Max stood looking at the ladders leading to Liz's room. He shouldn't have come here but he wanted so desperately to see her. Lately he'd been feeling the sadness around her, he hadn't spoken to her in so long but Tess had taught him how to sense people's feelings, no matter how far away he was from them. The feelings of other people affected him too, if someone was happy, then Max usually smiled for no reason for days afterwards but if someone was miserable, he usually walked around barely speaking. Reading Liz's feelings he had been reduced to tears and he rarely cried. The only other time he can remember is when he saw Liz and Kyle together.
"You can't do it Max!" Isabel's voice broke his thoughts. "You can't go up there. You're with Tess. Don't do this," Isabel was practically begging him.
"I'm not going to do anything, why would I jeopardise my perfect relationship with TESS?" He spat out and walked away. He couldn't deal with people right now.
"Max, stop! You have to talk about this," Isabel shouted after him as he walked away. "Just because you and Tess had a fight doesn't mean you …." But she didn't get to finish before Max was out of her eyesight.
The truth was he and Tess were always arguing or rather he was arguing she was being the total agreeable person she'd always been. It was like that film from the 1980's with Eddie Murphy called 'Coming to America.' When he meets his betrothed, she doesn't form an opinion she just says she likes whatever he likes. He had seen that film with Tess and he couldn't help but notice the similarities. Maybe he should try to get Tess to bark like a dog and hop on one leg. That thought brought a smile to his face anyway.
But Max didn't need that. He needed someone he could have debates with and intelligent conversations about the future that didn't include talking about the Skins and Antar and reminiscing about the past with memories they could both actually remember not just one of them. Even after all these years he could still imagine growing old with Liz, and that brought the biggest smile to his face of anything he thought about.