PART 13 Great. Not my favorite game. The only reason why I'm willing to go along with it is that Isabel looks like she has a plan and hopefully it has something to do with Liz. I hear Liz say, "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but we can't play that game." "Why not?" asks Isabel. Liz gives Isabel an innocent smile and says, "For two reasons, one being there aren't enough people to play to make it good, and the second being there isn't any kind of consequences for those that don't accept." "We could take off an article of clothing," Maria offers. Isabel snorts and says, "In case you haven't noticed, Maria, but there are way too many females here for that, and the only male is my brother. I really don't want to be scarred for life seeing my brother naked." Liz giggles and says, "I can see your point there." "Come on, Liz, it'll be fun," Isabel says trying her best to convince her. "Fine, I'll play. I don't like it, but I guess majority wins," Liz says. I hope I don't regret this. I have a feeling that this game is going to cause trouble. Isabel goes first. She picks Liz and says, "Truth or dare." Liz shrugs her shoulders and says, "Dare. I'm guessing that'll be a safe choice." Isabel smiles and says, "Hmmm, what to do... I dare you to kiss my brother." I try to hide my smile. I'm actually looking forward to that. Then I'll be able to feel her lips on mine again. "Hell no!!!!! I'll take truth instead," Liz yells. I try my best to hide my disappointment, but it's hard. I guess she got me back for turning her away. I look at Isabel and she gives me a sad look. "You can't just change in the middle like that," Isabel counters. "I'm out then. I'm not playing," Liz says. "Stop being a baby, Liz," Maria says. "Truth. It's okay. How about…What does your brother think of me?" Isabel says, trying to keep the peace. Liz smiles and responds, "Don't worry, he likes you as much as you like him. Did I answer it to your liking? Now it's my turn, right?" Maria and Isabel nod. "This is for you, Maria. Truth or dare?" Liz says. "Truth," Maria says. Liz smiles and says, "Who and where was the last person you made out with?" Maria looks horrified. She sighs and says, "That's unfair. It was Doug, and it was under the bleachers at school." Liz looks upset and angry. Maria says, "Get over it. You didn't want him. So why act like you're hurt?" Liz coldly says, "It's your turn." Maria puts her finger on her chin. She smiles and says, "I dare Michael to kiss me." I gasp. I didn't expect that. There is no way in hell I'm going to kiss her. I ask, "What's the alternative?" She looks hurt and says, "If you refuse the dare then that's when truth comes in. My question to you is, did you find someone that interests you here in Roswell?" That's an easy question. I say, "Yes." I look down because I don't want to see Liz's expression. Ever since Maria's confession, she seems distracted and hurt. I just want to go over there and hold her. I'd feel so much better if she would just smile. Maria smiles at me and says, "Are you going to tell us who?" Isabel giggles and says, "I guess you'll have to wait next time around for that answer. Now it's Michael's turn." I look around at their faces, not sure who I should call on. I'm thinking about Liz, just so she would look at me, but I can't think of anything to ask or dare her with. Oh well, maybe a thought will come to me, so I say, "I choose Liz. Truth or Dare?" Liz looks at me surprised. She looks in my eyes and says, "Truth." I didn't expect that. I try thinking of a question to ask her that isn't too personal, but informative. I know. I glance over at Maria and say, "What bothered you about Maria making out with Doug?" For a brief moment, there is sadness in her eyes. She looks away and angrily says, "What bothered me? Let's see where to begin. Once upon a time, I did like him until a little birdie told me he was under the bleachers making out with some girl. I just had to go see, and who was it? None other then my best friend." She gets up and walks away. Isabel says, "You should go after her. It's getting dark and I don't want anything to happen to her." I stand up and start to go in the direction Liz went. Maria's voice stops me. She says, "Don't worry about her. She can take care of herself." I open my mouth to say something, but Isabel beats me to the punch. Isabel says, "I'd feel so much better if Michael followed her. Is that alright with you?" "Whatever," Maria says and crosses her arms. That's the last thing I can hear her say, because I'm off in search of Liz. I don't like the idea of her out here alone. ************************************************************************ I walk away from the group. I'm not upset at the fact that Maria was making out with Doug. What I'm upset about is that Maria wants Michael. Every guy she ever wanted she always got. I stop when I'm in front of a cave. I sit down and hug my knees to my chest. It's getting chilly out here. I've never been in this area before. It's somewhat creepy out here, but I'm not ready to go back yet. I hear rustling and I lift my head up off my knees and yell, "Who's there?" Michael comes into view. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and say, "You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here? I left because I wanted to be alone." He sits down next to me, but there is a lot of room between us. I still feel hurt and angry with him. I don't want to be here alone with him. He looks at me and softly asks, "Do you hate me?" I exhale loudly and stand up. "I want to, but I can't," I say defeated. I don't understand why my feelings for him are so strong, but what really hurts is that he doesn't return them. Now with Maria in the picture, it just hurts more. She can have him anytime she wants. Even though Maria doesn't care who I like and don't like, I'm still torn between my feelings for Michael and my best friend's feelings. What am I suppose to do? Then again, I don't have to worry about it, because he doesn't want me. He already proved that. "Do you still like this Doug guy?" he asks hesitantly. "What do you care? You don't want me," I say harshly. "Listen, I'm sorry about last night," I hear him say. "No. No, you're not. I don't blame you. Why would you want me, especially since you can have someone like Maria? You can have Maria," I say, walking closer to the shore and looking out across the water. "What makes you think I want Maria?" he asks. "You don't want me and you even said you're interested in someone in Roswell," I say shivering. "It wasn't Maria I was talking about." He's now standing next to me. I turn towards him reluctantly and look up at him. I see him staring at me. Feeling self-conscious I say, "What!?" "Nothing. It's just…Do you realize how beautiful you are?" he says softly. I feel my cheeks heating up. I turn away before he can see me blush. He gently places his hand on my shoulder and turns me around so that I'm facing him. I still don't look at him. He doesn't know what he does to me, how he makes me feel. With his other hand he lifts my chin up so our eyes meet and says, "You have the most beautiful eyes and smile I've ever seen." I shyly smile at him. The hand that's on my shoulder trails down my arm until it reaches my hand. He leads me over by the cave. He tells me to sit down. I obey dazedly. I can't concentrate when he's this close. He sits down so close to me that our thighs are touching. He lets go of my hand. "We have to talk," he says. Oh God. This can't be good. What could he have to say to me? I hope it's not a repeat of last night. I try to get up. I know I don't want to hear this. He's going to tell me he wants Maria, but he doesn't want to lose my friendship. He stops me by placing his hand on my thigh. The heat of his hand catches me off guard. I stay down, because I don't want to move. I close my eyes. I love the way his hands feel against my skin. His hand is just below the seam of my shorts, high up on my leg. My body was cold before but it's now warm. I shake my head. I shouldn't be feeling this. I'm stronger than this. I hear his voice, but the words aren't penetrating through my hazy thoughts. I move his hand away. The cold breeze hits my body helping it to cool off. His words are finally taking form. I run my fingers through my hair and say with an awkward smile, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? My mind wandered." He looks at me with concern. He goes to touch me, but I stop him saying, "If you have something to tell me, please don't touch me." I don't think I can concentrate on his words if he touches me. He looks hurt, but nods in understanding and says, "I still feel like you deserve..." I open my mouth to interrupt him, but he raises his hand to stop me and says, "Let me finish first. Then you can say what you want. Okay?" I nod. "Isabel told me when I was growing up that I should fight for what I want, because it's not going to be handed to me. I believed her, but when I saw Max have everything handed to him, I gave up. That proved to me that I didn't deserve anything, that I wasn't worthy of anything good. That's why you deserve someone better than me. I'm nothing but a screw up. This is different. When you kissed me last night, you made me feel wanted. You make me feel special. That scares me. I've never had anyone make me feel like this." He sighs and looks down and runs his hand through his hair. Before I can say anything he continues to say, "I care about you a lot, Liz. My feelings for you are so strong that it frightens me. What I'm more afraid of is, once you know who I am and about my past, you'd be ashamed of me, maybe even hate me. Not only would I lose your friendship, but also I'd lose you. I don't think I could handle that. If you're willing to take a chance with a screw..." I straddle him and stop him from putting himself down by brushing my lips softly against his. Since I catch him by surprise, I'm able to enter his mouth with my tongue. He doesn't resist me. I move closer to him. I still feel like I'm too far away. I want to be closer, as close as I can possibly be. His arms finally wrap around me, pulling me closer. Our chests are pressed against each other, and I sigh. I feel like I'm melting, like I'm on fire. His hands are touching my bare skin. I toss my head back and moan. God, his hands are incredible. He kisses my neck, and I moan again. His mouth feels so good. He trails kisses down my neck until he reaches my collarbone. He nibbles and licks at it. He trails his tongue to my shoulder and then nibbles on it. I feel a bulge against my abdomen. I'm glad I'm not the only one affected by this. He takes my lips, kissing me with more passion. I kiss him back with the same intensity. I want more. I move to his ear to nibble on it and roll my tongue around his earlobe. I trail little butterfly kisses down to his neck and do the same thing. I hear him moan. I go in for another kiss when he puts his finger on my lips and in a husky voice says, "We have to stop." I open my mouth and slowly suck on his finger. "Oh God," he moans. "Just listen to your body," I say wanting another kiss. I lean in, but he lifts me off his lap. He takes a deep breath and stands up. "I can't do that," he says. I stand up. I stand behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. "Why? It feels good. It also feels right. We don't have to wait. I can see you want this as much as I do," I say clinging to him trying to make him lose his will power. He turns around taking my hands to kiss my palms and says, "Remember when I told you that you make me feel special?" I nod my head. "I want to return that favor. You are special, so I'm not going to let our hormones take control of us. I hope that we have plenty of time for this to happen. Let's get to know each other first, take our time. I want to make sure you don't regret this, regret me.” My eyes are stinging from unshed tears. "You already make me feel special, Michael. I could never regret being with you," I say with so much emotion. He gently strokes my face and says, "Like I said before, my past is something I'm not proud of. One day you're going to find out and you'll--" I touch his lips with my index finger and say, "I'm not perfect either, Michael. There are things I've done that I'm not too happy about myself. I wouldn't, I couldn't judge you by your past." "You say that now," he says with a mixture of doubt and hope. I take his hand and say "You ready for the walk back?" He nods and with a smirk he says, "Definitely." I grab his hand to start our walk back to the others and say, "I have one more question. Are you going to join me in honor classes?" He smiles and says, "Was that your tactic to convince me?" I softly laugh and say, "If it worked. I'll take the credit for it." He chuckles. He lightly brushes his lips to mine and say, "You are an amazing woman, Elizabeth Parker." I smile and we start our hike back to the others. When we arrive, Maria bombards us with questions. She wants to know what took us so long, but we just shrug our shoulders and leave it at that. I don't want to share our experience with Maria. I'm afraid if I do, I might lose Michael to her. He must sense what I'm thinking because he takes my hand and squeezes it. I'm in the backseat on the ride home. Isabel, being the saint that she is, calls shotgun. I know there will be a lot of explaining to do tomorrow. I don't want to think about it because I'm happy right now. I end up falling asleep on Michael's shoulder with a smile. |