Chapter 3
"What do you mean you're going away for two weeks?"
Max opened her eyes with a snap and looked around. She was in her room, alone. Then the events from last night came up and she quickly got changed and hurried downstairs.
"Yes, I'm going away for t-w-o w-e-e-k-s."
Max couldn't help but snort in the doorway. "Do you have to have everybody spell things out for you?"
"Julie…"
"Sorry daddy, it's just funny that someone spells stuff out for her every day." Max said, looking at Sarah, who was standing in the doorway, looking as mad as she could get.
"Every day?" Troy asked as Max gestured for him to bow. He did so and she fixed up his tie.
"Yup," she said, "Yesterday Ms. Black had to spell something out for her."
"You've met that woman?" Troy asked, turning to Sarah, who nodded. "How was she?"
"Classy, well mannered and just strict enough for me," Sarah said, gleeful to have some useful information [It didn't happen often
"Oh. Good."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to stay at her house for two weeks," Max answered, "Reminds me, I have to take some spare clothing."
"Why are you going to her place? Wouldn't she feel better coming over here?" Sarah automatically asked.
"That'd be a problem, since she doesn't have much better opinion of you than I do. Dad can give you a good phrase which she uses about you," Max said, staring Sarah, "I'll just go get some spare clothes and then you can drop me off at her place dad, before you go."
"Max, it's 7am, I don't believe she'll be awake."
"True," Max agreed, "I'll take my I-pod so I'd have something to do while I wait for a normal time."
Ten minutes later, Troy was hugging her daughter for good-bye. "As soon as there is any kind of trouble, call me, alright?"
"Yes, dad," Max said, "I'll be fine. I trust her… she's just a trustworthy type."
"Sometime's the trustworthy type is the most dangerous. I thought you read Harry Potter!"
Max laughed, "I'll be fine dad. Now hurry up, you'll miss the plane."Troy hugged her once more before he climbed back into the car, waved to her and drove towards the airport.
Max dug in her bag and pulled out her I-pod and she put on the headphones and sat on the bench in front of Gabriella's house. She started to hum alongside with a song, when somebody put their hands on her shoulders. She jump up and when she found herself face-to-face [Not exactly this time, since Gabriella is longer than her Gabriella, she sighed. She took off the headphones and asked,
"Do you have no other purpose in life than make me jump out of my skin every morning?"
The woman laughed, "Why are you out here anyways?"
"Thought you'd be sleeping," Max said. "Dad left already and I didn't want to be alone with the blond screecher. Great name by the way, dad just loved that."
Gabriella laughed, "You told him that I called his fiancée that?"
"Nah, but he heard me repeat it and I had to defend myself."
"Is this all you took?" Gabriella asked as Max picked up her backpack.
"Yup, but you'd be surprised how good I am at packing. I can store a whole shelf full of clothes into a bag like this."
"I'm sure you can," Gabriella said, stifling a yawn. "You can drop your stuff into the bedroom against mine. Unless you want to sleep in the armchair for two weeks."
"No thank you," Max answered climbing the stairs. She then turned around, "Gabriella, are you really okay with me being here? I mean I could stay at Aunt Taylor's probably."
"It's fine with me," Gabriella said, "Honestly! Being alone in the house is driving me batty."
"Batty?"
"Crazy, nuts, whatever," Gabriella answered, grinning. "Besides I need someone to tell me where the shop is."
Max laughed and hurried upstairs, where she placed her bag onto the bed and then she hurried back down.
They had breakfast, after which they watched an episode of "Charmed." Then they went outside for a walk around the place.
"So about the blond screecher," Gabriella started, "I've been wondering what happened to your… well…"
"Mum?" Max asked, "I have no idea. Dad doesn't like to talk about her. But last night," she grinned so widely that Gabriella had to grin along [Why, don't ask me "He told me that she was his first true love and he'll probably never find another woman who he'd be able to love as much as he loved my mum."
"He also told me that my mum was a great singer and I got my beauty from her and that the two of them loved me more than they loved each other and well, that's about it," she shrugged, "I know it doesn't sound that much, but he never wanted to talk about Mum before. Yesterday I found him staring at a piece of paper and that's probably why he talked to me."
They walked a moment in silence, before Gabrielle asked, "Why did you sound sad?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you sounded a bit sad while you talked about your mum and I was wondering."
Max hit a small rock with her leg and it flew a good few meters. "It's just that I'm kind of bugged about the way dad talks about mum in past tense. I'm afraid that she died and he can't just find a way to tell me."
"My dad died when I was four," Gabriella suddenly said, "My mum had to move when it happened and since then we moved rather lot… Well the point is that she didn't want to talk about my father either. She later told me she didn't do it because it brought up old memories and pain. But she told me everything eventually. It just might take some time with your dad."
"I don't know what I want," Max said, with a deep sigh, "I'm just so confused about everything about dad. He said he won't ever love Sarah the way he loved mum, not even close, and yet they want to get married… why?"
"When I got married it wasn't true love either," Gabriella admitted as they entered the park. "Orlando was my best friend. I could rely on him and I could trust him with everything. I needed that then, so when he proposed, I accepted. He made me feel safe. Though remember my fiancée?"
"The man, who ran away with your daughter?" Max asked, hitting another rock.
"Yeah," Gaby said. The two of them sat down on one of the empty park benches. "I really loved him. He was always the only man for me and he still is and I believe he always will be." Unconsciously her hand went to rest on something few inches below her collarbone.
"Everything is so difficult isn't it? With us and our families?"
Gabriella nodded.
"I'll do you a deal. The two of us are going to refrain ourselves from talking about anything that relates to the mess we call our family lives."
Gabriella laughed, "Where do you come up with those ideas?"
Max pointed onto her forehead, "Come on, accept."
"Sure, we can try. Though I'm giving no promises I won't think of the 'Issues'."
"Good enough."
XxXxXxXxXx
The two weeks weren't really that long now that Max thought about it. True to their words, they hadn't brought up any subjects about their personal lives or families, but that didn't mean they didn't have anything to talk about.
They talked about where Gabriella lived and what she was up to before moving to L.A. They talked about school. They talked about movies… Actually they talked a lot and that's what she loved about Gabriella. Unlike dad, she could talk to her about boys and stuff like that and it felt completely comfortable.
The big issue had been three days after Max came to spend the two weeks.
It was an early afternoon when Max had come running down the stairs. She looked panicking and as soon as she saw Gabriella, she rushed over, completely speechless.
"I'm… I'm bleeding!"
"What? Where?" Gabriella had asked, completely concerned. "I don't see any cuts. What happened?"
"It's not in a visible place," the girl had said, two big red blotches appearing on her cheeks.
"What do you mean… Wait? You mean you're having your periods?"
"My what?" Max had asked, "All I know is that I'm bleeding in places where you're not supposed to bleed!"
"It's normal," Gabriella had told her, "but first, we got to give you something to use."
She had hurried to her own bedroom and had emerged with a pink package full of little flat pink packages.
"What do I do with these?"
"Don't they teach you this kind of stuff in school?" Gabriella had asked, obviously not very comfortable in this situation either. When Max shook her head, she had started to explain.
"So they're like diapers?"
"Exactly! Well, not exactly, but they have the same principal. Go put one on and I'll explain you other… stuff, when you come out."
When she had come out, she had looked rather red from her face. "Give me a moment," she had said, as she scurried past her, went through her bag and went back into the bathroom.
"Hold them under the cold water a bit. I'll put them into the washer later." Gabriella had called through the door.
Three minutes later Max had come out from the bathroom. "This can't be normal, can it?"
"Come on, let's go sit down somewhere. This is going to be a long conversation."
some time passes
"EVERY MONTH!"
"Well, yes, it's what needs to happen for women to get pregnant you see…"
more time passes
"I'm going to make dad buy you a huge chocolate," Max said, once she had gotten the whole concept of PMS.
"What for?"
"Try to imagine me and my dad having this conversation? I'd die and he'd do so a second after me."
Gabriella had thrown her head back and laughed in the way that had made Max feel better already, before she had said, "Don't worry you can still have the birds and bees story."
"Oh no."
"Oh yes," Gabriella had nodded, her eyes glinting, "Those conversations are one of the most embarrassing ones the kid can have with her or his parents."
"Perfect," Max had said, "I'm going to get a temperature then. Being so red too long in a row has to affect it somehow."
"Don't worry, you'll have a good whole year before that speech," Gabriella had comforted her.
Now the two weeks max got to spend with her were almost over. Luckily her periods had lasted just three days, but she still had managed to do a good mess at least once. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to be here with Gabriella instead of home with the blond screecher.
"Dad said that he'll pick me up tomorrow for lunch," Max said as she hung up the phone.
"Oh no," Gabriella answered, "I got to be somewhere tomorrow morning. I'll leave the door keys to you and when you leave you'll lock the door and hide the keys somewhere."
"Wait, where do you have to go?" Max asked.
"The lab where I'll start working on the 1st," she said, "I have to go through my equipment and tools."
"What about my dad? I wanted to introduce the two of you!" Max exclaimed.
"Sorry, girl, but I really can't postpone the meeting," Gabriella said with a slight tint of regret. "I'm sure we'll meet another time?"
"My birthday!"
Gabriella looked at her.
"I'm having my birthday in nine days in the club down the street. The karaoke bar. Dad reserved it for my birthday. All my friends are coming and Aunt Taylor and dad's friends. You'll come won't you?"
"Your birthday is held on 24th then?"
"Yes," Max said, nodding. Not knowing that Gabriella's daughter had her birthday on the 25th and that's why she had asked it over.
"So, the two of us have our last day together," Gabriella started, "Any ideas?"
"Do you play basketball then or not?" Max asked.
"Out of the blue like that?" Gabrielle asked, "I mean I played a long time ago and even then I was barely average."
"Come shoot some hoops with me?"
"You're going to ask a 33 year old woman to play hoops with you?" Gabrielle asked, laughing, "You sure it won't damage your reputation?"
"I've got a kick ass reputation," Max declared, "Besides you're like another aunt or maybe godmother to me. Got to have lots of those, since…"
"Ehem… weekend is still lasting."
"True," Max said with a small smile, "So come on. Just a bit? You can't be all awful."
And she wasn't. About 2/3 of her shoots actually went in.
When they finally made it back to her house, it was already past eight.
"I'm going to take a shower," Max declared.
"Too late," Gabriella put in, locking the door after herself. Max groaned and said through the door, "For a rich woman you could at least have two bathrooms!"
"It's supposed to be a cottage!" Gabriella yelled back.
"THIS IS A COTTAGE? WHERE DO THEY LIVE THEN? A MANOR?"
"Something like that," Gabriella yelled through the splashes of water, "I won't take long. You can fix us up with something to eat while I'm showering."
Since she didn't have anything else to do anyways, she did as she recommended so by the time the shower was free, Max had pretty much started everything and while she was showering, Gabriella finished the cooking. They ate in the living room and when Max sat down, she was surprised to find a big chess set opened up.
"You know how to play?" Gabriella asked.
"Not very well, but I've seen dad play," she answered, as she ate a bit from her plate, eyeing the big pieces in the middle of the dining table.
"I'll play you one. Since you beat me bad in basket ball I have to make the loss up with something. I'm a sore loser, you know?"
Max nodded. She'd wanted to study how to play for some time, but her dad was often too busy, Bill didn't know how to play either and Karen was too busy chatting about make up to talk about actual game. She was still a good friend, but she didn't do sports and was a bit too much into herself.
"So these are the Pawns…"
-106 minutes later-
"3:1, not that bad," Gabriella said as they finished their fourth game.
"Yeah, not that bad."
"I'm serious. I've been playing for years. Orlando loved chess and we made it almost a daily thing," Gabriella explained.
"So do you love Orlando?" She pointed to the wall clock which showed 12pm.
"You're nosy about love you know that?" Gabriella said, smiling. Max only shrugged, so Gabriella answered, "I did love him, but it wasn't the kind of love you have that takes your breath away and sweeps you off your feet. It was a different kind of love that comes after a while."
"So when you're made to choose between Orlando and that fiancée of yours…?"
"I'd take my family," she answered without a doubt, "Now come on, it's time for you to get to bed."
"Already?" Max whined.
"Max!"
"Alright, I'm going…" She suddenly stops. "You know, I've only taken commands like that from dad before…"
"Max!"
"I'm already upstairs," She said, running. Gabriella followed, laughing loudly. She entered Max's room as she climbed into bed.
"Sleep tight."
"Gabriella, wait," Max called, "Come here, talk to me."
"Talk to you?"
"Well yeah, tell me a story."
"A story?"
"Are you as thick as the blond screecher?"
"No, it's just I'm starting to doubt weather you're fourteen or five."
"Does it matter?" Max asked, "Pleaseeee. I've been a good girl haven't I? I deserve a good story."
"Like what? Cinderella?"
"Uh, no. Not that kind of story. Something more… real. More grownup."
"You know," Gabriella said, "I might just have a story for you, but you must promise you won't say anything before I finish or I'll stop speaking, alright?"
Max nodded enthusiastically.
"It was winter," Gabriella started, "Winter holidays to be exact. A girl named Ella was sitting on a couch and reading a book, when her mother walked in. She reminded her of a Teen New year's Party which was taking place downstairs."
"The shy girl took her book and moved downstairs with it, to please her mother and then her life changed. You see, it was a karaoke bar down there and that girl was pretty much forced to sing with a complete stranger."
"The boy started to sing and she found his voice entrancing, but still, the girl suffered under serious case of nerves. Every time somebody stared at her, she found herself getting more nervous and on the stage… a lot of people were watching her."
Max took her pillow and adjusted it and turned herself around to be close to Gabriella. Her pillow was under her chin.
"But then she sang and the boy, who had been ready to leave, turned around and sang as well. They sang and they sang good, I might say. When they song ended they introduced themselves. Michael Colton was the boy's name."
"They went outside together, switched phone numbers and then went their separate ways, not knowing that Ella was being transferred to the school Michael was attending."
"They recognized each other, because Michael, not sure if the girl sitting four rows behind him and left was really the same girl, called her during class, landing both of them in detention with one of the most crazy teachers out there." Gabriella grinned.
"Michael played basketball and a big game was coming up, while he was remotely interested in Ella, the girl who was in her former school known as the 'freaky math girl' since she was very good in academics and lead the Schools decathlon team in her previous school."
"Anyways a girl named Maria, who was interested in Michael, figures out that since Ella has too much free time, she hangs out with Michael. That's why she 'Accidentally' slips a paper with Ella's grades and such onto the desk of Morgan, the captain of decathlon team in that high school."
"There's also a winter musical coming up, which two leads have almost every year been Maria and Marco, her brother. Though Ella and Michael both go there to listen and in the last moment Ella steps out and wants to join. Since she doesn't have a partner Michael reluctantly joins in but the crazy teacher, who runs the drama club tells them that time is money and since their late…"[Max was frowning
"The two of them notice a pianist, who dropped her notes, so they help her out. They see lyrics of a beautiful song and sing it together. The crazy teachers hears them and gives them the call back."
"Maria, finding out goes ballistic and does her best to move the dates of the big basketball game and the decathlon onto the same day as the call backs." [Max uses a not so nice word
"At the same time Michael's teammates co work with Ella's teammates since they think that they falling in love will mess up any chances they have for winning. They almost succeed as they make Michael say stuff in front of a camera and then show it to Ella, who believes what she saw."
"Luckily with the help of their teammates who understood that because of their argue, the couple is more defocused than an headless chickens, the two of them get back together and they also manage to delay both of the competitions- decathlon by mixing a stanching potion and the basketball game by screwing up the wires of the scoreboard."
"The couple gets to sing and they do the musical."
"They are quite happy for a while, just as friends, but as the two of them walk alongside the hallway getting ready for spring break, Michael suddenly takes their relationship to another level as he grabs Ella and they kiss. Needless to say that they spent most of the spring break and time after that together." [Max was hugging her pillow
"Then came the summer vacation. Both of them, alongside with their teammates and schoolmates needed jobs and T… Michael managed to land them all some in the country club, which incidentally was owned by nobody else but Maria's and Marco's parents.
"Maria started to manipulate Michael, by having his parents give him promotions, better paycheck and even talk the board of directors for easier place into the college, with full scholarship of course."
"In return, she got to drag Michael away from his friends and keep him from fulfilling the promises he made to Ella. After three missed dates, two lousy apologies and the cancelation of the talent show's act they were all going to do together, Ella had enough and she quit her job in the country club.
[Noo!"
"Michael was becoming distant from his friends and teammates and treated them like they were lower than him. He hung out with the rich and important and his friends were left behind. Finally, after Ella confronted her before leaving the country club, he understood that he was being selfish and he changed."
"Marco, who was mad at Maria, who switched him out for Michael, helped the team to make a good act and the last moment, he managed to get Michael and Ella onto the stage together."
[Yesss!
"Ella's and Michael's relationship had been strained. Every time they got some privacy something interrupted them. They even got two warnings from their boss, who found them swimming in the pool after hours and having a picnic on the golf course."
"As you can guess they made up and moved onto their next year as a stronger couple than before."
"Maria came to her senses… kind of and the next year was rather calm to be compared to the previous one. There was of course the prom."
"But our story continues from this moment when Ella told Michael that she was pregnant. Michael gave up his scholarship to a good school and Ella did the same. They went to a nearby college and Ella dropped out a bit before the end of the semester. Michael took an extra job and they managed fine really."
"Then they had this beautiful baby girl," she said with a slight smile. "Michael had proposed to Ella about when she was three months along, but they hadn't gotten married yet. Well they didn't get married for the time their baby girl got one."
"At that day, Ella found out about horrible news. From her last examination it was revealed that she had leukemia."
[What?!? [You promised… [Alright…
"She couldn't have told to her fiancée, who would have done anything to keep her safe, which means risking his own life. But if it didn't work out? Who'd take care of their little girl?"
[…
"For a good couple of months, Ella was closely examined. It seemed that she had gotten it from her father and there was a chance that her daughter had the disease. Secretly, Ella had her daughter thoroughly examined and she was relieved to know that the gene wasn't passed onto her. Still, it left her to be worried about herself."
"She only had one chance, to return to her homeland and try the bone marrow from her relatives, since she couldn't afford to fly them all over to America."
"She knew that there was a pretty big chance that the treatment would take months, years even and there was a good chance that she won't make it at all."
[Max was gripping her pillow and holding it very close to herself and her eyes seemed a bit watery."
"So one day she left her home, leaving just a note to the love of her life. She hoped he would understand and wouldn't come after her. He didn't come."
"Ella found herself a match in her cousin, who willingly gave his bone marrow and after about a year of healing, she returned to her home in America. But she arrived into an empty house. Her family was gone."
"She couldn't find them anywhere and soon she gave up searching and went to a college nearby. She met a nice guy there, who was a good influence for her and gave her that security she needed. They got married four years later and two years after that…"
"Orlando died," Max ended for her. "You… you had leukemia?"
Gabriella wiped away a tear or two and nodded, "I got better though, but there are lots who don't because the medicine isn't developed enough."
"That's why you donated some of your money to it?"
Gabriella nodded and before she could react, Max had thrown herself at her and was hugging her tightly. Gabriella hugged her back and Max whispered, "When you find that guy who moved away introduce him to me. I'll beat him up for you."
Gabriella laughed slightly, before she placed the girl back into her bed, "Go to sleep alright?"
"I will," Max answered, yawning. "Your life would make a good movie."
Gabriella smiled as she flicked off the light in the room and headed for her own bedroom, her thoughts on Troy. Had he moved far away? Maybe even onto the continent? How is her little girl doing?
The last thought when she fell asleep wasn't about those two though. The thought was that she still didn't know Max's last name, did she?
XxXxXxXxXx
A/N – Gimme reviews ! You know, I didn't sleep for a minute when I wrote this. I was up from 8pm to 7am just writing these four chapters. And I'm not going to stop now. ) Don't you think I deserve some reviews?