Whipped-cream bikini contest? Sounds like a good time to me.”

“It wasn’t anything like that,” Liz said. She was about to explain to him what she had seen, but she felt like he wasn’t even listening to her, and this was important. “Max, could you stop lifting,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”

Max set the bar down and sat up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Talk on.”

“Okay,” she said, beginning to pace around the room. “This is gonna sound really weird, but you have to listen to me, okay?”

He nodded.

She let out a deep breath. “I saw Michael. He was with someone.” She found that she was looking at the floor now, as if that would hide her jealousy. “He was kissing her.”

Max sighed. “Liz, I can’t believe you’re still crazy about Guerin. The guy’s a jerk, okay? You gotta understand that.”

“Whatever,” she said. “Just listen to me, okay? You promised you would.”

“I just don’t wanna hear about Michael Guerin.”

“I think you do,” she told him. “I think you do wanna hear what I have to tell you, Max, because Michael wasn’t just with some random girl. He was . . . he was with Maria.”

“Yeah?” Max didn’t seem surprised. “They do a lot together. They’re practically joined at the hip. It’s sickening. So who was kissing, huh? Isabel?” He laughed. “Wouldn’t that be great? I’d love to see Alex kill him.”

Liz rolled her eyes. Max could be dreadfully stupid sometimes. “Max, don’t you get it? He wasn’t kissing Isabel. He was with Maria. He was kissing Maria.”

Max seemed to thinking about it for a minute, and then he shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re gettin’ all worked up over some peck on the cheek.”

“Oh my God!” Liz exclaimed. “Max, he was holding her and touching her and making out with her! Michael and Maria!”

Max was silent for a few seconds, and then he said, “I don’t believe it. They’re close, obviously, but they’re not that close.”

“They are,” Liz insisted. “Max, I saw them.”

“How can you be sure that you saw them?”

“Because Michael . . .” She trailed off. “I would recognize him anywhere. And Maria . . . she’s pretty Max. Really pretty. You can’t miss her. I know who I saw.”

Max thought about it, and then he shook his head again, standing up. “Wasn’t them. Couldn’t be. You saw somebody else, Liz.”

“I didn’t. I know I didn’t. Max, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m telling you, they’re way more than just step-siblings. They’re way more than just friends. I think they’re a couple or something. They seemed really, you know . . . intimate.”

Max started laughing. “Do you realize how insane you sound? What kind of guy would fall for his stepsister?”

“Michael would. And he did. I swear to you, Max, he did, and I don’t know how to get you to believe it.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it for myself,” he said.

“Then see it. Go down to the beach. They might still be there. Or go over to their house. You might find something that might convince you.”

He stared at her, contemplated, and then shrugged. “What the hell? I got some time to kill. I’ll find ‘em, see nothing, and prove to you that they’re not a couple. Just one hot girl who won’t give it up to anyone, one ex-con guy who hates my guts, and one normal relationship. Nothing more.”

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

He felt so good. She wanted to feel all of him.

The romance they had shown each other the other night in the shower and many times before that was gone for now, replaced by raw passion, hunger, and desire. His lips attacked her neck, and her nails dug painfully into his back. They didn’t speak. They couldn’t. He groaned whenever she pressed her hips up into him, and she moaned loudly as he sucked furiously at her skin.

Thank God Amy and Jim were gone for the night. Maria and Michael needed time together. They had needed it for a long time now. She had to be with him. With him. She had to be with him that night, because when she wasn’t with him, it felt like she was dying inside.

She bit her bottom lip to hold in another moan and gently placed her hands on his chest. She pushed him up, away from her slightly, and sat up on the couch. He looked at her confused as to why they had stopped, and she explained.

“You said you wanted to see me in the water and in my bikini,” she told him, “so I’m thinking you won’t mind seeing me in the water and in my . . . nothing.”

He leaned in and kissed her again, and they almost didn’t stop. She took his hands in hers and they stood up. She led him out back to the pool, comfortably secluded where no one would find them and closed the sliding door behind them.

She went to the water’s edge and dipped her foot in. It was cold, but they would make it hot. They always did.

She reached around and undid the back of her bikini, letting the top fall to the ground. She wasn’t facing Michael, but she knew that he was staring at her. She knew he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and that was exactly what she wanted.

She eased the bottom of her bikini over her hips and down her legs, letting it fall next to the top. She ran her hands up her stomach to cup her breasts, and a soft moan escaped her lips when she felt Michael’s erection pressing into her from behind. He was already undressed. He was always so eager. “Oh God,” she cried. “Michael . . .” She threw her head back and rested it on his bare shoulder. Her body felt weak with all of the sensations she was feeling at the thought of having him inside of her again, and he almost had to hold her up and support all of her weight.

“Let’s get in,” he suggested, seeing that standing would not be an option for much longer.

She nodded eagerly and stepped down into the water, holding onto his hands and keeping him close to her as he followed.

She got down under the water to quickly wet her hair and then came back up again. Michael did the same, and when he came up, he was suddenly in front of her, lifting her up so that she could wrap her long legs around his body. He stared into her eyes for several long, intense seconds as he positioned himself at her entrance, and she gasped when she felt the tip of his cock touch her folds. “Please,” she moaned.

He pounded himself into her, submerging himself as far as he could go and began thrusting immediately. She crashed her hips against his desperately, wanting him more than she ever had before.

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

The beach had been a bust. They hadn’t been there, and Max wasn’t surprised that they hadn’t. They probably had gone home to watch Will and Grace or whatever the hell it was that they always watched together. Even though he suspected that they were just watching TV, he found that he was pulling up in his car outside of their house. There were a few lights on inside, and he took it to mean that they were home, but that didn’t discourage him from getting out of the car and walking up to the front door. He peered inside, and he was surprised when he didn’t find them sitting on the couch watching TV. They’re probably asleep, he reasoned. They have no nightlife.

Max was about to turn and walk away when he tried the door. It was unlocked, as it always was, and Max didn’t see why he shouldn’t just walk in. If he found Maria, he could try to get with her. If he found Michael, he could try to hurt him. If he found Jim or Amy, he could sit down and try to talk with them.

The house was eerily quiet. It didn’t appear that anyone was home, even though there were two cars in the driveway. There was no music coming from downstairs, so Maria wasn’t down there dancing. There was no one rifling through the refrigerator looking for food in the kitchen. There was no TV. No radio. Nothing.

Max climbed up the stairs slowly and quietly as not to disturb the deafening quiet of the house. He started down the hallway, feeling no shame at all about just walking into someone’s home. He peered into every room, but he didn’t find anyone. He opened the door to Michael’s bedroom, but Michael wasn’t in there. Max smiled to himself. If Michael wasn’t home and Maria was, this presented the perfect opportunity.

The perfect opportunity to get the one thing he had always wanted but never had from the girl who had everything.

Max closed the door to Michael’s room and went across the hallway to Maria’s room. He looked under the door and saw that the light wasn’t on. She was probably sleeping.

He opened the door and looked inside. Disappointment rose within him when he didn’t see Maria in her room. Dammit, where the hell was she?

Even though Maria wasn’t around, Max stepped into her bedroom. He turned on the light and waded through piles of clothes on the floor. He absentmindedly touched some of her necklaces and bracelets for a few seconds and then continued on. He glanced in her full-length mirror, knowing that she probably dressed in front of that mirror every day. He laid down on her bed for a minute or so and ran his fingers over her pillow, imagining that he was running his fingers over her skin.

When he got up, he went over to her wardrobe and opened it up, revealing some of the clothes that she wore to school, to parties, and around the house. He smiled with satisfaction when he stumbled upon her bras and panties. He stuffed one of her black thongs in his back pocket and then decided that it would be best for him to be leaving. He wasn’t sure where everyone was, but he had a feeling that they would all be coming home very soon.

He spotted a picture of Maria and Michael together on the night of the prom sitting on the bedside table. He reached over and placed the picture face down, just because he wanted to.

On his way out the door, Max tripped over a worn, grey Metallica t-shirt. Weird, Max thought. I thought Michael liked Metallica, not Maria. He shrugged it off and headed out the door and down the hallway, making sure that he turned off the light and closed the door before he left.

He had just stepped out of the front door and was heading back to his car when he heard something. Sounds. Distinct sounds. Loud sounds. He was surprised that he hadn’t heard them before. His curiosity got the best of him, and Max strayed from the path to his car, heading around to the back of the house.







TBC...

Part 43








She had to fight to keep from screaming.

“Faster,” she cried, though she wasn’t sure that they could go any faster at this point. “God, yes!”

He increased his pace, and all she could do was react to him. Each time he moved faster, she moved faster. They were moving so fast now that she was sure her body would go flying apart in different directions the next time their hips clashed.

“Oh god, Michael,” she whispered. “More . . .”

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

He stepped closer, and the sounds intensified. He recognized her voice, and he recognized whose name she was panting, but he didn’t believe it until he saw it for himself.

Max leaned down and peered through the thick mass of bushes that hid the DeLuca’s pool area from everyone else. He shouldn’t have been surprised by what he saw, but he was. Maria and Michael were in the pool, totally going at it and completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Max couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief. So his sister was right. They really had been making out down at the beach before they had decided to come home and . . .

Holy shit, Max thought as he watched them. He hadn’t quite ever seen anything like this. This was hotter than any porno he had ever watched. This was way better than any sex he had ever had. Michael and Maria were totally absorbed in each other. She was riding him to extremes, and he was slamming into her with all that he had.

So they really were that close.

She dug her nails into his arms and threw her head back as her orgasm rocked her. She screamed his name as she came, and he climaxed shortly after, pressing his lips to hers to drown out their sounds of pleasure.

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

Maria collapsed on top of Michael, and he struggled to support her. He had to reach over and steady himself on the side of the pool as he recovered from his own orgasm. She laid her head on his shoulder and breathed in the scent of their lovemaking as the feeling of him releasing himself inside of her still reverberated within her.

“Michael,” she whispered. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she was too out of breath to get any more words to come out.

He trailed one hand down her body to where they were still joined, and he began to touch her clit. Once he had recovered, he thrust into her again, slowly this time, and picked up his pace when she began to respond again. Soon, they had started all over again and were moving faster and harder now more than ever.

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

Seeing Maria like that, moving in tandem with him, hearing all of the sounds she made, all of the dirty things she said, Max wished it was him instead of Michael. He wished he was thrashing around wildy inside of her. He wished he was screwing her brains out.

He would have watched Maria longer, but he heard a car pulling into the driveway. He knew at once that it must be Amy and Jim, and he hurried away from his spot of observance. He got around to the front of the house and walked over to Maria’s parents casually. Maria’s father, he reminded himself. Michael’s mother. That’s why this whole thing is so fucked up.

Amy yelped in surprise and held her hand to her chest when she noticed him, but when she realized that it was only him, she relaxed. “Max,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I was thinking about things,” Max told her. “I was thinking about our conversation that day when you stopped by my house.”

Amy nodded.

“You told me to tell you if I noticed anything about Maria that you might be interested in knowing.” He could barely keep the smug grin off of his face. “Well I noticed something. I noticed something monumental.”

“What?” Jim asked, stepping into the conversation. “What did you notice?”

Of course he couldn’t go right out and tell them. That would take the fun out of it. It would be much better if they discovered it for themselves. “You just need to look harder,” he promised them. “I guarantee, you can’t miss it.”

Max Evans headed to his car, smiling to himself at all the damage he could help cause.

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

“Michael, do you hear something?” she asked, panting. “Oh, Michael . . .”

He slammed into her furiously over and over again, bringing her closer to the brink. She could feel her second orgasm building within her. Just a little bit more . . .

Maria stopped moving when she heard a car driving away. She listened closer and heard voices coming from the driveway. Familiar voices. Her mom and dad.

“Oh my god, Michael, they’re home!” she exclaimed in a whisper. She tried to push him away from her, but he kept pushing himself deeper into her, and it didn’t seem to register with him that Amy and Jim would walk up on them any minute.

“Michael, we have to stop,” she said, moving off of him and separating her body from his. “Oh god, clothes! Where are the clothes?”

Now that the reality of the situation had washed over him, Michael was everywhere at once. He reached out to the edge of the pool and grabbed his swimming trunks, pulling them on under the water. He threw her bikini to her and assisted her in getting it on in a hurry.

He had just fastened the top of her bikini when Amy and Jim opened the sliding door and walked outside. “What are you two doing out here?” Amy asked.

“Nothing,” Maria replied immediately, out of breath. “Swimming. Just swimming.”

“It’s kinda cold,” Amy commented.

Maria shook her head. “Not in here.” Michael gave her a look. “I mean, the water’s warm ‘cause we . . . heated it.”

Amy looked confused, but she didn’t ask any more questions. “Alright then. It’s after midnight, just so you know. You might wanna be getting some sleep soon.”

Maria nodded. “Right. I’ll head up to my room in a minute. And I’ll sleep.”

Amy and Jim went back inside, and Maria was relieved when they left. Their water rendezvous had literally left her breathless, and she was having a hard time forming sentences.

“Shit,” Michael cursed. “I can’t wait ‘till we’re in Hawaii and they can’t interrupt us.”

“They’re not interrupting us.”

He looked perplexed. “What do you mean? We can’t very well keep going right here.”

“Well, no, obviously we can’t,” she said, “but we could finish tonight. In my bedroom. We’ll close the door. I’ll be quiet.”

He smirked. “You’re never quiet.”

“Either are you.”

He was inching toward her again, reaching his hands out to touch her, leaning in to kiss her, but he stopped when they got too close. “I don’t know,” he said. “They’re right downstairs, Maria. What if they--”

“They won’t,” she assured him. “I just . . . I can’t wait now. I was so close.”

He was giving in. She could tell. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, shredding the rest of his resistant barrier. “I just wanna feel you inside me again.”

She had him. She knew it. Michael loved it when she spoke of sex. “Give me ten minutes.”

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

Liz couldn’t tell if Max had discovered anything or not when he got home. His face was an enigma, and his expression was unreadable. “So?” she asked immediately. “Were they still at the beach?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

She sighed. “Okay, well, I know what I saw, and just ‘cause you didn’t see it, that doesn’t mean I didn’t see it.”

“I saw it,” Max stated suddenly and calmly, sitting down on the couch.

“You did?” Liz asked. “You saw them together? Were they kissing?”

He nodded and halfway smiled. “Yeah, they were.”

“I told you!” she shouted. “I told you, and you didn’t believe me!”

“I believe you now, Liz,” he said. “After what I saw . . .” He trailed off. “Crazy.”

Liz felt her stomach winding itself up into knots. “Crazy?” she echoed. “Like how crazy?”

“Like they were goin’ at it in the pool. Like that crazy.”

“They were . . .” Liz didn’t finish. She didn’t have to ask for clarification. She knew what he meant. She knew what he was talking about. Michael and Maria were even closer than she had realized. They were . . . oh, god . . .

Liz turned around so that Max couldn’t see her. She let a few tears fall, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. “That is crazy,” she said.

“You should’ve seen it,” he said.

“You watched?” she asked in disbelief. She didn’t know how Max could bare to see Maria with another guy, especially her stepbrother.

“Just for a little bit,” he said. “I had to make sure I was seeing things straight.”

“That’s crap,” Liz said. “You just wanted to see Maria without her clothes on.”

“Okay,” Max admitted, “yeah, but I didn’t want to see her with Michael. What the hell is she thinkin’ being with him?”

Liz sighed and shook her head. “We should’ve noticed sooner. Think of all the signs, Max. She was always with him more than she was with you. They were always closer than you two were.”

“Thanks for pointing that out.”

“You know it’s true,” she said, turning around again. “You and Michael always competed for Maria. He always won.”

Max’s hands were clenching into fists. “I fuckin’ hate that guy.”

“And I hate Maria,” Liz said. “I hope they get found out, Max. We should tell Mrs. DeLuca!”

“I already did,” Max said. “Sorta.”

“Sorta?”

“Yeah. I kinda dropped them a subtle hint. I want them to be completely shocked when they find out. It’ll be priceless.”

“When do you think they’re gonna find out?” Liz asked.

He folded his hands on his lap and leaned back, relaxing. “Soon,” he said. “Very soon.”








TBC...





I might or might not update tomorrow since it's Christmas Day. I'll see if I get around to it. Thanks for the feedback!

Part 44







“What do you think he meant? He meant something. I know he did.” Amy headed down the hallway to the bedroom, rambling on and on about what Max had said. “What do you think he meant by look harder? He said we can’t miss it, didn’t he?”

Jim nodded, leading down the hallway. “He did.”

“If we can’t miss it, then why are we missing it, Jim?”

Jim opened the door and moved aside so that she could step into the bedroom. He closed the door behind them and didn’t turn on any lights, as if he were trying to be some sort of spy.

Spy. He was a spy, in a way. So was she. They were spying on Maria. They were spying on their daughter by placing that camera in her room.

“I think you’re stressing out about the whole thing,” Jim told her. “Just relax, honey. We can talk to Max again tomorrow and get him to tell us everything he knows. Until then, we still have the camera in her room.”

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

He opened the door to her room that night and stood in her doorway, but only for a few brief seconds. He had closed the door and made his way to the bed within seconds. “Are you sure about this?” he asked her.

She ran her hands up his body slowly, and he knew that she must have felt his muscles quivering with anticipation. Hers were doing the same.

“They’ll never know,” she said, undoing the buttons on his shirt. “Please, Michael, I just . . .” She trailed off and pushed his shirt away, letting it slide down his arms to pool in the sheets. “I need you.”

He leaned in and crushed his lips to hers, immediately plunging his tongue into her mouth. His fingers began to work furiously at the large grey t-shirt that kept her body from his view. She grabbed onto his ass and pressed their lower bodies together, moving with him before either of them were completely undressed.

“Oh god, I need you,” she moaned as he kissed his way down her cheek to her neck. “Please, Michael, don’t stop . . .”

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

“Jim, I’m telling you, this is insane.” Amy watched as her husband took out his laptop computer and fiddled around with it. “Putting a camera in her room . . . we’re going to extremes here. Spying on her . . .”

“I just wanna watch a little bit, just to get an idea as to what might be going on,” Jim said. “It’s nothing, really.”

“It’s something,” Amy said, watching with interest she couldn’t hide as the computer began to load it’s connection to the small camera. “It’s a useless something. She's probably just sleeping,” she continued. She took her eyes off of the screen for a split second, just as the camera had loaded. “Do you really think that we’re going to find out anything? Do you really think that--” Jim didn’t say anything. The shocked expression on his face silenced her.

Amy glanced down at the screen, and her mouth dropped open when she saw what the camera revealed. Maria was in her room, but she wasn’t alone. She was with Michael, and they weren’t just sleeping.

“Oh my god,” Amy gasped, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She was seeing Michael and Maria, and they were entangled in the sheets, removing each other’s clothes. Their hands were all over each other, and they were kissing.

This was just too ridiculous. The son she had given birth to, the girl who had become her daughter . . . they were together.

“Jim,” Amy choked out, finding it hard to speak.

Jim stood up. “Let’s go,” he announced decidedly.

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

It was taking him too long to undress her. He had just lifted the t-shirt above her head, and she still had a bra and panties to remove. He was still fully clothed, except for his shirt, and she already felt like she was on the brink of orgasm.

The ease with which they could usually undress each other had disappeared for the time being, replaced by the crazy intensity each was feeling. The intensity made it hard think about anything, difficult to grasp on to any concept with the exception of the concept of emotion and all of the emotions that were pulsing through them.

“Michael,” she moaned, throwing her head back against the pillow as he sucked furiously on her exposed neck. She knew that he loved it when she said his name, so she said it again. “God, Michael . . .”

He moved his hips into hers instinctively, and she reached her arm down to pull down his zipper. “Michael,” she repeated in a shaky voice, causing him to move into her hand. She rolled her head forward, planning to watch his body come into view as she undressed the rest of him, but her eyes caught sight of something else, instead. Someone else.

Her father was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Seconds later, Amy came up beside him, gasping and bringing her hand to her mouth as she witnessed the sight in the bedroom.

Maria quickly pushed Michael away from her, hoping that it wasn’t too late to cover up what they had been doing, knowing that it already was. She brought the grey t-shirt up to her chest, suddenly wishing that she wasn’t undressed at all.

“What is going on here?” Amy asked, seeming as if she were struggling to breathe.

Maria didn’t think she could talk. Everything was happening so fast. One minute, all she could think about was Michael, and now all she could think about was what her parents thought, how she could convince them that it was nothing, even though it was everything.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Michael said. “We were, uh . . .” He trailed off and looked at Maria for answers. Even though she was a bad liar, she always had some excuse. This time, she couldn’t think of anything.

“It’s not what it looks like,” she said, echoing his words. “I promise you, it’s not anything like that.”

“Funny,” Jim said, “‘cause it certainly looks a lot like that from here.”

“It’s not,” Maria choked out. She felt tears stinging her eyes, and she wasn’t sure why. She slumped back onto her pillow and held the t-shirt tightly against herself just as a pending sense of doom settled over her.

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

The night had been long. Longer than long. Amy and Jim had made it their first priority to get Michael and Maria away from each other. Amy brought Maria downstairs into the master bedroom, and they sat down there in paralyzed silence for what seemed like hours. Jim stayed standing in the doorway to Maria’s room, frozen in place, undoubtedly to keep Michael from leaving the room.

Maria sat in the bedroom, glancing over at the laptop computer. Amy had shut it off, but not before Maria had realized that they had been spying on her, that they had somehow placed a camera of some sort in her bedroom without her knowledge. She wanted to know how long it had been in there, but she didn’t ask. She wasn’t going to speak until her mother did.

Amy finally did speak as the first glimpse of sunlight cascaded through the bedroom window. “We need to talk,” she said.

“Yeah,” Maria agreed. “We do.”

“I just don’t understand,” Amy said slowly, running one hand through her hair in a stressed manner. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“I know,” Maria said, trying her best to sound understanding. “I didn’t at first, either.”

“Explain it to me, then,” Amy said. “Make me understand.”

Maria sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Michael and I . . . we became really good friends, obviously, and then . . . feelings started to develop.”

Amy looked as if she were about to cry. She shook her head and threw her hands up in the air. “How could this happen?”

“It happened just the way every other romance happens. Feelings develop and you explore them.”

“I can’t listen to this,” Amy said, starting for the door.

“You said you wanted to talk,” Maria reminded her.

Amy stopped. “I know,” she said. “It’s just so hard to hear you say this.”

“Why?” She didn’t understand. “Why is it so hard?”

“Because he’s your stepbrother.”

Maria struggled to find the words. “He’s never been my stepbrother! He started out as my friend and now he’s my . . .” She trailed off. “Never mind.”

“Boyfriend,” Amy filled in. “You’re dating your stepbrother.”

“Stop saying that!”

“I will not stop!” Amy shouted. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am shocked right now, Maria. Okay? Shocked! I don’t know what to think about any of this! I don’t know what to say about it! I don’t know if I’m supposed to be happy for you or if I’m supposed to be disgusted!”

“Disgusted?” Maria shrieked. “How can you say that?”

Amy sighed and looked at the ground. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Then don’t do anything,” Maria suggested. “Just let it go and move on.”

Amy shook her head. “I can’t do that. I just saw you two earlier in your bedroom . . .” She let her sentence fade. “I saw you two . . . what exactly were you doing?”

“We were gonna go to sleep,” Maria replied quickly. “We were . . . kissing.”

Amy seemed to believe it for a brief second, but then she started to remember the spectacle. The unbuttoned buttons, the discarded clothes, the tangled sheets . . .

“Kissing,” Amy echoed, contemplating it. She looked into Maria’s eyes and shook her head. “I don’t think you were just kissing, Maria.”

Maria couldn’t say anything. She was out of lies, out of excuses, and she was beginning to realize that she couldn’t fight the inevitable. Her parents would figure everything out soon, just like they had hoped they would.

“Have you slept with him?”

Maria was so shocked by her mother’s bold inquiry that her mouth dropped open in surprise. She shifted her line of gaze back and forth from her mother to the floor, finally settling on the floor when she could no longer look at her. Her silence was an evident answer.

“Oh my god,” Amy said. “I can’t believe it.”

Maria couldn’t believe it, either. She couldn’t believe that everything was finally unraveling. Everything was happening so fast. One second, she had been basking in her relationship with Michael. Now, she was defending it.

“It’s not just about that, though,” Maria reassured her. “He cares about me and I care about--”

“Just once, right?” Amy asked, cutting her off. She couldn’t seem to hear anything positive at the moment. “You only slept with him once, right?”

She could have lied if she wasn’t so shaken and if the truth wasn’t so clearly written on her face. Amy knew immediately when silence permeated the room.

“Oh god,” she said. “More than just once.”

Maria nodded hesitantly.

“How many times?” Amy asked.

“What?” Maria shrieked, taking a step back. She couldn’t believe that she was being asked this. “I don’t have to tell you! I’m not telling you!”

“You do have to tell me,” Amy insisted, grabbing her wrists. “I’m your mother, I deserve to know!”

“You’re not my mother!” Maria shouted suddenly, breaking away from Amy. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she spoke, because it was difficult to say the hurtful words. “You’re just my step-mom.”

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

It had been a long, uncomfortable sleepless night. Morning was setting in now, and Michael was still in Maria’s bedroom with Jim. Jim wasn’t saying anything, so Michael didn’t bother to say anything, either. Jim still seemed to be processing the information, and Michael was trying his best to stay out of the other man’s way.

Michael was touching Maria’s jewelry when he felt Jim grip down hard on his arm. He spun around to face him, and Jim’s face was seething with anger. “Don’t you dare put a hand on my daughter’s things,” he ordered.

Michael shrugged his arm free of Jim’s grasp and stepped away from Maria’s jewelry heading over the corner of the room where he hoped Jim would just forget about him. He was standing back by the book shelf when his eyes caught sight of something small and hidden. A camera. An expensive camera. A camera that Maria’s parents had probably used to spy on them. A camera that had exposed them. Michael was going to mention the camera, but Jim started laughing before he could. It wasn’t a happy a laugh. It wasn’t a funny laugh. It was a serious, angry laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Michael asked.

“Just this whole situation,” Jim replied. “You’ve been living here for months now, almost a year. I invited you into my home. I gave you a home, and you took advantage of that.”

“I don’t think I took advantage of anything.”

Jim shook his head. “We both know that’s not true.”

Michael was confused. He didn’t have the slightest idea what Jim was getting at. “What are you talking about?”

“Maria,” Jim said. “You took advantage of her, didn’t you? She’s small and weak and you--”

“I would never do that!” Michael exclaimed. “You think I would ever do that to Maria?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Jim explained. “Maria would never be with you if you weren’t--”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Michael interrupted. “She has been with me! She’s been with me for months now! I didn’t force her to do anything! I didn’t hurt her in any way! I would never do that!”

“But you would sleep with her,” Jim pointed out. “It was pretty obvious to me, that’s what you were gonna do last night. That’s what you’ve been doin’ for quite some time now.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that you didn’t take advantage of her, so great, but using her for sex isn’t much better.”

“Using her?” Michael roared. “What makes you think I’m using her? Can’t you just get it through your head that I care about her, that I wanna be with her for her?”

“No,” Jim replied. “I can’t. You know why, Michael? ‘Cause you’re not good enough for her. You’re not anywhere close to good enough.”

Michael felt his hands clenching into fists. “I know,” he said, “but either are you.”

Jim seemed surprised. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not good enough to call yourself her father,” Michael told him. “Maria deserves someone great, and you can’t even give her the time of day.”

Jim opened his mouth to protest, but Michael wouldn’t let him get a word out.

“You make her feel stupid and useless and weak. You’re the reason why she cries and why she hurts. You’re the reason why she used to be so unhappy, and you know how I know that? She told me. She told me everything, because no matter how hard she tried to tell you, you would never listen.”

Jim shook his head. “That’s not true.”

“It is,” Michael said. “It’s completely true. Face it, Jim. She ran away from you a long time ago, and she ran straight to me. And she hasn’t left.”

“She never ran to you,” Jim said. He was acting like he didn’t believe it, but Michael suspected that he did. “She never ran away in the first place.”

“I’ve got it figured out, Jim,” Michael said. “I’ve got it figured out why this is such a big important thing to you when nothing else has been for awhile, except for fuckin’ Italy.”

“You have?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, I have. You see, it just kills you to know that I’m a bigger part of Maria’s life than you are. It kills you to know that I care about her more than you ever have, more than you ever will. It kills you to know that you’re barely even a part of her life anymore.”

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

Jim was the perfect picture of calm on the outside, but Amy could tell that he was enraged beneath the surface. If he got the chance, he would surely lose his cool.

The house was quiet and calm, too, but it hadn’t been that way earlier. The morning had been filled with shouting. Lots of shouting. Lots of slamming doors, too. The afternoon had continued in that way. The evening’s dinner was nonexistent. Amy was fairly certain that nobody had the time to think about food. There were too many other issues to think about. Important, crazy, ridiculous issues.

“What do we do?” Amy asked her husband. She wanted him to have all of the answers. He always had all of the answers. He would surely know what to do in this situation.

“I have no idea,” he replied, discouraged. “I wish I did, Amy, but I don’t.”

Amy sighed. “This is a disaster,” she said. “My son. My daughter.” She stopped and corrected herself. “Your daughter. She made it pretty clear this morning that I’m not her mother.”

Jim put his hand on her shoulder and tried to console her. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

“No, she does,” Amy said. “She knows exactly what she’s saying, and so does Michael. Whatever he said to you . . . what did he say to you?”

Jim was silent for a few seconds before he replied. “He was trying to make me believe I’m a bad father.”

Amy shook her head. “You’re not. There’s no way you’re a bad father, Jim.”

He was staring at the kitchen counter, and Amy was surprised that he didn’t agree with her immediately. It took some time before he did. “I know,” he said. “I know.”

Amy ran her hands through her hair. She felt another headache coming on. Great . . . “I don’t know what to do,” she said again. She had been saying that the entire day.

“Go talk to Maria,” Jim suggested. “Michael went out, right?”

Amy nodded and stood up, heading for the stairs.

“When he gets home,” Jim said, “we’ll talk to him. We have so much we need to discuss.”








TBC...

Part 45






How could this happen? Maria asked herself. She sat on her bed, tracing her hands over the comforter in the design of Michael’s name. Why did this happen? We were so happy, Michael and I. So happy. Why did they have to find out? Why can’t they just get over it?

Maria knew why they couldn’t get over it. She hadn’t been able to get over it at first when she had realized that she had feelings for Michael. The night they had first kissed, she had been shocked. Utterly and completely shocked. Her parents were utterly and completely shocked now. With time, they would get over it.

They had to.

Maria felt tears stinging her eyes as she thought the issue over. Her feelings for Michael had helped in accepting their relationship. Amy and Jim didn’t have those feelings for Michael, so did that mean that they would never accept it?

No. They had to.

She felt awful. She wasn’t sure if she had a stomach ache from not eating that day or a head ache from being so stressed. Perhaps she had a heart ache from not seeing Michael. A day without him felt like an eternity.

Maria was tracing his name for what had to be the ninetieth time when she heard someone knock on her door. She shot up from the bed and flung the door open, hoping that she would see Michael, but she was disappointed when she only saw her mother. Don’t be upset, she told herself. Of course it’s not Michael. He doesn’t knock. He doesn’t need to.

“Can I come in?” Amy asked timidly when Maria made no effort to allow her inside.

“Why?” Maria asked. “You gonna tell me how disgusted you are?”

“I don’t wanna fight,” Amy said. “I just wanna talk.”

“That didn’t go so well last time,” Maria reminded her, just in case she had forgotten.

Amy sighed. “Maria, please, just let me in.”

Maria gave up and stepped back so that her mother could step in. The minute Amy entered the room, she tripped over some of Michael’s clothes on the floor. She reached down and picked up the grey Metallica t-shirt that she always wore to bed, looking it over as if she were seeing it for the first time.

“I sleep in it,” Maria explained, quickly snatching the shirt back from her.

Amy didn’t push it, and they slowly made their way over to the bed. Amy sat down and picked up the picture of Michael and Maria from the night of the prom. She gazed at it for several long seconds, and Maria rolled her eyes behind the other woman’s back.

“Were you together?” Amy asked. When Maria didn’t answer, Amy turned around and Maria’s eyes, challenging. “Were you?”

Maria crossed her arms over her chest. “No,” she stated simply.

“When?” Amy asked. “When did you . . . when did this happen?”

Maria swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get into this, but she wasn’t sure if she had a choice, either. “That night,” she said. “We came home. We kissed. First kiss.”

Amy set the picture down and shook her head in disbelief. “It’s been going on that long,” she said.

“No, it hasn’t,” Maria explained. “I was freaked out about it, too, at first. I tried to stay away from him.”

“I remember,” Amy said. “I thought you two were having a fight or something. A brother-sister kind of fight, or a friend kind of fight or . . . I didn’t know . . .”

“I kinda just gave in after that,” Maria went on. “You can’t fight feelings that strong. You just can’t. I tried. Believe me, I tried, but . . . I’m glad I gave in.”

Amy was silent for a few seconds before she continued. “Okay,” she said, “so, you kiss, you fight, you make up. What’s next? Sleeping together? Losing your virginity to your stepbrother? That is, assuming you were even still a virgin.”

“I was,” Maria replied honestly, resisting the urge to say something really mean to Amy.

“You used protection, didn’t you?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah, we’ve always been safe.” She was lying, in a way. They never seemed to use condoms and seemed to rely solely on birth control.

“Always,” Amy echoed. “Always, Maria, how much is always? Was this like an every day occurrence or what?”

“No,” Maria said. “It was just a few times.”

“When?” Amy asked. “When did you guys . . . when did it happen?”

“When you were out,” Maria replied honestly, “which you always used to be. It’s your own fault that you were never here.”

“Don’t blame this on me,” Amy told her. “It’s your fault for feeling the way you feel!”

“Oh, yeah, ‘cause I can so control what I’m feeling!”

Amy sighed and shook her head, staring off into the distance as if she was remembering. Then she started to laugh. “I was blind to it,” she said. “There were all these signs. I should’ve known.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Last night,” Amy answered. “Out in the pool. You said you were just swimming, but you weren’t just swimming. And your graduation party, when you went upstairs. You weren’t . . . you weren’t wrestling! Oh my God, how could I believe that! And that same night at your party, I walked out on the two of you, and you told me you were having a water fight! But you weren’t!”

“Well actually we were,” Maria told her.

“I should have known.”

“Yeah,” Maria agreed. “You should have, but you were too busy, you and Dad, thinking about yourselves, thinking about Italy, forgetting all about me. You didn’t notice. How could you notice anything when you don’t even see me?”

“Shut up, Maria.”

Outraged, Maria shot to her feet. “Fuck you!” she shouted. She was way past caring about being disrespectful.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me!” Maria said. “You know what, you’re pretty much driving me insane right now with all of these questions and endless talking, and to tell you the truth, I don’t exactly feel comfortable discussing my sex life with you!”

“Well we wouldn’t have to discuss it if it wasn’t with your brother!”

“Stepbrother!” Maria shouted. “You know what? Screw that! We’ve already been through this, okay? I’ve never been able to think of him as a stepbrother.”

“Well that’s nice,” Amy said, rising to her feet as well, “because I think of you as a daughter, Maria, and I think of him as a son.”

“No, you don’t! You’ve never even showed him that you care about him like you would a son, that you love him like you would a son! You left him when he was too young to even remember you, and even with him living in your house, you still haven’t ever come back to him! You haven’t called him ‘Son’ at all! He hasn’t ever called you ‘Mom’! You haven’t ever told him you love him! You haven’t even ever hugged him! You haven’t!”

“You keep trying to blame this on me!”

“Because I should! You and Dad are wrong! Don’t you get it? I didn’t do anything wrong! Michael didn’t do anything wrong! You and Dad did! You’re the ones to blame!”

“How is that? How am I possibly the one to blame?”

“I already told you! You were never around! You never cared! It’s gotten to the point where you don’t even know who I am anymore! You don’t know what I’m like and what I’ve gone through!”

“What you’ve gone through?”

“Yes, I’ve gone through quite a lot, actually! Max hurt me, Mom, did you know that? When we were together, he hurt me because he tried to rape me!”

Amy’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“He tried to rape me, Mom, and you didn’t even know about it!” She was crying now. The tears were running down her cheeks. “And you know, it would have been nice if you had been there to hug me while I cried and tell me that everything was gonna be alright, but you didn’t. The only person that would do that was Michael. You wanna know why you’re to blame? You’re to blame because you let it happen. You abandoned me a long time ago, just like you abandoned Michael when he was a little kid.”

Amy shook her head, but she didn’t say anything. Wiping tears from her eyes, Amy ran from the room.

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

Michael stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed down 4th Avenue on foot. He didn’t know where he was going, and he didn’t care. He had to get out of the house for awhile. Jim and Amy had managed to keep Maria and him apart the entire day. He hadn’t seen her. He hadn’t gotten to talk to her. All he had done was fight with both Jim and Amy, and he had to get away from that for a short time.

He walked aimlessly for a few minutes before he realized that he could not get away. News certainly seemed to spread fast, because he could hear people talking about him and Maria. He listened closely to some of the things he heard as he passed by a group of gossiping women.

“I heard she paid him to sleep with her,” one woman said.

“I heard it wasn’t just him,” another put in. “More like every guy on the street.”

What? Michael thought as he overheard. Where the hell do they come up with this stuff?

“I heard he got her pregnant and made her get an abortion,” another woman said.

“I heard he raped her.”

Michael froze in place when he heard that. He couldn’t believe it. Why did people think he would do that to Maria? Didn’t they know how special and important she was to him? Didn’t they know how he was when he was with her? Didn’t they know that he would die before he ever let anyone hurt her, including himself?

“There he is,” the women commented. Michael knew they were pointing at him and whispering about him behind his back. He could no longer hear what they were saying for the most part, but he did hear one thing.

“She needs a better man than that.”

He sighed and walked on, feeling defeated. Maria needed a better man. Yeah, he had heard that a lot lately, and it killed him to hear it, because he knew it was true.

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

Amy and Jim were seated at the dining room table when Michael got home. He tried to head upstairs without being noticed, but Jim spotted him and called him back down. “Michael, come here.”

Reluctantly, Michael made his way into the dining room. He didn’t like the expression on Jim’s face. It was hostile. Extremely hostile. There was something about the decisiveness in his eyes, too, something that made it clear to Michael from the moment he saw him that there would be no arguing with him that night.

“Sit down, Michael,” Amy said, patting the chair beside her. Unlike Jim, she never looked him in the eye. She focused on the table in front of her, never glancing up once.

“What is it?” Michael asked. He wasn’t even sure why he asked. He knew. What else would they want to talk about except the current drama in the house, the relationship between him and Maria?

Jim folded his hands on the table in front of him and began. “We talked earlier, Michael,” he said. “You said some things I don’t agree with, some things I don’t believe are true. You told me I was a bad father, but I know I’m not. You told me you care about Maria more than I do, but I know all you see in her is a pretty face.”

“You know nothing,” Michael told him.

“I already know more than I want to,” Jim said. “I know that you slept with my daughter under the roof of my very own house.”

“Yeah,” Michael said, not backing down. “I did.”

“For months now, you’ve been keeping secrets from me.”

“Yeah,” he agreed again. “I have.”

“It doesn’t even matter to you,” Jim continued, “that I gave you a home.”

“You didn’t give me a home. Maria did.”

Anger flashed in Jim’s eyes. Michael knew he hated this. “I gave you a place to live.”

“But Maria gave me life.”

Jim slammed his fist down on the table and stood up. “Stop and listen to me!” he shouted. “You don’t get it, do you? You don’t deserve this anymore! You don’t deserve to be here, and you lost your right to stay sometime last night!”

“Lost my right to stay?” Michael echoed in question. He ran the words over in his brain. “What are you saying?”

“You’re moving out,” Jim said. “There’s no way I’ll let you stay here anymore. You’ve officially worn out your welcome, Michael.”

Michael was silent as he processed the information. He looked over at Amy, but she was still looking at the table. She seemed ashamed that she would let her husband rip into her son like this. Good, Michael thought. She should be ashamed.

“Pack your bags,” Jim ordered, “and be outta here by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Michael shrieked. “Where the hell am I supposed to go?”

“Give him a few days, Jim,” Amy suggested. It almost sounded like she was pleading.

“Fine, three days,” Jim said. “I’ll give you three days to get your sorry ass out of my house and out of Long Beach.”

The last part surprised Michael. “Out of Long Beach?” he asked.

Jim nodded. “I don’t want you in this town anymore.”

Michael rose to his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. “You can’t make me leave the city,” he said matter-of-factly. Jim could not tell him where he could and could not live.

“Oh, but I can. I know people, Michael, and people know me. It’s one of the advantages of being famous. There’s people out there who will make sure you never set foot in this city again, just because I don’t want you here. Maybe you’ll realize that if you actually do something with your life someday.”

Michael tried to stare him down, but he couldn’t. The older man was not giving in at all. The hostile facial expression was still in place. The decisiveness still filled his eyes.

“So you have two options, Michael,” Jim told him. “You can either leave on your own, or you can let me experience the glorious satisfaction of forcing you out.”

For the first time that night, Michael lowered his gaze and stared down at the table like Amy was. He felt small all of a sudden, and he didn’t like feeling that way. “I fuckin’ hate you,” he mumbled.

“What was that?” Jim asked.

Michael raised his gaze again and looked directly at his stepfather. “I said I fuckin’ hate you,” he repeated, louder and clearer this time. “You got a problem with that?”

Jim shook his head. “No, not really. In fact, I think I hate you, too, Michael. See, the only thing I really have a problem with is this relationship between you and my daughter.”

“You only have problem with it ‘cause you finally know how much I care about her, and you finally realize that you’re never gonna care about her like I do.”

Jim paused for the briefest of seconds, but then he went on. “Actually, I just think it’s sad that Maria’s lowering herself to be with a person like you.”

Michael hated hearing this. He heard it over and over again. He had heard it several times before that same night, but it never got any easier.

“Three days,” Jim reminded him. “Three days, and I want you out of Long Beach. I don’t care where you go. I don’t even wanna know, just so long as I never have to see you or speak to you again.”

“Three days,” Michael echoed. He wasn’t sure if he could leave. Leaving Long Beach, leaving Maria . . . Where would he go? Would he go back to Roswell? Maria . . .

“Get out of my sight,” Jim told him.

Michael wanted to say something or throw something or hit someone, but he didn’t. He sulked up the stairs and down the hallway to his bedroom, pausing when he reached Maria’s door. He could hear her talking on the phone to someone. She didn’t sound happy. He imagined opening the door and walking in. He could picture it now. Maria would jump off the bed and throw her arms around him. They would kiss, and she would be happy again. Everything and everyone else would disappear, and it would be just the two of them again, just like it always had been.

It was beautiful fantasy, one that he wanted to live out to the fullest, but he stopped himself when his hand was inches away from the doorknob. He reminded himself that Maria would be lowering herself if she was with him, because he was nowhere near good enough for her.

Michael retreated to his own bedroom and collapsed on his bed, thinking of all that lay before him. Three days wasn’t a very long time . . .








TBC...

Part 46








“How did you find out about Michael and me?” Maria asked her cousin.

“Aunt Amy called and talked to my mom,” Beth told her over the phone. “She told her everything.”

Maria sighed and shook her head. “She doesn’t know everything. She doesn’t know anything.”

“I don’t even know why she called,” Beth said. “This seems like the kind of thing she might wanna keep to herself.”

“Apparently not.” Maria was upset that her mother was already telling the entire family. How long would it be before the whole world knew? Two days, tops?

“So, uh . . . you and Michael,” Beth said. “I gotta admit, I was kinda shocked when I heard about it.”

“You were?” Maria didn’t understand. “I didn’t think you would be. I mean, out of everybody, you seemed to understand how close we were the most.”

“I know,” Beth said, “I did know you were close, but I never knew that you were that close.”

Maria had a feeling she would be hearing that a lot.

“I knew you guys touched each other a lot, and you always smiled a lot when you were around each other, but I didn’t know.”

“What about the wrestling thing the night of my graduation?” Maria pointed out. “That was pretty obvious, Beth. Seriously, how could you not know?” She was trying to joke around, but Beth wasn’t laughing.

“I have no idea. I guess the thought never crossed my mind that you guys were actually involved. It’s sort of a crazy concept, you know.”

“I know.” The craziness was one of the things that Maria loved about her and Michael’s relationship.

“Most girls don’t fall for their stepbrothers.”

“Just pretend he’s not my stepbrother,” Maria said. “Would this be such a big deal then? Would it be this huge issue?”

“No,” Beth said. “It wouldn’t.”

“Then you get this?” Maria asked hopefully. “You understand where I’m coming from?”

Beth hesitated for a brief second or so. “I think I do,” she said.

Maria breathed a sigh of relief. “Good,” she said. “Thank you, Beth. It’s nice to know that someone supports us and accepts this.”

“I don’t support you,” Beth said, “and I don’t accept it. Nobody does, Maria.”

Maria felt all of her relief draining from her. “Are you serious?”

“Would I say that if I wasn’t? Look, Maria, I don’t mean to be harsh, but it’s really weird to think of you and Michael as a couple when, all along, I’ve thought of you as best friends or siblings or something. It’s weird for everybody. It’s weird for my mom and my dad. It’s weird for everyone else in the family. Nobody really knows what to think of you anymore, Maria.”

Maria couldn’t believe what she was hearing. No one was going to stick up for them. She and Michael were alone in their defense. They weren’t going to be receiving any help, any encouragement. No one was going to support them. No one was going to accept them. Not for a long time, at least. Maybe never.

Maria reached up and pressed the off button without even saying goodbye.

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

Michael didn’t sleep that night. As if sleeping alone instead of with Maria wasn’t hard enough, he also had to deal with Jim’s demand for him to leave the house and to leave Long Beach in just three days.

He didn’t want to go, and he knew that, legally, he wouldn’t have to go, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to believe that Maria might be better off if he wasn’t in her life.

He had heard it so many times. He wasn’t good enough for her. He didn’t deserve her. She was lowering herself and her standards to be with a guy like him. He knew she deserved some kind of Prince Charming to walk up to her and sweep her off of her feet. She was that good, that perfect. He couldn’t even begin to measure up to what she deserved. He didn’t have money. He didn’t have a nice house. He wasn’t famous, and he wasn’t respected. He was just who was, and all he had was what he felt for her.

He had tried to ignore all of these things, but they were finally catching up with him, and he couldn’t ignore them anymore. He hated to admit it, but everyone else was right, and leaving Long Beach would be beneficial to Maria.

He wasn’t sure where he would go. It would be simplest to get out of Long Beach and take a residence in a nearby city, somewhere close where he could still see Maria every day if he wanted to, but doing that would defeat the whole purpose. If he stayed close, he wasn’t distancing himself from her, and he wasn’t making her life any better. If he was going to leave, he had to really leave.

He had to go back to Roswell. He had to go back to everything that was ugly and low, just like he was, and he had to leave Maria in Long Beach where everything was beautiful and bright, just like she was.

Even though it almost killed him, Michael began to pack his things that morning.

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

Maria turned on the music so that it played quietly in the background. It was a nice, soothing melody, one that pressed a feeling of calm into her body. She swayed her hips to the beat for a few seconds and then went to stand in front of the mirrors. She began to stretch out before dancing. She bent down and stretched her legs and reached up and stretched her arms.

She glanced in the mirror and saw that she was not the only one in the basement. He was standing there, too, leaning up against the wall and watching her with a smile on his face. Michael . . .

She turned around to face him, and her breath caught when she met his eyes. He had eyes that could do that, that could make her feel like she couldn’t breathe in an exhilarating sort of way. Judging by his sharp intake of air, she stole his breath, too.

“Hey,” she told him, struggling to speak. “Wanna help me stretch?”

He moved forward, smiling again. “Gladly.” He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. She leaned back into him and stretched her body as tall as it would go, standing up on her toes. She brought her arms back to drape over his shoulders, and she turned her head to the side so that their lips met. He kissed her slowly before letting her slide back down his body.

She bent down to the right and stretched her legs out, waiting for the moment that he would touch her again. She moaned when she felt his hands sliding across her stomach and lower, down her legs.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, kissing her shoulder.

“Michael,” she moaned, feeling her legs start to get weak as he trailed one hand back up her body to cup her breasts.

“Lay down,” he told her.

She complied, laying down on her back in front of him. He bent down and kissed her lips quickly, again, and then he pulled away, letting his face hover mere inches away from her own. He reached his hand down and tickled the insides of her thighs, eliciting a soft giggle from her and urging her to spread her legs apart for him. She complied with that, as well, and a full-out groan escaped her as he moved down to kiss the inside of her thighs.

“You like that?” he asked her.

She nodded. “I love it,” she told him, struggling to sit up. She grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled herself up so that she was sitting in his lap with her legs wrapped around him. They kissed again, and his tongue darted out to mate with hers. He began running his hands through her hair, and started to dig her nails into his back.

“You mean everything to me,” he told her sincerely once he pulled away.

“I do?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, you do.”

She smiled. “You mean everything to me, too, Michael,” she told him. “You’re all that matters. God, Michael, I . . .” She trailed off, fighting desperately to get the words out. “I love--”

Maria DeLuca awoke with a start, snapping herself out of her dream world. She sat up sleepily and looked around the room. She had been hoping that Michael would be in there with her, that he would be holding her and watching her sleep like he did so often, or that he would just be leaning against the door, waiting for her to wake up. Something.

But he wasn’t. Michael wasn’t in there, and the room was cold. Maria clutched her blankets to her chest, wishing that she was dreaming again.

Maria got up and started getting ready, unsure if she wanted to or not. She planned on staying in her room as much as she could to avoid all possible contact with her parents. It had been difficult enough to deal with them the day before, and now that they had been given the opportunity to sleep on it, to really process their “discovery”, there was no telling what they would be like, what they would think, and what they would say.

A sudden wave of defiance crashed over Maria as she was getting dressed. She spotted a black Metallica t-shirt on the floor and slipped it over her head, knowing that the shirt could and did only belong to one person. She got into a pair of jeans, too, a pair that Michael always told her made her legs look miles longer than they already were. She carefully hooked the $500 Christmas necklace around her neck, too, smiling as she looked at the shining diamond in the mirror.

Maria walked downstairs to get some breakfast, and her heart started to pound when she heard someone rummaging around through the refrigerator. Disappointment cascaded through her, however, when she saw that it was only her father and not Michael.

She reached up to look through the cupboards and didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t deserve her words. He was a waste of breath, and she would much rather use her breath to say Michael’s name over and over again.

She found a box of crackers and shrugged, figuring it was the best she could do. She was starting back up the stairs when she heard Jim’s voice, booming and angry.

“Maria, get down here right now!”

Maria froze on the stairs, unsure of what his problem was now.

“Maria!” he shouted again, from the bottom of the stairs.

“What’s your problem?” Maria asked him as he charged up the stairs. “What’s going on?”

“Give me that!” he ordered.

“Fine, whatever! Here you go!” She threw him the box of crackers, unsure of what the big deal was. She turned to head back up the stairs, rolling her eyes in agitation, but he clamped his hand down hard on her arm and stopped her.

“What are you doing?” She struggled to get away from him, but he held her there.

“Give me that!” he shouted again.

“What are you talking about?”

He reached forward and yanked the diamond necklace from around her neck, snapping the chain in two.

“Dad, no!” Maria shouted, reaching to retrieve her diamond. Jim was already running back down the stairs, and she ran after him. “Dad, stop!” she pleaded. “Stop! No!”

He practically flew into the kitchen and raised the diamond up in the air right over the counter, preparing to smash it.

“Dad, no!” Maria shouted, but she could already see it happening. “Daddy!”

No amount of pleading could stop him as he brought the diamond down hard upon the counter, smashing it until there was nothing left. Maria felt tears stinging her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She looked her father straight in the eye and told him how she felt towards him, how she would always feel towards him. “I hate you.”

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

Michael stood on the stairs and leaned against the wall that concealed him from Maria’s view and that concealed her from his. He closed his eyes as he listened to the chaos. Maria’s voice was strong and angry, but he could hear her tears. She had tears that were just waiting to be shed.

All of a sudden she came running back up the stairs, struggling not to cry. “Michael!” she shouted when she saw him. She threw herself in his arms and held on to him tightly. “Oh God, Michael!” she cried, releasing her tears onto his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and held her to him. It felt like it had been forever since he had seen her, even though it hadn’t. Even though he was seeing her now, he wished he wasn’t. Not seeing Maria at all was far better than seeing her cry. Maria didn’t deserve to cry.

“Don’t leave me,” she begged of him. “Please don’t leave me, Michael.”

He didn’t say anything. How could he when he had just finished packing his bags?

“Hold me, Michael. Please hold me.”

All at once, Michael felt Maria being torn from him. He opened his eyes and saw Jim, angry and hostile, standing between the two of them now. “Stay away from my daughter!” he warned. He pulled Maria up the stairs with him and away from Michael before either of the two young lovers could even glance at each other again.

Reluctantly, Michael went downstairs into the living room and picked up the phone and the phone book. He searched through the pages of the phone book until he found the number he was looking for.

“Las Angeles Airport. How may I help you?”

“Yeah, I need to get on a flight to Santa Fe, New Mexico.”








TBC...

Part 47








“Get out of my room! Get out of here! Get away from me!” Maria was damn near hysterical, and that her father was now rummaging through her bedroom for everything that reminded him of Michael was definitely not helping to calm her down.

“Get out of here!” Maria cried, pounding her tiny fists down on his shoulders to know success as he gathered up any of Michael’s clothes. “I hate you!”

“Stop being so dramatic, Maria,” Jim told her.

“Dramatic?” she shrieked, unable to believe that she was the only one being dramatic.

“Yes, dramatic,” Jim repeated. He reached for the picture of Michael and Maria on prom night and seized it from Maria’s bedside table. He took it out of the frame and tore it in half.

“Stop!” Maria shouted. “God, why won’t you stop doing this?”

“Doing what?” Jim asked, taking everything Michael-like and heading for the door.

Did he honestly not know? Did he honestly have no idea as to what he was doing? “Ruining my life,” Maria explained. “It’s all you’ve ever done, Dad!”

“That’s all Michael’s doing!” Jim roared as he slammed the door closed.

Maria shook her head and spoke to herself now. “No,” she said. “Not true.” Michael had never managed to ruin her life. Somehow, he had always found a way to enhance it.

Maria laid on her bed, closing her eyes and wishing she was someplace else. She didn’t move or say anything until she heard a knock on her door.

“Go away,” she told whoever it was. It had to be either her mother or her father. Michael never knocked. He just came inside and wrapped his arms around her and made her feel okay again.

She heard the door open slightly, and she turned around, exasperated. Didn’t the people in this house know how to follow instructions?

She was ready to shout obscenities if that was what it took to be left alone, but she restrained herself when she saw that it was only Isabel. Isabel Whitman. Her friend.

“Hey,” Isabel said. “I’m sorry, if you want me to go, I can.”

“No, no,” Maria told her, making room for her to sit down on the bed. “Come on in.”

Isabel closed the door quietly and made her way into the room. “Michael let me in,” Isabel said. “He, uh, looks kinda . . . upset.”

Maria shrugged. “I really wouldn’t know. My parents have found ways to keep us away from each ever since they found out.”

“I bet,” Isabel said. She sat down on the bed and was silent for a few seconds, something that Isabel rarely was. “So,” she said, “how are things going?”

Maria shook her head. “Not good.”

“Are you okay?” Isabel asked her, looking her over in concern. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

Maria nodded. “I have been,” she said, “and yelling and shouting. Nothing works, though. I can not find a way to get through to my mom or my dad.”

“I had a feeling they weren’t accepting it,” Isabel said.

“Apparently no one is,” Maria said. “Not my cousin. Not the rest of the family. No one is.”

“I am,” Isabel told her, “if it means anything. Alex is, too. When we found out, we weren’t shocked or anything, Maria. We always had a feeling, both of us, that you two are meant to be together. I think we realized it before you did.”

Maria smiled a little. “Maybe.” She opened up her arms and hugged her friend, happy that at least two people on the planet were not freaking out about this.

“We’re both really happy for you, Maria,” Isabel said, holding her friend tightly. “You deserve this, both of you. You’re perfect for each other.”

Maria pulled out of the hug. “If we’re so perfect for each other, then why does everyone else think we’re so wrong for each other?”

“They just don’t see what’s there,” Isabel said. “I mean, it’s obvious that you guys care about each other. Everyone can see that. It’s just not as obvious that you guys care about each other on that level. I guess since Alex and I have spent a lot of time with the two of you, we’ve gotten to see that more than a lot of other people.”

“But what about my parents,” Maria pointed out. “Granted, they haven’t really been around a lot over the past few months, but they live in the same house as Michael and I do. They should be able to recognize how close we are more than anyone else.”

Isabel nodded. “They should.”

Maria sighed. “Of course they wouldn’t, though. Why would my dad recognize anything besides Italy? Why would my mom recognize anything besides my dad?”

“I’m so sorry that you have to go through all of this,” Isabel told her, “and I’m sorry that I can’t be more of a help.”

Maria sent her a small smile. “You have no idea how much you’ve already helped me.”

Isabel shrugged. “I try. I guess . . . just know that it’s gonna take time for everyone to get past the initial shock of this, but once they do, it won’t hurt so much. It won’t be so difficult, and Michael is still gonna be here waiting, and you two can run into each other’s arms and hold each other and kiss each other and do whatever you wanna do, because you’re gonna be together forever.”

Maria liked the sound of that. She liked the fact that Michael was always going to be there for her, that he was always going to be waiting for her. She liked that he would wait until they could be together again without so much outside influence.

“Thanks, Isabel,” Maria said. “You’re a really good friend.”

“So are you.”

“Can I ask you something?” Maria asked.

Isabel nodded.

“Okay,” Maria said. “Um . . . how did you know? How did you know about me and Michael? I never called and told you about it. I mean, I would have eventually, but I never did, so how did you know? Did my mom tell you?”

“Your mom?” Isabel echoed. “No, she and your dad haven’t said a word to me.”

“Oh,” Maria thought she understood. “So you just heard people talking. Gossip and rumors. I get it.”

“No,” Isabel said, shaking her head. “I didn’t hear people talking, Maria.”

She didn’t understand. “Then how did you find out?”

“Max told me.”

Max? Maria thought. Why does he know? How does he know? “Max?” Maria inquired. “Is he, like, spreading the gossip or something?” It was typical of him. Max would use anything he heard against her to his advantage.

“Yeah, he’s spreading it,” Isabel said. “He’s the one who started it, Maria.”

“Started it? I . . .” Maria trailed off. Something occurred to her, something she hadn’t given much thought to. Something she hadn’t given any thought to, actually.

Perhaps her parents weren’t the only ones that had discovered her secret that night.

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

It felt weird going over to Max’s house, knocking on his door, waiting for him to answer. She had spent the entire last few months trying to avoid him and keep away from him because of fear that he would try to put his hands on her, but now she was confronting because she was no longer afraid.

He froze in place when he answered the door. He was definitely surprised to see her. “Hey,” he said, smiling. His eyes immediately began to travel up and down her body, surveying her choice of dress. She had chosen to wear layers and layers of clothing, but that obviously didn’t stop him from imagining.

“Save the sex fantasies for later,” Maria told him, barging past him and into his house. “I need to talk to you.”

“Right,” Max said, closing the door. “So I heard about you and Michael. Pretty sick, Maria.”

“There’s nothing sick about it,” Maria told him.

“It’s practically incest.”

“No, it’s not,” she told him. “Michael and I aren’t closely related. He’s my stepbrother, that’s all. We’re not related by blood or anything.”

Max shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. It’s still sick.”

Maria ignored him. “Whatever. So anyway, I actually came by to ask you something.”

“Yes,” Max said. “The answer is yes.” He took a step closer to her. “I will fuck your brains out.” He reached out a hand to grab her, but she backed away.

“Stay away from me,” she warned him.

He threw his hands up in the air, backing away a little. “Fine, fine. I’m not sure I wanna touch something Guerin’s touched anyway.”

“You’re pathetic,” Maria told him. “You’re jealous and pathetic.”

“I have nothing to be jealous about.”

“You have everything to be jealous about.”

Max didn’t say anything, probably because he knew that she was stating the truth. “Just ask me your damn question,” he told her.

“How did you know about me and Michael?” she said. “I know my parents didn’t tell you, and I know that you haven’t been picking up on the gossip. Isabel told me you’re the one who’s spreading it, making sure everyone knows what’s going on. She told me you started it all, Max. So how? How did you know?”

“I saw you,” Max blurted, not even bothering to lie. “I saw you and Michael together, out back in your pool.”

Maria hadn’t expected that. She hadn’t expected that Max would . . .

“Oh my god,” she said. “You saw us together?”

Max nodded. “Yeah, I did. Quite a show you two were puttin’ on.”

“A show?” Maria shrieked. “You watched?”

Max shrugged. “How could I not? You’ve got one tight body there, Maria.”

She slapped him instinctively, hating that he still made comments about her physical appearance. “You unimaginable bastard,” she said. “You say I’m the one who’s sick? I don’t get my kicks by watching people together!”

“Hey, I would’ve much rather been the one in the pool with you, but I’ll settle for what I can get, okay?”

Maria shook her head, disgusted. “I can’t believe I ever went out with someone like you.”

“By the way,” Max went on, not even having heard her, “that’s real nice how you’ve basically let Michael move into your bedroom with all his shirts on the floor and stuff. I wonder how many times you guys screwed each other up there.”

“How the hell did you . . .” Maria trailed off. “You were in my bedroom?” The thought sent a chill up and down her spine.

“Yeah,” Max said with a smirk. “I took one of your black thongs, by the way.”

“Why were you even in there?” Maria asked, ignoring the thong comment.

“Liz said she saw you two at the beach,” Max said. “She saw you two making out and she told me about it. I didn’t believe it, so I ended up coming over and finding you outside. God, Maria, you know, you guys should really think about putting that on video tape.”

“Stop,” Maria told him, not wanting to hear what he had to say. “Stop talking, Max. God, you are the most annoying, disgusting person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

“Okay, I’ll stop talking,” Max said, moving closer to her. “I was always better with my hands anyway.” He sneaked his one hand in between her legs.

Maria pushed him away from her and brought her knee up to knee him in the groin.

“FUCK!” he shouted, falling to the floor. “SHIT, MARIA!”

“Serves you right,” she muttered, stepping over him on her way out the door.








TBC...

Part 48







Amy leaned against the door to Maria’s room. It was silent inside. No music. No crying. No movement. Amy opened the door and peaked inside. No Maria.

Amy stepped inside, noticing that the room seemed far less cluttered without all of Michael’s things, but also far less Maria.

Amy walked around the room, trying not to imagine all that had been going on up there when she had been asleep or when she had been away. Had they just slept or had they . . .

She stopped walking and picked up a notebook lying on the floor. She looked over a page full of doodles and scribbles Maria had obviously done in her free time. Michael and Maria Forever and Ever seemed to be the most dominant theme, but M&M Always seemed to be on there more than once as well.

“What are you doing?”

Amy spun around and dropped the notebook when she heard Maria’s voice. Her daughter was standing in the doorway, an impatient look on her face.

“Nothing,” Amy said. “Looking for you.”

“Nice to know you think that’s nothing.”

“Where were you?” Amy asked, ignoring her daughter’s comment.

“Out,” Maria replied. “I went to talk to Max Evans, the guy that tried to rape me while you were away, remember?”

Amy grimaced. She didn’t like hearing that, and Max . . . he seemed like such a nice guy when she had spoken with him.

“It turns out, uh . . . he saw me and Michael together the other night. He watched us together.” Maria stuffed her hands in her back pockets and tried to act strong, but it was obvious that the knowledge was disturbing to her. “It’s always nice to know that your psycho-ex was watching you have sex.” She threw her hands up in the air and shrugged. “But you don’t care, do you? God, you were probably investigating with him.”

Amy sighed. “I only talked to him a few times.”

Maria gave her a surprised look. “I was just joking,” she said, stepping into the room. “I didn’t think that you actually . . . well, that’s great, Mom. Really, it is.”

“Maria . . .” Amy began.

“Don’t.” Maria cut her off. “Just get out of here.”

“Maria . . .”

“I don’t want you in here,” Maria told her, sending her a stone-cold glare, one that Amy understood perfectly. She quickly exited the room and left her daughter to sit by herself.

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

Michael sat on a bench in front the hardware store with his head in his hands. He heard people talking about him, about him and Maria. He didn’t need to look up and see the expressions on their faces as they passed him.

“He’s not good enough for her.”

“She deserves a better man than that.”

God, he couldn’t take hearing that much more. He had gotten himself the plane ticket to Santa Fe, and he would be leaving in two days. He would be leaving the day before he and Maria were scheduled to go to Hawaii.

He sat imagining her, imagining her lips, her hands, her voice, her eyes. He tried to remember everything about her, but the more time he spent away from her, the harder it was. He had only been apart from her for two days, and it felt like two lifetimes. It felt like he had already left, like he had already lost her.

He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t lose that memory of her. She was the single greatest and most perfect thing that had ever happened to him and would ever happen to him in his entire life, and when he left, he needed to take that perfect memory with him. He couldn’t not remember her. He couldn’t.

Michael felt tears stinging his eyes as he thought about leaving her. He didn’t want to, but he needed to. He needed to leave so he wouldn’t ruin her life anymore. He needed to leave so she could have some chance at a normal relationship.

“Hi, Michael. How are you?”

Michael looked up, afraid to see who he saw. Liz. Liz Evans.

She sat down beside him on the bench and sighed. “So I found out. Max and I found out.”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked her.

“I saw you two on the beach making out,” Liz explained, “and Max went over to your place and saw you two in the pool together.”

Michael shook his head in disbelief and curled his hands into fists. He didn’t like the thought of Max seeing Maria like that, with him.

“I don’t understand it, Michael,” Liz said. “Why Maria? She’s not even pretty.”

Michael’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Like hell she isn’t,” he said. “Look at her, Liz. She’s the most beautiful girl in the world, on the outside and the inside.”

Liz sighed longingly. “That’s so sweet, Michael. I wished so long and so hard that you would say that to me. About me.”

“Just give up, Liz,” he said. “Not gonna happen.” He glanced across the street and saw Max at an ice-cream stand, not really ordering ice-cream, but more on the make with some girl. Michael ditched the ever-annoying Liz-Idiot and made his way across the street and over to her brother.

“What the hell did you think you were doin’ watching me and Maria together?” Michael demanded, pushing Max back toward the ground.

Max stumbled and fell over a chair, surprised to see Michael. “Guerin!” he said. “Long time, no see, buddy!” He struggled to get to his feet. “Well, not really. The pool, you know, I saw way more than I wanted to see of you there. I saw a lot of Maria, too. Let me tell you, Mike, you’re one lucky son of a bitch.”

Michael swung his fist at Max and hit him. “One more word, Max!” he warned. “One more word, and I will kill you right here, right now.”

Max started to laugh, and that was almost all the motivation Michael needed. He raised his fist, ready to strike again, but then he lowered it. It was pointless. Beating on Max would make him feel better for a little while, but Max would never stop being Max. He would never stop making comments about Maria’s body, and he would never stop wanting it.

Michael turned and walked away from the entire situation. He figured he needed the practice, because walking away from Maria and walking away from the situation they had gotten themselves into was going to be the hardest thing he ever did.

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

Jim and Amy were eating dinner when Michael got home that night. Maria was not eating with them, and Michael was immediately concerned. What if Maria wasn’t eating?

“You’re home,” Amy commented. Neither she nor Jim invited him to sit down and eat with them.

“Yeah,” Michael said, obviously. “I, uh . . . I just wanted to let you guys know that I . . . I got a ticket, a plane ticket, to, uh . . . Santa Fe. I leave in two days.”

“Two days,” Jim mumbled under his breath. Michael knew what he was thinking. He wanted him gone in shorter than two days.

“You did give him three days,” Amy reminded her husband.

“I know,” he said. “Well that’s great, Michael. I’m sure you’ll be very happy to be back in New Mexico.”

Michael shook his head. “No, I . . . anyway, I got my bags packed, too, so I’m all ready to go.”

“Great,” Jim said. He seemed sublimely happy about all of this.

“Yeah,” Michael agreed dishonestly. He wished it was great. He wished he could feel better about what he was doing instead of feeling so low about it. He was leaving Maria after everyone else had already left her. He was possibly the one thing she had left, and he was going away forever.

For her own good, though. It was all for her.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” Michael told them. He headed up the stairs, not bothering to bring any food up with him. He didn’t feel up to eating at any time soon.

He found himself standing in front of Maria’s door, wanting so desperately to open it and go into her bedroom. He didn’t need to kiss her. He didn’t even need to touch her. He just needed to see her again, because he couldn’t allow himself to forget.

He ran his hands through his hair as tears filled his eyes again. He was on the verge of crying, and that was something he rarely did. He could only remember crying a few times in his life. He tried not to do it, but it was so hard not to.

Before he opened her door and saw her, Michael retreated to his bedroom, because he was fairly certain that if he took one glance at her, he might never have the strength to leave.

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

Maria sat up in bed, looking over at the door. It was strange. She thought she felt him near.

She got up and went over to the door, opening it slowly. She thought he would be on the other side, waiting for her, waiting to see if she felt him near, but he wasn’t.

She must have just imagined it. She imagined a lot about Michael, but lately, sexual fantasies had been pushed aside by fantasies of just looking into his eyes.

She closed the door and got back into bed.








TBC...

I hope everyone had a happy new year! Thanks for the feedback!








Part 49








He walked inside and saw her laying on his bed in nothing but her bra and panties. He couldn’t keep his mouth from dropping open, and she giggled at the expression on his face.

“Michael, do you like what you see?” she asked him.

He threw his jacket to the floor and made his way onto the bed so that he was laying on top of her. “I love what I see,” he told her, bending down and pressing his lips to hers.

“Take your shirt off,” she murmured against his lips as they kissed.

He sat back from her and pulled his shirt over his head, groaning when her hands immediately found his skin. “Maria . . .” He looked down at her, staring into her eyes. She was so fascinating. Every time he looked at her, he saw something more that made him go crazy.

“What?” she asked, noticing the way he was looking at her.

He bent down and kissed her again, letting his hands explore her exposed skin. He wanted to find the words to describe and express what he was feeling, but he had never been good with words. Physical was his language, and Maria understood his language.

“Oh, Michael . . .” she moaned as he unhooked the clasp to her bra while his lips kissed her neck. She pressed her chest up into his when he had the bra removed, and he bit his lip at the feeling of skin on skin, contact.

“Undress me,” she begged him.

He surveyed what she was wearing. The tiny black thong didn’t conceal much. “You’re not wearing much,” he pointed out.

She smiled and laughed a little. “I know,” she said, “but you need to take it off of me.”

He nodded. “I can do that.”

She laughed some more as he brought his lips down for another kiss and his fingers worked their expertise in removing the garment.

He sat back and stared at her for a moment, basking in the glow of her, the radiance. She looked so happy when she was with him, and he felt so happy when he was with her. Happiness, beauty . . . they were all synonyms for ‘Maria’.

“Pants, Michael,” she reminded him. “You can’t get the job done with pants on.”

He smirked. “Sure I can,” he said, bending down and pressing his mouth to her hot entrance. She gasped at the contact and pressed up into him. “Oh god,” she whispered.

He gradually kissed his way back up her body, stopping for a just a minute at her breasts, and then returned to kissing her properly on the lips. She buried one of her hands in his hair and trailed the other down his body to unfasten his jeans. She pushed them down his legs along with his boxers, and pressed her naked body up into his.

“So pretty,” she commented, taking him in her hands. “You know, in a manly sort of way.”

He ran his hands up and down her arms, feeling the forming sweat of their lovemaking. His breathing was coming loud, now, as they neared the inevitable and she positioned him at her entrance.

“Do you think I’m pretty?” she asked him suddenly, causing him to stop moving forward.

“Of course I do,” he told her. “I think you’re beautiful, Maria. Have I ever told you that?”

She didn’t answer.

“Have I ever told you that I’m looking at the rest of my life when I’m looking at you?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Have I ever told you that you’re all that I think about, dream about?”

She shook her head again.

“Why haven’t I told you, Maria?” he asked her. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but you’re telling me now.” She reached up and brushed her hand across his cheek.

“I know you should be with someone better than me,” he started.

She shook her head and pressed her index finger to his lips. “Shh,” she said. “Don’t.” Her voice dropped to a low whisper as she said, “Just put yourself inside of me.”

He sunk into her smoothly and slowly, holding onto her hips for support. She threw her head back at his entry and moaned his name. “Michael . . .”

“Maria . . .” He said her name as he began to move within her.

“I need you,” she gasped. “I want you.”

He gazed into her eyes as their hips met over and over again, and he struggled to find words, to find voice. He had to tell her. “I . . .” He trailed off and started again. “Maria, I . . . I love--”

Michael awoke wishing that he hadn’t. He thought about the dream, about Maria, about all that he was to be leaving behind, and he allowed his tears to flow freely down his face.

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

The next morning, Isabel came over again. Maria was grateful to have someone to talk to, someone that wasn’t going to express disgust of her relationship with Michael.

“So is he a good kisser?” Isabel asked. “I mean, not that I’m, like, interested in kissing him or anything. Alex is all I need. I’m just wondering. It’s time to do the girl-talk thing, so spill.”

Maria blushed and smiled. “A very good kisser.”

“Go on,” Isabel urged.

“And with Michael, it’s completely different than with Max,” Maria said. “You know, with Max, it was all, like, groping and stuff, but with Michael, it’s different. It actually means something, you know.”

Isabel nodded. “I know.”

“And when Michael kisses me,” Maria continued, “he makes me feel things that I never felt when I was with Max.”

“What things?” Isabel asked, intrigued.

“Like . . . like I don’t know. Like I’m bouncing off the walls or something.”

Isabel chuckled. “Okay, so he’s a good kisser, and I’m sensing that he’s good with his hands, right?”

Maria nodded enthusiastically.

“So he must be good in bed, then, right?”

“Isabel!” Maria exclaimed.

“What?” Isabel asked, playing innocent. “Look, it’s part of the girl-talk scenario. We have to talk about it.”

Maria felt herself turning redder. “Fine,” she said. “Okay, yes, he is fantastic in bed!”

“And in the pool,” Isabel added.

“Yes,” Maria said. “And on the floor downstairs.”

“Downstairs?” Isabel echoed. “God, Maria, you’re supposed to wait until you’re married to have sex in every room of the house.”

The girls started laughing when Jim opened the door and stepped into the room. They both stopped laughing abruptly as Jim gave them both critical looks. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Nothing,” they both answered in unison.

“What were you talking about?”

“Nothing,” they repeated.

Jim shrugged and headed back downstairs.

Maria didn’t feel like laughing anymore. Once her father entered the room, he never left. He seemed to leave a coldness in the air, a sharpness in the light.

“Do you think he wants me to go?” Isabel asked.

Maria shrugged. “Who cares if he does? I want you here right now. I need to have someone to talk to.”

“What about Michael?” Isabel asked. “You haven’t talked to him, yet?”

Maria shook her head. “Nope. I mean, I cried a little in his arms on the stairs, but I don’t even remember what I said, and I don’t think he really said anything.”

“Well you should talk to him sometime,” Isabel suggested.

“That’s the thing,” Maria said. “I never know where he is.”

“Maria, it’s a big house, but it’s not that big.”

“I know,” Maria said, “but my mom and dad seem intent on keeping me away from him, and you know, I don’t think they’re the only ones.”

Isabel seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

“I think that Michael’s avoiding me,” Maria said.

“Why would he do that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but he is.”

“Well, you don’t have to wait for him to come to you. You can go to him,” Isabel reminded her, getting up off of the bed. She started for the door, and Maria followed her. They stopped across the hallway at the door to Michael’s room. “He’s right in there,” Isabel said. “He of the nice hands and the good kissing and the great sex.”

“Shh,” Maria said, not wanting Michael to know that they had been discussing him.

“Sorry,” Isabel apologized.

Maria reached out and placed her hand on the doorknob, turning it to open the door. The door didn’t open. “Locked,” she commented. Why would Michael lock his door? He never locks it.

“Oh,” Isabel said. “Well, it’s not like he’s locking you out.”

“Right, then what is he doing?”

“He’s locking the whole world out.”

Maria made her way back into her bedroom. “Well, I’m part of the world.”

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

You’re not part of the world, Michael thought as he lay on his bed and listened to them. You are the world. The whole world. My whole world.

Michael laid there for another half and hour crying quietly, wondering if Maria was crying, too, and wondering how one stupid plan to vandalize Roswell High had turned into this, a full-blown romantic entanglement that had come to mean everything to him.

He eventually got up and started getting around. He took a shower and shaved a few days worth of stubble, and then he headed downstairs. There was something that he needed to get.

He went into the living room, ignoring Amy DeLuca cooking something in the kitchen. He knew she was watching him intently as he took a framed picture of Maria off the wall. He needed that picture. He didn’t have a picture of Maria, and he needed one.

Amy nodded in understanding as he took the picture with him back up to his room to pack it along with the rest of his items.









TBC...

Thanks for the feedback!








Part 50









Amy and Jim were sitting on the couch pretending to watch TV. It was obvious to Maria that they were both thinking. Of what they were thinking about, she wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling it was her and Michael.

“Maria, great, you came down,” Jim said. “I need to talk to you.”

“No thanks,” Maria said as if it were an invitation. She had successfully and somehow managed to avoid talking with her father for quite some time now, and she planned on continuing that.

“Maria, it’s not about . . . that.”

Maria gave her father a look of disgust. How could he not even acknowledge that what she and Michael shared was something more than ‘that’? Would it kill him to call it a relationship?

Maria noticed something different about one of the walls in the living room as she was glaring at her father. There was an empty space. “Is there something missing here?” she asked her parents, walking over to examine the wall. “Wasn’t there a picture of me here?”

“Um, I don’t think so,” Amy said.

Maria shook her head. “No, there was. It was one of my senior pictures. We had it enlarged and framed, remember. It was the black and white one.”

“Oh, right, that one,” Amy said.

Maria turned to face her mother. “Where is it?”

Amy shrugged.

“Did you take it down?”

“No,” Amy said. “Why would I do that?”

“Well, we’re just not really on the best of terms right now.”

“Maria, I would never--”

“I’m just saying . . .” Maria trailed off and let the picture issue go. She started for the kitchen to find something to eat, but she stopped when she heard her father’s heavy footsteps following her. She spun around to face him. “What?” she asked.

“I told you,” he said, “I need to talk to you.”

Maria sighed. “Dad, I’m not in the mood for a lecture. I know you don’t accept my relationship with Michael, but I’m not gonna stand here and defend it when I shouldn’t have to.”

“That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about at all,” Jim said, sitting down at the table. He motioned for Maria to sit down across from him, and she did, hesitating slightly. He seemed to be in a strangely good mood.

“Okay,” Maria said when he didn’t speak.

“Come to Italy with your mother and me,” Jim said. “It’ll be fabulous.”

“Fabulous? Nice choice of adjective, Dad.”

“I’m serious,” he said. “I want you to come with me. We’re leaving in a few days, but it’s not too late for you to get all of your things packed up.”

Maria didn’t even have to think about it. “No, you see, it is too late,” she said, “because I already have vacation plans. Michael and I are going to Hawaii.”

Jim sat back in his seat and nodded slowly. “Right,” he said.

“Right,” Maria agreed, unsure why he wasn’t arguing with her over Hawaii. She had expected that he would forbid her to go. “Okay.” She pushed her chair back and got up. She searched around for something to eat in the kitchen and then went back upstairs, still confused as to why Hawaii had not even been an issue.

On her way up to her bedroom, Maria checked the door to Michael’s room.

Still locked.

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

Nighttime approached rapidly. Too rapidly. Michael had confined himself to his bedroom for most of the day, only stepping out when it was absolutely necessary. He knew Maria had confined herself to her room, too. He heard her “angry girl” music blaring all day long. She played the music constantly, much like she was letting him know that she was in there, that she was waiting for him.

He wanted to, but he couldn’t go see her, talk to her, be around her. He would never recover from an encounter with her. He would never be able to leave. He would never be able to make her life better.

At around 8:00 at night, Michael heard Amy downstairs fixing a late dinner. He decided to go talk to her. He needed to talk to somebody.

“Michael,” Amy said without enthusiasm or interest when she saw him in the kitchen. “How do you feel about lasagna?”

“I don’t,” he said. “I mean, I’m not hungry.”

“You sure?”

He nodded.

“Okay.”

Michael sat down at the counter and sighed. “So, uh . . . are you excited about Italy?” he asked, struggling to make small-talk.

“Oh, yes,” Amy said. “I’m am tremendously excited. How about you? Are you excited about going back to Roswell?”

“Nope,” Michael answered immediately and honestly.

“I figured,” Amy said, “but, you know, she’ll be okay.”

“Will she?” he asked. “I mean, what’s gonna happen to her? You guys are leaving for Italy, I’m going to Roswell, and she’s gonna be stuck here all alone.”

“She has other friends.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

Amy seemed slightly surprised by this. Michael didn’t understand why. Why would it surprise her that Maria didn’t have a lot of friends? Had she seen many people over to the house lately? Had Maria gone to a number of parties lately? No.

“Isabel--”Amy started.

“Yeah, Isabel and Alex,” Michael said, “but they’re not always gonna be around.”

Amy temporarily forgot about he lasagna and sat down at the counter beside Michael. “She’ll be okay, Michael,” Amy promised. “I’ll call her every day.”

“But a phone call . . . that isn’t enough. She’s gonna be all alone.”

Amy sighed dramatically. “She doesn’t know that.” She gave Michael a look. “She still thinks that the two of you are going to Hawaii.”

“I know,” Michael said. He found that he was looking at the ground now. “I haven’t told her that I’m leaving yet.”

“Are you ever going to tell her?”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause if I tell her . . .” Michael swallowed a lump in his throat. “She’ll start to cry and . . . I won’t be able to leave.”

“None of us like to see Maria cry,” Amy agreed.

“Some people do.”

“Like who?”

“Like Max. And Jim.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “He’s made Maria cry more than once, and I hate him for it. I hate Evans, too. Sometimes I just wanna kill the guy.”

“Michael . . .”

“I’m serious,” he said. “The night he tried to hurt Maria, I wanted to kill him so bad, and when I found out he watched me and Maria together, I wanted to kill him all over again.”

“He seemed like such a nice kid.”

“He’s not,” Michael assured her. “Look, what I’m trying to say is . . . I don’t know if I can do this. Leave. I promised her I wouldn’t, and when I do, I’m gonna make her cry. I’m gonna be just like Max and Jim.”

“No,” Amy told him. “No, Michael, you are not going to be like Max.”

“And Jim,” Michael added. Couldn’t forget that.

“Max hurt her, or at least he tried to hurt her. You could never do that, Michael.”

“Yes, I could,” he said, “and I’m going to. When I leave, I’m gonna hurt her ten times worse than Max did. It’s not physical, you know, but it’s all the other kind. Emotional.”

“She’ll understand,” Amy said.

“Will she?” Michael felt like he was starting to lose it. “I don’t know what to do, how to do it. I don’t even know if I’m alive right now because I’m not with her.” He knew he was being completely honest with a woman who probably hated his guts anymore, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t contain it anymore. “I don’t even know if I’m ever gonna live again when I leave.”

“Of course you’ll live. You both will. It’ll take time, Michael, but you’ll both move on eventually.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, I won’t move on.”

“You will.”

“I won’t. I can’t. It’s not possible. Maria makes every other girl look like . . . like I don’t know. Like a trash can or something.”

“A trash can?”

“Sorry, bad analogy,” he said. “The point is, they’re all just out there, everywhere, but Maria’s the only one that matters, the only one I can see. What am I gonna do when I can’t see her anymore? Date a trash can?”

“Well . . .” Amy paused. “Okay, well, I’m still a little confused with the trash can analogy, but let me tell you something: You will fall in love with someone someday. You will find her, and you will know that she is the one.”

“But what if Maria’s the one?”

“She’s not,” Amy said immediately.

“Why not?” Michael asked. Unable to hide his emotions anymore, he found his eyes clouding up again. “Why can’t she be? Because she’s my stepsister? Is that why?”

Amy was silent as she looked at the boy in front of her. Her son. “Because it’s not meant to be,” she told him in a voice she would use to talk to a child.

“But I think it is,” he said. “When I’m with her, I feel things I’ve never felt before. I can’t explain it. I just . . . I think I’m supposed to be with her.”

Amy shook her head. “You can’t.”

“Why not?” he shouted. He felt the tears start to fall again, and he was unable to control them. He didn’t care if guys weren’t supposed to cry. He was crying, because he was hurting.

“Oh, Michael . . .” Amy put her hand over her mouth and whimpered in sympathy when she saw him crying. “Just . . . don’t.”

“Why not?” he asked again.

“Because . . .” She was starting to cry now, too. “Because . . . Michael, we both know . . .” She paused for a long time, but Michael knew what she was going to say. There was only one thing they both knew to be true, one thing that everyone knew to be true. “She deserves better.”

Defeated, his entire body went weak. He wasn’t sure why he had even come down to speak with her. He had a feeling he had been making a desperate plea, a desperate attempt to stay, but apparently even that would not work.

He ran back up the stairs and into his bedroom, making sure he locked the door. He knew Maria wanted to see him. He knew she had been trying to get into his room ever since that morning, but he couldn’t let her.

Staying away from Maria, preparing to leave her forever . . . it was worse than dying.









TBC...