CHAPTER 41
Maria stood frozen, barely hearing the stifled "Shit!" from behind her. She gazed into her mother's furious eyes, eyes that were angrier than she'd ever seen them. Even more than when Maria had let Michael spend the night with her.
Her chin rose and she locked her eyes with her mother's. "Hi, Mom," she said coolly, stepping into the room.
Her mother did not look away as she said, "Jeff? Do you mind?"
"No problem, Amy. I think I need to have a talk with my daughter, anyway." With a stern glance at his daughter, Jeff Parker pointed up the stairs. "Come on, Liz."
Maria's eyes flashed to her friend. Liz looked intently at her, mouthing "Sorry," then shook her head helplessly before heading back upstairs after Jeff, leaving Maria alone with her mother. Oh--and Michael. Surprisingly, he hadn't moved from the doorway. Then again, he didn't really know her mother. If Maria were in his shoes, she'd have already bolted.
Amy's eyes followed Maria's to the tall boy; he shifted uncomfortably under the double gaze. "I think you'd better stay for this, Mr. Guerin," Amy said, her voice even more chilly, if that was possible. "I have a few things to say to you, too."
Even if she hadn't been looking at him, Maria would have known that Michael had tensed. But he came in, allowing the door to swing shut behind him.
She had to get him out of this. She'd promised Michael that her mother wouldn't find out, and now that was blown. So the least she could do was to try and spare him the flack that was about to hit. "Can't this wait until later?" she asked. "I've got to work, Mom. We'll be opening soon."
"No, it cannot wait. This is more important than work. And Jeff Parker agrees with me." Her mother's voice grew even tenser. "So. Maria. Would you care to explain what you were doing out all night, when you told me you'd be at Liz's? And with...him?" she added, her voice not concealing her dislike.
Maria's eyes narrowed, and her chin set obstinately. "No. I don't think I care to explain."
Even Michael, who'd had no real parental guidance in his life, knew that she'd just given the wrong answer. Massively wrong. Colossally wrong. Unimaginably wrong. He grimaced, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the ongoing confrontation. It was like watching a train wreck.
"No seventeen-year-old daughter of mine is going to stay out all night, god knows where, with some hoodlum!" Amy said sharply.
"He is not a hoodlum!" Maria shouted right back. Uh-oh. She shouldn't bother trying to defend him. He was a dead man anyway. The killer newspaper was beginning to look good. He watched numbly as Maria's mouth kept right on jabbering. "And just what are you doing over here, anyway, Mom? Spying on me?"
"It just so happens that you left your overnight bag at home. I was bringing it to you. And while you're under my roof, I have a right to know what you're doing!"
"Then maybe I shouldn't be under--" Maria began, at the top of her voice. Uh-oh. This wasn't just a train wreck any more. This was getting really ugly.
"Maria?" Michael broke in. She didn't pay any attention, she just kept ranting on. Maybe he should try the other DeLuca. Maybe she'd be more reasonable. He spoke again, louder this time. "Mrs. DeLuca?"
The woman at least looked at him. Her gimlet eye bored a hole into his head. "And you," she said. "I was going to cut you some slack. Give you a chance, because my daughter cares about you--or thinks she does. But you blew it big-time, buddy. Don't think you're ever going to lay eyes on my daughter again." Okay, so it looked like reasonable was not the word.
"You can't stop me from seeing him!" Maria said fiercely.
"Oh yes, I can, young lady," her mother replied. "Because you are grounded. Until you're thirty. You will go to school, but that's all. No job, no spending time with your friends--any of them. And you can forget about the play, too."
Michael watched the hurt flicker through Maria's eyes. Dammit. He might not have put it there directly, but once again it was his fault. He should never have let her stay with him. His fists clenched. "You shouldn't blame her, Mrs. DeLuca. It's not her fault."
"Shut up, Michael!" Maria protested.
He ignored her, looking her mother squarely in the eye. "I wanted to talk to her, and she wouldn't, so when I saw her on her way to Liz's, I took her to my apartment. She didn't want to go. It's not her fault," he repeated.
Amy looked at him skeptically. "And what kept her from leaving?"
He frowned. "I wouldn't let her. I...I locked her in."
Once again, Amy ignored her daughter's protests. "So you're basically saying that you abducted my daughter and held her against her will?"
He nodded.
Her eyes narrowed, an expression he'd seen before on Maria's face. "Do you realize how much trouble that would get you in? That you could go to jail?"
He closed his eyes and nodded again.
"Do you think I'm stupid, Michael?" she asked scathingly.
What? Fuck. His eyes flew open. "No. Ma'am."
'Ma'am' wasn't going to cut it this time. "Then don't lie to me. You are already in enough trouble here. Don't make it worse."
"I'm not lying," he lied.
"Michael--" Maria began again. Amy held up a hand to silence her daughter and then took a threatening step towards Michael. She looked coldly up at him.
"First of all, my daughter thinks she cares about you. She wouldn't have any problem whatsoever going to your apartment to...what did you call it? Oh yes, talk."
"Mom!" The air rang with Maria's horrified cry.
"Second, if you had tried to drag her there against her will, you wouldn't have gotten very far, because I know my daughter and she would have screamed her head off. So perhaps you'd like to stop lying to me before you get yourself in any further."
Shit. What could he possibly say to get them out of this? He could hardly tell the woman the truth. His brain raced, but came up with nothing, and she was standing there waiting for an answer. An answer he couldn't give. "It's still my fault. Not hers," he said stubbornly.
Amy turned to her daughter, who was staring in anger up at the tall boy beside her. Well, well. Maybe things weren't all so peachy in Teenage Lust Land after all. "You might want to tell Sir Galahad here that his efforts are worthless. His misguided attempt to blame himself is not going to do you, or him, any good."
"Tell me something I don't know!" Maria fumed. She looked pointedly up at Michael. "Just where do you get off trying to take the blame, anyway? It was my fault, not yours!"
He scowled. If he'd just listened to his gut instead of giving in to her like a total wuss, they wouldn't be in this mess. Never again. "I let you stay," he pointed out. "I knew I shouldn't, but I let you."
"I made you let me!" she yelled at him.
"Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do!" he shouted back. He wasn't going to let some chick push him around. Or at least, he was damned if he'd admit it.
Her voice grew even more sarcastic. "Oh, so you're saying you wanted me over there? You wanted me to spend the night on your couch? You actually wanted to kiss me?"
"What? Yes! No--I mean--Hell, I don't know, all right?" he stumbled. Stupid girl, getting him all tied up in knots. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I wanted. I knew better. It's my fault."
Amy watched the two teenagers, so engrossed in their argument that they'd obviously forgotten she was there. Which was doing nothing to calm her ire. Enough was enough. She addressed her daughter. "So that's where you were all night. In the apartment of this...this delinquent."
Maria snapped. "Mom! Get off Michael's case already! Yes, I spent the night at his apartment! Now you know! Happy?"
"The car's out front. I suggest you get in it," Amy said coldly.
"Mom--"
"Car, Maria. Now."
Maria took a deep breath, visibly reining in her temper. "Fine." She turned to Michael. "I'll talk to you later."
"I wouldn't count on that if I were you," her mother put in dryly. "Car. Now." With one last look at Michael, who refused to meet her eyes, Maria pushed open the door to the main dining room and headed outside.
With narrowed eyes, Amy studied the remaining teenager, who stood stiffly with clenched hands. The warning in her tone was perfectly clear. "I don't want you anywhere near my daughter, you hear me?"
Michael's jaw tightened. "Yeah," he said roughly. "I hear you."
"Good." Amy picked up the overnight bag that she'd brought with her and strode out.
Michael watched her go, and then turned on his heel and slammed out the back door.
Max was rudely awakened from a pleasant little dream about Liz and science class when the pounding started. He looked around, momentarily disoriented, before realizing what was happening. This wasn't an unfamiliar scene. "God, Michael," he muttered as he headed towards the window, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "It's seven o'clock on a Saturday morning. Some of us actually like to sleep in, you know." Pushing the curtains aside, he stared at the tense expression on his friend's face, then unlocked the window and moved aside so Michael could climb in.
"Get Isabel," the spike-headed alien ordered.
Letting out a small laugh, Max asked, "Are you trying to get me killed, Michael? Because that's what she'll do if I ruin her beauty sleep, you know."
"Get her," Michael repeated, more urgently this time.
"No need," said a voice from the doorway. Isabel stood there in her pajamas and bathrobe. "Somebody already did that by banging on your window. Gee, thanks, Michael," she ended sarcastically. "What's going on?"
The tense look didn't leave Michael's face as he spoke one word. "Maria."
Isabel was instantly on the alert. "What happened? Is she all right?"
"I think so. In the sense that we weren't ambushed by her stalker or anything. But..." He looked down at his feet. "I can't watch out for her any more."
A frown appeared on Max's face. "Why not?" he asked.
"Because Mrs. DeLuca isn't going to let me anywhere near her daughter," Michael muttered.
"What? What did you do?" Max asked sharply.
"Nothing, okay? I didn't do anything. Mrs. DeLuca just found out about last night and went ballistic." He looked away, obviously not wanting them to read anything in his eyes.
Isabel raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Last night?" she inquired archly. "And just what happened last night that Mrs. DeLuca would get so upset about?"
Michael immediately knew what she was implying. "Nothing! I didn't touch her!"
She smiled, more than a little amused by his discomfort. "You didn't?" she teased.
He turned away and muttered something too low for them to hear.
"What was that?" Max asked.
"I said I kissed her, all right?" Michael burst out. Isabel and Max exchanged smiles. Michael ran a hand through his spiky hair as he looked out into the yard. His voice lost all emotion. "It doesn't matter. It didn't mean anything."
Isabel immediately crossed to him and put supportive arms around him, leaning her cheek against his back. "Of course it meant something, Michael. You care about her."
He shook his head in denial. "I can't."
"But you do."
"I shouldn't. It's all...wrong."
"But you do," she repeated.
Michael shook his head again, but didn't answer, and Isabel gave him a quick squeeze. "And she's pretty lucky," she said firmly, before she moved over and sat on Max's bed. She thought she heard Michael mutter a scathing, "Lucky," but he didn't turn around. "So," she asked, changing the subject. "What's the plan, then?"
"You and I will split the guard duty," Max told her. He turned to Michael. "It's not that I don't trust you with it, it's just that--"
Michael turned and nodded. "Yeah. If her mom catches me around, my ass is grass. I'll be in jail faster than you can say Czechoslovakian."
"But you didn't do anything," Isabel protested.
"She'll come up with something, believe me. You didn't see her, Isabel. You don't mess around with Mrs. DeLuca where Maria is concerned."
"But if you'd just tell her what happened, that you didn't..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to come up with a delicate way of saying it.
He ignored the pause. "And you think she'd believe me? Look at me, Izzy. Would you believe anything I said if you were her?" He shook his head, sneering, "I don't think so."
"She doesn't know you, Michael," she responded.
"Yeah, well, I don't want her to know me."
Max brought the subject back to their plans. "Michael, if Isabel and I are watching Maria, maybe you could work on figuring this thing out from the other end."
Michael nodded. "We need to sit down and talk about that. All of us. Well, the five of us, anyway, since Maria's under house arrest. There have been a few...developments."
Max and Isabel looked at him, surprised. Michael wanted to sit down and talk? Max shrugged. "Okay, how about we meet at the Crashdown for breakfast?"
Michael shook his head. "I don't think I can go there."
"Why not? What did you do?"
"Nothing. It's just that...well, that's where we were busted. Liz's dad was there, and I don't think he's going to be too happy if I show up again. Ever."
"Mr. Parker too? God, is there anyone who doesn't think you slept with Maria?" Isabel burst out.
Michael shrugged. "You. Max. And Maria."
"It isn't fair!" she said angrily.
"Not much is," said Michael with another shrug. "But I can't do anything about it, so forget it. Worry about the things we can do."
She stared at him. Who was the pod-person who had come down and possessed her almost-brother? Since when was he mature and reasonable? She kind of liked it. "Okay," she agreed. "Why don't you head back home? We'll call Alex and Liz and meet you at your place. Oh, and we'll stop off at the Donut Shack and bring breakfast, too."
Michael's face lit up. "Chocolate. Get lots of chocolate-covered ones."
She laughed. Maybe he wasn't so mature after all. "You got it."
He moved back towards the window, then stopped and turned. "Maxwell?"
Max looked at him warmly. "We'll work this out, Michael. All of us, together."
Michael nodded. "Thanks," he said, and then he was gone.
TBC...