Roswell Fanatics

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When She's With You
by Tuesday

Pairing: M/L/Z, M/M, A/Lonnie, K/?

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: I don’t own Roswell or any of the characters from the show. Jason Katims (bonehead that he is) and all networks that show it own it. I’m just playing with Zan and Max for a while.

Summary: There are two guys, but only one girl. What ever will they do. Update: Well this started out meant to be a fluffy nookie fic, but it seems to have a mind of it's own. Eh, what can I say.

Author’s Note: I’ve never posted a story longer than one chapter before so I’m not sure what kind of updater I am yet, but If you want a new part tell me to get my behind in gear and I’ll do my best.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 1


“Liz, have you seen Zan today? Mmm mmm, he’s looking good!” Maria says while applying her bubble gum pink lipstick in the bathroom mirror. “And Max, god… I’m telling you if I wasn’t otherwise spoken for I’d be doing double duty with those two.”

“Maria, come on. They don’t look that good,” Liz said touching up her eyeliner. Maria just stared at her, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched. “Ok…,” Liz shrugged. “So they do look that good. But you won’t see me falling all over myself to let them get in my pants like some of the skanks around here.”

“Would you guys stop droolin over my brothas. Ewww… it’s just... Ewww,” Lonnie shivered and made a gagging noise from the wall she was leaning on, waiting for her friends to finish putting on their war paint. “They’re dogs! You know this! Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m sick of watchin you paint ya faces.”

“Lonnie just cause you look good naturally doesn’t mean we don’t have to work at it. Besides I want Michael falling all over himself trying to get in my pants,” Maria said with a wink.

They all fell into step together as they made their way out to the quad for lunch. They drew the attention of everyone around them as they walked confidently through the crowded courtyard.

Lonnie’s short, dark brown hair framed her heart shaped face and threatened to fall over her warm hazel brown eyes that seemed so intimidating to anyone who didn’t take the time to see the kind, loving girl hidden behind them. Her heavy black boots, lowridin’ camouflage cargos, and a long sleeved, black fishnet top reflected her New York punk attitude and accent.

Maria was Lonnie’s total opposite. Having shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes, she was all light to Lonnie darkness. An easy smile sat on her pink lips and the gleam in her eyes alerted of the intelligent mind that hid behind those bright eyes. Her purple halter top, a denim mini skirt, roman sandals, and silver bangles on her wrists and ears gave her a fairy like quality.

Liz was the median between the two other girls. Slightly shorter than Maria, with long dark hair and dark eyes to match, she complemented Lonnie’s dark features, while her light hearted manner and kind personality complemented Maria’s outspoken wit. Gold hoops hung from her ears lending an exotic quality to her form fitting black baby tee, low cut jeans, and black Doc Martin’s boots.

The girls made their way through the cafeteria to buy their lunches, then sat at their usual table outside in the quad.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael was looking for his best friend who had gone missing from PE halfway through class. Poking his head over the side of the bleachers, he scanned the seats looking for Zan’s dark spiky head. Sure enough he found Zan lounging a couple of rows up.

“Hey, Zan,” Michael said as he climbed the steps.

“Sup, Mikey,” Zan said giving his usual head nod in greeting. He looked around and asked, “Where’s motor mouth? I expected you two ta be locked at the lip, holed up some wheres by now.” He teased his friend.

“All in good time m’man,” Michael said and slapped Zan’s hand with a cocky smirk. “Hey, why you hangin out back here?”

Zan got a mischievous smile and nodded his head toward the girls bouncing up and down on the trampoline for P.E. “Just enjoyin the view,” he said.

Michael turned to look and laughed. He sat and joined in his friend’s activity.

Zan looked at his friend and a wry smile appeared. He had known Michael for as long as he could remember. They all used to play together when they were kids. He and Mikey’s friendship had picked up again like Zan had never been gone when he returned from New York a couple of years ago, and Zan was glad to see that he and his friend still had a lot in common. Michael’s long shaggy mane hung to the base of his neck, and in his eyes, to the irritation of many people. His laid back attitude hid a quick temper that lay just below the surface, but Michael was a loyal friend, and Zan was glad to have him.

“You seen Liz today?” Michael asked leaning back and watching the girls giggling and jumping around.

Zan sighed, “Don’t start with me, Mikey.” He stood up and started working his way down the bleachers. Michael got up slowly and followed him.

“What is it with you? Any other girl you’d of jumped her and been done with it a long time ago,” Michael said shaking his head at his friend.

Zan rolled his eyes. “Liz is different. Now leave it alone,” Zan said heading out to the quad.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Max stood at his locker tossing in the books from his last class, when a picture he had taped in the door caught his eye, again. It was of the seven of them at the beach last year. Alex and Kyle were both making stupid faces at the camera and Lonnie was rolling her eyes at them, Maria and Liz had their arms over each other’s shoulder’s and had these cheesy grins from ear to ear, and Max, Michael, and Zan all stood behind them smirking.

His eyes drifted back to Liz and how happy she looked. That had been one of the best days of his life. Liz, Maria, and Lonnie had convinced him to be in their sand sculpture. At the time he hadn’t realized they were going to bury him up to his neck in the sand and turn him into a mermaid. Liz had topped it off by putting seashells over his boobs and giving him seaweed hair.

“I remember that day,” Kyle’s voice drifted over his shoulder. Max looked up to see Alex and Kyle standing there.

“What day,” Alex said.

“Remember that day we all went the beach and Maxie boy got all gussied up for the mermaid ball. Met any handsome mermen lately Maxie Poo,” Kyle teased.

“Shut up, Kyle,” Max said slamming his locker closed and heading out for lunch.

“Leave poor Max alone. You know he’s sensitive about the Maxine incident,” Alex loudly whispered.

Max stopped and turned around glaring at them. Crossing his arms he said, “Both of you shut up or I’ll tell Lonnie about the time I caught the two of you trying on her bra’s when she wasn’t home.”

A look of total terror crossed both their faces. “That’s what I thought,” Max said and turned back toward his destination.

“Grouch,” Alex grumbled as he watched Max walk outside.

“I know,” Kyle said. “I don’t think he’s gettin any lately.”

“I thought he was dating Tess Harding,” Alex said.

“Naw, he dropped her a long time ago. He was going out with Pam Troy, but he dumped her about two weeks ago. Man, Alex you gotta keep up with these things.”

“Dude! It’s hard keeping track. Between him and Zan they’ve just about gone through the whole female population of West Roswell.” Alex threw up his hands in defeat. “Who do you think he has his eye on now?”

“I don’t know, but I think he’s got someone in mind.” Kyle said heading out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, Liz… I saw Max looking at you again,” Maria said with a smirk.

“Maria, that is so in your imagination,” Liz said skeptically.

“Hmp… I catch Max and Zan checkin you out all da time,” Lonnie said “You’d be amazed at the crap they do when they think no one’s lookin.”

At their curious looks Lonnie got this conspiratory grin, leaned in and quietly said, “Maxie reads Romeo and Juliet and gets all weepy, and Zan writes this lovey dovey poetry. He won’t let anyone read it but he’s got this notebook full of it.”

“Your kidding,” Maria said giggling.

“No Way,” Liz said.

Liz and Maria just stared at her with their mouths hanging open. Who would have thought that those two manly men would have such sensitive sides.

“I kid you not,” Lonnie said laughing and shaking her head.

‘Romeo and Juliet…” Liz thought looking down at her tray, 'that’s my favorite love story…' She thought about Zan writing lovey dovey poetry and smiled, 'I have a journal full of all my personal thoughts and feelings.’

“Yo, here they come. Keep that on the low. They’ll kick my ass if they find out I told you.”

All of a sudden the table is invaded by testosterone. Michael plopped down on the bench next to Maria and pulled her onto his lap. “Hey babe.”

“Michael,” Maria squealed. “You don’t just grab a girl and toss her around like that. You act like a caveman.”

“You know you like it,” Michael said with a knowing smirk.

“Well… maybe I do,” Maria said blushing. “But that’s still no excuse.”

Zan sat on the table next to Lonnie and stole a hand full of fries off her tray.

“Hey, go get your own food,” Lonnie said slapping his hand away.

“Stolen fries taste betta,” Zan said popping one in his mouth.

Max dropped a tray overflowing with food on the table next to Liz and sat down. He had spaghetti with meat sauce, two cheese burgers, fries, a piece of chocolate cake and a cherry coke all piled on there.

“Damn, Max,” Lonnie said staring at his food.

“What? We got a big game tomorrow. I need energy.” Max shrugged and dug in.

Zan reached over and stole some fries from his tray. “Hey,” Max said. “Go get your own food.” Zan just grinned and popped some into his mouth. Liz smiled at how weird the Evans triplets were and quickly ate her own fries.

Michael whispered something into Maria’s ear then lightly bit her earlobe. “See ya later, chicas,” Maria said before they both hopped up and disappeared into the school.

Just then Kyle and Alex showed up and sat down. “Where are they headed off to,” Alex wondered aloud.

“The eraser room, of course,” Kyle smirked.

“Ya know, they need to soundproof the eraser room,” Liz said offhandedly. “I was walking by it the other day and heard banging and somebody yelling ‘Oh baby… Oh yeah baby… yes… yes… I’m gonna’ and there was this high pitched scream,” Liz reenacted the scene tossing her head and moaning the sounds she’d heard. “I about busted a gut laughing. The bell rang before I got to see who was in there though,” she laughed.

All of a sudden Kyle spewed the soda he was drinking all over his tray and turned beet red. Lonnie and Alex were cracking up, and Max and Zan were starring at her with these strange looks. “What,” Liz said thinking everyone had gone crazy.

“It was Kyle and Vicky Delanie,” Lonnie said. “The principal musta walked by right after you left, cause he caught ‘em in there. He called their parents and they got detention for a month. Mrs. Delanie threatened to castrate Kyle next time he goes near her daughter.” She and Alex were laughing so hard they were crying and Alex was leaning on Lonnie to keep from falling off the bench.

Alex tried to speak between his fits of laughter, “I heard when they found them Kyle had his pants down around his ankles and Vicky was on her knees. That means it… it had to be… it was Kyle!” Alex laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe. He was clutching his stomach and rolled right off the bench.

Kyle was glaring at them. You could just see the plots for revenge brewing in his brain. “Lonnie, Alex has a naked picture of Claudia Schiffer with your face taped to it that he beats off to every night!” ‘Two down in one shot,’ he thought with a smug grin.

Alex gasped and his eyes got wide, Lonnie went from looking confused, to disgusted, to pissed off. “What!?”

“Bye.” Alex took off before Lonnie could grab him.

“Get your ass back here!” She took off after him intent on kicking his ass. Kyle happily continued to eat his lunch like nothing had happened.

Max shook his head and said, “I don’t know why they don’t just get it over with. All this foreplay is just delaying the inevitable.”

Zan nodded his agreement. “She wants him bad.” He plopped down in Lonnie’s seat and commenced to eat her lunch.

“You guy’s really think so,” Liz wondered watching two of her best friends chasing each other around the quad. “Hmm… I never noticed.”

“Hey Liz, how’s the play going,” Zan asked.

“We’re just starting rehearsals. I’m really excited about it, but I don’t know what I was thinking taking on the play, cheerleading, and trying to keep up with school. I’m never going to have time for a social life,” Liz said kinda dejectedly. “I just wish Maria or Lonnie had auditioned too. Then at least I’d have a familiar face to hang out with during down times.”

“You can handle it sweets, sides I was thinkin bout joining the stage crew,” Zan said.

“Really, Zan? That would be so cool,” Liz said happily.

“This is new. I didn’t think you were into musicals, Zan,” Max said eyeing him suspiciously.

“I’m not. My Shop teacher said he’d give me extra credit if I helped out,” Zan shrugged.

“Uh huh,” Max said unbelieving. “Liz you coming with us after the game tomorrow night?” Max changed the subject. It irked him that Zan had found a way to spend time with Liz. He wasn’t going to sit there and watch while she slipped out of his grasp.

“What’s happening tomorrow night,” Liz asked.

“Yeah, what’s happening tomorrow night, Maxie,” Zan said glaring at Max. 'Oh, so Maxie’s trying to Block huh. Well we’ll see who could throw salt on somebody’s game.

“Just some of the guys from the team having a bonfire out at the old soap factory. Michael said he was going with Maria, you want to come,” Max said smiling at Liz.

“Sounds fun. Sure, I’ll go,” Liz said smiling back.

“It does sound fun doesn’ it? I think I’ll go too, Maxie. You know I bet Lonnie and Alex’ll wanna go too,” Zan said crossing his arms and grinning.

“But, there won’t be enough room in the jeep, with Michael and Maria riding with me too,” Max said his smile straining a bit with frustration.

“Hmm… that does seem to be a problem, doesn’ it,” Zan said tapping his chin, like he was in deep thought. “I know! You can take Lon’s, Mikey, and Mouth, Kyle here can take Alex, and Liz can ride with me on my bike. There problem solved.” Zan looked so pleased with himself. Not only did he get back at Maxie boy, but he got Liz ridin with him. He could just imagine her sitting behind him, wearing that little cheerleading uniform, holding him tight to keep from fallin off. Oh yeah, I’m definitely Da Man.

“Sounds good to me,” Liz said nodding. “Are you sure I’ll be safe riding with you Zan?” she teased.

“Just leave yourself in my hands, sweets. I’ll take care of ya,” Zan said with a sexy grin.

‘Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! If only I had death ray eyes. Max could seriously strangle Zan right then. The bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

“Well, I’ve got to get to class. See you guys later.” With that Liz got up, tossed her tray in the trash and disappeared into the school.

“Very smooth, Zan. Verrry smooth,” Kyle said lightly punching him in the arm as he too got up and left.

Zan was leaning forward on the table just staring at Max. Max was glaring at him suspiciously.

“I thought we had deal,” Max said.

“You the one that broke it with dat ‘You wanna hang out afta the game’ crap,” Zan said in a high girly voice.

“No I didn’t. You all of a sudden decided to get involved with the play. Not because Liz will be there and you get to see her dancing around in a leotard everyday, Nooo, but for ‘Extra Credit’. Yeah, right,” Max said unconvinced.

“You know what? I want outa dis deal. I don’t care no more, I want her. I’m sick of these chickens around here. Don’t none of ‘em compare to Liz,” Zan said finally getting angry.

“I know, Zan. Liz is beautiful, and smart, and talented… and she kicks our asses at Sega on a regular basis,” Max said with a smile. “And that’s the problem, she’s so perfect neither one us is willing to give her up.” Max let out a resigned sigh. “Zan, we’ve never fought over any girl before and I don’t want to start now. The only thing we can do is leave her alone.”

Zan was quiet for a while looking around at the people going to their classes. “We can let her choose,” he said.

They’d had this conversation before and it always came down to the same thing. “And what if she chooses me, Zan, then you get hurt. And if she chooses you, I get hurt. So, either way one of us is going to lose in this situation. Nothing’s changed,” Max said patiently.

Zan looked at Max for a minute as if he was considering things. He stared Max straight in the eyes. “Not if we share her.”

“What!?” Zan had gone out of his mind, that was the only possible explanation for his last statement. “Are you crazy? Liz won’t ever go for something like that.”

“I been thinkin bout it. The only way we both get to be with Liz is if we share her,” Zan said matter-of-factly.

“That’s it! You’ve officially lost it.” Max dropped his head into his arms.

He was shaking his head when his muffled voice drifted out. “OK, I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but… how could we make it work? And more importantly how the hell do we get Liz to go along with it,” Max’s muffled voice questioned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
TBC...

Hey guys I want to say a Big Thankyou to everyone who's reading and especialy to those who left me feedback.

Anya, Rapunzel (waves Hi), m14, pandas2001, roswellluver, Zans Desire, RosLover2, LittleBit, BehrObsession, alienmom, JBehrsGurl, Carol000 (waves Hi), MoonLily, Bubbles, ZansLove, talena, qt4167013, Asabetha, Itzstacie, strawberry, maxzhot, and fieryangel.

I am so glad you guys liked my fic enough to let me know.

Now on with the show.


Part 2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zan smiled at the question. At least Max was thinkin about it.

“I figure we got to get her to want us both so bad she cain’t resist,” Zan said with a sexy smirk.

A smile crept onto Max’s face as he thought of all the possibilities.

“I think I get the idea,” he said lifting his head and finally looking at Zan.

Zan was watching his brother closely, trying to gage Max’s reaction to his “solution” to their little problem. When he saw the cocky smirk that reflected his own, he knew it was on.

He held out his fist. “I knew ya had it in ya, little brotha.”

Max hit Zan’s fist with his own and said, “Let’s do this.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liz was talking to Maria while grabbing her AP Biology book out of her locker, when all of a sudden Zan appeared leaning on the locker next to hers. He didn’t say anything he just stood there looking at her.

“Hey Zan. What’s up?” Liz asked hesitantly. He had this slightly puzzled look on his face.

“Hey. Nothin’s up.” Zan said still looking at her strangely. He reached out and wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger and let it slide over his hand as he gently pulled her hair. “I was just wonderin if it was a soft as it looks.”

Liz felt a shiver run down her spine when Zan ran his hand through her hair, leaving little goose bumps in its wake.

“Um… thank you.” She finally managed to get out after realizing what he’d said. Now she was the one standing there staring at him. He just smiled and started backing away.

“See ya later.” He finally looked up and noticed Maria was standing there. “Hey Re-Re.” He called out and disappeared down the crowded hallway.

“Well that was interesting.” Maria said with a surprised look on her face.

“That’s one word for it.” Liz said looking at Maria with a dazed and slightly shocked smile.

“Well, I’m off to class before Ms. Crabopple has another conniption cause I’m late. See ya at practice.” Maria said, rolling her eyes and taking off down the hall.

“She’s gonna get you for calling her that one of these days,” Liz called out as Maria walked away.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…,” she heard Maria’s fading voice.

Liz grabbed the book she needed and hurried to her class. The ball rang just as she walked through the door.

“Just in time, Ms. Parker,” Mr. Henderson said.

Liz ducked her head and hurried to her bench. She slid into her seat next to her lab partner, Max and smiled.

“I was wondering where you were,” Max said.

“I just had the strangest run in with your brother,” she whispered and opened her notebook.

“Really,” Max said smiling to himself. “What happened?”

Liz looked at him and decided not to say anything, cause… well… nothing really happened anyway… did it?

“It was nothing. He was just being his normal odd self,” she said playing it off.

The teacher started his lecture on blood cells and Liz started taking notes. She was leaning over the table writing when she felt Max’s arm brush up against hers. He was leaning over her shoulder looking at her notes. The light touch gave her another shiver. She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up at him. He smiled and went back to writing.

All of a sudden she was acutely aware of Max’s presence. Every move he made, how close he was, how the muscles in his arm moved while he was writing, how his leg brushed up against hers when he shifted in his seat. She swallowed and tried to make herself concentrate on the class.

“Ok class for our lab experiment today you’ll be examining and typing your partner’s blood.” There were groans from all over the class. “Yes, that means you will have to prick your fingers. Just be careful not to stick it in to hard and you all should be fine.” Mr. Henderson said as he passed out pins to every bench. There were some snickers after he said this but, he was oblivious to the cause.

Liz and Max started setting up for their experiment. Liz was still hypersensitive to Max’s presence so, when he went to get the microscope she was aware of every inch of his body as he squeezed past her. He grabbed her arm to steady himself and she could feel the heat from his hand penetrating her skin. As his body passed behind her, she could feel the hard muscles of his chest against her back and the delicious heat from his body that coursed through her. And his fingers seemed to linger and leave a trail of tingles behind as he finally moved past. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and she was sure she was flushed from the heat she felt on her face.

She was feelings so strange today. She had to get control of her self. She ran a hand through her hair and brushed it away from her face. Things that she wouldn’t normally notice were making her feel all flushed and shivery. She took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm down. They had an experiment to conduct so she needed to be thinking clearly. When she saw Max return with the microscope she stood and stepped aside so he could pass unimpeded. She missed the look of disappointment on his face as he sat down.

They were finally ready to start their experiment. Liz picked up her stick pen then turned to Max. “You ready?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” He said holding out his index finger. When she raised the pin to prick his finger, Max closed his eyes tight in anticipation of the pain and kept peeping out of one to see when she was going to stick him.

“Oh, you big baby, it doesn’t hurt that much.” Liz said as she quickly pricked his finger and squeezed a small drop of his blood onto a glass slide.

When she looked up he had his finger stuck in his mouth and looked so cute nursing his boo boo.

“Aww, does the poor widdle baby want mama to kiss it and make it better,” she teased him.

Instead of him feeling embarrassed about making such a big deal over the little pain, Max stuck his finger out and in a pouting baby voice said, “Yes, kiss it and make it better.”

Liz rolled her eyes at him and quickly grabbed his hurt finger and kissed it. He had a big cheesy grin on his face like it was all better now. She shook her head at him and held out her own finger.

“My turn,” she said

He picked up his pin then gently held her finger with his free hand. He looked up at her before he lifted the pin to stick her. She looked as if she didn’t care whether it hurt or not. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m ready,” she said impatiently.

He quickly pricked her finger and looked up to see her reaction and laughed. She was scrunching up her face and hopping from one foot to the other saying, “Ow! ow! ow! ow! ow! ow!”

“Who’s being a baby now?” he teased. He quickly squeezed a drop of blood onto the glass slide and released her. She immediately stuck her finger in her mouth.

Max turned back to her after securing the slides and held out his hand.

“Want me to kiss it?” he asked.

Liz looked like she wanted to say yes, but was too ashamed to admit it.

“Give it here,” he said knowing her finger was throbbing.

She looked up at him pouting and held out her finger.

He looked her in the eyes as he brought the tip of her finger to his lips. The tip of his tongue lightly caressed the small wound as he gently kissed the pain away. He wasn’t ready for the contact to end, so he let his tongue linger for a moment, tickling the sensitive pad before his lips covered the finger to the knuckle then slowly pulled away.

“Better,” he asked still holding her hand.

Liz’s pulse was racing. Feeling his soft, warm, lips on her skin caused her heart to pound in her chest. Thoughts of his lips caressing more than just her finger sprang to mind. She let out a breath that she didn’t even realize she was holding and swallowed trying to find her voice. She wanted so badly to say ‘No! It still hurts! Do it again!’, but just couldn’t let herself do it.

After the initial shock of pleasure wore off she realized he was still holding her hand and looking at her expectantly. She pulled her hand away, blushed and said, “Yes, Thank you.”

She turned back to their experiment intent on keeping her mind on the work at hand. No, no, no. On the experiment, yeah, the experiment. She leaned forward over the microscope and let her hair hide her flushed cheeks.

Max turned back to the work bench and bit his lip trying not to smile. But he couldn’t help it.
He couldn’t resist when he had the chance to taste her. Now that he didn’t have to hold back his feelings, he was free to let her know how badly he wanted her.

It used to drive him crazy sitting next to her and being able to smell the scent of her skin, or when her hair would accidentally brush over his arm, and especially when she would tuck her hair behind her ear and smile at him. Sometimes it took all his willpower to not grab her and kiss her senseless.

“You’ve got five minutes class. Start cleaning up your stations,” Mr. Henderson called out.

“Damn!” Liz said. She looked up at Max from the microscope. “We aren’t finished. We won’t get credit for the experiment if we don’t turn it in complete.”

“Well, maybe he’ll give us more time,” Max said trying to sooth her worries. “How about I ask him for an extension until tomorrow. We can borrow a microscope and finish it at my house tonight.”

“I guess we don’t really have much choice,” Liz huffed. “Fine, go ahead.”

Liz was frustrated. She’d let herself get distracted and now she was in danger of getting a zero on their assignment. She had to focus on her work. She’d been doing a pretty good job of keeping her grades up, she didn’t want to start falling behind now.

“Mr. Henderson said we could turn it in first thing in the morning,” Max said when he returned. “It’ll be ok, Liz. Don’t worry about it. I’ll pick you up after football practice and we’ll finish it. Ok?”

Max wanted to reassure her. He felt like it was his fault that she was upset, so he was determined to make it right, but he couldn’t help but be happy he was going to get to spend time with her tonight, in his room, alone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zan and Michael were playing Basketball on the courts behind the gym after school. Michael’s sleeveless shirt was covered in sweat and his long messy hair was soaked and kept falling in his eyes while he was trying to keep Zan from scoring another point. Zan was dribbling and trying to keep Michael off his back. Sweat was dripping from his chin and running down his bare chest. He faked left then pulled back to lose his determined opponent, then turned and shot off a jumper that fell through the hoop with a swoosh.

“Dat’s game,” Zan said breathing hard. He scrubbed his face trying to wipe the sweat from his eyes.

“Damn. I thought I had you for a minute. Good game man.” Michael wiped his face with his shirt and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “Wanna go again,” he asked picking up the ball and placing it on his hip.

“Just gimme a minute,” Zan said still trying to catch his breath. He sat on the ground and laid back looking up at the sky. Michael sat down too and leaned back on his hands happy to take a break.

“You goin to that party tomorrow night,” Michael asked.

Zan turned his head toward his friend, smiled and said, “Yeah, and guess who’s goin wit me.”

Michael’s eyebrows shot up. “Liz? No way,” he said chuckling. “Bout time you stepped to her. It took you long enough. What’s up with that anyways?”

Zan rolled his eyes, looked back up at the sky and said, “Would you quit bustin on me about dat. Look,” he sighed. “Me and Maxie made a promise to eachotha a long time ago dat we wouldn’t fight over no girl. And everything was cool till we met Liz. We both wanted to git with her, but we didn’t want to step on eachother’s toes, so we decided we’d be just friends wit her.”

“Oh… really? That’s cool,” Michael said nodding in understanding. “You know I didn’t mean anything by it. It just didn’t make sense cause I could tell you really liked her, ya know. I think it’s cool you guys look out for each other like that though.”

Michael thought about it for a second and a frown appeared on his face. “Hey, didn’t you just say you were going to the party with Liz tomorrow night?” he asked.

Zan went still. “Um… yeah,” he answered hesitantly.

“So, if you guys are swearing off… what gives?” Michael asked confused.

‘Damn!’ He had to be more careful. Should he tell him? He could trust Mikey, he knew that, but this was different. He had to make sure Michael wouldn’t go blabbering to big mouth Maria or he wouldn’t say shit. But it’d be cool to have somebody to talk to about all this.

Zan sat up, leaning on his hands and looked at Michael seriously. “Ok, Michael you got to promise me you gonna keep dis shit on the low. No tellin nobody, Not Maria, Not Lonnie, Nobody.” Zan said in a low serious voice.

Michael’s eyebrows shot up with a confused frown. “Ok. I won’t tell anybody,” he said with a nod.

Zan looked at him hard for a second like he was judging whether or not to say anything. Finally he said, “Me and Max both gon git with her.” He was looking hard at Michael to see how he’d react.

Michael frowned in confusion and said, “Wha… I don’t get it… What?” He was shaking his head in confusion.

Zan sighed and tried again, enunciating every word this time. “Me and Max are Both going to git wit Liz.” He raised a pierced eyebrow waiting for it to sink in. He could tell exactly when Michael figured it out.

“OH, DAAUUM!” Michael said laughing in shock. He sat forward more intent on the conversation than before. “Oh, Man! I don’t know what to say. Is Liz cool with this?” he finally asked.

“See that’s the thing. She don’t know about it yet. We both got to git her to want to be with us first. Right now she only sees us as friends. Once we got her wanting both of us so bad she can’t choose then we’ll see what she thinks about us sharing her.”

“Oh, Wow,” Michael said shaking his head. They both had huge smiles on their faces. “How the hell are you going to get her to do that?” Michael seriously wanted to know.

“Ah, young grass hoppa, still so much to learn.” Zan said teasing his bud. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his back. “Hey, I’m gonna go get some water,” he said pointing toward the track with his thumb.

“Yeah, me too,” Michael said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC...

Howdie everybody.

I'm sorry this part is so short. Zan was giving me a hard time these past few days. I had to get some help from Liz to get him in line. I think Max is going to end up being the good twin. He'll be in the next part a lot more so maybe he'll behave for me.

Thank you guys for being so patient. I want to get this day over with but, I'm trying not to rush them.

I want to give a big huge THANK YOU to Strawbehrry Shortcake my beta. And Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to every one reading and kisses to alll my feedbackers.

And now back to our previously scheduled programing...



Part 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hey Maria, will you stretch me out?” Liz asked her best friend. The cheerleaders were sitting on the field warming up for practice.

“Sure,” Maria said. Liz laid on her back and Maria knelt down and lifted Liz’s left leg onto her shoulder. She leaned forward holding her leg firmly, trying to stretch the tight muscles in her hamstring.

“Push a little harder,” Liz said needing more pressure to feel the stretch. Her face contorted into a grimace as Maria leaned forward more. “Ok, that’s good,” Liz told her. Maria held her leg there for a minute then switched and did the same for the other.

“Hey, Maria?” Liz said hesitantly.

“Yeah?” She answered looking down at Liz’s unsure expression with mild concern.

“Something kind of strange happened earlier and I just want your opinion on it,” Liz said not quite sure how to say what was on her mind.

“Sure, go ahead.” Maria said getting curious.

“Ok, well… during Biology class today we had to stick our fingers to get a drop of blood for an experiment, and of course it hurt, so Max offered to kiss it. Ya know, to make it feel better. Normally this wouldn’t be something that would overly concern me but… Maria the way he kissed it… he… well, let’s just say it made me forget all about the pain.” Liz rushed out, blushing at the memory.

“Ooo, sounds interesting,” Maria said releasing Liz’s leg and settling down beside her. Liz got to one knee and began stretching Maria’s legs. “Go on,” Maria said.

“Well, you were there earlier when Zan turned all weird on me in the hallway. Maria when he touched me, it like… gave me chills,” Liz said and shivered thinking about it.

“Yeah, I saw that,” Maria said with a knowing grin. “Switch, chica,” she said pulling her leg from Liz’s shoulder and lifting the other.

“Ok is it just me or were both of those incidents… ya know… were they coming on to me?” Liz asked really not believing it could be possible.

Maria seemed to think about it for a second then answered her. “Normally I would say yes, but you know how Max and Zan are. They flirt with every girl in a fifty yard radius. It’s like they can’t control themselves or something. I wouldn’t worry about it to much.”

“Well there’s the problem, I can’t stop thinking about it,” Liz said rolling her eyes. She released Maria’s leg and helped her stand up.

“Oh, so you wanted them to be coming on to you,” Maria said as they walked over to the track and started jogging. It was more of a question than a statement.

“No, it’s not that... It shocked me, ya know. I wasn’t expecting them to do that kind of thing to me. We’re all friends. I’ve known them every since we met Lonnie in ninth grade and they’ve never treated me like that. We’ve always been buds. Hangin out watching stupid movies, playing video games, just acting silly. You know, just friends. Now all of sudden, I’m getting shivers and blushing when they’re near me… it kind of bothers me. I don’t want to start feeling weird around them. I like things how they are,” Liz said as they turned the curve.

Just then Maria gave a low whistle which made Liz look.

“Oh… my… god,” Liz groaned to herself.

Michael and Zan were standing over by the water fountain. Michael was taking a long drink. He looked as if he’d been working out hard and was hot and sweaty. But as good as Michael looked he was no comparison to Zan. Zan’s tanned skin had a sheen of sweat that glistened gold in the sunlight. His tattoos stood out against his skin, making him look like a walking work of art. He was like sculpture, covered with muscles that had to have been chiseled onto his body to be that hard. Baggy black shorts hung low on his hips, revealing a hint of firm muscular flesh that was hidden beneath and a silver ring pierced one tawny nipple.

As Liz watched, Zan leaned over the fountain letting the water quench his thirst. He drank long and deep, the water spilling down his chin. He filled his hand with the cool water to splash his face and then again to wet his short spiky hair. He finally looked up, right in their direction and that ever present smirk appeared.

“Mmm, my baby is so fine,” Maria said eyeing Michael from head to toe. She grabbed Liz’s elbow and started dragging her toward them.

“Maria! What are you doing?” Liz stopped and pulled her arm free.

“Whaaat?!” Maria said frustrated by being jerked back. “I’m going over to see Michael. What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing! We’re supossed to be practicing,” Liz said.

Maria looked at her like she was crazy for a second, then like she had just figured something really shocking out, her mouth popped open making a silent ohh. She glanced back at Micheal and Zan then back at Liz, who was looking rather flushed.

“Liz is this one of those blushy, shivery moments you were just talking about?” Maria asked her surprised.

“Maria, let’s just go back to practice.” Liz said pointedly not looking at Zan.

“Aw, come on Liz. They’re waiting for us now. Just chill and think of him as the same old knucklehead you’ve always known and you’ll be fine.” She grabbed Liz’s arm again and pulled her over to the guys.

“Hey, big daddy. Got some sugar for your baby girl,” Maria said as she sauntered up to Michael.

“Mmm…,” Michael murmured, unabashedly admiring her goods in the red sports tank and tight black biker shorts she was wearing. “I think I’ve got something for ya.”

He leaned in to kiss her and she scrunched up her nose and pushed him back with a hand on his chest. “On second thought I think I can wait until after you’ve showered.”

“Aww, babe, your killin me,” Michael said reaching out to grab her and pull her close.

“Nah, ah, ah! I don’t think so. You stink and I refuse to walk around smelling like that.” Maria said nimbly stepping out of his reach.

“Hey, Zan,” Liz said while Maria flirted with her boyfriend. She was trying very hard not to blush and not to stare at his rippling chest, or bulging biceps, or think about a certain shiny nipple ring, but instead decided to examine the ground and think about all the tiny fragments that made up the dirt.

“Hey, half pint.” he said as he reached out and tugged on one of her braids.

“Half pint?” Liz said indignantly, finally looking up at him albeit with a frown.

“Yeah, you look like Laura Ingles.” He said with a grin.

“I do not!” Liz said shocked that he’d compare her to the little tomboy. She looked down at herself. She had braided her hair into two pigtails for practice and was wearing a blue and black short sleeved v-neck top with matching black tights and white Nike’ tennis shoes. Liz thought she looked good.

She glared at him angry because he’d hurt her pride. “At least I’m not running around looking like the missing Osbourne.” She said and turned to walk away.

“Ouch!” he said laughing and grabbed his chest in mock hurt. He reached out grabbing her around the waist and pulled her back before she could get away. “You so mean. I was just jokin.” He leaned over her shoulder to see her face that still held a frown and asked, “Forgive me?” while giving her a grin and big puppy dog eyes.

“You’re such a dork,” Liz said rolling her eyes and grudgingly smiling. She grabbed his hands to remove them from her waist and move away, but he wasn’t having it.

“Un-uh. Not till I’m forgiven.” Zan said. He pulled her back against him and wrapped his arms around her waist leaving no room for escape. Liz’s breath caught in her throat and all anger instantly dissolved the moment she felt that hard chest pressed up against her and his strong arms wrapped around her. If she wasn’t warm before she definitely was now.

“Fine, you’re forgiven.” She said with a smile and a blush.

He kissed her on the cheek and said “Good, I can’t have my girl bein mad at me.”

He finally let go and Liz used this opportunity to put some space between them and started walking back to practice. Looking over her shoulder and smiling she said, “And go put some clothes on. You’re half naked.”

“Oh, so you’re thinkin bout me nekkid, huh,” Zan said wiggling his eyebrows.

Her mouth dropped open with shocked embarrassment. “You are such a dork,” she said shaking her head and walking away.

“Yep, definitely thinkin about me nekkid.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Across the field, practicing with the football team, Max had been watching Liz warming up with the cheerleaders and had a hard time concentrating on what he was doing. He was running drills with the receivers and was supposed to be posting left when he caught sight of Maria stretching Liz’s legs. Liz’s was making these excruciatingly sexy faces when Maria leaned over putting all her weight into it. He had totally lost his focus and instead of catching the football he was supposed to be looking at, it hit him square in the chest and bounced to the ground.

Coach Johnson had been livid that Max had gotten distracted by the cheerleaders. As a punishment for not focusing on his workout the coach made him run 10 laps and told him he wouldn’t be starting tomorrow if he didn’t keep his mind in the game. So he made an extra effort to stay focused, until he turned the curve and saw Liz wrapped in Zan’s arms. Was he Jealous? That’s not the word he’d used to describe how he felt, but he did wish those were his arms wrapped around her and that he was the one making her laugh and blush like that.

He smiled to himself thinking about how cute Liz was when she blushed. Ok, so she coming over tonight. I’ll just have to do something to get her to do more than blush.


TBC...

I know, I know, I'm late. But I really wanted to make sure this part was worthy of your time. You guys are the best for bumpin my fic. Thanks soooo much. I worked hard on this part. I hope you enjoy it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. There's a quote from William Shakespeare in here.

Peace Out

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part 4
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hey, Evans. Heads up,” Kyle yelled just before he threw a football at Max’s head. Max barely had time to get his hands up when he saw the ball spiraling toward him.

“Watch what your doing, Valenti,” Max yelled out frowning and tossed it back.

“I could say the same thing to you, Evans,” Kyle said catching the football and giving Max a derisive frown.

Kyle had seen Max’s attention split between tightening up their offensive plays for tomorrow’s game against their biggest rivals and watching the cheerleaders shaking their asses and contorting their bodies into odd positions. Hey, he had noticed them too and yeah, seeing girls dancing around and stretching their legs all over the place was hot, but damn, it wasn’t more important that beating East tomorrow.

He jogged over to Max to try to talk some since into him. “Dude, there’s a time and a place for that shit. Now is not the time, or place,” Kyle nodded toward the cheerleaders practicing across the field. “We gotta play East tomorrow! Wake up!” He said tapping the ball against Max’s forehead.

“I hear you. I hear you,” Max said nodding and holding up his hands in placation.

Max had been trying to keep his mind on practice. The coach had all ready grilled him once and made him run laps, and Max thought he’d gotten off easy. He could have been running bleachers for the next two weeks or forced to wear a cheerleader’s uniform to the game, or something even worse. The coach had been known to do such things. But still he was having the hardest time trying not to notice Zan flirting with Liz and Liz noticing Zan flirt with her. He felt like Zan had made so much progress with Liz in one day that he’d be lucky if Liz ever noticed him.

Max’s eyes drifted to the scene again unconsciously. The cheerleaders were doing some kind of stunt were Liz was being lifted above these two girls’ heads and she was holding her left foot above her own head. His gaze drifted to Zan who was sitting on the bleachers grinning at Liz and clapping, looking sincerely impressed.

Max sighed and turned his attention back to his practice, just in time to see another ball coming straight for his head. He caught it in time and gave Kyle a withering glare, but didn’t say anything. He just tossed the ball back to his quarterback.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Girls’ Locker Room

“Did you see Max staring at me,” Pam Troy said to her friends Jessica Riley and Courtney Banks. They were showering after cheer practice. “He was staring so hard he couldn’t even catch the ball,” she said laughing smugly.

“I think you guys will be back together again soon, Pam,” Jessica said.

Maria was showering a couple stalls away and rolled her eyes in disgust when she over heard their pathetic conversation. What Max ever saw in that skanky blonde was beyond her. Aside from looks the girl was nasty and obnoxious. Maria hoped he had the good sense not to get involved with her again.

“Did you see Zan and Michael watching us practice? They were staring so hard,” Courtney gushed.

“I know,” Jessica said. “I’ve decided. I want him. Tomorrow night Zan is going to be mine,” she declared sounding way to cocky.

‘That’s it! I can’t take this any more,’ Maria thought with a frustrated growl. She twisted the water off harder than necessary, grabbed her towel and stalked away from the idiots. They’re fools if they think Max or Zan wanted them for anything more than getting their rocks off, and if they were willing to let a guy use them like that…, then sorry for ‘em. And Michael was staring at me you stupid twit!

She wrapped the towel around herself and left the shower area, grumbling about stupid females the whole way. When Maria got to her locker she banged open the door, snatched out the things she needed to get dressed, and plopped down on the bench next to a weary Liz.

“What’s the matter with you,” Liz asked.

“Nothing,” Maria snapped, glowering and clearly bothered.

“O-kay,” Liz said not really sure she wanted to know anyway if it had Maria this upset.

“I don’t get it. What’s the matter with girls that chase after guys they know are just going to use them and leave? I mean what do they get out of it?” Maria said shaking her head, looking bewildered.

“I don’t know, Maria,” Liz said with a weary frown. She wasn’t sure Maria really wanted an answer, but felt she had to say something. “Where’s all this coming from?” she asked trying to figure out what had her best friend so riled up.

Like she had gotten sick of the whole thing, Maria shook her head and with a fed up frown went about getting dressed.

“Forget about it,” she said with a dismissing flick of the wrist. “I just heard the bimbetts talking about the guys in the shower. They’re idiots, I don’t know why I even let anything they say bother me.”

“Oh,” Liz said nodding. She thought about it for a second. “So, what did they say,” she asked nonchalantly.

Maria rolled her eyes again just thinking about it. “Pam was going on about Max dropping a ball because he was looking at her during practice, Jessica was saying something about getting with Zan tomorrow night, and get this; Courtney thinks Michael and Zan were watching them during practice. What Ever! Like I said they’re idiots.”

“Oh,” Liz said again.

It didn’t bother her that Max was dropping his passes because he was staring so hard at Pam troy. ‘I guess he’s still going out with her… but he’s going around sucking on my fingers like they were his last meal? Jerk!’

And it didn’t bother her that Zan was hooking up with Jessica Riley at the party she was supposed to be riding to with him. What am I supposed to do when I’m ready to leave and he’s taken off somewhere screwing Jessica, walk home?. I can’t believe this!

Liz was brushing her hair with hard angry strokes, snatching the tangles out. Her jaw was clenched, her lips were pressed tight, and she was frowning at the locker in front of her so hard Maria was sure it was going to crack.

“Liz, why are you burning holes through your locker,” Maria asked after watching her for a second.

“What,” Liz asked pulled out of her thoughts by Maria’s voice.

“Mad at your locker all of a sudden,” Maria teased.

Liz rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend. “Nooo. I just don’t understand why Max was flirting with me if he’s still with Pam Troy. And what am I supposed to do tomorrow night when Zan’s off with Jessica,” Liz said disgusted with both guys.

Maria frowned and shook her head. “Liz, Max isn’t with Pam any more. And I seriously doubt he’s missing passes over her. I think she just wishes she had his attention, and as for Zan and Jessi, I think that’s nonexistent too. They were just puffing smoke,” Maria said correcting her friend’s wayward thinking. “Chica, I thought you said you didn’t want to feel ‘weird’ around them. What gives with the green eyed glare,” she asked arching that damned eyebrow.

Liz tried to hide the relief she was feeling from Maria’s infallible assessment. “I am not jealous, Maria. I just thought the guys were playing games and I got mad. I mean think about it, if a guy is dating some girl, but flirting with you, wouldn’t that piss you off? And if you rode to a party with a guy and he hooked up with some girl and ditched you that would piss you off too, right?” Liz said reasoning way the anger she felt a moment ago.

“Hmpf, uh-huh. That’s all it was. It has nothing to do with the fact that you’re starting to like both guys and thought they were both interested in other girls,” Maria said, the sarcasm just dripping from her lips.

Liz just cut her and evil look and put her things back in her locker.

“Oh, don’t give me that, you’re the one freaking out over Pam Troy and Jessica Riley of all people. For all the denial you’ve just been spewing, your reaction does not say I just want to be friends, Chica. I think you need to figure out what you really want. Just be careful if you decide you do like one of them. You know how they are with girls,” Maria said starting to brush her hair.

“Yeah, I know,” Liz told her. And the thing was she really did know, but as much as she hated to admit it, she was really attracted to both guys, she’d be crazy not to be. They were both great friends, and yes she’d admit it, they were both freaking hot! But the problem was they were both so damn doggish she couldn’t trust either of them enough to let herself feel more for either of them… even if she really wanted to. Being friends was the safest thing to do.

“Hey, I got to get going. I have a project I have to finish tonight. I’ll see you later, k,” Liz said shouldering her backpack.

“Later, babe,” Maria nodded. “Call me.”

Liz left the locker room and headed for home. She walked through the halls and tried not to think about the conversation she’d just had with Maria. So instead she started thinking about her part in the play. They were doing West Side Story and she was Rita. She started humming America to herself and was really getting into it when she reached the door that led to the parking lot. She bumped it open with her hip and danced her way down the stairs, shimmying her shoulders. Clapping her hands in time with the music only she could hear, and she let out an “Ey! Ey! Ey!”

“Liz,” she heard an amused voice call out. “What are you doing?”

She looked up to see Max leaning against the side of his shiny black Jeep. She could see from the expression on his face he was thinking ‘What the hell is she doing’. Her eyes went wide when she realized she’d been caught, but stamped down her embarrassment. She figured she’d be singing and dancing for an audience much bigger than him pretty soon, so, why get embarrassed.

She just shrugged and walked over to him. “I was going over one of the songs from the play. I guess I was really into it, huh,” she laughed at herself. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to pick me up from home.”

“I figured I’d give you a ride since I’d be going over there either way, but I think I might change my mind if your going to sing like that,” he teased her.

“Hey!” Liz said slightly chagrined. She punched him in the arm for his trouble.

“Come on, let’s go,” Max said nodding toward the Jeep. “Do you need to go home first or do you just want to head over to my house,” he asked as they both hopped in.

“Um… I think I’ll just call my mom and let her know I’m going over to your house, so they know where I am,” she said. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and dialed home.

Max was driving and glancing at Liz every now and again while she called her mom. He kept seeing her dancing on the steps in his head, and couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He remembered the song she was singing and started humming it to himself.

“Mmm mmm mmm mmm, Ame-ri-ca. Daa daa, du daa daa, Ame-ri-ca. I want to live in America. Duh duh da duh duh, Ame-ri-ca!” By the end of the verse, Max was bobbing his head in time with the words he couldn’t remember, and was really feeling it.

Liz looked over at him as she finished telling her mother about their homework assignment and had to stifle a laugh. She told her mom goodbye and put her phone away. Max had started tapping the steering wheel in time to the song. Liz knew how easy it was to get caught up in America and took pity on him, so instead of teasing him about it she joined in with him.

She started humming along with him, smiling. Max turned to look at her, eyes wide and embarrassed, but smiled. He hadn’t realized she was off the phone. Liz started pounding out the beat to the song on the dash board and turned to him expectantly. Max rolled his eyes and laughed when he realized what she was waiting for him to do.

Laughing and trying not to feel stupid, he sang out, “In Ame-ri-ca.”

Liz beat out the next part and tilted her head in his direction. She had this huge smile and looked at him out of the corner of her eye waiting.

Max felt so stupid, but couldn’t resist. Laughing harder and blushing because he was going along with it, he sang out again, “In Ame-ri-ca.”

She finished out the song and when his part came up they both sang out “I want to live in Ame-ri-ca!”

“See that was fun wasn’t it?” Liz said with knowing smile.

“What ever,” Max grumbled, but couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He refused to admit he enjoyed singing anything from a stupid musical.

“Aww, you know you liked it. Just admit it, Max, musicals aren’t all girly,” Liz needled him.

“I refuse to comment on this further. Besides we’re here,” he said in a snooty voice and batted his eye lashes at her before quickly hopping out of the jeep to end the conversation.

Liz just shook her head and hurried to get the front door open for him as he grabbed his book bag and the box of the stuff for their experiment out of the back.

“Hey, mom,” Max said popping in the kitchen to greet his mother.

“Hi, max,” Diane said as her son kissed her on the cheek.

“Hi, Mrs. Evans,” Liz said coming up behind him.

“Hi, sweetie,” Diane greeted her.

“Liz and I have a biology project due in the morning, so we’ll be working in my room for a while,” Max told his mom before heading off to his room.

“Ok. Dinner will be ready about seven. Liz will you be having dinner with us,” Diane invited.

“Um… sure, Mrs. Evans. Thank you. I’ll just call my mom and let her know,” she said as she followed Max to his room.

Liz saw Lonnie sitting on the couch watching Ricky Lake as she was passing through the living room and stopped to say hi.

“Ooo, what’s going on,” Liz said leaning over the back of the couch next to Lonnie and getting interested in the loud argument that was happening on the screen.

“Psshh! Home girl was shackin wit ol’ dude right there, and stepping out on him with his brotha. Same ol’, same ol’,” Lonnie said rolling her eyes. Lonnie looked up at her and smiled. “Sup wit you? I didn’t know you was comin ova.”

“Me and Max have to finish our biology project tonight,” Liz shrugged. “I’m gonna go before I get pulled into the talk show abyss,” she said smiling and pushed off the couch.

Turning down the hallway she heard music coming from Zan’s room as she passed. ‘I guess Zan’s home,’ she thought as she walked into Max’s room.

Liz looked around the room as she walked in. She had only been in here a couple of times before. She always felt weird entering someone’s personal space, it was like being surrounded by the person who owned it. The room smelled slightly of spicy cologne. Liz smiled, it smelled just like Max. On one wall was a poster of The Dave Matthews in concert above his desk. A tall bookshelf filled with books sat next to it near the window. One of its shelves was filled with framed pictures. His full bed sat against the center of another wall, it was covered by a thick down blanket that looked warm and cozy. A dresser sat on the far side of the room, a stereo and some of his personal items were strewn atop it and on the mirror.

Max was standing over the desk setting up the equipment for their experiment. Liz walked over to see how things were going.

“Hey, do you need any help,” she asked setting her book bag down. He looked up from the slide he was looking at and smiled at her.

“No, I think I’ve got it, but I don’t think the slides we made earlier are going to be any good now, though,” he said holding it up for her to see.

Liz took the slide and held it up to the sunlight shining in the window. The drop of blood they’d put on it earlier was now dried and cracked. Even adding water to it wouldn’t do any good.

“Well, I guess were going to have to do them again,” she said thinking about what happened the last time they took a sample of each other’s blood. Her heart rate picked up a bit as she wondered if Max would again kiss the pain away. Should she even let him try? She had decided to keep her feelings in check, but it was going to be hard if Max was going to keep doing things like making love to her fingers and kept giving her those heated looks.

“Yeah, I think we should,” Max said. He felt the change in her demeanor when she realized they would have to prick their fingers again and wondered if it was because she was hesitant for him to touch her. He hated seeing her so tense around him. Maybe he should back off a bit so she could relax.

“Ok, so let’s get this over with,” Liz said picking up one of the pins. She looked up at Max and held out her hand. He gave his finger, but before she stuck him she looked up and asked, “Your not going to go all wimpy on me again are you?”

“Ha, ha, very funny. Just do it, smart ass,” he said putting his other hand on his hip.

Laughing at his reaction Liz quickly stuck his finger and squeezed out the drop of blood they needed. She secured the slide and turned back to Max, who again had his finger in his mouth. But instead of him making a big deal out of the pain he just picked up his pin and asked, “You ready?”

Internally Liz sighed in relief. She’d expected him to want her to kiss his finger again, but he just went on like he’d barely noticed it.

“Um… yeah,” Liz said holding out her finger.

Max quickly stuck her finger and squeezed out the drop of blood. When he turned to look at her, she had her finger in her mouth and was standing stiff like she was preparing her self for something. Max just gently smiled at her then sat in his desk chair to look at his blood sample through the microscope. Liz let out a breath and grabbed the paper explaining how to do the experiment.

“So what do we do now,” he asked.

Liz read the instructions to him and they continued working on the experiment like the lab partners they had been for the past year.

About an hour later they’d finished there assignment. While Max was putting the equipment and supplies away, Liz began wandering around looking at all the little things that made up his room. She felt like things were back to normal again. She was thankful that Max hadn’t flirted with her, or done anything that made her feel uncomfortable at all.

She walked over to his book shelf and saw the hard backed copy of Romeo and Juliet that Lonnie had mentioned earlier. Smiling to herself she pulled it off the shelf and began flipping through it. The book looked well used and a few of the pages were dog eared. She turned to one and began reading.



<center>O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.</center>


Liz sighed. It was the first time Romeo ever saw Juliet. Shakespeare had such a beautiful way of expressing himself. She glanced over her shoulder at Max. He was just finishing putting away their equipment. For some reason it amazed her that Max, the touchdown hero of West Roswell High, would be touched by such a flowery and sentimental a thing as love at first sight.

Max looked up from what he was doing and saw the strange look on her face. “What,” he asked feeling self conscious all of a sudden.

“Oh, nothing,” she said closing the book and replacing it on the shelf. She smiled brightly at him then turned her attention to the pictures on the shelf above.

“Aww, look at that. You guys were so cute,” she said pulling one of the frames down.

Max went to see what she was looking at over her shoulder. It was a picture of him, Lonnie, and Zan when they were kids. They’d just had a water fight in the back yard and were all dripping wet and cheesing for the camera.

“Oh, Man,” Max said taking the picture from her and sitting on his bed. He leaned back against the head board and shook his head with a wry smile. “I haven’t looked at this in a long time.”

“The three of you looked so much alike back then,” she said sitting on the foot of the bed. “Now you guys are so different no one would every guess that you’re triplets.”

“I know, huh,” he nodded, his eyes lost in the picture. “That was a long time ago. I think we were… what… ten. That was the summer before Lonnie and Zan went to New York to live with our dad.” His eyes lost some of their sparkle as he thought about it.

“It must have been hard, being separated for so long” she said not really sure she should be asking about something so personal.

Max shrugged setting the picture aside. “I guess. Stuff happens like that sometimes,” he said tiredly. “I don’t know… it was a weird time. My mom and dad had just gotten divorced and my dad moved to New York to work for some big law firm. He wanted us all to move out there so we could be closer to him, but my mom didn’t want to give up her life here. Which totally makes sense, ya know,” he said sounding frustrated.

“The three of us talked it over and Zan said dad needed us. I thought mom needed us more, cause of all the shit dad put her through, and Lonnie was split, not wanting to chose one over the other. I finally convinced her to go with Zan, cause I knew he’d need someone to look out for him. I knew my dad would be to busy to be bothered. And I stayed here to take care of my mom,” he shrugged again.

He looked so sad and tired, Liz felt bad for even saying anything. She scooted closer to him and took his hand. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I never should have brought it up.”

“Its ok,” he shook it off. “Like I said it was a long time ago. It was actually nice talking about it for a change. Thanks for listening,” he said leaning over and tucking her hair behind her ear. His thumb brush over her cheek as they shared a quiet moment.

Liz had said she wouldn’t let herself feel anything like this for him. She thought about how he went through girlfriends like tissue, and she knew she would probably get hurt if she ever got involved with him, but at that moment, all those things didn’t really seem so important. Because at that moment, looking into Max’s warm hazel eyes she felt safe and more than anything she wanted give in to her feelings. So when Max began leaning toward her she didn’t pull away.

His eyes were pleading with her, asking for something that she didn’t understand. When his hand slid into her hair, her eyes closed and she couldn’t help leaning into his gentle touch. The warmth of his breath fluttered over her skin moments before his soft lips captured hers, drowning all thoughts in the sensations his kiss was causing in her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zan had been sitting in his room working on a song that had been lingering in his thoughts for a while. He thought it was finally starting to come together, but he’d been working on it for a couple of hours and needed to take a break. He was gettin hungry anyway.

He sat his guitar aside and was on his way to the kitchen when he heard Max talking to someone in his room. Being nosey, Zan peeked in the door to see who Max was talking to. When he saw it was Liz, he felt his chest tighten and at first couldn’t seem to breath. He leaned against the wall for a second and schooled himself.

‘What’s the matter wit you? You knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. Don’t start frontin now, it was your idea in the first place,’ he told himself.

Taking a deep breath trying to get himself under control, Zan looked in the room again, only this time he wished he hadn’t. Max was kissin her, and she was kissin him back. Again, Zan felt like he couldn’t breath. Hitting his head against the wall he thought, ‘What the fuck was I thinkin.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC...

Guys I am soooo, sorry. I know I said yesterday, but I couldn't stay home to finish it. But at least I got it here today... *She ducks from the stuff people are throwing at her* I'm really sorry.

Ok, just so you guys know why, Friday was my hubby's birthday so Last night we went out to celibrate. And we didn't get home until midnight. If it makes yall feel any better I stayed up all night writing just to make sure I posted today. Am I forgiven? Once again I'm sorry. Here:


~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 5
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Max was soaring. He had always imagined their first kiss a bit differently. He’d seen himself totally in control. He’d walk up to Liz and take her in his arms, and she would sigh and melt against him as he kissed her senseless. But he had never been happier to have been wrong. This kiss felt perfect. His lips softly captured and brushed against hers, building a desire in him to fully taste her. When he felt her tentatively return his kiss, that was all the encouragement he needed. He cupped her face with his hands and leaned in closer to deepen the kiss.

Of all the times Liz had ever been kissed never had she felt her body react so strongly. Every nerve inside her was humming, and her senses seemed dulled to everything around her but Max. His lips moved over hers, gently caressing. She couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him back, so she let her lips return the caress, softly pressing against his. Then she felt him draw closer.

Like a shock of cold water Liz realized with acute clarity that she was sitting on Max’s bed, in Max’s room, and that Max’s lips were causing the most delicious feelings in her stomach. At the moment he was trying to deepen said kiss… and it scared her. Her body was buzzing like little bees were living in her skin and she was having a hard time thinking clearly. It was all too much. Not two hours earlier she had been telling herself she would just be friends with him and Zan...

Liz lifted her hand to his chest, stopping him from coming closer and pulled away. She looked into his questioning eyes with an equally unsure expression of her own.

“Max… I-,” She began in an almost whispering voice, but was stopped by his fingers touching her lips.

Max felt her tense when he’d tried to deepen their kiss and his stomach tightened when she pushed him away. He could tell that she was nervous, but he didn’t understand why. They had been friends for a long time and they spent a lot of time together, why was she so afraid to be close to him. From the look in her eyes she was about to say she regretted kissing him or that it was a mistake, and he really didn’t want to hear her say that their perfect kiss, that made him want her even more than he already had, was a mistake. It would hurt too much, so he stopped her before she could say it.

“Liz, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to be closer to you,” he said. A smile crept onto his lips as he explained, “For as long as I can remember, whenever I’m near you all I’ve wanted to do was kiss you or touch you in some way. You looked so beautiful right then I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and kissing those soft lips,” he said brushing his thumb over her lips. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it…, yeah… I am a little uncomfortable, Max. I mean, where did this come from all of a sudden?” Liz was searching his face trying to understand what was going on in his head. “Yesterday everything was cool, like it’s always been. Then today…, it’s like you turned into that guy.”

Liz was starting to feel a little frustrated. Was this what he did with all those other girls? If it was, then she could certainly understand why so many girls had fallen victim to his charms, but she really didn’t want to be just another notch on that belt. She thought Max thought more of her than to treat her like one of his fan club. Why all of a sudden was he coming on to her so strong?

“What do you mean ‘That Guy’,” Max asked frowning.

“You know what I’m talking about, Max. When you’re after a girl you go from being the nice normal guy that I’m used to, to this over heated, over sexed Romeo, kind of like now. ‘You were so beautiful I couldn’t stop myself?’ Max if that’s not a line, I’ve never heard one,” she said with a huff. “Just cut it out ok. Friends don’t play with each other like that,” she finished looking a little hurt.

Max wasn’t quite sure what to say. Liz thought he was playing with her. Did she actually think he would treat her like she was just any other girl? She really didn’t know that she had looked so perfect with her luxurious hair falling over her shoulders like that, and she’d looked so concerned for him that he had wanted to kiss that frown away. How could he make her understand that everything he’d said was true?

“Liz-” he started, but was cut off when she stood up and grabbed her bag.

“I’m just gonna go see if your mom needs help with anything,” she said still looking at him with that hurt and confused expression.

Max just watched her leave. She stopped at the door and looked back like she was going to say something, but just shook her head and disappeared down the hall.

He knew he should have just backed off. ‘How could I have been so stupid, stupid, stupid’, he berated himself. How could he have expected her to just go from being his friend to being his girlfriend in on day? If it had been the other way around, he would have thought the same thing.

With a heavy sigh he fell back on his bed and covered his face with his arm. ‘How the hell am I gonna fix this?’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liz left Max’s room feeling very confused and more than a bit hurt, but she would be lying if she said she hadn’t enjoyed that kiss. She licked her lips remembering how good it felt. But she’d be damned if she let him treat her like one of those skanks that hung around waiting for a little of his ‘attention’. ‘I don’t think so!’ she thought getting angry all over again. But she knew she was lying to herself, cause if this is what it felt like to have a little of his attention, god, how did she ever live this long with out it.

When she reached the living room, she saw Zan sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, and playing Mortal Kombat. He had a bag of Doritos sitting next to him, so she dropped her bag next to the couch and took a couple of chips.

“Hey,” she said watching his character, Shang Tsung, whoop on Prince Goro.

“Hey,” he said not looking up. His attention totally focused on his game.

Liz watched him play a minute longer, then when she wandered into the kitchen Zan’s eyes followed her. He sighed then went back to playing his game.

Mrs. Evans was leaning against the kitchen sink, holding a glass filled with iced tea and was talking to Lonnie, who was sitting at the dinner table with a magazine open in front of her.

“Hey, Mrs. Evans, do you need any help with dinner?” Liz asked from the doorway.

Diane turned to her and smiled. “Hey, Liz. You guys are done?”

“Um, yeah,” she answered walking over to the sink. Diane went to the stove and looked in on her casserole.

“No, I think I’ve got everything under control. It should only be another 20 minutes for it to be done. Come sit and chat with us. Lonnie was just telling me about Alex’s band,” she said tilting her head toward the table in invitation.

Liz smiled and sat down facing Lonnie. “What’s up with The Whits,” she asked.

“The drummer broke his arm the otha day and decided to quit the band, so Alex was trying to convince me to try it out. He said girl drummers are hot,” Lonnie laughed. “I’m actually thinkin about tryin it. It might be cool,” she shrugged.

“I can imagine Lonnie sitting behind a set of drums. What do you think, Mrs. Evans,” Liz asked the older woman.

“I think it would be cool. Girl drummers are…, what do you kids say, ‘da bomb’,” She said with a huge grin, laughing with the two girls.

“Aww, Ma,” Lonnie laughed shaking her head and covering her face in embarrassment.

“She’s right, Lonnie,” Liz laughed harder. “But, for real, you would look good as the drummer. Do you know how to play?”

“Alex said he could teach me,” Lonnie said looking bashful all of a sudden.

“I didn’t know he knew how to play the drums,” Liz said slightly surprised.

“Yeah, me eitha. He’s fulla suprizes,” Lonnie said biting her lip.

Liz’s eyes narrowed at the dreamy smile Lonnie was trying to cover. ‘Somethin’s up,’ she thought. She mouthed ‘We need to talk’ to Lonnie, then turned and smiled at Mrs. Evans.

“I’m gonna go see how Zan is doing on Mortal Kombat,” she smiled and headed for the living room.

“Don’t beat him to bad, hun,” Diane smiled at her as she left.

When Liz returned to the living room Zan was still sitting there playing his game. Liz couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked sitting there biting his tongue and so intent on kicking Sheva’s ass. Smiling, she sat down next to him and asked, “Hey, can I play.”

Zan paused his game and looked at her with a cocky half smile. “You gon challenge da man?” He asked her like she was crazy.

Liz just rolled her eyes. “Zan, you know you can’t beat me,” she said shaking her head.

“Ohhh, It’s on now,” he said getting all hyped about playing against his nemesis.

He reset the game as Liz set up her controller. Zan chose his favorite character, Shang Tsung, like always.

“Why do you always have to be evil,” Liz asked as she chose Lord Raiden.

Zan looked at her and mock frowned. “Cause Shang Tsung kicks ass,” he said like it was obvious. “Why you always gotta be good,” he retorted.

“Cause good always kicks evils ass,” she said like it was just as obvious. “So you ready for your for you ass whoopin’,” she asked sweetly.

Zan just cut his eyes at her and hit start. The game started with the two characters on opposite sides of the screen then a disembodied voice say ‘Ready. Fight!’ and they begin moving toward each other menacingly.

Shang Tsung throws the first blow sending a combination of round house kicks and quick jabs at Raiden’s head. Raiden blocks, absorbing the attacks, then when he sees an opening throws a lightning bolt at Shang Tsung knocking him across the screen. He follows it with a flying kick to the chest. Shang Tsung sees it coming and counters the move, knocking Raiden to the ground with a flying scissor kick.

“Ahh man,” Liz said sitting forward and biting her lip.

“Ha ha,” Zan says also getting more into the action.

Shang Tsung sends a power blast at Raiden before he can recover, hitting him full on.

“Damn it,” Liz said frustrated. “That’s it,” she said getting mad and her face turning serious.

Because the blast sent Raiden flying across the screen he recovers before Shang Tsung has time to hit him with another combination. When Shang Tsung nears him, Raiden disappears from the screen for a moment then reappears behind Shang Tsung and sends his straw hat filled with electricity flying across the screen, hitting Shang Tsung full in the back.

“Rrrggghhh,” Liz growled rising to her knees as the match got more intense. Her teeth were bared in an evil smile of satisfaction at Shang Tsung’s pain.

“Shit,” Zan said trying to get his character to block. He tucked one leg under himself trying to get in a better playing position.

Shang Tsung recovers from the elemental assault and calls on his own mystical abilities. He is no longer Shang Tsung but he’s now Reptile. Reptile send his chain like snake at Raiden who seemed to be safely across the screen, and shouted ‘Get Over Here’ as its head dug into Raiden’s chest and drug him back to Reptile’s side of the screen. A second later Shang Tsung returned to his normal form and sent a combination of kicks and punches at Raiden.

“I gotcha now,” Zan said with a wild look in his eye.

Raiden blocked most of the attacks but severely lost health after such a powerful attack. His health bar was in the red, but so was Shang Tsung’s. A couple of good hits would be all Raiden needed to take him out. Raiden continued blocking the assault and when he saw an opening jumped up and fliped over Shang Tsung, and while he was still in the air grabbed Shang Tsung by the head and slammed his body to the ground with the full force of his landing. Shang Tsung stood after the surprise attack but was unable to do anything but wobbly hold himself up. Lord Raiden ran up to him and put all his power into an upper cut punch and sent Shang Tsung flying across the screen, where he landed in a bloody heap.

The disembodied voice comes back on and says ‘Fatality’ and the words Game Over hovered over the screen.

Liz jumped to her feet and started doing her victory dance. “Ha, Ha, I beat you. I’m da’ man! I’m da’ man! I’m da’ man! I’m da’ man,” she sang over and over as she did the cabbage patch in a circle in front of the tv.

Zan dropped his head back on the couch in dread of ‘The Liz Dance’. He knew what was coming.

“Say it, Zan,” Liz demanded as she continued to dance over his horrible defeat.

“Liz, your not a man,” he said trying to resist the humiliation.

“I don’t care. Say it, Zan. Say, you’re my bitch and I’m da’ man,” She said still dancing.

Zan lifted his head and looked at her. She was now standing over him Cabbage Patching in place, biting her lip as she smiled. She looked way to smug.

“Dat’s it you’re goin down!” Zan said tackling her and tickling her mercilessly. “Say I’m da’ man,” he demanded digging into her sides.

Liz screamed and wriggled trying to get away. “Nooo!” she resisted.

“Say it!” he said sitting on her so she couldn’t get away.

“I’m da’ man,” she said trying to trick him.

“Ahht, dat’s not what I said,” he rejected and again dug into her ribs. Liz tried to curl into a ball but could only tuck her elbows in with him sitting on her like that. When she tried to protect her ribs, Zan grabbed her arms and pinned them above her head. He looked down into her face.

“Say it,” he said with a victorious grin.

“No, I won. You say it,” Liz said pouting.

“I don’t care. I’m not lettin you up til you say I’m da’ man, Liz,” Zan said determinedly.

Liz raised an eyebrow in defiance and pursed her lips refusing to say anything.

Zan stared down at her and realized the position they were in. ‘Oh, god,’ he thought. Her chest was heaving up and down grazing his stomach with every breath as her body recovered from his assault. Her hair was strewn all around her from the tossing and wiggling she’d done while trying to escape him. A little wisp had fallen into her mouth, and he had to stifle a groan when her little, pink tongue peeked out trying to push it away and then continued on to moisten her dried lips. God, she was beautiful.

He licked his own lips wishing he could just lean in and taste her.

Still breathing hard, Zan tried to remain in control. “Say it, Liz,” he said again, but this time instead of sounding cocky and confident, his voice came out in a husky whisper.

Liz wasn’t going to give in. She won, why should she have to give him props for losing. He’s wasn’t being fair. She stared back at him defiantly. She could feel it when he went from being the cocky bastard that he was a moment before to this sexy man, that looked as if he could devour her any moment. Liz swallowed and bit her lip.

“No,” she answered him back in the same husky voice.

Zan released her hands and leaned down on his elbows, his arms framing her face. With one hand he pulled the offending wisp of hair away from her lips.

“Say it, Liz,” He said again inches from her lips.

Liz could feel his breath on her face when he spoke, and had to fight the urge to close the distance between them. Then she remembered that just a few minutes before she had been feeling something very similar to this with Max. She suddenly realized Zan had almost pulled her into his web just like Max had tried to do, and she hadn’t even realized it. Feeling ashamed of herself, she bit her lip again and turned her face away.

“No, Zan. I won,” she said and with both hands on his chest she pushed him away.

Zan sighed and rose off of her. “Liz-,” he started but she cut him off by holding up her hand. She stood and raked a hand through her hair.

“I’m going home. Tell your mom I’m sorry, but I forgot I had something I had to do.”

When Liz turned to grab her bag, her eyes widened and her face flushed with chagrin. Max was leaning against the wall in the archway that led to the hall. From the hurt look on his face she could tell he had seen everything that had just happened. She turned back to Zan, but he wouldn’t look at her. Her eyes narrowed in anger. It seemed they were more alike than she’d though. She grabbed her bag and left with out another word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC…

Check out my new banner. You guys every time I look at it I drool. :onfire:

Ok guys I'm letting you all know right now, This Part Has NC-17 Material in it! You have been told. Even though I put it in the rating I know most of the other parts only had slightly suggestive stuff in it. This is different.

Ok, well I really want to know what you guys think of this part, because I've never written any kind of sex scene before and I want to know what yall think about both conversations, so please let me know.

Oh yeah. I'm so happy they finally finished this day.

Here we go~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 6
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Oh my god, Maria! I can’t believe it happened again”, Liz cried into the phone.

“Liz… Liz, babe… Liz calm down. What’s wrong?” Maria yelled over her friends distraught tears.

Liz wiped her eyes and tried to calm down, but every time she thought of how Max and Zan had tried to use her, tears started falling all over again. All the way home she had been so angry. She was hurt that either of them would think so little of her that they would treat her like some random fling, but for both of them to do it was just… god!

How did this happen? Did she give off a vibe that said she was an easy screw? Had she acted like she was willing to be just another meaningless conquest? She should have never become friends with them, she should have just kept her distance, like she first thought.

Liz took a deep breath and tried to explain again. “Maria, I kissed Max.”

“Ok babe, but why does that have you so upset?” Maria said trying to calm Liz down and understand what happened at the same time.

“And I almost kissed Zan,” she said in an empty quiet voice.

Maria went quiet at that. “Wow, seems like a lot happened tonight, but I still don’t understand why your so upset, sweetie.”

“Maria… it felt like what happened with Shawn, all over again.” Tears again spilled from her eyes as she relived that humiliating time in her life.

~~~

The summer of her freshman year, Liz’s family moved from Albuquerque to take over a small restaurant in Roswell, The Crashdown, leaving everything behind trying to make a new start. She didn’t know anyone when they first arrived and had felt lonely and out of place until she’d hand an unexpected run in with this strange blonde girl one day.

She had been sitting in a booth reading a book, when out of nowhere this girl jumped into the seat across from her, and said “Shhhh”, then ducked down from view. Not five seconds later at tall skinny guy came running in looking really mad. He looked all around for a minute then turned and ran down the street.

Liz looked under the table and said, “You can come out now, he’s gone,” to the girl hiding there.

The girl sat up and looked around to make sure it was safe, then turned to Liz and smiled. “Thanks, he was really pissed this time.”

‘I guess this happens often’ Liz thought. “What’d you do,” she couldn’t help asking.

“Aww, he’s just mad cause I showed a picture of him naked to Sarah Andrews, and she laughed cause he’s got a mole on his ass,” the girl said with a dismissing roll of her eyes. “He’ll get over it. Hey I’m Maria. I’ve never seen you around here before, are you new?”

Liz’s mouth had fallen open in an embarrassed smile at the unexpected turn in the conversation. “Um, yeah, we just moved her a few weeks ago. I’m Liz, Liz Parker” she said after recovering from her shock.

Just then the tall boy that was chasing Maria before returned and immediately spotted her.

“Uh oh, he’s back,” Liz said watching the guy stalk over to their booth.

Maria didn’t have time to hide and before she could run he was standing over her menacingly.

“Give it back, Deluca,” he said glowering at her and holding out his hand.

“Oh, all right,” she said reaching into her back pocket. “You don’t have to get all hyper about it, Alex. Geez.” She pulled the picture out, but didn’t hand it to him. “Don’t you think he was cute, Liz,” Maria said holding the picture out for her to see.

It was a little boy, maybe two or three years old running through a yard naked, and yep right there on his left cheek was a little black mole.

“Aww,” Liz said gushing over the picture that was immediately snatched away.

“Ma-ri-a,” Alex said through gritted teeth. He was beet red and fuming.

“Oh, chill out. It’s just a baby picture, Alex,” Maria said. “Alex this is Liz Parker. Liz, Alex Whitman,” she introduced.

“Hey Alex,” Liz smiled up at him.

“Hey,” he grumbled and sat down next to Maria.

“Aww, Alex. It’s a cute picture. Don’t be embarrassed,” Liz said trying to sooth his wounded ego.

“Yeah, yeah,” he returned looking down at the table, but she could see the smile he was trying to hide.

“Hey, Liz we were going to the movies just now, do you want to come,” Maria asked with a hopeful smile.

Liz’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Yeah, that’d be great,” she said excited.

The three of them had hung out all night and had become the best of friends. By the time school started, Liz didn’t feel quite so out of place anymore. They were all starting a new school together, so she wasn’t the odd ball with no friends that she thought she’d be. At least she knew a couple of people.

On the first day of school, she had been standing at Maria’s locker talking about their classes when she saw him. That cocky smile, those sparking brown eyes, the way he walked, she should have known that he was a bastard right then, but no, she was ‘In Luuuv’.

“Maria, who’s that,” Liz said melting against the lockers.

Maria turned to see who she was looking at. “Who?” she said not seeing anyone special.

“Maria, that guys coming towards us. Right there, the hot one.” Liz pointed him out to her friend who obviously needed to get her eyes checked.

When Maria realized who Liz was talking about she frowned in disgust and rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s my cousin Shawn.”

“He’s your cousin?” Who would have thought Maria was related to such a hunk. “Maria, you have to introduce me. Please, please, please,” she begged.

“Liz, he’s a creep. I can’t stand him. I promise you, you don’t want to meet him. Our whole family thinks he’ll probably end up in prison. I’m amazed he even made it to his senior year,” Maria said in disgust.

“Maria, please, he can’t be that bad. Just an introduction, that’s all,” Liz said as she watched the hunky Shawn Deluca approach.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Maria said before turning and calling out to her bum of a cousin.

“Maria, you actually acknowledged I exist, man will wonders never cease,” Shawn drawled in feigned surprise.

“What ever,” she said totally dismissing his sarcasm. “Shawn this is Liz Parker. For some reason she wanted to meet you.”

Shawn turned to Liz and looked her up and down. “Nice,” He said nodding his head in appreciation.

Liz blushed from her head to her toes and couldn’t control the huge smile that was plastered on her face. “Hi Shawn,” She said shyly looking up at him through her lashes.

Maria rolled her eyes in disgust at the pitiful display.

“Hey, Parker, lookin good,” He said and gave her a sexy half smile.

Maria had had enough. She grabbed Liz’s arm and pushed between the two of them. “There you’ve been introduced. Now let’s go,” she said pulling Liz down the hall.

“But Maria,” Liz protested. “He liked me,” she said looking back at Shawn who was watching in amusement as she was dragged away from him.

“Liz, don’t get involved with him. He’s not worth it,” Maria said finally letting go of her arm.

“Maria, what are you talking about? We were just talking,” Liz said exasperated.

“Liz, I’m telling you, he’s not worth it,” Maria tried again. “He’s a dog. Don’t waste your time on him.”

“Fine, I won’t get involved with him. He probably doesn’t even care anyway. I mean I’m a freshman and he’s a senior, he probably thinks I’m a dork,” she shrugged and looked down the hall again at his retreating form.

~~~

Two weeks later Liz had gone by Maria’s house to hang out. She knocked on the door and waited. At first she didn’t think anyone was home and was about to leave, but when the door opened and there stood Shawn Deluca looking back at her.

“Parker,” he drawled with a lazy smile.

“Shawn, what are you doing here,” Liz asked surprised.

He leaned against the door jam and shrugged. “I came to visit my Aunt Amy.”

“Oh. Well, um, is Maria here,” she asked wishing she had worn a better outfit.

“Nah, they went down to the store for a while. They ought to be back soon, do you want to come in and wait,” he asked thumbing toward the house.

Liz bit her lip feeling unsure about being in the house all alone with him. “Um, maybe I should just come back later.”

“Aww, come on Parker. Come keep me company. Aunt Amy left some pie in the kitchen,” Shawn said with an enticing smile.

“I guess I could stay a little while,” she said still a little unsure.

“Cool.” Shawn moved aside so she could come in and closed the door behind them. “Hey, I’m gonna go get the pie. I’ll be right back.”

Liz sat on the couch and let out a breath. She was a bit uncomfortable being alone with Shawn, but really wanted to get to know him better. Besides he said Maria and her mom would be back soon, so she wouldn’t be alone with him to long.

She turned on the tv and flipped channels finally deciding on Mtv, when Shawn plopped down on the couch next to her and placed a Chocolate Mud Pie on the coffee table with two forks. He smiled at her and stuffed a heaping forkful of pie in his mouth. He made a face that said it was delicious and smiled. When she didn’t move to taste it, he nudged her elbow. “Have some, Parker, this is good.”

Feeling slightly guilty for eating the pie right out of the tin, Liz went ahead and tasted it. The pie was so creamy and sweet. It melted in her mouth. “Mmm, that is good,” she agreed reaching for more.

They continued eating and watching tv for a while and when Nsync’s Pop came on TRL Liz started bopping to the beat and said, “I love this song. I think JT is way cuter that Justin. I just love his hair.”

“Aww man. How can you like crap like this. Boy bands suck! They don’t even play any instruments,” Shawn said with a disgusted curl of his lip.

“Oh, you’re just jealous. I bet if you had the chance to be in a boy band you would jump at it,” she said still dancing to the song. She started tossing her head to the beat when the guys went into their dance routine, so was totally taken by surprise by the pillow that hit her in the head.

She turned to look at Shawn like ‘What the hell’ and he had this mischievous grin on his face. “Hey, you looked like you were having a conniption fit. I had to do something.”

Liz grabbed a pillow from behind her and whopped him upside the head with a ‘Take That’ glare. His eyes got big like ‘She hit me!’. He just looked at her for a moment then, the next thing she knew his lips were attached to hers and he was pushing her back into the cushions of the couch.

To say that she was surprised was an understatement, but after a moment she was kissing him back. Shawn wrapped one hand in her hair, while the other played with the exposed skin near the edge of her shirt. Liz felt her head being pulled back, baring her neck to him. He sucked and kissed his way down to her breasts and lifted her shirt removing the obstacle. His hands kneaded her breasts as he slipped between her legs and began grinding his hips into her.

Liz was gasping for breath and grabbed a hold of his shoulders trying to steady herself. It felt so good, but he was moving to fast. She felt her bra being pulled aside and his mouth covered her tight nipple sucking hard. Her head fell back and her body arched up, trying to get closer to the pleasure.

“Shawn, wait,” Liz whispered as the momentary shock began to pass. One of his hands slipped between them and unbuttoned her shorts, then immediately slid down into the curls hidden beneath.

“Shawn, stop,” Liz breathed, her eyes closed and her breath came in quick pants. He returned to sucking on the sensitive skin of her neck and his hand moved lower, sliding into her moist folds and rubbing small circles. “Mmm,” was all he said and again began grinding his hard length into her through his jeans.

“Ahhhhh,” Liz whimpered as her hips rose up to meet his questing fingers. Summoning her resolve she pushed against his shoulders and said, “Shawn, stop. It’s to fast. I want to stop.”

Shawn kissed his way up her neck and nuzzled behind her ear. “Come on, Parker. You got me all hard and you feel so good,” he said and added a little pressure to his ministrations. Liz couldn’t stop her hips from rolling in rhythm with his strokes, or her back from arching up off the couch. She had to stop now or she wouldn’t be able to soon. Reaching down, she pulled his hand out of her pants and pushed him off her. “Shawn, I said No!” She stood up and began straightening her clothes.

“God, what’s the matter with you! You come in here giving me all these signals and then act like you don’t want to! I hate it when girls do that,” Shawn said pissed off.

“I wasn’t giving you signals! I was just sitting there and you jumped on me! I never asked you to stick you hand down my pants,” she tried to defend herself.

“You know what, screw it. You’re not worth the trouble! I can get any girl I want without all this hassle.” With that he got up and walked to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Liz felt so stupid. She had actually liked him. All of a sudden he just turned into this jerk that just wanted screw her. Feeling tears beginning to sting her eyes, she left and ran home feeling dirty and used. God, how could she have ever thought that he actually liked her. Was she really giving off signals saying she wanted to have sex with him? She promised herself right then that she would never let a guy do that to her again.

~~~

“Ohhh, Liz… I’m so sorry. What happened, babe?” Maria asked knowing what Liz had gone through with her despised cousin.

“I don’t know, Maria. I mean… I was sitting on the bed talking to Max about his family… and the next thing I know we’re kissing…. I told him not to play around like that and left, and then later I was playing a game with Zan… and we were having fun, ya know… then all of a sudden he’s laying on top of me… we would have kissed but… I pushed him away and came home,” Liz said trying to figure out how all this happened.

“Maria I feel so stupid. I mean in one night they both made a move on me and I fell for it. Do I have a sign on my forehead saying ‘Easy’? You know the thing that hurts the most is that they were my friends. We’ve all been so close for so long, how could they think so low of me. God, It hurts, Maria. It really hurts,” Liz said with tears falling again.

“Chica, I’m sorry. It’s going to be ok,” Maria tried to sooth. “Liz,” She continued hesitantly. “I don’t think either of them meant to hurt you,” she said waiting for Liz to blow up at her.

“What,” Liz said sobering at her friends words.

“You were telling me earlier how both of them had started giving you signals that they liked you. Maybe they both were just trying to show you. That’s what it kind of sounds like,” she paused again still expecting Liz to yell. When nothing happened she continued. “Like you said, they are your friends. Do you really think they were trying to use you, or could it have just been a misunderstanding,”

“Maria…,” Liz started. “I… I don’t know,” she said sniffing and wiping away her tears.

“Babe, I know I warned you to be careful, but Max and Zan aren’t Shawn. They have never treated you like he did. We’ve been friends with them for almost three years, and neither of them has ever treated you disrespectfully, maybe things aren’t like they seemed,” Maria reasoned.

“Ria… I’m so confused. I don’t know what to think,” Liz said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Lonnie walked into the front room looking for her two siblings to tell them it was time for dinner, but neither was there. She went to Max’s room and popped her head in the door looking for him, but his room was empty. She was about to knock on Zan’s closed door but stopped when she heard Liz’s name spoken. She was curious, so she started listening, trying to hear what they were talking about.

~~~
Zan was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, strumming his guitar and Max was laying across his bed looking up at the ceiling. They were trying to talk about what had just happened with Liz a few minutes ago, but neither was really in a talking mood.

“Zan, I kissed her,” Max just threw out there. There he had said it.

“I know,” Zan said not looking up.

“You know? How,” Max asked sitting up.

“I was walkin by and I saw,” Zan shrugged continuing to strum his tune.

“Oh,” Max said not really sure what to say. When he had walked in and seen Zan holding Liz down, and the unmistakable desire in her eyes, he felt like someone had hit him in the chest. He’d wanted the ground to open up and crush him. Liz wanted Zan, you could see it. So how had Zan felt when he saw them kissing? “She thinks I was playing with her. She kinda got mad at me and left,” he said playing with a loose string in the blanket.

“She did?” Zan said looking up at him. “I thought she was enjoyin it. Sure looked like it ta me,” he said going back to his strumming.

“I thought so too at first, but she got scared and then pushed me away. Kinda like what she did with you,” Max said looking every where but at Zan.

Zan looked up at his brother. He could see how uncomfortable Max was talkin bout all this, and he couldn’t blame him, he felt weird talkin bout it too, but somethin had to be said to fix this shit between them.

He laid his guitar aside and leaned forward, focusing his attention on his brother. “Max, we gotta to find a way to deal wit this. How the hell are we gonna be able to share Liz if we cain’t even admit we jealous of each otha. I’m Jealous! There I said it,” he said running both hands through is spiky hair.

“I know exactly what you mean,” Max said falling back on the bed scrubbing his face with his hands. “God, Zan do you know how it felt seeing her with you just now. I though I was gonna explode. I mean it was like I’d been kicked in the gut,” he said remembering it clearly. He took a deep breath finally starting to relax a little. “But, you know what, Zan even though I wanted it to be me there with her… she looked right with you. It just looked like that was the way it was supposed to be,” he said rising up on his elbows and looking at his brother. He was shaking his head like he couldn’t understand it.

“Man, when I saw yall kissin, it was like someone was squeezin my chest. I felt like punchin a wall, but even as pissed as I was I could see that it looked right, her bein wit you. Like yall fit perfect,” Zan said dropping his head back against the wall.

“So, how do we do this? We gotta come up with a way we can deal with seeing her with each other without freakin out,” Max asked, cause he sure didn’t have a clue of how to not to be jealous of anybody but himself being with Liz.

“I don’t know,” Zan said trying to think of another solution. “But it’s not like I don’t ever want her to be wit you, it’s just I really want her to be wit me.” Zan frowned trying to figure out how to say what he meant. “I mean if I was there, it wouldn’t be so bad. Ya know,” Zan tried to explain.

“Yeah, I think I get it, but that would be kind of weird don’t you think? I mean… where would my hands go if yours were in the way? God, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation,” Max said covering his face with hands in disbelief.

“Eeewww,” Zan said totally disgusted. “Dat’s nasty! Sorry bra, but No! Not gonna happen,” he said with a disgusted shiver. He was shakin his head trying to rid it of thoughts of accidentally touching parts of his brother that could be in the way.

“Ok, ok, I just wanted to make sure,” Max said relieved to know he wouldn’t have to worry about bumping into his brother at an inopportune moment. “So, what do we do, try not to see each other when we’re with Liz? That would be kind of hard cause, I see you all the time and besides it would feel like I was sneaking around.”

Zan sighed and thought about it for a while. “Look, let’s jus give it some time. You know, git use to da idea. Maybe we’ll stop gitten so upset afta awhile. Sides, right now Liz’s so pissed it might not matta what we decide. She may not eva talk to us again,” Zan said looking down at his hands. He remembered how angry Liz looked when she left.

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “I know why she would think I was playing around with her, but I don’t know how I can convince her that I wasn’t.” Max said thinking about what Liz had said. “She’s special. I want her to know it. I’m just going to have to show her.”

“I didn’t mean ta jump her like that,” Zan said thinking back to their wrestling bout. “It jus sorta happened. I mean one minute she’s doing her little dance thing and the next she’s pinned under me. She just looked so damned good.” He sighed and dropped his head back against the wall again as remembered Liz’s face as she pushed him away. “She probably thinks I was tryin to screw her right there.”

All of a sudden the door swung open and Lonnie walked in looking pissed. “What’d yall do that Liz would be so pissed off,” she said crossing her arms and glaring at her brothers. She looked like she was ready to kick someone’s ass.

Both Max and Zan jumped when the door opened. They both had that ‘Oh Shit!’ look on their faces.

“Lonnie, how long were you listening,” Max said, his eyes darting over to Zan, then back at Lonnie. She didn’t miss this either.

“Long enough,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Now what’d you do,” she asked again, not letting him change the subject.

“Lonnie, don’t be bargin all up in my room, acting like you da’ shit. Git the fuck out!” Zan said pissed.

“I know yall both did somethin to Liz, and I’m gon find out what. Don’t be messing with my friends,” Lonnie said before walking out of the room, leaving behind two relieved and pissed brothers.

Max gave a Zan look that said, ‘We almost got caught’.

Zan said, “I know.”

They both just sat there thinking about what would have happened if Lonnie found out what they were trying to do and she told Liz too soon.

Max let out a breath, then stood up and left the room. Zan followed not long after.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC…

Hello everybody

I'm sorry for posting a couple days late, but I really wasn't feeling this part of the story at first. You guys have this part right now in large part, because my beta StrawBehry Shortcake got my flow gowing again. Ok I hope you all enjoy this part. Not much Lo/A in this part but look for it soon.

Here you go~


~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 7
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, have you decided what you want to do about your little situation, Liz,” Maria asked looking at Liz in the rear view mirror.

“What situation,” Lonnie asked, turning to her friend in the back seat of Maria’s little red Jetta.

Liz sighed, she was tired of thinking about this. Yesterday morning she had been happy in her little world at school, now she was dreading going. If she didn’t have so much to do, she would just fake being sick so she could stay home.

Looking like it was the last thing in the world she wanted to talk about, Liz told Lonnie about what happened with Max and Zan the night before. “I kissed Max last night and then almost kissed Zan not 20 minutes later.” Liz rolled her eyes in disgust with herself. “god, I can’t believe I let myself get pulled in by those two. I mean I’ve seen them do it to other girls, but I fell right into the role of groupie without even realizing it.”

“So, that’s what happened,” Lonnie said nodding in understanding. “I heard ‘em talkin bout you last night, but they wouldn’t tell me what happened. I knew they’d done something.” She shook her head and her eyes narrowed when she thought about her two dipshit brothers screwing up her friendship with one of her best friends because they couldn’t control their ‘urges’.

Maria’s and Liz’s eyebrows shot up when she said this. “What’d they say,” Maria asked trying to pay attention to her driving, but really wanting to turn and talk to her friends.

“Somethin bout Liz being so pissed at ‘em that she wouldn’t eva talk to eitha of ‘em again,” Lonnie said and turned to Liz in the back seat. “I think I heard Max say he was bein serious and you ain’t like anybody else, or somethin like that. And Zan said he didn’t mean to jump you like that, I heard that for sure. I was listenin through the door, so I couldn’t hear to good, but I knew they did somethin to you. I’m sorry Liz. I told ‘em not to mess wit you no more.”

“You know, after talking to Maria about it last night, I’m not really sure what actually happened,” Liz sighed again. “And from what you just said…, maybe you were right ‘Ria. Maybe I just took it all wrong. I mean…, it didn’t feel wrong. Not with either of them. I didn’t feel like I was just being used or anything like that at the time. But how can I ever know that Max wasn’t just tossing me a line when he said he couldn’t stop himself from kissing me right then. And Zan… I mean, it’s not like either of us planned on him pinning me to the floor and the atmosphere heating up.”

She looked up at Lonnie’s dubious expression, and met Maria’s unsure gaze in the mirror.

“What? Am I just being naive’?”

Maria and Lonnie looked at each other, and shrugged a little.

“Babe, I think you are a little naïve’…, but that’s just you. It’s not a bad thing, you just trust people. But you’re not stupid Liz, if your gut is telling you it wasn’t wrong, then… I don’t know. I mean, we’ve all seen how Max can get all romantical with girls when he wants to, and Zan just straight forward goes for what he wants. That sounds like what happened last night. Do I think they were playing games…, I don’t know. Lonnie they’re you relatives, what do you think?”

“I think they don’t know how to Not play games,” she said rolling her eyes. “Look Liz, I love my brothers and all, but for reals, don’t let either of ‘em push you into anythin. They’re cool guys, but… I wouldn’t date one of ‘em. Besides for the obvious reasons,” she laughed.

“Yeah,” Liz sighed and leaned her head against the window. ‘I wish things could go back to the way they were.’

~~~

“Duuude,” Kyle greeted as he stepped out of his bright red Mustang and walked over to Max’s jeep. “You ready to embarrass East for even daring to show up at our house tonight,” he asked leaning against the hood of his car.

“Hell yes,” Max said pounding his fist against Kyle’s.

“Does that mean you got your shit together then,” Kyle challenged looking skeptical of Max’s bravado.

“Yes, mother,” Max joked. “I’m focused and ready,” he said crossing his arms over his jersey clad chest and relaxing back against his Jeep.

“Hey Guerin, Zan,” Kyle nodded to the guys loungin in the front and back seat.

“Sup,” was all he heard from Zan, who had his seat laying back so he could rest his sunglass covered eyes until the last minute.

“Valenti,” he heard from Michael’s general direction, cause Michael was laying across the back seat with one leg hanging over the back. If he hadn’t spoken Kyle would have definitely thought he was asleep.

Alex walked up looking bright and ready for the day. “Good Morning. Isn’t it a beautiful and glorious day for learning,” he said with a grin.

“Man you are just too happy for 7: 48 in the morning,” Kyle said frowning at his way to chipper friend.

“What can I say, life is good,” Alex said still grinning like the Joker.

Rolling his eyes, Kyle turned back to Max. “The coach asked me if I thought you were up to starting tonight, cause of how off you were yesterday.”

“And you said…”

“I said, ‘Every body has an off day once in a while, but you’d be straight by game time.’ I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

“Kyle, come on, man! I’m ready. I am! I will keep my mind on the game and I won’t get distracted, ok? Just chill, I got it under control,” Max said getting frustrated with the continual harping. As he said this Maria’s red Jetta pulled up on the other side on the aisle and parked. With effort he kept his attention on what Kyle was saying instead of looking to see if Liz was in the car.

“Just making sure. We’re a team, Evans. If your flow is off, my flow is off. I gotta keep you in check.” Kyle said holding his hands up in surrender.

Max reached into the back of the Jeep and tapped Michael on the head. “Maria’s here.”

Michael sat up, stretched his arms over his head, and let out a big yawn, before hopping out the back of the Jeep and walking over to the Jetta. They all watched as Maria stepped out of the car, in her cheerleading uniform, and smiled at Michael before he pulled her into a hug and leaned her back for a steamy good morning kiss. There was no doubt how those two felt about each other.

“Watching them is just sickening,” Kyle said rolling his eyes.

“Whatever. You wish you were gettin it on a regular basis like that,” Alex teased.

The passenger door opened and Max tensed, until he saw Lonnie’s black skirt and boots step out, but when she stepped aside and held the door his heart sped up a bit. Liz’s white tennis shoe stepped out followed by a firm, tanned leg. Then she was standing there, dressed in her extremely short cheerleading uniform that only covered half of everything. The skirt ended maybe two inches below heaven, as did the long sleeved top which was really only half of a shirt. With her hair up in a high pony tail that curled at the end, Liz looked like forbidden fruit, all sexy and innocent at the same time.

“Dayum!” he heard from the Jeep.

Max turned to see Zan looking over his shoulder with his sunglasses pushed down to the end of his nose. At Zan’s sharp intake of breath and grimace, Max looked back at the Jetta to see Liz leaning back into the car and her extra short skirt riding even higher than it had before. She pulled out her bag then slung it onto her shoulder before turning to Lonnie.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” she said.

“Don’t worry, Lizzy. We got ya covered.” Lonnie turned to Maria, who was still wrapped up in a now very awake Michael. “Hey, Re-Re, let’s go,” she called over the roof of the car.

Maria disentangled herself from her very unhappy boyfriend and grabbed her bag, before locking up her little hoopty. She checked her face in the mirror and said, “Sorry babe. I’ll see you later” to Michael then gave him a quick peck. She walked over to her girls and they turned toward the school.

Lonnie and Maria kept Liz between them as they approached the Jeep that was parked between them and the gate that lead to the campus. Alex walked over to them smiling and held his arms out wide expecting hugs. “Ladies! Looking beautiful as always,” he greeted them with a smile.

“Hey Alex,” both Liz and Maria chimed and gave him a hug.

“Mornin, Alex,” Lonnie said trying not to smile to hard, but having the hardest time making her face obey.

When Max walked up and started to talk to them, all the cheerfulness disappeared. Maria put her arm around Liz’s shoulders, Lonnie put her hand in his face, and the three of them all turned and walked into the school. Max’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and confusion, but when he saw the look in Liz’s eyes as she glanced back at him, before disappearing out of sight, he understood what happened.

“Aww Man! Dude, what’d you do,” Alex said wincing in reaction to the dis Max just received. When Max just glared at him, Alex held up his hands in retreat and said, “Sorry I asked.” Shaking his head he turned and followed the girls into the school.

“Uh-oh. Somebody’s in the dog house,” Michael said referring to the evil glares that Lonnie and Maria had sent at Max. “I’m just glad it’s not me,” he laughed. “Hey, Zan, you coming,” he called out.

“In a minute,” Zan said and nodded his head toward his brother. Michael nodded his understanding and headed into the school.

“Oooo, that was harsh man,” Kyle laughed slapping Max on the back before turning on his car alarm and heading into the school, laughing.

Max turned to Zan who had watched the whole thing play out and now just sat there staring at his brother.

“She’s really pissed, Zan.”

“Yeah, I saw dat,” Zan said pushing his glasses back up and getting out. “We screwed up. We gotta fix it. But, boy am I glad it wasn’ me,” he teased throwing his arm over Max’s shoulder and pulling him toward the school.

“Hold up,” Max said and turned back to the Jeep. He reached in the back behind his seat and pulled out the box of biology supplies he and Liz had used the night before. “If I forgot to turn in our assignment, she really wouldn’t ever speak to me again,” he laughed and they headed off to school.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

3rd Period Theater Arts

Mr. Reardon had the cast going over the lines for the scene just after Tony and Maria first met. Liz was trying to pay attention, because she had lines in this scene, but her thoughts kept wandering over to Zan, who had come in not long after the class started with a few others from wood shop to start working on the sets. He kept glancing in her direction, and looked like he wanted to say something to her. Seeing that look again now, she turned her attention back to Mr. Reardon and tried to listen to his directions.

“Ok Enrique, you need to really come across with an air of superiority. Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks, he’s proud, and he’s Maria’s big brother, so when he sees her kissing his enemy he really lords his authority over her. Got it,” he said then turned to Liz.

“Now Liz, Rita is feisty and holds her own against Bernardo. She stands up to him and tells him how silly he acts and catches his exaggerations. She’s Maria’s best friend and sees her side of things. She thinks that Maria catching a handsome American is great and believes Bernardo is just trying to use Maria’s kiss with Tony as an excuse to start a fight with the Jets. So, you need to really give him attitude, kay,” he told her. Liz nodded.

“Ok, you two go over your lines together. Don’t worry about the accents right now, I just want you both to get the banter down first, we’ll work on the accents later.” With that he stood up and went over to the guys playing Riff and Tony.

“So, you want to read it out loud a couple of times, and tell each other what we think, Ricky,” Liz asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said looking her up and down and giving her a sleazy smile.

“What,” Liz asked frowning. He was acting weird.

“You look good in that uniform. You make me wanna lick-lick-lick-lick ya from ya head to ya toes,” he sang waggling his tongue at her.

“Uuuhhhggg, don’t gross,” she said leaning as far away from him as she could in the auditorium seat. “You know what never mind. Um… I gotta go… um to the bathroom,” she said jumping up and made her way out the side door.

Liz sighed when she made it to the bathroom. ‘When did I become such a skeeve magnet?’ she thought. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She still looked like the same old Liz she’d always been. ‘I’m so sick of letting guys make me feel like crap.’ Deciding she’d had enough of all of them and was going to tell them all where to go, she stomped to the door and growled “Assholes!” while pushing it out of her way, taking out her aggression on it.

“So you gon to talk to me or you just gon to keep ignorin me all day,” Zan said. He was leaning against the wall outside the bathroom waiting for her. Liz stopped short when she heard him and turned around. She looked at him for a second considering his question.

“You know what, I think I’m gonna keep ignoring you,” she said and turned back toward the auditorium.

“Liz. Liz wait,” he said trying to catch her before she got back inside. “Liz, I’m tryin to apologize,” Zan said pushing the door closed so she couldn’t walk through. Liz stopped trying to get away, but wouldn’t look at him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’ mean to disrespect you last night. I wasn’… I wasn’ tryin to force myself on you,” he said feeling remorse over how he made her feel, but was determined to let her know he didn’t mean it that way.

He waited for her reaction, but Liz didn’t say anything and still wouldn’t look at him. With the side of his finger he lifted her chin so he could see her eyes. He’d expected her to go off on him or give him more attitude, those kind of things he could deal with, but when he saw the hurt and mistrust in her eyes it stung. “Liz, I’m sorry,” he said letting his fingers caress her cheek.

Liz let her eyes fall away from his again. It would be so easy to just let go of her doubt, and let herself believe he was sincere, but something inside wouldn’t let her. She wanted to trust him, but right now she just couldn’t.

The bell rang signaling the end of 3rd period.

“I don’t know what to tell you , Zan,” Liz said and made to go into the auditorium.

Zan put his hand on hers to keep her from leaving yet. “You could say you still cool wit me,” he said ducking his head to try and see her face.

With a sigh Liz relented a little. “Yeah, we’re still cool, Zan” she said half heartedly.

At least she wasn’t as pissed as she was. He decided to try and push his luck. “And you could say you still goin wit me tonight,” he said with a playful smile and mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Liz’s eyes narrowed when she noticed this. “I don’t know, Zan. I think I’ll just ride with Kyle and Alex.”

“Come on Liz, you said we cool,” he poked out his bottom lip in a pretend pout, trying to make her smile. “I promise I’ll be the perfect gentlemen.” He said crossing his heart and giving her his most innocent smile.

Liz had to laugh. “Alright, already,” she relented. “But you better be good, Zan.”

Zan just fluttered his eyelashes at her and tried to look as angelic as he could.

“You are so silly. I’m leaving now,” she said smirking at him and going on to pick up her books.

Zan let out a breath when she was gone. He smiled to himself, glad Liz had forgiven him. He wanted to do something to get back in her good graces though. With a nod he headed down the hall making plans.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC…

Well I finally finished this part for you all. This was the hardest chapter for me to write, so far. I really hope you guys enjoy it. I love it, but I'm the writer I'm supposed to. lol

It took a whole lot to get this part out to yall, so thank Strawbehrry Shortcake again, cause I wanted to just scrap it and start over for a while, but her ideas and support helped me fix it.

Thank you all for the bumps and feedback. I'm trying to hurry up and post this for you guys, so I'll make sure to give shout outs on the next part, but I really appreciate you guys bumping me and reading.

Anyway, the long awaited move is here, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I'm going to do my best to keep giving regular updates, but right now I really just don't know when. Wish me luck guys.

Tues



Here it is:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 8
~ ~ ~ ~ ~


“Hey, Maria, did you notice that a certain tall brunette and a guy friend of ours have been smiling a lot more than usual today,” Liz teased, pretending as if Lonnie wasn’t leaning against the wall just two feet away.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, I had noticed that.” Maria turned from the mirror to send a wide eyed, innocent smile toward Lonnie, who had all of a sudden become extremely interested in her nails.

Both girls stood looking at Lonnie expectantly, but it soon became obvious she wasn’t going to tell them anything with out a fight.

“Well,” Maria said cocking her head to the side impatiently. “You know we aren’t going away so, you might as well spill it now… or are we going to have to take drastic measures,” she said ominously, giving Liz a knowing wink.

Lonnie looked up at them with a hmpf and returned to grooming her nails.

“Okay, you asked for it,” Maria sing songed. “Liz, I was watching The Iron Chef the other night on the food channel and saw this great new recipe for a fish stick frittata. Don’t you think Diane would love it if we came over and showed her the recipe,” she said sweetly.

“Mmm, sounds delish,” Liz nodded, rubbing her stomach and making lip smacking noises. “That has beans in it right?”

“Yeah, and jalapenos all mixed together.” Maria and Liz knew they’d won when they saw the disgusted grimace that crossed Lonnie’s face after that last embellishment.

“Aight, aight!” Lonnie said holding up her hands to keep them from implementing their inhuman torture. “Ya don’t have ta get crazy and all, sheesh.” She shivered in revulsion thinking about the last frittata her mother had experimented with. “Nothin happened, ok.”

“Uh Uh, that’s not what that look on your face last night said,” Liz tattled. “Maria, you should have seen her, she was all dreamy and smiling. Something definitely happened. Spill woman.”

~~~

Alex ran up to the lunch table frantic. He was glad the girls weren’t there yet, at least now he’d get a chance to ask for help before Lonnie showed up.

“Dudes, does anybody know how to play the drums?” He looked around hopefully but was met with bewildered frowns. Michael was glaring at him with his usual disdain, Kyle and Max both looked amused and worried for him, and Zan just shook his head.

“What are you talking about,” Michael asked from across the bench.

“He’s supposed to be teaching Lonnie how to play the drums,” Max answered for him with a snicker. “But it looks like he can’t even play himself.” Laughing he turned to Alex shaking his head. “Alex, how’d you get into this one?”

“It’s a long story,” he sighed and sank onto the bench as he began.

~~~

“Ok, ok,” Lonnie sighed. “I went over to Alex’s house after school yesterday.” Seeing their wondering frowns she answered the question she knew they were thinking. “I wanted my picture back,” she shrugged. Maria and Liz gave each other disbelieving looks but said nothing.

“Anyways,” she continued, giving them attitude in return. “So when I walked up, Alex was sittin in his garage, practicin by his self. He was really into his song, so I just watched him and listened. You guys, he can really play,” she said seriously. “I mean he was putting out some funky sounds and was just jammin wit the music,” she said bouncing to the song she was remembering. “I didn’t want to disturb him when he was so into to it.

Maria nudged Liz while they listened to Lonnie tell her story and nodded discretely, to point out how excited the usually cool and intimidating girl seemed. Liz’s eyes widened in agreement, before returning her attention to the intriguing development unfolding before them.

~~~

“I was practicing in my garage yesterday, when all of a sudden I look up and Lonnie’s standing there watching me. I was caught off guard at first, cause I didn’t know she was there, but I was totally surprised when she started smiling and giving me applause. I thought she’d still be mad about her picture.”

Alex turned and slapped Kyle on the back of his head. “Thanks for that by the way,” he said with a glare.

“Hey, violence solves nothing,” Kyle laughed and rubbed his head.

“So, she’s like ‘You sound good’ and stuff and starts plucking at my guitar strings. I’m telling you I thought it had to be a setup, cause no way was Lonnie standing in my garage, complementing me, Me, on my music,” Alex said still looking disbelieving even now. “Then she asks me to play her a song!” He looked incredulous, like it was just unbelievable.

~~~

“When he noticed me watchin, he quit playin, but I was enjoyin it, so I asked him to play me a song.” She smiled when she remembered the song Alex played for her. “Yall know what he played,” she asked rolling her eyes with a smile. Liz and Maria shook their heads, totally enjoying Lonnie’s almost giddiness. “Rock Your Body,” she laughed and shook head. “He even started singin it!”

“I was surprised that he picked that song, but then while he was singin, it was like he was trying to tell me somethin. You know what I mean,” she said with raised eyebrows and continued on. “At first I was like, no way is he flirtin with me, but he was! So I was like, ‘Oh ok, two can play that game’, and I started dancing to the music.”

~~~

“So did you,” Kyle asked, really interested in Alex’s escapade.

“Yeah,” Alex answered shaking his head and staring blankly at the table, still in shock at the memory.

“So… what’d you play,” Max prompted also enjoying the story.

Alex closed his eyes like he was ashamed to even say it. “Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body,” he said and braced himself for what he knew he was going to hear.

“Justin Timberlake?!” he heard repeated in disgust from around the table.

“Dude, come on,” Michael shook his shaggy head. He too was getting interested in the tale.

“I know, I know, but it seemed to fit the moment,” Alex defended himself.

“Whadaya mean,” Zan chimed in curious.

“Have you guys ever listened to that song? I mean like listened to it,” he asked with a knowing look. They all nodded their approval when they realized what he meant.

“So what did she say,” Kyle asked

“Nothing,” Alex shook his head with a sigh.

“Nothin,” Zan repeated incredulously. That didn’t sound like his sister.

“Nope, she didn’t say anything. She just started dancing,” he answered reverting back into his dazed state. “That woman is going to kill me, one way or another,” he said closing his eyes to remember it more clearly.

The guys all just looked at him and laughed. Max and Zan nodded at each other knowingly. Yep that sounded like their sister. Poor Alex.

“So what does all this have to do with you needing to learn how to play the drums,” Michael questioned.

~~~

“No you didn’t,” Maria said, her mouth falling open in shock at her friend’s bad behavior.

“So, what did he do,” Liz asked wanting to squeal with happiness for her friend.

“He messed up a few times and forgot the words when I started runnin my hands all ova and licken my lips,” Lonnie said with a satisfied grin. “I started moving around playin with the other instruments and spinning around in the drummer’s seat. You know, just to tease him a little,” she shrugged. “When he got to the end, I started tappin the cymbals with my nails and we were both jammin and movin… It was cool, yo,” Lonnie finished nodding with a smile.

“So…, then what happened,” Maria prompted.

Lonnie sighed and relaxed back against the wall again. “Nothin happened. That’s it. I tried to tell you. It was no big deal,” she said shaking her head and going back to examining her nails.

“Come on Lonnie. You said he asked you to join The Whits, so something had to happen,” Liz pressed.

~~~

“Well, see she started playing on the drums with me at the end. We were really sounding good for a minute, ya know. And since Dave broke his arm and quit we need a drummer. And Dude, she looked so hot sitting there.” Alex stopped and turned to Max and Zan, his eyes wide with worry. “No offense guys,” he said afraid to offend Lonnie’s two brothers that would probably break him in half if he mistreated their sister.

“None taken, Alex,” Max said with a roll of his eyes and a smirk.

“Bra, ya need to be more worried about Lonnie than us,” Zan chuckled and just shook his head. Alex nodded dumbly in agreement then continued on with his story.

“So, since she seemed to fit the set so well and we’d been jamming so well together…, I asked her to be the drummer for The Whits,” he finished dropping his head to the table.

“But Lonnie don’t know how to play the drums,” Zan pointed out.

“That’s what she said, and that’s when I said I could teach her,” Alex said banging his head against the table for his stupidity.

“Ohhhh,” was chorused around the table as understanding finally dawned on all of them.

~~~

“Fine,” Lonnie huffed. She knew they wouldn’t leave her alone until she divulged all the details of what happened.

“He said ‘It was cool jammin wit me’. I said ‘We should do it more often’. He said ‘The Whits need a new drummer and that I should try it’. I said ‘I don’t know how to play the drums’. He said he would teach me. There are you happy now? Ugh! You guys are killin here,” Lonnie rushed out and threw her hands up in frustration.

Liz and Maria tried to stifle their laughs at Lonnie’s exaggerated frustration, but were doing a poor job of it. Liz nudged Maria and nodded at her to get her attention. She turned to Lonnie with a straight face and asked, “Lonnie did you ever get around to asking for your picture back?” She cracked up when Lonnie’s mouth snapped closed and her eyes got wide as she realized she’d totally forgotten the reason she went over there in the first place.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

5Th Period

“Thanks for helping me deal with my twisted life, Ria’,” Liz said as they walked to her locker between classes.

“No problem, babe. What are best friends for,” Maria said with a smile and slung her arm around Liz’s shoulder as they walked. “So what are you going to do this period? You know with Max being your partner and all,” she asked as they stopped in front of Liz’s locker.

“I don’t know,” Liz sighed as she worked the combination. “I’m not going to let him get to me though,” she said more to convince herself than Maria.

When she opened her locker and went to grab her biology book, she paused. Tucked inside the cover of her book was a long stemmed, pink rose with a red ribbon and a little card tied to it.

“Aww,” Liz half heard from over her shoulder. She bit her lip and smiled knowing exactly who it was from without having to read the card. Reaching in, she pulled out the rose and smelled its sweet fragrance. When she turned to Maria with her soppy smile and pleading eyes, Maria knew that Liz was a goner.

“So, I guess he’s been forgiven then,” she half stated, smiling and shaking her head at her two friends. She had to give it to Max; he sure knew how to knock a girl off her feet. “I’ll see you later, babe. And I’ll want to see what’s on that card later too,” she said chuckling to herself and went off to her class.

Liz wasted no more time and read the card.


<center>I meant what I said, Liz.
Please come meet me in the band room.
I’m waiting for you.
Max</center>


Liz was surprised. She hadn’t expected him to ask her to miss their class. She bit the side of her lip as she thought it through. They weren’t doing any experiments today and she could always borrow Wendy’s notes. With a decisive nod she grabbed her book and put the rose back in her locker, then headed off for her class.

When she reached the room she peeked over to their bench and sure enough Max wasn’t there. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face, but if she wanted to put on a good show to get out of class she was going to have to. She took a deep breath and walked over to Mr. Henderson’s desk.

“Mr. Henderson, I’m not feeling too good. I think I need to go to the nurse’s office,” she said holding her stomach and trying to look as sickly as she could.

“Really, Ms. Parker? Your lab partner just said the same thing a few minutes ago. What’s wrong?”

“I got an unexpected surprise,” she said wrapping her arms around her stomach and trying to look embarrassed to say it.

“Oh goodness! Um, go ahead, and I hope you feel better,” he said dismissing her and handing her a hall pass.

“Thanks,” she said and turned back down the hall with a smile. ‘Works everytime.’

A few minutes later Liz was standing outside the band room doors with her beautiful rose in hand. But now that she was actually here she was finding it hard not to be a bit nervous. She was really about to have a secret rendezvous with Max. Was she ready for this? She thought about what he’d said last night and all the reservations she had, and realized that even though she was scared, she wanted to be closer to him too. Hoping that he really was as sincere as he seemed to be, she pushed opened the door and peeked inside.

She didn’t see anyone. She was glad that at least there wasn’t a class full of people sitting there looking at her like she was crazy. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside, and there he was, sitting on a desk across the room, waiting for her.

Liz was struck by how handsome he was in his football jersey and jeans. Number 96, she wondered what position that was. Liz had to bite her lip to keep from saying something that would definitely get her in trouble if she wasn’t careful.

“I was worried you wouldn’t come,” he said as he stood and came toward her with one hand behind his back.

“You, umm… kinda made it hard to resist. Thank you, it’s beautiful,” she said, blushing a little and sniffing the flower again.

“Your welcome,” he said feeling a bit bashful himself. “I remembered that you like white roses later so, I went back and got you this too,” he said pulling a single white rose from behind his back and holding it out for her.

Liz totally melted. “Aww, Max. You are so sweet,” she sighed taking the rose and brushing it against her lips. “Thank you.” Her cheeks darkening even more as she finally looked into his warm eyes.

Max relaxed a little. He was glad that she was smiling at him again. He’d been so worried that she wouldn’t give him a chance to explain what he was trying to say last night. Having to hold his feelings in check for so long, he had gotten pretty good at hiding how he really felt about her, but now that he didn’t have too, he wanted to shower her with all the attention he’d given her from afar. He just hadn’t planned on Liz thinking he wasn’t being honest. Now he was really regretting having a reputation of being a ladies man.

He had liked Liz from the first time he’d met her, but Zan had liked her too, so they both backed off, but it didn’t really matter, because Liz hadn’t seemed like she was interested in either of them anyway. After a while he had resigned himself to believing that Liz would never see him as anything other than her ‘Good Friend, Max’.

It had been torture watching her go out on dates with other guys and him never getting to be one of them. Liz had even gone out with Kyle a couple of times. He’d been so jealous, but what could he do? He didn’t want to hurt Zan and Liz was free to date who ever she wanted, she just never wanted him. So, having basically given up on the idea of ever being with her, he had started dating casually, never really getting serious with anyone.

Somehow he’d gotten a reputation of being a player, which kind of bothered him, considering he hadn’t done much to earn it. He’d only had a few sexual experiences, but the relationships hadn’t lasted long. He guessed that’s how it started. He just wasn’t happy with the girls he had been with, but just because of that, he didn’t think he’d deserved the rep that seemed to follow him. He hadn’t tried to have sex with every girl he went out with, he respected women more than that. The few times he had slept with a girl, the girls had pursed the sexual side of their relationship, but that didn’t seem to matter, the rep had stuck. Now he regretted that it had ever gotten started. Liz didn’t trust him because she believed he was going to use her and leave, and in reality she was the only girl he ever really wanted to be with. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to convince her otherwise, but he had to try.

“Max, I’m sorry about this morning. I didn’t mean for the girls to treat you so bad. They were just trying to look out for me,” Liz said feeling bad for their treatment of him this morning.

“I understand, Liz. That’s kind of what I want to talk to you about.”

Max sighed and tried to collect his thoughts and his courage before telling her what he’d been dying to say. Liz looked up at him and noticed how nervous he was. He had his hands in his pockets and couldn’t stand still. He didn’t seem at all like the confident, playful guy she was used to.

“Liz, I…I’ve wanted to be with you for a long time…, I just couldn’t ever tell you how I felt. And I want to be closer to you, but… I don’t… I don’t think that you really trust me.” He dropped his eyes and bit his lip, thinking about how she’d reacted after his kiss last night.

“Liz, I want to show you that I’m not the guy that everyone thinks I am. Will you give me the chance to show you what you really mean to me,” he asked looking up at her with vulnerable eyes. “How special you are?”

“I’m not trying to rush you,” he continued before she could answer. “I mean… I want you to take your time and see for your self that… I’m not playing games. I don’t want you to wonder, you know, about my intentions.” He finished his heartfelt confession and held his breath, waiting for her answer.

Liz wasn’t sure how to react. After hearing him admit his feelings, she really wanted to reach out and sooth that worried frown from his beautiful face and tell him all the things he wanted to hear, but he was right, she didn’t completely trust him. But, at least now she wanted to, and that’s all that he was asking for, the chance to prove that she could. She felt a bit guilty that he had to prove anything to her, but the cold fear she felt whenever she thought about him hurting her let her push it aside. It would be worth it if things worked out in the end, and if she had been right to not trust him, then hopefully she wasn’t as bad off as she might have been. He was giving her the perfect solution.

Having decided she was willing to take the chance, Liz smiled and let herself feel some of the happiness that was threatening burst out of her, if only she’d let it. She reached up and let her fingers sooth his furrowed brow.

“Yes, Max. I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

His warm hazel eyes softened and he visibly relaxed. The smile that she’d been missing returned and he seemed more himself than before. He took her hand and kissed the fingers that were easing the tension he had been feeling since last night. “I’m glad,” he said holding her gaze.

Liz sighed, what was it about Max and her fingers. His warm breath felt so good against her skin. Her eyes were drawn to his soft lips. Swallowing and moistening her own, she realized how badly she wanted to kiss him right then.

“Max, um… I think I’m gonna to go,” she said and pulled her hand away. The nervousness she was feeling was starting to turn into something else and she didn’t want to do something that would give Max the wrong idea. He had just said they were going to try and take their time, what would he think if she started making out with him after all the fuss she made before.

Max was disappointed that she seemed to be running away from him again, but just nodded and let her go. He watched her turn to leave, wondering why she always drew away when he touched her.

Liz looked back at Max as she walked away and saw the frown that had returned but was now darkened with something more, and paused.

“Max?”

She was torn, Liz knew it would be better for her to just walk out the door, try to process everything that had just been said, and then decide where to go from there, but that’s not at all what she wanted to do. What she wanted was to feel his arms wrapped around her as they finished what they’d started last night.

Again she felt the urge to sooth the offending expression away from his attractive face. She returned to his side and again let her fingers brush over his taught brow, but let her caress linger and continue on. She saw his eyes slip closed and a quiet sigh escaped his parted lips at her touch.

“Max…” She heard her voice whisper as she felt his lips capture hers as he pulled her to him in a burning kiss.

He had been trying to be a gentleman, to keep his distance, but he couldn’t deny how much he had wanted her, to taste her, and feel her pressed against him as he ravished her mouth with his kiss.

He’d been fighting the desire because he knew that would be the worst thing he could do right now. Liz would allow their relationship to progress at a pace she was comfortable with, but knowing that and feeling this desire to hold her, and the need to feel her fall apart in his arms was driving him crazy. When she’d pulled away from him, he’d felt rejected again, but she hadn’t left.

The way she had spoken his name when she turned… and the touch of her hand as she wiped away his frown had left him feeling short of breath. Again he couldn’t stop himself, he kissed her. He’d closed his eyes and let himself taste her soft, pink lips and pulled her close against his chest, where he’d been longing for her to be.

Liz surrendered to the feeling of being surrounded by his powerful form and returned his heated kiss. There was no hesitation as she slid her arms around his neck and relaxed against him. She pushed her doubts away. She didn’t want to be afraid right now, she just wanted to feel all the wonderful things that were happening between them.

His lips parted and his soft tongue caressed her lips, begging permission to taste the sweet treasures hidden inside. She opened to him and a moan escaped her when she felt his velvety explorations. He pulled her closer, leaving no space between them, his hands tightening their hold on her warm skin as his desire spiraled higher. She felt so good against him.

Was this real, because he could very possibly just be dreaming that Liz was now exploring him as he been her, and her scantly clad body was responding to his touch in ways that caused him to ache. His hands moved across her back, caressing the warm, exposed skin beneath his fingers, trying to memorize the feel of her. If this was a dream he didn’t want to forget how delicious she tasted or the quiet noises she made when he kissed her, but especially he wanted to remember the feel of her body pressed against his.

Her treasured roses fell to the floor forgotten when his searching hands began causing the most delicious quivers everywhere he touched. Her fingers slid into his soft hair and she wriggled against him trying to quell the sensations he was causing. She felt like she was on fire. A groan sounded from deep inside her when she felt his body respond.

Max gasped and tried to get himself under control. When she began wriggling against his already heated body, he felt like he was going to explode. They had to stop before he started acting on the thoughts that had just jumped into his head. He wanted a lot more than just a kiss now and he was afraid he’d do something that would make everything he’d just said seem like a lie.

“Liz…” He closed his eyes trying to slow his racing pulse and get his unruly flesh to obey. “I think you better go,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

Liz buried her face in his chest trying to clear her suddenly fuzzy mind. “Um, yeah… I think that’s a good idea,” she said breathing hard, but noticed he hadn’t relinquished his hold on her. She looked up to see his eyes pressed shut and his jaw tensed, and swallowed. “Max, are you ok?”

“Yeah… I’m ok.”

He finally released his hold on her and she pulled away, but noticed he still had his eyes closed, and his hands were balled into fists at his sides. She felt a smidgeon of satisfaction that she had caused such a strong reaction in him and laughed to herself. When he heard her giggle he opened his eyes, and Liz was standing there looking extremely amused at his predicament.

“What’s so funny, Liz,” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” she hedged. “I’m just gonna go now,” she said backing toward the door, her gaze drifting over the evident bulge in his jeans and then back up to his now shocked eyes, as she went. She was glad the tension that had built between them had lessened, she was feeling playful with him again, she’d missed it. With a not so innocent grin, she turned to leave.

His eyes widen in shock at her bold teasing, but he just smiled and shook his head. Just before she was gone, he noticed the roses he had given her lying on the floor and picked them up. Knowing why they were there, he felt his own moment of satisfaction before he called out to her.

“Liz?”

“Yeah?” She turned back and saw Max looking very amused himself now, and holding her flowers... Liz covered her reddened face with her hand and laughed at herself. So they both got a little carried away.

“You forgot these.” He held them out for her and smiled at her knowingly. She shook her head and retrieved her roses.

“Thank you,” she said with a rueful smile, biting her lip and feeling happy that he was teasing her also.

“Bye, Max,” she said over her shoulder as she walked through the door.

“Bye, Liz.”

He sighed as he watched her go and stood alone thinking about what had just happened. Running a hand through his hair, he thought, ‘Wow!’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBC…

Hey everyone. Yes I'm finally ready to post the next chapter. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update sooner. My life isn't as slow as it used to be now. Finding writing time is hard and then trying to get my mind back into the character's is hard sometimes. This chap took a lot to get done, I hope you all enjoy.

I'm giving full credit ti my Beta Strawbehrry Shortcake as a writer on this story too. Without her totally awesome ideas and her tremendous amounts of 'patience' I would still be banging my head against the computer screen right now. lol (Yall think I'm kidding, but you just don't know. )

Anyway I can't give yall weekly updates anymore. I hate that, but life sucks. I will keep writing this story though, not doubt, but the updates are going to be less often now. Yall can yell at me if you get tired of waiting. I feel bad when people ask for an update and I'm lollygagin.

One last thing. I went back and revised each chapter. There were a couple of important changes made that you may want to know. The most significant one is the addition of Courtney in the shower scene with Pam and Jessie. She's in this part so don't look at me like I'm crazy when you see her.

Ok, so onto the story. Have fun:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 9
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Girls’ Locker room

“Liz babe, will you put my ribbons in for me. I can’t get them straight,” Maria asked fiddling with her hair in the mirror.

“Sure,” Liz answered cheerfully. She hopped up from her seat on the bench and began retying the red and yellow ribbons into Maria’s hair.

Maria noticed Liz was humming something and looked up at her in the mirror. A contented little smile had settled on Liz’s lips and she seemed much happier than she’d been earlier. ‘Obviously that rose did a lot to change Liz’s mood. Good boy, Max.’

“Liz, what’s that you’re humming?” she asked curiously.

“It’s umm… I feel the earth move. It’s stuck in my head.” Liz answered distractedly. “There, all done.” Liz stepped away and went back to getting herself ready for the game, all the while humming and acting unusually cheerful.

As Maria watched her friend bounce around happily, she realized… that ‘Liz wasn’t telling her something!’ Maria’s eyes narrowed as she watched her friend closely. ‘Well we’ll just have to get to the bottom of this, won’t we.’

“Liz, you never told me what your card said or what happened with Max,” she reminded her friend. Maria saw Liz freeze for a moment before her reaction was quickly masked in an air of nonchalance.

“Oh yeah. Max just apologized,” Liz hedged. She had been hoping that Maria would forget about it for a little while longer. Liz knew Maria would find out sooner or later, but right now she didn’t want to shatter her happy little fantasy just yet. As long as she didn’t think too hard about what happened between her and Max she could just enjoy it. No analyzing, no trying to figure out if they were together or not, no counting off reasons why it shouldn’t have happened, just enjoying the memory of Max holding her close as he kissed her and made her feel all the things she’d been to afraid to feel for him. She didn’t want to go back to being afraid of being used and getting hurt. Not yet.

“Oh. So you two are friendly again?” Maria asked knowing there had to be more to it than that.

“Yeah. Yeah, we are.” Liz smiled thinking about how friendly she’d been with Max. Maria noticed the secret smile and her pink cheeks, and decided it was time to be more direct with her interrogation. She crossed her arms and stared at her friend sizing her up.

“Ok, Spill it, woman. I know something big happened and you’re holding out on Mammi Ria. That’s a no no,” she said tapping her foot and playfully glaring at her friend.

Liz laughed. “Maria, come on. You know I wouldn’t hold out on you,” she teased, not at all trying to hide the fact that she wasn’t planning on spilling a thing. She picked up her pom poms and started walking toward the locker room door with a smug smile on her face.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting away that easy. I want details, woman! Details!” Maria grabbed her own pom poms and took off after her.

~~~

“Max, aren’t you supposed to be slapping yourself and eating raw eggs or something,” Michael asked as he walked up and slapped Max on the back.

“Michael, what are you doing here?” Max asked startled.

“Me?! Max you have a game in a few minutes. What are you doing here?”

Max scratched his ear trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make him sound like a totally love sick puppy. If he told him the truth, that he was standing here in front of the girls’ locker room, right before the biggest game of the year, trying to think of the best way to ask Liz Parker to give him a kiss, Michael would laugh in his face and he’d never live it down. Luckily for him just then, both Liz and Maria walked through the locker room doors and saved him from his embarrassment.

“Li-i-z, come on. Tell me,” Maria pouted as she and Liz made their way out to the field. Liz wasn’t being very cooperative at the moment and it was killing her to know that her best friend had a juicy secret that she was keeping from her.

“Maria, I told you, Max just apologized. We talked and now things are better,” she said as she pushed her way through the doors. Liz wasn’t lying, she was just withholding some particularly pertinent information.

“Elizabeth Parker, you were humming I Feel The Earth Move, smiling at the mention of making up with Max, and I know something beside a pretty flower put that blush on your- Oww!” Maria stopped short and grabbed the injured rib that Liz’s elbow had just tried to dig a hole through. She was about to whop Liz back with her pom pom when she noticed Max and Michael standing a few feet away watching them. Michael had his hand covering his mouth and looked as if he was trying not to laugh. Max’s eyes kept darting around, looking everywhere but at her and… was he blushing? ‘Ok, that’s it! Somebody better start talking soon or else!’

Liz tried to fight the urge to run back into the locker room and never come out again. Just as she and Maria had come out of the locker room, Liz had seen Max and Michael standing outside the doors, but she hadn’t realize until to late that they could hear the conversation she was having, and from the look on Max’s face he’d heard everything.

“Max, what are you doing here?” It was the only thing she could think of besides running back into the locker room to die of shame.

“I wanted to talk to you before the game started,” Max said trying to calm his nervousness. Now that Liz knew how he felt about her, he was worried about how she would act around him.

Liz took a deep breath trying to get over her embarrassment. “Oh, ok. What’s up?” she asked walking closer to find out what was so important that he interrupted his pre game routine to talk to her. Max looked around nervously at Michael and Maria, who were watching him and Liz with curious interest, then back at Liz who was now looking at him with concern.

“Um…” he started, but paused and looked at Michael and Maria as if to say, ‘Do you mind?’ They both just looked at him, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. When they didn’t get the hint, Max sighed in exasperation. “Excuse us for just a second,” he said putting his arm around Liz’s shoulders and steering her to a more private spot a few feet away.

Maria looked at Michael with a curious frown. “Michael, what’s going on with Max?” she asked leaning against him as they both watched their friends talk quietly a few feet away. Michael automatically wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her closer as they watched the interaction between their friends.

“I don’t know, babe,” Michael fibbed. He really didn’t know exactly why Max was out here instead of in the locker room getting his pep talk or whatever it was that football players did before a game, but he figured it had something to do with what Zan told him yesterday.

“Hmm…” Maria’s curiosity was peaked. She noticed how shy both Max and Liz were acting around each other all of a sudden and how they kept stealing glances over at her and Michael every now and then. She smiled as she came to a decision. She nudged Michael and smiled up at him over her shoulder. “Wouldn’t they make a cute couple?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Maria, no.”

“Aww, come on, babe. You know they’re perfect for each other. Just look at them,” she whined and pouted. She turned in his arms and grinned up at him. “Pleeease,” she begged.

“Maria, you promised no more match making,” he scolded. “Remember what happened last time, when you tried hooking Liz up with Kyle?”

“Yeah, I remember,” she said frowning in disgust. “The idiot took her to a keg party and he ended up barfing on Liz’s brand new suede boots.” She rolled her eyes in disgust as she remembered that disastrous pairing.

“And,” Michael prompted.

“And I promised I would never try to hook Liz up with anyone ever again,” she begrudged him. “But babe, you know she’d thank me in the end when they end up as happy as we are,” she said peppering his neck with little kisses, trying to persuade him over to her way of thinking. “Don’t you think they would be perfect together?”

“Mmm…” was all that came to mind for a moment before her question registered. “Um, actually, babe, I kind of figured she’d hook up with Zan,” he finally got out before he took over and began kissing a path from her chin to that sensitive little spot just behind her left ear.

“Ohh, that’s nice,” she moaned and slid her arms around his neck. “Zan’s not her type. Max is just right for her.” She managed to say while running her fingers through his hair and holding his head close.

“I think they’re both her type,” he mumbled, slipping his fingers under the edge of her little top and concentrating on the other side of her neck.

“Yeah, I guess your right,” she whispered before she devoured his lips with her own.

~~~

Max led Liz a little ways away from Michael and Maria hoping to find a little privacy. “Liz, I umm… I uh…” Max cleared his throat and swallowed trying to make his nervousness go away.

Liz put her hand on Max’s arm trying to calm him. “It’s ok, Max. Just tell me.” She smiled at him encouragingly and waited.

Max let out a breath and shook his head at himself. He took Liz’s hand and smiled bashfully. “Liz, it’s no big deal or anything. I was just hoping you’d… you know, give me a kiss for good luck,” Max said turning red from the top of his ears down.

Liz smiled from ear to ear. “Oh, Max. Is that all?” He was just so adorable biting the side of his lip and trying to hide his flushed cheeks. Liz looked over her shoulder at Maria and Michael before she answered. “Sure.” Her own cheeks had returned to a full blush as well. Max smiled, then stepped closer and started leaning down to kiss her.

“Max, what about them?” They both looked over at Michael and Maria, who were cuddled up watching them talk.

Max chuckled. “Knowing them, pretty soon they’ll distract themselves and will have forgotten all about us,” he whispered conspiratorially.

Liz laughed and agreed. She peeked over her shoulder to see what was happening with them and sure enough Maria had started sucking on Michael’s neck and he had his eyes closed, the outside world forgotten.

“See what’d I tell ya?” Max chuckled.

“I know. Aren’t they terrible?” Liz shook her head and looked back up at Max. He smiled down at her for a second, then his head tilted to one side and he looked at her curiously.

“What,” she asked knowing something was coming.

“So, you were humming again?” He teased.

Liz’s mouth dropped open in embarrassment. “Maaax!” she slapped his arm and ducked her head as she felt her cheeks burn.

“Aww, I like your humming. You get so into it. It’s cute,” he said pulling her closer.

“Your just saying that cause you want a kiss,” she said coyly, letting him draw her to him.

“Yeah, but it’s true,” he teased, then swallowed when he saw Liz moisten her lips and look up at him, waiting. He licked his lips in anticipation and leaned in to kiss her.

“Uh Hmm!” At the sound of someone clearing their throat right next to them, Max and Liz jumped apart surprised to see Pam Troy standing there glaring. “Max, I need to talk to you,” she said giving Liz an evil sneer before totally ignoring her.

“Pam, I’m a bit busy right now,” Max said shocked by her audacity.

“It’s really important, Max,” Pam pleaded putting her hand on his arm. “You understand, don’t you, Liz,” she said trying to pull him away.

“Excuse me!” Max snatched his arm away from Pam and looked at her like she was crazy. “Pam, Liz and I are talking. What ever it is you want will just have to wait.” He turned back to Liz and tried to apologize. “Liz, I’m really sorry.”

Liz didn’t know whether to be pissed off because Pam was showing her claws or ecstatic because Max wasn’t going for her little game. She looked at Pam standing there gawking at him and wondered why Max would have ever gone out with someone like her. She wore too much makeup, every piece of clothing she owned was a size too small, and she was the biggest bitch Liz had ever met. She felt like snatching that bleached blond ponytail and smacking her. ‘Whoa, where’d that come from,’ Liz thought. Lonnie must have started rubbing off on her.

Pam was speechless. No way was Max blowing her off for Liz Parker. “Max! You are not you choosing her over me!” Pam looked as if it was just a totally absurd idea.

‘That’s it!’ Liz had had enough of this. It was time to set Ms. Boy Toy straight. She wanted Max to get going first, though. “Max, you better get back to the team before they start to wonder where you are,” she said ignoring Pam for the moment.

Max shook his head brushing off her concern. “Don’t worry about me, Liz. I’ll make it back on time.” There was no way Max was going to stand by and let Pam try to bully Liz.

“No, Max. Really this game is important to you. Go on. Pam and I need to have a talk any way,” she said firmly, locking eyes with Pam. It was almost a dismissal.

“Are you sure, Liz?” He asked worried.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

Max looked unsurely between Pam and Liz who stood glaring at each other for a moment. “Liz, I don’t-” He was interrupted by the sound of a loud moan coming from behind them.

They all turned to see Michael and Maria locked in a very heated makeout session. Michael had Maria’s leg hooked over his hip, and had her pinned to the wall. He was sucking on her neck and one hand had disappeared under her top, while the other was hidden from view.

“Whoa…” Liz shook her head and turned back to Max. “Max, really, go on. I’ve gotta go cool those two off anyway.” She turned to head over to them, but stopped and looked at Pam. Liz turned around and stretched up on her toes, placing a sweet kiss on Max’s lips.

Max’s hands went to her waist and his lips followed her as she started to pull away, not willing to let her go yet. Liz gently pushed herself away and smiled up at him. “Good Luck. Make a touchdown for me,” she whispered before heading back toward the two lovers. As she walked away she looked at Pam and grinned evilly. Max chuckled when saw this. He stood admiring her as she walked away for a moment, then headed for the locker room himself.

Pam couldn’t believe that Max had embarrassed her like that, and over Liz Parker. “How could you do that to me,” she called out to him. Max rolled his eyes and ignored her. “Max, don’t walk away from me.” Pam threatened.

“What ever.” He shook his head and kept walking.

~~~

Liz rolled her eyes. Michael and Maria hadn’t even noticed that they were drawing people’s attention. Courtney and Jessie stood outside the locker room door laughing and pointing at their little display. ‘I should have known they’d be around. Where ever Pam goes her little pack is sure to follow.’

She walked past them on her way to Michael and Maria and tried to get rid of the little perverts. “Peep much? You know voyeurism is like a felony?” They both made faces at her and rolled their eyes. She walked up to Michael and Maria and clapped her hands loudly in their ears. “Hel-lo, public place. You guys are corrupting my virgin mind here. Knock it off.” she teased.

“Wha-?” Michael mumbled as he came out of his Maria induced haze. He looked up and finally noticed Liz was standing next to them looking at him expectantly. She gave him a little wave. “Hi. Forgot where you were didn’t ya?”

Maria pulled her leg from around Michael’s hip and peeked over his shoulder. “Sorry, Liz. We got a little carried away.” She blushed a little and began straightening her clothes.
“Excuse me for a minute.”

Liz stood in front of her trying to block everyone’s view. She knew she’d been unsuccessful when Courtney and Jessie started whistling and making catcalls. Liz sighed irritably. “Here, let me help fix your hair.”

Michael felt bad and kind of guilty just standing there while Maria had to put herself back together because of his urges. After Liz finished straightening Maria’s ponytail, Michael pulled Maria back against his chest for a tender hug. “Sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to muss you up so much.”

“Hey, big guy you know I was getting just as wild as you were,” she said slipping her arms back around his neck and giving him a tender kiss.

“Hey you two, don’t start that again or we’ll never get out of here,” Liz teased them.

All of a sudden they all jumped as a grating voice bellowed out, “Let’s go!”

They turned to see who was making all the fuss and saw Pam standing at the end of the walkway looking rather upset. Tapping her foot and hands on hips, she waited impatiently as Courtney and Jessie followed.

“God, she’s annoying,” Michael said frowning.

Liz chuckled. “Looks like she finally came back from the land of denial. I hope reality isn’t too harsh for her.”

“Uh oh, sounds like you two had a run in,” Maria said escaping Michael’s arms. “What happened?”

Liz didn’t really want to go into the details of the situation at the moment. She sighed and waved it off. “It’s a long story, Ria. I’ll tell you later.” Maria looked surprised but just nodded.

Liz looked back at Pam for a minute thinking about their confrontation. Pam was standing there glaring at her. When she saw Liz look in her direction, they locked eyes and Pam seemed to be challenging her. Liz rolled her eyes, disgusted with her. “God I hate her.”

When Jessie and Courtney finally reached her, Pam turned and stormed away without giving them a second glance. As Courtney was walking away she called out to Michael, “Hey, Mikey G. I didn’t know you were so talented. I might have to take you out for a test drive myself soon.” She winked at him and blew him a kiss before taking off to catch up to her girls.

Maria’s eyes narrowed to two angry slits. “I know she did not just proposition my boyfriend right in front of my face,” she said incredulously.

“Uh oh,” Liz said shaking her head. She looked at Michael pleading for help. He just shrugged and raised his hands in defeat. ‘Men,’ she thought in disgust. “Maria, now calm down. Don’t go crazy on me.”

“Oh, don’t worry Liz, I got this covered,” Maria said calmly, but for some reason that worried Liz more than if she had screamed and yelled.

Liz rolled her eyes in exasperation. ‘Oh boy. Here we go again.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
TBC

Hey everybody. I hope You all enjoy this part. Let me know what you think.
Tuesday

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Part 10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Aww, man! Come on ref! Are you blind?!” Michael shouted, again spilling his bag of popcorn over everyone in front of him as he tossed his arms up in frustration.

“Mikey, would you cut it out!” Lonnie’s exasperated voice rose up. It was almost half time, the score was Comets 6, Novas 9, and every time something went against the Comets, Michael went ballistic and she ended up with popcorn in her hair. “God, you don’t see Zan and Alex going all crazy over this stupid game.”

Michael sat down still agitated over the 5 yard penalty the Comets had just gotten because Brian Reynolds jumped off sides. How were they ever going to catch up if they kept getting stupid penalties every other down. He shook his head and looked around at the two guys mentioned and noticed Lonnie was right. Alex wasn’t really watching the game, he and Lonnie were having a conversation about… who knew what, and Zan was looking off toward the wrong end of the field. Michael followed Zan’s gaze and saw the cheerleaders. He rolled his eyes. ‘Of course.’ He reached into his bag to get a handful of popcorn and discovered it was empty.

“Damn, didn’t I just have a full bag of popcorn a few minutes ago?” Michael asked to no one in particular.

“Hellooo!” Lonnie couldn’t believe how thick the boy was when he was watching sports. “That was before you threw it all over everybody, you butt head,” she said throwing a handful at him from the pile that had gathered at her feet.

The ref blew the whistle signaling the end of the first half. “Perfect timing. I’m gonna get some more popcorn. You wanna come,” he asked nudging Zan as he stood.

“Naw, man. I’m cool,” Zan mumbled.

“Hey Alex, would you get me a cherry coke,” Lonnie asked.

“Sure, be right back.” He and Michael took off down the bleachers, heading for the concession stand.

Zan watched as Lonnie’s eyes followed Alex until he disappeared from sight. He waited until she looked at him and arched an eyebrow.

“Sup with dat?” He asked giving her a knowing smile.

“What are you talkin bout?” Lonnie smacked her lips and turned her attention elsewhere.

Zan knew he had her. “You and drummer boy lookin real cozy. Somebody might think yous two was on a date or somethin.” He waited to see how she’d react to his bait.

She looked at him out of the corner of her narrowed eyes. “And if we were?” Lonnie knew he was messin with her, but wasn’t in the mood to play.

Zan didn’t answer for a moment as he thought about his baby sister dating Alex Whitman. He nodded to himself as he answered, “Then I’d say, I approve.”

Lonnie was surprised, not that she needed anyone’s approval to hook up with a guy, but it was nice to know that Zan liked ‘im.

“Really? Um…” she smiled at her big brother. “Thanks.”

Zan put his arm around Lonnie’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “Hey, you know I’m lookin out for ya.” Lonnie laid her head on his shoulder feeling content and safe.

“Yeah, I know ya are.”

She rested there for a moment remembering how close she and Zan had been when they lived in New York. Sometimes she missed that, but that was about all she missed about New York. She sighed and looked up at Zan, noticing that he was looking over her head.

She looked around to see what had his attention, but all she saw was the cheerleaders gettin ready to do their halftime routine. She frowned and sat up, wondering why he was so interested in the halftime show. He’d never paid any attention before, and as far as she knew, he wasn’t into perky.

She was about to bust him out about it, when she noticed he was kinda smilin. Not his usual arrogant smirk, but a tender smile, almost… wistful? And his eyes… he looked as if he wanted something, but knew he could never have it. She looked back at the cheerleaders tryin to figure out what was making him like this, and she realized, he was watchin Liz.

She took in her brother’s expression as he watched her friend and thought about all the stuff that had been going on between her brothers and Liz lately. She didn’t really believe that either of them wanted to just play with Liz for a little while and move on, at least, she hoped neither one would do something like that to her. There had to be more goin on with them than just your basic case of lust.

Lookin at Zan now, she wondered if maybe he really cared about Liz, and maybe he wanted more than just a little distraction. Maybe he really wanted to be with her. That thought made Lonnie smile. Zan and Liz… yeah she could see that.

She had to wonder when all this had happened though, and if he was so into Liz, why he hadn’t tried to hook up with her before. Zan wasn’t one to waste time when it came to stepin to a girl he was in to, and he’d known Liz for like three years. It was obvious he wanted to get with her, so what was stoppin him?

“Zan, just tell her how you feel.”

“What?” Lonnie’s unexpected statement shocked him out of his drifting thoughts.

“Liz… just tell her how you feel about her,” she said again.

“What are you talkin bout?” ‘Damn! Maybe Lonnie heard more than she’d let on.’ Zan didn’t want to admit to anything, Lonnie might start trippin and shit.

“Zan, look at you. It’s written all over your face that ya like her. You look all moony and shit. It’s classic,” she laughed.

‘What the hell?’ Zan narrowed his eyes in anger.

He did not moon over anybody. He was trying to keep cool and not to let her taunting get to him, but looking at Lonnie laughing at him was pissing him off. He shook his head and stood up. “Yo, I’m out.” He started joggin down the bleachers not lookin back.

“Hey, where you goin?!” she asked shocked that her little teasing had affected him so much.

“Mind ya fuckin business,” he grumbled. Lonnie smacked her lips and sighed at her stupid ass brother. Well at least now she knew he really liked Liz. Now all she had to do was figure out a way to get them together.

~~~

Zan leaned on the small fence that separated the bleachers from the track, and watched as the cheerleaders did their half time routine. What Lonnie said bugged him. He did not “moon” over nobody. He rubbed at his lip with his thumb, agitated, and tried not to get mad all over again.

Only once had he gotten all caught up in a girl and he learned to regret that mistake. Naw, gettin all twisted up over a female wasn’t his style. Lonnie didn’t know what the hell she was talkin about.

He watched as the cheerleaders moved in sync to the music playin over the loud speakers. The crowd was clappin along with the heavy techno beat and cheerin them on. He had to admit they looked good.

The rhythm of the music sped up and the girls started buildin their pyramid for the finale. All of a sudden one of the girls on top started wobblin and loosin her balance. Zan saw that Maria was helpin to hold the girl’s leg. She had a grimace on her face tryin to steady her… or was that a smile? The girl’s arms flew about as she totally lost her balance and fell flat on her ass.

‘Dayum!’ He grimaced in empathy for the girl’s pain.

He watched as Maria’s hand flew to her mouth in pretend shock. She looked as if she was sayin oops, but didn’t move to help the girl up. Zan had to laugh. That girl must have really pissed Maria off, to get ‘The Wrath’.

The blond recovered and tried to act as if nothin had happened, but he could see the seethin death glares she was sendin Maria, and as they were moving off the field the girl said somethin to her. It must have been real because Liz grabbed Maria’s arm and turned her around before Maria could step up.

As Liz walked her away, he could see Maria fussing unhappily. Zan called out to the girls before they disappeared into the crowd.

“Liz! Re-Re!” He could see that Maria was still kind of hot over what ever the girl said by the malevolence he saw in Maria’s eyes when she looked back over her shoulder. He was glad she didn’t have death-ray eyes or blond girl would be dead right now. He had a feelin this little spat wasn’t over with yet.

Liz sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. ‘Darn It! First Maria goes crazy and now Zan shows up with his butterflies. You’d think that after what happened with Max I’d be over this”. She turned and followed Maria over to where Zan stood, resisting the urge to curse.

“Hey Zan,” Maria called out, her angry glare turning into a bright smile as she and Liz made their way over to him.

“Hey,” Liz greeted when she finally reached his resting place. She couldn’t really look him in the eye, feeling a little guilty and thinking about Max, she stood there, holding onto the fence, fidgeting while Zan and Maria talked.

“Hey, what happened? I saw you lookin all evil when that girl fell.” Zan narrowed his eyes at Maria playfully. “You dropped her, didn’t you?” He shook his head and chuckled as that evil smile appeared again.

“What?” Maria batted her eyes and smiled impishly, but after seeing Zan’s disbelieving expression, finally dropped all pretense of innocence. “She had it coming, ok?! That bitch came on to Michael right in front of me, like I wasn’t even there!” she explained heatedly. “She’s lucky I didn’t kick her ass instead of just dropping her on it.”

“Damn, girl!” he chuckled. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

Maria winked playfully. “You know it!” Scanning the crowd for a shaggy blonde head, she asked, “Hey, where’s Michael?”

Zan looked up into the bleachers to see if Michael and Alex had made it back from the concession stand yet. All he saw was Lonnie sittin where he’d left her, watchin them talk. “He must still be at the snack stand.”

“Chica, I’m gonna go find him real quick. I have to tell him what I did to that little skank.” Liz rolled her eyes at her friend’s eager smile.

“Just don’t miss the kickoff,” she called out as Maria walk away.

Liz could feel Zan looking at her, so she turned and smiled awkwardly at him before biting her lip and looking down at her toe that started kicking the fence. Zan frowned as he watched Liz. He wondered why all of a sudden she wouldn’t look at him. From her nervous behavior he could tell that something was up.

“You guys looked good out there. I knew you’d get that statue thingy down.” He was tryin ta think of somethin that would take her mind off whatever she was thinkin.

Liz frowned, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “Statue thingy?” She laughed and wrinkled her nose at him.

“Yeah, you know, that thing you do when you’re up there with your leg over your head.” He said it like it was obvious. Liz’s mouth fell open as she tried hard not to bust out laughing after she realized what he meant. He was telling her that he’d noticed she’d had trouble with that stunt during practice and he was glad she got right tonight.

“Oh! You mean the Liberty.” She corrected him grinning. Zan grinned in return, glad he’d gotten her smiling again.

“Yeah, dat,” he answered eyes twinklin.

“Thanks,” she nodded with a smile. “I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to hold it, but we got it right.” She gave him an appreciative smile and felt some of her tension starting to melt away. She and Zan were friends, there wasn’t anything wrong with talking to him, and besides she and Max weren’t officially together, so why was she feeling so guilty. If she could just get control of her butterflies, everything would be fine.

“So, after the game, I’ll be waitin for ya out by the gym. Are you gon take forever to get changed, like usual?” he teased.

Liz felt a cold knot form in her stomach. The smile dropped from her face and she looked down at her shoes again. “Um, Zan…” Zan noticed the change in Liz before she even said a word. He could tell what was coming.

She glanced up at him for a moment wishing she didn’t have to tell him about her and Max, but with what’d had happened, she figured that she and Max would go to the party together. But now that she was actually standing here in front of Zan… she didn’t want to tell him.

He interrupted her attempts to finish her thought, hopin to stop her from sayin somethin that would totally ruin everythin he’d planned; and slowly kill him, all in one fell swoop. “Hey, you not breakin our date, are you? I thought you said we was cool.” He covered her fingers through the links in the fence with his own, and willed her to look at him.

His touch sent a thrill through her. She hadn’t been expecting it, and her eyes flew to his in surprise. What she saw there was unexpected as well. His usually beautiful golden brown eyes were darkened by an anxious frown.

“We are, Zan. It’s not that,” she tried to reassure him. “It’s just…”

‘Why is this so hard?’ His unfaltering gaze caused the fluttering in her stomach to increase, and she felt her resolve to be honest with him melting away with the warm flush that spread over her.

“Um…” She swallowed around the lump that had formed in her throat.

She had to tell him, but she was afraid they’d lose everything they had. There’d be no more of their cigar poker matches, or marathon Sega tournaments. He wouldn’t make anymore unexpected visits to the Crashdown, to mooch fries from her when she was studying, or try to make her laugh with his silly jokes. There’d be no more breathless moments when she’d look up and see him smile just for her. She had to tell him, but she was afraid she’d lose him.

Zan could see the emotions playin across her face as she struggled to tell him what was goin through her mind. “You never really forgave me, huh? That’s why you breakin our date.” He just knew that she was still pissed at him for what’d happened last night, and from the frown that appeared on her face at his words, he knew he’d been right.

“Liz, I didn’t mean for all that to happen. Things just got out of hand. At first I was just playin around and stuff, but then… when I looked down at you… right at that moment, I just had to kiss you. You looked so perfect. It just… happened.” He tried to explain what had caused his ill-mannered behavior last night. He had honestly been over come by his desire for her. It had never been his intention to forcibly hold her down and have his way with her. He’d never forgive himself for making her feel cheap or used. He’d understand if she never wanted to see him again, let alone go to a party with him.

Liz was taken aback by his unexpected declaration for a whole lot of different reasons. For one, Zan believed she was still angry at him over their almost kiss yesterday, and was beating himself up about it when she’d already forgiven him. She hoped that it was just a misunderstanding like Maria said, and hated to think he was still beating himself up because of her overreaction.

Second, he had said almost the exact same thing that Max said to her last night. She wondered if it was just an incredible coincidence and if he was being sincere, or if while they were talking last night, Max told Zan what had been said. If Zan was being honest, then she wasn’t the only one who’d been caught up in the moment last night. That thought made her happier than she thought it would, but it also made her more confused than she’d ever been about Max and Zan. Was Zan playing a cruel game with her… she didn’t want to think about it. She just hoped he wasn’t.

And finally, ‘Date?!’ He’d mentioned them having a date tonight twice now, and it finally registered through her self pity and guilt what he’d said.

“Zan, hold on a minute, you said “Our date”. We don’t have a date.” She tried to focus on one situation at a time. She couldn’t think about everything else right now. Things were so unclear at the moment.

Zan looked at her confused for a moment. “I asked you if you’d still go wit me to the party tonight, and you said you would. You don’t remember?” He knew they didn’t really have a date tonight, but he had to get her mind off of what ever had her pullin away from him like this. Hopefully gettin her ta think about goin out wit him tonight would distract her enough ta make her forget about whatever it was.

Liz thought back to the conversation she’d had with him during drama and realized that he was right, she had said she would go with him tonight, she just hadn’t thought that the plans they’d made went past transportation. At the time she’d still half assumed that Zan would hook up with Jessica Riley. But seeing how disappointed he seemed at the thought of not going to the party with her made her realize that he had intended for them to go to the party as a couple. If that was the case and she’d agreed to go with him… What would Max think when she showed up at the party as Zan’s date?

He saw the confusion cloud her face as she looked at him for a long moment, but when she dropped her gaze and began bitin her lip again, he thought that was it. She wasn’t goin for it. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for her to end everything he’d hoped for with her next words.

Liz sighed and answered, “Yeah, I remember.”

Zan’s eyes shot open in surprise. He had to catch himself and control his urge to grin like an idiot. ‘Stay cool, boy.’ He nodded and tried to school his expression to not look so surprised and as if he’d expected her to say that all along. “Cool. So, we straight then?” he asked and tilted his head down a little tryin ta see what she was thinking, when she wouldn’t look up at him.

After thinking back on the conversation they’d had earlier and about how Zan had been acting toward her the past few days, Liz realized that maybe Zan had feelings for her too. Thinking about it made the butterflies that had previously been located in her stomach spread all over, and she had to take a deep breath to get herself to calm down a little.

Her excited jitters only lasted a moment though, as she again thought about Max and how much she also wanted to be with him, and how hurt he’d be if she went out with Zan, his twin brother. Max had said that he wanted to prove that she could trust him. With the way that she was feeling right now, she thought she was the one who should have to prove herself, because as guilty as she felt, she was elated that Zan seemed to want more than friendship with her. Liz looked up at Zan and knew that she wanted more than friendship with him, just like she did with Max. What kind of person did that make her?

Though she and Max weren’t a couple, she figured that this date might be the only chance to be with Zan as anything other than friends. She hated that everything was turning out this way. She couldn’t have both, but for the moment she didn’t have to choose.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the consequences of her decision, or rather her lack of one. She looked into his unbelievably beautiful eyes and answered his loaded question, “Yeah, I’ll meet you after I finish changing.”

She smiled softly at him, feeling her guilt eating at her, and the familiar fluttering and excitement that always came when he smiled in return.

Zan could see how hard she was strugglin with her self over whether or not to go to the party with him. It was tearin him up to see her so obviously torn about the decision. He reached over the fence and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Good. Take your time, but as beautiful as you always are, I can't imagine why you'd need to.”

Liz couldn’t believe how cheesy that sounded. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him, but still blushed at the compliment.

“Hey, Chica, you ready to go? The team is coming back out for the kickoff.” Maria’s voice broke in, reminding them that there were others around. Liz looked over at her and noticed that both Michael and Maria were walking toward them.

“Hey, Zan, the games about to start up again. You comin?” Michael asked as he made his way to the bleacher steps.

“Come on Liz, we gotta go before boobzilla freaks,” Maria said pulling Liz’s arm to get her moving.

Zan watched as Liz walked away with Maria. He sighed heavily, again thinking about how sad Liz seemed a few moments before. Maybe puttin her through this wasn’t such a good idea. Seeing her so upset made him wonder if it was worth it. The side of his mouth turned up in a half smile when she looked back at him over her shoulder with that smile she always gave him. Yeah, it was worth it, but it was time to do somethin about those sad eyes.

~~~


“Lonnie, here’s your drink.” She looked up and saw Alex holding out her soda for her to take.

“Thanks, Alex.” She took it from him with an appreciative smile, then turned her attention back to her brother and Liz.

“So what’d I miss?” Alex asked as he sat down.

Lonnie smiled to her self and rolled her eyes. “Nothing, Alex, the game hasn’t started yet.”

“Duh, I can see that, but something must have happened while I was gone, because Maria came over to the snack stand going on about some blond skank getting dropped on her ass. Tell me you saw that.” Alex was dying to get a clear explanation of what’d had happened. Trying to figure it out from Maria’s version was impossible.

“Yeah, it was hilarious. Maria dropped this girl on her ass in front of everybody. Then she was like, “Oops!” You missed it.”

“Aww man! Damn!” Alex watched as Maria and Liz rejoined the cheerleading squad. He saw that Courtney Banks had a dark brown stain on the back of her skirt that wouldn’t come out, no matter how much she and Jessica Riley tried to wipe it away. “I’d have paid money to have seen that.”

“Hey, Alex, what do ya think about Zan and Liz?” She turned her attention from her brother as he finally made his way back up to their spot on the bleachers.

“I don’t know. What do you mean,” Alex asked, totally bewildered by her question.

“Come on Alex, think about it. Don’t you think the two of them look good together?” Lonnie asked, trying to be patient.

“Well I guess so, I’ve never really thought about it. I always thought she would end up with Max. He seems more her type,” he answered with a shrug.

“Nah, Zan’s her type. Haven’t you ever noticed how they look at each otha? I mean it’s so obvious, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.” She stated more to her self than to Alex. “We gotta get them together. You wit me?”

Alex groaned and closed his eyes. He knew he should just say no and run, but with one look at Lonnie’s wicked smile, he knew he was whipped, how could he say no. .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
TBC…