faithfully

Highway run
Into the midnight sun
Wheels go round and round
You're on my mind
Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight
Sendin' all my love
Along the wire
("Faithfully", by Journey)

Horns blared as I cut them off hastily, barely missing the oncoming headlights that was quickly approaching me when I went into the oncoming traffic lane. The unusually busy highway was spotted with lights and slick from the quick shower of rain that has started to pour down. "Come on, come on!" Max muttered impatiently as he had to slam on the brakes again. Liz had disappeared among the brakelights in front of him a while ago, but Max still had hope in catching up and talking to her. "It's not what you think, Liz!" Max said in anguish. If he didn't get to Liz and explain, things might never get back to the way they were. Max hit his head with the heel of his hand as he went through the events of the last few weeks.

(Two weeks earlier.....)

Max tapped his pencil on the end of his desk as he waited for his Astronomy class to start. The Professor entered the door, followed by a girl he hadn't seen in the class before. She handed a paper to the Professor, as he jestured for her to find a seat. She locked eyecontact with Max immediately, and smiled as she strolled over to the empty desk next to his. Max sat up in the desk and gave her a friendly half smile. "Hey there, my name's Celeste." "Max," he answered back, as she gave him a sexy smile. "You look amazingly familiar," Celeste cooed, never letting the smile off her face. "Really? How so?" Max asked. Celeste just shrugged since the Professor spoke up at that very second, and Max turned his attention to him. But during the lecture, Max could feel Celeste steal glances at him, her stare penetrating through him. Max shifted uncomfortably. As soon as the class was over, Max put his notebook in his book bag and made his way to the outside aisle. Celeste followed him out, and strode up to his side. "So, do you have another clas right now?" she asked casually. "Um, not till 1pm," Max replied, and switched shoulders for his book bag strap to hang on. "Are you interested in getting some lunch with me? It's my first day here, and I don't want to eat alone in this new place," Celeste said dramatically. Max ran his hand through his hair and breathed out deeply. "I don't really have lunch on campus, I'm meeting my friend Michael at a Taco place on Simmon St., but you can come along if your in the mood for Mexican." "Sure, I'm dying for some nachos!" "Well, do you know your way there, or do you want to follow me in your car?" Celeste gave a deep breath. "I don't have a car, I found a bus and somehow got here on time this morning. You wouldn't mind if I asked for a ride?" She gave him an amazing smile, and he shrugged with a side grin. "No problem." They made their way there, chatting about the class and where she came from the whole ride over. Ten minutes later, he pulled the Jeep into the parking space next to Michael's Toyota Corrolla, which he bought a few months ago. They entered the restaurant together, Max laughing at something Celeste said. Michael raised an eyebrow at Max as he sat down across from him, and Celeste scooted in next to him, sitting very close. "Uh, hi," Michael said as Max introduced him to Celeste. "She's new at the University, and asked to have lunch with us today," Max asked. "Sure, no prob. If you don't mind, I already ordered for you and me, Max. But we gotta grab the waitress to get your order, Celeste." Celeste reassured it was ok they got their food first, and went on asking Max about himself. "Is there a lucky girl in your life, Max?"Celeste asked as casually as possible. "Yeah, her name is Liz. She goes to West Texas A&M University, majoring in Biology." Max smiled when he spoke Liz's name. They had been together since Tess left their lives, and things were getting serious. Celeste noticed the smile, and shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, so your serious about Liz?" "Yeah, she's an amazing woman." Their food arrived just then, and the waitress took Celeste's order. Michael started to grab for the tobacco, but Max kicked him under the table. "We'll wait until you get your food," Max stated, more for Michael's sake then Celeste's. "Aw, that's very polite of you, Max. Thanks! You don't have to, you know." "No, it's ok." Celeste smiled at Max, and almost whispered, "Liz is a very lucky girl." There was a brief pause in the conversation, until Michael cleared his throat and began to start a conversation. "That reminds me, Maxwell, Maria said Liz emailed her to say she was coming down in a week for Winter Break, so we have to throw a great party for her." " Awesome, we can get together later tonight to talk about what we are going to do." Max looked to his left and saw Celeste shift uncomfortably. "Would you like to come to the party? You could meet the rest of the gang." "Oh no, I couldn't barge into your group's get together, it wouldn't be right." "I insist, it'd be great to hang out so you can meet some people in town. We wouldn't want you to feel like an outsider," Michael replied. Celeste tried to hide her flinch at the word outsider with a quick smile. "Well, I don't know.... if you insist. But only for a while." Michael grabbed for the tabasco bottle in the center of the table the same time Celestedid, and they gave each other looks of astonishment. "You like tabasco sauce?" Michael asked incredulously. Celest let a smile grow slowly on her face, and nodded. Michael and Max exchanged a look and tried to cover their surprise with a mouthful of burrito. The rest of lunch, Celeste's eyes kept finding their was back to Max's face. 'He's cuter then I remember,' she thought wistfully to her self as she grabbed another nacho and munched it quietly.
*****
On the ride back to campus, Celeste was quiet for the first few minutes, until she asked, "Did you ever know what it was like to be an outsider? Always feel so alone?" Max's eyes widened in surprise of the question. "Um, yeah I did, most of my childhood. Why? Do you feel that way?" "Yeah, all of my life, until now." She glanced at Max and smiled at him with intensity in her eyes. Max kept his eyes locked on the road. "Uh I'm glad you aren't feeling alone anymore. May I ask why you've felt lonely?" Celeste looked at her hands that were clasped in her lap, and shrugged. "I've always been on the outside, looking in. In fact, I've never had a boyfriend before." Max's eyes widened again in shock, He couldn't believe Celeste had never had a boyfriend, after all she was very beautiful. Her long, curly blonde hair and hazel eyes accented each other wonderfully, giving her a sophisticated look. Her figure wasn't bad at all either, and she was only a few inches shorter then Max. Her attire wasn't anything like Liz's, yet not trashy either; her crimson silk shirt and short black skirt was topped off by a long skirt length leather jacket, which was a midnight black. "Why haven't you had a boyfriend, may I ask?" Celeste looked out her side window for a moment, then turned her attention to Max. "I couldn't find the rihgt one, I guess. No one understands me, either. Except I think you would." Max gulped audibly, solutions to the strange coincidences with Celeste racing through his head. 'Is she possibly like me? I mean REALLY like me?!' Celeste, as if reading his mind, smiled and stared at Max until he turned to look at her at a red light. As soon as they made eye contact a flash zoomed across his eyes of a palace of strange material and someone crashing down a doorway. That was all that was in the Flash, but Max was extremely shaken by it. As if nothing happen, Celeste commented quietly, "I love astrology, don't you? The universe is a big, mysterious place. You never know what you might discover there." When Max pulled back into the University's parking lot, he got out quickly, speechless by the events during the ride home. There was something about Celeste,' Max thought, still in shock. Celeste came around the car and stopped Max before he walked off. She leaned in and kissed Max's cheek, surprising him even more. He pulled away quickly and walked off, stumbling with the words, "I-I'm gonna be late for, uh for class..." Max turned around and strode away, a troubled look stitched in his face. Celeste smiled to herself as she strode back to her black Ford Mustang in the far corner of the parking lot, and took off.
*****
(back to present)

Max squealed to a hault suddenly, catching him offguard and almost causing him to rear end the car in front of him. As the windshield wipers blazed back and forth to wipe away the thick raindrops, Max could see blinking police sirens in the distance. A sudden jolt of terror ran through his veins. The traffice was now at a hault, and Max put his car into park, getting out and racing to the car ahead of him. "What happen?" he hollered over the sound of the beating rain on the nightime ground. "Accident!" the driver replied, in an annoyed tone. Max looked ahead in fright, his stomach churning with acid of worry. "Liz," Max breathed when jogged up toward the crash scene. He immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw the car that was crumpled from the front was Liz's car. Max almost collapsed as he let out a scream of anguish, forcing himself to step closer to the car. The police and ambulance were pulling up just then, as Max reached her driver's side window, frozen in disbelief and pain. There was Liz, her head resting on it's right cheek, Liz's still body facing out towards Max with the eyes ostly shut. The open wound on her forehead had the whole right side of her face covered with crimson-colored liquid. Her blood. Max reached his shaky hand out to stroke her left cheek, cries choking up his airway in bigs waves. The Paramedic had to lead Max away as the others worked on getting her out. The driver in the car she slammed into was getting loaded onto a stretcher, but was awake, with a neck brace already on. "Liz," Max croaked as he crumbled to the Paramedic's feet. "Sir, please, you have to tell me, do you know this woman?" Max shook his head yes, trying to take in a breath but his throat was clogged with tears. "How do you know her?" the voice of the paramedic was barely audible to max by then, his ears pounded with the rapid beat of his heart. "Liz, don't leave me, I need you," Max pleaded. The paramedic guided him into the back of the Ambulance just as they loaded Liz into it. "Would you like to come with us to the hospital, sir?" Max nodded as he tried to get Liz back into focus. His clothes were soaked to his body, but he didn't notice, as he wiped his face dry so he could see Liz. 'This is all my fault,' Max groaned in his head, as he saw the paramedics working quickly on stabiizing liz. "Will she be ok? Oh please, tell me she'll be ok!" Max cried. "Sir, try to stay calm, we're going to try to save her, you have to be strong, for her okay?" Max closed his eyes and fought back the tears as the blare of the siren and the noises of the machines overwhelmed Max's ears.

******
(12 days earlier......)

Max walked up the path from the parking lot to the campus grounds, hands stuffed in his pockets. Just then Celeste came walking in step mext to him, an intense smile on her face again. "Max, did you get the Astronomy homework last night? I was all mixed up about the placements of the planets and stuff, and was wondering if you understood it." "Oh hey. Um, yeah I got it, but it was pretty confusing. I'll try to help explain it." "Cool! Thanks Za--I mean Max." Celeste's face almost gave away to worry at her slip up. Max almost swallowed his gum when he heard the slip up. 'Was she about to say what I think she was about to say?' Max was getting more suspicious of Celeste as the time spent with her went by. She pulled him downt o a picnic table to sit, and opened up her folder. A printout from the FBI website fell out into the table, and she quickly grabbed it up and stuffed it in her book bag. "What was that?" Max asked. "Nothing, just some info i got off the internet for a research project I'm doing," Celeste explained quickly. She found her homework and put it in front of Max, changing the subject before he asked more questions. When Max went to grab the paper and bring it closer to read, Celeste rested her hand on top of his. He pulled back, trying to be polite about it. "Celeste, ..." he started, but Celeste just cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." "It's ok," Max said, trying to get on with the homework, though the awkwardness made it hard to concentrate.