Glad you are enjoying this, Sternbetrachter!
Here is a so-so Liz part. I hope it is okay.
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~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Liz’s Part ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~</center>
“So, uh, what movies have you picked out?” Max asks, looking directly at me, avoiding Alex’s gaze entirely. The last time I asked Alex about that, he wasn’t that forthcoming with the information. If the time is right tonight, I am going to ask him what that whole incident this morning was about.
“Have you decided to stay?” I ask, a smile on my face and a lightly teasing tone in my voice. I know he hasn’t, but I have to do something to try and diffuse what could possibly be a hostile situation. “I thought you were going out with Tess.” I finish.
He smiles at me and my stomach tightens. My God . . . who would have thought the magic a simple smile would possess.
“Sure. I’m just waiting for her. I was just curious about the movies,” he explains.
I was just about to offer to go upstairs and see what was keeping Tess when she spoke from the landing of the stairs.
“Hi, Max,” she says warmly. Her patented friendly smile covers her lips as she looks at him. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Max was obviously not too upset about waiting. He thoroughly enjoyed the end result of his patience. I couldn’t blame him. Tess was positively gorgeous.
“You look great!” He exclaims from his place, which earned him another bright smile from Tess.
“You look great yourself,” she says as she finishes coming down the stairs.
I smile lightly to myself. They do look nice together. Stunning, gorgeous, glamorous, sharp . . . a pair, if ever I saw one.
“You both look wonderful,” I tell them. “Have a great time tonight.”
They didn’t seem to notice my well wishing, looking and staring at each other like they were.
I look at Alex, who didn’t look particularly happy, but didn’t have a ruthless grimace on his face. Should we leave them to depart on their evening alone? Would it be obvious if we left? Would they think the wrong thing if we “scurried” away? Should I say something to stop the silence that is only growing as Tess and Max appraise each other?
I lightly tap Alex’s arm.
I’m going to get something to drink, I mouth over to him.
I don’t really want to leave Alex and Max together unsupervised, but Tess was there, should something happen. Unsupervised! What am I thinking? What happened to things making sense? Me! The youngest in the house needs to supervise two grown men who are both my seniors.
I walk back over to the kitchen, hoping that I wasn’t too obvious in my exit. It was not my wish to impose my presence on either Max or Tess. They were going on a date, and they didn’t need an audience.
I lean against the counter beside the fridge and ask myself once more, what happened to sense? Nothing makes sense anymore. Well, other than Max and Tess. They seem to make sense. If only my feelings would agree with my mind in this aspect. As much as I liked seeing those two together and happy, I couldn’t stop myself from wishing that Max’s smiles to Tess were directed to me. That I could spend the night talking to him, getting to know him, who he is, what he does, his family, his friends, his job . . . everything.
There was so much to him that I wanted to learn about, and now Tess was the one who got to hear about everything.
She would get to learn his expressions.
Not me.
I comb my fingers through my hair, turning to the fridge to pull out a can of Sprite and another can of Coke. I don’t know what Alex drinks, but I will have either so he can have his choice.
“Hey, Parker.”
I turn to see Kyle coming into the kitchen from the second doorway.
“Parker? When did you start calling me “Parker”?” I ask him, smiling.
He shrugs as he walked over to the fridge. “I don’t know. It felt like the right thing to say.”
I laugh at his innocent answer. “I’m doing just fine, Valenti,” I reply, employing his last name as well. If I let Alex call me “Lizzybeth”, Kyle is allowed to call me “Parker”.
“You looked deep in thought, if you ask me.”
“Oh, really! Then what do you suppose I was thinking about?”
His brow wrinkles as though he is truly thinking deeply about the question. “Whether you wanted Sprite or Coke,” he says, pulling out a can of Coke.
His smile a warm and I laugh again. There was just something about Kyle’s personality that set me at ease. Something about him just made everything make sense again. It reminded me of . . . home.
“So . . . Max and Tess are,” he says, not finishing the thought.
“Yeah. They look nice. And they seem to match well,” I tell him as I toss the can lightly into my other hand.
“Sure they do,” he says draping an arm around my shoulders. “If you ask me he should be on that date with you,” he whispers. The laugh bubbles within me, and I shove him lightly.
“Yeah, right! Let’s go get Alex so we can start our movie marathon.”
“Uh huh. I stick to what I said earlier. Don’t sell yourself short.”
“Hey, Alex! Ready to get this party started? We need to show those four how much fun staying in can be,” Kyle shouts as we start to head out of the kitchen. I blush lightly as I wonder if Max and Tess are still there. How much of that would they have been able to hear? At least Kyle whispered his opinion.
“C’mon, Alex!” I say, with laughter in my tone right after Kyle’s shout. “We three can start our hot date of popcorn, candy, movies, pajamas, and comfy couches and seats!”
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~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ End Liz’s Part ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~</center>
And Sternbetrachter, Of course Michael thinks he's a player! As far as he's concerned, anyone who doesn't think so, has a problem. lol.