West Roswell High Library

“Hey, Parker.”

“Oh, hey, Alex,” Liz said as she looked up.

“What are you doing here? Isn’t it your free period?”

“Yeah, but I have so much make-up work.”

“Liz, it’s your first day back. Besides, you are supposed to take it slow, remember,” he said with concern.

“Alex, don’t start going into Maria-mode, Ok. She and my parents have gone completely insane. They don’t let me do anything myself. Two days ago I had to pretend I was asleep just so they would stop asking me if I wanted anything.”

“Well, you did scare the hell out of us…All of us.”

“So, am I gonna be punished for the rest of my life?”

“Knowing Maria?..” he asked and they both nodded their heads.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right,” Liz said as the bell rang.

“Mind if I walk you to your class?”

“Alex!”

“What? It’s on my way,” he asked innocently

“Yeah, right. And it has nothing to do with Isabel being in my Chem class?” she asked smiling.

“Absolutely not,” he answered blushing.

******************************************************************

Chemistry Class

“Hi,” said Liz as she sat at her desk.

“Hi. How are you?” Isabel asked her.

“I’m fine, thanks. Did I miss anything important?”

“No, not really. Well, except, Lauren Kassey spilled an acid on her skirt one day and well, let me tell you, it wasn’t a pretty sight.”

Liz laughed. She was so happy Isabel didn’t give her the third degree like everybody else in school.

As they started working on their assignment Isabel said, “Ooh, I almost forgot. I’m throwing a party this Friday night. I was hoping you’d come.”

“Oh, I…I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Liz answered. A party at Max’s house wasn’t something she could deal with right now.

“If it’s about your parents, you can tell them that we’re having a sleep-over or something…”

“No, it’s not that.”

Isabel knew exactly why Liz didn’t want to come, but she had to get her to come by any means possible.

“Come on, Liz. Maria and Alex said they’re coming. It’ll be fun. Please…Ok, you now what, just think about it, Ok?” She knew Maria would be able to convince Liz.

“Ok, I’ll think about it,” Liz smiled again.

****************************************************************

“Liz?!”

Liz turned around to see Kyle walking up to her.

“Hey, Kyle.”

“What are you doing here in the bleachers?” he asked as he sat next to her.

“Oh…uhm…hiding,” she answered honestly.

“Anyone in particular?”

“Nope…Just…everybody.”

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“Well, let’s see, you are the only person out of the whole West Roswell High population, and that’s including the teachers, who hasn’t asked me if I was eating properly or if I got enough rest, which, by the way, thank you for that.”

Kyle smiled as he said, “Yeah, I know how it is.”

“Really?”

“Well, remember, last year when I broke my ankle?”

“Oh, yeah. So, how long did it last…The questions, I mean.”

“About a week, but then again, you almost died.”

“Oh, God. Maybe I should move to another state or something.”

“It’ll pass, don’t worry,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, I have to get going,” Liz said as she looked at her watch.

“Yeah, me too. Come on, I’ll walk with you,” he said as he stood up, “Hey, maybe I’ll stop by the Crashdown later today. Are you gonna be busy?”

“Well, seeing how my parents probably won’t let me work for the next twenty years…yeah, I think I have all the time in the world. Stop by after school.”

“Great, I’ll be there,” he said as they walked towards the main entrance.

******************************************************************

Max and Michael were sitting at one of the tables outside when Max noticed Liz and Kyle walking. He hasn’t seen her for two weeks, ever since … He just stared at her.

“So, did you talk to her yet?” Isabel asked as she sat at the table, noticing who Max was staring at.

“No, I just…don’t know what to say,” He said still not taking his eyes off Liz.

“How about getting down on your knees and begging for forgiveness?”

He looked up at her. This was exactly what he wanted to do…to beg for her to forgive him for everything. “Drop it, Isabel,” he said as he got up and left.

“What did I say?” she asked Michael who just shrugged his shoulders.

Then he said, “I’m not sure this is a good idea, Isabel.”

She knew he was talking about Max and Liz getting back together.

“Oh, come on, Michael. You know as well as I do that they should be together.”

“Yeah, but…there are complications.”

“It will be ok.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said to her as he got up and started to walk away.

“I am,” she said more to herself than to him.

**********************************************************************

Liz was running down the stairs when she ran into somebody. As she looked up, she froze…It was Max. They just stared at each other for a moment, then she finally said, “Hi.”

“Hi…How are you?” he asked her.

“Oh, I’m…yeah, I’m fine.”

“That’s good,” he said as he looked down.

“Yeah. Uhm…I guess I owe you a thanks…you know, for saving my life…again.”

He looked up at her again. “Oh, it was noth…I was just…,” he struggled to find the right words, “I’m just glad that you’re Ok.”

“Yeah, I’m Ok.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“You’re not going to class?” he finally asked.

She looked at him puzzled, but then realized that she was going in the wrong direction. “Oh, no, I just…I forgot my book in my locker.”

“Oh, Ok, well, I’ll see you in class then.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you…there,” she said and then walked down the stairs as he watched her go.

****************************************************************

Friday Night

The party at Evans’ House

“What am I doing here?” Max said.

He and Michael were standing in the corner. There were so many people in his house and most of them he didn’t even know. The music was deafening.

“I think you’re waiting for the girl of your dreams to come through that door,” Michael answered.

“It was a rhetorical question, Michael,” Max said as he looked at him.

“Oh, well, anyway, Max, do you really think…” Michael trailed off noticing that Max wasn’t listening to him anymore. He was staring at Liz who just came in with Maria and Alex.

“God, she’s beautiful,” Max thought to himself.

*********

“Oh, God, Maria, what am I doing here?”

“You’re here to have fun…you know…fun?”

“I look stupid,” she said as she looked down at her pants. She was wearing a bright red tube top and Maria’s black leather pants.

“You don’t look stupid, you look great. Alex, tell her,” Maria said.

“Liz, let me tell you as a proud member of the male species, there are a lot of words to describe how you look right now. Believe me, stupid’s not one of them.”

“See,” Maria said to her.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Liz said scanning the room for Max.

“Well, ladies, I’m gonna go and get some punch. See you later,” Alex said as he started to walk to the other end of the room.

“Oh, yeah, well, that explains why Alex got so thirsty all of a sudden,” Liz said as she was that Isabel was standing next to the punch bowl.

“Oh, come on, Liz, it will be fun.”

“I don’t see him,” Liz said still looking around the room.

“Well, Max isn’t big on parties.”

“So, you think he won’t be here?” Liz asked looking at her.

“Which answer are you hoping for?”

They looked at each other for a moment, then Maria said, “Well, I’m gonna go dance. You coming?”

“No, I’ll just…go get some punch,” Liz answered as Maria frowned at her.

“You’re gonna be Ok?” she asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Have fun.”

“Promise me, you won’t sit in the corner the whole night.”

“Ok, don’t worry.”

“Ok, Love ya, babe.”

“Me too,” Liz said as Maria went off to the dance floor.

*****************************************************************

Michael couldn’t believe it. Maria danced practically with every guy at the party.

Liz stared at Maria as she laughed to herself. She knew exactly what Maria was doing. She knew that Michael was around…watching.

Michael made his way towards Maria and her new dance partner as Heather Nova’s “Paper Cup” song came up.

“Hit the road, Jack,” Michael said to the guy.

As the guy started to walk away, Maria asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he said as he put his hands around her, “I’m dancing.”

“Dancing? You?”

“Yeah, so shut up and dance.”

And Maria did. Her plan worked.

***************************************************************

“Hey, can I have this dance?” Alex asked Liz.

“Sure,” she smiled at him and they made their way onto the dance floor.

“Alex, I just wanted to thank you, you know, for being there for me and everything.”

“Hey, I’m just happy you’re Ok. I mean, what would I do with Maria without you?” he said jokingly.

“Can I cut in?” a familiar voice said. She’d know that voices anywhere.

Before Liz could say anything, Alex said, “Sure”, kissed her on the cheek and left.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Max said.

“Oh, uhm..no,” she answered as he took her hand as they started to dance. Liz’s heart was racing. She could feel his was too. She closed her eyes. For a moment everything was perfect. Max was here and she was in his arms and nothing else mattered.

They danced silently. They knew what the other one was feeling because they both felt the same thing.

Alex came up to Isabel. “Do you think anybody would mind if we danced?” he asked.

“Is that your way of asking me to dance, Alex?” she said teasingly.

“Well, yeah, sort of.”

“I would love to.”

As they started dancing Isabel saw Max and Liz dancing and she smiled. Yes, it worked.

Maria was the first one to notice Max and Liz. She, also, smiled as she told Michael. All four of them stared the Liz and Max thinking the same thing…this what it was supposed to be like.

Liz was barely holding the tears back. This was like a dream. “Liz, what are you doing?” she suddenly thought to herself. She opened her eyes. “You’re not supposed to do this,” she thought as she stopped dancing and took a step away from Max. Max looked at her confused.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t…we can’t…I’m really sorry…” she said and then ran out of the room.

Max looked shocked. He couldn’t understand what happened. Only a minute ago everything was perfect.

Alex, Isabel, Michael, and Maria stopped dancing. They were all looking at Max now. Maria’s first reaction was to run after Liz, but Michael stopped her. Maria and Isabel looked at each other upset and then back at Max as he ran out of the room after Liz.

***************************************************************

“Liz! Liz, wait, please!” he yelled as he ran out of the house.

Liz stopped but didn’t turn around.

“Please, let’s talk about this,” he said pleadingly as he got closer.

As she turned around to face him, she said, “There’s nothing to talk about, Max.”

“Yes, there is. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Do what?”

“This…avoiding you or you avoiding me. I can’t not have you in my life. I tried and I can’t. When you’re not with me I feel like…like I can’t breathe…I can’t live like this.”

“Are you drunk again?”

He half smiled, “No, I don’t need to be drunk to tell you how I feel. Not anymore. I love you,” he said as he took a step towards her.

“Love was never a problem, Max” Liz said fighting back the tears.

“Nothing else matters.”

“What about everything that you are. Everything you’re supposed to become?”

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Yes, it does.”

“Not if you’re not here.”

“We don’t belong together, Max. You know that. You said it yourself and you were right.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was scared and stupid, but I wasn’t right. It took me a long time to realize it, but we do. I belong with you and you belong with me,” he said passionately.

“And what about the others? About Isabel and Michael and everybody else?” she asked, “They need you.”

“And they know that I need you.”

“No.”

“Yes. God, why do you think Isabel set up this whole party?”

“What?” she whispered as it hit her. Isabel asking her to the party, Maria making her wear this stupid outfit, Alex asking her to dance… all of it was a set up. But what did it mean?..

“It’s because she knows that we are meant to be together,” Max continued, “They all do.”

Liz couldn’t believe it. Could it be? All this time she thought that they couldn’t be together, that everybody thought the same. But what if she was wrong? The tears rolled down her face. She couldn’t fight them anymore.

“Liz,” Max whispered as he took another step closer to her.

“No!” she held her hand up telling him to stop. She still couldn’t believe all of this was happening. As she started crying she closed her face with her hands.

Slowly Max walked up to her taking one step at a time. He came so close to her that she buried her face in his chest. Afraid that if he made the wrong move, she’d pull away again, he slowly put his arms around her. They stood like that for a moment and then…Liz put her arms around him. She couldn’t fight it anymore…everything she felt…she couldn’t fight it, didn’t want to. Max looked up at the sky then closed his eyes silently thanking whoever was up there for giving Liz back to him. He took a deep breath. For the first time in a long time he felt like he could breathe. When he looked down he met Liz’s eyes. The tears were still rolling down. Gently he took her face in one hand as he wiped the tears away with the other. And then….he leaned in to kiss her.

And as their lips met…in that moment…all the hurt, all the pain, all the anguish, everything was gone. The only thing that was left was them…in the moment…TOGETHER.