Part Eleven
Day 29 – Monday July 21st 2002
Well, after almost three days of driving, we've finally made it to New York City! We've only been here a few hours but I love it already. We didn't want to stay in a youth hostel or somewhere cheap but in a bad area, so before we got to the city, we stopped at an Internet café and booked into the cheapest hotel we could find, which ended up being the Quality Inn on Broadway and West 94th Street (and to be honest, wasn't very cheap at all, especially compared to the dumps we've been staying in recently).
The cross-country journey from New Mexico was long and tiring, but we had fun and the majority of the time was spent laughing and joking together about the silliest little things, like reminiscing over our first crushes in Junior High and wondering exactly why, in Freshman year, Max decided that the leather look was in (even he had no idea about that one). Our nights were spent sharing a bed, sleeping in each other's arms. We haven't gotten much further in our physical relationship than we reaching in Vegas, although there has been the odd intense make-out session involving loss of tops and other upper body garments, but although I feel a little guilty about not doing more for Max, I decided to wait until I could make it special, namely until we arrived here in New York. At least now, I can plan something for him like he did for me at the Excalibur. I'm not sure what it will be just yet, but I'm definitely going to make it good!
But right now, we're off to take in the sights of Times Square. I've heard that they do city bus tours from there and I think we're planning to go on one of those around the city. I'd also like to take in a show while we're here and even though Max claims that he's not into Broadway musicals, I know, for a fact that he used to listen to the music from Singing in the Rain when he was a kid (but he'd never admit that to anyone – he doesn't even think I know). I'm hoping we can go see The Lion King. I've heard it's really good; so let's just hope I can persuade Max to come along too…
"Right then, Lizzie. Let's go explore this city!" exclaims Max excitedly, while stuffing his camera and several tour guides into his backpack.
I shake my head at his eagerness, but gather my things all the same and we head outside. It's not worth trying to drive anywhere around New York, but luckily there's a subway station right outside the hotel.
We take the subway down to Times Square and 42nd Street and I can't help the awed gasp that escapes my lips when we emerge from the underground.
"Wow," I grab Max's arm. "Look at this place. I can't believe I'm actually here!"
"I know," I hear from beside me and I look up to find Max gazing around at all the people and the buildings, the same awed expression on his face.
"Come on, let's find where they do the bus tours. I'm dying to see the sights," I tug on his arm, feeling like an excited child at Christmas.
He grins down at me and then shrugs his bag off his shoulders. "Okay, okay, we'll go in a sec. I just need to find the brochure, we don't want to get lost trying to find the right place do we?"
I wait impatiently while he consults his map, biting back a smirk at the intense look of concentration on his face.
"Okay," he says after a minute, raising his eyes to mine. "We just have to go this way, turn right at the junction and then it's on the next corner."
I roll my eyes and can't contain my snort, "So basically, we didn't need the map; it's only a few hundred yards away, and we could have just as easily found it on our own," I say.
He stares at me in confusion for a moment, before looking down at the map in his hands and realising what I'm referring to.
"I'm sorry, okay? I just like to be prepared," he defends his actions.
"Silly man," I smile good-naturedly and reach up to ruffle his hair. The confused expression returns and I fight the urge to roll my eyes again. "Never mind," I tell him, taking his hand in mine and dragging him off in the direction of the tour buses.
We have a great time checking out the sights. We decide on the Downtown tour, which takes us past Macy's, the Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, Rockefeller Centre and the Statue of Liberty ferry. The tour allows you to get off where ever you like and then get back onto another bus later, so we went to the top of the Empire State Building, had a look around Macy's and took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
I had a brilliant, but exhausting day taking in the city and, from the look on Max's face as he sits next to me on the subway back to 94th Street, I can tell that he's pretty tired too. While we were on the tour bus, I managed to convince Max that we should go see The Lion King tomorrow and so before we left Times Square, we visited the theatre box office on 42nd Street and purchased tickets for the evening performance. We chose to eat dinner at the Appleby's restaurant near the Lion King theatre where the food was great, but a lot more expensive than back home in New Mexico.
We finally arrive back at our tiny room in the hotel at just past 10pm; even though it costs over $100 a night (which is even more than the Excalibur), there is barely enough space to get in and out of the bed, let alone to walk around the room.
By mutual agreement, we decide to go straight to bed in order to conserve our energy for another fun-packed day tomorrow. I grab my nightclothes from my suitcase and just as I'm carrying out an internal debate between changing in front of Max, who's standing on the other side of the bed, or taking the easier and less awkward option and using the bathroom, Max pretty much takes the decision out of my hands, grabbing his own shirt, pulling it over his head and giving me an eyeful of his bare, well-defined chest. I can't help lowering my eyes to his belly button and the trail of dark hair down to the elastic of his Calvin Klein boxer shorts, which are just showing above the waist of his jeans.
I gulp helplessly as his hand goes to his zipper, his long fingers pulling it down before he shrugs off his jeans. They fall to the floor and I realise that my best friend, well, boyfriend now, is standing only a couple of feet from me, dressed only in dark-blue boxer shorts. He steps out of his jeans and kicks them over to the wall, where they land in a heap on top of his previously discarded shirt.
Running his hand through his hair, Max looks up at me expectantly and I will my body to move, but it's like I'm frozen in place.
"So, are you going to get ready for bed now, or what?" he asks, adding a "Liz?" when I don't respond immediately.
"Oh, um," I shake my head. "Yeah, sure. Of course," I glance round helplessly, realising that I don't really have any other choice but to undress in front of him. Especially considering I'm the more experienced one here and since he doesn't seem to have a problem with it, there's really no reason why I should either.
I place my clothes down on the bed and tentatively reach for the hem of my top. I think that Max realises that that he's watching me intently and that it's making me a little uncomfortable, because he suddenly busies himself with pulling back the bedcovers and getting into the bed. I pull off my top and reach for my long nightshirt, quickly slipping it on. I solve the problem of taking off my bra in front of Max by unhooking it underneath my shirt and then pulling the straps off my arms whilst still wearing the shirt. Max just fixes me with a weird expression as he glances up in time to see my bra being pulled out of one of the sleeves.
"What?" I ask somewhat indignantly.
His expression turns innocent, "Nothing," he says quickly. "Just, um," he points to the bra in my hand. "I've never seen anyone do that with their underwear before."
"Oh, it's an old trick that us girls use when we're in a public dressing room and want to change without embarrassing ourselves," I shrug, a smile tugging at my lips. "No big deal."
I pull off my skirt, safe in the knowledge that my shirt almost reaches my knees and that I won't be flashing him or anything, and lay my clothes neatly on the floor by the bed. I take off my make-up and brush my hair quickly, before reaching for the covers and sliding into the bed next to Max. We turn onto our sides to face each other and I tuck one hand underneath my cheek, resting the other on the bed in front of me.
"So," I start, trying to distract myself from the view of his naked chest, but the small amount of chest hair right in the middle of his upper torso is right in my line of sight and I just want to lean forward and…
"So?" he grins, watching as I involuntarily lick my lips.
I mentally shake my head and force myself to look up into his eyes. "Don't you just love this city?" I finally blurt out.
"Yeah, I do," he replies. "It's so different from the Southwest. I just can't believe you're going to be living all the way out here soon."
"I know," I say and move closer to him to snuggle against his chest.
My body relaxes as his arms come around me and I find myself surrounded by his scent. I try not to think about all the naked flesh beneath me, but my hand drifts up of it's own accord and my fingers begin tracing the fine hairs on his chest. I can feel his breath quicken and he shivers slightly below me. The thought that I can cause these reactions in him encourages me and I lift my head, replacing my fingers with a whisper of a kiss on his chest.
"Liz…" he sighs softly and the sound of his voice, makes me want to hear more, my plan of a special evening be damned. So, I begin to place tender kisses against his warm skin and at first, he sighs again and shifts a little, but after a few moments, I realise that no more movement or sound is coming from him. A quick glance up at his face confirms my suspicions.
Max is fast asleep.
I let out a quiet scoff and roll my eyes, shaking my head at him. Poor guy. He was so tired earlier; I practically had to shake him into staying awake on the subway. It's probably all that travelling we've done over the last few days. Although we shared the driving pretty much equally, he did the last stretch yesterday and then we were up early this morning for sightseeing – not that he was complaining or anything, in fact he was the one who insisted we get a move on; so, to be honest, I can't blame him.
A small smile plays on my lips as I pull the covers up around us and curl into his warm body. His arms are still pulled tightly around me and the feel of them makes me feel safe and loved.
As I relax, my head resting on his chest, I fall asleep with just one thought on my mind:
This is the life.
I guess I must have been as exhausted as Max last night because I don't wake up until after ten in the morning. Max is not in the bed with me and for a moment, I panic, wondering where he is; but then I hear the shower running in the bathroom and I sigh at my stupidity. It's not like he can go very far in this room anyway.
I yawn loudly (it's not as if he's going to hear me from here) and stretch languidly, making the most of the space in the bed. I smile as I feel the still-warm sheets where Max has been sleeping. Obviously, he's only just woken up as well. Normally I would be slightly annoyed at the fact that we slept so long when we have a whole city to explore, but I am just too relaxed to care this morning; and besides, we saw and did most of the important things yesterday, so we can afford to be a bit more flexible with our time.
I give one more stretch before pulling back the covers and slowly climbing out of bed. I decide against having a shower after Max is done, since I'm planning on taking one as part of my 'getting-ready' routine before we go to the show tonight, so I just pull on a sweater and denim skirt outfit and brush my hair back into a ponytail.
I feel along the front of my teeth with my tongue, deciding that I really need to clean them. Like I told Max before, I just hate not brushing as soon as I get up and I figure that since Max seems to have no problems undressing in front of me, I'm sure he won't mind if I use the sink while he's in the shower. After all, he will be out of sight behind the curtain.
I walk over to the bathroom door and knock lightly on it; but then I realise that he's not likely to hear it with the water running and so I knock more firmly.
"Max?" I call.
I wait a few seconds and when he doesn't reply I knock loudly once more and call his name again.
"Yeah?" comes his slightly muffled reply.
"Do you mind if I come in?" I ask. "I need to brush my teeth."
"Sure," he calls back. "Come on in."
"Thanks," I say as I turn the handle and slip into the room, closing the door behind me. As I walk over to the sink, I try not to focus on the thought of Max's naked body standing behind the shower curtain, barely a couple of metres away from me. The bathroom mirror has fogged up with the steam from the shower and I have to use my arm to wipe it away.
"Sleep well?" Max's smooth voice drifts across the room.
"Yeah, like the dead," I return with a smile, reaching for the toothpaste.
"Me too," he replies, his tone amused. "I'm sorry I feel asleep on you last night, though."
"Don't worry about it," I reassure him as I squeeze a small amount of the gooey substance onto my toothbrush.
"So, where are we going today then?" I hear him ask, barely a second after I've shoved the brush into my mouth and started brushing frantically.
"Mmm," is all I can manage with a mouth full of minty toothpaste.
I guess Max doesn't hear my mumbles because the next thing I know, his head pops round the edge of the curtain to peer at me in question. What a flattering position to be caught in by your boyfriend of barely a week!
He starts laughing as he gets a good look at my face and I just raise my eyebrows at him in a 'What?' gesture.
"Um, sorry," he smirks. "You just have a little…" he points to his chin and a quick glance in the mirror to my right shows that I have a trail of toothpaste foam running down my chin.
I roll my eyes and turn to spit it out in the sink, wiping my chin in the process.
"Oh, ha ha, very funny, Max."
He just grins and shakes his head at me, disappearing behind the curtain again.
Turning off the water in the shower, he asks again, "So today? What's going on? Apart from the show tonight, I mean."
"How about we do the uptown tour today?" I suggest. "It goes past here and up into Harlem."
His hand appears and reaches for his towel, pulling it off the heated towel rail on the wall.
"Sounds good," I hear from behind the curtain.
I'm about to say something more, but the sound of the curtain being pulled back and then the appearance of a dripping-wet, towel-clad Max emerging from the shower cuts off my train of thought. I bite back a sound of surprise and I feel my cheeks getting hot. No matter how many times I see his bare chest, my reaction is always the same. I wonder briefly, why it never affected me before this trip. Surely, I must have noticed this gorgeous body before this?
"Sorry," he grins as he steps out of the shower, seemingly oblivious to my apparent lack of speech, "I'll just get out of your way now."
He exits the bathroom, leaving me to support myself against the sink and that's when I decide that tonight's the night. We'll go to the show and have a great time, and when we get back, he's going to be ravished.
Tonight is going to be all about him.
The uptown tour is really interesting. We see all these really old churches and mosques and we get a taste of the part of Manhattan Island that you usually don't get to see in TV and films. After we get off the bus back in Time's Square, we grab some lunch from a small deli and then go shopping. We visit the large Toys 'R' Us store, which has a huge Ferris wheel inside it and then the Virgin Megastore next door.
As we walk around Times Square, I notice a big Hershey's store and drag Max inside it. Although I'm not too keen on Hershey's chocolate, my parents love it and I realise that I have to buy them lots of different flavoured bars and packets of Kisses.
We get back to the hotel in the early evening so that I can have enough time to shower and change for the show. Max doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to take him out to dinner afterwards. I saw an Olive Garden restaurant in the middle of Times Square earlier and I know how much he likes the food there.
After my shower, I get dressed, deciding on a purple strappy top with a crossover bust line and silver sequins along the top, a dark, flowing skirt and open-toed sandals. Max looks positively gorgeous in black slacks and a dark green shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his strong lower arms and the top couple of buttons casually undone.
Honestly, I can't stop staring as I watch him emerge from the bathroom, his hair combed just the way I like it (although I haven't told him that yet) and his face freshly shaved. We get ready to leave the room and he takes my hand in his. As he leans in to kiss my cheek, I get a whiff of his aftershave and have to close my eyes at the feelings that just that scent invokes in me.
We hail a cab down to 42nd Street since I would prefer not to take the subway at night, especially when I'm all dressed up and we end up making it to our seats in the theatre stalls just in time for the beginning of the show.
Three hours later, we leave the theatre completely in awe of the performance we've just witnessed. Before tonight, I'd been a bit sceptical of how the Lion King would work on the stage, but it was absolutely amazing. The way that the costumes were designed allowed the cast members to look just like real animals and the whole atmosphere that the show provided was just incredible.
Even Max, who is a self-proclaimed action-movie geek, loved it. I can tell by the way he's talking my ear off right now about the 'coolness that was the show' (his words, not mine). I'm getting a warm, fuzzy feeling just watching him, with his hands gesturing wildly as he talks. He's too wrapped up in everything we've seen that I don't have time to tell him about the dinner I have planned until we're right outside the Olive Garden. I have to stop and wait for him to realise that I'm no longer beside him before I can reveal my intention.
His eyebrows raise and his mouth opens in surprise when I tell him that I'm taking him to dinner.
"Liz, oh my God, this is too much. You didn't have to do this for me," he protests with a shake of his head. "And anyway, aren't I supposed to take you out for dinner, not the other way around?"
"Max," I say, putting my hand on his arm. "I want to. And besides, you paid for the hotel in Vegas. This is the least I can do." I smile and add teasingly, "Just shut up and enjoy it while you can, because once I'm a student, I won't be able to afford to take you out to dinner."
He chuckles and I can tell that he's given in because he takes my arm and reaches out and opens the restaurant door for me.
"Table for two," I tell the waitress in the foyer. She nods and leads us to a small table in the corner. She hands us two menus and takes our drink order (two cherry cokes) before leaving us to decide what to order. A quick glance at the main courses makes me realise that we're going to have to budget. This is a lot more expensive than back home.
Luckily, Max notices this too and opens his mouth to protest once again, "Liz, maybe we shouldn't – "
"Hey, I've already planned this. There's no way we're not eating here now. We'll just have to be careful about what we order," I say, glancing back down at the menu. I scan my eyes over the cheapest dishes, realising that the more expensive ones sound much nicer. I deliberate over what to order for a couple of minutes, but then a smirk slides over my face. I've just had an idea.
"Hey, Max," I look up to find him looking at me instead of the menu. The expression on his face makes me blush, but I resist the urge to bury my face back in the menu. "Here's a thought; instead of both of us ordering something cheap, how about we just get one nicer dish and share?"
Max looks slightly dubious at my suggestion and I can't resist adding, "Hey, if we get spaghetti, maybe we'll get to have a Lady and the Tramp moment." I emphasise my point by wiggling my eyebrows suggestively and Max bursts out laughing. The sound of his deep chuckle makes me shiver and suddenly I can't wait until later, when we get back to the hotel.
"Okay, okay" he holds up his hands, in surrender a few moments. "You've convinced me. We'll share. Like you said, you never know what might happen," he winks.
We decide on the spaghetti bolognese, just for the hell of it. It's delicious, but sadly, we don't end up both chewing on the same strand of spaghetti, no matter how hard Max tries to find the two ends of the same piece for us to eat together. The desserts are too pricey for my budget, but that doesn't matter because the main course was filling enough.
When it comes time to pay the bill, Max tries to be sneaky and hide it while I'm in the bathroom, so that he can pay. But I know all his expressions, especially the guilty ones, and the second I return, I demand it back from him and pay it myself; although, at his insistence, I do let him take care of the tip.
We leave the restaurant hand-in-hand and while Max hails a cab, I take in the atmosphere of Times Square at night. I snuggle up to him on the ride back to 94th Street and his arm slips around his shoulders, pulling me close.
"Thank you for a wonderful evening," he murmurs against my hair. "I had a great time."
I smile against his chest. "Don't thank me just yet," I tell him. "There's still more to come."
He pulls back slightly, the questions visible in his eyes; but he doesn't have time to say anything because at that moment, the cab pulls up outside the hotel. With a mischievous grin, I climb out of the car, leaving a bewildered and intrigued Max to pay the fare (I have no cash left on me).
He spends the entire elevator ride up to our room trying to make me tell him what exactly I have planned, but my lips are sealed. We step out of the elevator and I unlock the door to our room. Closing it behind us as we enter, I reach up and place a sweet kiss on his lips. His arms come around my waist and he tries to deepen it, but I have to pull away.
"Stay right there," I tell him with a grin. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."
With a pout, he reluctantly lets me go and I step into the bathroom. I close the door and let my head fall back against it as I think about what I'm about to do for the first time in my life.
I'm so nervous; there are butterflies in my stomach and my hands are suddenly sweaty.
Come on, You can do this. I tell myself. This is Max. He knows you better than anyone.
I take a deep breath to calm myself and then step away from the door. I give myself a quick once-over in the mirror and deciding that I look pretty much all right, I make my way back over to the door and open it, ready to face Max.
TBC…