Accompanying music, "Cannonball" by Damien Rice.
<center>Chapter 17: Part 2- First Date</center>
Reading each other like creepy carnival psychics was a great ice breaker, don’t you think?
Both of them were right on the nose when it came to figuring out who the other really was. How the hell does that happen? Fact of the matter is, it just doesn’t. So when I’m saying that these two were special, I mean they were special, for each other, you know? It’s obvious really. She called him on his bullshit and he called her on hers. I’m not going to say that they were meant to be together. I mean, yeah, that sentiment works with these two, but I’m not a believer in destiny, and neither is Max, remember? I’ll let you know exactly what I think about these two later in the story. It’s too early to say. We did just get started on this journey, right? There’s no use in spoiling.
But between you and me, you know where this is going, don’t you?
“So…” Max grinned. He had continued leaning against the table with his arms crossed and his shoulders slightly hunched forward. That was the real Max. When he sat at his desk and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his feet up on the table, that was Basil Deo Max. The way he boyishly sat at the table with Liz, that was real Max and he felt the most comfortable then than ever before. “Do you want to get some dinner?” he asked her.
Liz smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah, but we’re not going to Ronin,” she grinned.
Max gave a little chuckle and quickly got to his feet. He snatched his jacket off the back of his seat and rushed to Liz’s side of the table and started helping her out of her chair. “You know I own Ronin,” he realized.
And Liz nodded, thanking him for helping her and in response to his statement. “Which is why we’re not going there,” she told him with a somewhat devious, albeit, playful grin, and the two started walking down the street. “I know a few other things,” she said. “Like, despite last night’s misleading conversation, I know that you’re not old enough to have a teenage son.”
“I told you,” Max insisted, “he’s my brother.”
Liz bobbed her head. “I understand that now. You’re only 26. You’d have to had him when you were nine.”
Max chuckled again. He was laughing a lot actually. “And how do you know how old I am?” he wondered. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and continued strolling down the sidewalk with Liz next to him.
“I did a little research,” she replied. “Do you know how famous you are?”
The tall man shook his head. “I’m not famous,” he said modestly.
Liz scoffed. “I consider you famous when I can Google your name and discover a fan site dedicated to you.”
“Really?” Max asked. “A fan site dedicated to me?”
“Like you don’t—” Liz stopped and spun around, studying her surroundings. “Where are we going?”
Max had stopped a foot in front of Liz and discovered they walked a great distance. He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I was following you.”
Liz looked over her shoulder and started walking back.
“Wait, where are you going?” Max wondered.
He jogged after her as she marched and he watched her closely since she just kept on walking without saying a word. Was she running away him? No, she’d be moving a lot faster if she was running away. Eventually, Liz walked towards a line of cars parked parallel to the curb, stopping at a green jeep.
“You’re stealing a car?” Max laughed when he noticed Liz fiddling around with the door. “I know we’re lost, but we can just walk back. And a Jeep?” He noticed the car parked behind the green vehicle. “You couldn’t have picked the Vette?”
Liz continued fiddling with the door. “What’s wrong with my Jeep?” she rhetorically wondered. The door became unlocked and Liz pulled it open, turning to Max with her tongue stuck out. She snatched her tongue back into her mouth and tilted her head toward the car. “Hop in.”
<center>*~*</center>
“Who did this?!” Valenti exclaimed.
Three different newspapers laid on his desk. On the front page of each one was a story about a fishing boat accident—Excuse me, that would be “freak” fishing boat accident, as quoted by two out of the three papers. One of James Valenti’s fishing boats exploded in the middle of Los Angeles Harbor on a Friday night. It was publicity that Valenti didn’t want or need.
“We have an idea as to who,” Gio reported to his boss and best friend.
Valenti paced behind his desk, staring out the windows that reached from the ceiling to the floor. He was burning red with anger with the sternest look on his face. His very first assignment and things went to hell. It was a simple job: Get the goods onto the boat and take it up to Seattle. If he succeeded, Jimmy would have been able to add Congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker to his little black book. He’d get to know her and continue doing business with her, long enough to get dirt on her and turn her into the FBI, but it looks like Whitaker might be a little ticked since thousands of dollars of narcotics sank to the bottom of the harbor. Valenti failed this task. He wasn’t able to keep Whitaker’s goods safe. That wasn’t good for your reputation.
But his boat didn’t just spontaneously explode. It wasn’t a freak accident like the newspapers and police were claiming it to be. Valenti knew that someone was out to get him, to destroy him. Maybe people knew that he was out of prison because he made a deal, but no one knew that, except for Alex and Gio. They wouldn’t betray Valenti. Or maybe old organizations just wanted to sink Valenti and put him out of business permanently. That explanation was more feasible than the prior. Now, the question was…
“Who?” Valenti demanded to know. “Who did this?”
Gio stood in front of his boss’s desk with his arms nervously behind his back. “Our men,” he began to explain, “and Whitaker’s men were found covered in basil leaves.”
Valenti froze. He stopped crossing his arms in front of his chest and stuffed them into his pockets. His hands clenched into fists. “Basil Deo?” he said.
“It had to be a calling card,” Gio insisted.
Jimmy scoffed. “Just because Basil and basil are spelled alike, he thinks he can tar and feather my men with basil leaves? What is he? 12?”
Gio shrugged. “I don’t know, Jimmy.”
“It was rhetorical,” Valenti sighed.
With his fists still in his pocket, James went back to pacing the width of the room. He had no idea who the hell Basil Deo was, meaning, there was nothing that he could do to get revenge, but he couldn’t think of revenge now that Whitaker was marching into his office.
“Valenti!” she yelled. The woman was tall, but she still wore heels that slapped against the wood flooring at the entrance of Valenti’s office, but even when she stepped onto the carpet, she made her presence known by marching hard. “Half a million!” she continued shouted. “Does that mean anything to you?”
As the blonde domineering woman approached the desk, Gio stumbled out of her way in fear and ran to the wall. Valenti had stopped pacing once again and grabbed his chair, placing it in front of him.
“Vanessa,” he nervously laughed.
“Half a million dollars worth of goods on that ship. I am not happy.” Her intimidating eyes stared down poor Valenti, who continued to hide behind his chair. “What the hell happened? This morning, I’ve got some of my people barging into my room covered in thyme leaves or some kind of herb.”
Giovanni placed a foot forward and leaned toward Whitaker. “They were basil leaves,” he corrected. The congresswoman turned her head and Gio was retreating back to the wall.
“Calm down,” Valenti told the woman. “Look, the basil leaves were a little message from Basil Deo.”
“Message?” Whitaker wondered. She stared at Valenti with confusion, but soon enough, she realized why she needed a message. She had double-crossed Basil Deo. She had unintentionally made an enemy. Whitaker stared Valenti down. She was never going to do business with him again. She was going to let him know that. “I am never—” she began to threaten.
The heavy wooden door to Valenti’s office opened once more. Black shoes, neatly polished, strolled across the wooden floor and onto the white carpet. All eyes were now on the stranger. He walked proudly with his cap under his arm and his hand on his hip, just above his issued gun.
“I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Congresswoman Whitaker shook her head with a smile on her face. “Not at all, Chief Hanson.”
Hanson smiled and nobly nodded. “Well, please, continue with your conversation,” he insisted. “You started by saying, ‘I am never’.”
Whitaker nervously looked at Valenti. Now, Hanson knew Whitaker’s true intentions. He knew that she was moving narcotics underground and using her title to get what she wanted. She was one bad extortionist and I mean that both ways. Bad in the “bad mother fucker” sense and bad as in horrible. Whitaker was revered, but she was also very horrible at the organized crime deal. She wasn’t the smoothest criminal and she definitely didn’t know how to clean up her tracks. She kept evidence and records of her dealings in her office for Petey’s sake.
The congresswoman nervously cleared her throat and nodded. “I was just saying,” she began, “that…I am never…” She took a moment to think and then in popped an idea. “I am never eating in your restaurant again. The service was horrible and my tiramisu was the size of a sugar cube.”
She whipped around and left the room, stomping on her way out. All three of the men left in the room—Valenti, Gio, and Chief Hanson—watched as she marched. She had thrown the door open and slammed it behind her. The second the door closed, the men started laughing.
“She has no idea,” Hanson chuckled. “Did you see the look on her face when I—”
“I know!” Gio laughed. “She was ghostly white.”
Valenti calmed himself down and realized that he was in the company of Chief of Police Hanson. It may seem like a great title, and it is, but when attached to “Hanson,” it wasn’t that big of a deal. Hanson was a goofball. He was trigger happy in the sense that he was just an overly eager guy to the point where it was annoying, but what can you do? He’s the chief of police. He’s in charge and, in this case, he was Valenti’s superior.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Valenti asked the man in uniform.
Hanson cleared his throat. “Yes,” he replied. “I’m just here to let you know that Pierce is flying in from D.C. in a week or so. He wants to know how you’re…” Hanson’s eyes caught a glimpse of the papers on Valenti’s desk. He scoffed, looking at the headlines. “He wants to know how you’re doing with everything.”
Valenti quickly swiped the papers off his desk.
“He already knows about the boat,” Hanson informed him. “There’s no point in hiding it. You can’t keep anything from Pierce.”
Valenti bit down and gritted his teeth slightly. He swallowed down hard, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “If he knows, then why bother coming?”
Hanson grinned. “He wants to know what you’re going to do about this, about Basil Deo, and if you don’t find out more about him and do something about him, then you’re going back to Eagle Rock.”
<center>*~*</center>
“Tell me about your family.” Max set down his red wine and went back to crossing his arms, placing them on the table. I told you, he was comfortable that way. “Brothers, sisters, your parents?” he asked, leaning forward and looking into Liz’s eyes.
Across from him, Liz kind of leaned against the table, but continued to follow proper etiquette, unlike Max, whose elbows seemed permanently glued onto the table. She looked down at her almost empty plate and poked at the last bits of her surf and turf. She glanced over at Max’s plate and noticed he had practically licked his plate clean. There was no evidence of the filet mignon he ordered and Liz smiled to herself.
She actually wasn’t sure if Max was going to be able to finish the humungous steak. When it first arrived, both of them stared at the huge slab of meat placed before Max. Liz’s eyes went from the steak straight up to Max’s face and she immediately giggled. He looked like he had seen a ghost. He was definitely shocked. Liz had continued giggling and when Max finally got his mind off the filet mignon, he looked up at Liz and grinned.
“I bet you I can finish this,” he said with confidence.
Liz had this sort of smirk on her face that told Max she didn’t believe him.
“If I eat all of this,” Max said, pointing down at the dead cow with his steak knife, “I get a kiss at the end of the night.”
Now, let me tell you something: That’s what Max was really thinking, and when it came to women, he never told them what he thought. He always said what he thought they wanted to hear. You got it? But tonight, it was different. He was saying what was really on his mind without second-guessing himself, wondering if what he was going to say would be appropriate. No, Max was saying what he felt. That helped Liz determine that she really was with Max and not Hollywood Max or Basil Deo Max, if she knew that one even existed.
“Maybe,” Liz had grinned.
And now, let me tell you something about Liz: She never kisses on the first date. The fact that she opened up that option was a shock. Liz didn’t even give Sean a kiss on theirs, but here she was, on this first date with a guy she barely knew. Liz had gone on a date or two with one or two guys and they were nice guys, but she told them straight up, “I don’t kiss on the first date.”
Max did something to her that made her want to do things she didn’t normally do, but you see, she did want to do these things, with the right person. It was under that façade that she wouldn’t do certain things. This, now, what you’re seeing with her and Max, that was the real Liz. She felt free and liberated. She felt that, finally, she could be who she wanted to be and not someone she had to be to hide her past. She was letting loose and she was comfortable doing it in front of Max Evans.
“Liz?”
She stopped scraping her fork across her plate and looked up.
Max gave a little chuckle. “Your family?” he said again, then he had realized that she went quiet when he asked. “Or do you not have any family? Shit—I’m sorry—”
“No, I do,” Liz smiled, primarily because she thought it was cute that Max got so nervous and embarrassed quickly. It was adorable.
“So am I going to have to guess?” Max wondered.
Liz shook her head in confusion. “About what?”
“Your family,” Max laughed.
Liz looked back down at her plate and continued moving the fat from her steak from one side to the other. Her family was…complicated. Max and Liz were pretty far into their date, she wouldn’t be able to go into detail about her family. It takes a while to explain everything. You know what I’m talking about, you went through that. Besides, Liz’s family members weren’t exactly her favorite people, namely her father, Kyle, Alex, and the conflict between them. Liz may have wanted to be the real her and not hide her past from Max, but she wasn’t ready to tell him about her family and the fact that she hid her past was because of them.
“Not a lot to say about them,” she said. “My dad’s a widow. I’ve got an older and younger brother, and two younger sisters.” As she told Max this, she didn’t look at him.
He caught the hint and nodded. “It’s the first date,” he realized. “We don’t have to dig that far deep.”
Liz smiled to herself. “Are you expecting a second date?” she asked, finally looking up at him.
Max grabbed his wine glass and proceeded to take a sip, but his main objective was to use the glass to hide his goofy grin. He managed to curl his lips around the rim of the glass and nodded, taking in a very small, practically miniscule sip. He watched his hand set the cup down and then cleared his throat. “I was hoping,” he said.
Max and Liz locked eyes, spending a moment looking into them when their waiter rushed over, slapping the check down on the table. Both of them jumped and then followed it with a chuckle to cover up their embarrassment.
Max reached for the little booklet and opened it up to study the check. A total of $70 for appetizers, the entrées, and drinks. Max placed a hundred dollar bill into the black booklet, slapped it shut, and put it back down on the table. The dinner was done, but was the date over? Max wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her right now.
“I’m stuffed,” he exhaled sharply. “What do you say we walk this food off?”
Liz smiled, but was careful to not express eagerness. Truth was she didn’t want the date to be over either. “Sounds like a good idea,” she replied.
Max got out of his seat and moved to Liz’s, helping her out of hers. Like the gentleman he was, he grabbed her coat for her and assisted her in putting it on. Liz smiled thankfully and the two of them strolled out of the busy restaurant and back to Liz’s Jeep.
As Liz drove through the streets of Beverly Hills, she and Max were silent. Usually silence between two people can get awkward, but with them, do I really have to explain? They were perfectly fine with being in each other’s company. At the moment, they didn’t have anything to say and they didn’t press for a conversation, because they were fine just sitting next to each other, and sitting in the silence right now gave the two time to reflect on the past two hours.
Liz took command of the night by not only driving, but by also picking the restaurant. She was going to do things her way and Max didn’t see that as a problem. He actually admired Liz.
At dinner, Max’s admiration for Liz grew. Conversation was easy between the two of them. They spoke to each other as if they had been friends for years. They joked and they laughed. They argued and they bickered. There wasn’t a dull moment between them.
It took them hours to get through their meal only because they were talking so much that it took them that look to eat their food. They had gotten into deep conversation about almost everything. The two of them covered the basics as far as entertainment; songs, musicians, movies, actors and actresses, television shows, etc. Television became quite a debate between the two. Neither could understand why the other favored a certain show. Max couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out the hoopla over Sex and the City and Liz didn’t know how The Simpsons could still be on air. The debate ended with Liz admitting that she used to like the cartoon but lost interest and Max admitting that he did have a crush on brunette Charlotte. Other topics that they covered were literature and art. Liz discussed college and Max revealed to Liz his dream of opening a restaurant and how he didn’t expect to be the business mogul he was. Funny thing about that was Liz just smiled at him and told Max, “I think you were born to be great.”
The Jeep stopped at a nice park in a residential community. Without question as to where he was brought, Max got out the car and helped Liz out.
“You know, you don’t have to do this,” she smiled.
Max shrugged modestly and watched as Liz’s foot touched down on the asphalt. “I want to,” he replied.
Liz smiled back appreciatively and the two started walking out of the parking lot and into the park. There were a few people around. A few couples walking dogs, a small little teen get-together, and families taking a walk. Max and Liz strolled on the pebble path lit perfectly with lamp posts.
“What about you?” Liz asked.
It was a question somewhat out of the blue. Max looked at Liz with confusion. She only smiled.
“Family,” she clarified. “You asked me about mine, what about yours? Is it just you and Thomas?”
“What makes you think that?” Max wondered.
Liz shrugged as they continued walking deeper into the park. “Last night, after the two of you and your friend hit on us—I know it was all a ploy,” she grinned.
Max blushed so much that you could see the cherry redness of his cheeks even at night. Liz smiled once again. It was adorable that he would turn so red.
“Anyway,” Liz went on. “After you found out that Thomas claimed to be your son, you pulled him aside and gave him attention that father’s give their sons, but you’re not Thomas’s father. So, since you were taking on this fatherly role, I assumed that maybe it’s just the two of you.”
Goddamn. Liz Parker really was observant. She was so much on the mark that it was damn near frightening. Despite the absence of Thomas in Max’s life for the past seven years, Max was still a father figure to his baby brother. Max was able to care and support for Thomas and Isabel. He had worked his ass off to get himself and his family to the point where they are today. It was just the three of them once Nasedo set them loose. With everything he learned from their uncle, Max established himself as the patriarch of the family.
Max made every decision regarding Thomas’s life. He was the one that decided that it was best to send Thomas away because Max’s life was just too dangerous and Max and Isabel were in no way prepared to bring up their younger brother. So Max made the conscious decision to send Thomas away. It was a damn near good idea, but they just sent him to the wrong academy since MacArthur couldn’t keep Thomas in line. With Thomas still being a minor, it looked like Max was really going to have to step it up and really become that father figure to Thomas.
“You’re close,” Max smiled to Liz. “It’s actually my sister Isabel, myself, and Will.”
Liz looked up at Max. “Will?” she wondered.
“Yeah, Thomas’s first name is actually William,” Max explained. “He just likes being called Thomas.”
“And why do you like calling him Will?”
The tall brunette shrugged his shoulders and kept looking ahead. “It’s his name, his first name, there’s nothing wrong with it, so why call him by another name?”
It was a reasonable explanation. No arguing there.
“And what about that other guy?” Liz asked. “The guy with the hair.”
Max laughed. He knew exactly who she was referring to. If you needed to describe Michael Guerin in so many words, “The guy with the hair” was perfectly sufficient. It was probably the best way to describe him and hell, Max would say that to any person who didn’t know his second-in-command.
“Michael,” Max chuckled, shaking his head. “No, Michael’s not family, but he’s practically my brother.”
Liz nodded as the two of them continued carelessly strolling through the park. Deeper into the park they went, but neither of them questioned it. They just kept on walking.
“Were you never going to tell me about Tess?” Liz wondered.
Finally, they stopped walking. Max froze still and stared at Liz in confusion and wonderment. “How do you—”
“Google,” Liz smiled.
And Max bobbed his head with a grin on his face remembering that she mentioned looking him up. She was funny, he had to give her credit. “Tess…” Max sighed. He had completely forgotten about Tess. She was the last thing on his mind and he was happy with the fact that when he’s with Liz, he completely forgets about her. “Tess and I are separated, we’re in the process of getting a divorce.”
“I’m sorry,” Liz offered.
But Max shook his head. “I’m not,” he replied. He started walking again and Liz soon followed.
“Well, good, because I don’t date married men.”
Max smiled. She definitely knew how to turn things around and make him smile. “Technically,” Max played along, “I’m still married.”
“I guess this is goodbye then.” Liz stopped and turned to Max, holding out her hand, offering a handshake.
Max turned around and chuckled. “Well, you know, Tess slept with other men while we were married, so you and I seeing each other won’t hurt.”
Liz laughed as she leaned to the side, nudging Max in the arm with her shoulder. Max joined her as he started chuckling. They went on walking, having these pleasant, humorous thoughts in their heads and came to the very center of the park. The lighting forced Max to look up and gaze at the glamorous fixture before him. An enormous fountain, like the ones you see in Italy, was right in front of him. The beautiful pool was lit from underneath the water and an amazing reflection of light fell on the statue in the middle that spilled out water into the basin. It was like a miniature Trevi Fountain and it blew Max away.
“What is this place?” he asked in awe. His eyes were absolutely fixated on the fountain.
Beside him, Liz simply shrugged her shoulders. “It doesn’t have a name,” she answered. “My mom used to take me here all the time when I was a little kid.” Liz walked forward and all the way up to the basin, sitting on the outer rim.
Continuing to gawk at the beauty of the fountain, Max joined her. When he sat down, he placed one hand down on the edge of the rim for support and let his other hand dip into the cool water. Despite it being winter, the water wasn’t freezing cold.
“How old were you when your mom died?” Max wondered. He didn’t look at her when he asked. He kept his eyes on the water.
Liz did too, staring the coins resting at the bottom of the basin. “Eighteen.”
Max didn’t know if he was crossing a line, but it’s not like Liz was stopping him. So Max pressed on, letting his curiosity take control. “Do you miss her?” he asked.
Liz still didn’t look at the man sitting beside her. She just seemed to focus in on the pennies. It had been a long while since Liz talked about her mother. Actually, she barely spoke about her. She didn’t really have anyone to talk to about it. “Yeah, I miss her,” Liz nodded. “I can’t really remember her anymore,” she admitted.
“I’m sure you can picture her.”
Liz thought about her mother and smiled. “There is this photo of her that I keep in my locker at work,” she began to say. “She’s sixteen or so and she’s sitting in her vintage Mustang. It was this beautiful classic convertible. It was a metallic blue that you couldn’t miss even in the dark of night and my mom’s sitting in the driver seat. She’s got one hand on the wheel and the other leaning against the door. She staring out the window, looking into the camera and smiling. It’s one of the happiest times I had seen her.”
While she spoke, Max had gathered the courage to look at Liz as she spoke about her mother. The fountain was no longer the center of Max’s attention. He was now fixated on Liz. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
“For our 16th birthdays,” Liz went on, not noticing Max stare at her, “my father promised us whatever car we wanted. My brothers got sports cars and my sisters got luxury cars, but I wanted my mother’s car. So the only thing my father ever genuinely did for me was finding me a rare replica of my mother’s Mustang. It had the crème white top and interior. The exterior was the exotic blue. It took my breath away like it did in the photo. Hasn’t that ever happened to you? Where you see something and you just fall in—” Liz caught herself and lowered her head in embarrassment, hiding her burning red cheeks.
Max gave a little grin and tilted his head to the side to get a look at Liz’s face and make some eye contact. “What is it?” he asked, eagerly wanting to know. “Fall in what?”
Liz shook her head, trying her best to stop smiling like a goof. “It’s nothing.” She stood up and dusted herself off. “You ready to go?”
Max nodded and stood up as well, but he took a moment to glance back at the fountain. Meanwhile, Liz had already started walking back the way the came.
“Wait a second,” Max said.
Liz turned around and watched Max fish through his pocket.
“We can’t leave without making a wish,” he smiled.
Liz grinned and walked back to Max as he held out a penny for her. Both of them turned their backs to the fountain.
“Ok, close your eyes and make a wish,” Max instructed.
Liz closed her eyes and Max did too, and the two of them took a moment to consider all the possibilities, carefully word their wishes, and wished.
“Ready?” Max asked.
Despite him not being able to see her, Liz nodded, adding it with replying “yes” aloud.
“1…” Max counted. “2…3!”
They tossed their pennies over their shoulders and kept their eyes closed until they heard two pennies dive into the water. Max and Liz turned around to see their pennies slowly float to the bottom. They came to their final resting spot at the bottom of the basin and both Max and Liz smiled satisfied.
They walked back to the car in silence and on the drive back they continued not to speak. They were really enjoying each other’s company. Max sure as hell didn’t want to ruin it by saying something stupid and Liz was feeling the same way. While they sat in Liz’s Jeep, Max didn’t look out his window as if he was bored like you see happen so many times on that one show, “Blind Date.” Max sat with his body turned toward Liz, but he didn’t stare at her, because then that would just be freaky.
Liz stopped in front of the Starbucks they met earlier and shifted the car into Park. She turned the car off and turned to Max. He had looked around, realizing that their date was minutes, possibly seconds from being over.
“Where’d you park?” Liz wondered.
Max looked over yonder. “Down the street,” he replied. He stepped out of the car and Liz did the same. “You don’t have to walk me there.”
Liz gave a little giggle and complied with a nod. “So I guess this really is goodbye.”
Max bobbed his head in agreement, watching Liz walk toward him and onto the sidewalk. “Can I ask you a question?” Max asked.
“Sure.”
Max stared at the green Jeep in front of him and with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, he pointed at Liz’s vehicle. “What’s with the Jeep?” he questioned. “What happened to the Mustang?”
Liz looked at her car, studying the forest green that it was. It definitely wasn’t the metallic blue that the Mustang was and the Jeep didn’t have the same kind of roar as her convertible. “It was just too hard to keep,” Liz answered, and she didn’t mean maintaining the car, she meant looking at the car and seeing her mother constantly.
Max cleared his throat apologetically. He didn’t really say sorry because he wasn’t sure if it was necessary. Instead, he changed the subject. “I hoped you noticed that I ate all of my dinner,” he grinned.
Liz took her eyes off her Jeep and placed them on Max. Her cheeks burnt red as she grinned. “I did notice.”
“And we had a bet,” Max reminded her.
Liz nodded. “We did.”
“So, do I get that kiss?” Max boyishly wondered.
“You don’t have to ask,” Liz told him in a polite and serious tone. The petite brunette looked into her suitor’s eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. She was nervous, insanely nervous. Why did her heart race so fast and her lungs pick up their pace? Liz took a few deep breaths and realized that there was nothing to be nervous about.
Max held his hand in a loose fist and extended his index finger. He curled that finger into a small hook and placed it just under Liz’s chin. Liz looked at Max with her eyes glued onto his and her mouth slightly open, not prepared for the kiss, but open in awe. Max stared into Liz’s eyes as well and when he brought his face closer to hers, he focused on her lips. They were the perfect shape and form and they were the perfect tint. Closer and closer they inched together and soon enough…Max turned Liz’s head to the side slightly and placed his lips firmly onto Liz’s cheek for a tender kiss.
A simple touch of Max’s lips against Liz’s skin was enough. Liz was gone. She was out of this world gone. She saw stars, solar systems, suns, and moons. Max felt a spark in his lips that awakened feelings in his body he never felt before. It was a brand new experience for both Max and Liz. It was an experience that would lead to bigger and greater things. They didn’t know it yet, but they were in for one wild ride.
Max and Liz blinked their eyes open at the same time. They instantly smiled at each other, amazed at the connection they made.
“Th—That was…nice,” Max stammered. He was grinning goofily.
Liz giggled, nodding in agreement. “It was.”
Max placed his hands on both of Liz’s upper arms, sliding his hands up and down to warm her up. He sighed regretfully, not wanting to say the words he was about to speak. “I—I don’t want to say goodnight but—”
“It’s getting late,” Liz nodded.
And Max agreed, bobbing his head as well. He started walking Liz back to her side of the car where he opened the door. He helped her into the driver seat and closed the door. Leaning against the open window, Max grinned. “Back at the park, what’d you wish for?” he wondered.
Liz started the car as she shook her head. “If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
“Fine,” Max sighed. “I’ll tell you what I wished for.”
“Are you sure?”
Max nodded with confidence. “I wished that you and me,” he looked down for a moment and nervously cleared his throat, “—whatever this may become—I wished that we work out, because, despite what you might think, I’m nothing like what you read in the tabloids or see on TV. I like you, Liz. I want this to happen.”
Liz was absolutely shocked. She wasn’t scared, fearing that maybe things were moving to fast. No. Liz was shocked because Max really wanted this to happen. He was upfront and honest, and some girls might be scared by that, but Liz wasn’t. She was surprised that Max was already thinking about this.
“You told me,” she said to him. “Now, it’s not going to come true now.”
Max shook his head wearing a smirk on his face. “I’ll make it come true,” he confided in her. Max patted the door as he stood up. “Goodnight, Liz Parker.”
Liz smiled. “Goodnight, Max Evans.”
<center>*~*</center>
Max pulled his black 1987 Porsche 911 into the garage, parking in between his 2000 Porsche boxster and his brand new Porsche GT. He threw his door open, nearly nicking the car beside him, but Max didn’t care if he did or didn’t. He just had the best night of his life.
Nic caught the pair of keys thrown at him by Max and grabbed a clean rag from the cabinet, ready to clean off the car just brought in. “You have a good night, sir?” he asked.
With his hands in his pockets as he strolled through the garage, Max shrugged. “It was pretty good.”
“It better have been good!” Michael stormed into the garage, scaring Nic, the fairly tall and large driver who scurried off. “Max, where the hell were you?”
“I had that date.”
“I called you at least ten times!” Michael complained. “The researchers needed to talk to you and Isabel had a horrible meeting with Tess’s lawyers. You need to—” But Michael watched as Max started carelessly walking away. “Where the hell are you going?”
“To bed,” Max replied over his shoulder.
It was a great night. Max’s day was over and he wanted to go to bed to dream about Liz.
I just wanted to give a little "Thank You" to all you that left feedback
Anyway, here's the next chapter. Read, enjoy, FB. Thanks to you,
Read, people! And enjoy!