We are now jumping back in time again. To a time when Liz had yet to screw up; before jumping into bed with strangers and getting ridiculously drunk.

Who knew that Max Evans would be the one to introduce her to alcohol?

Yeah, we're not really surprised, are we?

Here we go

5. Ears, wine and virgins

Michael's Bedroom
Friday evening
(2002) Max is 17, Liz is 16

Liz giggled. "You have really funny ears."

Max frowned, offended. "Do not."

Liz smiled broadly, staring hard at his ears. "Yes, you do!"

"Shut up."

"They're completely sticking out of your head." She cocked her head, fascination smoothening out her facial features. "I can see the sun through them."

"Can we please not talk about my ears?"

She inched closer to him, a large smile on her face as she leaned over him where they were lying next to each other on the bed. "They're not that bad. It makes you look cute. In a funny way."

Max's eyes widened as he looked up at her with a fuzzy mind. "You're calling me cute? Cute? Don't you know that a girl should never call a guy 'cute'? Besides, do you have any idea of how many women would love to be lying where you're lying right now? Next to this handsome man."

Liz snorted. "Puhlease. Women? Right. Sluts."

"They're not sluts."

"Someone that sleeps with someone they barely know after being around them for a total of fifteen minutes is a slut."

"It's just the power of my incredible charm."

Liz laughed. "I think it's more about the fact that you're not butt ugly and the girls settle for you because they're horny."

"So…" Max wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You don't think I'm butt ugly, huh?"

Liz looked at him incredulously. "That's what you got out of what I just said?"

Max grinned. "I think you're finally warming up to me, Parker."

Normally, she probably would have a very good comeback at this point, but the alcohol in her blood was muffling her cognitive functions.

She frowned. "Could you turn your head?"

He squinted back. "Huh?"

"Your red ears are distracting me."

"You're a mean woman, Parker."

"Oh, so now it's my fault that you have such weird ears?"

"I thought we decided to get off the ear subject."

"You decided."

"Right. So…."

"Where's Mike?"

The eternal question.

Max frowned and tried to turn his head to look at the alarm clock on the night stand. But realizing just how much effort that involved, he gave up half-way and looked back at Liz with a thoughtful expression. "How long has he been gone?"

Liz rolled away from him onto her back and mumbled. "I have no idea."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're asking permission? That's new."

"Is this the first time you've been drunk?"

"I'm not drunk."

"You're voluntarily lying next to me on a bed."

As if considering this, Liz paused before she answered. "That's true." Turning to face him again, she added. "You're actually not that bad when I'm drunk, Evans. You look better, somehow."

"I'm not really sure how to react to that…"

"Is there more?"

Max smiled, thinking that she was talking about him. "There's always more."

She frowned, not really sure what he was getting at. "Of the wine."

His smile faltered, in that confused slightly muddled sort of way that usually accompanied sluggish trails of thoughts. "Eh. There should be one on your side."

She turned her head to the other side and scanned the floor. "I can't see it."

"It should be there."

"You probably have it on your side."

"No."

"Have you checked?"

"No."

"Then check."

"Should be on your side."

Then he decided to reach across her to be able to see the floor on her side just as she was reaching down over the edge of the bed to search the floor with her hand. Her rather imbalanced position plus most of his weight suddenly draped across her back had her loosing her completely losing her balance and before they really knew what had happened they were both on the floor.

"Ow." Liz tried to push his weight off of her.

Their lack of coordination had them moving around in a failing mass of limbs which in the end just had them ending up in about the same position, out of breath from the struggle.

They simultaneously stilled and looked at each other, Max on top of Liz, his eyes drawn to the fascinating play of shadows crossing her face as the sun set outside the window.

It was in this position that Liz went into sharing mode. "Billy wants to take the next step."

Max tensed. "What?"

"Apparently he's not happy about us just making out anymore."

Max briefly wondered if this girl had any idea that she should not be talking about sex when she had a very virulent young man lying on top of her, before he said dumbfounded, "Are you going to ask me about sex?"

Liz shrugged. "It just seemed appropriate. This just made me think of it."

He stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a second before he started laughing.

Her eyes darkened with irritation. "What?"

Max shook his head slowly. "Seriously Lizzie. You're one of a kind."

Without missing a beat, she said seriously. "I'm a virgin."

That put an abrupt stop to his laughing and he said slowly, "Parker, I really don't think-"

"I'm scared."

The topic of conversation was slowly but surely bringing Max out of his intoxicated state. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get Liz Parker drunk after all.

"About what?" he asked carefully.

"Sex. Having sex."

He sighed and rolled off her. "Right." He scrubbed his hands down his face as she slowly sat up opposite him.

"What if I'm not doing things right?"

He leaned his head into his hand. He couldn't look at her right now. For some reason this conversation put an ache in his chest. "Jesus, kitten. Why are you asking me this?"

"I need to do it eventually, right? I need to have sex eventually. What if I never have the guts to? Does that mean I'm gonna be a virgin for the rest of my life? That I will never know what it feels like?"

Max had slept with two girls, but having this conversation still had the ability to make him blush. Didn't she have any girlfriends to talk about these things with?

"Don't you have any other friends you can talk to about this?"

"I'm asking you," she said and looked at him almost expectantly.

"I can't really… you know… I can't give you a woman's…perspective," Max said, desperately searching for the right words.

"Have you ever been with a virgin?"

"Riight," Max said slowly and tried to rise from the floor. "No more alcohol for you."

"I'm serious," Liz's voice drifted up from her position on the floor. "Will it hurt?"

"They didn't really share that with me," Max said, starting to walk around the room to find something he could do to distract her away from the topic.

"So they were virgins?"

He looked at her and for the first time noticed her distressed eyes. Right there and then he decided to be frank with her. "One of them was."

"Did she tell you anything?"

"No, I kinda just gave her time," Max said slowly. "She let me know when we could…uhm…continue."

"What am I supposed to do? I mean, what do you like a girl to do?"

Max sighed loudly. "Christ, Lizzie. Could we please not talk about this?"

She looked at him silently for a couple of seconds, before dropping her head into her arms that she had folded across her knees that she had pulled up against her chest. "What if he's disappointed with me?"

At her muffled question, Max walked up to her and dropped to his knees in front of her. Without a word he folded his arms around her body and pulled her close, her legs separating them from complete closeness.

"I don't know much about a girl's side of this thing," he said, breathing in the fresh smell of her hair as he leaned his head on her shoulder, "but I think that if you're so worried about if he's going to be disappointed, you shouldn't do this. It's probably not the right person or the right time. Your first time should be with someone that you feel completely comfortable with and you don't have to worry about those sorts of things. It will just sort itself out."

"It's just so embarrassing," she mumbled. "I don't think I'll ever get used to the thought of taking my clothes off in front of anyone and having anyone touching me."

He pulled away from her and smiled at her softly, tenderly pushing a strand of hair off her forehead. "You'll be fine. They're gonna have to earn it, okay? You shouldn't sleep with someone just because he demands to. He should work for it."

She smiled brightly, tears glittering in her eyes. "You're a really good girlfriend."

He laughed softly, shook his head and said warmly, "You're an idiot."

She matched his laughter and then to his surprise pulled him into a tight hug. Against his ear she whispered, "You're my best friend, Max Evans."

"Whoa, kitten. You really are drunk."

"Shh… it's a secret. No one is supposed to know. Especially not you."

"About the drinking or you loving me and wanting to have my children?"

Liz let go of him just in time to see the grin on his face, but the alcohol was still having a warm, fuzzy effect on her, preventing any possible indignation, and so she smiled. "Both."

TBC...