7

Just as the new waitress, Elaine, delivered Alex's French fries, Kyle leaned in and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Please tell me that I wasn't the only one to see what was going on between them."

Both Isabel and Alex smiled, and Is replied, "No, you weren't the only one, Kyle. Looks like their night on the town made them realize that they have more in common than they knew. And hey, who knows, maybe they'll do something about it."

Max looked at all of them, confused, and said, "Wait, what? Liz and Michael? C'mon, they would be at each other's throats all the time!"

Kyle kicked him in the shin and motioned his head towards the kitchen, so Max turned and looked…and was shocked by what he saw.

Liz was talking to Michael, leaning against the counter, her head tilted flirtatiously as she laughed at something that he'd just said, and Michael was actually smiling. Smiling! Not a smug grin or a sarcastic look on his face, but a real, actual smile.

Max turned his head back to the group.

"I stand corrected," he muttered and Isabel laughed and nudged his shoulder with her own, saying, "Hey, don't be so upset by it. Whatever happened between them was good."

He nodded, and then said, "Yeah, I guess it was."

Alex now spoke up, saying, "What about Maria? Won't she be, you know, a bit upset by the fact that her best friend is stealing her boyfriend?"

Isabel looked across at him, raising an eyebrow, and then said, "You obviously don't understand Michael very well, Alex. He's never actually been her boyfriend, he's only let Maria live under the delusion that he's her boyfriend in order to keep her happy, when the truth is he only has as much interest in her as much as he has interest in sea anemones. Which, in case you weren't aware of it, is not much interest at all." She looked back at the teenager that she considered to be her second brother, and then added, "Besides, have you seen the way he looks at Liz? For once in his life, it looks as though he's actually listening to someone talking to him…"

Kyle chuckled and said, "Yeah, like there's actually a brain underneath all of that hair," and he felt himself get kicked in the shin a second time, this time by Isabel. "Hey? What was that for?" he asked in a somewhat whiny tone, as he reached down and rubbed his leg, yet again, trying to ease the pain.

She glared at him.

"Could you try to not insult his intelligence? He's actually pretty smart, he's just easily bored with the classes."

Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You could have fooled me," he said, and then pulled his leg out of the way before Is could nail him a second time. He glared at her and said, "Hey, enough with the abuse! I already got it from Liz, and now you, too? C'mon, I have to get my amusement from somewhere! Michael's the only one who can take it and dish out just as well, unlike the rest of you guys," he added, giving them all a pointed look, and Is relented.

"Fine. No more kicking."

He glared.

"And…?"

"No more abuse of any kind," she added, rolling her eyes slightly, and Kyle carefully situated his legs back under the table, Max giving him an amused grin as he did.

Max then looked back over his shoulder, briefly, to glance at Liz and Michael as they worked, and he could now see a bit more what Isabel had been talking about when she said that Michael looked like he was actually listening to someone for once in his life.

He made eye contact with her and didn't seem uncomfortable about it and Liz, too, seemed comfortable with the give and take of their conversation. Max turned back to the group and reached across the table to grab a French fry from Alex's plate, turning the thoughts over in his mind, comparing how she had acted with him just before they had started dating as to how she was now acting with Michael, not hearing the rest of the group's conversation around him.

With Max, she had seemed slightly awkward and out of sorts, tripping over her words every single time she talked to him, but with Michael her flirting seemed to come almost effortlessly, like it was natural and that she'd done it a thousand times before…but, now that he thought about it, she had done it a thousand times before.

It was how she and Michael had always interacted.

There was always a slight edge to their conversations, perpetually leaning towards the sarcasm that the two of them were so good at, but never truly mean or biting, along with eye rolls that hid carefully hidden smiles of amusement at the other's words, and they were constantly in each other's personal space.

Liz had always been careful around Max, unsure of whether or not she should touch him, but with Michael she could put a hand on his arm to calm him down or playfully shove his shoulder while having a conversation; he had seen her do it countless times. It was obvious that she didn't gave a second thought as to her actions with him, almost as though she knew that they weren't unwelcome and that it was okay for her to be so demonstrative with him.

So, it made sense.

He looked back over his shoulder and bit back a grin as he saw Maria attempting to flirt with Michael over the counter, while Liz glared daggers at her back, probably completely unaware of her reaction.

Liz made her way back to their table, her notepad in her hand and said, "Okay, what can I get the rest of you?"

"Uh, Liz," Max said, slightly confused, "Isn't this Elaine's table?"

She gave him a look.

"It was her table. Now, it's mine. Now, your order?"

He and Kyle shared a glance across the table, both of them knowing the reason for her agitation, and he shared a side glance with his sister, and then said, "Okay, sure. I'll have the Will Smith Burger and a Galaxy Shake. Is?"

"Just a shake."

Liz nodded, wrote it down, and then looked at the other two, saw Alex with his fries, and then looked at Kyle.

"Okay, Valenti. What'll it be?"

He waited a moment, pretending to look over the menu, and then said, with a wide grin across his lips, "How about an appetizer of resentment, followed by a main course of jealousy, topped off with a thick shake of just-ask-him-out?"

She glared at him…and then hit him on the back of the head with the pad of paper in her hand.

"Valenti, how I about I just go ahead and give you an extra-large order of it's-none-of-your-damn-business?" Kyle looked like he was about to spit out a witty retort, but Liz beat him to it, cutting him off as she said, "And I can top it off with an extra-painful side of more-head-slaps."

He relented with the jokes, but then grabbed her arm as she was about to walk away and said, "Liz…c'mon, already. You guys like each other. One of you has to make the first move and it sure as hell isn't going to be him."

Max was certain she was going head slap him again…but was surprised when her hardened resolve weakened and she said, "What if he says no?"

At this, Is snorted and replied with, "Trust me, Liz. He'll say yes."

"Are you sure?"

At this point, Alex chimed in, putting in his two cents as he added, "I think we've all seen how he's been looking at you when you're not paying attention. Go for it, Liz. Do you really have anything to lose?"

She gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah…a really great friendship."

Max finally spoke up, knowing that she needed someone else telling her that it was the right move.

"Liz…" She looked over at him, surprised, so he continued. "Go for it. I'm with the three of them on this one. He'll say yes."

She groaned, but he gave her a look, as did everyone else at the table, and he watched as she collected herself and then walked back over to the kitchen window, placing the orders on the rotating metal contraption and then the four of them watched as she leaned in and started to say something, but then they all saw as he cut her off, and they held their breath in unison, all four them waiting to see what was going to happen.

Suddenly, a broad smile crossed her face and she nodded…and Is smiled and said, "He asked first."

"Who asked first?" said Maria, who had suddenly appeared at their table, her order pad dangling uselessly from her fingers as she leaned up against the edge of the booth behind Kyle.

Their eyes all snapped up to her, unsure of what to say, and then she surprised them all by saying, "Oh c'mon…I'm not that blind. Why do you think that I made myself scarce last night? I had a hunch Liz would try to make him feel better," she added, and then grinned.

Alex looked over at her and said, "Michael asked first."

She smiled again.

"Good for him. Knew he had a backbone in there somewhere."

At this, they all grinned.

At least someone in the group was getting their relationship right. Finally. And it took the two of them getting arrested for it to happen. Figured.


Part 7/8

A.N. - Only one more chapter! And it's really just an epilogue to wrap things up all nice and tidy. Hope you enjoy it! I've really enjoyed writing it! :)