Misunderstandings Continued...
Max ran into the ally way behind Liz's balcony, and his eyes searched the sliding door...there was a light on in her room, and he could hear soft music playing. Without hesitating, he climbed up onto the balcony. Peeking into the window, he saw Liz sitting at the edge of her bed. She was holding his note in her hand, tears slipping down her cheek and onto the paper, blurring the navy ink.
Wow...I didn't think it was that bad! She knows I wouldn't kiss Tess...what got into her? He thought. He slipped the door open quietly, like a cat. He stood in front of Liz, yet she didn't see him there through her tears. "Liz, what is it?" he asked quietly.
She gasped as she looked up. "Max, you scared me."
"Sorry."
"What do you want, Max?" she asked through her tears, which she was trying to stop.
"Why are you avoiding me, Liz? I didn't kiss Tess, you know I wouldn't do that." Max asked, hurt.
"Max, I–I can't tell you..." Liz trailed off. She couldn't tell Max.
Max looked even more hurt. "Liz, you can tell me anything. I know you didn't sleep with Kyle, we went over that. But I still don't understand why you're avoiding me so much. I love you, Liz. Don't do this to me." he said quietly.
Liz didn't know what to do. She didn't know how she could tell Max what had happened. When he came back from the future he had specifically said don't tell anyone. God, give me strength. I hate having to do this...Liz thought. "Max, I..." she paused, gathering her courage. What she was about to say would be the hardest thing she had ever done. "I don't love you."
"What?" he asked softly, not sure if he heard her right. She didn't love him? Now he was confused. He had just thought that she was pretending to sleep with Kyle because she might have heard a rumour about him and Tess and believed it. But she knows I wouldn't do that...at least, I think she knows that.
"I said I don't love you, Max. It's really hard for me to say that--"
"Because it's not true," he cut her off.
"Max, don't tell me what's true and what isn't true, okay? I'll be the judge of that myself. I--I don't love you, Max. I'm over you. We're over. When will you understand that?" Liz asked, choking back her tears. Yet, some of them threatened to spill over her flushed cheeks, hot and painful.
Max looked down, "Never..." he muttered. Why was Liz doing this to him? There was a brief silence, which Max interrupted. "Liz...you can't be serious. You're my destiny."
"Tess is your destiny, Max, not me. If we stay together the whole world will--" Liz immediately stopped, realizing what she had almost revealed. She just hoped Max wouldn't have caught it.
"The whole world will what, Liz? And you really think it matters to me? You're the one for me, Liz. I love you. Not Tess. According to my mother, she may be my destiny, but according to me and my heart, you're my destiny." he whispered.
The tears in Liz's eyes carried out on their threat, and spilled over her cheeks like raindrops from the sky. "Max, why can't you understand? The whole world--"
"Liz, I don't care about the whole world. I care about you." he said. A single tear slipped silently down his cheek. Liz reached out and wiped it away gently. He caught her hand with his own, and pulled her closer.
"Max, I--"
"Shh...Liz, just listen to me, okay?" he asked. He was whispering, and the distance between then was so little that he would have barely had to move to close that distance and kiss her. "Liz, I love you more than anything in the whole world. I would never let anything come between us. You're everything to me...the sun....the moon...the stars...to me, you're a way of life, and without you, my life would be incomplete. You're everything to me, the only person I have ever loved in such a way, and the only person I will ever love in such a way. And so what about the whole world? What's going to happen to it if we stay together, Liz? It's not like it's going to end! What aren't you telling me?" his tone changed from soft and romantic to curious and a pure desire to know.
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, the world is going to end if we stay together, Max. That's why I can't see you an--anymore."
"Liz, how do you know this?" he asked.
Liz gathered her courage, strength, and anything that she could possibly need to tell Max what she shouldn't. She had to tell him. He had a right to know, and maybe then he would understand. "You came to me from the future..."
"What?"
"You came to me from the future, and you said that I couldn't see you anymore. I had to make you fall out of love with me--"
"Liz, that would never happen. I love you too much." Max interrupted her.
"But it did, Max, and I'm afraid of what will happen!" Liz cried. Why couldn't he understand?
"Max, please. Just let me finish. You told me that I had to make you fall out of love with me. I didn't want to do it, I didn't know why. But you told me that if I didn't, the world was going to end. Everyone we knew about, everyone we cared about, was going to die off one by one. I didn't want that to happen, Max. You had said that Isobel had died a week before you came to me, Tess much earlier. Michael ten minutes before you came to me. And that only you and I were left, and we were both not in good condition. You had left me there, Max, for a matter of a few days to come back and tell me what to do. He made me sleep with--I didn't sleep with him, we just layed there. It was supposed to look like we had. It was supposed to make you fall out of love with me, Max, but I guess it didn't work. You told me that we eloped when we were still nineteen, that we got married in Las Vegas with Michael, Isobel, Maria, and Alex there. We grew up together. And remember how you asked me to go to the concert with you a few days ago? If I hadn't refused because of what your future self had told me, we would've made love that night. Made love, Max. We're still in high school, we're too young for that! I wasn't protected, but you were. And then everything happened later on. Getting married, all of that. But the world ended because of us, Max. And if I had succeeded in making you fall out of love with me, then the world wouldn't have ended. And then I thought that I had succeeded."
"What makes you think that I fell out of love with you?"
"The look on your face when you--me...Kyle..." she couldn't bring herself to the words. A tear slipped down her cheek.
"But you didn't."
Liz looked straight into Max's eyes. Damn. Shouldn't have done that, she thought. With a single glance into his eyes, Liz saw exactly how much pain she was causing him. Right then and there she wanted to be able to hold him in her arms, cry with him, tell him that she loved him, everything was going to be okay. Yet that was something that she just couldn't really do. Every cell in her body ached to touch Max, hold him...kiss him...she wanted to touch him so badly, but she couldn't. The world was on her shoulders. But for a fleeting second she didn't care. She felt like being selfish for once, felt like holding him...felt like kissing him, running her fingers through his hair, feeling his hands running up and down her back as she kissed him. She longed to feel the way she used to with him, when they were able to be together, not worrying about anything like the end of the world.
"It can be like that again, Liz," Max said softly, a pleading look on his face.
"What?"
"We can be together again, like you were thinking. We know what the future is, we can change it. History won't repeat itself, Liz. Not if we don't let it."
Liz suddenly felt angry. Why couldn't Max understand? "We can't change it. There is no we, Max. Why can't you see that?"
"Liz, I--" Max was unable to finish his sentence. Tears streamed down his face. "Liz, I--" he tried again, but to no avail. He gasped for breath, but collapsed onto Liz's bed, unconscious.
Max ran into the ally way behind Liz's balcony, and his eyes searched the sliding door...there was a light on in her room, and he could hear soft music playing. Without hesitating, he climbed up onto the balcony. Peeking into the window, he saw Liz sitting at the edge of her bed. She was holding his note in her hand, tears slipping down her cheek and onto the paper, blurring the navy ink.
Wow...I didn't think it was that bad! She knows I wouldn't kiss Tess...what got into her? He thought. He slipped the door open quietly, like a cat. He stood in front of Liz, yet she didn't see him there through her tears. "Liz, what is it?" he asked quietly.
She gasped as she looked up. "Max, you scared me."
"Sorry."
"What do you want, Max?" she asked through her tears, which she was trying to stop.
"Why are you avoiding me, Liz? I didn't kiss Tess, you know I wouldn't do that." Max asked, hurt.
"Max, I–I can't tell you..." Liz trailed off. She couldn't tell Max.
Max looked even more hurt. "Liz, you can tell me anything. I know you didn't sleep with Kyle, we went over that. But I still don't understand why you're avoiding me so much. I love you, Liz. Don't do this to me." he said quietly.
Liz didn't know what to do. She didn't know how she could tell Max what had happened. When he came back from the future he had specifically said don't tell anyone. God, give me strength. I hate having to do this...Liz thought. "Max, I..." she paused, gathering her courage. What she was about to say would be the hardest thing she had ever done. "I don't love you."
"What?" he asked softly, not sure if he heard her right. She didn't love him? Now he was confused. He had just thought that she was pretending to sleep with Kyle because she might have heard a rumour about him and Tess and believed it. But she knows I wouldn't do that...at least, I think she knows that.
"I said I don't love you, Max. It's really hard for me to say that--"
"Because it's not true," he cut her off.
"Max, don't tell me what's true and what isn't true, okay? I'll be the judge of that myself. I--I don't love you, Max. I'm over you. We're over. When will you understand that?" Liz asked, choking back her tears. Yet, some of them threatened to spill over her flushed cheeks, hot and painful.
Max looked down, "Never..." he muttered. Why was Liz doing this to him? There was a brief silence, which Max interrupted. "Liz...you can't be serious. You're my destiny."
"Tess is your destiny, Max, not me. If we stay together the whole world will--" Liz immediately stopped, realizing what she had almost revealed. She just hoped Max wouldn't have caught it.
"The whole world will what, Liz? And you really think it matters to me? You're the one for me, Liz. I love you. Not Tess. According to my mother, she may be my destiny, but according to me and my heart, you're my destiny." he whispered.
The tears in Liz's eyes carried out on their threat, and spilled over her cheeks like raindrops from the sky. "Max, why can't you understand? The whole world--"
"Liz, I don't care about the whole world. I care about you." he said. A single tear slipped silently down his cheek. Liz reached out and wiped it away gently. He caught her hand with his own, and pulled her closer.
"Max, I--"
"Shh...Liz, just listen to me, okay?" he asked. He was whispering, and the distance between then was so little that he would have barely had to move to close that distance and kiss her. "Liz, I love you more than anything in the whole world. I would never let anything come between us. You're everything to me...the sun....the moon...the stars...to me, you're a way of life, and without you, my life would be incomplete. You're everything to me, the only person I have ever loved in such a way, and the only person I will ever love in such a way. And so what about the whole world? What's going to happen to it if we stay together, Liz? It's not like it's going to end! What aren't you telling me?" his tone changed from soft and romantic to curious and a pure desire to know.
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, the world is going to end if we stay together, Max. That's why I can't see you an--anymore."
"Liz, how do you know this?" he asked.
Liz gathered her courage, strength, and anything that she could possibly need to tell Max what she shouldn't. She had to tell him. He had a right to know, and maybe then he would understand. "You came to me from the future..."
"What?"
"You came to me from the future, and you said that I couldn't see you anymore. I had to make you fall out of love with me--"
"Liz, that would never happen. I love you too much." Max interrupted her.
"But it did, Max, and I'm afraid of what will happen!" Liz cried. Why couldn't he understand?
"Max, please. Just let me finish. You told me that I had to make you fall out of love with me. I didn't want to do it, I didn't know why. But you told me that if I didn't, the world was going to end. Everyone we knew about, everyone we cared about, was going to die off one by one. I didn't want that to happen, Max. You had said that Isobel had died a week before you came to me, Tess much earlier. Michael ten minutes before you came to me. And that only you and I were left, and we were both not in good condition. You had left me there, Max, for a matter of a few days to come back and tell me what to do. He made me sleep with--I didn't sleep with him, we just layed there. It was supposed to look like we had. It was supposed to make you fall out of love with me, Max, but I guess it didn't work. You told me that we eloped when we were still nineteen, that we got married in Las Vegas with Michael, Isobel, Maria, and Alex there. We grew up together. And remember how you asked me to go to the concert with you a few days ago? If I hadn't refused because of what your future self had told me, we would've made love that night. Made love, Max. We're still in high school, we're too young for that! I wasn't protected, but you were. And then everything happened later on. Getting married, all of that. But the world ended because of us, Max. And if I had succeeded in making you fall out of love with me, then the world wouldn't have ended. And then I thought that I had succeeded."
"What makes you think that I fell out of love with you?"
"The look on your face when you--me...Kyle..." she couldn't bring herself to the words. A tear slipped down her cheek.
"But you didn't."
Liz looked straight into Max's eyes. Damn. Shouldn't have done that, she thought. With a single glance into his eyes, Liz saw exactly how much pain she was causing him. Right then and there she wanted to be able to hold him in her arms, cry with him, tell him that she loved him, everything was going to be okay. Yet that was something that she just couldn't really do. Every cell in her body ached to touch Max, hold him...kiss him...she wanted to touch him so badly, but she couldn't. The world was on her shoulders. But for a fleeting second she didn't care. She felt like being selfish for once, felt like holding him...felt like kissing him, running her fingers through his hair, feeling his hands running up and down her back as she kissed him. She longed to feel the way she used to with him, when they were able to be together, not worrying about anything like the end of the world.
"It can be like that again, Liz," Max said softly, a pleading look on his face.
"What?"
"We can be together again, like you were thinking. We know what the future is, we can change it. History won't repeat itself, Liz. Not if we don't let it."
Liz suddenly felt angry. Why couldn't Max understand? "We can't change it. There is no we, Max. Why can't you see that?"
"Liz, I--" Max was unable to finish his sentence. Tears streamed down his face. "Liz, I--" he tried again, but to no avail. He gasped for breath, but collapsed onto Liz's bed, unconscious.