I'd Do Anything

It was starting to get dark. Anyone who had come with kids had already left, children asleep in the back of their cars. The exception was Dan and Victoria, who put their sleeping toddler to bed in the master bedroom. They both decided that they hadn’t done anything fun in a while, and the bed was large enough for them to sleep on either side of their son.

Annalise and Lars lit all the tiki torches, and Carey and Max started fucking around with the sparklers that Carey had gotten Trisha as a present.

“If you two burn the house down – “ Trisha started.

“Calm down Trisha.” Carey grinned. “Nothing bad will happen. Here, have another drink.”

Trisha grudgingly took another beer and sat back in her chair, dragging on another cigarette she had bummed. Max shot her another smile and it just made her even more upset.

It wasn’t fair for him to care enough to rework her pool party into a surprise birthday party if he was just going to reject her again and again. It wasn’t fair for Annalise to shoot them those fucking know it all looks. It wasn’t fair even if he did give a damn about her.

Lana was sharing a pool lounger with Corey the bouncer, and Olivia and Brendan were quietly lying on the grass while Olivia explained something about the stars to him. Victoria and Dan were playing quarters with Davey, Lars, Annalise, PK and a handful of other girlfriends. Anyone who remained was trying to fit one more game of volleyball in before it got too dark.

Silently hating herself, Trisha took another cigarette from Olivia’s abandoned pack, lit it off her old one, then collected her drink and headed for the garage for a few quiet moments. No one should notice her slipping off, and if they did she could say she was grabbing something.

Max immediately noticed Trisha trying to get away quietly, and no one else seemed to notice. Maybe he could talk to her now. He handed Carey his sparkler, said something about the bathroom, and followed her to the garage.

He found her leaning against the work bench, blue hazy smoke veiling her face. Her eyes focused on nothing and she was so lost in thought that she didn’t even see him.

“Trisha?”

Her eyes snapped into focus on him. She sighed. “What do you want, Max?”

That seemed like such a loaded question in that moment. He walked over and leaned against the work bench next to her. “Can we have a real, honest discussion?”

“We have those all the time, Max.” she said dully.

“No. We haven’t had one of those in…well, maybe not ever.”

“Fine.” She said bitterly. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about that day in your apartment. After Aunt Bridgette died.”

She shook her head.

“And that night when we were kids. Before you left.”

More head shaking.

“Look Trisha, I – “

“You what, Max?” she spat venomously. “You’re sorry?”

“No, I – why are you so upset?”

“Upset?” Her voice was rising. “Why the hell shouldn’t I be upset? Every damn time I’ve tried to tell you how I really honestly feel about you, you just sit there and do nothing!”

“I – “

“And then you pull this birthday party bullshit or you show up at the shore house and you’re so sweet and caring and – “

“Trisha just listen – “

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES!” she roared, tossing her cigarette onto the cement floor and pushing away the hands that were trying to grab her. “I’M TIRED OF THIS, MAX! I’M SO FUCKING TIRED OF RUNNING IN CIRCLES AROUND THE FUCKING ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!”

She looked positively wild, with her eyes bright with anger.

“YOU THINK I’M NOT TIRED OF IT TOO?” He shouted, only to have her hear him over her own voice. “GOD TRISH, DID YOU WANT ME TO SLEEP WITH YOU WHEN I WAS SO DRUNK I WOULD NEVER REMEMBER? OR WHEN YOU WERE GRIEVING? AND I TRY AND I TRY TO TELL YOU I’VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU SINCE WE WERE FIFTEEN, BUT – “

“STOP SAYING – “

“THERE YOU GO AGAIN, BULLDOZING YOUR WAY THROUGH, NOT EVEN LISTENING!” He finally succeeded in grabbing her shoulders tightly. “WOULD I DO ANY OF THIS IF IT WASN’T TRUE?”

The door into the house flung open. “What the hell are you two doing?” Victoria hissed at them. “My son is sleeping upstairs!”

Max released Trisha. “Sorry, Victoria, we’re just trying to – Trish! Come back here!”

Trisha had made a break for it and was walking out of the garage, not noticing her beer was spilling. Max caught up to her and grabbed her again.

“Trisha, listen to me.”

“No.”

“I love you.”

“No.”

“Marry me. Right now.”

“N – what?”

Her shock was enough for him to grab her chin and crash his lips onto hers. She immediately melted against him, reaching up and looping her arms around the back of his neck. Everything that had ever seemed uncertain in her life crashed into place, because Trisha knew that Max loved her, wanted her, and was finally standing right there.

“Will you please listen to me now?” he begged.

She nodded mutely and he reached up and took her hands in his.

“Trish, I have always loved you, and it always seemed like you weren’t interested. You were always with someone else and so I always tried to be with someone else too. When you moved away without saying anything I thought you hated me. And you probably had the right to. Annalise told me what happened that night.”

Trisha bit her lip as she looked up at him. They had an audience now – Victoria had run and grabbed their friends. Another spectacle, this one played out in the front yard.

“But now that you’re listening, I want to tell you the truth. I have been in love with you since I dragged you to practice hockey with me, and you body checked me because I was being an idiot and assuming you couldn’t play. I knew I loved you when you literally skated circles around me just to prove your point.

“When I saw you again at Tavern I was so happy. You were even more wonderful and more beautiful than I remembered. Everything seemed like it was falling into place, well except for that whole Stephan thing. And I’m sorry about after Aunt Bridgette died, I was an ass to not try to talk to you about it.”

“I told him not to.” Annalise offered from the sidelines.

“Shut up!” half a dozen people hissed.

“And I should really stop listening to Annalise.” Max added, and Trisha laughed. “But really, Trisha. I love you. And I would like to marry you. But if you say no, I’ll ask you again later.”

Trisha found herself tearing up for the second time that day. “Of course I’ll marry you, goofball.” She said, pulling a hand away to wipe her eyes. “I know just about everything about you. What use would dating be at this point anyway?”

Their audience cheered again as Max grinned and pressed his lips to her forehead.

~*~

The night didn’t last much longer after that. Everyone had a few more drinks to celebrate the engagement, and at some point Max and Trisha disappeared upstairs to figure out the last few things they didn’t know about each other. A lot of people managed to sober up enough to drive home, so in the end it was Trisha, Max, Victoria, Dan, the baby Matt, Lana, Olivia, Brendan, Carey, Corey, Lars, Annalise, PJ and three people from the pool team left scattered around the house.

Trisha woke up and leaned over Max, peering into his face. “Hey. Get up.”

“Hmmm.” He muttered.

“I want to make everyone breakfast. Get up.”

He slowly opened his eyes. “Mmmm…morning.”

“Come on! Coffee! Pancakes!”

“Alright.” He stifled a yawn. “Wait, first I have something for you.”

She watched as he grabbed his wallet off the bedside table and pulled a small gold engagement ring out of the bills slot. It was so unceremonious, but very few things about this situation were.

“Bridgette left that for me.” he said, taking her left hand. “She asked me to give it back to you, and now I am. We can take it to get it sized, or if you want to get a different one, we can do that too.”

They wouldn’t need to. It slid onto her ring finger perfectly.

“So, you haven’t changed your mind?” she asked.

He reached over and lightly smacked her bare ass, grinning as she squeaked. “Definitely not.”