:behrluv32 - Thanks
.lazza - Even though I was there in May/June, it was only 15 degrees and rainy and a lot colder than California!
anonymousarfan - Thanks
. To be honest, I really haven't thought as far ahead as what's going to happen once they get back home!harroc83 - I've always thought that I'd like to live in NYC (it's supposed to be 8 times safer than London (where I may end up living next year)
.roswell3053 - Thanks and don't worry, they will get 'together' eventually
.POM - Thank you
. I'm always pointing out the places I've been when they are shown on the TV or in films 
.begonia9508 - Yeah, that tour must be popular. Unfortunately we didn't have time to get off the bus at every place we wanted to
.kismet - Liz will get her chance soon
.dreamer destiny - I loved it when I was there - it was almost like being back at home - the atmosphere and the weather; but at the same time it was really different
.clueless - Thanks
. Part Twenty-One
I guess I must have been as exhausted as Max last night because I don’t wake up until after ten in the morning. Max is not in the bed with me and for a moment, I panic, wondering where he is; but then I hear the shower running in the bathroom and I sigh at my stupidity. It’s not like he can go very far in this room anyway,.
I yawn loudly (it’s not as if he’s going to hear me from here) and stretch languidly, making the most of the space in the bed. I smile as I feel the still-warm sheets where Max has been sleeping. Obviously, he’s only just woken up as well. Normally I would be slightly annoyed at the fact that we slept so long when we have a whole city to explore, but I am just too relaxed to care this morning; and besides, we saw and did most of the important things yesterday, so we can afford to be a bit more flexible with our time.
I give one more stretch before pulling back the covers and slowly climbing out of bed. I decide against having a shower after Max is done, since I’m planning on taking one as part of my ‘getting-ready’ routine before we go to the show tonight, so I just pull on a sweater and denim skirt outfit and brush my hair back into a ponytail.
I feel along the front of my teeth with my tongue, deciding that I really need to clean them. Like I told Max before, I just hate not brushing as soon as I get up and I figure that since Max seems to have no problems undressing in front of me, I’m sure he won’t mind if I use the sink while he’s in the shower. After all, he will be out of sight behind the curtain.
I walk over to the bathroom door and knock lightly on it; but then I realise that he’s not likely to hear it with the water running and so I knock more firmly.
“Max?” I call.
I wait a few seconds and when he doesn’t reply I knock loudly once more and call his name again.
“Yeah?” comes his slightly muffled reply.
“Do you mind if I come in?” I ask. “I need to brush my teeth.”
“Sure,” he calls back. “Come on in.”
“Thanks,” I say as I turn the handle and slip into the room, closing the door behind me. As I walk over to the sink, I try not to focus on the thought of Max’s naked body standing behind the shower curtain, barely a couple of metres away from me. The bathroom mirror has fogged up with the steam from the shower and I have to use my arm to wipe it away.
“Sleep well?” Max’s smooth voice drifts across the room.
“Yeah, like the dead,” I return with a smile, reaching for the toothpaste.
“Me too,” he replies, his tone amused. “I’m sorry I feel asleep on you last night, though.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I reassure him as I squeeze a small amount of the gooey substance onto my toothbrush.
“So, where are we going today then?” I hear him ask, barely a second after I’ve shoved the brush into my mouth and started brushing frantically.
“Mmm,” is all I can manage with a mouth full of minty toothpaste.
I guess Max doesn’t hear my mumbles because the next thing I know, his head pops round the edge of the curtain to peer at me in question. What a flattering position to be caught in by your boyfriend of barely a week!
He starts laughing as he gets a good look at my face and I just raise my eyebrows at him in a ‘What?’ gesture.
“Um, sorry,” he smirks. “You just have a little…” he points to his chin and a quick glance in the mirror to my right shows that I have a trail of toothpaste foam running down my chin.
I roll my eyes and turn to spit it out in the sink, wiping my chin in the process.
“Oh, ha ha, very funny, Max.”
He just grins and shakes his head at me, disappearing behind the curtain again.
Turning off the water in the shower, he asks again, “So today? What’s going on? Apart from the show tonight, I mean.”
“How about we do the uptown tour today?” I suggest. “It goes past here and up into Harlem.”
His hand appears and reaches for his towel, pulling it off the heated towel rail on the wall.
“Sounds good,” I hear from behind the curtain.
I’m about to say something more, but the sound of the curtain being pulled back and then the appearance of a dripping-wet, towel-clad Max emerging from the shower cuts off my train of thought. I bite back a sound of surprise and I feel my cheeks getting hot. No matter how many times I see his bare chest, my reaction is always the same. I wonder briefly, why it never affected me before this trip. Surely, I must have noticed this gorgeous body before this?
“Sorry,” he grins as he steps out of the shower, seemingly oblivious to my apparent lack of speech, “I’ll just get out of your way now.”
He exits the bathroom, leaving me to support myself against the sink and that’s when I decide that tonight’s the night. We’ll go to the show and have a great time, and when we get back, he’s going to be ravished.
Tonight is going to be all about him.
***
The uptown tour is really interesting. We see all these really old churches and mosques and we get a taste of the part of Manhattan Island that you usually don’t get to see in TV and films. After we get off the bus back in Time’s Square, we grab some lunch from a small deli and then go shopping. We visit the large Toys ‘R’ Us store, which has a huge Ferris wheel inside it and then the Virgin Megastore next door.
As we walk around Times Square, I notice a big Hershey’s store and drag Max inside it. Although I’m not too keen on Hershey’s chocolate, my parents love it and I realise that I have to buy them lots of different flavoured bars and packets of Kisses.
We get back to the hotel in the early evening so that I can have enough time to shower and change for the show. Max doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to take him out to dinner afterwards. I saw an Olive Garden restaurant in the middle of Times Square earlier and I know how much he likes the food there.
After my shower, I get dressed, deciding on a purple strappy top with a crossover bust line and silver sequins along the top, a dark, flowing skirt and open-toed sandals. Max looks positively gorgeous in black slacks and a dark green shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his strong lower arms and the top couple of buttons casually undone.
Honestly, I can’t stop staring as I watch him emerge from the bathroom, his hair combed just the way I like it (although I haven’t told him that yet) and his face freshly shaved. We get ready to leave the room and he takes my hand in his. As he leans in to kiss my cheek, I get a whiff of his aftershave and have to close my eyes at the feelings that just that scent invokes in me.
We hail a cab down to 42nd Street since I would prefer not to take the subway at night, especially when I’m all dressed up and we end up making it to our seats in the theatre stalls just in time for the beginning of the show.
Three hours later, we leave the theatre completely in awe of the performance we’ve just witnessed. Before tonight, I’d been a bit sceptical of how the Lion King would work on the stage, but it was absolutely amazing. The way that the costumes were designed allowed the cast members to look just like real animals and the whole atmosphere that the show provided was just incredible.
Even Max, who is a self-proclaimed action-movie geek, loved it. I can tell by the way he’s talking my ear off right now about the ‘coolness that was the show’ (his words, not mine). I’m getting a warm, fuzzy feeling just watching him, with his hands gesturing wildly as he talks. He’s too wrapped up in everything we’ve seen that I don’t have time to tell him about the dinner I have planned until we’re right outside the Olive Garden. I have to stop and wait for him to realise that I’m no longer beside him before I can reveal my intention.
His eyebrows raise and his mouth opens in surprise when I tell him that I’m taking him to dinner.
“Liz, oh my God, this is too much. You didn’t have to do this for me,” he protests with a shake of his head. “And anyway, aren’t I supposed to take you out for dinner, not the other way around?”
“Max,” I say, putting my hand on his arm. “I want to. And besides, you paid for the hotel in Vegas. This is the least I can do.” I smile and add teasingly, “Just shut up and enjoy it while you can, because once I’m a student, I won’t be able to afford to take you out to dinner.”
He chuckles and I can tell that he’s given in because he takes my arm and reaches out and opens the restaurant door for me.
“Table for two,” I tell the waitress in the foyer. She nods and leads us to a small table in the corner. She hands us two menus and takes our drink order (two cherry cokes) before leaving us to decide what to order. A quick glance at the main courses makes me realise that we’re going to have to budget. This is a lot more expensive than back home.
Luckily, Max notices this too and opens his mouth to protest once again, “Liz, maybe we shouldn’t – ”
“Hey, I’ve already planned this. There’s no way we’re not eating here now. We’ll just have to be careful about what we order,” I say, glancing back down at the menu. I scan my eyes over the cheapest dishes, realising that the more expensive ones sound much nicer. I deliberate over what to order for a couple of minutes, but then a smirk slides over my face. I’ve just had an idea.
“Hey, Max,” I look up to find him looking at me instead of the menu. The expression on his face makes me blush, but I resist the urge to bury my face back in the menu. “Here’s a thought; instead of both of us ordering something cheap, how about we just get one nicer dish and share?”
Max looks slightly dubious at my suggestion and I can’t resist adding, “Hey, if we get spaghetti, maybe we’ll get to have a Lady and the Tramp moment,” I emphasise my point by wiggling my eyebrows suggestively and Max bursts out laughing. The sound of his deep chuckle makes me shiver and suddenly I can’t wait until later, when we get back to the hotel.
“Okay, okay” he holds up his hands, in surrender a few moments. “You’ve convinced me. We’ll share. Like you said, you never know what might happen,” he winks.
We decide on the spaghetti bolognaise, just for the hell of it. It’s delicious, but sadly, we don’t end up both chewing on the same strand of spaghetti, no matter how hard Max tries to find the two ends of the same piece for us to eat together. The desserts are too pricey for my budget, but that doesn’t matter because the main course was filling enough.
When it comes time to pay the bill, Max tries to be sneaky and hide it while I’m in the bathroom, so that he can pay. But I know all his expressions, especially the guilty ones, and the second I return, I demand it back from him and pay it myself; although, at his insistence, I do let him take care of the tip.
We leave the restaurant hand-in-hand and while Max hails a cab, I take in the atmosphere of Times Square at night. I snuggle up to him on the ride back to 94th Street and his arm slips around his shoulders, pulling me close.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” he murmurs against my hair. “I had a great time.”
I smile against his chest. “Don’t thank me just yet,” I tell him. “There’s still more to come.”
He pulls back slightly, the questions visible in his eyes; but he doesn’t have time to say anything because at that moment, the cab pulls up outside the hotel. With a mischievous grin, I climb out of the car, leaving a bewildered and intrigued Max to pay the fare (I have no cash left on me).
He spends the entire elevator ride up to our room trying to make me tell him what exactly I have planned, but my lips are sealed. We step out of the elevator and I unlock the door to our room. Closing it behind us as we enter, I reach up and place a sweet kiss on his lips. His arms come around my waist and he tries to deepen it, but I have to pull away.
“Stay right there,” I tell him with a grin. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
With a pout, he reluctantly lets me go and I step into the bathroom. I close the door and let my head fall back against it as I think about what I’m about to do for the first time in my life.
I’m so nervous; there are butterflies in my stomach and my hands are suddenly sweaty.
Come on, You can do this. I tell myself. This is Max. He knows you better than anyone.
I take a deep breath to calm myself and then step away from the door. I give myself a quick once-over in the mirror and deciding that I look pretty much all right, I make my way back over to the door and open it, ready to face Max.
TBC…
There's a bit of a mix of pics today, but here they are anyway:
Broadway and W. 94th St.(from the hotel window)
An old church (on the uptown tour)
Wall Street
The Brooklyn Bridge (I think)
Chinatown
I haven't had a chance to upload all of the pics to my Photobucket album yet, so I'll post more with the next part
.
!
! I love the Lion King - it was the best show I've ever been to.
!
