Okay, lets see how this goes. (My apologies in advance to any Buddha boys or girls in the audience.)
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Chapter Twenty
“Do you have a minute?”
“Always got one for you, girlfriend. Take a seat.”
Max slumped onto a bar stool and rested his chin on his hand with a sigh. “Can I get a cherry cola?”
“I think I can arrange that.” Maria poured his drink and slid it across the counter to him. “Anything you’d
like with it?”
“You have any arsenic?” He mumbled, and she had to fight the impulse to burst out laughing.
“Let me guess, Liz still hasn’t come around?”
He took a slurp from his cup. “I swear she’d test the Pope’s patience. I mean, she’s polite enough, but
every time I try to get her one on one, she treats me like I shot her dog or something. Why can’t we just
go back to how things used to be?”
“Sometimes there’s no going back, however much you might want to." Maria noted, clicking her tongue
sadly. " What about that concert I told you about? Did you manage to get tickets for you two?”
He brightened a little at that, and patted his hand against the front of his jacket. “I just hope you’re right
about them being her favourite band.”
Maria arched her eyebrow wickedly. “Give me some credit here, Max. How long have I known her? If
Gomez doesn’t do the trick, nothing will. All you have to do now is get her away from those other two.” She
chewed on her bottom lip briefly. “What’s the story with them, anyway?”
“You mean Michael hasn’t told you yet?”
“The other night, after we left here, he spun some cockamamie story about them being time travellers.
I figured if he wasn’t even going to try and take it seriously, well…” Her voice tapered off as she saw the
look on Max’s face as he had a sudden fascination with the ice in his cup. “No. Uh-uh, no way, not this
little grey duck.” She was aghast as he sat there nodding his head, and she fumbled in her pockets for
her trusted bottle of cedar oil. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.” She unscrewed the cap from the
bottle and took a deep breath. “Are you serious??” Max nodded again, and she took another deep breath.
“Okay, suck it up Deluca, you can do this. It‘s just another day in the life of a Czechoslovakian.” They
shared a moment of silence that was interrupted by the jingle of the door bell.
“Max, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Grant. What’s up?”
“I was looking for Isabel. You know where she is?”
Max sighed. “Look, Grant, I know what you’re going through, but she’s made it pretty clear she’s not
interested. You need to let it go.”
“I asked for a location, not a sermon.”
“Sorry, don’t think I can help you.” Max turned to face back towards the counter when Grant seized his
upper arm and half pulled him to his feet.
“Then you better think about it harder, or you and I will be having problems.”
“And what sort of problems might that be, Mr. Sorenson?” They both turned as the familiar clipping
sound of leather boots crossed the floor towards them, and Grant released his arm and stepped
away.
“No problem, Sherriff. Just having a private conversation.”
“Really? Here I was thinking it looked more like a public argument.”
Grant swallowed hard and started to step around Valenti towards the door. “Listen, I can explain. It’s
just a misunderstanding, nothing more.”
“Well then, let me make things very clear, just so we all understand.” Jim took off his glasses, sliding them
into his jacket pocket and fixing Grant with a hard stare. “You go anywhere near these kids again
any time soon, and you’ll be offering your explanations from inside one of my cells. Now get out.” He watched
as Grant left the Crashdown before turning to Max and Maria with a hint of a smile.
“Perfect timing, Sherriff. Thanks.”
“Always a pleasure, Miss Deluca. Just make sure you do me a favour - if he approaches any of you, I want
to hear about it. Clear?” The two of them nodded, and he took another look around the café. “You two
haven’t seen Kyle, have you?”
“Doesn’t he usually have basketball practice Mondays?
“Usually, but I stopped by at the school and they were all gone.” He shrugged. “I guess I’ll catch him
at home tonight. Take care, you two.”
After he had left, Max turned to Maria, who stood there with the bottle still in her hand. She quickly replaced
the cap and slipped it back into her pocket, and Max grinned. “So, where were we?”
“That’s not funny.” She fired him a dirty look, and sighed. “So they’re for real? I mean, they’re like bona
fide, Back-To-The-Future type time travellers?” Max nodded again, smiling at the look on her face.
“So when did they come from?”
“From what we’ve been able to figure out, about twenty five years.”
“Twenty five years.” She thought about it, and let out a giggle. “Gawd, just think about it. That would
almost make them young enough to be, like, our kids or something.”
Max’s eyes lost their focus as Maria’s words cut through his mind like a razor, and the scenes replayed
through his mind. Kayla meeting Michael for the first time in the pod chamber. Isaacs’ expression
when Isabel said he had nothing to lose if Alex wasn’t around. Kayla’s reaction to Michael and Maria
outside the Crashdown, the night Courtney left town. Everything slid into place, and although he had no
proof, he was sure he knew. He pulled out the concert tickets and unwrapped the two dollar bill
he had wrapped around it, throwing it on the counter as he stood.
“Thanks for the cola. I gotta go. I need to find Liz.”
Maria laughed at him as he moved quickly towards the door. “What’s the rush? The concert isn’t until Friday
night.” The only answer she got was a slamming door.
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Kyle had made his way home early. After the way his team had performed on the weekend, the
coach had given them all the afternoon off from their usual training session. He slipped in the back
door and went to toss the keys on the kitchen counter when he heard voices coming from the lounge
area, one of which he recognised as Tess, and the other was that of a male.
“I know it’s earlier than we planned, but we don’t have much choice.”
“Kivar isn’t going to like it very much.”
“Well, he’s going to like it a lot less if we don’t deliver them!” Tess sighed, frustrated. “Look, I heard him
talking about some concert he’s getting tickets for, and he’s going to ask her to go. If I don’t get between
Max and Liz now, it’ll never happen. He won’t leave her, and if he doesn’t go, you can forget about the others
wanting any part of going home.”
“What about Whitman?”
“With Isabel hanging off him the way she has lately, I can’t get near him without it looking suspicious. I
just wish I knew what had gotten into her. That’s another reason why Liz and Max have to be dealt with
first. If we separate them, the others choose sides, and we have them all split down the middle. Then all
we have to do is pick up the pieces.”
Kyle felt a surge of anger at what they were discussing. While he had no great love for Max Evans, nobody
went near Liz without him having more than a few choice words to say about it. He turned to head out
the way he had come in, planning to head straight for the Crashdown and warn them, when he felt a sudden
blow to his chest, and he flew backwards to crash against the fridge. He slumped to the floor and struggled
to regain his focus, as he heard two sets of footsteps approaching, and looked up to see a young teenage
boy standing in front of him.
“Well, well, we appear to have an eavesdropper.” Nicholas squatted down on the floor in front of Kyle,
grabbing a handful of hair and banging his head back against the fridge again. “Fortunately, I have
just the solution for this sort of thing.”
Tess grabbed his shoulder. “Not so fast. This is the sheriff’s son - anything happens to him, and Valenti will
tear this town apart to find out what caused it. Besides, he may still be useful to us with what’s coming.
I’ll deal with this - you need to get going.”
Nicholas rose to his feet with a contemptuous smirk on his face. “Fine, just make sure you do deal with it.
I don’t want to have to come back to this hick town any more than I have to.” With a simple gesture he
collected the guard he had placed outside, and they made their way to the transport they had waiting for
them. Tess watched them go, then turned her attention back to Kyle, who was still struggling to shake off the
cobwebs. She sat down in front of him and placed both hands on his forehead as he gave her an
accusing glare.
“Why? Why are you doing this?”
“I want my home back. I want my throne back. And I’ll do anything I have to, to make it happen.”
“We accepted you. We trusted you!”
Her mocking voice was the last thing he heard as his vision blurred and faded to black.
“Don’t take it personally. You aren’t the first one that’s made that mistake.”
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Second Time Around (CC ALL, Teen, Ch.20 AN 9/29} [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
To be honest, things have been pretty hectic in RL as well, which doesn't help.