"I know. Can you -?"

Isabel bends down and gets rid of the burnt symbol on the ground that Michael made. Michael observes her action and after she finishes, he says, "You think I'm stupid, don't you?"

"No, you're not stupid."

"Forget it. He's not gonna come."

"Maybe not tonight. "

"No. Not ever. No one ever comes for me." Michael almost turns to leave, but Isabel's voice stops him.

She looks at him honestly and says "I will. Whenever you need me." He only nods to her, but his look shows how thankful he is to her for saying that. He half turns back and waits for her to join him. And she does, she takes him by the arm and they slowly walk back to the jeep, side by side.

*****

A few steps from the jeep they stop, reluctant to get in and drive away yet. They're still standing arm in arm. Isabel turns to look at Michael, their bodies inches apart. "Michael, are you all right?"

"I need you, Isabel."

"I told you, I'm here for you."

Michael takes her hand in his and squeezes it "I can understand if you didn't really mean what you said before. If you just said it to make me feel better, then thank you."

"You know that was not the case, Michael. I'm here now and I will always be."

"Will you?"

"Yes."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what. I'll always be your friend."

"Even if I told you that I didn't think of you as just a friend?"

"Are you saying what I think you're saying, Michael?"

"Maybe. What is it you think I'm saying?"

"Oh, forget it."

"No, Isabel. I can't forget it now. I'll tell you what I was saying." He lets go of her hand, but stays on the same spot, their bodies almost touching, the only difference is that now Isabel has turned a few degrees to the left, so that they are not facing each other directly. If they were, he probably wouldn't have the guts to tell her what he wants to. Not if she was looking directly at him.

"The truth is," Michael starts, "that I need YOU, Is. Sure, I need you to be near me, to laugh with me, to cry with me, to fight with me or to just hang out with me. We do that all the time and I love it. I love every part of it. Every part of ..you. But I also need to..kiss you, touch you, be with you. You know, like more than friends."

Isabel, who was listening to him, now slowly turns to face him as his voice fades away. She looks up at him and sees him waiting for her to say something. Anything. He's just poured his soul out to her and is now waiting for her to break the silence. She says nothing. "No wonder," thinks Michael. "I probably embarrassed her and she's mad at me. Who could blame her? If only she would start yelling at me for having thought about this and actually saying it out loud! Or she could slap me on the face. Whatever. It would all be better than this silence."

"Isabel, please, say something. Did you hear what I said?"

"Yeah. I heard."

"And?"

"I'm just a bit surprised. Very surprised, actually. I thought you and Maria had something going."

"Well, I thought that, too. But then I realized she's only the second best. I simply can't have anything going with her if all I can ever think of is you. I've been suppressing my feelings for quite some time now. Maria came along and I kind of thought that being with her I could forget about you. But I can't. And frankly, I don't want to. So, the question is, what do you want?"

"Don't you dare put all of that on me, Michael!"

"I would never! I just want to know how you feel. I don't want to push you, or something. I'm sorry if I've overdone my confession and scared you -"

"You sure scared me!" she yells, but Michael's look of worry puts her back into reality and she continues more calmly. "I'm sorry. You didn't scare me. I scared myself. Thinking of what I might want scares me. I don't know if I want it. I don't even know what I want!"

Isabel starts crying and gives in into Michael's embrace. He holds her, saying, "It's OK, Isabel, just calm down. We don't have to act on anything right now."

Isabel moves her head away from his chest so she can look at him. He is still holding her, when she answers quietly but firmly, "Maybe we should."

"Do you mean it?"

She doesn't answer him, but moves even closer to him, lifting her head to meet his lips. He leans a few inches down and puts his hand on her face. He closes his eyes but can see clearly in his head as her lips are approaching his expectant lips. When they finally meet, he feels shivers going down his spine. They deepen the kiss and he leans her on the hood of the jeep. He runs his fingers through her hair and along her face, down her back and under her top. He can feel her aroused nipples through her bra and squeezes them lightly. In the meantime her hands wander over his body, feeling him, kissing him and touching him.

After long minutes Isabel lightly pushes him off of her. "Michael, we have to stop this."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"Of course not, but I don't want things to get out of control. At least not now. And certainly not here."

"Isabel, I hate to break this to you, but I believe that things have more or less already gotten out of control."

"You know what I mean, Michael."

"Don't worry, I wasn't even gonna try to suggest that we make love tonight. We've got plenty of time for that. It's just so good to feel you in my arms. I love holding you in my arms, Isabel."

"I love holding you in my arms, too, Michael."

"Now I'm gonna suggest something that requires letting go of each other and climbing into the car," says Michael to Isabel who's sitting on the grass and half in his lap. "We should get back, don't you think?"

"I guess it's getting kind of late."

"Kind of late! It's almost midnight and the concert is probably over. Max is gonna kill me for not bringing you home earlier. And let's not even think of the fact that he has no clue that you've gone out with me to send a signal to Nacedo and have fallen for me on the way."

"What was that?"

"What? I said that Max--"

"No, the last part, just after the word Nacedo." Isabel winks at Michael and he says "Well, I just figured that all that happened in these last few hours meant something. It meant something, right, Isabel?"