AN: here's the next part guys, and if you're wondering about how Max feels about Liz, all is revealed in this next part....
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Chapter 3
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To: Futurechic@yahoo.com
From: Crashintome@yahoo.com
Hi Serena,
Thanks for the advice but um, I have to say that you are so wrong. I am a completely open person, I let people in, I don’t have a thing for Michael, Kyle, Jesse or Alex, I just haven’t met anyone to go for yet.
Okay that’s kind of a lie, there’s a new addition to the group, his name is Max, Max Evans and the only word I have to describe him is lush.
Tall, dark, handsome and with eyes that literally make my knees weak. He’s two years older than us because he took some time travelling around Europe and doing some family stuff.
He’s studying Law and he’s smart, a little on the quiet side but he sometimes steps out enough to let his quiet, dry humour show. He comes up with the rest of the guys, so I’ve had a chance to hang out and observe him to see if there could be something permanent between us.
Of course it’s all for nothing because he isn’t interested in me in that way, I’m just Liz, a friend of Maria, Tess or Isabel. Besides, if you saw him, you’d know that he is too lush to be interested in me. You know what? Just forget it, there’s nothing there from his side and I’m just going to enjoy our non-existent relationship. Being around him makes me feel good and that’s enough for me.
School wise, I have two essays due for Thursday and it’s Sunday. I know, shock, I kinda left things a bit late but Maria and I are in the same situation, so we’re supporting each other and they’re gonna get done. Today is laundry day, so we’re gonna go do our washing and our essays while we wait.
There’s my rundown, you’re next.
Liz
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“Liz!!!! Come on” yelled Maria.
“Coming!”, Liz yelled in reply.
She quickly sent her email, grabbed her purse, her laundry bag and headed out to meet Maria.
“I’ll wait in the laundry room while you come up to get our essay stuff,” she said as they headed down their hall stairs.
“Sure,” agreed Maria, “I’ll bring down a few snacks as well.”
“Fine,” she laughed. Maria had a thing about working with the help of sugar filled foods.
Liz was glad to see that the laundry room was empty. That meant that the four comfy seats in the corner were theirs for the taking. Her joy was short-lived however when they realised that the washing machines all had clothes in them.
“That’s just great, some people are so selfish,” sighed Maria.
“And how do you figure that?” she asked.
“They do their laundry when we want to,” she replied with s smile.
“Yeah,” she added in mock seriousness, “that is
so wrong.”
“Okay, so we’ve got like an hour to burn, I guess that gives us more essay time,” said Maria.
“Sounds good to me.”
While Maria went to accomplish her tasks, Liz went over what she was going to write in her essay. Her thoughts were disturbed when two people entered the laundry room.
Max and Alex.
Great, she thought to herself. She wanted to get the essay done and wasn’t in the mood for distractions.
And these guys are definitely a distraction.
“Hi, Liz,” said Alex.
Max greeted her with a smile.
“Hi, guys,” she said. Enjoying the way her pulse rate had suddenly increased. She watched as the two went to check on a row of five washing machines.
“Don’t tell me you guys hogged all five,” she said.
“We had a lot of back laundry,” protested Alex.
“We’re you waiting to get yours done?” asked Max. She noticed the amused look on his face.
“Possibly,” she replied sarcastically. She waved over to her laundry bag, “and as you can see, mine shouldn't take up too much space.”
“Don’t we get points for domestication?” asked Max sheepishly. Liz‘s gaze dropped to the softener he was holding in his hand.
He had this charm that was just so hard to resist and when he purposely used it, there was no use in even putting up a fight.
“Fine,” she smiled dryly, “you get points for domestication.”
Rolling her eyes, she dropped back onto her seat. She felt once again, extremely light headed, being around Max constantly did that to her and she had learned to savour it.
Her attention was drawn to the door as Maria entered carrying two bags.
“Look who’s here,” she said nodding over to the guys.
“Max, Alex,” she said surprised, “what are you doing here?”
“Their laundry,” Liz replied for them. “Using
five washing machines.
Maria crossed the room and settled next to her. “You machine hogs,” she chided them.
“But,” she told her, “they get points for domestication.”
She glanced at Max and for a brief second, their eyes clashed. Liz was sure that she had seen sparks. Literally.
Whatever, she dismissed herself. Stop inventing stuff that isn’t real.
“Indeed they do,” agreed Maria.
Liz rifled through one of the bags and took out her essay plan, paper and started to work.
She needed to focus and get the essays out of the way, Maria could entertain the guys as they waited.
“What you working on?”.
The voice startled her in it’s proximity, she had realised that Max had crossed the room and sat next to her.
It was then that she also realised that both her and Maria were dressed in their “home, lounging around” clothes.
She glanced down at her worn out grey jogging bottoms and her yellow vest top. She inwardly groaned, she was wearing sandals and her hair was in an untidy pony tail.
Max was sitting next to her, looking handsome as usual and she was in tramp wear.
Very fetching, she thought dryly.
“Um,” she felt her cheeks flush again and mentally rolled her eyes. Why the heck did her cheeks have to give her away every time?!. “I’m working on an English essay, it’s due on Thursday.”
“Yeah, which is a big trauma for Liz because she usually gets essays done like weeks before they’re due,” teased Maria.
Liz pursed her lips together and tucked her hair behind her ear in an effort to hide her embarrassment. She couldn’t argue against the truth but why did she have to say it in front of Max.
“I usually do that too,” said Max gently.
His voice once again drew her to his eyes. Being close to him was intoxicating, invigorating, he was like a drug and right now she was getting her fix.
“Great minds think alike,” she responded with a smile.
Initially, being around him had been distracting, because, she
felt him. It was the strangest experience she had ever encountered, but when he was near her, she felt his presence, but now, she managed to use it as a comfort bubble which dulled out the rest of the world and let her focus.
She only paused from her work to put her clothes into the machine and when she had to take them out and into the dryer. It puzzled her then, why when all her clothes were clean and dry, Maria’s were still in the washing machine.
The answer was simple though when Liz actually paid attention to the conversation the trio were having about the best places to go clubbing on a night out. Clubbing was Maria’s favourite topic, it was ideal topic to keep her from doing her essay or her laundry quick enough.
“Um, I’m pretty much done here guys. I’m gonna go up and finish up my work,” she said gathering her things.
“Do you need any help?” asked Max.
Her and Max alone together? She couldn’t handle that yet. She could deal with him when they were in a group with other people but definitely not a one to one basis. She feared awkward moments of silence between them.
“No thanks, I can manage,” she replied as she dragged her laundry bag along with her. “See you later,” she called at the door.
“Later,” they chorused.
She held the door open to go through but paused when she heard Max ask, “So are you and Liz really good friends?” he asked.
“Um, Max,” she called, “you’re usually supposed to wait until I’ve left the room before you start talking about me behind my back,” she teased.
She thought she saw him blush, but that was ridiculous, they said things like that to each other all the time, why would he blush?
“Got it,” he retorted with a smile.
Liz didn’t pause to think why he would be asking Maria questions about her, her focus was on the essay she had to get done and after that one, the other.
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“Yeah, I mean, I’ve known her for like a month now but it feels like longer. We just clicked,” Maria replied.
“Oh,” nodded Max. He was still recovering from the embarrassment of knowing that Liz had heard him ask Maria about her but he couldn’t have waited a moment longer.
She intrigued him.
The first time they had been introduced in the girls’ kitchen, he hadn’t really paid much attention to her. He just had her pegged as one of Maria’s other gorgeous roomies and if he had to admit it, he had been taken in by the trio of girls. They were funny, smart and beautiful. He loved being around them and he supposed it was because he liked one of them, but he had realised that that wasn’t it. They were just great people to be around.
Then, when Liz had started to join them, she was added onto the list of the funny, smart and beautiful girls that had become his friends. She was a bit quieter than the other girls, Maria had told him that she was the more responsible one of the group.
Slowly, Max had found himself frequently glancing at her during conversations, he noticed how brown her eyes were, how silky her hair was, how she bit her lip or tucked her hair behind her ears when she was nervous. The first time he had heard her laugh,
really laugh out loud and without stopping except to take deep breaths, he was surprised by how it had made him feel. It had touch something in his heart and made it alive somehow and from that moment on, her laugh made him smile.
He and Liz had never had one to one conversations, the only interaction they had was when they were in a group with other people and that hadn’t bothered him until a couple of days ago.
He now found himself wanting to be alone with her. But he wasn’t sure how she felt about him, because they hadn’t had one on one time together, it was hard to read her.
She was aloof with him. He had sat next to her on purpose and yet she didn’t even react to his proximity or realise that he was there until he asked her a question.
Sometimes he wondered if she thought of him as an individual or as Alex, Michael, Kyle or Jesse’s friend because she never looked at him they way she looked at the others. She just briefly glanced at him or when she was looking at him, she seemed to be looking through him.
Max had never had a problem with a girl like this before. Usually the gave signals but with Liz, he didn’t know if she was interested. Hence the reason why he was questioning Maria.
“Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?” he asked.
“Why are you interested in her?” pounced Maria. She knew for a fact that Liz liked Max. She always blushed when she was around him and always stared at him when she was sure he wasn’t looking. She had asked her of course and Liz had told her that there couldn’t be anything between her and Max.
Maria wanted to shake her friend into action, into giving some signals at least but Liz, was just Liz, infuriating.
Max hesitated before answering. “Um…”
That was answer enough for Maria. She mentally jumped for joy. Max was a great guy, the moment she had met him, she had thought of fixing him up with Liz. Liz however, during their girl to girl talks during the first week had expressed her hate of being fixed up due to bad experiences.
A plan suddenly formed in her head that would solve everyone’s problems.
“Take that as a yes,” said Alex.
Max glared at him but his friend didn’t care. It was about time the word was out and someone did something about it. He was tired of seeing Max making goo goo eyes at Liz whenever she wasn’t looking.
“No, I’m not,” he said pointedly looking at Alex. “I’m just trying to figure that out,” he added weakly to Maria.
“She’s single and free, so ask her out on a date,” said Maria.
His heart soared, “so she’s interested in me?” he asked.
“I go with a resounding yes, but our Lizzie has a few relationship issues,” she replied.
“Do you think I should ask her out?” he asked.
Maria thought for a moment. She had a feeling that if he did ask her out, Liz would probably say no. She shook her head sadly, that girl had real issues.
“She’d probably say no,” she replied.
“Oh,” he said surprised at how crushed he was.
“But don’t worry,” she said, “ I’m gonna take care of that.”
Hopeful once again, he asked, “How ?”.
“Give me a couple of days and I’ll fill you in but keep your Wednesday free,” she answered cryptically.
“Okay, I will,” he said.
His secret was out, he liked Liz Parker and with the help of his friends, just maybe, she would give him a chance.
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