Author: LDM421
Disclaimer: Don’t own a thing.
Category: AU M/L with some M/T, and the occasional M/M & A/I
Rating: As far as I can see MATURE is the max. I am not good with the intimate scenes like some other writers but if anyone wants to volunteer to help that might be a possibility.
Thanks for reading, I have started a couple of these and never gotten too far but I am DETERMINED to stick with this one, so we shall see
The Vitals:
Liz was a senior in high school when Max was just a freshman making them 3 years apart in age.
They never really knew each other back then but meet up unexpectedly years later.
Michael is Max’s older (adopted) brother by 5 years (2 years older than Liz) and was good friends with Liz in high school but lost touch once he went to college. Michael and Max are very close. The rest you will just have to wait and see.
Roswell, New Mexico 2005
It had been over 7 months since Liz Parker had graduated Harvard University with a degree in molecular biology, and here she was back in the town she grew up in, hanging out with the same people she had grown up with. While she knew she loved biology, she also knew she had needed a break from work and some time to unwind. Her time at Harvard had been intense. She worked her ass off to graduate with honors and was offered a lab assistant job at Harvard right out of school, but she declined it deciding she needed time to decompress and live a little. So she returned to Roswell that summer, much to her parents’ dismay, and took time off to travel with her friend Maria who was taking time off as well while trying to upstart her music career. They went all over South America and had an amazing time. Liz figured by the time she returned in October she would be ready to pursue her dream but she was actually more scared than ever. So to appease her parents she began working at their restaurant again, The Crashdown. The Crashdown is where Liz spent most of her youth, as did most of Roswell. She loved it, she did, but she had hoped going to school in Boston would help her move past her childhood, and while it did she still found herself back in the comfortable confines of the town.
Now it was about to be New Years and Liz was determined to start her life again in 2006. It had been a hard December for her. Her grandmother, whom she loved and emulated all her life had passed away suddenly and thrown Liz into a tale spin. She had taken to holing herself up in her room and writing for hours in her journal. None of her closest friends could seem to break her out of her incessant funk. Alex had come over numerous times with movies and jokes, none of which helped turn her mood. Kyle had brought Liz his Buddhist teaching books and tried to impart some wisdom on the religious aspects of death, which only served to further deepen Liz’s sorrow. Maria came by everyday just to be with Liz, even if it was mostly in silence. She was at a loss for what to do to help her best friend since birth break out of the shell she had created for herself.
So here it is, December 31, 2005 and Maria was determined to have Liz ring in the New Year on a positive note. Maria did the only thing she could, she ambushed Liz into going up to Kyle’s ranch in Hondo for a New Year’s party. It wasn’t hard to convince Liz’s parents to go along with the idea considering how worried they had become over Liz’s depression and subsequent loss of direction. Maria arrived to Liz’s bedroom that morning at 10am to wake her up and force her by any means necessary to attend the party.
“Lizzie time wake up!” Maria shouted walking into Liz’s room. Liz only responded with a groan and a mumble that sounded like something to the effect of ‘get out’, but Maria was not deterred.
“Liz, that is it, we are going to Kyle’s ranch in Hondo, and we are going to have FUN! You remember that don’t you? And you have to get up NOW, because Michael Guerin is going to be here in 30 minutes to pick us up.” Maria finished standing with her hands on her hips over Liz’s bed.
Liz thought about that name. Michael Guerin? Who was that? So she asked Maria what she was thinking.
“Oh you remember him Liz, oh wait didn’t you know, he decided to change his last name back to his birth parents name. So I guess he is officially Michael Evans Guerin.” Maria looked at Liz to see if she remembered him now and she did.
“Oooohhhh, Michael! Wow I haven’t seen him in SO long. How did this come about?” Liz asked as she sat up in bed and stretched.
“Long story but basically the Jetta wasn’t going to be able to make the rough ride up to the ranch and Michael kindly offered to give us a lift. So get your ass out of bed girl because we have to get you ready for today!” Maria started running around Liz’s room packing a bag for her.
“Wait what about Alex, Maria?”
“He is on his way over Liz.”
“But Maria, there is no way my parents are going to agree to this so last minute.” Liz scoffed.
“Oh but they already have my fair Lizzie.” Maria said with a devilish smile on her face
Liz was appalled, “What! You mean they knew before me? What is this….an ambush??!”
“Oh I knew you went to Harvard for a reason Liz,” Maria patted Liz’s head. “Now come on you have to get ready and don’t even TRY to get out of this! You are coming I don’t want to hear one word about it!”
The look Maria gave Liz left little room for discussion. Maria had been an amazing friend to Liz, especially the past month, and Liz couldn’t deny her anymore. So she trudged out of bed and threw on the first thing she saw, much to Maria’s dismay. But Maria didn’t push it. She knew the fact that she even got Liz to go willingly was a triumph. Maria finished packing for Liz while Liz sat on her bed in a daze until the doorbell rang startling Liz out of her reverie.
“Hey Liz that must be Alex, will you run and get it while I finish here,”
With a silent nod Liz headed down to let her other best friend in. As she opened the door, she was not greeted with the sight she was expecting. Instead small brown eyes, she was met with big amber ones. Instead of pale white skin, she was met with bronzed olive skin. Instead of tall and lanky, she was met with shorter and built. She stared in awe for a second uncertain of who this amazing man in front of her could be. He looked slightly familiar to her but not enough to really register. He smiled uncertainly at her before another man slightly taller with lighter hair appeared next to him. She tore her gaze away from the mystery man in front of her and toward the other man and realized he was more than familiar to her. He was Michael.
Her face lit up at the sight of him, “Michael!” She exclaimed, hugging her old friend tight. She didn’t realize how good it would be to see him again, and suddenly she was glad Maria and her parents forced her into this. She pulled back from the hug and smiled at Michael again.
“How are you?!” She beamed at him.
He smiled back just as warmly, “Good, it’s good to see you Liz. But it’s a little cold.”
“Oh, oh, come in.” Liz ushered the two of them in.
“Uh, Liz you remember my little brother Maxwell?” Michael introduced only to be whacked on the arm by said brother.
“Oh excuse me, Max. You two were at Roswell High at the same time, right?”
It suddenly dawned on Liz who he was. Wow, he had grown up – A LOT! She vaguely remembered him from when she was a senior and he was a freshman. But the boy from then was not the man that was standing in front of her now. He was confident and strong. Liz was literally shocked speechless. She looked back to who she now knew was Max Evans and realized he had caught her gawking. She quickly averted her gaze praying for something or someone to break up the moment. Luckily for her she got both. Just as Maria waltzed out to say hello the doorbell rung again and Liz quickly used the opportunity to compose herself. Practically running to the door, she immediately opened it to see her other best friend Alex Whitman standing with a goofy grin on his face.
“Hey Liz, so it worked huh? You are…oof” Alex was stopped mid-sentence by the force of Liz Parker thrusting herself into his arms. He didn’t know why she did it and neither did she really, but a hug was exactly what both of them needed at that time due to the month of stress their relationship had endured because of Liz’s depression. Alex didn’t know what brought about this sudden change in Liz’s attitude but he was truly grateful for it. Liz still didn’t look like the vibrant beautiful Liz Parker he knew. Her hair was in a messy bun, her skin was abnormally pale, her eyes slightly sunken in and her clothes were baggy due to her loss of weight, but there was a spark in her eye that he hadn’t seen for a month or even longer maybe. The old friends stared at each other for a moment longer before Maria approached them with Michael and Max in tow.
“Chica’s you ready?”
“Maarrriiaa…I told you not refer to me as your chica in front of others!” Alex whined.
Maria and Liz just smiled at this. Alex was forever the boy friend and never the boyfriend. But they were convinced Alex would find his match and fall head over heels for the lucky girl.
Alex turned and walked out the door followed by Michael and Maria. Liz turned to leave but was confronted with Max’s eyes as they intently watched her. She smiled hesitantly suddenly self-conscious about the state she was in. She was a mess to put it simply and figured Max was just trying to figure out why she was in such a wreck. Or maybe he didn’t care at all. Then she realized she hadn’t even said one word to him because she was too busy admiring how he had “grown up,” so she decided she better make it right before he thought she was a total loser.
“Oh hey Max. I don’t think I said hello earlier. Sorry about that, I am kind of out of it today.” Liz smiled nervously and tucked a wayward piece of hair behind her ear. Now it seemed like Max was in a daze because he just continued to stare at her with those eyes. She had never noticed them before, of course she had never really noticed him too much before either. Well she did remember thinking how cute he was, but it was more like little boy cute back in high school, not handsome. Plus he was so much younger back then that she never would have even fathomed anything, but now here she was 23 years old and seeing him in a whole new light.
Max suddenly snapped back to reality and smiled slightly at Liz. A smile she found to be super sexy.
“Uh, yeah Liz, it’s been a really long time. It’s good to see you.” He finally got out. Sounding utterly calm and confident.
“Yeah it really has.” Liz continued to lock eyes with him but became very uncomfortable with how he was looking at her. Not like he was creepy or anything, more like he was looking at her like no one else had…ever. It unnerved her. He was 3 years younger than her. She was a college graduate and he was, presumably, still in college. How is it this boy she left behind in her youth could make an instant impact on her as a man. Not like it mattered, she thought. There was no way a guy like Max Evans would think twice about a girl like her. And what was she thinking anyway. She had just lost her grandmother, whom she loved dearly, less than a month ago and here she was already pining over boys! It disturbed her, so she pushed all thoughts of Max Evans and his new…manliness, or whatever, out of her mind for the time being.
Turning on her heel Liz walked out to Michael’s car where everyone was waiting and both Alex and Maria had inquisitive smirks on their faces. Liz disregarded their looks as the three of them squeezed into the back of Michael’s Ford Bronco with Max in the passenger seat. As the car peeled out of Roswell and on to Highway 285 toward Hondo, Liz stared out the window and thought to herself; ‘this is going to be an interesting night.’
Part 2
The ride out to Hondo was about three hours and Max took every opportunity he could to find out more about Liz…and Maria and Alex of course. Max didn’t know what is was about Liz, but the moment she opened the door at her house over an hour ago he got rush that he had only had one other time in his life. It was when he was 12 and his parents took him and his brother on vacation to California. It was there that he got to surf for the first time in his life, and after multiple falls he finally was able to ride a wave to the shore. He had surfed for years now and had taken on many waves big and small, but that feeling was something he knew he would never forget and was sure he would never feel again. Until now. Granted he knew it was a bit trite to be comparing attraction to a girl to riding a wave but he couldn’t help it. Up until this point he didn’t think anything, not even love, would come close to the exhilaration he felt in the water. Max assumed all this because he had been in love or was still in love…he wasn’t so sure anymore. Now with all these new feelings he didn’t know if what he felt was love at all or just comfort from being with the same person for so long.
Max had dated his high school sweetheart for all four years and the first year and a half of college. He loved her, he knew he did. She wasn’t his first kiss but she was his first everything else. Their recent break up was a mutual decision with him going to school in California and her in Texas, he thought it had become to difficult. He hadn’t even kissed another girl since they ended it two months ago and truth be told her was terrified. Max felt scared of being with someone else for a couple of reasons. One was because he was afraid his girlfriend or ex as it may be would be upset seeing as she hadn’t been with anyone either. He still loved her and didn’t want to hurt her, but he just wasn’t sure what he wanted. Then there was his big reason for fear, it was that fear of the unknown. He hadn’t experienced much without her by his side and that thought alone was scaring him and none of the girls he had met recently seemed to be able to calm that fear. That was until he saw Liz today. Just seeing her made him feel calm and comfortable in a way he hadn’t even felt with his girlfriend at times.
All these thoughts and feelings he was suddenly thinking about Liz had put Max in a quiet reverie. He was abruptly snapped out of it by his brother shoving him in the arm. Disgruntled Max looked over at Michael expectantly.
“Bro your phone is ringing.” Michael told Max.
Slightly confused for a moment Max then heard the piercing jingle of his cell phone and quickly pulled it out of his pocket without even looking to see who it was. “Oh, sorry. Umm…hello.”
“Hey Max!” A high-pitched voice squealed into his ear and vibrated throughout the small car.
“Oh…uh, hey Tess.” Max said becoming growingly uncomfortable with close audience he had in the backseat. He found himself slightly annoyed with Tess’ phone call and oddly comparing her high-pitched voice to Liz’s lower soothing one. Max shook his head in an attempt to get rid of those thoughts.
“What’s up Tess?” he inquired in a hushed voice.
“Nothing honey, I just wanted to call and wish you a happy New Year and I will miss you.” Tess said with sadness in her voice.
Max frowned at this, he didn’t want her to be unhappy ever. “Tess, it will be fine. You will have fun with your girls ok. I will call you tomorrow or something all right?”
“Yeah Max, have fun. I love you.” Tess started to end their conversation.
He and Tess did still use that term with each other because as far as they were concerned they were still in love. But suddenly Max felt weird saying it to Tess, but he knew if he didn’t reciprocate she would be hurt. So he sunk in his seat and tried to say it back quietly so he didn’t draw attention to himself.
“Love you too. Talk to you later, bye.”
“Bye.” Tess said before hanging up.
Max closed his phone and sat back up hoping no one had noticed what had just happened. He wasn’t so lucky however.
“Soooo Max. Was that the girlfriend!?” Maria exclaimed.
Max was so mortified he couldn’t even turn around to answer her. “Uh, well, ex-girlfriend.”
“Oh yeah I didn’t know ex’s still said ‘I love you’ to each other.” Max could hear the mirth in Maria’s voice and was searching for a response when Liz came to his defense.
“Oh Maria leave him alone. Just because you like for everyone to know what is going on in your life doesn’t mean everyone wants to share what is going on in theirs.” Liz laughed at Maria’s pout.
Max quickly turned around to smile a thanks to Liz and became totally enraptured in her gaze again. It was only when she uttered her last statement that he came back to reality.
“Let the boy be…” It was short statement, not much to it really. But the way she said ‘boy’ really peeved Max. He wasn’t a boy! He was a 20-year old MAN! The fact that this was how she saw him both hurt and angered Max. So he turned around in a huff and stared out the window. Ok so maybe now he was acting like a boy but he didn’t care. Max stared out the window as they drove past mile marker 65 and thought to himself with a smirk, “I’ll show Liz Parker just how much of a man I am.”
