Chapter 36

Eliza's POV:

"Oww. Max, we have to get up eventually." I groaned not actually wanting to move. I didn't think that I had any motorskills left. We had spent the last few hours 'making up' and my whole body still felt like jelly.

While Max's hands might be 'bad' in hockey, they could certainly do wonders on me.

"Just another minute" Max mumbled against the skin in between my breasts. He had said that twice already and my thighs were starting to get angry at me and cramp up.

"What time is it?" I asked unable to move with his body still molded to mine. It was almost as if someone had glued us together, that's how connected I felt with him in that moment.

"Mmm. Who cares" he mumbled letting his lips trail over my skin. I knew where he was going with this because I had fallen for it 4 times already. At least I was starting to wise up a little.

"I don't think we should be doing this after you just got out of the hospital, Max." Even though I was telling him no, my body was already preparing itself again and I tilted my neck back so that he had more access to skin there. I could feel his grin against my skin and his toothy laugh.

"It doesn't seem like you want to get up." He grinned wickedly stroking one of my thighs.

"Okay, that was definitely a mood killer. I'm not having sex with you and your ego." Besides, I still couldn't completely feel my legs.

I laughed at his puppy dog expression and he finally let me up so that I could see what time it was.
"Oh my god. It's after one!" I refused to believe that we had just disappeared up here for hours while his parents were still in the house. We had blatantly ignored them and they could probably hear us! The house was big but not that big.

"They won't care. It's been a hectic two days." His face was still buried in my pillow and I knew that we obviously didn't feel the same way about this. Namely, I was awake and worried about this and he was practically drooling with exhaustion on my pillow.

His parents had been right down the hall from us the whole time and I had forgotten all about them. Oh my god.

"Why are you freaking out again?" Max asked sitting up and rubbing my back as was our habit anytime something upset me. It was kind of sweet that he automatically just knew now. But still, I wasn't in the mood to be placated right now.

"Oh my god. They totally know."

"Totally know what?" he asked staring at me like I was crazy. I didn't mean to start sounding like worried valley girl while I was still naked and in bed with him but the ridiculousness of the situation didn't stop me at all.

"Max think about it. We left both of us angry at each other, and then we come back and disappear for several hours in our bedroom. Were we even quiet?"

All of the sudden he burst into laughter stunning me completely. "That's what you're so worried about?" I nodded and he burst into laughter again.

"Lizzy" he said cradling my face now. "We live together and I'm 26 years old. I think they know that we're sleeping together." He kissed my nose like he would kiss a stupid 5 year old and let go of my face.

"Oh stop looking at me like that. Laura and Will got into a giant fight last Christmas about something stupid and disappeared for awhile upstairs afterwards. Needless to say, everyone downstairs knew what they were doing up there."

This shocked me. Laura? Quiet, well-mannered Laura? Well she is married to a Talbot- they do tend to make you irrational.

"Well still. I don't think I'll ever be able to look your parents in the eyes again." I was blushing and nothing had even happened yet. "Also, what did they even have for dinner? I never got around to making what your Mom and I bought considering everything else that happened this weekend."

"I doubt that my parents are downstairs starving right now. And besides, it's after 1am. I'm sure that they went to bed already." He settled back against the pillows propping both of us up and turned on the TV settling on an old episode of Will and Grace.

Before I knew it, I was asleep, finally letting the exhaustion take me.

Max's POV:

The next morning, I woke up and slid my numb arm out from under her head letting her continue to sleep. It was rare for me to be up earlier than her and I took a minute just to watch her sleep. She was hardly ever completely still during the day so it was almost surreal to see her completely at peace and relaxed. I noticed for the first time that she had dark circles under her eyes and looked paler than usual. Had I even seen her eat in the past 24 hours? I had definitely put her through a lot lately and regretted not being able to show her how sorry I really was. I had basically ruined our entire weekend that was supposed to be spent with her Mom and my parents and here she was- still sleeping soundly beside me. Frankly, it was amazing that I had managed to find someone who could forgive me and put up with this kind of stuff. Especially since I didn't know if I could promise not to do something so stupid ever again. After all, it was life. Things happened that couldn't always be explained- that's just how things were. But still, having her next to me made me want to try to prevent that angry, devastated, let down look from crossing her face again.

I hoped that I was smarter than to let this woman get away from me.

Eliza's POV:

The rest of the week went by quickly with Max's parents. Before I knew it, we were driving them back to the airport to see them off leaving Max and I alone once again. He was leaving for another stretch of playoff games in the morning and I didn't think that he would want to do anything but he surprised me by suggesting that we go out for a quick dinner. We went to an Eat'n'Park nearby where we could sit in a corner and have a quiet meal.

"I'm so hungry" I said eyeing the breakfast menu. Of course I needed something with eggs. He looked at me like he wanted to say something, his lips actually trying to form words without sound coming out.

"Have you really been eating? I swear I didn't see you eat once yet today or yesterday." He said looking at me over the top of the menu. He was wearing his glasses and his eyes looked tired but those glasses still did funny things to my stomach.

"Yeah I've been eating. My appetite has been so crazy over the past week. I'm sure it's just because I've been so distracted." I didn't mean that statement to make him feel bad about what he had done, we were past that, but I could tell by the way that he was looking at me that he was unsure. I let our legs tangle underneath the table instead of saying anything about it.

"Well just make sure that you're eating. I've just noticed that you either eat a lot or not at all and even my Mom commented on it yesterday. She thought maybe that you were feeling sick."

"I promise I'm fine" I smiled deciding on an omelette and toast. Max rolled his eyes at my dinner choice while he ordered a Chicken salad and some soup.

Truthfully, I had been feeling a little bit off for the past week or so. I either had a ridiculous appetite where I could shovel down more food than Max or I didn't want to eat anything at all. It was probably just a result of how hectic our lives were and I had sometimes felt this way in law school but somehow this time was just a little bit different. I had never been the type to jump to conclusions and self-diagnose when I was feeling a little bit under the weather. I hated the doctor's office and I hated anyone's strange hands touching me with those stupid plastic gloves on their hands. It was gross and impersonal and for that reason, I only went to the doctor's twice a year for a regular check-up and to go to the gynecologist. Other than that, no medicine or waiting rooms for me.

I figured that if I didn't start to feel normal again in the next few days, I would make an appointment to see what was up. Maybe it's just the start of a cold or something.