Title: Max's Day After
Category: post episode musing... I still seem to be stuck on Blind Date.
Archivable: sure, please lemme know where!
Spoilers: The Blind Date, Independence Day, and anything before. Vague reference to my previous story, ""After the Date." You should read it… hey, it's short!
Summary: Max deals with some angst after he breaks up Liz's blind date… or "How Maea thinks Independence Day should have began."
Feedback: much appreciated to maeve_aislinn@hotmail.com
Disclaimer… I no own 'em… I no wanna own 'em… you no sue me. Song in this story is "Nothing but You" by Kim Ferron, from the BTVS Soundtrack… I don't won that either.
// // symbolizes thoughts….
***
Max entered his room, in the late hours of Friday night, quiet not to wake his parents. The last person he expected to see on his bed was Isabel.
She looked up from the book she was reading. "How was the concert, Max?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied, crawling onto his bed next to her.
Isabel vaguely acknowledged his answer and continued on with her own story. "There's something I need to tell you-- ," she began, then realized that her brother was not listening. He wasn't even facing her anymore. "Max, what happened? Where have you been so late?"
"..don't want to talk about it…" he trailed off, sleepily.
"Come on. What did you do tonight?" Isabel turned the young man to face her, noticing tears forming in his eyes. "Liz? The blind date? Oh, Max… you didn't go watch that did you?"
"Kyle showed up and he was drunk, so I took his keys and drove him there…"
"Kyle Valenti?!? What's going on, Max. Does he know about us now?"
"NO! At least I don't think so…" Max went on to tell Isabel the events of the evening, or at least as much as he could remember.
"So one minute I was standing out side the Chez Pierre watching that guy kiss *my* Liz, and then I was on the stage with her at the concert… and she looked so happy… and I could still taste her flavored lip-gloss… I know that I kissed her. I know that we spent a lot of time together, alone, tonight, and I said things to her that made her so happy… but I have no clue what it is. Now, I know that those same things I said earlier to make her look at me like that when I came to, are making her cry in her room right now. I hurt her, Iz, and I hate myself for it. That's the last thing I ever wanted to do, and I did it."
"Max," Isabel said, trying to soothe him, "Liz will understand that you weren't you when you said those things. She's a smart girl… she'll know that it was the alcohol that Kyle gave you that made you do what you did."
"It doesn't matter… she hates me, and I don't blame her. Liz has every right to never talk to me again… but what am I going to do if she doesn't? I'm hooked, Izzy. I can never get her out of my mind," Max curled up into the fetal position.
Isabel pulled the covers up to her brother's shoulders. "Shhh… it's going to be all right. We'll get through this…" But Max couldn't hear her, for he was already asleep.
***
Max Evan's alarm went off only minutes after his head touched the pillow. He reached over to hit the snooze, and unintentionally melted the small clock with his powers. It was Saturday, Max's head felt as if it was going to explode from the night before, and all he wanted to do was sleep in. In fact he planned on spending the whole day in bed… listening to The Counting Crows.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Evans had other plans. She stuck her head into Max's room, causing him to quickly throw the destroyed clock radio under his bed.
"Max, lets go. You've been hitting the snooze for a half hour now. It's time to get up."
"Come on, Mom. I'm going to sleep in today. Gimme a break."
"I don't think so, young man. Let's go," Mrs. Evans went over to his windows and puled the blinds up, letting the sunshine in.
Max groaned and rolled over, shielding his eyes with the blanket.
Two minutes later, Isabel walked into Max's room. "Come on, brother. You're going to make us both late."
He opened one eye, then the other, glaring at her. "Late?"
"For school… Monday morning ritual… Are you okay?"
"Real funny, Iz. Go away… my head is killing me, and we *both* know that it's Saturday."
She approached the bed and felt Max's forehead. "Are you feeling all right?"
He pushed Isabel's hand away. "I'm fine, just a little hung over from last night. Now will you leave me alone?"
"Last night? Max, I'm serious… it's Monday morning. I guess that liquor messed you up more than we thought."
"Monday? What happened to the weekend? The last thing I remember is going to sleep on Friday," Max sat up in bed, much to the protest of his head.
"You spent Saturday and Sunday in your room… sulking. Mom and Dad were worried, but I told them that you had a fight with Liz and weren't in the mood to socialize. Aunt Sara and Uncle Henry were here for two days… you talked to Henry for a few minutes, then hid in your room the rest of the time. Don't tell me you don't remember all this, Max."
He tenderly shook his head. "No, not a thing. But this means I get to see Liz now instead of waiting all weekend." Max jumped up and motioned Isabel out of his room so that he could get dressed. Five minutes later, Isabel had to run to catch up with her brother as he jumped in the jeep and prepared to leave for school.
***
Liz and Maria didn't talk on their way to school, since Liz insisted on blaring the cassette player with her new "favorite" song.
I think I'll go for a walk Maybe out in the rain Maybe let the tears roll down my face and not feel the pain. Maybe think about something, maybe think about you Yeah, you can't hurt me now (you know you can't hurt me now) You can't hold me down
And I've got plenty of time, Time to figure it out Time to think about you and me, whatever that was all about. Got nothing to prove, got nothing to say No, I guess I never thought that you were good for me anyway. Got nothing to lose… nothing but you…
Finally when the song finished playing for the ninth time, Maria reached over and turned off the radio.
"Hey! I was listening to that, Maria," Liz protested from behind her dark sunglasses.
"How much longer can you stand that song, Liz? I mean, I identified with it the first… maybe three times, but nine times is too much…. Plus, you've been listening to it all weekend. It's not healthy to have that much angst."
"It's not my fault that Max—", Liz started, but Maria interrupted.
"Aha! I knew that it was only a matter of time before you actually spoke his name. Sure, Max messed up Friday, but you don't have to crucify your love for it. He can make mistakes too… he's only—"
"Human? But he's not. I know that now… I understand that, and I'm not going to let him mess with my heart any more. I'm going to tell him what I feel and then it's going to end."
And with that, Liz turned the cassette player back on, and "Nothing But You" played for the tenth time.
***
Max pulled the Jeep into the parking lot of Roswell High barely putting it into park before jumping out.
Isabel watched her brother rush into the school to see Liz, and frowned. "Be careful, Max," she whispered to his back.
At the top of the stairs to the school, Max stopped running and hesitated. From outside the glass doors, he saw her. Suddenly his breath was gone, and his mouth went dry. //What am I going to say to her?//, he asked himself silently.
Max watched as Maria and Liz talked at their lockers, then Maria squirted something into Liz's mouth. By the grossed out expression on her face, Max knew that she didn't like it.
"Oh, that...that's really gross. What is it?"
Maria screwed the lid back on, glancing at the label. "What is it? It's grief relief."
"What?"
"I got it at my mother's shop. It's this herbal remedy that shocks the body back into reality when the mind's gone into overload. Veterinarians use it to calm wild animals."
"Oh, well that...that's great."
"Here, you can have this, and any time you feel yourself spiraling out of control, put 4 drops under your tongue, okay?"
"Okay." To pacify Maria, Liz takes the bottle, silently wondering how long she'll have to keep it before she can safely toss it.
"Now would be a good time," Maria said as she noticed Max approaching, "for his sake," she mumbled under her breath.
Max finally found the courage to enter the school and walk towards the girls. Maria handed Liz the vial and walked off to class, leaving the dark-haired girl alone. As Max moved toward the locker area, he passed Maria, giving her a slight wave, but Maria just kept going. Max did not feel encouraged.
"Hey."
"Hi," he responded. "What's that?" Max motioned to the bottle. Curiosity had gotten the better of him.
"Oh, um, it...it's nothing. You know, Max, the other night, when...when we kissed, I, um... "
"Yeah?"
"It can never happen again. You need to know that. I want you to stay away from me from now on."
Max Evans felt his world collapse. "Liz…"
"No, Max, you need to listen to me, now. I've listened to you and you 'Max-logic' long enough. Every time you come close to me you hurt me, and I can't take it anymore. Why did you even save me that day at the Crashdown?"
"I told you… it was because--."
"I know what you said. 'It was me'… I don't buy it at all. You should have just let me die."
"Liz, don't say that, please…"
She continued as if he didn't even interrupt. "Instead you're killing me a little every day. It would have been better to just have died all at once, on the floor of the café… less painful.
I don't want you anymore, Max. I don't want you to look at me, think of me, and most of all I don't want you to talk to me. Just pretend like I'm dead."
"Liz, this isn't you… you can't mean this."
"You're right… this isn't me. This is the Liz Parker that you created that day in September. You made me." He couldn't even meet her eyes, they were so cold… so lifeless. "We don't belong together… you make me feel off balance."
Each word cut into Max's soul… each word that he had said to her after Michael was sick. He reached out for her, but she shook him off.
"No! This is not something you can heal with a touch, Max Evans. This was your choice, now you have to deal with your consequences."
As she walked away, Max crumpled to the floor of the school hallway, afraid to watch her go… afraid she'd never comeback.
The hall had been empty for most of Liz's tirade, but suddenly Max felt a presence over him. He looked up through the tears in his eyes at Isabel… but not the Isabel he had driven to school that morning. His sister was wearing her favorite pair of powder blue silky pajamas. It took him a moment to realize what this meant.
"This is all a dream, Iz?"
She nodded, compassionately. "Max, everything is going to be all right." Isabel reached out to help him to his feet.
"How can it be all right? Liz hates me," he said standing before her.
"This is your dream, brother, not hers. Reality versus fantasy. These are your fears about the future. Liz is a smart girl, Max… and she loves you. She knows that you didn't want to hurt her tonight…"
"But I did… I know I did, and it's killing me." Isabel patted his hand. "What's the use of having these powers if I can't even heal a broken heart?"
"I guess it's all part of the process of growing up… human. Something that we have to live with." Isabel took a step away from him and began to fade into the background. "Trust me when I say it will be all right," she said as she disappeared.
***
Monday couldn't come fast enough for Max. He wanted to break away all weekend to see Liz, but his Uncle Henry and Aunt Sarah dropped in—unexpectedly—for a visit.
But Monday did finally come and Max flew to school. It wasn't until half-way there did he realize that he was wearing the exact same clothes he wore in the dream… and when he entered the school, Liz and Maria were doing the exact same things they were doing in the dream. He moved himself forward, trying to stop the fear that something bad was going to happen. Maria walked past him, ignoring his wave, just as she did--.
//Stop it,// Max yelled at himself. //It was *just* a dream!//
"Hey," Liz smiled.
"Hi," he responded. "What's that?" Max motioned to the bottle. Curiosity had gotten the better of him… again.
"Oh, um, it...it's nothing. You know, Max, the other night, when...when we kissed, I, um... "
"Yeah?"
Before Liz could continue, Isabel walked up to them.
"Hey. Something's up with Michael. He's acting weird."
//Dammit, Iz, you know what this time means to me,// he thought, but he kept it quiet. Aloud he said, "Weirder than usual?"
"Yeah, no, I just saw him at the other end of the hall, and he just went the other way."
"Well, maybe he didn't see you." //Hint, hint… Go away…//
"No, he was ignoring me. He practically ran into the bathroom. Will you just go in there and see what's going on?"
"Right." He didn't know why he agreed… maybe he just want to pay her back for being so understanding last night… but he agreed at that was it.
"Thank you." Isabel walked off to go hang with her group.
Max turned back to Liz. He just wanted to take her into his arms and make her know how he feels about her… take away all the doubt in her eyes that whatever he said wasn't true. Because even though he can't remember what he said to her, Max remembered how he felt before the alcohol… when he saw her in the arms of another man, and he never wanted to feel that way again. "I'll see you later. Sorry."
"It's okay," she said quietly.
And Max knew that it would be… just like Isabel said.
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