Ch-Ch-
Changes……
At The Cow Patty, Liz and Kyle were sitting at a table
watching Maria singing with Jim’s band, the Kit Shickers. Kyle watched in
horror as Jim and Maria did a love song duet. Flashbacks from his dad’s
strange detour into mid-age crisis hit him hard, increased by the horror of
seeing it again with Maria.
“Am I the only one who sees the creepiness in this?”
Kyle asked.
“Get a grip, they sound amazing.” Liz said absently,
looking around for the rest of the gang. “Ugh, where's everybody else?”
Kyle wasn’t listening to Liz, too busy obsessing over the
sight of his father cavorting around with a young girl, especially Maria.
“There are so many other duets out there. Clean duets. Aaron Neville and Linda
Ronstadt can keep their hands off each other, so can Elton John and Kiki Dee.”
“Elton John likes boys,” Liz pointed out.
“Yeah. Well, did the Captain ever grind on Tennille?”
“What? Who?”
Kyle glanced at the stage again, his face losing color.
“Oh, in the name of all that is holy, stay off each other! I gotta wash my
eyes...” Kyle went to find a bathroom and a fifth of vodka.
“Hey.” Max joined Liz kissing the side of her head.
“Mmmm. Hi. You missed half the set.”
“Yeah, I got held up at the library.”
Liz frowned, then smiled. “Oh. Well, um, are Isabel and
Jesse coming?”
“Uh, they're in
“What about Michael?”
Max shook his head. “I dunno.”
“This is a big thing for Maria. She's been practicing for
like over a week. None of her friends showed up.” Max turned to watch Maria on
the stage and he smiled at her enthusiasm and showmanship.
“I don't think she's gonna notice.” Max glanced at Liz
and she wasn’t smiling. “Come on, I'm sorry.”
“I'm not the one you should be apologizing to.” Liz
said crossly, her face pinching in pain for a moment.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing.” Liz waved it off as unimportant. “I think
I'm coming down with something.”
“Well, there is a bad flu going around.”
“Ah, perfect.”
“Yeah, it's terrible. Fever, sore throat, nausea,” Max
stood up holding out his hand. “And an uncontrollable urge to dance.” He
pulled her from her seat.
“No. no, please, Max.” Liz protested as her other hand
touched her plate, and the plate turned red as food came from the food, unseen
by Max and Liz. “Please I don't …” Laughing Liz allowed Max to drag her on
the dancing floor anyway.
A waiter came over to the table and tried to pick up Liz's
plate. The plate was hot enough to burn him. He went off to get something for
his burn leaving the half melted plate on the table.
~~~
After the gig at The Cow Patty, the group went to the
Crashdown for a late night snack and talk. Liz came from the back carrying a
plate that she sat in front of Maria.
“Pluto Potato Skins on the house.” Liz sat down beside
Maria tiredly.
“Thank you.” Maria glanced at her friend. “What’s
up? You look tired.”
“I think I’m coming down with something.” Liz moved
her tired body feeling all over. “Congratulations, Maria, but I'm gonna call
it a day, okay?”
Maria squeezed Liz’s hand. “Okay, bye.” Maria frowned
at as Liz went.
“Bye.” Liz walked off almost too tired to make it
upstairs.
Jim came over and took Liz’s empty seat. “Maria, before
I forget,” he handed her money, “here's your cut from The Cow Patty. It's
not much.”
Maria made a face at the idea of singing for money, and not
love. “Come on, it's all for the love of the loaf.”
“Hey, the guys and I have been talkin’ and we put it to
a unanimous vote. How would you like to sit in with the Kit Shickers on a more
permanent basis?”
“No Shick?”
“Mm.” Jim smiled at her humor, seeing her mother in her
in that instant. “I mean you wouldn't just be singing back up either. You'll
sing a few solo numbers, we'd sing together of course. Um, I've been working on
a set list. "Baby It's Cold Outside.””
“Nice.” Maria smiled politely. She could do a few
covers, and hopefully start sliding her own stuff in.
“Umm, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."” Jim
suggested.
“Classic.”
“
Maria made a face. “Not unless you kill me or hold me by
gunpoint.”
“Forget that one, what do you say?”
Maria glanced at the older man. She always thought she
would be in a band with Alex, but Jim was just as important to her. They had
history. “Sure.”
“Great.” Jim smiled nodding his head. He could already
see an increase in their popularity with Maria on the stage. A woman that had
been watching and taking notes at the gig, entered the Crashdown and looked
around. She saw Maria and Jim. “Practice is tomorrow. Can you make it?”
Maria nodded. “Yeah, my social calendar is surprisingly
very empty lately.” Maria admitted still missing Michael, and not really
wanting to obsess about his absence too much.
The woman walked up to Maria. “I am loving you. Dominique
Lazar Producer Records,” she said handing Maria her card. “I was at your
show.”
“Oh, thank you. Jim Valenti, lead singer. Nice to meet
you.” Jim smiled big and charmingly.
Dominique ignored Jim. “You were really, really good.
P.S. - I never say that.”
“Well thanks, it was a new set.” Jim told the woman not
letting her attitude freeze him out. “Maria's a nice addition, don't you
think?”
Dominique finally glanced at Jim. “Oh, were you there
too?”
“Lead singer.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah, sure. Good job.” Dominique turned back
to Maria. “Maria, Maria, what?”
“DeLuca.”
Dominique wrote Maria’s name down in her notebook.
“Maria DeLuca, I can work with that.”
“Okay, Earth to the lady with really great boots, by the
way.” Maria said really admiring the nice tooled soft leather with a wicked
side strap.
“Thank you.” Dominique loved this girl.
“Um, I don't know who you think I am, but I can-- I can
guarantee you got the wrong gal.”
“I am an ANR Executive.” Dominique went on to introduce
herself. “I have been scouting the Southwest for talent. Sweetheart anyone
with a voice like that who can work an outfit like this is definitely not the
wrong girl, you got a minute?”
Maria wasn’t sure how to act, she tried for nonchalant,
but her heart was beating almost out of her chest. “Yeah, sure.”
“Great.” Maria and Dominique start to leave to find a
private booth, so they could talk.
“Oh, here.” Dominique handed Jim one of her cards.
~~~
Liz walked into the back of the Café after leaving Maria,
she saw her dad working. Moaning, she tried to hurry to the stairs before he
could talk to her.
“How was the show?” Jeff asked not looking up from his
work.
Liz stopped in her tracks. “It was good.” Liz breathed
hard. She was so tired. “Goodnight.”
“Little early for bed, don't you have homework?”
Liz turned at the stairs to face him. “Yeah, I did it all
ready.” Upstairs, she just had to get upstairs.
“Mrs. Fletcher called from the Guidance office.” Jeff
informed Liz, sitting back from his work. “Two C's in Spanish and AP
History.”
“Umm, it's because I had two pop quizzes the same day
that an English paper was due. Everybody bombed.”
“Right. Is that the same excuse you're gonna use at your
Harvard interview?”
“I really have a headache.” Liz confessed, those stairs
seemed so long. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
“You know, I backed off that whole boarding school thing,
because you promised you were gonna get your life together, and going to Harvard
has been your dream since you were what? Six.”
“Five, and that's because you put a poster of
“Yeah. Sweetie, you've got more brains and talent in your
little finger then all the kids at
“Dad, please.” Liz begged really needing to just lie
down.
“I am serious. How many of them are even thinking about
going to college?” Jeff frowned at her pale face going over to a supply
cabinet. He shook out two aspirin and passed them to Liz. “They're just
hanging around watching TV dreaming about becoming rock stars.”
Maria burst in from the café her hands raised up in the
air. “Wahoo!! A label wants to
sign me, I'm going to be a rock star.”
~~~
Michael was watching the monitor, not talking. He was in a
bad mood. It was the state of his normal attitude lately. Sighing, he rubbed his
eyes.
“That is the third sigh in the last ten minutes,” said
Steve from his seat.
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Hmm,” Steve glanced at the other guys shrugging. “Is
this about the change in schedules going to two man shifts, or you upset about
something else?”
Michael shrugged. “Naw, I happy to drop shifts, and
everything. I bought what I wanted to buy, but now, I’m thinking it was a bad
purchase.”
“Maria.” Steve guessed.
“Look, not that I don’t appreciate everyone’s advice,
with the exception of a few really disgusting ones, but …”
“Butt out?” George asked.
“Yeah.”
Monk pushed his chair back. “What’s the count, Mike?”
“Twenty-two days, seven hours, and fifteen minutes with
some change.”
“So you two aren’t talking?” Fly asked hopefully, not
wanting to bump Mike or anything, but he wouldn’t mind Maria becoming a free
agent.
“We talk. We go the movies. She says goodnight, and goes
home … alone.” Michael sighed again. “I’m trying to keep her at arms
length until her birthday, but I didn’t expect her to take it as a sign that I
wasn’t interested in her in other ways, and now she spends all her time not
crossing over these stupid invisible lines between friendship, and something
more.” Michael looked at the others. “I was spending more time, and closer
to her two years ago, than I am right now.”
“Did you try just confessing?” Steve suggested. “Just
come clean, try to make her understand what the delay is, but you know … let
her know exactly where you’re heading?”
“I can’t. I tell her, and I don’t think it will stop
at a talk.” Michael confessed.
“So, just increase your efforts to be in her face all the
time, in her life, just so she can’t forget you’re there. I mean, what is
she doing tonight?” Steve asked.
“She was singing with a band at the Cow Patty.” Michael
admitted.
The other guys all went still, they looked at one another.
Steve cleared his throat. “You missed her concert?” Michael nodded as the
others groaned. Steve rubbed his face. “Oh, that was a mistake.”
Michael shook his head. Sure it was. Lately everything he
did was. “Look, I could’ve gone, but then I would have to sit there watching
her sing on stage with a guy old enough to be her father, them all over each
other, or her in a tight outfit with all these rednecks drooling all over
her.” Michael’s hands clenched. “I can take a lot, but not that!”
“Aw!” The groups said together. “Jealousy!”
“I’m not jealous!” Michael said as the monitors in
the room blew. Everyone stood still, confused by the event. Michael covered his
face when Steve’s voice came out of the dark.
“Okay, what the hell just happened?”
~~~
Maria was pacing around Michael's apartment waiting for
him. Frowning as the hours ticked away past his shifts end at Meta-Chem. She
paced in anxiety wondering if she should’ve waited for him at the Café, he
might have gone there for breakfast. Sighing, she sat on the sofa, read a
magazine, put it down, picked it back up, and unable to calm down, she went back
to pacing.
Michael came through the door noticing her immediately. He
glanced around noticing that Max had already gone for the day. “Look, I miss
that thing with you and Valenti last night, cuz I have to pick up an extra
shift.” He shut his door putting the groceries down.
“Michael.”
“And sitting in bars listening to music doesn't put
Snapple on the table.” Michael explained quickly not wanting her to think he
didn’t care, didn’t want to be there. Even though he hadn’t wanted to be.
“I was worry, you were late.” Maria looked at the
groceries and his tired face. “Are you okay?”
“We had a little problem last night at work. It required
a special repair crew to come in and while all the security grid was down, the
night crew had to do walking rounds.”
“Damn. No wonder you look tired. I’m sorry, I just
needed to tell you something, but maybe …”
“Maria, please?” Michael sighed tiredly. He wasn’t
sleeping. He wasn’t doing much of anything.
“Yeah, okay, well I need to talk to you.”
“You got five minutes. That is what it takes to warm of
this frozen dinner in the microwave, consume it, and hit my bed face down in
that order. I can give you five minutes of consciousness, then I can’t be held
responsible.
“Your existence frightens me.” Maria put a hand on his
arm, hating to see him so tired and obviously not sleeping.
“Four minutes, DeLuca, then it’s goodnight.” Michael
pressed the start button on the microwave as his version of nutritious breakfast
began to be irradiated.
“A woman from a record label saw me perform last night
and offered me a demo deal.” Maria told him in one fast sentence and breath.
“A what?”
“A demo deal. It's like a test run for an artist to see
if they have any potential. They're gonna record three or four songs with me and
they are going to pay for everything.” Maria literally jumped, hopping around
in excitement. “Can you believe it?”
“No.” Michael said more to himself, his stomach
lurching.
“Oh god, stuff like this happens to people like Alicia
Keys or I don't know, Fiona Apple or somebody. Not me though, not in
Michael breakfast beeped. “I got potatoes in there.”
Michael said stupidly, holding her to him, closing his eyes, savoring the feel
of her next to him.
“Want to hear something really stupid, Michael? When
Dominique, the um, label chick, told me about the news, the first thing I
thought of was I can’t wait to tell Michael.”
“That's stupid?” Michael’s stomach dropped more, as
he felt himself being propelled from her life even more. “Thanks.”
“I'm sorry, wrong choice of words. You know what I mean!
I couldn’t imagine not telling you. Seriously, you're the first person I
wanted to share this with. I've been waiting here for two hours.”
Michael hugged her, knowing this was her dream, what she
had tried to rediscover since Alex died. “I am really happy for you, Maria.”
Maria laughed and hugged him again. “MTV here I come.”
She kissed Michael for the first time in a long time forgetting he told her he
couldn’t handle kisses. She kissed him again. Maria suddenly stood back
remembering herself. “I’m sorry. I got carried away.” She couldn’t help
it. Her hand moved out and swept across his face, lovingly stroking his
cheekbone. “You look tired. How about I feed you and put you to bed.”
Michael nodded forgetting his damn TV dinner breakfast.
“Okay. You want to do something for me?”
Maria nodded. He was always there for her. “Name it.”
“Stay with me until I fall asleep. I haven’t been
sleeping.”
Maria searched his face. He wasn’t kidding. She could see
the tired lines marking his face, and the drooping of his shoulders.
“C’mon.” Maria led him into his bedroom, pushing him down on the bed. She
quickly removed his shoes and shirt pushing him flat, rolling him to his side so
she could lie down next to him. Holding him from behind, she spooned in real
close whispering in his ear, “this is it, Michael. The start of our dreams,
everything we wanted and worked for is coming true.”
Michael didn’t hear. All he could feel was her touch, her
arms holding him.
~~~
Max and Liz were at their AP Biology class. Liz was finding
it hard to keep awake. Max kept waking her up before she got into trouble. Liz
complained of having a foggy head with an inability to concentrate. Max listened
sympathetically as Liz explained that her father was a little radical currently
due to an interview she had in two days with a Harvard recruiter. Needing to get
her lab over, Liz went to get supplies. She picked up an Erlenmeyer flask
glancing into the mirror. Staring in horror at her own face, she gasped when it
was completely gone. She stared in disbelief then suddenly her face came back.
Turning to see if Max noticed, he was at their lab station completely oblivious
to what she was doing.
~~~
Liz was at the doctor's office sitting on the examination
table when the doctor came in. He was reading her file, quickly smiling at her.
“Liz, your white blood cell count is normal which
eliminates any bacterial infection. Uh, you may have a virus.” He glanced at
her lab panel again finding nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to explain her
chief complaint of tiredness. “Are you experiencing any dizziness?”
Liz shook her head. “No.”
“Coughing?”
“No.” Liz denied.
“What about uh …” Liz frowned as suddenly her hearing
went, and she couldn’t hear what the doctor was saying. She watched his mouth
moving, but she couldn’t hear anything.
“Are you sexually active, Liz?” the doctor asked as a
routine question for all teenage patients.
“No. No, Dr. Fink, no, um …”
“I can’t help you protect yourself unless you are
completely honest with me.” He told her, knowing her past history with a
troublesome youth.
“Protect me from what?” Liz was confused. What? He
thought she had a sexual disease?
“When you're young, Liz, sometimes you overlook the
consequences of knowing someone intimately, and there's a possibility that you
may catch something, even from someone you love.”
~~~
Liz walked out of the doctor’s office no closer to
understanding what was wrong with her than before. Maria glanced up when she
came out the door, standing to meet Liz holding both of their jackets and book
bags.
“Liz?” Maria said with worry on her face, as she
searched her friend’s face. “Anything?” Maria’s mouth opened. “Oh god!
What’s wrong?”
“Maria! Okay, nothing. So don’t freak. My blood work
was all normal, and I just got the weirdest lecture about safe sex in my
life.”
“Oh.” Maria breathed easier. “Not the standard,
‘Sometimes you overlook the consequences of knowing someone intimately, and
there's a possibility that you may catch something even from someone you love’
lecture or was it the one about how birth control isn’t hundred percent, and
can’t block STDs?”
“The first.” Liz and Maria went to take the elevator
downstairs. “Thanks for coming with me. My dad would’ve freaked.”
“No problem. I was just sleeping with Michael.”
“Sleeping
sleeping, or just sleeping?”
“Just sleeping.” Maria cleared her throat. “I told
you, he made it perfectly clear that he just wants to be friends, and not that
kind of friends. You know … friends.”
“Maria, I think you got this wrong.”
“Look, let’s not talk about my dysfunctional life, and
my sort of, not sort of relationship with Michael. Let’s talk about you for a
moment. What’s worrying you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the whole idea that I could catch
something. I mean what if you don’t need sex with an alien to get infected,
and it doesn’t show up in lab tests?”
Maria’s mouth opened as she stopped in her tracks. “You
mean like alien herpes?”
~~~
After Maria dropped her off, Liz couldn’t concentrate
enough to study. Too many thoughts went through her head, and she could shake
the idea that something was wrong with her. She sought out the only other person
who might or might not understand.
Kyle was working at Toby’s Garage. He paused in his
overview of somebody’s engine to talk to Liz. “Strange symptoms? Shoot.”
“Umm, fatigue, and total inability to concentrate.”
Kyle shrugged. “Me, every day.”
“I've been having some hallucinations.”
“Yeah? Like what?” Kyle asked, suddenly interested.
“Well, I looked in the mirror at school and my face
totally disappeared.” Kyle laughed thinking that Liz wasn’t that plain. Her
face was hardly a blank. “I mean--No, for real. This is serious Kyle something
strange is happening to me.”
Kyle wiped his hands on a grease rag. “Okay, why are you
telling me this?”
“What makes me different from everybody else is the fact
that I was brought back from the dead by an alien.”
“Yeah. So was I, and now that you've touched on one of my
deepest, darkest fears, let’s just assume that what you're going through is
stress.” Kyle picked up a book and pointed to the title. “Buddha, Take Me Away. This book has gotten me through some very
tough times. Here, Young Grasshopper, take.” He handed Liz his most valuable
resource of inner peace as he went to check on a bell from a potential customer.
Liz looked at the book and tossed it on the bench on top of
a radio. The radio turned on and a song came on for a second. She took the book
off the radio and it turned on again, this time longer. Liz stood up and placed
her hand near it.
“Did you just …?” Liz placed her hand near it again
as sparks flew causing Kyle to jump back. “You did. Whoa.”
“Kyle, I think I'm changing.” Liz confessed her worse
suspicion.
Kyle stared at the radio, then at Liz, and finally at his
own hands. “Have you talked to Max about this at all?”
“No, I don't want to tell Max not yet.”
“But he's the one who healed us, he needs to know.”
Kyle felt worried, not only for Liz, but for himself.
“I'm scared to tell him.”
“Why?” That made no sense. They were together. “You
go to him for everything.”
“No, he risks so much when he healed me. It's what made
me fall in love with him.” Liz admitted.
“Yeah, me too.” Kyle admitted.
“Kyle!” Liz said in shock smiling at the joking look on
Kyle’s face.
“Look, what's going on here is really scary. If I don't
lighten the mood, I might lose it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“If it's too difficult for you, I'll go talk to him.”
“No!” Liz quickly said, afraid that she made a mistake
confining in Kyle. She didn’t even want to tell Maria. “Um, sorry. No, um,
could you just please respect my feelings.”
Kyle reluctantly nodded. “Let the record show, I think
this is a bad idea.”
“Noted. I have to go.” Liz stopped for a moment.
“That includes Maria, Kyle.”
“Liz …”
“No. She has enough issues with Max. If she finds out
about this, she will freak, think I’m dying, and I can’t tell you how much
damage that will do with her teetering friendship with Max. They are just now
slowly coming out of this animosity since Enigma, and I like the peace.” Liz
started to leave.
“Liz.” Kyle called to her, hating to see the girl that
was once his girlfriend out there alone, with both Max and Maria out of the
loop. “You're not alone in this. If you need anything, call me.”
“Thank you.”
~~~
Steve sucked down another coffee, this one with twice the
sugar as he stared over the cup at his friend. “Mike, I’m not getting
what’s making you freak here.”
“She’s getting a recording contract.”
“I know. I thought that was her dream, the goal that she
had set. This is a good thing, right?”
Michael breathed deeply. “It should be, but then why do I
feel this way?”
“What way?”
Michael stared at the wall as Cheryl listened to the two
men talking quietly. “Like she’s leaving me, moving on, and I’m not that
important.”
“I doubt that, Michael.” Cheryl offered kindly.
“I’ve met Maria. You are her world.”
“I was. Things have been strained lately.”
“The whole ‘she needs to be eighteen’ thing?”
Cheryl guessed.
“Yeah. I can’t be too close to her without it going
somewhere else real fast, but I still have twenty-one days … three frickin’
weeks!”
“You’re half there, buddy.” Steve consoled Michael.
“It’s killing me.” Michael admitted. “I never
realized how much I depend on her presence, her touch. She’s afraid to touch
me right now. She thinks I just want to be friends and nothing more, so all the
ground we crossed the last few years is now just gone.”
“You were working on her birthday present,” said
Cheryl. “How’s that going?”
“Great. I made all the arrangements. We’re going to
“That sounds really nice, Michael.” Cheryl said,
surprised at how much forethought went into the planning.
“Yeah, I just need to keep from losing it for another
three weeks then all my work will be rewarded.”
Cheryl went still. She frowned. “Rewarded? Your work?”
Cheryl cleared her throat. “Exactly how are you planning to be rewarded?”
Michael made a face. “Is this a trick question?” Steve
shrugged. Like he knew? “You know … we’ll be free, me and Maria to finally
do it. Be together. Get …” Michael frowned at the look on Cheryl’s face.
“What?”
“Get it on?” Cheryl asked with a loud voice, obviously
offended by something. “Let me get this straight. Your birthday present to
Maria is to treat her to this really nice romantic weekend just so you can get
laid?”
“What?” Michael shook his head. “Did I miss
something?”
“Did it occur to you that you and she … you aren’t
even dating really? That you just threw her a curveball, and she now thinks you
only want to be friends? So what? After six weeks of a cooled down friendship,
you take her to this huge weekend and expect her to be so appreciative that she
… she just gives it up to you?”
Michael thought for a moment, and then nodded while
scratching his eyebrow. “Yeah.”
Steve smiled and gave him two thumbs up.
“No.” Cheryl said shaking her head. “Uh-huh. Where
did you get this stupid plan?” Michael immediately glanced at Steve, who shook
his head frantically before Michael snitched him out. Too late. Cheryl caught
the exchange. “Oh! You?” She
stared at her husband in disbelief. “God!” She turned to Michael. “First
… you are no longer allowed to play with Steve. He’s a dating moron. Second,
good move on the romantic weekend, but it would only work if you were already
intimate with the girl, or on the verge of being intimate. Trying to work in the
first date? Uh-uh.”
“Uh-uh?”
“No.” Cheryl shook her head. Seeing Michael’s
despondent face. “Okay, the pathetic, someone stepped on my puppy look is very
effective. There is only one way to salvage this.”
Michael sat up straighter. Finally, professional help.
“Steve, do the dishes. Cheryl’s busy.” Michael told his friend. “You
said salvage right?”
“Right. You’re going to have to talk to Maria. Make her
understand that you don’t want to be just friends. That what she thought was
happening was happening, and that you
are still heading that way. You’re going to have to confess what you’re
doing, tell her that you need to slow it down until she’s of age, and then
you’ll be more comfortable to pursue this relationship.” Cheryl took a
breath. “Michael, you’re going to have to remind her why she loves you as a
friend, ever considered being more, and then just be honest as to why you’re
keeping away.”
“Oh. Honest?”
“Honest.” Cheryl wasn’t sure that anything was
connecting in his brain. “You want to write this down?” Michael gave Cheryl
a look and she sighed. “Okay, I’ll write it down.”
“Word for word … exactly what I should say.” Michael
begged.
~~~
Michael showed up to listen as Maria was singing and
playing the guitar at the recording studio. He stayed against the back wall
watching, his eyes never leaving Maria. He smiled when she finished, and she saw
him. She waved him to meet her at the door when she left the studio. He got
there at the same time as Dominique, who immediately nabbed Maria, ignoring
Michael.
“So Maria, do you drink?”
“Only at parties at times, and I am officially a
lightweight at one to two beers. Otherwise, at home or elsewhere? No.”
“Drugs?”
Maria made a face. “No way!”
Dominique smiled at Maria’s reaction. She tried to
explain the questions. “I mean, me, personally I couldn't care less, but the
boys upstairs, they make me ask these questions.”
“Why?”
Dominique shrugged. “You know, just millions of teenaged
girls and their allowances. Oh, how old are you again?”
“Eighteen.”
“Oh great, that's what you're going to be telling people
for the next three years.”
Michael finally spoke up making himself known. “Hey,”
he said to Maria kissing her on the cheek. “I just wanted to stop by and see
how things are going.” Michael glanced at Dominique. “Actually she’s
officially still seventeen.”
“Michael.” Maria smiled at Dominique. “Officially,
he’s correct, but my birthday is in three weeks, then I’ll be eighteen.”
“You are..?” Dominique looked the tall boy over.
“Hi, Michael.” They shook hands.
“Hi. Dominique Lazar.”
“Michael, he's uh, just …” Maria searched for a good
description.
“I'm the boyfriend.” Michael said without blinking.
“Is her being seventeen a problem?”
“It shouldn’t be. She’ll just need a parent’s
signature on the forms, and everything is good to go.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Maria. Great, now
she and Michael would need to make a special trip to
“Oh Maria, sweetie, you need to tell me when you can
travel.” Dominique said taking out her palm pilot to make notes, and order
reservations.
“Okay. Where are we going?”
“
Michael frowned. “City?”
“Yeah. Well, if my people love what we did here then
we'll record the demo over there.”
“How long will she be gone?”
“Best case scenario, forever.” Dominique laughed,
“she can bus back to this town when the mayor is gonna cut a ribbon for
something.” Dominique continued to laugh delighted with her find. Maria
laughed too in a high pitch giggle full of disbelief. This was happening so
fast.
“
“Is that a problem?” Dominique looked between the two
teens.
“Oh, no, no, no, not at all.” Maria reassured the woman
confused by the look on Michael’s face, one she couldn’t place.
Dominique smiled. “Groovy.”
~~~
Max and Michael were in the desert digging up the alien
artifacts they had buried previously. Michael was listening to Max, barely, his
mind elsewhere.
“She thinks she’s different, that my healing changed
her.”
“I thought that was understood. Didn’t that punked out
version of Tess tell her that? That bringing back people was bad?”
“She’s been sick, and then while we were on the
bleachers, she started a book on fire.” Max stopped digging for a moment.
“She fainted for a moment, and I think she’s gonna get sicker.”
“This is stupid, Max. She’s not an alien. I don’t
know what she is. How do you know the healing stones will help her?”
“I don’t, but I have to try.”
“You guys are always giving me crap about being impulsive
and stupid. Well you know what's stupid? Sneaking around in the desert while
your father is watching our every move.”
“Shut up, Michael.”
“Whose idea was it to bury the alien stuff anyway? What
are we? Eight? It's called a safety deposit box.” Michael demanded upset that
once again here he was. “This is the second time! Second! First time I had to
break my date with Maria when old Billy Bob the Singing Unwashed was here. While
I was here the bastard kissed my girl! Now I was supposed to be taking her to
“I need the book translation. It might have something on
Liz's change.”
Michael stopped digging for a moment. “You read it like
ten times.”
“Well maybe I missed something.”
“Like you’re not God! And disrupting the natural
balance of life for your own personal gain is wrong?” Michael shook his head,
not really angry about that, but angry that Max did what he pleased at any given
moment regardless of the harm and damage to those around him. “What if there's
nothing in there?”
“Well then I'll find somebody who knows something.” Max
paused not wanting to say it. “Even if I have to contact the FBI.”
Michael felt a cold trickle of fear down his back. The tone
and look on Max’s face was the same one he had that time when Max said he
would save Liz again. “Hey Max, I know this is a big deal, but you gotta keep
calm. All right? Don't kick up any dust. If we get exposed we can’t help
her.”
“It's a risk I'm willing to take.”
Sonnabitch! Michael couldn’t take it again. Once again, a
risk Max was willing to take involved willfully risking everyone else’s lives,
all for Liz. “My life, Isabel’s, Kyle’s Valenti’s, and especially
Maria’s are not your personal fucking playground to toss about at a whim! You
cry and whine over everything, small kids, wounded birds, and Liz Parker, but do
you even stop to think of us? We’re people, living beings, and you barter us
away as insignificant in comparison to her! Do I have to smack some sense into
you right now?? I got a shovel here, I'll do it!”
Max used his powers to send Michael's shovel flying a few
feet. “There’s something wrong with her Michael, and I don't know how to fix
it.”
“And killing the rest of us to find it will be so much
better?” Michael asked. “Well figure it out. But this is the last time,
Maxwell. This is the last time you risk my life for your great love. You accused
me of being dangerous all these years, impulsive and out of control. You wrote
the damn book on it!” He held up a finger. “Last time. You risk me again,
and those I love, I’m gone.”
“And what if we can’t? What if it gets worse?” Max
yelled at Michael. “I've screwed up hundreds of times to find out who we are!
Do you know how many times Liz has? Never. And this is what she gets in return.
Look, I'm doing whatever it takes to help her. If you got a problem with that
you can leave right now.”
Michael stared at Max for a moment before walking away. He
picked up his shovel and went back to where Max was digging and helping him dig.
“How many times has Maria screwed up, Max? How about
Alex? How about Valenti or Kyle? Why is her life so much more important then
theirs? She was dead! A mishap, an unseen accident in the Crashdown was her
fate, and her life was supposed to end there. You … you reached out your hand
and saved her for yourself … no one else but yourself, and started this entire
thing for someone that should be dead! You risk not only me and Isabel … you
risk us all.” Michael kept digging.
“Thanks for helping.” Max said quietly, forgetting how
angry Michael had been all these years over his actions.
“I’m not doing this for you or Liz! I’m doing this
for Maria.” Michael stopped for a moment. “Your impulsive behavior, your
inability to care about anything but yourself and your great love is ultimately
going to be the death warrant for us all, and it has cost Maria a mother, her
home, and Alex. I’ll be damned if I let it cost her Liz too.”
“Michael, you can’t tell Maria.” Max begged not
wanting to lose the friendship he had with Maria, the one that was slowly
mending.
“The hell I can’t!”
“You can’t. Let me try to heal Liz first.” Max begged
Michael. “Please. I can’t stand to hear her cry over Liz like she did over
Alex. Please. Let me try to fix this.”
“Fine. You fix it, but if you can’t, if you expose us,
or you make Maria cry … I’ll kill you.”
~~~
Michael stood outside the DeLuca house. Maria was back. The
Jetta was parked in the driveway. Pausing for a moment, he calmed himself, tried
to get his head straight on lying to her. Technically, it wasn’t a lie not
telling her, but a lie of omission was almost the same thing.
Instead of using his key or just entering, he knocked.
“Michael?” Maria was confused to see him standing
there. He never knocked.
Michael saw the tears on her face, and he groaned under his
breath. She knew. She knew about Liz. “Hi. What’s wrong?” He waited for
her to tell him.
“I …” Maria shook her head. “My mom, she won’t
sign.”
“What?” Michael moved Maria aside to enter the house.
“She said no?” Michael hadn’t expected that.
Maria sniffed. “She wants me to finish High School. She
said I need to stop trying to grow up so fast. That I only have a few months of
school left, and then my life will change.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Maria shrugged. “I didn’t want to bother you.”
Michael cleared his throat shaking his head. “Okay, you
know, that pisses me off! Since when have I ever given you the idea that
you’re bothering me?” He watched her face, and she was avoiding his glance.
“Fine. That’s it. I’m staying here until we talk, and I mean really
talk.”
“Michael …”
“Nope. I’ll sit here and watch chick-flicks, listen to
angry girl music, and if I have to, I’ll sit here like a lump, until we
talk.” Michael cleared his throat. “I didn’t bring a change of clothes so
this could get bad fast.”
“I hate it when you threaten me with body odor.”
Michael grabbed Maria, holding her still to look at him.
“Look, I know I pushed our relationship back, and I didn’t mean to do that.
I just wanted to slow it down. I know that you thought we were heading somewhere
else … someplace more. You weren’t wrong, Maria. We were heading that way.
We still are. I just need it to slow down a little.”
“Over two and a half years is snail’s pace, Michael.”
Maria pointed out.
“No, it’s not. Not if we needed it to be that slow. I
…” Michael breathed in deeply. “I need to take this one step at a time. I
don’t want to take it in big leaps, or cheat. For us, there was no looking
into each other’s eyes and feeling like this was a huge ‘soulmate’ love.
We didn’t go from strangers to lovers in less than a blink. We’re more than
that. Better.”
“What are we?” Maria moved her hands up his arms.
“Tell me.” She begged.
“Forever.”
Maria’s eyes got big at the conviction in his voice …
the lack of hesitation or guise. She could barely breathe, let alone talk.
“How long?”
“Give me three weeks.”
“My birthday?” Maria frowned. “You’re waiting for
my birthday?”
“I love your mom, Maria.”
“Please tell me that’s in a ‘I feel like an adopted
son’ way, and not something icky.”
Michael laughed. “You’re safe. It is definitely not in
an icky way, so you can come out to breathe.”
“Thank god.” Maria thought about it. “So this is my
age thing.”
“No, this is my
age thing. I’ve been eighteen since last summer, months older than you, but
I’m much older than that, Maria. I’ve never been a kid, not really, and when
I’m around your mom … she makes me feel like a kid. She tells me to pick up
after myself, to take out the garbage. She makes me change my shirt because the
one I have on has a hole, then she mends it. She remembers my birthday, and she
checks up on me in school, goes to bat for me when I’m in trouble, and she
trusts me with the one thing she loves most in this world.”
Maria’s eyes filled with tears. “Me.”
“Right. I would rather be dissected in a White Room than
to ever dishonor or destroy your mother’s trust.”
“So I need to be eighteen.”
Michael nodded. “Any other girl … would I care? Nope.
You? Yes. Your mother made me care. I once promised her that I would take great
care with you, and I’m not going to break that promise.”
“Still my best friend?”
“Always,” said Michael. “And that is why you are
going to calm down, and meet me later. I have something I have to do.”
“Wait,” Maria pulled him back when he would’ve left.
“I thought you were going to annoy me with your slowly stinking
personality.”
“Later. I promise. This is important.” Michael glanced
at his watch. “I thought you had a meeting with Dominique, some reception or
something?”
“I do.”
“Then get dressed. Give her an eyeful of the DeLuca
trendsetting fashion while I do my thing.”
“Do your thing?”
“I’m on it.” He kissed her cheek and was gone.
Maria stared at the empty door with her hand over the cheek
where he kissed it. “He’s on it. Oh, God.”
~~~
Liz was telling Kyle about her failed Harvard interview
while sitting on her bed, and Kyle was pacing, and listening.
“I don’t get it.” Kyle said. “You freaked, or he
made you freak?”
“Neither. Both. I don’t know! I … his voice kept
going out, and I couldn’t hear what he was saying. It was a lot of things.
Then I freaked, knocked over a chair. I just … I had to get out of there!”
“So you ran.”
“I ran, and blew my one chance at Harvard, not that I
haven’t been blowing it for a while with my failing grades, but this was
definitely the capper.”
“I’m sorry, Liz.” Kyle stopped pacing. “I know how
much it meant to you.”
Liz smiled at her ex-boyfriend. He was being nicer to her
than she deserved. It was strange, but all those years ago, when she was still
his girlfriend, she saw Kyle as an obstacle in the way of her great love for
Max. He had never really been that, and she hurt him back then. Here he was now,
and it was wrong to use him again.
“I'm sorry, I'm sure there's somewhere else you need to
be.”
Kyle shook his head. “No. Look, I offered.”
“I just didn't have anyone else to call.”
Kyle frowned, not getting that. “Maria doesn't know?”
“Uh-uh, not yet,” Liz had the grace to turn a little
red. “She went with me to the doctor’s, but I let her think it was just a
really bad cold. This record deal is like a really huge thing for her. She's
given so much of her life for all this. She’s been lost since Alex died, and
this is the first time I’ve seen that old spark of Maria, that youthful
ambition and gleam of excitement. I can’t take that away from her, Kyle. I
can’t.” Kyle sat next to Liz and put his hand on her shoulder in comfort.
Liz glanced at him, knowing this had to be hard for him. “How are you
doing?”
“I have no symptoms yet, but you know, Max healed me like
a year after he healed you, so maybe I just got this totally cool window of time
where I just get to obsess about it.”
Liz laughed loving his unique humor at looking at things.
“Lucky you.”
There was a knock on Liz’s window and both Liz and Kyle
glanced over to see Max. Kyle stood up from the bed moving away from Liz a
little as Max climbed in the room.
“What happened?” Max asked. Liz didn’t answer.
“Show him.” Kyle ordered her, knowing she was reluctant
to show Max.
Liz rolled up her sleeves and electricity ran down her arms
going through her hands. Max reached out his hand, but held back uncertain if he
should touch her. “Does it hurt?”
“It comes and goes.” Max sat next to her. “Am I going
to die?” she asked quietly, and Max looked down at the floor. Perhaps that was
the problem. She was already dead, and he had only bought her time. Maybe time
was running out.
~~~
Maria stopped in the Crashdown on her way to meet up with
Dominique. Jim was sitting at the counter, and she went over to him. “Hi.”
“Hey.” Jim looked her over. “You look nice. Got a
date?”
“No it's just for a reception thing that Dominique set
up.”
“Right.” Jim cleared his throat going back to his
drink.
“Listen I never got to thank you. Had you not invited me
to sing with the band, this would have never happened.”
“You don't have to thank me.” Jim told the young girl
with more talent he could barely stand to look at her. She was always destined
to be a star in her own right. “Come on, you were great.”
“Yeah, but so were you.” Maria complimented the older
man. He was so much easier to deal with now that he wasn’t chasing her mother
around.
“Well, thanks. I thought so too.”
“I just feel like I took something from you.” Maria
admitted.
“You didn't take anything. Look, now how often does
something like this come along? You have to go with it. I would if it happened
to me.”
“I know,” she answered, smiling at Jim, nodding her
head. He was giving her a way out of guilt, and it was so like Jim to give so
much to the teens.
“Listen, I'm gonna be late for sound check.” Jim got up
to leave.
“Okay, well, will you tell the guys I said hi.”
“Sure. Break a leg.”
“Thank you.” Maria watched him walk away, and her face
suddenly went serious. This could be it, the last time, and she wasn’t sure
she was ready for that.
~~~
Dominique and Maria were at the recording studio waiting
for the verdict on the demo. Dominique was putting on makeup and Maria was
sniffing Eucalyptus oil.
“So Adam Chase is on his way. He's a legendary producer,
honey, and it he likes you stuff you can clear of your mantel and hire a maid to
dust off your Grammys.” Dominique frowns at the small vial that Maria was
sniffing. “What--what are you doing? What is that?”
“Oh, it's just Eucalyptus, it's to help me keep calm.”
“Yeah, well, sweetie, enough, you smell like J. Lo.”
Dominique took the vial and sniffed it. “Whoa.”
Dominique’s partner, Adam walked in. “JC,” she said.
“Dominique. What's happening baby?” asked Adam, aka, JC.
“Well, clearly you looking all hottie tottie.”
“Likewise.”
“Here's our find.” Dominique said indicating Maria.
“Adam Chase, Maria DeLuca.”
“Nice to meet you,” Maria said.
“Nice to meet you.”
Dominique waved off pleasantries wanting to get to the meat
of the meeting. “So?”
Adam held up Maria's demo. “It's a single.”
“I knew it!” Dominique jumped in excitement. Yeah, she
still had the magic!
“It's called "Behavior" I wrote it about me and
my boyfriend moving back in our relationship,” said Maria.
“Right.” Adam said putting the demo in the tray.
“I've been messing with it, wanna listen?”
“Yes, I’d love to listen to it.” Maria was excited to
hear the track, wishing Michael was there since he inspired it. Adam played the
revised demo, and Maria frowned, her mouth opening as she listened. The song was
more of a techno song, completely altered from its original form.
Dominique didn’t even bother to listen. She was on the
phone to someone. “Hi. Yeah, Adam Chase alllllll over it. Oh yeah, the girl is
going to be huge. Okay, Okay, bye bye.”
“Slammin', isn't it?” Adam said proudly.
“That's me?” Maria asked in amazement, listening to the
foreign voice coming from the speakers.
“Yeah, I remixed the vocals, and I added a few song
remixes underneath. You know, it's a little rough around the edges, but you get
the point.”
Dominique was impressed. “Wow. It's a number one, isn't
it?”
“You know it,” Adam told Dominique as she squealed in
delight.
“It used to be a love song.” Maria pointed out, upset
they took something personal and mutated it into … pop music muck.
Dominique waved off Maria’s reaction. “Yeah, well now
it's one people can dance to.” They listened to the track a few more times, in
the hope to get Maria to feel the music, to see how much better it was. Finally
Dominique and Maria went to talk privately.
“So you hate it.” Dominique concluded.
“No. No, I was just going for more of a PJ Harvey and
that sounded like Britney Spears.”
“I--I complete disagree.”
Maria sighed taking a deep breath. “My music is personal
to me, Dominique.”
“Okay. Maria, it’s my job to find artists who can sell
records, right? Now, honey, you've got the looks and the voice to do it, but
when it comes to the music, baby, you've got to leave that to the pros.”
“So, I'm just a commodity?”
“No, No, you're very talented, but this label is prepared
to invest a lot of money in you, and you know, they pay the bills, they have the
say. That's just how the way it's always been. Well, look, maybe you need to ask
yourself if you really want to do this.”
Maria leaned against the wall nodding her head. Yes, she
did.
~~~
Amy looked up when the shadow fell across her from the
door. She stared at Michael. “I should’ve seen this coming. She sent the hit
squad.”
“No one sent me.” Michael came into the room glancing
at Sean. “Sean.”
“Mike-man.” Sean looked between his aunt and Michael,
clearing his throat, he smiled. “Think I’ll leave you two to talk.” Sean
hit Michael on the arm on his way out. “Good luck, man. I’m pulling for
you.”
Michael nodded as he came into the room picking up a book
glancing at the title. “I like the new store. It’s … classy.” The local
artists were doing incredible work. Michael picked up a hand blown ornament, and
stared at the movement of light through the glass giving it brilliant life.
“No more alien junk.”
“Right. That’s an improvement.” Michael said.
“Michael...,” began Amy, not willing to dance around
the subject. She was an adult. “I already told Maria no. My decision stands.
If she wants to sign in three weeks, then fine, but I’m unhappy with the
decision. She’s still just a kid and should cherish the little time she has
left. You kids are too busy trying to be adults so fast.”
“I’ve been an adult for a long time,” Michael pointed
out.
“I know, honey.” Amy’s eyes moved over his face.
“You were cheated, but that never made it right.”
“So has Maria,” said Michael not pulling back his
punches. He hated to see the older woman flinch, but like she already
established, this was adult discussion.
“I guess I deserved that.” Amy admitted. “Her
childhood wasn’t always idyllic, and I didn’t always take the greatest care
with her. Things were hard, and I had to leave her alone more than I should,
even this last year …”
“She is a survivor. She’s strong. Maria never doubted
your love.”
“I know that. It’s Maria who doesn’t always know how
strong she can be.” Amy sighed. “I’m trying to give her back some of that
childhood, some time to be young and free. All this music stuff … she has the
talent, the opportunities will find her.”
“Sometimes, all you get is this one big shot, and if you
blow it … it’s over. What if this is it, Ms. DeLuca? What if she blows it
because of you?”
“I’m willing to take the chance,” Amy admitted.
“I’m not.” Michael walked around staring at the shop,
at the displays. “You think I want to see her succeed so quickly, and move so
fast away from me? I could blink, and in an instant, she could be gone.”
“It could happen.”
Michael nodded. “For her … I’m going to take that
chance. A blind leap that she won’t compromise herself, that she’ll remain
… Maria. I’m going to bet on her. This is a chance, one she needs to take
because it’s the first moment she’s really lived since Alex died. She’s
slowly pulling herself out of his grave, and I don’t want to stomp on her,
push her back in.”
“Michael …”
“This might not work out. I know that. Maria knows that.
Sure, she has stars in her eyes, but she’s a very shrewd and seeing person. I
trust that she’ll only be blinded by it for a moment, that reality will
prevail.” Michael glanced at Amy. “She gets that from her mother. This step
is the biggest step she’s ever taken on her own, and I can’t see how forcing
her to stay a child is going to accomplish anything when that stupid line is
only three weeks away.”
“Michael, it’s months before graduation.”
“True, but it’s a short period of time versus
forever.” Michael went to Amy and knelt down closer to her, next to her chair.
“I had a dream once. It was all I ever knew. It kept me alive, not matter how
many times Hank hit me, called me worthless, or burned me with a cigarette; I
didn’t give up. I had that one dream to make me want to live.”
“Michael …” Amy’s eyes filled with tears.
“You have dreams …” Michael glanced around the place.
“Good dreams that you’re making come true, for both you and Sean.” Michael
looked at the floor. “I discovered when looking for my dream, a totally
different one, so much more than I ever had the imagination to begin with …
Maria. I can’t give it up. I can’t give her
up. And I don’t want her to give up anything either. Dreams can change, they
can become so much more than we ever imagined … so much more.”
Amy ran her hand over his bent head. Leaning down, she
tipped his head to kiss his forehead. “Where do I sign?”
~~~
Maria was in Michael’s apartment waiting for him to come
home. Max was gone, and there was no answer from Liz. Michael walked into the
apartment, already having looked for her at her place.
“You moving in?” Michael asked his heart actually
speeding up at seeing her in his space again.
“Those label people are bogus. They wanted to turn me
into some bubble gum pop princess. They turned one of my songs into complete crap,
Michael! It was so humiliating.” Maria sniffed. “Guess my mom gets her
wish.”
Michael held up a signed parental permission form, signed
and notarized. “Or not.”
“What …?” Maria took the form reading it. “You did
this?”
“Told you I was on it.”
Maria laughed shaking her head at him. “My birthday
present? Screw it! This is it. You already got me everything possible.” Maria
hugged him hard. “How?”
“We talked. She signed. No big.”
Maria rubbed her forehead. “But, now I’m maybe turning
down a huge opportunity, I need to think, and I can’t. All I can hear is my
emasculated song turned into pop garbage.”
“Let me get this straight, you worked hard these past few
months to find your dreams again, and now you're telling me that music isn’t
that?”
“It is. You know it is. I’m just not sure I can
compromise myself this far. There has to be integrity with art, or it’s just
…”
“Window dressing. Kitsch?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Michael led Maria to the sofa.
“Let’s do the pro and con game where you mark all the pros to taking this
opportunity and the cons. Then we look at the list.” Michael picked up the
phone.
“Who you calling?”
“Jesse. I want him to look at the contract, see if there
is any loophole before you sign, maybe ways to make it possible for you to walk
if they make it impossible.”
“You want me to take this?” Maria asked in wonder.
“I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life
wondering if it’s the right or wrong decision, or just looking back on it as
the moment you destroyed your own dreams. You never know how a dream will come
out until you stand there, Maria. You stand there on the verge of everything,
and you stop and wonder if you’ve been following the wrong one.” Hal taught
him that. Taught him to look for that moment … when a life changed and it
became forever.
“Is that why you left the pod chamber that day?”
Michael stared at her for a moment, his eyes feasting on
everything about her, the glow. “Yes.”
“All right. Call Jesse.”
~~~
Max, Liz, and Kyle were in the desert. Max carried Liz in
front of the car placing her on the ground. He knelt beside her. Liz was in pain
and from her stomach and there was electricity shooting through it. Kyle stood
behind Max watching with a growing fear.
“Okay, now what do we do again?” Kyle asked, feeling a
need to hurry.
“According to the book, I can use the healing stones to
amplify my powers.” Max placed stones around Liz’s body. “If we do that,
it might wipe out whatever is happening inside of her.”
“What can I do?”
“Just stay back.” Max ordered as he placed his hand
over Liz’s stomach. He tried to heal her. She suddenly started hovering over
the ground as Max continued to heal her.
“It hurts.” Liz said.
“Take a deep breath.” Max told her. “It won't be much
longer.”
“Stop please, I can’t!” Liz begged.
Kyle stepped forward to help Liz, but Max stopped him.
“No.” Max said holding Kyle back.
“Stop!” Liz screamed in pain.
“Hold on, it's working, I can feel it.” Max tried to
reassure Liz.
“No!”
Liz screamed as the pain increased.
Kyle shook his head. This was wrong. He was killing Liz.
“Max!”
“Just a little bit more,” Max begged. “Liz, you have
to trust me.”
Liz shook her head screaming in pain. “I can’t!”
There was a flash of light as Liz dropped to the ground, and Max was pushed back
onto the ground.
Liz slowly sat up scrambling away from Max. “Just stop
hurting me.”
Max sat up to trying to go to her. “I wasn't trying
to.”
“No, but Max, you do.” Liz said in a moment of honesty,
more honesty than she had practiced in a long time. “You always do. Why did
you sleep with her?” Liz demanded. Max remained quiet, not able to explain in
any manner than wasn’t somehow an excuse. “Why?!?”
“Liz...” Max sat back boneless, unable to justify
anything from the last year.
“Every single time you mention your son, I’m reminded
of what you did to me. How you were unfaithful. How could you not know that?”
Max tried to touch her. “Liz, please.”
Liz pulled back. “Stay away. You're doing this.”
“No, I'm not. Liz, please.” Max touched her face.
“Please.” Electricity shot though Liz’s face as she screamed.
Kyle had enough. He grabbed Max's arm. “Max, Max, Max,
stop! Listen to her. You want to kill her?” Max glanced at Liz felled by the
accusations in her eyes, the lack of trust coupled with pain, and something that
hollowed out his stomach … the fear.
~~~
Kyle pulled up in the car with Liz, glancing at her home
for a moment before looking at her. “I'll help you get upstairs.”
“I can do it myself.” Liz told him, her voice
mortified. “I really said all those things to Max, didn't I?”
“Yeah.”
“I couldn't help it. Everything just …”
“Exploded?” Kyle asked, feeling it was about time that
Max heard the truth from the one place he actually listened. It didn’t matter
how many times Michael, Maria, Isabel or even him told him the truth, he never
listened. Tonight, he heard it from Liz, and Kyle saw the shock on the other
man’s face at it hit him hard.
“How am I going to face him?” Liz asked shaking her
head.
“Look, he understands that something went wrong out
there. You weren’t in control of what you were saying.”
“But I was.” Liz admitted. “I mean, that's how I feel
deep down, and now he knows, Kyle.”
“So what?” Max Evans needed to stop blaming everyone
else, taking everyone else to task and using them at his own whim. He needed to
either be a part of them as a group, or he needed to move on. No one wanted him
for King. Not on this world, not in this life. Here, he had no throne.
“I can’t take it back.”
“Liz, look, you can’t worry about Max right now. You
have to take care of you.” Kyle forced her to listen. “You understand?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Why don't you try to get some sleep?”
Liz unfastened her seatbelt and got out of the car. Her
legs and spirits were heavy as she went upstairs.
~~~
Michael shut the door behind Jesse as Maria sat at the
counter reading through the drafted contract. Jesse had called Dominique and
told her the changes that were made to the contract, and that once Maria signed,
and so did they, it would be binding.
Maria stared at the contract, still indecisive.
“Are you going to sign?”
“I don’t know.” Maria looked at him. Going over to
him, she reached up and broke the rules by kissing him softly on the lips. “I
did that because I can.”
“Uh-huh. Always the brat.”
“Always,” Maria sighed. “I think I need to sleep on
it, and tomorrow, get up, sign it or not sign it, then let Dominique know.”
Michael cleared his throat. “Look, there’s something I
need to tell you. I should’ve told you sooner, but all the contract stuff, and
going to see your mother …”
“Which I never thanked you for.”
“Sure you did, but if you’re concerned about it, I’ll
let you thank me again later … after you’re eighteen.”
“Wow,” said Maria stepping back. “Mr. Guerin, did you
just proposition me?”
Michael seemed to think about it. “Did it work?”
Maria laughed. “It was good.”
Michael remembered what he started to tell her. “Maria,
what I’m trying to tell you is about Liz.”
“What? Her cold is worse? Is that why she hasn’t been
answering my calls? I should make chicken soup, and …”
“No.” Michael stopped Maria before she could invade his
kitchen and start cooking chicken soup. “No. Listen. She’s sick. Real sick.
She might be dying.”
“What?!”
~~~
Liz was sleeping in her room. Maria opened her door and
walked in. “I'm here.” Maria announced as Liz sat up in bed staring at her
best friend.
They went out to talk, somewhere away from Liz’s parents,
and any possibility of being heard. Sitting on a bench in the park, but Maria
couldn’t stop apologizing.
“I am so
sorry.”
“Maria, stop apologizing.”
Maria couldn’t stop. They lost track of Alex, and look at
what happened to him. “You've been going through complete hell.”
“Yeah, and this is exactly what I didn't want for you to
come along for the ride.”
“Don't ever.” Maria warned. They left her out of the
loop, all of them. She couldn’t believe they would do that to her. “We are
best friends, Liz Parker, so just don't ever, okay?”
“Don’t blame the others, Maria. Blame me. I didn’t
want you to know.”
“God, don’t tell me that we drifted that far apart.”
Liz shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t want you
to blame Max, because he healed me. He healed me and now I’m changing.”
“First,” Maria stressed with a very emphatic voice.
“I don’t care about that … about blame, because Max saved you. I can never
regret that, Liz. Never.”
“Not even if it cost us Alex?”
Maria swallowed hard. “Not even then. I can’t place
either of you above the other, and I’m selfish and greedy enough to want both.
Tess killed Alex. You didn’t.”
“Neither did Max.”
“I know that.” Maria did know that, but she still held
Max accountable. He couldn’t play it both ways. Either he was King, or he
wasn’t. No matter how often Max claimed himself not to be King, he still
followed his nature of being King, taking the lead, ordering everyone about. It
didn’t matter. As King, it was his responsibility. “Was that the only reason
you didn’t tell me?”
“No.” Liz confessed. She cleared her throat,
uncomfortable with the confession she needed to make. “I don’t know if you
remember, but a long time ago, when I was first getting those flashes from Max,
my skin glowed, and I had the rashes … it gave me this rushing thrill.”
“Yes, I remember that time. You and Max found the alien
orb.”
“Right.” Liz sighed heavily. “You interrupted me and
Max at Michael’s apartment. You walked in when you were looking for Michael,
and found us instead.” Maria nodded. It was something she could hardly forget.
“When you took me home you said something to me, do you remember?”
“Something about them biting our heads off?” Maria
asked guessing. She had said a lot that night.
Liz laughed. “You did say that, but no … you said that
I couldn’t stop my involvement, not even at the risk of my own health. You
wondered if in the end … if knowing Max, if it ended with me changing
irreversibly, affected my health negatively, would I think it was worth it.”
Maria became quiet remembering that time. She remembered
how afraid she had been for Liz, how lacking in wonder at the changes. It felt
wrong. It had felt like doom. “I remember.”
“I said it would be worth it, and you said … you hoped
I was right, and that I would always feel that way.”
“Liz, I didn’t mean …”
“I know, but it haunted me. All these years later, and
you were right, and I was wrong. I do regret it. I’ve often regretted being
involved with Max, especially last year, and now this happens, and I can’t
help but feel that I ignored Cassandra’s warning.”
“I never meant it that way.”
“I know.” Liz breathed easier for a moment. “Okay
enough about me. Let’s settle you.”
“Me?”
“You really shouldn't let this music thing go.”
“I told you that Michael and Jesse did everything. They
arranged the contract so I have a space of time to walk if it becomes something
I can’t live with.” Maria looked up at the stars. “Michael was so great.
He talked my mom into it, and arranged to take off for six days so he could come
… just to make sure I would be okay.”
“Then it’s settled. You and Michael leave for
“No. It’s off. I’m not signing. I'm just not going to
leave you. Sorry.”
“I'm going to be fine.” Liz promised. “Really.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“You think you giving up on your life is going to change
mine? It’s time, Maria. Time for both of us to take back our lives from this
alien conspiracy, and finally remember what’s important. I want you to go. Go
with Michael, because you know that you both were always going to leave
together. Go and see if this is the big break, that once in a lifetime chance
… see if you can fit. If not …
“Fine. Tomorrow I’ll invite Dominique to my
all-you-can-eat crow buffet.” Maria said laughing as she hugged Liz close.
“God, could life be anymore complicated right now. Sometimes I just wish you
could close your eyes, and just … be somewhere else.”
Liz dreamed for a moment. “A cafe in
“No
“Yeah.”
“Me too.” Maria hugged Liz close. “Just promise me
that you won’t die on me, Liz Parker, because if you do, I’ll hunt down your
ghost and kick you around the block.”
“Tough human chick.”
“Yeah.”
~~~
Liz returned to her bedroom to find Max sitting outside of
her open window. Walking over to the window, Liz glanced outside. “Max, what
are you doing here? You can’t be here.”
“I've been calling.”
“I was out with Maria.” Liz explained, hating that she
felt the need to say it like an apology.
“I thought something happened.”
“No, it didn't, but my dad is going to be up here in a
few minutes.” Max tried to look in, she blocked his view. “You really …”
She never got the chance to tell him to leave. Max got too close to her and
electricity shot through her face. “Max, you have to go,” she begged in
pain.
“Look, we'll drive to
“Max.”
“Maria can cover for you. We can be back in two days.”
He wasn’t listening to her. “No!”
“Please Liz.” Max tried to grab her arm as she backed
away. Max backed away as well. “Everything you said tonight, we just can’t
pretend it didn't happen. I have to talk about it.” Liz started to shut the
window. “Liz, please don't shut me out.” They were both close to tears.
“What are we going to do?”
Liz struggled to hold back the tears. “I have to figure
it out. By myself.” She waited for Max to be gone before going downstairs to
talk to her father. It was time for her to make changes. She needed time, space
and distance from Max and suddenly, boarding school seemed like the perfect
choice.
~~~
Max entered Michael’s apartment to find Michael had been
packing. He was talking on the phone, and absentmindedly waved at Max as he
finished up his conversation. Max waited.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Packing.”
“I see that.” Max frowned. Michael had threatened to
leave forever if Max kept putting his life up for auction against Liz’s. “I
couldn’t fix Liz.”
“Sorry about that.” Michael got on the floor and looked
under the sofa searching for his green sweater. Nope. Not there. Not anywhere.
Michael picked up the phone again. “Maria, yeah, me. Look, you got my green
sweater? No, the one your mother got me for Christmas. No. No, it’s definitely
mine. I don’t care if it matches your eyes. Pack it. I want to wear it.
Uh-huh. Right.” Michael hung up.
“Okay, where are you going?”
“
“Then you’ll be back?” Max asked breathing easier.
“For a little while. If Maria can work with these people
without having to compromise too much, then I’ll come home to get us ready to
move for good. I’ll need to work out my notice at Meta-Chem and get all
Maria’s crap packed, along with my own while she finds us a place to live.”
“And if she can’t work with these people?”
Michael shrugged. “Then she comes home, goes back to
writing music and singing. We wait for the next break and until after graduation
to move.” Michael stopped packing. “It’s the same plan we’ve been
talking about forever, except this contract just sped it up a little.”
“Right.” Max said to himself. “The plan.” He stared
off in space feeling that his concept of life being pulled in all directions.
Liz sick from him. Maria barely talking to him. And now … Michael was talking
about moving across the continent forever. Kal had been right, Michael didn’t
belong to him, had moved beyond him. “Michael, you …” Michael paused
waiting for Max to forbid him to go, like he had Isabel. Max took a deep breath
letting it out slowly. “You and Maria have a good time.”
“That’s the plan.” Michael stared at Max for a moment
before nodding and going back to his packing. Sometimes when change came, it
wasn’t always that big or that obvious, but it was still there.
~~~
As Liz rode away from
Michael and Maria were flying to
“Hey, Maria, wake up. We’ve arrived.”
