The Long Walk

Authors note: Well, this is my first published piece of fanfiction. I'm pretty surprised that it is a Suite Life fic', but after I saw the episode in which Max and Zack kiss I couldn't get this out of my head. I time hop a good deal, so hopefully my verb tenses are never confusing. I'm currently in search of a beta, so there are probably more mistakes them I'm comfortable with. Let me know if you are interested in the job. Read and Review. Here we go.

Zack's always been the one to get the girl. That's the first thing that comes to my mind as I enter our suite and come face to face with him and Max making out on our sofa. You would think that he'd realized that someone could walk in at any minute. But then again, they probably haven't even thought of anything like that, because they clearly have not noticed me.

I can't really blame Zack for being so engrossed. I'm sure Max's scent is overwhelming him right now; distracting him from any reality other than the bliss currently encompassing him. I have to admit, if I was the one on the couch with her, I wouldn't notice me either. I would never notice anybody other than her again.

The first time I was ever distracted by her scent, I was fourteen and helping her with some homework. Zack had to stay after at school, so it was just the two of us at that same sofa. She leaned close to me as I explained to her how to conjugate Spanish verbs. She smelled better than anything else I could have ever imagined. It was simple but I succumb to it, completely overwhelmed by the beautiful, simplistic mixture of soap, peach scented shampoo, and something uniquely Max. It was nothing overpowering or unnatural. As soon as I caught a hint of it, I wanted to kiss her. I was shocked into speechlessness. In an instant my image of Max changed, and all I could do was sit there with my mouth open looking like a complete idiot as I searched for words.

Zack simultaneously saved and doomed me when he walked in and invited us to basketball at the park. They were both gone before I could even respond. I finished my homework and hers before I went to find them. When I did, it was just the two of them, playing horse. The park was always the place that Zack impressed the girls, but it was also completely outside of my element.

I was too embarrassed by my previous impulses to approach them and walked back to the Tipton. I should have known better than to improve Zack's upper hand like that. He does always get the girl.

I return to the present and attempt to slowly walk past them. The now familiar pang of jealousy surges though my body. My mouth dries making my tongue feel like sandpaper as my stomach tightens. I remember the first time I felt that way. I was fifteen, and had just left my final class of the day. I reached the lockers just in time to hear Zack mumble something about basketball before he pushed her up against the locker and started kissing her. My breath stopped, and I stood there for what seemed like eons. I somehow gained control of my limbs and got the heck out of there without them ever noticing me. I shouldn't have been so worried. They never notice me when so entangled, just as they aren't noticing me as I stand in front of them now.

I found out later that they had just become a couple. I wasn't surprised. Zack always gets the girl.

I'm not sure if it is that fact that makes me so jealous, instead of any actual feelings that I have for Max. I certainly haven't always been so drawn to her. It didn't really bother me the first time they went out. It doesn't really matter; my jealous attraction to her has become so much a part of who I am, that my motivations make no difference. I still feel the way I feel, and I don't really see that changing anytime, regardless of how unprincipled the whole thing is.

In any case, the whole scene holds a painfully similarity to what I'm now being forced to endure. I'm almost past the couch when I hear Max quietly moan, or maybe squeak is a better word. It's a sound that is so much higher than you would think. Zack probably thinks it's weird. I think it's the most beautiful noise in the whole world. She made that noise for me once.

It was Zack and I's sixteenth birthday. We'd had our party that weekend, so I was at home, my back to the door as I made a sandwich. I heard someone come in and didn't turn around, thinking it was Zack or maybe my mom. I realized it was Max when she stood behind me, wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight hug, and said, "Happy birthday you." At that point I hadn't realized anything was amiss. We had been friends for awhile now. While she'd always been closer to Zack, it was not uncommon of her to greet me with a hug every once and awhile. It was when she spun me around to face her and began kissing me that I knew I was not who she thought I was.

For once in my life, I became more like the person Max thought she was kissing, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her back. She froze, and at that point I thought she realized that I was not Zack. I'm sure I don't kiss anything like my brother. He is always so rough, fast, and hard. It she were kissing him, she'd have already been up against the wall with his tongue in her mouth.

I, on the other hand, was gentle; I knew I was lucky to be kissing her. Instead of pushing her as close to my body as possible, I let my hands rest lightly near the small of the back. Just as I was about to separate from her to run and hide, she started kissing back again. She lifted her hand off my shoulders and started sifting her fingers through my hair. I lifted my hands from her back and rested them on the bare skin below the sleeves of her t-shirt. As I slowly caressed her arms in an up and down motion, she moaned into my mouth. There it was. That beautiful, weird abnormally high squeak. Its vibrations shook through my body, and awakened a little of the sensible Cody inside me.

I pulled apart from her, but I don't think it was sudden enough to make her realize her mistake. She continued her embrace, and I certainly was not about to let her go. She still hadn't looked up at me, when she said, "You should kiss me like the more often." It is painful to hear good news when you know you can never take advantage of it.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. My body and mind were still too stunned with what had just happened to respond. Part of me still wondered, or maybe hoped, that she knew I wasn't Zack.

Then he walked in and said, "Hey beautiful."

She jumped apart from me and squeaked, "Zack!" It was of an entirely different quality then the noise she had just made into my mouth.

He was too much of an idiot to notice the panic in her voice. She moved towards her boyfriend, quickly swallowing him in a hug. I felt my skin pale and my stomach begin to turn at they greeted each other. The two of them wished me a good birthday as they headed out to celebrate. I didn't notice enough of the parting conversation to know if Max did anything that betrayed our actions. I do remember the strange look she gave me as they walked hand in hand out the door. I'm still not sure if it was because she wanted to kiss me again or punch me. Maybe it was a mixture of those things. Maybe it was something else all together. I never had the courage to ask her. We've never spoken about the kiss at all.

I spent the rest of the night throwing up.

I'm touching the doorknob now. My back is to the scene, but I am still overcome with the picture of them groping each other. I wish I could just walk into that door, and all those moments would be leave my mind. It's too bad that it doesn't work that way. Right now my feet are frozen to the floor, and all these pictures of them are still at the forefront of my thoughts.

I remember yesterday, our seventeenth birthday. I saw a box of condoms in Zack's drawer. I hate that guy. I want to vomit just thinking about him using those with Max. How can Max do that? Doesn't she notice the way he still flirts with Maddie? Doesn't she know that if Maddie ever decides that the age difference doesn't matter anymore, it will be the end of their relationship? Does she think that Zack's ability to get the girl only applies to her? Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who ever notices what a jerk he is.

Maybe I'm just being judgmental. Maybe those are things that I want to happen, and I have some sick desire to be there to pick up the pieces as her knight in shining armor. Actually, I know that's the case. I know I have some weird geeky wish to save the day, and rescue the damsel from the evil knight, but what kind of person wants his brother's relationship to fall apart?

I did once hear him say that he was in love with her. It doesn't matter anyway. Zack always gets the girl.

I finally open the door, and I slam it shut. I'm sure that on the other side of the door, they've instantly popped apart, and Max has turned red, realizing their indiscretion. I know it won't be long before they go back to the groping. Zack will have to coax her for a little bit, but they will return to what they were doing. My brother will be overcome by her scent, and the softness of her lips, and Max will start making that sound again. I guarantee it, because Zack always get the girl.