Chapter 8

Liz

God, he taste so good. I wrapped my arm around his neck, holding on as he wrapped an arm around my waist, I winced slightly as he hit the cut and I gasped, I pulled away and shook my head.

"Liz?" he asked, breathless. I looked at him and I almost gave in. He looks gorgeous with his dark hair all mussed up, his lips slightly puffy and swollen from our kisses and his voice was filled with desire but my pain shoots up once more.

"I'm sorry, I can't. It was a mistake." I whispered as I hurried off the bed, I, neatly, dodged his attempt to grab my arm.

"Liz!" He called as I hurried into Tammy's bedroom, slamming the door behind me as I hurried to the bathroom, locking it.

I slid down to the floor as my knees rose up and wrapped my arms around my legs as I buried my face into them. What have I done?

Tammy

"What the hell?" I demanded as Liz came flying through the bedroom door, she slammed it shut and slid the lock into place before hurrying into the adjoining bathroom, leaving me confused.

I heard banging on my door and I made to get up when I heard Max shouting.

"Liz let me in!" Max shouted, I looked at the bathroom in confusion before looking at the bedroom door; I got off and unlocked the door. I opened it and looked at my big brother.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded.

"Is Liz there?" Max demanded and I nodded, he made to come in but I blocked him.

"Forget it big bro, you did something to Liz that cause her to coming bolting in here like a scared rabbit and you want to come in here?" I demanded.

"Tammy, please, I have to speak to her!" Max exclaimed and I sighed.

"Give me a min." I stated as I pushed him out and shut the door and locked it once more before heading over to the bathroom and knocking on it lightly. "Lizzie, can you please let me in?" I asked.

I heard the lock unlatch and I opened the door and stepped in, she was sitting on the floor, her back resting on the wall. "Hey, you know, my big brother is outside my door, worried and you are in here, hiding." I stated as I sat down next to her before cocking my head. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really." She whispered and I nodded.

"No problem, listen, Max really wants to see you, do you want me to let him in?" I asked and she turned to me with fearful eyes.

"NO!" she practically yelled and I nodded.

"Okay, no problem, calm down." I told her and she sighed as she closed her eyes and ran her hands through her dark locks.

"It's just too complicated right now and I don't want to see him at the moment." She told me and I nodded.

"Sure, I'll just go and tell him that." She nodded as I opened the bathroom door and shut it before heading over to my bedroom door and unlocked it and looked up in to my brother's expectant face. "Sorry, she doesn't want to see you right now." I told her and he nodded as he dropped his face to the ground and I bite back a frustrated groan. "Max, what is going on?" I demanded and he shook his head.

"Never mind Tammy." He whispered as he walked off. I sighed as I rested my head on the doorway, what the hell happened between these two?

I turned around and saw Liz come out of the bathroom, she was now dressed in her PJs, ready for bed; she wouldn't look at me and I sighed, I knew it was time for bed now. I shook my head and got changed into PJs as Liz slipped under the covers and faced away from me, something major happened between these two and I'm gonna find out what happened.

Max

What went wrong? I'm lying on my bed in my boxers, looking up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head as I thought back to the kiss. She definitely wanted it and she was enjoying if the moan was anything to say about it but she freaked out. I groaned as I turned over in my bed and saw the photograph of Liz and I sitting on my bedside table. She was seven, I was eight, it was before her sister died, we were both dressed in our winter clothes, hats and scarves and all. We were both hugging as we faced the camera, laughing. Tammy said we looked adorable together and my mother agreed. I sighed as picked up the picture, it had been a long time since I seen her this happy, she was happy all the time, smiling and laughing and now she is…dead.

My mother said she is the life of the party but there is no life in her and I have to agree. Ever since her sister died, she's like lost her soul, her reason for living and I hate seeing her like this. All I want to do is find out what is making her like this, why she is like this but her and Tammy are so tight-lipped that it would be a miracle if I can ever get any answers out of them.

I sighed once more, better get some sleep, maybe everything will look clearer tomorrow than right now.

I found myself in the kitchen the next morning, everyone was sitting around the table except from Isabel, who was packing her bag, making sure that she hasn't forgotten anything while Pam was sitting across from us with a smirk on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" Tammy asked.

"Oh, beautiful day isn't it?" Pam asked as she flicked a look at me and I rolled my eyes in annoyance while Tammy looked out of the window with a puzzled look, it was pouring down the with rain and there was a hint of thunder heading out way, looks like it will be a stormy night tonight.

"Is she high on drugs or something?" I heard Tammy whispered to Liz, she stifled a snicker before reaffirming her stony face expression.

Awfully quiet today, aren't you?" my mom asked, I snuck a look at Liz but she was picking at her food while staring at it.

Tammy was shooting confused looks at us while Pam was smirking.

"Late night." Liz whispered and my mom nodded.

"Okay, but hurry up, you need to leave for school soon." Mom informed us.

"Sure, are you girls wanting a lift?" I asked, Tammy and Liz. I saw Liz freeze for a minute then gave me a quick nod; I felt relief go through my body.

"Sure." Pam stated and Tammy smirked.

"Your friends are coming to pick up you and Isabel." Tammy informed Pam and hid a smile when she saw Pam blanch.

I shook my head, Tammy really likes to see Pam humiliated.

"Oh, I thought she usually take a lift with you." Pam stated and Liz shook her head.

"Some times she does but there's not really a lot of room in the jeep, we have to pick up Michael." Liz informed her and I groaned.

"Do I have too?" I asked and she nodded.

"Michael has something to tell you." She told me and I nodded.

"Fine, I'm gonna grab my bag, do you want me to grabs yours?" I asked the girls, they nodded as I hurried out of the room before Pam could ask me to grab her bag for her.

I came back and saw my mother standing at the window.

"Looks like Thunder and lightening tonight." My mother murmured.

"I like thunder and lightening, it makes the night more bearable." Liz stated and my mother turned to face Liz with a smile.

"You and your fascinating with Thunder and lightening." She teased, affectionately and Liz smiled as I placed the bags on the table before heading over to the dishwasher with the plates. "Isabel, hurry up, your friends will be here in a minute." My mom called.

"That reminds me, we need to leave if we want to get Michael and get to school so we can get a parking spot near the school." I told Liz and Tammy, they nodded as they finished their drinks, placed them in the dishwasher before grabbing their bags, we all kissed mom goodbye before hurrying out to the jeep, with the top on. Thank god I put it up last night.

We arrived at the school, everyone was already there, waiting at my locker and I sighed.

"Why is it always my locker everyone gotta wait at? Why can't you go and bug someone else's locker?" I asked and Michael smirked.

"Cause, Maxwell, we just love bugging you." He stated and Tammy wrinkled her nose.

"That so did not sound right." She informed and I bit back a snicker at Michael's shocked look.

"I gotta go, I'll see you guys later when we have class together." Liz stated to us all as she walked away with a wave.

Tammy turned to me and grabbed me by the lapel of my jacket.

"Max, I want an answer and I want it now!" Tammy stated as she hauled me into an empty classroom and shut the door before spinning around on me. "My best friend is practically running away from you and you are walking around with this lost puppy look on your face. I know that something happened last night and I wanna know now!" she snapped. I sighed as I rested my lower back on the teacher's desk as she hopped up and sat on the table across from me.

"Liz and I kissed last night." I told her and her face split into a wide grin.

"You kissed?" she asked. "Go!" but her smile dropped when reality settled in and she groaned. "She freaked out, didn't she?" she asked and I nodded and she sighed. "Okay, here's what you're gonna do." She told me as she hopped off the desk. "You are not gonna leave Liz alone, she is finally giving in to her feelings for you so you need to make sure she doesn't put the wall up around them." Tammy stated.

"Tammy…" I started and she shook her head.

"Max, trust me on this one. If Liz let down her guard to kiss you that means she's weakening, that she is beginning to trust you with her heart, if she can trust you with her heart then she just might be able to trust you with her secret." She told me and I froze as hope shot through my body.

"Really?" I asked, I really wanted to know what was making Liz so dead, so lifeless and bring the life back in to her. To make her see that she has everything to live for.

"I'm not saying that she will, there is hope. God Max I really hope she will tell you because keeping this as a secret is destroying both of us." She told me as she ran a hand through her locks before looking at me. "Please, don't give up on her." She begged and I nodded.

"I won't." I whispered, she closed her eyes in relief before hugging me and hurrying out of the classroom, making me wonder about the secret once more, just what the hell was going on?

Liz

I found myself in one of the Eraser room; there was a small table in it that I hid myself under it. I needed to think about everything that was happening and I felt it was happening too quickly all at the one time. I sighed as I look up at the bottom of the table, my sister died when I was eight years old, god she was only sixteen at the time, she had her whole life ahead of her and she died because of something I said. I shook my head. I could feel myself weakening toward Max, I was beginning to trust him with my heart, if I could trust him with my heart, does that mean I will be trusting him with my secret? God everything's so mixed up, I can't let him know, no, not now after everything with James and that. Who knows what he might do.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear the door open and light footsteps heading my way.

"Hey Lizzie, how come you are hiding under here?" I hear a female voice asked and looked up, I saw Tess kneeling in front of me and I smiled slightly.

"Hey Tess." I replied and she crawled in beside me.

"Wanna tell me what is going on?" she asked. "Max looks like someone ran over his puppy and Tammy has been practically been smiling like the cat got the cream that she is scaring Jake to death because, according to him, the last time he had seen her like that was after they made love, not that Max was happy to hear mind you." She told me and I giggled at the thought.

"What about the others?" I asked and she rolled her eyes.

"Kyle told Max to give him one of your panties so he could pray to Buddha and see if Buddha could get you to have sex with Max, Michael is teasing Max for the lost puppy look then started panicking that Bast had been knocked down, Maria is babbling a mile, something about catching her mother and Jim in a compromising position and best friends disappearing every minute. Isabel is in fits of hysteric, you know how much she loves it when everyone starts panicking for no reason and Alex is thinking the whole world has gone mad on him." Tess informed me with a shrug, acting like it was an everyday experience that I couldn't help but smile.

"They are great aren't they?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yeah, they just know how to make you laugh no matter what kind of day you had." She told me, we both just sat there, leaning against the wall when I finally spoke up.

"Max kissed me." I told her and she turned to face me with a shocked look before it grew into a smile.

"Never thought he had the guts." She told me and cocked her head, curiously. "I'm guessing you kissed him back then freaked out." She told me and I nodded as I rested my head on the wall.

"I love him Tess but I'm scared." I whispered and she shrugged.

"Love is scary." She stated simply.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" I whispered, reminding myself of the conversation that I had with my grandma.

"Because if it wasn't complicated, then it probably wasn't meant to be." Tess told me and I looked up at her with tears in my eyes and she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I leaned in, resting my head on her shoulder. "He loves you too Liz and he is scared but he really wants to make ago of it. You own it to yourself to give it a chance to see where it could lead." She told me.

"What if it doesn't work out? What if we can't be friends again after this?" I asked and she smiled.

"Trust me, you and Max are practically made for each other, you will make this work." She told me and I smiled before closing my eyes and let myself be comfort by the stroking rhythm of Tess playing with my hair. At least I still had my friends with me.

TBC