~~Chapter13~~

Max glanced up at the clock hanging above the door.  It was getting late and there was still no sign of Liz.  He wasn't sure how he had become so attached to the petite brunette in such a short amount of time.  Was he falling for her?  Was that even possible?  Max had never been in love before so he wasn't sure what it felt like...but if you had to judge by what always happened in movies...then he was definitely in trouble.  His thoughts constantly drifted to the color of her hair, or the way she had looked while she slept, or how she bit her lip and played with her hair when she was nervous...

His musings were abruptly interrupted by his hospital room door being flung open and two individuals crashing through, laughing hysterically to themselves.  Max looked up, startled for a moment.  He immediately recognized Maria after he came out of his daze but it took him a little longer to realize who the other person was.  He shook his head in disbelief.  "Alex?  Alex Whitman?"  he asked incredulously.

"In the flesh," he replied, grinning widely.

"How...on earth...?"

"Well if you must know I was transported here by aliens," Alex said, barely able to keep a straight face.

Max laughed, remembering how much fun his friend had been back in school.  "I should have figured that.  But really...Maria...how did you manage to find our long lost Alex here?"

"Well it turns out that your new friend Liz made a new friend, Isabel, who took us to see her boyfriend, who just happens to be Alex here, and when he heard that you were laid up in a hospital bed, well...not even the plague could have kept him away.  Whew...that was kinda like six degrees of Maxwell Evans wasn't it?"  Maria replied, almost completely in one breath.

Alex cracked a crooked smile.  "Wow 'Ria.  That was impressive.  I almost forgot you could do that."

"How could you ever forget Hurricane Deluca's specialty for speed talking?" Max said, joining in on the teasing.

"Hey!" she said indignantly, swatting his arm playfully.  "You know this is really great though...all of us back together again...well except for Michael.  But he'll be here later Alex, don't worry."

"Oh goody I so missed someone beating up on me..." Alex said sarcastically, ducking as Maria turned to smack him.

"Come off it already Alex.  That was one time in fifth grade and it was gym class for goodness sake."

Alex crossed his arms and pouted.  "Yeah well he didn't have to knock me down in front of all the popular girls...and into the bleachers no less."

"Ugh...I give up...you'll never let it go..."  Maria threw up her hands in agitation and plopped down on the chair behind her. 

"So...'Ria...did you and the girls have a good time tonight?" Max questioned cautiously. 

"Like you even care if Izzy or I had a good time.  All your concerned about is if a certain little brunette soccer player hooked up with any guys at the club..."  Maria shot back, easily seeing through his line of questioning.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, just a little too quickly.

Alex perked up, suddenly interested in the gossip.  "Ooh...Maria...does our little Maxie-boy here have a crush on someone?"

"How old are you?" Max retorted crankily. 

"Twenty-two."

"Could've fooled me... I would have guessed you were more like two."

Alex stuck his tongue out at Max in reply and all three of them burst into a fit of laughter. 

Outside his room, an older nurse who was walking by was started by the sudden outburst of noise and dropped her papers all over the floor.  She shook her head and sighed as she gathered them back up and continued down the hallway.  "Young people..." she huffed to herself.

~~~

Isabel slowly pulled into the driveway of the Parker residence, cutting the lights so as to make their return less noticeable.  The two girls quietly exited the car and walked towards the back door, usually reserved for staff entrance.  Once inside, Liz stopped suddenly and whispered "They're probably still in the living room recovering from the wine...if we're quiet we can sneak up the back stairs and they'll never know we were gone." 

Just as Liz placed her foot on the first step, the stair let out a loud creaking noise.  They both froze, hoping that they hadn't just given themselves away. 

"Elizabeth?  Is that you?" her mother called from the other room. 

Liz sighed heavily.  "So much for that idea... guess we have to go face the music." 

Isabel followed Liz as she led the way to the living room where both of their parents were indeed sitting, looking slightly intoxicated.

"Yes mother, it's me."

"Where were you two?  We were worried."

"Well, Trevor said that you all had gone out for dinner so Isabel and I did the same."

"Where did you go?  You smell like an ashtray..."

"They had a smoking section in the restaurant and we were seated too close to it I suppose," Liz replied, hoping the vague explanation would satisfy her mother.

"You could have gone somewhere classier Elizabeth.  I can't believe you dragged poor Isabel to one of those low class places you like to go to with those soccer friends of yours.  Honestly, not everyone wants to eat that greasy food...  I thought I had raised you with more sense than that."

"Actually it was my idea Mrs. Parker..." Isabel interjected.

"Isabel dear you don't have to try and cover for her.  I know my daughter.  I'm sorry she dragged you into that."

"No really..." she tried again.

"Never mind Iz, it's not worth fighting over.  Mother, Isabel and I will be upstairs.  You can send Trevor up when her parents are ready to leave.  Mr. and Mrs. Ethan, it was nice to meet you again," Liz interrupted.  Without waiting for a reply she turned and walked up the stairs. 

TBC....