Chapter 39

"Are you ready?"
Liz listened outside the door, but when she didn't get a reply she softly knocked on the door. "Max?"
Still no reply. Liz hesitated a second before pushing the door, which had been slightly ajar, completely open. Merely an empty room greeted her and she frowned before turning towards the hallway. She walked towards the b¬athroom in the search of Max. The bathroom door was closed and she raised her hand to knock on it. Before her hand had the chance to contact with the closed door, it opened inwards and she found herself staring into a chest; the water droplets covering the skin making it shine in warm bronze.
Her mouth went dry and she knew that she was supposed to say something, but suddenly neither her mouth nor her head were working.
"Liz."
She swallowed deeply, her hand frozen in the air in a typical just-about-to-knock-on-the-door position and looked up.
"Max," she croaked and tried to discreetly clear her throat. If possible it was even more dangerous to look at his face. His hair was wet, making water droplets hug each strand of hair in his bangs tightly. His eyes were dark, bordering on pitch black, in the modest lightning of the hallway. The silence was deafening, but she didn't notice, as her eyes took on their own will and traveled over his face. They came to rest on his lips. Those full, coral colored lips which were glistening with moisture from the shower. Unconsciously, she licked her lips, her heart taking the chance when unattended to speed up with anticipation.
"You okay?"

As in a daze, she raised her gaze and looked into his eyes.
"Fine-I'm fine. I'm just fine," she said.
There was amusement in his eyes, but she could see something else there as well. Something that made her force herself to take a step back, because of the intensity of it. She could hear the deep breath he took and she dropped her eyes, feeling the heat rising on her cheeks.
"I think…," Max said slowly with exaggerated puzzlement, "that I might be running late."
"Uh-huh," Liz nodded, her eyes locked on the floor. She couldn't possibly look at him ever again. She had been staring at him! Could she have been any more obvious?
"Maybe I should get dressed then," Max mused.
"Sure. Yes. Definitely. You should…do that," Liz said.
At his soft laughter, she looked up – and had to swallow deeply again. She was certain that her heart stopped beating when Max leaned closer. Her eyes automatically drifted closed, not being able to look at him, afraid and excited about what could happen all mixed up in one delightful feeling. His lips brushed her cheek and she was certain that she could feel the temperature in her body increasing by ten degrees. Then his soft voice whispered in her ear, barely drowning out the beating of her heart that was throbbing in her head.
"You are kinda standing in the way."
It took a couple of seconds, his freshly shorn cheek brushing against hers, before she got her mind back into operating position. He slowly pulled back and all she could do was smile when embarrassment decorated with raw desire made her hands tremble and her cheeks turn red.
"I'm…I'm sorry," she stuttered, wincing at her own obviousness.
She could feel his eyes on her and all she could think about was that she wouldn't survive if he didn't touch her again. But if he touched her, she would want to have more. She wouldn't be able to stop.

"Sweetie," Max said softly, the intimate timbre of his voice making shivers chase each other down her spine. "You have yet to move."
She smiled at this, the color on her cheeks turning an even darker crimson. Her hand went up to her face, trying to shield her embarrassment from him.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry," she mumbled, her eyes stubbornly fixed on the floor. "This is so embarrassing."
A tremor shook her body when his finger contacted the bottom of her chin. Soft pressure was added and he angled her head up to meet his eyes. Those eyes that she had fallen in love with at the first look.
"It's my fault," he said quietly.
It was as if he had put a spell on her. She was transfixed by the motions of his face features, mesmerized by every single emotion in his eyes.
"Now, would you care to tell me what that folder on my bed is?"
The start of a smile tickled the corners of her mouth as she self-consciously hid her eyes behind her eye-lashes.
"It's my book. I've finished it."
Silence was his answer and as the seconds slowly ticked by she realized how nervous she was. How much she wanted him to accept her writing and read what she had written. Not being able to look at him, she hurried to continue, to stop the silence from scaring her courage away.
"I wanted you to read it before I try to get it published. I was planning on mailing it to several publishers after you've read it, but if you don't want to read it… I mean, if you don't feel that you have the tim-"
"I would be honored."
Her words cut short she looked up at him, seeing his words being confirmed by his eyes.
"You would read it?"
She never thought that it would mean that much to her, but to not hear him tell her that her writing was ridiculous had hope lighten her heart and shine out through her eyes.
"Try stopping me."

The brightest smile blossomed on her lips and she barely stopped herself from throwing her arms around him. He was half-naked after all. Only a towel separating-
"I'll do it first thing when we get home," Max promised.
Liz nodded, feeling that familiar warmth in her cheeks again, thanking whatever force was at work that Max could not see into her mind and see what she had just been thinking about. She took a step back and he smiled at her.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure," Liz said softly and watched him walk down the corridor, her eyes traveling further and further down…
"Liz, stop it!" she ordered herself in a low voice.
"Did you say anything?"
She quickly looked up at him, his hand on the doorknob to his bedroom and quickly shook her head from side to side.
"Nah-uh."
Max looked at her somewhat oddly, before shrugging it off.
"Okay then. I'll be out in a sec."
"Sure thing," Liz said.
Max disappeared into his bedroom. The second the door closed, Liz made a beeline for the sink in the bathroom and splashed cold water in her face. She looked up at her reflection, the water running down her cheeks.
"Elizabeth Parker. Get a grip!"

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"What took you so long?"
Max glanced at Liz, before unconsciously scratching behind his ear. He knew that he should probably say something before Maria started to jump to her own conclusions. Catching the wink Maria sent Liz's way, Max was very certain that she was the kind of person that would easily make her own interpretations of a situation and then not let anyone else tell her anything else.
"Max had a meeting at school and it took longer than we had thought that it would," Max heard Liz answer next to him.
"Right. Sure. Meeting at school. So that's what they call it nowadays."
"Maria!" Liz exclaimed and Max didn't even have to look at Liz to see the red color of embarrassment on her cheeks.
Maria turned to Max as if she hadn't said anything inappropriate at all. "So how are you, Max?"
He hesitated before answering. He could see the honest concern lurking in Maria's eyes even though she was being very skilled at putting up a playful exterior, and he felt that he owed her more than the standard "I'm fine" reply. Still, he had difficulty getting it past his lips. He hadn't really talked to anyone except his sister and Liz about his current state of mind. Liz was probably the one who knew more about him than anyone else at this point. She had been there with him when he had woken up screaming in anguish in the middle of the night. She had been there to comfort him when tears had burned his cheeks as the nightmare wouldn't loosen its grip on him. She had seen parts of his mind that he never intended for anyone to see. That was something he wouldn't share with just anyone, and probably not Michael's girlfriend.
"I'm getting there," he answered quietly.
Her shining face lost some of its electricity and her former dazzling smile dimmed. There was now concern but also warmth in her eyes and it truly became clear to Max why Maria was Liz's best friend. Max had been fooled by Maria's energy and her good-humored nature, and it had been something of a mystery to him why Maria and Liz would go well together. They were like day and night.

But the honesty in Maria's face at that point, the same honesty that he saw in Liz, explained it to him. During all those years that Liz had been sick, she had needed Maria's energy to fuel her, but she had also needed a friend that would listen and take her seriously. Liz needed someone that she could trust and confide in without being made a fool of. Max could see it so perfectly now.

But there were a lot of things that had become easier to decipher lately.

When thinking about it, he had always thought that it sounded corny when someone in some movie had said that their life was different now and they saw things through new eyes. Now he understood what they meant though. It was as if a filter had been taken away from his eyes. The net that usually filtered out what he couldn't deal with was slowly, albeit steadily, disintegrating and he was forced to look at the world again. The weirdest thing was that he hadn't experienced the change as sudden. He had been sitting with the therapist, talking about that day in the kitchen with Tess, and the memories he hadn't let through that filter in his mind started to slip through and that was it. It was as if those memories worked like acid, corroding the net and making everything clear. He had walked around in something of a daze the consecutive days following that experience. It had been the clearest daze he had ever been in; he had been dazzled by everything going around him. Everything that was living that he hadn't paid attention to before. The world was moving around him. Birds were making music, children were laughing, the sun was shining and the wind was remarkably refreshing against his face.

He had seen Liz that day. Really seen her. Seen the amazing woman who had stolen his heart without him being the slightest aware of it. He had known that she had been there for him for a long time, but he couldn't deal with thinking about her and what her presence in his life meant. Thoughts that concerned anything that was touching on the future in anyway was sure to be followed by rough feelings of shame and guilt, and that probably would have drowned him at that point.

But that day he couldn't look away.

She had been standing in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and he thought that he had never seen anything that beautiful. He almost laughed at his thoughts when thinking back on that incident. Almost. He had been thinking that she had looked like an angle. He could've sworn that he could see a white glow surround her.

He looked at her now. She was in a deep conversation with Maria, her melodious laughter enriching their discussion. He was amazed by her ability to adapt even though he had been putting her through so much. In retrospect, he couldn't understand why she was still around after everything he had said about Tess. She must have always felt like she was second best every time he compared her to Tess. Liz turned and gave him a private smile before returning her attention to Maria, who was really talking for both of them. Max could only hope for a miracle that he would be able to prove to her that she would never be second best.

"…ax. You there? Hey Max!"
He physically tore his eyes away from Liz, realizing just the second before turning his head that Liz was now looking at him instead, amusement twinkling in her eyes.
"Huh?"
"God Liz. He's down deep, girl."
In confusion he looked back and forth between the girls, but something told him that the self-conscious smile forming on Liz's lips meant that Maria had not insinuated anything about his mental condition. Before he had time to reply, an arm is draped around his shoulder and with relief he turns to see Michael standing at his side.
"Hey man. The women giving you grief?"
Michael's hair was standing in all directions in organized disarray, as it typically did, but there was something different about his friend. Max's eyes narrowed and he tried to figure it out as the conversation continued around him. He couldn't pinpoint the change until Michael turned to him and said quietly, so that only Max would hear: "Glad to have you back, man."

Maturity. Somewhere along the line Michael had grown up. He was still bickering with everyone, especially Maria, but there was a newfound sensitivity about it now. Michael was not joking to hide his insecurities about his place in the world any longer, but was now joking because he was happy. Max gave a startled jump as he felt a soft hand against his bare arm.
"You okay?"
He nodded, his eyes still trained on Michael as he kept having some "conversation" with Maria about the grossness of borrowing bowling shoes.
"They've all changed," Max said quietly.
Liz didn't say anything next to him. She only took his hand in hers and waited. He shook himself out of it and looked down at her with a tentative smile.
"Are you ready to kick their asses?"
He intentionally winked at her and his heart skipped a beat when her face shone up.
"I never said I was any good at bowling," Liz warned.
"Faith, Liz. Faith."
She rolled her eyes and he laughed. Her palm felt warm around his hand and he felt something tingle deep in his soul. She tugged on his hand and he followed, contentment overflowing his senses. This was exactly how it should be.

TBC...