Part Fifty-Three
"Happy Birthday, Liz," slurs James with a drunken grin as he slings his arm around my shoulders in the club several hours later. "Having fun?"
"Of course I am, James," I reply happily. "All my friends are here…" I gesture to the rest of the club's dance floor where everyone is laughing and dancing together. "And my wonderful boyfriend is here…" I smile, looking over towards the bar and catching Max's eye. He returns the smile with a nod. "I've had an amazing birthday."
"That's great," he continues to grin. "I'm having lots of fun too."
I laugh, turning to look at him, "James, you're so drunk!"
"I know!" he exclaims, sticking his tongue out playfully as he grins.
I chuckle and roll my eyes at him as he continues to lean on my shoulder, swaying slightly from the alcohol.
"Hey," says Max just then as he approaches me with two glasses of water. He hands one to me, "Here's your water… and I thought someone else looked like he was in need of some too."
"Thanks," I reply gratefully as he nods towards James and proceeds to carefully hand the glass to him.
"Are you okay, mate?"
"I'm…I'm good," he mumbles only semi-coherently, the water sloshing over the side of the glass as he stumbles.
"Maybe you should sit down for a bit?" I suggest. "How about we go outside for some air?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea," nods Max, sliding an arm around James. "Come on."
It takes a bit of effort, but we manage to get James out into the fresh air and sit him down on a low wall just outside the club.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I check as he takes a long swig from the glass of water.
"I'm fine," he mutters. "Just… had a bit too much to drink."
"You got that right," I smirk as I raise an eyebrow. "Silly boy."
"Hey, is everything okay out here?" asks a new voice – Isabel – as she and Maria walk out of the club arm in arm and make their way over to us. "We saw you heading this way."
"Yeah, we're okay," I say, standing up and taking a couple of steps towards Isabel as Maria spots James trying to keep himself upright and makes her way over to him. "James here has had too much to drink, so we came outside for some air."
"Oh, okay," nods Izzy in understanding, as she glances over at James and Maria. "Is he alright?"
"He'll be okay, I think," says Max, coming to stand beside me. "Once he sobers up, that is."
"That's good," she replies, before turning her attention to Max and I. "So, did you two have a good time yesterday?"
"It was amazing," I grin. "I can't believe Max went to all that trouble though."
At that, she smirks and raises an eyebrow towards Max, "Oh, I can."
"Isabel," says Max warningly, but she just smiles innocently.
"Did you do anything fun today too?"
"Well, um…" I look to Max, wondering how much I should say here.
"Yeah, actually there's something I need to talk to you about," Max takes over. "This morning, Liz and I went to see Mum and Martin."
Isabel blinks in surprise, her mouth falling open slightly, "You did?"
"Yeah," he admits. "We were pretty close by anyway and I thought it was about time that I talked to them properly."
"And? What did they say?" she questions curiously. "Did you tell them about what you found in the attic?"
"Yeah, I did," murmurs Max softly.
"How did it go?"
"It went… um… " he trails off, glancing towards Maria and James for a moment before moving slightly further away from them. "Well, Iz… there's something you need to know."
She frowns, following him as he moves, "What is it?"
"It turns out that I got some things wrong about the situation," he admits.
Isabel frowns in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Well, those things I told you about Mum having an affair behind my dad's back and you being a result of that… well, um, it wasn't… exactly like that," he stumbles over his words slightly. "I didn't know the whole story."
"Okay, so what is the whole story?" she wonders.
"Apparently, Philip knew about Mum's relationship with Martin."
"What?"
"Yeah," he shrugs sheepishly. "Mum told me today that their marriage hadn't been working for a long time and that they'd fallen out of love, but were staying together for my sake."
"Oh, no… Max," Izzy's expression turns sympathetic. "I'm sorry."
Max just shakes his head, but I have to wonder if he's really as calm about it all on the inside as he seems to be outwardly, "She said they'd agreed to be honest if either of them met someone else and so when Mum fell for Martin, she told him."
"Wow," she murmurs, surprise evident on her face.
"The night… the night of the accident, Mum really had been working late, but then Martin dropped by and they went to his place… but she forgot to call Dad to let him know that she'd left work," Max explains, his voice pretty much void of emotion now. "So, he got worried and went to look for her, thinking something had happened to her… but he never made it to her workplace."
"Oh my God," exhales Izzy, as she fixes Max with a concerned gaze.
"All this time, I've been blaming Dad's death on their affair… and on you," he looks over at her guiltily, "when it turns out he knew about the affair all along!"
"Max, I'm so sorry," mutters Isabel as she reaches out and lays a hand on his arm.
Max frowns, looking confused, "No, wait, I'm the one who's sorry. I was the one who told you about the diary in the first place. God, I let you think that you were the product of adultery, of a secret affair, when that wasn't the case at all."
Isabel watches him with an unreadable expression for a moment before letting out a sigh, "Well, I guess I can't say it's not a relief to find out that I was conceived in slightly less controversial circumstances than we thought, but Max, that's all in the past, you know? It's not like we can change what happened."
At her words, a small smile crosses his lips and a strange look appears on his face, on of… admiration?
He shakes his head, "God, I wish I could be as strong and forgiving as you, Iz. I've been freaking out all this time, yet you… you've taken it completely in your stride."
"Wow, Max…" her eyes widen in mock-surprise, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Was that… did you just pay me a… compliment?"
Max shrugs, rolling his eyes, "I guess I did."
She chuckles, "I guess you really are starting to deal with everything… you know, it's nice to have the old Max back again. I've missed him all this time."
He manages a smile, exhaling slowly as Isabel returns the smile, before pulling him into a hug. He stands there stiffly for a moment, his arms at his sides as he glances at me questioningly, but I nod encouragingly and begins to relax, bringing his arms up and around his sister.
"I'm sorry, Iz," he murmurs softly as they embrace. "I'm so sorry."
They stand together like that for several long moments, before a frantic shout from Maria forces them apart.
"Umm, guys? Some help here, please?"
I turn around quickly to see her leaning over and rubbing James' back as he proceeds to throw up on the pavement.
"Oh, great," mutters Isabel quietly, before pulling away from Max and making her way over to James.
"I think we should get him home," says Maria then, as she makes a face.
"Yeah, good idea," agrees Isabel. "I'll call a taxi. Alex and I can go back with him if you guys want to stay?"
"Oh, no, it's okay," I shake my head as Max steps up behind me and slips an arm around my waist. "I'm about ready to go now anyway – it's been a long couple of days and I'm knackered!"
"Me too," nods Maria, "I'm all danced out now."
"All right then," says Isabel. "Let's go round up Alex and Mike and we'll head home."
Maria heads back into the club to find the guys and while Isabel calls for a taxi, Max and I stay with James. In the end though, they only have one cab available, so Max suggests that the others all go back to the halls with James, and he and I will just walk back to his place instead. Ten minutes later, the five of them are piled into the taxi and on their way home, as Max and I start walking towards Barrow Road, hand in hand. By the time we get to his house twenty minutes later, I'm struggling to keep my eyes open and Max is practically carrying me.
"So, did you have a good night?" he asks as he opens his front door.
I nod against his chest and mumble, "The best… but now I need sleep."
"I'm not surprised," he chuckles softly. "Come on, let's go to bed."
We make our way upstairs to his room and within five minutes we're undressed (I'm wearing an over-sized T-shirt of his and he's in his boxers). As we climb into the bed, his arms come around me and he pulls me snug against him. My arms slips around his back as I relax into his embrace, but just as I'm on the verge of drifting off to sleep, I feel him let out a shuddering breath as he buries his face in my shoulder.
"Are you all right?" I whisper, tightening my arm around him.
He nods against my skin, but I feel his shoulders shake as his breathing becomes laboured. It takes me a moment to understand what is happening, but as he clings to me tightly, it all makes sense.
He's crying.
My heart clenches in my chest and my stomach gives a flip as realisation dawns. He's been through so much today – it must have been so emotionally draining for him to talk to Diane and Martin this morning, but he must have been holding it all in all afternoon and evening.
"Hey, it's okay," I murmur comfortingly, running my hand up and down his back as he breaks down in my arms. "It's okay. I'm here… just let it out."
We lie together like that, just holding each other, until he starts to calm down, his sobs giving way to small sniffles, before finally falling asleep together. As I feel my body relaxing and my eyes drifting shut, I come to the realisation that I don't ever want to be apart from him again. He means way too much to me.
"Hmm, this is the life," I sigh contentedly, leaning back against Max as we relax on the grass in the student bar beer garden.
It's Sunday afternoon and after the late night we had last night, I was in the mood for a nice, relaxing, chilled out day, so when Max informed me that his friends were all going to the Alternative Music Festival in the beer garden this afternoon, we decided to tag along too. So now we're soaking in the warm afternoon sunshine as we listen to the student bands playing in the small tent at the other end of the garden.
"Hmm?" murmurs Max from behind me, obviously only half-listening as he laughs at something his housemate, Craig, is saying.
A smile tugs at my lips as I lift my upper body slightly and turn my head to look at him, "I said, this is the life."
He smiles widely as he leans down to kiss me softly, "You got that right."
"Mmm," I sigh against his lips, lifting my hand to cup his jaw and prevent him from pulling away so that I can kiss him again.
"Ugh," comes a disgusted snort from beside us. "God, get a room."
"Shuddup, Craig," murmurs Max, lifting his head to shoot his friend a look before turning back to me again with a grin. "Now, where were we?"
He lowers his mouth to mine once more, but our lips have barely touched before another voice intrudes on the moment.
"Having fun there, Liz?"
My eyes fly open and I straighten up suddenly to find Kyle grinning down at me in amusement, his hand linked with Serena's, who is standing beside him with a big smile on her face.
"Kyle!" I exclaim happily, as I move away from Max and stand up to greet them both with a hug. "Ser! How are you guys?"
"Good, thanks, Liz," smiles Serena.
"Yeah," grins Kyle. "Exams are over and we're taking advantage of the sunshine."
"I know," I agree, "the weather is so gorgeous." I gesture towards our spot on the grass. "Why don't you join us?"
"Thanks," says Serena, as Kyle lets go of her hand and she moves towards where I was sitting.
"I'll go get us some drinks," says Kyle. "I'll be right back."
Serena take a seat on the grass and I follow suit, settling down in front of Max again, who slides his arm around me and pulls me back against him.
"Hey, Max," greets Serena as she gets settled. "How's it going?"
"Hey," he smiles. "Not bad, you?"
"Can't complain."
"Hey, Liz," she turns to me. "Did Sophie tell you about the committee social on Wednesday night?"
She nods towards Sophie, who is sitting a few feet away from us, engaged in conversation with Jackie. Both Serena and I made it onto the dance society committee for next year – me as the Treasurer and Serena as the ballet class representative.
"Yeah, she did," I nod with a smile. "Eight-thirty at Walkabout, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," she confirms. "It'll be fun, getting to know all the new committee members and saying goodbye to the old ones."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Okay, here we go," announces Kyle a couple of minutes later as he approaches us with a pint of beer in each hand.
He gives one to Serena and then takes a sip from the other as he comes to sit down beside her.
"So, Liz, how did you find that last exam?" he asks as he gets settled on the grass.
"Well, it wasn't too bad," I admit. "But I think I could have done a bit more work for it though, 'cause I got stuck on a couple of the questions."
"Tell me about it," Kyle rolls his eyes. "I had to skip over half the exam and then go back and try to answer the questions later."
"I'm just glad it's all over now," I smile. "No more exams until next January – yay!"
"Yeah," Kyle chuckles, "But we've still got the results to come too. I think they're releasing the grades at the end of next week, on the last day of term."
"Don't remind me," I sigh, rolling my eyes. "I'm guessing it's too much to hope that I'll get a First this year… I'll probably have to settle for a 2:1 grade instead."
"Oh, I don't know, you've been doing pretty well this term," Kyle shakes his head. "I mean, you were on, what, sixty-eight percent average after the January exams?" I nod. "So that means you only need to up your average by another two percent to get a first. Unlike me, who needs to get at least sixty-five percent on each exam to average a 2:1."
"I'm sure you'll be fine, Kyle."
He just shrugs noncommittally, before turning his attention to Max now, "How about you, Max? On course to graduate next month?"
"Yep," he replies Max from behind me, his breath tickling my ear as he speaks. "Hoping for a First too… I got seventy-five percent for my dissertation, but I'm not sure about the exams yet."
I turn and smile back at him, "You'll get a First, no problem."
"I dunno," he shrugs. "I was pretty distracted during my final exam last Friday... it didn't go too well."
I frown at his words; last Friday… that was the morning after the foam party. The morning after he rescued me from that guy.
"You told me it went okay," I say in confusion, shifting my position to face him fully.
He gives an apologetic shrug, "I didn't want to worry you after what happened."
I roll my eyes, "Max."
"I'm sorry, okay," he holds up his hands in surrender, although a tiny smile tugs at his lips anyway. "I won't do it again."
"After what happened?" wonders Kyle.
I sigh, turning round again, to explain, "We were all at the Warehouse foam party the Thursday before last and this guy spiked my drink."
"What?" exclaims Serena, her eyes wide. "Oh my God, Liz, did anything happen? You're okay, right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," I nod. "The guy tried to get me out of the club, but then I collapsed and luckily Isabel saw what was happening and she and Max came to my rescue."
"Wow, that's scary, Liz," murmurs Kyle, his expression concerned.
"You got that right," agrees Max, his arms coming around me once more, hugging me to him. "She scared the life out of me. I got her to the hospital as soon as I could and they got her sorted out. I stayed for as long as I could but I had to leave in the morning for my exam. It didn't go as well as it could have though, 'cause I hadn't slept in twenty-four hours."
"Max," I murmur, as his arms tighten around me. "What were you thinking? You should have gone home and got some sleep. You didn't have to stay with me."
"Yeah, I did," he tells me softly. "I couldn't leave you."
My heart gives a flip at his words and I feel my body flood with warmth in response. I can't believe he jeopardised his exam grade for me.
"Max…" I whisper, lifting my head to look into his eyes.
He smiles down at me gently, before lowering his head and brushing my lips with his in a tender kiss. I move to deepen the kiss, but then I hear a throat clearing behind me and I pull away in embarrassment.
"Um, guys?" says Kyle uncomfortably. "We are in public here."
My eyes widen as my gaze flits around the tens of people spread out around the garden.
"Sorry."
Max chuckles as I duck my head and then urges me to relax back against him again. The conversation soon turns to lighter topics as we settle back into soaking up the sunshine as we enjoy the music. However, soon Kyle and Serena drift into a private conversation a few feet away, Craig heads over to talk with some guys from his course and Sophie and Jackie head inside to the bar, leaving Max and I alone. I smile as Max covers my hand with his own, linking our fingers as he discretely begins tracing small patterns on my thigh with his other hand.
I shiver in response to the delicious sensations his fingers are eliciting in my body and I let a contented smile drift onto my face as my eyes slide closed and I let my head rest in the crook of his shoulder.
"Liz?" he whispers gently.
"Yeah?" I murmur.
"I love you."
At that, my eyes fly open in surprise and I shoot upright again, twisting round to face him. He's looking at me with intense eyes, his expression slightly apprehensive as he watches me.
"What?" I manage, my voice barely above a whisper.
"I love you," he says again, his voice still quiet. "I know I've been a complete idiot lately and I probably don't deserve you, but I can't help it. I can't imagine not having you in my life."
"Max," I whisper breathily, shaking my head and willing myself not to cry as intense emotion swirls through me.
It's no good though; suddenly everything bubbles up to the surface and I feel my eyes filling up with moisture as my breath catches in my throat and my heart begins to race.
"Max, I–"
He holds up a hand, "It's okay, I'm not expecting you to say it back or anything. I just wanted you to know."
"No, Max," I smile through my tears. "That's not what…" I stop, taking a deep breath before I speak again. "I love you too."
He stills, "Really?"
"Yeah," I nod, my smile widening. "I know we still have some issues to work through, but I do. I love you, Max Evans."
"Liz…" he shakes his head slowly, a smile playing on his lips as he lifting his fingers to my cheek in a tender gesture.
There are no more words as he slowly lowers his head towards mine, capturing my lips in a kiss that is both fervent and incredibly sweet at the same time. I sink into his embrace as the kiss intensifies and, wrapping my arms around his neck, I rise up onto my knees, pressing myself up against him. I let out a sigh as he pulls my bottom lip into his mouth, suckling it gently before tracing his tongue over the swollen skin. Smiling against his mouth, I part my lips and grant him entrance.
"Hey," murmurs Max, running his fingers through my hair when we part several long moments later. "You wanna get out of here?"
I grin, "Definitely."
"Come on then, let's go."
TBC…
