Liz swallowed, blushed and tried to keep her eyes on Alex since Max had her wrapped in his arms and he was silently waiting for her answer. With every cell in her soul screaming, she wanted to answer, Max! I love Max! But she didn't. She was afraid he would pull away for good if he thought she had totally lost her heart to him.
"Dare," she whispered.
Max felt a sharp pain. Had she not answered because it wasn't him? She must have been in love at one time or she just would have said no. God, was it Kyle? Someone else she had always loved from afar? In his drunken stupor, Max couldn't think straight, and he didn't even think it was because she loved him and didn't want to admit it that she took the dare.
"You and Max have to cuddle real close in front of the TV and watch 5 more minutes of that skin flick, and your hands can't wander, either one of you," Alex said with the wickedest look.
Michael sat up at this. He had been dying to see more of the flick, but had not wanted to look desperate. Good going, Alex, he thought and met Alex's look, and they both grinned with the same thought. It was one way to get that thing back on.
Liz groaned and buried her face in her hands. She didn't think she would ever be able to sit and watch more of that with all of them in the room, and Max so close!
Max had perked up when Alex has issued the dare, but then when he had added that neither one of them could let their hands wander, Max turned pale and knew he was going to die a slow "hard" death.
Isabel and Maria just held their hands over their mouths, not sure whether to be shocked and scandalized, or excited, to be watching more of that skin flick they were all so curious about.
Isabel got up and waited as Max and Liz got up and curled up together on the floor in front of the TV, Max with his arms about Liz, and she sitting in front of him between his legs. When they were settled, Isabel, with her own eyes mysteriously bright, turned on the TV again.
Maria tried to get up and go sit in one of the chairs, embarrassed to be sitting next to Michael and Alex, but Michael pulled her back down and onto his lap this time.
His dark, hooded eyes dared her to stay where she was, knowing that she felt his raging hardness throbbing under her.
Maria stared back at Michael and suddenly realized there was no reason for her to want to be anywhere BUT in Michael's arms. Who was she trying to kid? With that, she snuggled back against him and watched the skin flick with a mixture of excitement and a little apprehension.
Isabel scooted back against Alex's legs, and he slid off the couch and sat with her in his arms, as Max was with Liz.
Isabel was surprised at the bold move, but then smiled and snuggled back against him when she saw the hot, bold look in Alex's eyes. She knew if he remembered tomorrow, he would die of embarrassment, but tonight he was going with his emotions, as they all were.
"Remember, no wandering hands," Alex reminded Max and Liz and then he too turned his eyes back to the screen that had them so curious and fascinated.
Liz felt the heat of Max against her whole back, and the pounding of his heart as well. Then she heard him gasp and his breathing quickened as the man on screen suddenly pulled out of the woman and knelt down in front of her. Then, with a thumb on each side of her hot core, he parted her juicy flesh, and the camera panned in closer. Liz closed her eyes, not believing she was sitting here watching this, and knew that if Max got any harder against her rear, he would explode, or she would turn around and explore that mysterious male hardness that so fascinated her.
When she heard the guys all groan in unison, and Max swear, she peeked again and she gasped. The guy was now burying his face in the woman's wet folds, and lapping her up and loving the taste of her with every move of his tongue.
Max knew if he watched another second he was going to burst. He glanced around to see if the others were having the same problem he was, and then his eyes narrowed as he saw his 'buddies' furiously kissing their girls.
He swore and decided, the hell with the dare. As he turned Liz in his arms and leaned down to take her mouth, Alex called out, "No moving! I couldn't, you can't," he said with determination.
Max got up and flipped off the set. "Then that was definitely 5 minutes!" he growled and went to sit in the chair by himself to cool off. He closed his eyes and tried to get his control back. He was about to explode, and he knew the guys knew this.
Michael actually looked like he was in pain as well, and Alex was no longer laughing, but holding Isabel much closer to him than before.
Maria was breathing as hard as Michael, and the two of them were plastered to each other, both trying to catch their breath from their wild kisses.
Max was about to call it quits, when he realized that this had been his sister's idea, and she had not had a question put to her yet.
He looked back to where Liz still sat on the floor with her arms wrapped around herself, and his heart melted. She had had to go through that with him. He gently leaned over and caressed her arm. When Liz turned to him he held open his arms and Liz cuddled up in them again.
Then he realized it was Liz's turn to ask a question. He whispered in her ear and she gasped, but when Max pleaded with her she giggled, turned fiery red, and looked at Isabel.
Isabel's eyes narrowed at her brother, knowing whatever came next was his doing. He was going to get her for starting this whole thing.
Liz opened her mouth to speak but could not get the words out. She turned back to Max and with her eyes she told him he would have to do it.
"Max will say it for me," she swallowed and met Isabel's eyes with apology.
Isabel sucked in a breath and knew she was going to pay for what she had planned this night. She knew that Max was now on to her, and how she had manipulated the whole evening.
"Liz wants to ask you Truth or Dare, Isabel?" Max grinned, still spinning from the alcohol, his raging hard on and the feel of Liz cuddled up in his arms. "When did you first discover yourself? Or if that's not blunt enough, when did you first start to satisfy yourself?" Max asked.
Isabel was embarrassed and fiery red herself, but she had to admit that Max had gotten even with her.
Michael had started choking, which had turned into a laugh, and Alex looked stunned, pained, and his own face was burning with arousal at the thought.
"Well, it was way after you Max. I remember hearing you crying out Liz's name either in the late hours of the night or in the shower every night when you were only in 5th grade," she answered.
Max sucked in his breath at her words, blushed, and held Liz tighter as she buried her face in his neck with her own embarrassment.
Then he smiled as he realized that Isabel had not answered the question herself.
"Isabel? Truth or "
"Dare!" she whispered angrily, and rolled her eyes. She knew she had asked for this, but she still didn't like when someone bested her.
Liz's emotions and insides were churning. She didn't even hear what Max dared Isabel to do. Her own blood was pounding and every cell in her body was screaming out. She was so turned on. The minute Isabel had thrown that back at Max, Liz had had several very vivid flashes of Max in bed or in the shower holding his raging hard flesh and crying out her name.
Liz had loved him for such a long time now, and the thought that it was always her that he thought about at the most vulnerable of times, totally melted her. She wanted to be somewhere alone with Max and to just love him and be loved by him. She wanted his kisses, his hands touching her everywhere, and she wanted him inside her desperately.
She could still feel his pulsing, throbbing hard flesh against her bottom, and it was almost as if she couldn't remember what it felt like to not have his hard body pressed against her.
Michael and Maria had also had enough torture, and Michael flattened Maria against the couch and followed her down, never stopping the kisses they were exchanging.
Maria wrapped her arms tightly around Michael and kissed him back just as fiercely as he was kissing her.
Alex and Isabel were also now stretched out on the floor. Alex had his hands again running through Isabel's hair, but now he was finally kissing her with all the passion he had built up. And Isabel was sighing into his mouth, totally enjoying Alex's lack of control.
Liz never knew if Isabel had ever completed whatever dare Max had thrown out at her, for Liz was swimming only in emotions and feelings.
When she felt Max's mouth clamp down over hers again she closed her eyes and drank in the taste of Max's hot passion.
Suddenly Max's vision cleared up and he was totally sober. He pulled back from Liz, shook his head and just stared.
Slowly, Michael also came out of his drunken stupor. Then he looked down at Maria, completely beneath him, her lips swollen and moist from his kisses, and he swore.
"SHIT!"
*****************************
Michael jumped up, blushed and turned away to adjust himself, and then just stood with his back to the room, his head down.
Max looked shocked himself, and couldn't meet Liz's eyes.
Maria sat up, confused and ran her hands through her messy hair and frowned. She had no idea what was wrong with Michael all of a sudden, but it made her feel self-conscious.
Liz looked around at Michael and Maria, then back to where she still sat on Max's lap, but now he was looking down, as if wishing she wasn't there.
Liz slowly got up off of Max's lap and went to sit near Maria. They exchanged worried looks but didn't know what to say or do.
Isabel and Alex heard Michael swear aloud and they too pulled apart.
Isabel sat up and watched the scene unfold before her and she too frowned. What was going on?
"Max?" Isabel questioned when it looked like no one else could think what to say. Then she looked to where Michael was still standing, with his back to the room. "What's going on, guys?" Isabel asked, starting to worry. Had they gotten a vision? What?
"I don't understand. All we had was one sip?" Max finally said, still looking down. He couldn't believe the things he had said and done! And how he had been all over Liz all night! How could he do that to her? First he hurt her by telling her he needed distance, then he said they should at least be friends, and then he pulled her into his arms tonight, and had been all over her. What must she be thinking? Max swallowed in panic.
"What do you mean, one sip?" Isabel asked, realization dawning on her that the guys were now totally sober and shocked at their behavior.
"I mean one sip," Max said and looked over at Isabel with an agonized look.
Isabel looked at Alex, who was still enjoying the affects of the alcohol, but not as out of it anymore. He nodded to her silent question and frowned. He should have thought of that earlier. They had only had one drink.
"Well, at least now we know what happens to us if we even touch that stuff," Isabel remarked with a raised eyebrow. Then she looked at Liz and Maria and frowned. The guys might have had no control over their actions, but the girls were paying for it now, and it was all her fault.
Liz didn't know what to do. She knew Max had been drinking, but she hadn't realized that he had been so out of control, that he would later regret tonight. She felt like dying. Here she had let him kiss her and cuddle with her after he had wanted his distance, and now that he had sobered up, he obviously hadn't changed his mind. What would Max think of her now? How easy could she be? When he'd said he needed them to back off, she'd given in, but as soon as he wanted her again, she just melted for him? She swallowed.
Maria's own mind was churning, but she was getting angry. It was dawning on her that now that the guys were sober, they were no longer feeling the way they had when drunk. What crap, she thought. If Michael was going to use her when he was drunk, and then toss her aside when he was sober, he had another thing coming!
"So now that you guys are sober, you're sorry for playing with our feelings again, but you're not interested? It was all a mistake, you didn't really mean any of that?" Maria asked in a low, but angry tone.
When Michael still didn't turn around, Maria got up and pulled him around. "You don't really want to be with me. You don't need anyone, but if you drink, than you can forget that crap and use me, only to throw me away again when you are thinking without your lower anatomy?"
Liz glanced up and caught Max's eye as they all listened to Maria, but she quickly lowered her eyes from Max's, and bit her lip. Maria was right. They had been used again.
Max felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He knew Maria was right. He might not have had enough control to watch what he'd said and done tonight, but that didn't mean he hadn't meant it all. He did love Liz, and he wanted to be with her. All the alcohol had done was let her see what he had been trying to keep from her. For her own good, or so he thought. Only he hadn't meant to hurt Liz again. He had never been as happy as he had been tonight. They had all laughed and joked and enjoyed just being normal teenagers. Isabel and Michael had also. And Max had had the girl he loved with him, and it had felt good knowing he had the right to touch her and hold her and kiss her. He wanted to tell Liz that he had been stupid to step back, that he didn't want that anymore. He wanted what they had had tonight. Only he had hurt her again, and Liz probably hated him now.
Michael swallowed and listened as Maria yelled at him. She was right. She deserved better than this. He had seen Hank many a time try to use his drinking as an excuse for some of his behavior, but Michael wouldn't do that to Maria. He just didn't know what to say, or even if she would listen, she was so angry. And hurt. He would own up to what he had said and done. It was only right. He might not WANT to be with Maria when he was being cautious and logical, but he knew that when his guard was down, she was there. That she would always be in his heart. In his most vulnerable moments, his brain would remind him what he had been trying to deny. That he needed Maria. That he loved her. Had never loved anyone before and never known anyone who could loved him just the way he was. Until Maria.
Isabel could tell from the agonized looks of defeat on Max's and Michael's faces that they knew Maria was right, and that they wanted to make it okay, but just didn't know how.
"This is all my fault, you guys," Isabel admitted on a shaky breath. Alex looked at her in confusion, and she smiled at him and took his hand.
Then she said to all of them. "I was the one who set this whole night up. I conned Max into inviting Michael and Alex over, knowing I was inviting the girls over, and I wanted us all to get together," she swallowed.
Then she let go of Alex's hand and started pacing, rubbing her hands up and down her legs, trying to think how to make this right. "I saw what a difference you three made in Max, Michael and my life when we let you in. At first I'd been scared. Scared of the changes that were taking place. It was no longer just the three of us. I wasn't the only girl and didn't have Max and Michael's undivided attention. And I made Max feel guilty for that," she admitted, and looked from Max to Liz with apology written on her face.
"I know I helped the guys keep you at arm's length. I helped feed their own fears and need for things not to change and get out of control. It didn't take much; I know that Michael and Max were just as scared as I was to let you guys in. All they needed was the excuses I gave them to pull back. Only, these last couple of weeks, nothing has been right. Instead of everything going back to the way it was before, before the shooting, things were just wrong. Max was no longer Max, Michael had an ever sharper edge, and I I was even putting up a harder barrier than ever before," Isabel continued, then she stopped pacing and sat down in one of the chairs.
"I stupidly thought that by pushing you three out of our lives again, we would go back to the way we were, and be safe. Only it didn't work. It left us all feeling more afraid, more alone and more distant from everyone, and even each other."
She glanced up at Alex, who was still standing listening like everyone else was. "I'm so sorry," she said to him in a whisper. "I'm sorry for the way I thought we would be better off without you three in our lives," she said, and then turned to Liz and Maria as well. "And when I realized that we, all three of us, needed you three in our lives, that it was somehow meant for us six to come together, I tried to make it right, by planning tonight. I set you all up; I borrowed that skin flick from Ginny Gonzales, and planned on using it to help seduce you three guys. And I knew that it would help make Max and Michael turn to you two again," she looked at Liz and Maria as she said this. "I didn't mean for them to use you. Just to realize what they really wanted," Isabel admitted and then just looked down, having said all she could. She didn't know if Alex, Liz or Maria would ever forgive her.
When she finished, the room was quiet. No one knew what to say or how to start.
