Journal entry 7, April 21st, 2011
It's funny how things change. Or rather, how our perception of them changes. It's the same doorframe, but now it's his doorframe. They are the same strange blood cells, except now they hold far more secrets than I thought.
The same DNA, except maybe the non-human part of it starts to look more alien than synthetic.
The same calendar, but as the days pass by and he doesn't come back, I might be staring at the last time I ever saw him.
I don't know what exactly I saw that night three weeks ago, but I know the way he looked at me—as if I were some sort of traitor. I know I told him to be careful, but did he listen?
How many people does he have to listen to?
Chapter Twelve
Friends
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" The high-pitched voice of her best friend in the world sounded misplaced in the quiet lab.
"Maria!" Liz exclaimed, leaving her microscope behind as she met and hugged the blonde with the fiery green eyes. "I was going to pick you up tomorrow!"
"I know! I got a plane earlier, and there's still time to go out for take-out!"
Yes, sure. There's also enough time for Max to come, too.
Squashing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Liz started the process of shutting the lab down, securing the samples, turning off equipment. All the while, Maria was speaking a million miles per hour about how her business was doing, the guys she'd been dating, and the crappy food on the plane. The normalcy that her words brought was priceless for Liz's nerves.
She'd missed Maria a lot.
"So, tell me. Are there any hot lab techs around?"
"Maria! I'm their boss!"
"Aha! There are hot lab techs around, then!"
Liz hesitated at that. Between the blood tests and the glares, and the endless questions and the color changing cup, she had seen enough of Max's biceps. Whatever he was being used for, he was kept in good shape.
God, I'm a terrible person for thinking that.
"Spill!" Maria squealed, picking up on Liz's silence, if not in her inner turmoil.
"He's not— I mean, he's so not—"
"Boyfriend material? What? Is he liked married or something?"
You can bet he's or something.
"He's just not around. He kinda… sorta… travels a lot," she finished. She was such a terrible liar, she was sure Maria was going to see through it. In fact, Maria was so good at it, she was going to read on her face every single time Max had stood on that doorframe, every secret he had told her, even know what type of hybrid he was.
"A mystery man! How exciting!"
Or not.
"How come Alex hasn't said anything about this? Are you keeping Mr. Perfect in the shadows?"
Liz swallowed. She was pretty sure Max would not be amused if he knew she talked about him in this way. Or any way.
"He's not Mr. Perfect. If anything, he just stormed off the office three weeks ago and hasn't called back."
But then again, he's not around to hear me talk about him. She wasn't going to tell Maria anything further than this, but opening up about how frustrated and worried she was about Max helped her soul. Just a few words, just a few half-truths to get it off her chest.
"Oh. My. God. You're dating him!"
No, I'm taking him apart, molecule by molecule. Isn't that romantic?
"No! I'm helping him with something. Besides, even if he didn't have all this baggage, and if he didn't have that attitude, and if he actually were around, he's so not interested in me."
Especially if he thinks all I see in him are blood cells and DNA sequences.
"Gay?"
God, I hope not.
Liz sighed, her hand reaching for the switch to turn off the light, ready to leave Max's ghost behind in the lab and have a girls' night out.
"You're impossible," she said to Maria.
"You know what's impossible?" her friend asked, all playfulness gone. "Alex told me he's been seeing you connected on Skype at these hours for months. That's how I knew you'd be at work and not at home. You can't work all the time and have no life, Liz. This isn't good for you. Even world- renowned scientists who will find the cure for cancer need to socialize, and do something other than just look at microscopes. This guy, you probably barely look at him before ducking down to your experiments and notes."
Liz paused, just before she turned the lights off. Maria stood in the doorframe, and Liz imagined Max there, looking at her with those piercing eyes of his, asking for help.
"I'm working on something important," she said quietly.
"You always are," Maria said with a smile and a sigh, walking down the hall as Liz finally turned the lights off. "All I'm saying is look beyond the microscope once in a while."
Trust me, Maria. It's not me who doesn't want to know what's beyond the darn microscope. Not by any chance.
