At Last
Part 5
Max was sitting in the kitchen cradling a coffee, Maria
walked in and looked at him, she couldn't help but giggle, Max's head shot up
then he groaned and held his head in his hands, Maria giggled some more, "what's
so funny?" "you, you look rough today,
but it serves you right, what made you have a beer in the first place?" "I dunno,
I just felt like it, promise me something will you, if I ever get tempted to
have another one just give me a whup around the head okay," "no problemo."
Maria went to get a coffee when she tasted it, she spat it straight back out, "Oh
My God! What is this?" "Coffee." She
poured it down the sink, it just lay in a pool in the drain, "My God that is
sooo nasty." "I needed it strong it
helps my head," "why don't you just
heal yourself, you know zap it away or something." Max shook his head and
groaned again. "No I deserve it, I'm hoping it will put me off drink for the
rest of my life." Maria sat next to
him, she stroked his hair, "poor Max, I think you might have learned your
lesson now, don't you think?" Max
closed his eyes and concentrated on the pain, within seconds it was gone, when
he opened his eyes again he was looking straight into Maria's eyes. Slowly, he reached forward and brushed his
lips with hers. Maria, sighed and moved closer, the kiss deepened, before she
knew it Max pushed everything off the table and she was under him lying on the
table, he was kissing her on the face, her neck and lips, she pushed her hands
under his jumper, stroking his back, his hands slid under her top, he caressed
her, all the time they kissed each other.
Neither one heard the door slam, it wasn't until they heard
a gasp that they looked up, Liz was standing there looking at them both, "Max!
Maria! What are you doing? My god where is Michael, if he finds you like this
he'll kill you both." Max climbed off
Maria and pulled her up, she stood next to him, never letting go of his hand. They
both said together "hey Liz." Maria
gave a shaky laugh, she looked at Max, "I need to speak to Liz, alone, you don't
mind do you?" "No 'course not, I need
to go….somewhere." He leaned down and
gave her a quick kiss, and squeezed her hand, he said 'bye' to Liz on the way
out, Liz just frowned at him, she turned and looked at Maria, "okay, so are you
going to tell me what I just interrupted?…"
"Liz, why don't you make a new pot of coffee while I clean
this mess up, then I promise I'll tell you everything that's happened." Within ten minutes they were sitting around
the table each with a coffee, proper coffee. "Liz, so much has happened since you've been away," "you're not kidding,
I never expected to see that when I came in." Maria blushed and put her head down, she then explained what had
happened a few days earlier, finding Michael with Isabel, her confrontation
with him the next day, Michael leaving to god knows where, all the time she
looked at her coffee, when she finished she looked up at Liz, Liz was furious,
how could they do this to her, better still why wasn't Maria crying, there was no
tears.Maria always cried when Michael did something to hurt her. "Maria? I've
never seen you like this, every time he hurt you, you cried for like weeks,
what's so different now?" "I don't
really know, I think that this time, he hurt me so bad, I just give up, I can't
keep letting him hurt me," she shrugged her shoulders, "I guess I've just had
enough." Liz reached across and held
her hand, trying to give her some support. "So are you going to tell me what I walked
in on a little while ago?"
Maria smiled then, "I don't know, one minute I was teasing
him about having a hangover, the next minute we were all over each other, and
then I heard you." "Whoa, back up, Max
had a hangover? Max doesn't drink, he can't drink," "yeah well last night he
decided to have a beer, well half a beer, he didn't quite finish it." They both started to laugh then, Maria told
her about finding him the night before, how she lost her footing and how she
got stuck and couldn't move him off her, by this time they were both laughing, she
even told her where she found his hand that morning, Liz was laughing so hard,
she had tears rolling down her face, "Maria, stop I can't breath." The laughter calmed down, Liz looked at
Maria, she couldn't remember when they had laughed like that, it had been too
long. "Maria, what about you and Max, is it serious?" "To tell you the truth I don't know," "Maria I hope this isn't a
way to get back at Michael and Isabel, because if it is, you, Max or both of
you are going to get hurt, you really need to think about this." "I know, it's just that I have all these
feelings for him. Feelings I had forgotten about." "I don't understand Maria, you've never once mentioned having
feelings for Max, when did this happen?" Maria sighed then, "Liz there's something I have to tell you, please don't
be angry with me okay," "I'll try."
Maria looked her in the eye, she needed to see how she would
react when she told her about that summer….Later when she had finished telling
her, they were both quiet, Liz took a quick gulp of coffee, then she looked at
her, "Maria, why didn't you tell me about this before?" "I didn't want to hurt you, we didn't want
to hurt you, or Michael, we didn't want to split the group up, that's what
would have happened, we all weren't ready for that, I know that you and Max
decided to be friends but Michael and I, well we just got closer, I guess I just
forgot somehow about what happened between Max and me. But the feelings are
back and I'm the first to admit it, they are stronger than ever." "How does Max feel about you?" "To tell you the truth I haven't said
anything to him...yet. I need to know how you feel though, if we do decide to
take up where we left off, how would you feel about that?" Liz sighed, "Maria, it's between you and
Max, but if you must know, I'd be happy for you both, you deserve to be happy,
and from past experience with Max, he's the one who could do it, I love you
both so much." Maria stood up and gave
Liz a hug, "thank you Liz, I just wasn't sure how you would react, I didn't
know if maybe one day you wanted to get back with him." Liz pulled back and laughed, "you must be
kidding, I have a guy who I love with all my heart, and I know he loves me just
the same." "You got that right!!" Both girls pulled apart and looked at the
person who spoke, "Kyle!!" Liz ran into
his arms and they kissed, "Kyle I've missed you so much." Maria noticed Max then he was standing
behind Kyle, he moved towards Maria, "Hey, I came back." "So I see, so how long have you been here?" "A while, I came in with Kyle, I know we
shouldn't have been listening, but I'm glad that we did, I love you Maria, I never
stopped loving you, I know it's still too soon to tell you that, but if you let
me, I'll prove it to you." Maria
reached up and kissed him gently, "Max, I want to say it to you too, but I don't
know if I'm ready to yet, it's too soon after Michael, please can you give me
some time?" "Maria, I've waited two
years to hold you in my arms again, I'll give you all the time you need." He
leaned down and kissed her again.
"Well isn't this a cosy picture?!!!" The two couples spun around, Maria gasped….."Michael!"
TBC….