Pile of lies
Category- Max and
Liz (well, not yet) and Max/Tess (sort of)
Summary- Liz,
Maria, and Isabel are having a sleepover. This chapter's also got a bit of the
Max/Tess sleeping thing from the last chapter.
Disclaimer- don't own
it, don't sue, don't have anything you want
Rating- PG, PG-13…
A/N- I DO NOT hate
Tess. I swear, I don't. I think she's pretty cool. She's just being kind of
weird (like Alex), it's part of the story.
"We made love," Tess repeated, laughing silently at
Max's horrified expression. At that moment, Max couldn't stand to look at her,
so he turned away. We didn't! We couldn't have! I don't love you! You're
lying! He desperately wanted to scream. He felt trapped, tricked. How could
Tess have done that? Of course, it was his own fault as well, for letting Tess
talk him into going. "Why don't I remember anything about it?" he challenged
her. "Well, obviously, because you were drunk," she had a disgusting gleeful
look on her face. "So that's the reason why you got me drunk, isn't it?" Max
yelled at her. "Max, calm down. Of course not," she was taken aback by his
accusation. "Yes, you planned it, didn't you? Didn't you?" he practically
roared. Tess covered her ears, "Max. I swear I didn't plan any-"
"The hell you didn't!" his voice kept
getting higher and higher. "But Max-"
"Will you get out?!"
"Max," Tess looked up at him, "will you
please understand?" but Max glared at her with steely eyes, "I don't want to.
Just get out. Now," he said through clenched teeth. Her eyes glassed over, as
if she were about to cry, but Max didn't care. He wanted her to leave. "Fine,
I'll go," and she did.
"Alright, it's already past 1 in the
morning, and all we've done is make shakes, paint nails, and watch a version of
Romeo & Juliet, which in my opinion, is one of the sappiest love
stories ever, with Leonerdo DeCrapio in it. Can you believe that?!" Isabel
exclaimed incredulously to her friends as she popped the tape out of the VCR,
"I wish I could, like, stretch out time or something. It's too bad that's one
power I don't have. That would be so cool!" she didn't receive an answer after
all that rambling. "Guys?" she asked. No answer. She heard a faint sobbing
noise behind her, turning around; she saw Liz and Maria were crying their eyes
out. "Oh, please! Are you really that sensitive?"
"I can't help it…it's so sad!" Maria
answered through her tears. "It kind of relates to my life in a way," Liz
added, sniffling, "Except my life isn't as dramatic." Maria smiled at her,
"Sure it's not, Lizzie! You never have to go through world-ending dilemmas."
Liz started choking on an imaginary piece of bread and gave Maria a death-look.
Isabel raised her eyebrows, "What was that supposed to mean?"
"Uh…nothing!" Maria said a little too
quickly. Why is it that I never have a good cover-up at times like these? "Nothing?
I see…" Isabel smirked, unconvinced. "Just that-um, that we're always in life
and death situations, like with the Skins, that could eventually end in a
world-ending…situation," Liz supplied. Yeah, that was great Liz. Didn't even
make sense. She thought to herself. "Oh," Isabel nodded understandingly,
but she wasn't quite sure she believed them. "So, anyway," Maria perked up,
changing the subject, "it's the 'What Would You change from This Movie' time!
You first, Isabel. What would you have done differently if you were Juliet?"
Isabel thought for a minute, "Well…first of all, Leonerdo DeCrapio would so not
have been my Romeo. And I guess I would have run away with Romeo in the first
place,"
"That's a good idea!" Liz agreed, "I
wonder why the couple didn't think of that. All right, you, Maria?" Maria
stroked her invisible beard, "Hmm…okay! I got it! When I saw that Romeo was
dead, I would have done CPR on him, and if that didn't work, I would have dried
a little. Then I would have gone on with my life," she smiled triumphantly,
completely self-satisfied with her answer. Liz rolled her eyes, and so did
Isabel. "Maria, that's just a little heartless, don't you think?" Liz asked her
best friend. "Hey! It works!" Maria defended herself. How about you, Liz?"
Isabel inquired. Liz sighed inaudibly, and her answer was almost immediate,
though it seemed as if she would have thought it through for a long time, "I
would have told him we couldn't be together." Isabel gave her a confused look,
"Why would you do that?"
"So nothing would happen to him," Liz
replied, a strange look coming over her face. Maria nodded sympathetically.
"What if he still didn't give up on you?" Isabel pressed on, not sure why she
wanted to know. "Then I would lie to him and tell him I didn't love him enough
to risk my family dishonoring me, I would pretend I wanted to be with someone
else if I had to. If he loved me enough- he would leave me alone," Liz answered
her firmly, but her eyes were cloudy. Isabel felt something in her brain almost
click. As if she had just almost pieced together the world's largest
jigsaw puzzle, but was missing the very last piece, "But that's lying! Why
wouldn't you tell him the truth- that if you were together, he might die?" Liz
didn't say anything. Isabel stared at her, waiting for someone to say
something. Maria, who up to this point had been singing "Come on Over", became
eerily quiet. Liz closed her eyes briefly, "He would never understand," How
would you know? Isabel thought. Liz had made it sound as if she were trying
to convince herself of that. "I'm getting a drink," Liz declared, getting up
from her spot on the floor, "Anyone want anything?" Maria asked for a Sprite,
and Isabel asked for a Cherry Coke. As she drank it, she concentrated mainly on
the way Liz was saying the words; she had never once said 'Romeo'. This
time, Isabel's brain actually clicked. She had a sneaking suspicion Liz had
been referring to Max.
Max
slumped down in his desk chair, lost in thought. He hated himself for letting
Tess get him drunk; he knew she had been planning it. He hated Tess for getting
him drunk; he knew she was using his state as her excuse. He hated Isabel
for not persisting in getting a ride, because then Tess wouldn't have been able
to suggest anything. He hated his parents for not being home, because if they
had, they could have stopped anything from happening. He hated Alex for making
that stupid joke that made him want to leave, and Tess come with him. He hated
Michael for letting him go with Tess, he should have stopped him. He hated
Maria for not telling him whatever it was she and Liz were hiding from him,
because he knew there was something. He hated Kyle for going along with Liz in
pretending they had slept together, because he knew they hadn't. But Max had
slept with Tess. He had. He cringed when he remembered Tess's words, we made
love. Impossible. He refused to call it 'making love'. You couldn't make
love to someone unless you were in love with them. And he was
definitely not in love with Tess. He was in love with Liz. Max covered his face
with his hands and started to cry.
Liz sat on the balcony, looking up at the
stars. Isabel and Maria were already asleep. At least, Maria was asleep. Isabel
was probably dream walking someone. "I wonder what he's doing right now," Liz
mused out loud. She wished that, right now, Max was there with her. It was
obviously not going to happen, but she fell into a little dream. Max was next
to her on the balcony, holding her in his arms. Her head was buried in his
shoulder, and he was stroking her hair. She looked up at him and smiled, he
leaned down and gently kissed her, whispering, I love you, Liz… She
sighed. This was hopeless. "If only I had told him the truth about Kyle, then
everything…" she heard footsteps behind her, and turned around. Isabel was
standing in front of her, arms crossed, "What truth about Kyle?"