Circumstances

Chapter Four

Liz, Maria, and Michael were cleaning up the diner, when James knocked on the door. Liz glanced over at Michael and saw him stiffen. Liz walked up to Maria just as she was about to open the door.

“ Thanks for covering for me today, Maria. You can go ahead and go if you want. Michael and I can handle the mess, it’s not really bad today.” Maria squealed and took off after saying thank you.


Liz was just trying to keep busy, but she was finding it very hard to concentrate on the task at hand. She kept seeing Tess smirking at her, and thinking about how much she wanted to shove her face into her plate. She had stopped what she was doing, and sat down on a stool. Michael didn’t say anything, just kept wiping tables. Liz finally got up and took some plates into the back. She placed them in one of the dishwashers, and started the machine. When she turned around, she collided with Michael. She smiled apologetically at him, and took the plates out of his hands. She opened the other dishwasher, put the plates up, and started the correct cycle. The clean up hadn’t taken them very long, because it had been a slow day. Michael didn’t move right away, just kind of looked at her until she spoke.

“ Do you wanna watch some t.v. with me?” Michael nodded his head at her.

“ Sure, but lets go to my place. I think I’ve had my fill of this place for awhile.” Liz chuckled at him, and left to get her purse.

Liz and Michael had walked to his apartment without really talking. When they arrived at his place, he held the door open for her. He got them both something to drink and they sat down on the couch. Michael didn’t have cable, so when they couldn’t find anything on, Michael just shut the television off. When he didn’t say anything to her, Liz ventured to speak.

“ You know, I could always go home since there isn’t anything on. I don’t wanna impose on you.” Michael looked at her kind of surprised like.

“ No, it’s okay. There just wasn’t anything on...sorry, you just said that.” Liz smiled at him.

“ Michael, are you sure you’re doing okay? I know it must be hard to see Maria with James. Believe me when I say, I know what you’re going through.” Michael didn’t say anything at first.

“ Yes, it hurts a bit, but I don’t think we were as connected as you and Max were.” Liz moved a bit closer to him on the couch.

“ I think you were, Michael. You and Maria tried to fight your attraction to one another for awhile, but you couldn’t. That’s exactly how it was for Max and me, if you want my opinion.” Michael wasn’t in the mood to talk about Maria. He’d brought Liz here to distract her, and she wanted to talk about maria. It was just his luck.

“ Liz, it’s really hard to explain. Yes, I’m sad because we’re not together, but it was my decision to end things. She seem genuinely happy right now, and I’m totally okay with that.” Liz nodded and didn’t say anything else. Michael couldn’t take it anymore. He leaned over to where she sat and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Liz was completely shocked by his actions. After a few seconds, Liz began to relax, and kissed him back. Michael took full advantage and slipped his tongue into her mouth. Liz returned the kiss passionately , until she realized what she was doing. She broke the kiss from Michael and stared at him. He looked away for a brief moment, and Liz couldn’t process a single thought at that moment. After a few minutes of complete silence, Liz turned to face him and he did likewise. She didn’t know what possessed her, but she leaned forward, meeting Michael halfway. Their lips met once again in a frenzy of need. Liz wrapped her arms around his neck and let the kiss overtake her.

Michael was extremely surprised by her responsiveness. Feeling uncomfortable in the position they were in, he gently pushed Liz down onto the couch, so he was on top of her. Liz sighed, opening her mouth again. Michael was more then happy to deepen the kiss again. Liz lifted her hands and ran them through his hair. They must have been kissing for at least an hour, until Michael’s phone began to ring. The sound caused them to jump apart from each other. He got up from the couch and glanced over at Liz before answering.

“ Don’t move.” Liz smiled at Michael, and sat up. Michael grinned at her and picked up the receiver to his phone. By the way that Michael looked over at her, she knew immediately that Max was on the other side of the phone. It also sounded as if he wanted to come over, which made Liz extremely nervous. When he finally replaced the phone in it’s holder, Liz stood up. Her dad wouldn’t really mind that she was late getting home, because it wasn’t a school night. She really needed to talk to someone, and she couldn’t talk to Maria for obvious reasons. She really needed to talk to Alex. She couldn’t wait for him to get back on Monday.

“ I really think that I should be getting home now. I’ll see you at school on Monday.” Michael was just slightly taken aback with her coolness, but didn’t let it show.

“ Yeah okay, see you Monday.” She waved slightly and walked out the door. Michael was left to contemplate why in the hell he’d kissed her, and to think about when he could do it again.