Rating: R
Disclaimer: Oh, if only they'd pay me! Alas, they will not
Summary: Sequel to Searching for Liz Parker; Liz has a new gift - but why? Resumes about a month after the end of the last fic.
Discovering Liz Parker
By Karen
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Oh, if only they'd pay me! Alas, they will not
Summary: Sequel to Searching for Liz Parker;
Liz has a new gift - but why? Resumes about a month after the end of the last
fic.
***************************************
Part One
Liz Parker
chewed on the end of her pencil, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Before her, trapped under one hand, was the chemistry test for which
she’d been studying for weeks. She
knew the material – she could recite it in her sleep – but she was unable to
dredge up any information now that it counted.
And the
reason she was struggling was because she couldn’t focus on the test.
Instead, she felt everything that was going on around her.
The young man in the seat next to her was panicking, his anxiety riddled
with self-doubt and self-reprimand; he hadn’t studied enough.
The girl three seats over was breezing through the test, her emotions
full of confidence and satisfaction.
The girl two
seats ahead of Liz was upset, despondent, on the verge of depression.
It was emotions like those that she couldn’t ignore.
Immediately, her mind started forming the questions: Did the girl break
up with her boyfriend? Had a
relative died? Was she depressed
enough to commit suicide? Was she
clinical?
Liz shook
her head, trying to block the girl’s anxiety and concentrate on her test.
She’d read the same question at least a dozen times now.
But every time she started to digest it, the nervousness of the boy
beside her crowded her mind instead. She
was only vaguely aware that people were starting to leave the lecture hall, that
instead of being the first one done with her test, she was trailing far behind.
“Pencils
down,” the professor called. “That’s
time.”
Liz gulped.
It couldn’t be. She put her
pencil on her desktop and held up the test – she’d left more than half the
questions blank. There was no way
she was going to pass. Fighting
tears and the urge to gag, she gathered her things and dropped the test on the
professor’s desk as she left the room – but not before she saw the look in
his eyes.
This past
summer, Liz had been granted a much-coveted internship at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute in
Clutching
her books to her chest, Liz bit back her tears again as she made her way into
the bright
Happiness,
anticipation, blossoming love.
Those
feelings should have been welcome to the person feeling them, but instead it
only upset Liz more. She was passing
a couple sitting on the steps, their manner cautious like two people who had met
only recently. She was happy for
them – but she just wanted to turn the floodgate off and feel only her own
emotions for a change.
“You’re
making me fat, Michael Guerin.”
Michael
looked up from his bed and spied Maria Deluca standing sideways before the
mirror, baring her belly. He smiled.
She wasn’t fat – she was merely putting on the weight she’d lost
consuming a steady diet of Spaghetti-Os while living on the road with The Whits.
“Yep,
you’re a tub,” Michael agreed, then returned his attention to the text book
he was reading.
“Michael!”
Maria shrieked, dropping her shirt. She
was laughing, though, as she crawled onto the bed.
“It’s all your fault. Cooking with cream and real butter.”
She laid a quick kiss on his lips.
“That’s
the way you’re supposed to do it,” he defended.
“You think the great chefs of
“I don’t
care about the great chefs of
Michael
rolled his eyes. “Maria, I’m
hardly a great –“
He was
silenced by another kiss from her. Soon
the text book fell to the floor as he slid his fingers into her hair and
returned her embrace. After a few
all-too-brief moments, she pulled back from him.
“Where’s
Isabel?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
“When will
she be home?”
“I don’t
know.”
Maria sighed
impatiently. “Do you think we have
time to – you know.”
“I don’t
know.” Michael loved the
exasperated look that came over her face and he snorted a laugh.
“She’s probably at school.”
Maria’s
brow furrowed. “She’s always at
school, it seems. Is everything okay
with her?”
Michael
shrugged again. “I guess.
Why do you ask?”
Forgetting
her romantic pursuit, Maria fell onto her back and looked up at the ceiling.
“I don’t think she likes me being here.”
“Oh,
Maria, please. That isn’t true.
Why do you think that?”
“Well, for
one – she’s never here.”
“Yes,
she’s at school,” he repeated slowly.
“But all
this time? Is she taking thirty
credits or something?” Maria waved
her hand in the air demonstratively. “I
think she’s tired of me being here.”
Michael
shifted on to his side and reached over to play with a strand of her hair, which
was now back to its natural blonde. “I
don’t think it’s you. I think
maybe it’s us.”
Maria looked
at him curiously. “Us?”
“Yeah.
I mean, Max has Liz. I have
you.”
“And Iz
has nobody.”
Michael
nodded. “I don’t think it’s
the fact you’re here. I think
it’s the fact she’s alone.”
Maria
frowned. “I wish I knew
someone…”
“Like an
alien?” He shook his head.
“Isabel knows she has to be careful, Maria.
It may take her a very long time to find someone she can trust enough to
let in.” He gave her a half-smile.
“I got lucky on the first try.”
Maria smiled
in return and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“If you play your cards right, you could get lucky right now.”
The urge to
cry had left Liz by the time she walked to the apartment she and Max now shared.
Instead, she felt empty inside, like the battle she was fighting was now
hopeless. As she crossed the parking
lot, she spied Max bouncing a basketball in the courts on the other side of the
lot. He was wearing a pair of gray
sweat shorts and an ill-fitting white tank.
He dribbled the ball several times, then with perfect form took a shot;
the ball went through the hoop touching only the net.
Liz knew he wasn’t using his powers – Max was just that good.
As he chased
down the ball, he spotted her approaching him.
Grinning, he stuffed the ball between his elbow and hip and waved.
Happiness, bliss, unadulterated love.
Liz’s smile was genuine – she could always count on Max.
Even during disagreements, she could still feel his love for her under it
all.
“Hi,
babe,” he said, leaning in and giving her a kiss.
His skin was warm, damp with a light sheen of sweat.
“Hi,”
she answered, accepting his enthusiastic embrace.
Max’s
smile faded away when he realized she was less than happy.
“So, how did the test go?” Concern,
dread.
Liz looked
away, her eyes settling on a man walking a dog in the distance.
“Not so good, Max.”
Sympathy.
Disappointment – not in her, but for her.
“I’m sorry.”
She met his
gaze. “I know you are,” she
confirmed, her jaw set.
Understanding,
caution. “Let’s go inside,”
Max offered. “I’ll make you
something to eat.”
As she
followed him up the stairs, she found it amusing that Max was such a mother hen
when she was hurting. It was always
“Let me run you a bath” or “Let me get you a drink” or “Let me make
dinner for you.” He was so sweet
sometimes she felt guilty for being glum.
In the
kitchen, he pulled out a chair for her, then went to the refrigerator to survey
the contents. Liz sat, her gaze
turning to the tile floor where she had once carved the whirlwind symbol with
the end of a spoon. The mark was now
gone – Renovations by Isabel – but Liz still looked for it.
It was a reminder of the turning point in her life.
“How about
something light before dinner?” Max suggested as he tipped his head to see
what was in the back of the refrigerator.
“Sounds
good,” Liz answered mechanically.
“Tuna?”
She nodded
and Max began gathering the ingredients for tuna salad.
The room was quiet as he stood at the counter and made two sandwiches.
He placed one before Liz, then sat down opposite from her.
Hopeful, eager to please.
Liz looked
at the wheat bread and realized she really didn’t want anything to eat.
Drawing in a deep breath, she said to the sandwich, “I’m going to
fail out.”
Surprise.
“What do you mean?” Max asked.
Liz lifted
her head. “I didn’t even get
half of the questions answered, Max. And
what are the odds that I got all of the ones I did answer right?”
She frowned and shook her head. “If
I fail chemistry, I can just about forget a career in any science field.”
Max wiped
his hands on his shorts. “Can you
tell me what happened?” he asked carefully.
“I know you knew the material.”
“I did,”
she agreed, her gaze steady on his. “And
then the kid next to me started to panic. Then
all I could concentrate on was the fact he was panicking.
When it wasn’t him, it was the suicide queen ahead of me.”
Max’s dark
eyes were sad. “I’m sorry,
Liz.”
“I know
you are,” she repeated. “I know
you are because I can feel it.”
“We’ll
work on that,” he tried to reassure her. “We’ll
work on getting you able to shut people out.”
“Nothing
we’ve tried has worked,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Maybe this is just the way I am now.
I just wish…” Her voice
trailed off and she looked away from him, back to the floor where the whirlwind
should be.
Reaching
across the table, Max took her small hand in his.
“You wish what, love?”
She met his
gaze steadily. “I just wish that I
could have had this ‘gift’ while Alex was still alive.”
Grief.
“Liz –“
“No, Max.
You don’t understand the guilt of knowing that maybe I could have known
what was going on with him or with Tess. If
I had been able to read their emotions, maybe he’d still be alive today.
Why couldn’t this have happened to me then?
Why is it happening to me now when all it’s causing is misery?”
Max released
her hand and touched her hair, which was beginning to regain its former health.
“I do know that guilt,” he said softly and Liz immediately shared
that feeling. “But there are so
many ‘what ifs’ when it comes to Alex’s death.
What if I’d been closer to the accident site and able to get to him
before he’d died? What if he’d
come to one of us instead of going to confront Tess?
You can’t beat yourself up about a power you didn’t have at the time
and didn’t know you’d get in the future.
I believe every thing has a time and a purpose.”
“What is
my purpose, Max?” Liz asked, her stoic demeanor falling aside.
His fingers
grazed her face. “In the greater
scheme of things, I don’t know, Liz. I
think it’s yet to be determined.” He
smiled gently. “But for now, your
purpose is to be with me, to let me help you work through all of these new
things that are happening to you. Because
I think right now that’s my purpose.”
She smiled
back at him and took his hand in hers.
“As for my
immediate purpose, I think I need a shower,” he laughed and Liz nodded her
agreement. His expression turned
devilish. “And I think your
immediate purpose is to join me.”
Of course
she relented to his request. As she
followed him down the hallway, she hoped he was right.
She hoped that there was a reason for everything that happened – and
that the reason for her new power wasn’t to make her fail out of school or
drive her crazy.
Part Two
To some,
being a college student and major-less could be a debilitating distraction –
uncertainty for the future, pressure to pick the correct field, not a dead-end
occupation that would put them in the unemployment line eventually.
But to Isabel Evans, being without a chosen path was a Godsend.
Without a
major, she could study anything she wanted.
Sure, it might take her ten years to graduate at that rate, but she
didn’t really care. Each semester,
instead of picking out classes defined by a curriculum, Isabel chose hers based
on interest. While math and science
fell to the side, she gobbled up Art History, Music History, and Abnormal
Psychology. She took the last
because she wanted to hear the professor’s stories of the insane asylum.
Entertainment value – that’s how she picked her course in life.
And it felt
good to indulge herself for a change. Too
much had happen to her and her alien siblings in their short lives, too many bad
things. There hadn’t been much
joy, much chance to do something that made completely no sense – like taking a
class in archery. But now, with Liz
safely home albeit a little frazzled, Michael and Maria on the mend and on their
own path, Isabel felt free to do something she wanted to do. Which at the moment
was study the impact of conspiracy theories on modern literature.
Isabel’s
brow was furrowed in concentration as she scanned the page of her text book.
She was only in the preface, but she was eager to see what the course
held in store. When she reached a
particular event, her eyebrows shot straight up.
The infamous
“Well, now
there’s a pretty lady who shouldn’t be sitting all alone.”
The hair on
the back of Isabel’s neck immediately bristled.
Here it came – some jerk who thought that they were allowed to hit on
her because she was pretty. Some
jerk who thought that she was stupid because she was blond.
Some jerk who was only hitting on her because she was busty.
Annoyed, she
lifted her head, her face a mask of annoyance.
But when she saw the young man standing over her table, the irritation
drifted away and she was momentarily stunned – he was gorgeous.
“Oh,
sorry,” he said sheepishly, having caught her pissed-off expression.
He scratched his head, behind his right ear, and Isabel was immediately
reminded of Max. “I just suck at
making small talk.”
Isabel
quickly snapped her sarcasm chip back into place.
“But you seem perfectly capable of sexist, misogynistic comments.”
His cheeks
flushed slightly as he held up his hands in a surrender position.
“Again, sorry. I’m not
good at approaching people. I
shouldn’t have interrupted you.”
He turned to
flee and Isabel felt a wave of guilt. She
could still be a bitch when she wanted, but at least now she was able to feel
some remorse because of it.
“Wait,”
she called and was pleased to see him stop.
“I’m the one who’s sorry. Would
you like to sit down?”
Relief
flooding his young face, he grinned and Isabel felt her stomach do a little flip
– he was even more gorgeous when he smiled.
As he pulled out the chair across from her, he held out his hand.
“I’m
Carter,” he said.
She returned
his smile and shook his hand lightly. “Isabel.”
“Isabel,”
he said as he sat. “That’s a
pretty name…” His voice drifted
off and his eyes darted away quickly. “That
wasn’t a pick up line or anything. I
really think it’s pretty.”
Isabel
laughed lightly. “I’m sorry
about snapping at you, it’s just that –“
“You get
hit on by every guy who crossed your path?” he guessed.
Surprised,
she laughed and nodded. “How did
you guess?”
Carter
cocked his head. “Well, I would
say that it should be obvious, but that would just be another – what did you
say? Misogynistic comment?”
There was a hint of playfulness in his tone.
Isabel
flushed. “Yeah, let’s just
forget the last three minutes happened, okay?”
He nodded.
“Fair enough.” He looked
at her book. “What’s your
major?” Then he burst out
laughing, a full, unreserved laugh that took Isabel slightly off guard.
“Well, how’s that for a clichéd pickup line?”
She laughed
with him. “I don’t have a
major,” she answered.
“Liberal
arts, then,” he said, shrugging off his coat and letting it fall across the
back of the plastic cafeteria chair.
“I guess
you could say that. You?”
“Pre-med.”
Isabel’s
eyebrows rose slightly. As he
explained about where he was in the program, she couldn’t keep her eyes from
roaming over his well-fitting T-shirt, the healthy bulge of his biceps.
His hair was a rich blond, his eyes a deep blue – she thought maybe he
was of Scandinavian descent, but she couldn’t be sure.
It was hard to be sure of anyone’s descent, considering the uniqueness
of hers.
The whole
time he talked, in her head she had an image of them together – the most
striking couple at the university. And
she liked that image.
Liz lay
perfectly still and watched Max sleep. She
could feel nothing he was feeling, and she had to wonder if people didn’t have
emotions when they slept, or if she was simply unable to read them then.
A light
snore was coming from her fiancé and she smiled lightly.
It had been a long time since he’d been relaxed enough to sleep soundly
enough to snore. These days, Max was
happy, hopeful. His being happy made
Liz happy. She had an overwhelming
urge to touch him, but knew if she did, her peace would be over.
It was only
at times like these, when they were alone and Max was asleep, that she got any
reprieve from her new ‘gift.’ She
had begun to look forward to nighttime, to when she could breathe easily again.
Often she would make herself stay up into the wee hours of the morning,
just to enjoy the silence in her head. But
the next day she would be exhausted and less able to cope with the feelings when
they came. It was an unfair trade
off.
As Liz
listened to Max’s rhythmic snoring, it started to lull her into drowsiness.
She fought it as long as she could, but eventually she lost the battle and
slipped slowly into slumber…
Everything
was fuzzy around the edges. Liz
looked around slowly, felt like she was moving under water.
It took a few moments before she realized where she was – the Crashdown.
It didn’t really make sense, not since she’d long ago moved to
“It’s
because of me,” a painfully familiar voice said.
“This is the last place you saw me.”
Suddenly, as
if appearing from a fog, Liz spotted Alex sitting at the counter.
Joy burst within her and she ran to him, threw her arms around him and
hugged him tightly.
“Oh my
God!” Liz cried, though her tears had no substance.
Alex laughed
lightly. “He had something to do
with it, yes.”
Liz pulled
back and hopped into the stool next to his, never letting his hand go.
“Why are you here? How did
you get here?”
He shrugged.
“You want me to be here, so I am.”
She frowned.
“I don’t want you to be here,”
she corrected. “I want you to be
back in the real world.”
Alex tilted
his head to the side. “Liz, you
know I can’t be.”
Her
gaze drifted off, tried to focus on something in the distance and couldn’t.
“Liz, I
love seeing you and all, but do you know why I’m here?”
She met his
eyes, then nodded. “I think so.
I have this new power,” she said, frowning.
“That’s
great!”
She shook
her head. “Not really.
I feel what other people are feeling all of the time.
Sometimes I can’t tell which emotions are mine and which are theirs.”
“Oh,”
Alex said, some of his enthusiasm waning.
Out of
curiosity, she pushed out with her new power, trying to get a grip on his
emotions. She felt nothing.
“Why can’t I feel what you’re feeling?” she asked.
“Is it because you’re dead?”
He shook his
head. “No.
Dead people still have feelings. You’re
asleep.”
Interesting.
Liz sighed. “I think maybe
you can see why I’m not exactly thrilled with this new gift, as Max keeps
calling it.”
Alex
shrugged. “Maybe it is a gift,
Liz.”
“How can
it be? It feels more like a
curse.”
“Do you
think the power to heal could be a curse?”
She thought
about it, thought back on Max’s Christmas crisis from a few years before –
he’d let a man die, then had suffered guilt to the point where he almost got
himself caught trying to right a wrong. Then
she thought of the look on Max’s face when he’d exited the coroner’s van
after Alex’s car accident – she would never forget the devastation there,
the sense that he’d disappointed everyone, including Alex.
“You do
understand,” Alex said. “You
know that nothing special comes without a price.”
“But what
am I supposed to do with this special thing?” she asked, frustrated.
“I can only think of one use for it, and at that time I didn’t have
it.”
“Is that
where I come in?” he asked, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer.
Liz looked
down at her feet. “Yes.
I just keep thinking that if I had developed this new power sooner, I
might have been able to prevent what happened.”
Alex
squeezed her hand, urging her to look at him. “Liz,
there is a plan for everyone. I
wasn’t supposed to grow old. I
wasn’t supposed to graduate from high school and get married and do all of
those things adults do. I was meant
to die at 17.”
“Was I
meant to die at 16?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Would you
rather have?” he challenged. “Your
new gift is a result of Max Evans saving you when you were shot.
To rid yourself of that gift is to rid yourself of the last four years of
your life. Would you be able to make
that trade?”
Suddenly
feeling selfish and guilty, Liz looked away from him again.
“I know if
I had that choice,” he continued, “there’s no way I’d pass on four more
years of life. Being dead’s not so
bad, but it’s also not like being alive. But
like I said, that was the plan that was designed for me.
You have a different plan, a plan that includes that gift of yours.”
“But what
plan?” she sighed.
He shrugged
lightly. “I don’t know.
I can’t see the future. I
only know that everything happens for a reason and there’s a reason you are
the way you are.” He touched her
face tenderly. “So please stop
feeling guilty that you couldn’t save me.
Trust Max – he has the key to everything.”
Liz’s
eyebrows rose slightly. “What does
that mean?”
“I have to
go now,” Alex said as though he hadn’t heard her question.
“You
can’t go now, Alex,” she pleaded. “Tell
me what that meant. Tell me what Max
has the key to.”
“Next
time, summon me under happier circumstances, okay?”
He gave her a smile, then disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
Part Three
The Evans
children had made a pact with one another. Once
Max’s life was bonded to Liz’s, and both he and Isabel had moved out of
their parents’ house, the vowed that they would do at least one activity a
week together, just the two of them. And
they’d held true to their promise.
Of late, the
activity had been Wednesday morning trips to the gym and breakfast.
Neither of them had classes on that day, so they’d get up early, meet
at the gym for some pretty intensive workouts then go to breakfast.
The workouts consisted of strength training and something cardiovascular
– usually running five or six miles. In
the beginning, Isabel had been hard pressed to keep up with her brother, but it
brought a smile to her face when she was able to finish her run at the same time
he did; she smiled even broader the first time she noticed he was pushing
himself to run faster than her.
Now they
were at breakfast. As Isabel picked
at a meager offering of fresh fruit and coffee, she eyed the mass of food on
Max’s plate – eggs, sausage, pancakes, and a huge pile of hash browns.
She felt her mouth water as she watched him drizzle syrup over the
pancakes.
“How can
you eat like that?” she asked, annoyed that she couldn’t.
“I’d weigh two hundred pounds if I ate like that.
You do something, don’t you?” Accusation
dripped from her tone.
Max put down
the syrup container and looked at his breakfast.
“If you’re asking if I’ve found a cure for fat cells, the answer is
no,” he answered, putting to rest her thoughts that he somehow used his powers
to stay thin.
Her brow
creased with curiosity. “Then how
do you do it?”
He cut into
the stack of pancakes and shoved a forkful into his mouth.
After he swallowed, he pointed his fork at her.
“It’s just that I’m male. Males
burn more fat than females.”
Isabel
frowned. “Figures.”
But then her dour mood drifted away and she cut into her cantaloupe.
“So, how’s things?”
“You mean
since last Wednesday?”
She nodded.
Max
shrugged. “Pretty much the
same.” He frowned behind his
coffee cup. “Except I’m a little
worried about Liz.”
Isabel
released a silent sigh. “When
aren’t you worried about her, Max?”
“I think
she’s failing out of school.”
She stopped
picking at the fruit and regarded him seriously.
“You’re kidding. Liz
Parker?”
Max nodded,
pushed at the mound of potatoes. “She
can’t concentrate. Too much going
on in her head.”
Isabel
nodded in understanding. “Haven’t
been able to find a way around that yet?”
He shook his
head. “Nope.
I think it would help if I had any mental ability at all.”
He paused, realizing that his comment made it sound like he was stupid,
and laughed. “I mean, my gifts are
all physical. Do you know what I
mean?”
Isabel did
know what he meant. Her powers were
cerebral – the ability to dreamwalk. Tess’s
power had been cerebral – the ability to mindwarp.
And now Liz had followed suit and acquired a cerebral power as well.
Which meant that men might burn more fat, but women were imminently
smarter. She grinned.
“Yep, I
know what you mean. Do you think I
might help her?”
Max frowned.
It wasn’t that he didn’t what his sister’s help – God knew that
if it weren’t for her, he and Liz would still be living in the pod chamber –
but for once he wanted to be the one to help Liz.
“Not right away,” he answered. “Let
me try a few other things.”
“Okay.
Whenever you want me, I’m here.”
They ate
quietly for awhile, then Max sighed and put down his fork.
“Okay, there is something else.”
Isabel
stopped chewing, her eyebrows arched upward.
“Something
odd happened last night,” he confessed.
“What do
you mean?”
“Liz woke
me up in the middle of the night. She
said she wanted the key.”
Isabel gave
a quick shake of her head. “What
key?”
Max
shrugged, bewildered. “I don’t
know. All she said was that someone
told her I had the key to everything. She
kept demanding I give it to her. Finally,
I convinced her I didn’t have anything and she went back to sleep.
This morning, she didn’t remember any of it.”
“Wow.”
Isabel thought for a moment. “Dream?”
“Maybe.”
“Talking
in her sleep?”
“Not
likely.”
“Huh.”
She picked at her fruit salad. “Do
you want me to go in and see what’s going on?”
Max shook
his head vigorously. “No.
Please don’t do that. Liz
is different now - she might be able to detect that you’re there.”
“Good
point.”
“I just
wanted to tell someone else because it was bothering me,” he said, picking up
his fork and continuing his breakfast.
Isabel
watched him for a moment and saw that he was a little shaken by the event, then
reached over and patted his arm. “It’s
okay, Max. It was probably just a
weird dream or something. Sometimes
dreams can seem very real.”
“Yeah,
that was probably it.” His gaze
drifted over her shoulder to the pastry counter, where a young man tending the
counter met his gaze and looked away quickly.
Max smiled. “Your admirer
is here today.”
Isabel
turned in her seat and spotted the boy trying to duck behind some loafs of
bread. Internally, she winced.
The guy was nice, but a definite geek.
He was so awkward and uncomfortable that he made her feel the same way.
She swiveled around to look at her brother, who was grinning
sadistically.
“I can get
his name and number if you want,” he offered.
“Oh, God,
please don’t, Max.” She rolled
her eyes and stabbed aggressively at a strawberry.
Max
shrugged. “Seems like a nice
guy.”
“Yes, he
does. But I’m not interested.”
Her insides started to churn a little.
Was now the right time to tell him about her new friend?
The timing seemed right. “Uh,
I’m not interested…because I met someone.”
Startled,
Max put his cup down hard on its saucer, some of its contents sloshing over the
side. “What?”
“Please
don’t yell, Max,” Isabel requested, her eyes darting away from him.
He blinked.
“I’m sorry. I’m not
going to yell. You just surprised
me. Who is he?”
“A med
student at the college,” she answered, trying to hide her nervousness.
“His name is Carter.”
Max watched
her body language, saw that it was hard for her to talk about this with him.
Did she think that he had the ability to make her stop seeing someone?
“I know
the risks,” she said, biting one corner of her mouth.
“You don’t need to remind me.”
“I’m not
going to,” he assured her, trying to keep his tone even, to let her know she
wasn’t being reprimanded. “How
did you meet him?”
She smiled.
“He came up to me in the cafeteria.
He just started talking and we hit it off.
I , uh…I have a date with him tonight.”
Silence
weighed heavily while Isabel waited for Max to relax and Max tried to determine
the appropriate way to react.
“Good,”
he finally said, drawing a surprised look from his sister.
“Isabel, none of us is alone. I
don’t believe you should be condemned to be by yourself.
If you have a date, I think that’s wonderful.”
She let out
a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding.
“Really?”
“Really.
I know you can take care of yourself.
I trust you to make the right decisions.”
At that, she
practically beamed.
“So,” he
said, cutting one of the sausage links in half. “Where
are you going?”
Grinning,
she reached over and stabbed half of the sausage with her fork.
Max looked at her in surprise – so much for watching her fat intake.
“Well,”
she answered, “just a movie.”
“Movies
are good,” he said. “Nice, safe
first date.” He stopped short, his
eyes a little wide. “This is the
first date, isn’t it?”
She laughed
and nodded. “Yeah.
But I hope there are more. I
think I really like him.”
Max noticed
the counter clerk eyeing his sister again. “And
I think there’s someone over there who really likes you.”
“Ugh,
Max,” she sighed. “Do you have
to spoil the moment?”
He gave a
little laugh. “The poor guy’s
got it bad for you, Iz.”
“Well, he
gives me the creeps.”
“Then I
guess you’re making me pay the bill again?”
She nodded.
“Please? I can’t deal
with him today.”
Max relented
and reached for his wallet. Isabel
handed him some money to pay for her portion and he went to the counter with the
check. The boy took the check from
him, his eyes glancing sadly at the back of Isabel’s golden head.
“That’s
Isabel,” Max whispered.
The boy’s
head shot up, like he’d been stabbed in the ribs.
Max could see it in his face – he thought that Isabel and Max were a
couple and he’d been caught ogling her.
“She’s
my sister,” he clarified quietly, and watched the boy relax a bit.
The boy shifted his weight and punched the order into the register. There was something oddly familiar about him, but Max couldn’t figure out what. <