Part Ten
Liz couldn't help sighing with happiness as she sat at her desk the next afternoon. Last night with Max had been incredible and her entire body felt relaxed and rejuvenated. Having said that, it had been so hard to leave him early this morning… in fact, she'd been so reluctant to go that Max had to walk her all the way to his hotel room door, kissing her all the way.
Was it bad that she wanted to lock herself in that hotel room with him and stay there forever?
The phone on her desk rang suddenly, interrupting her thoughts and she shook her head to clear it before reaching for the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Oh my God, Liz!" it was Maria and she sounding rather panicked. "Have you been on the internet yet today?"
"No, why?"
"There are pictures of you online."
"What?" exclaimed Liz, her eyes widening and her eyebrows raising in shock. "What pictures?"
"Pictures of you leaving Max's hotel room in Knightsbridge this morning," elaborated her friend. "Pictures of you and Max kissing outside said room."
Liz heart lurched in her chest and she felt her cheeks heating up, "Oh my God, how did this happen? We were being so careful to avoid the cameras and everything. Where are these pictures? I want to see them."
"Mostly on the E! Online website," informed Maria. "It's not too bad though; I mean, they only really got the back of your head, so it's not like everyone's gonna know it's you. The sites are just calling you 'Max's new mystery woman'."
"And that makes me feel so much better," muttered Liz under her breath as she opened her web browser and logged onto the website… and sure enough, right there on the home page, was a photo of her and Max, arms wrapped around each other and mouths fused together. "Fuck, I can't believe there were paparazzi outside his room. This is crazy!"
"Welcome to life in the public eye," pointed out Maria. "If you and Max are gonna keep seeing each other, then you're gonna have to get used to it."
"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled in reply. "I was just kinda hoping we'd be able to stay under the radar for a while longer, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," replied Maria sympathetically. "Oh, and speaking of not staying under the radar… it seems that the press has also got wind of there being tension on Max's film set too. They're speculating about a feud between Max and Jacob Nicholson."
At that, Liz snorted, "Yeah, well, I wouldn't be surprised after what that bastard did to me last week. Max can barely stand the sight of him right now."
"I don't know how he does it," commented Maria. "Put on a brave face and pretend like they're best friends on camera."
"I don't get it either, but that's acting, I guess," said Liz. "Look at SJP and Kim Cattrall – apparently they hate each other off camera, but you'd never guess from watching Sex and the City."
"Yeah," mused Maria, before changing the subject. "So, anyway, how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks, Maria," smiled Liz. "Had an amazing time with Max last night–"
"So it would seem from the looks of that kiss this morning," interrupted her friend.
"Shut up, you," chuckled Liz. "But, yeah, it was a great night. What about you? Michael must be happy about the success of his gallery showing."
"Yeah, he is. I'm really glad that it's finally working out for him, you know?" she replied. "He deserves it."
"Yeah."
"Things are same old, same old with me though; nothing new to report. After all, not all of us lead exciting lives with Hollywood celebrities, you know."
"Oh, ha, ha," deadpanned Liz. "At least your boyfriend lives in the same city as you. In less than a month, Max and I will be five-and-a-half thousand miles apart. Not to mention the eight-hour time difference, which means that when I get up in the morning, he'll be just going to bed. I'm not entirely sure how that's gonna work."
"Oh, hon, I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll work something out."
"Yeah, I hope so," said Liz, trying to stay upbeat about Max's impending departure. She glanced around the office briefly, only to find her boss watching her through the window of his office. "Look, I'm gonna have to go now, but we'll talk later, okay?"
"Sure, hon, have a good one."
"You too."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Liz let out a sigh as she replaced the receiver. This was just great; now there were intimate photos of her and Max out there somewhere and no doubt the gossip mill would start turning very soon with speculation of Max's 'mystery date'… so much for being inconspicuous about their relationship and not drawing attention to themselves. She was tempted to pick up the phone and call him to tell him about the photos, but the way that her boss was giving her a suspicious look from his office, she knew that would be a bad idea right now.
Max was relaxing in his trailer during a much-needed break from filming later that evening when his cell phone rang. Thinking it was Liz he reached for it eagerly, flipping it open and answering immediately with a cheerful hello.
"Oh, so you are still alive then?" came a female voice from the other end of the line. "Never would have guessed with the complete lack of phone calls."
"Anna?" Max sat up straight on the sofa. "Hey. What's up?"
"What's up?" she questioned, giving a snort of amusement. "Well, for starters, I've been wondering if you were ever actually going to call me while you were away in London. You know, to let me know how you were getting on?"
"Oh, well, I'm sorry," he apologised. "I meant to call, but… you know, I've been really busy with filming and stuff lately."
"Really?" she wondered, her voice sounding slightly suspicious now. "And that 'stuff' wouldn't have anything to do with those photos of you kissing some woman now, would they?"
Max stiffened, his grip tightening around the phone, as he ground out a reply, "Photos… what photos?"
"You tell me," she replied. "You're the one with your mouth firmly attached to hers outside your hotel room. They're all over the internet this morning."
Max closed his eyes as realisation dawned. There must have been a paparazzo outside in the corridor when he walked Liz to the door this morning. All this time, he'd taken so much care to stop the press getting wind of their relationship, yet now they had pictures of them together and it was all his fault.
"Shit!" he groaned aloud. "Fuckin' paps… they never leave me alone."
On the other end of the line, Anna scoffed, "Well, what do you expect? You're big news; remember the first time you took me to a premiere… the press had a field day!"
"Yeah, don't remind me."
"So… what's with this girl in the photos then?" she asked. "Was it like a one-night thing? I mean, I have to admit, she doesn't really seem like your type."
Max frowned, "No it wasn't. And what's that supposed to mean, 'not my type'?"
"Well, you know, I thought blondes were more your thing… not forgetting the occasional redhead, of course," she added, in obvious reference to herself. "So, this girl… if she wasn't a one-night stand, then what is she exactly?"
Max let out a small sigh, his thoughts drifting to Liz for a moment, "You know, I'm not really sure exactly. All I know is that I can't get enough of her and I have no idea what I'm gonna do when filming finishes and I have to come home."
There was a slight pause before Anna replied, "Right. So, um, who is she… this girl?"
He hesitated for a moment, debating how much he should say to her. She was his friend and he trusted her, but at the same time very few people actually knew about his relationship with Liz and he was hesitant to tell anyone else yet.
"Her name is Liz," he started. "We met at Christmas, when I was staying with my mom's old friends from Roswell for the holidays. Liz is their daughter."
"Wow, so it's been a few weeks, then?" she gave a small chuckle. "Seems serious."
"Yeah," confirmed Max with a grin. "At least, I'd like to think so."
"I guess that means our arrangement is off now then?"
"Uh huh."
"Aww, that's too bad; I was looking forward to doing some serious catching-up when you got back."
"It has to be over," reminded Max. "That's what we agreed – if one of us found someone, we would stop. I'm just a one-woman guy, you know."
"You are?" replied Anna teasingly. "Never would have guessed… after all, weren't you sleeping with both me and Tara Wilson at one point last year?"
"No!" Max denied instinctively, but then he thought about it and relented. "Well, okay, maybe… just once… or twice. But it wasn't like I was actually dating Tara or anything. It was just a couple of bad dates with a bit of good sex at the end."
"Ugh," muttered Anna in response. "You are such a guy sometimes. Does this Liz know what you're like?"
"I'm not like that… usually," defended Max. "The Tara thing was just, I dunno, a thing, you know?"
"Right," returned Anna, her tone slightly disbelieving and Max could picture her rolling her eyes at him.
"Liz is… God, she's like, everything I've been missing all this time–"
"Well, thanks a lot!" scoffed Anna. "Nice to know I can satisfy you."
"You know that's not what I mean," he clarified. "It's not just about sex, it's about everything else too. You and I… we didn't work as a couple, remember? But with Liz, it's different. When I'm with her it's like the rest of the world disappears and it's just us. I think… I think she could be The One."
"The One? Really?" she sounded surprised. "Max, are you sure? You've only known her for a few weeks."
He shrugged, even though she couldn't see him, "Well, I don't know, really. I've never felt like this about anyone else before. But being with her… it just feels right."
"Wow… Max Evans in love – I never thought I'd see the day!"
"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far," Max was quick to respond. "We'll just… see how it goes."
"Yeah, okay," she replied, her tone giving off a 'whatever you say' vibe.
"Yeah," stated Max – although it was more to reassure himself than for Anna's benefit – as he glanced over at the clock on the trailer wall. "Look, I gotta go now; my break is almost up and I've got to get back on set."
"Okay, but we'll talk soon, yeah?"
"Sure," replied Max. "And I'll be back in L.A. in about three weeks anyway."
"Great," said Anna. "Looking forward to it. Don't work yourself too hard.
"I won't."
"Bye, Max."
"Bye."
Max looked down at his phone for a moment as he ended the call. Anna was a good friend and he was so glad that they could be honest with each other about things like this.
"Evans!" came a shout from outside. "Time to get moving!"
"Be right there," he called out, pocketing his phone and stepped out of the trailer.
As he headed back onto the film set, he spotted a couple of paps lurking across the road and his thoughts went to Liz and the internet photos that Anna mentioned. Did Liz know about the photos? He had tried so hard not to let the press get wind of his relationship with her and so far he'd been successful, but obviously his luck had run out now. He just hoped that Liz wouldn't be scared off by the unwanted attention. He would have to call her later about it, but for now he had to face the prospect of spending the rest of the day on set with Jacob Nicholson… and what a fun few hours that was gonna be.
Although he had promised Liz that he would be professional with Jacob, it definitely wasn't easy when the bastard kept shooting smug grins in his direction and just before they'd wrapped up the on-location filming over the weekend, the jerk had said something about Liz as he came out of his trailer and Max had snapped. He'd pinned Nicholson up against the side of the trailer and told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever mentioned Liz's name again, he would barely live to regret it. And as he'd walked away, he'd sworn to himself that after this he would never work with Jacob Nicholson again
TBC…