Confusion

Max had gone for a walk that night. She was thinking about her relationship with Logan and what was going on with Alec. She smiled as she saw him sitting on a park bench. She quickly walked over to him and sat next to him, “We have to talk.”

“About what?” he said never taking his eyes off the ground.

“What’s got you so bothered?”

“Nothing”

“Bullshit. You’ve been distracted…you haven’t slept and didn’t even walk into work today.”

“So?”

“So I wanna know what’s wrong”

“Really?” he asked harshly.

“Yes.”

“You wanna know what’s distracting me? You. You are distracting me. I’m pissed because you almost got yourself killed because lover boy didn’t want me to get involved,” he said harshly.

“Alec-”

“You know how much it took for me not to go over there and beat the shit out of him?” he asked angrily.

Max sat silently for a minute.

“What ever Max, forget it.”

He turned to leave, but an arm shot out and grasped his sleeve. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her dark eyes looking at him questioning. Without a word, she reached up and quickly placed her lips on his. Pulling away just as quickly, her eyes glued to the ground, she stepped back. "I just wanted to see something," she explained lamely.

He held his breath. "And did you?"

"Ye-e-es," she sputtered nervously.

He shook his head slowly, "You really shouldn't have done that, Max."

"Why?"

His gaze didn't waver. "Because--" He hastily framed her face with his hands and

pulled her close. The second he touched her, every coherent thought flew out of his mind. His lips moved over hers slowly, taking a delicate little brush. After the briefest of

moments, he was about to pull away, afraid that he had crossed the line this time, but the sudden presence of her arms grasping his shoulders stopped him. Her lean fingers dug into his neck and she pulled him even tighter to her, molding her body against his.

For one moment, she didn't think. She didn't think about what would happen after

one of them pulled away. Didn't even consider how it would affect her relationship with Alec, or her relationship with Logan for that matter. She only deepened their kiss, opening her mouth to allow him better access. His fingers tightly twisted themselves in her hair, drawing lazy patterns. The adrenaline surging through him made him lightheaded, made his heart pound insanely loud. Nevertheless, somewhere in the back of his mind, reality was screaming his name. Yelling for him to pull away and salvage what ever was left of his pride. With one last punctuated kiss, he slowly pulled away. His eyes opened to stare back her, "Because I get to return the favor," he rasped.

"What?" Her eyes gradually gained their focus again, and she looked back at him with bewilderment. He wanted in patiently for her to organize her thoughts, feeling his stomach sink as she turned back up to him, looking dazed. She just stood there, staring down at the ground. "So . . . what just happened?"

"Well, I'm sure I don't have to explain it to you, but that, Max, was a kiss. An exchange of saliva between two willing parties. But not so willing in our case," his gaze didn't falter.

"That's funny." She took a large step back. "Another one of your fabulous jokes," she said dangerously.

He looked at her evenly, searching for any signs of what she was feeling, "It's not that great," he said.

"No, it's fucking hilarious."

"Glad you think so," he deadpanned.

"And I am so glad that you're acting so characteristically 'Alec'."

He immediately was on the defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means."

"Thanks for clarifying."

"No problem."

He took one last look at her hard expression, sighed angrily, and turned around to leave.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

“Home.”

"You can't just leave," she said, incredulous.

"Actually, I can."

"It's just like you to run away when things get tough," she muttered. Frustrated when he didn't reply, she yelled. "Damn it, Alec! For once, can you just think about someone else besides yourself?"

He stopped, "And what am I supposed to think about? How much this is going to affect the 'Max hearts Logan' club?" He laughed humorlessly, "Isn't that giving me too much credit?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"Me?" He pointed to himself, looking around.

Does the term 'double standard' mean anything to you, Max? You kissed me first. You violated me. Hell! You even pressured me when me when I tried to pull away." He shook his finger at her and could practically see the steam shooting out of her ears. That only encouraged him even more. Grinning, "You know what I think?" He didn't give her a chance to slip in a word before he went on, "I think that you're mad because you want me. You're sexually frustrated, you got a taste, and you want more. It just kills you, doesn't it? Having a fine specimen like myself traipsing around, and yet you can't have me."

She agitatedly raked her hand through her hair. She took one shaky breath, betraying how much the whole ordeal actually affected her. In a small wavering voice, she said softly, "I can't believe I actually felt guilty for pulling you into this mess." She gestured at the two of them, “what ever. Well, are you happy now? You win."

In an equally small voice, he stepped closer to her, lifting up her chin to look at her eyes, "For what it's worth. I am really sorry."

"No, you're not."

"Sure, I am."

She gazed back at him timidly. "For what?"

"For being an asshole."

The corner of her mouth quirked up into a small smile, "You can't help it."

He chuckled a little, with her chin still in his palm, he moved even closer. "For what it's worth, I'm gonna be really sorry after you slap the asshole out of me."

"Huh?"

Her face reflected her confusion, which he ignored as he brushed his lips tentatively over hers for the second time that night. She had scarcely reacted when her cell phone went off. His expression was indecipherable. "You better check that out. Although I'm willing to bet that it's none other than Lover boy himself.”

She nodded mutely, still wondering why she didn't shove Alec immediately away from her body the second he got too close. One look at his face revealed nothing to her. He had already wandered a few yards away, settling himself on a damp park bench. She checked the number on her pager and went to answer the call, all through which she had a million questions jammed in her mind. A few minutes later, she stood quietly next to the occupied bench. "Um," she cleared her throat, "That was Logan, I gotta go."