Carolyn: To say this is an unusual Christmas........is a big understatement.
I would have been a nervous wreck had I been in that same situation.
I'm a big fan of unusual, unconventional, sometimes awkward group situations in fics. And the Evans-DeLuca Christmas, at least, was one of those.
Was glad to see Michael acting like a big brother with Tina, and wanting to be a part of her son's life. He is coming around.
Yeah, this is not what he wants for her, but it is what it is, so . . . it's good if he's being more supportive. She's going to need him.
Interesting revelation regarding Maria's engagement ring. Wonder how things will proceed now?
Suffice to say Maria was not expecting to ever see that ring again, and now that she has . . . well, it's really something for her.
Sara: Ok wow. Max returned Maria's ring. Whoa. I did not see that coming at all. Wasn't that kind of where things started going downhill for Maria and Michael anyway? The loss of that ring?
I think things started going south for Michael and Maria the moment Max came into town.
But that ring . . . oh man, it is
so symbolic of so many things. Some amazing things (M+M's love for each other), and some horrific things (Max's cruelty and, ultimately, that night on the bridge.)
I felt sort of bad for Isabel at dinner. Makes her see how alone she really is.
I felt kind of bad for her, too.
Thanks for reading and leaving feedback!
Part 41
Even though it was cold out, Sarah insisted that she and Michael go for a walk around Roswell. He had no desire to do so, because to him it was just the same town he’d grown up in for eighteen long years; but he walked with her anyway, hand in hand.
“Come on, give me the tour,” she urged.
“The tour of what? It’s Roswell. There’s nothing to see.”
“It’s a
tourist destination, Michael,” she pointed out.
“More like a tourist trap.”
“Come on,” she urged again.
He sighed, reluctantly giving in. “Okay, fine, you see that intersection up there? That’s where I saw an alien.”
“Ha, ha, very funny,” she said sarcastically. “Seriously, I want the real stuff.”
The real stuff . . . wasn’t always pretty. “Fine. See that tree line way over there?” he pointed out in the distance. “That’s part of Frazier Woods. I used to go there and party and get drunk a lot.”
“Fascinating,” she said. “What else?”
He pointed to the dumpster next to E.T.’s Pizzeria. “I puked behind that building once. And this bar comin’ up here? They actually fell for my fake ID, and I got so wasted I danced on the pool table. Like full-on
Coyote Ugly style.” As popular as he’d been, he had barely lived that one down.
“Surely you have
some memories that aren’t tied to alcohol, don’t you?” she said.
Well . . . there were a few. But they weren’t nearly as funny. He stopped walking, grabbed her shoulders, and spun her to her right. “See that building back there?” he said. It was partially hidden by overgrown trees. “That’s my old high school, East.” The sign out front was missing a few letters, so instead of saying
Home of the Rockets, it said,
Ho of the Rock.
“So what happened to it again?” she asked.
“It flooded, ceilings caved in. So my senior year, we went to West, and they never reopened it.” Now it was just a condemned eyesore.
“That’s too bad,” she said.
“No, not really. West was better.” If he’d stayed at East, he probably wouldn’t have graduated. Although if he’d stayed at East, he and Isabel might never have gotten back together, and that would have spared her some personal drama in the long run.
“Where’s the Crashdown?” Sarah asked.
“Oh, it’s . . . up here a ways,” he answered vaguely.
“I wanna eat there,” she said. “It sounds so cute.”
“It’s not. It’s just a fast food place.”
“Let’s go,” she begged. “Please?”
Oh, shit, he did not wanna go there. “I’m not really hungry,” he lied.
“We could just split something,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Come on.”
Reluctantly, he let her pull him forward down the sidewalk, because he couldn’t think of a way out of this. If Sarah wanted to eat there, they’d eat there. The girl knew how to get her way.
A wave of nostalgia hit him from the moment she dragged him inside. This place . . . it definitely symbolized something to him. It had been a place of firsts for him and Maria. First time he’d met her, kissed her, even had sex with her . . . it had all been right there.
Luckily a family was sitting in his old usual booth, though, so he and Sarah sat down at a table instead. Grumpy, slow-moving Agnes was going to be their waitress.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Standing in the doorway, Maria watched as Max helped his mother load her gifts into her fancy car and said goodbye to her. They were definitely closer than Maria was with her mom, but she supposed that was a good thing. The more love Max had in his life, the better.
Shivering, she closed the door and cast a quick glance at Dylan. He was sitting at the kitchen table, still finishing his breakfast, so she let him be and made her way down the hallway into the bathroom. Once in there, she flipped on the light, momentarily squinting at its brightness and looked at herself in the mirror. There were tired bags under her eyes, because she’d tossed and turned all night.
She pulled open the top right drawer of the sink counter, which was mostly reserved for her things: toothbrushes, white strips, makeup, birth control pill. And now that small grey box with the small pretty ring inside. She’d just stashed it there last night because she wasn’t sure where else to put it.
She took the box out, opened it up, and took the ring out. Just seeing it made a lump form in the back of her throat.
What am I supposed to do with this? she pondered. It was a beautiful ring, and it hadn’t been damaged at all over the years. It still looked the same as it had the last time she’d worn it.
She closed her eyes, allowing herself to dissolve into the past. She pictured herself back in Michael’s bedroom, staring at him in disbelief as he asked,
“Will you marry me?” And after she’d said yes, he’d slid that ring onto her finger, and it had been a perfect fit.
Against her better judgment, she opened her eyes again and slowly put the ring back on, just to see if it still fit so perfectly. And it did.
Why am I doing this? she asked herself. She needed to take it off.
She left it on.
“Hey, Maria?”
She jerked her left hand backward and slid it into the back pocket of her jeans just as Max peeked into the bathroom.
“Hey do you know where Dylan’s snow suit is?” he asked her. “He wants to go play outside.”
Trying to look casual as she stood there, she said, “Um, it’s probably at the bottom of that big box in the coat closet.” She wasn’t sure why Max wanted him to wear it when there was only a thin layer of snow on the ground, though.
“Okay,” he said, his eyes surveying her up and down for a moment. “You alright?”
I must not look casual, she realized. But she couldn’t very well take that hand out of her pocket and let him see the ring on it. “Yeah,” she said, offering up a small smile.
He nodded, seemingly convinced, and then left the bathroom.
She breathed a sigh of relief and took her hand out of her pocket. She kept the ring on for a few more seconds, just gazing down at it reminiscently. But enough was enough. She never should have put it back on in the first place.
She yanked the ring off her finger, put it back in the box, and tossed the box back into the drawer, slamming it shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The holiday basketball tournament took place the day before New Year’s Eve, and in the days leading up to it, Maria dreaded it. Max said it was going to be one of those all day things, because there were five other schools coming to Pound Elementary to play. And from the second the first game got underway, Maria knew he was right. It was going to take all day.
“Come on, Dylan!” she yelled supportively from the stands. Scarlet, who was crawling on the bleachers, saw her clapping and then did the same, even though she didn’t know what she was clapping for.
“How cute,” Liz said. “She’s cheering him on.”
“Maybe she’ll be a cheerleader,” Maria speculated.
Liz gave her a stern look. “Or not.”
Maria laughed. Neither she nor Liz was the cheerleader type.
Returning her attention back to the game, she saw that Max was clearly getting agitated on the sideline. The refs were making a lot of calls that weren’t in the Bulldogs’ favor, and the score reflected the team’s complete . . . ineptitude. It was the second half already, and they only had seven points. Five of them had come from Luke, and the other two had been scored by a kid on the other team shooting into the wrong basket. The other team only had eleven points, though, so they weren’t doing much better.
“This is gonna take forever,” Liz groaned.
“You don’t have to stay,” Maria told her. “You’ve more than done your best friend duty if you make it through this game.”
“No, I’ll stay,” Liz said. She reached into her purse, took out her cell phone when it chimed, and read through a text she’d just received. “Oh, it’s from Sarah,” she said. “She and Michael are having a New Year’s party tomorrow night. She says I’m invited.”
“Oh.” Maria immediately looked down at her own phone. Nothing. Was Sarah finally fed up with her?
Apparently not, because a few seconds later, she received the same text message. “Looks like Max and I are invited, too.”
“She says it’s at Monk’s house,” Liz read. “Who’s Monk?”
“One of Michael’s friends.” Maria sent a quick text back, asking for the address. “Do you think you’re gonna go?”
“To this party?” Liz shrugged. “Maybe. I wasn’t planning on staying home.”
“Are you gonna bring Alex with you?” Maria hinted.
“Probably not. I think he just wants to stay home. In fact, he said he’d watch Scarlet if I went out.”
Maria sighed. “
Liz.”
“What, Maria?”
“You need to get on this. Alex is single again, and you’re single, too, and I think you’re just delaying the inevitable here.”
“He’s not even divorced yet,” Liz pointed out. “And even if he was . . . I just don’t think there’s anything romantic there.”
“But you love him,” Maria pointed out. “I doubt it would be a far stretch to fall
in love with him.”
“No, I think if I was falling in love with him, I’d have realized it by now,” Liz disagreed. “That’s not the kind of thing you can just decide is going to happen. You’re either in love with someone or you’re not, and I’m just not in love with Alex.”
As much as Maria wanted to keep trying to persuade her otherwise . . . she had a point. Love couldn’t be forced. At least not
that kind of love. But still . . . Alex was a really nice guy. “Are you sure?” she questioned. “I’m not trying to be pushy, I swear; I just don’t want you to miss your shot with him.”
“I’m not missing any shot,” Liz declared confidently. She looked back out onto the court again and cringed. “Ooh, but I think Dylan’s about to.”
Maria watched as her son shot the ball from well beyond the three point line. The aim was off, and it fell far short.
Max clenched his fist and brought it up to his mouth to keep from saying anything for a moment. When he did say something again, it was directed to the whole team. “Hustle up, back on defense now.” As they ran down to the other side of the court, he shook his head in disappointment.
It’s okay, Dylan, Maria thought. He was trying his best, but it just didn’t seem like basketball was going to be his sport. She knew it would be hard for Max to accept that, but he would have to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Thanks for stopping by, Michael.”
“Yeah, no problem.” It was his last day in Roswell. He figured he should go see Kyle’s dad before he left. That man had been a better father to him growing up than his own dad had been.
“And listen, I’m glad to hear Kyle’s making progress,” Jim went on as he walked Michael towards the door, “but if he slips up or backtracks in any way, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“I won’t.”
Jim smiled appreciatively. “He’s lucky to have a friend like you.”
Michael chuckled, recalling the nights when Kyle had had to lug him home after too much drinking, or the days when he’d had to force him into the weight room after school. “Well, I’m lucky to have a friend like him, too.” If Kyle hadn’t helped get him through high school . . . who the hell knew where he’d be right now.
“Good to see you,” Jim said again, giving him a handshake.
“Yeah,” Michael agreed, rerouting the conversation to something lighthearted before he left. “Hey, just outta curiosity, do you think being a grandpa’s gonna damage your pimp cred at all?”
“My
pimp cred?” Jim echoed.
“Yeah. I mean, you were like my
idol growin’ up. The way you constantly had this rotating circle of chicks in your life . . . it was amazing.”
“Well, I’m getting older,” Jim acknowledged, “so I think I’m getting ready to settle down now.”
“Really?” That was surprising. Michael had always pictured Kyle’s dad as a lifelong bachelor. “With who?”
“Who knows?” Jim said. “Maybe Amy DeLuca.”
Michael snorted. “Amy DeLuca?” Oh, yeah, that sounded like a picnic.
“We’re back together again,” Jim informed him. “Actually, she’s on her way over here right now.”
Michael froze in horror. “What?”
“Yeah, she should be here any minute.”
Oh, fuck. He couldn’t be there when she showed up. That’d be a disaster. “Gotta go,” he said, sprinting out the door. He didn’t even make it to his car, though, when he saw the worst thing ever: There she was, Amy DeLuca, pulling into the driveway, right behind his car, blocking him in.
I’m trapped, he thought, panicked. There was no escape. Unless he just made a run for it, which he was seriously contemplating.
Amy didn’t look particularly pleased to see him, either. After she shut off her car, she just sat behind the steering wheel for a few seconds, glaring at him through the windshield. When she did get out, all she said was, “Michael,” and it radiated hostility.
“Amy,” he returned equally coldly.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. No, not
asked. More like
demanded.
“I’m on Christmas break,” he explained. “Thought I’d stop by and see Jim.” Although if he’d known he was going to run into her while he was over here, he would have skipped this whole thing altogether.
“How long are you gonna be in town?” she asked, slowly walking towards him.
“Leavin’ tomorrow.”
“Hmm.” She looked him up and down, as if she were inspecting him. She’d
always looked at him like that, like he was an insect she wanted to squash so badly. “Well, I’m glad I ran into you, actually.”
“Wish I could say the same,” he muttered quietly.
“I’ve been meaning to confront you about this . . . re-emerging relationship you and my daughter seem to have.”
“Relationship?” He bristled. “We’re friends.”
“That’s what she told me, but I’m just having a hard time believing it.”
He grunted. Of course. Of course she was.
“I don’t remember a time when the two of you were ever
just friends,” she snapped.
“We were.”
“No, you weren’t,” she argued. “I think whether you realized it or not, you fell madly in love with each other, and then you fell into bed a whole bunch of times, and then my grandson fell off a bridge.”
“And I jumped in after him,” he made sure to remind her.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re a hero,” she remarked sarcastically. “Although you are the reason he fell in the first place, so . . .”
“Yeah, Max is part of that reason, too,” he pointed out quickly. Hell, he’d own up to his own mistakes if people at least started to hold Max accountable for his role in the whole thing.
“But he’s a much different person now than he was back then,” Amy said.
“So am I.”
It was like she didn’t even hear him, or want to. “He’s a good man and a good father, and he and Maria are building a nice life together. I’d hate to see you ruin that.”
“What the--” He threw his hands up in the air. This damn woman. She was so determined to make him out to be the villain no matter what. “I’m not fucking ruining anything! And for your information, I’ve got my own life. I’ve got a job, got a girlfriend.”
“Yes, I seem to recall you had a girlfriend last time, too.”
“This is different!” he roared.
“Oh, is it now?”
“Yeah, I’ve been with her for two years, and I’m in love with her, and I’m probably gonna spend the rest of my life with her.”
“Probably?” she noted.
“Yeah.” Dammit, this was pissing him off.
“Well, I hope so, Michael,” she said. “You’ve certainly broken enough hearts already. You really don’t need to add more to that total.”
He grunted and shook his head, growling out angrily, “Fuck you, Amy.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, you know what? Just move your fucking car so I can fucking leave.”
“Gladly.” She stomped back to her car, got in, and backed it up out onto the street.
Fucking bitch, Michael thought as he climbed in his car and floored it out of the driveway. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
The whole drive home, he was fuming. It was people like Amy DeLuca who made Roswell miserable for him. She didn’t know anything about him anymore, about who he was or where his life was going, yet she just
assumed he was going to cheat on Sarah? No. No way.
She didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maria sat up in bed that night, playing Trivia Crack on her phone. She had three games going—one against Liz, one against Alex, and one against Max’s mom—and she was losing all three of them. If there were more questions about music, maybe she’d stand a chance at winning, but she kept getting these damn science questions, which Liz especially was good at.
When Max staggered in, shirtless and in sweatpants, he looked haggard. “I’m so tired,” he groaned, barely making it to the bed before he just flopped down. “Today was a long day.”
“It was,” she agreed, mentally kicking herself when she got the answer to an entertainment question wrong. “They played better in the second game, though.”
“Still not good enough.” He yawned and pulled the covers up under his arms.
“At least Dylan ended up making a basket, though,” she pointed out. He and Luke were the
only kids on their team who had scored.
“He just doesn’t like it,” Max bemoaned. “None of ‘em do. It’s like Michael brainwashed all of ‘em into thinking football’s the only cool sport.”
Clearly this conversation was taking a turn, so Maria set her phone aside. “Max.”
“What?”
“Are you jealous?”
He exhaled heavily. “Maybe a little. No, not—I don’t know. Not jealous. That’s not the right word.”
“Then what is?” Obviously he was upset, and he wouldn’t feel any better until he talked about it.
“I think I’m just . . . regretful,” he said contemplatively. “Because I know Michael had Dylan throwin’ a football around before he was even three years old, and maybe if I’d been around . . . well, maybe I could’ve had him shooting hoops.”
“It’s just a game, Max,” she reminded him. He didn’t need to dwell on it. Certain people were just more inclined to certain sports. And other people, like her, had no sports talent whatsoever. So at least Dylan had inherited Max’s athleticism.
“I know,” he said. “Hey, we’ll just have to see how baseball goes this summer. Maybe that’ll be his best sport.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, appreciating that he could at least be a little light-hearted about it.
“We just gotta win some games,” he said. “And I gotta try to make it fun for them.”
“You will.” If he didn’t take it so seriously, then the kids would loosen up out on the court. They’d win a game or two, and Dylan would score some more points. And even if it wasn’t his favorite sport, it wouldn’t be something he hated doing, either.
“Anyway . . . time to go to bed,” he decided, reaching over to turn out the light.
“Wait a minute.”
He reached back over and turned it on again. “What?”
“Well, I was kinda thinking that we should figure out what our plans are for tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” he echoed.
“Yeah. New Year’s Eve.”
“Oh, right.” He rubbed his forehead, right in between his eyebrows as though he had a headache. “I don’t know, I was kinda thinking we just might stay in.”
“Really?” That was what they’d done last year.
“Well, yeah, we don’t have a babysitter lined up for Dylan.”
“Alex is watching Scarlet,” she told him. “Maybe he’d watch Dylan, too.”
“Maybe,” Max said. “Where do you wanna go?”
“Well . . . Sarah kind of invited us to this party she and Michael are having tomorrow night,” she replied, making sure to add, “And Liz, too.” For some reason, it always felt better with Liz there. Strength in numbers, perhaps.
“So she’s goin’?” Max asked.
“I think so.”
“And you wanna go, too?”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind,” she said casually. “I mean, we’re young. We shouldn’t be cooped up on New Year’s.”
“I know,” he said, “but I’m so tired, and my throat’s startin’ to hurt. I think I’m comin’ down with something.”
“Oh.” Well, if he was getting sick, then he shouldn’t be going anywhere. “Okay. Yeah, we’ll just stay home then.”
“No, if you wanna go, you should go,” he said. “You and Liz . . . girl’s night or whatever.”
“Yeah, but . . .” New Year’s wasn’t exactly
girl’s night for anyone. It was a romantic holiday, what with the midnight kiss and everything. “I don’t just wanna leave you here.”
“How about we just see what we feel like doing tomorrow, huh?” he suggested. “Sound good?”
“Yeah,” she said as he turned out the light again, obviously longing to get to sleep. But the problem with that was that she already knew what she felt like doing. She wanted to go.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michael was so happy to leave Roswell. Being back in Carlsbad was like breathing fresh air again. Plus, his New Year’s party was going to kick ass. He was looking forward to it.
Since the dorms weren’t open again until tomorrow, they had to go off campus to host the party. But it worked out, because it was easier to have alcohol off campus, and Monk was fine with it. He rented his house, which he lived in alone, and it was a good space. People would show up.
“Is it even legal to shoot fireworks this time of year?” Sarah asked him while he tested out some bottle rockets in Monk’s driveway.
“Guess we’ll find out.” He took a few steps back and told her to plug her ears, because she hated the high-pitched sound this particular firecracker made. She did so right as it whistled up into the air.
“Where’d you get ‘em?” she asked.
“I know a guy.”
“How much did they cost?”
“You don’t wanna know.” Ever since he could remember, he’d loved blowing stuff up. But fireworks didn’t
just have to be reserved for the Fourth of July. They worked for New Year’s, too.
“Do you have any colorful ones?” she inquired.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna wait until it’s darker to shoot ‘em off.” He had a few more bottle rockets to keep himself occupied until then.
“I like fountains,” she said. “Did you get any of those?”
“Just for you.”
“Aw . . .” She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
The front door opened, and Monk came outside for the first time in hours. “Alright, I’m heading out,” he announced.
“What? You’re leaving?” Sarah said.
“Yeah, I don’t really party.”
Well, that went without saying, but he was still technically
hosting the party. “But Monk, it’s your house,” Michael pointed out.
“I trust you guys,” he said. “Besides, you know how awkward I get when things get crowded. And then I get even more awkward when things get awkward.”
“Yeah, you’re just awkward in general,” Michael agreed. “Well, if you’re sure you wanna go . . .”
“I’m sure,” Monk said. “I’m gonna go hang out with my gaming community tonight.”
That sounded . . . awful to Michael, but to Monk, it was probably the perfect way to ring in the new year. “Alright, well . . . have fun, man.”
“We won’t let things get too crazy around here,” Sarah assured him. “Bye, Monk.” She gave him a quick hug, but he didn’t really hug her back. He just held his hands out to the sides stiffly, and his eyes got really wide, as if he wasn’t used to having a girl hug him.
“Bye,” he said, quickly scampering down the sidewalk.
“He’s so weird,” Sarah said. “But nice.”
“Yeah,” Michael agreed, flicking the lighter on and off. He was just itching to set off a few more fireworks before people started showing up.
“Hey, so guess what?” she chirped. “Tess said she and Kyle are coming.”
“Oh, good.” Then this would be the first New Year’s in a long time that they hadn’t sat at home and watched the ball drop on TV.
“Yeah, hopefully it goes better than their last date,” she said.
“Well, Tess needs to get her head out of her ass and realize how hard Kyle’s trying,” Michael said.
“Or . . . Kyle needs to realize how far he’s alienated Tess and that it might take a long time to earn her trust back.”
“How long, huh?”
She sighed. “Hopefully just a few more months.”
“Yeah, really.” Soon enough, they’d
have to be more united, because they’d have a baby to take care of. Probably a son.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While she was putting on makeup, Maria heard Max blowing his nose. Not a good sign. His prediction that he was getting sick was definitely turning out to be true. He wouldn’t be up to going anywhere tonight.
But I still wanna go, she thought, feeling bad for being so selfish. She hadn’t seen Michael in days, though, and she wanted to. She had something to give him.
“Max?” she said quietly as she went out into the living room. “You sound miserable.”
“I am,” he said, sneezing into the crook of his arm. “I think I’ve just been burning the candle at both ends between work and coaching.”
“Well, you’ve got a cold. Of course you feel tired.”
“Yeah, I can’t go anywhere tonight. I’m sorry,” he said.
“That’s okay.” She didn’t know how to ask him if it was fine for her to still go, though. She knew she didn’t need his permission, but it would be nice to know that he wouldn’t be upset if she left.
“I think Dylan and I are both gonna fall asleep early tonight,” he said.
“Is he getting sick, too?”
“No, he’s just still tired from the tournament yesterday.” His face wrinkled as he sneezed again.
“Well, I should . . . I should probably stay home and take care of you guys,” Maria said.
“We’ll be fine,” he assured her. “You go with Liz. Have a good time.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Because I can stay . . .” she offered halfheartedly.
“Maria. Just go. Have fun. Tell Sarah I’m sorry I couldn’t come.”
“Okay,” she said, downplaying her excitement. She really did wish he could have gone with her. “I’ll be home in time to kiss you at midnight,” she promised.
“Alright, sounds like a plan.”
She nodded. Yes, it did.
Liz offered to swing by and pick her up, but they had to drive separately since Maria planned on leaving earlier. They arrived around the same time, though, at the address Sarah had texted them, and the party was already in full swing. There were so many cars parked along the street that they had to park a few blocks away. Music was playing from inside the house, but a lot of people were outside in the driveway, shooting off fireworks. Right as Maria got out of the car, a huge colored flair crackled high above them in the air. Blue and yellow. West Roswell colors.
“This looks fun,” Liz remarked.
Of course it did. No party Michael threw would be boring.
“Let’s find, Sarah,” Liz suggested, motioning for Maria to follow her up the driveway.
“Okay.” Maria didn’t want to be attached to either Liz or Sarah the whole night, though. She needed a moment alone with Michael.
Right now, though, that would be impossible, because he was surrounded by people. He and his friend Fly both had lighters in their hands, so apparently they were the ones setting off the fireworks.
She caught his eye and waved subtly, and he gave her a head nod in response. That was nonverbal Michael code for Hey. Fly, on the other hand, was very verbal. “Maria, Maria!” he sang out in his best Santana impersonation voice. “Hey, girl!
Caliente!”
Maria laughed at him, shaking her head. He was a horn-dog, but not in a Ryan Adderman way.
“Do you know him?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, that’s Fly. He’s Michael’s friend.”
“Do you know all of Michael’s friends?”
“I’ve met a few of them a few times.” She looked back over her shoulder, at the group surrounding Michael as she and Liz went in the house. Just like high school, he was the center of attention. Everyone was drawn to him. It was impossible not to be.
There was much less activity going on inside, but there were a few people dancing, eating, making out on the couch, or plastering themselves to the keg. Sarah was standing at the window, though, talking to a girl Maria didn’t recognize.
“Hey, Sarah!” Liz chirped, practically skipping towards her.
“Hey!” Sarah exclaimed, immediately halting her conversation to give Liz a hug. “I’m so glad you guys could come.” She gave Maria a hug, too, and then quickly introduced all of them. “Oh, this is my friend Cheryl. Cheryl this is Maria and Liz.”
“Hi,” Cheryl said.
“Nice to meet you,” Liz said.
“You, too.”
“Cheryl is married to Steve, one of Michael’s really good friends,” Sarah explained.
“Steve.” Maria tried to match a face with that name, but she couldn’t. “I don’t think I’ve met him.”
“Oh, he’s been pretty sequestered lately,” Cheryl said. “We just had a baby a month and a half ago.”
“Oh, wow, congratulations,” Liz said.
“Thanks.”
“That’s amazing,” Maria said, noting the woman’s petite figure. “You look great.”
“Oh, I still need to lose a couple pounds,” Cheryl said, holding one hand to her stomach.
“Oh, please,” Sarah scoffed. “If I look half as good as you do after I have a baby, I’ll be thrilled.”
You’ll probably look amazing, Maria thought.
You’ll have one of those perfect basketball-shaped tummies, and you’ll lose the weight in two seconds flat.
“So where’s Max?” Sarah inquired.
“Oh, he couldn’t come,” Maria told her. “He’s getting a cold.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Yeah.” Truthfully, though, as horrible as it sounded . . . tonight might actually be a little bit easier without him. Sometimes it was hard for her to act natural when he and Michael were in the same place at once.
“There’s a lot of stuff going around,” Cheryl said. “Steve wasn’t feeling all that great, either, but he was determined not to miss this tonight. This is, like, our first night out since Nathan was born.”
“Then you needed this,” Sarah said.
“Yeah, you can’t devote your
entire life to parenting,” Liz agreed. “I learned that early on. I love my daughter more than anything, but I need to go outside sometimes and just have fun and feel young and free, you know?”
“Definitely,” Cheryl agreed.
Maria started to drift off from their conversation, even though, as the most experienced mother of the bunch, she certainly could have taken part in it. While the three of them talked, she pretended to listen while inconspicuously looking out the window at the people—mostly guys—in the driveway. Michael was drinking with them, but he didn’t look wasted. He just looked . . . lively. He was laughing at things they said, and they were laughing at things he said, and the only thing that diverted their attention was another firework going off in the sky. Maria couldn’t see the colors from inside, but she saw the light, saw the way it illuminated Michael’s whole face. For a split second, he looked so young, almost like a boy. But when the firework’s light faded and his conversation picked back up, he looked like a man again.
She tried to look away . . . but she just couldn’t.
TBC . . .
-April
I mean, I love her in the show.
if you'd like.
