Part Four
Max was at a loss for what to do now. He didn't want to just go home and spend the evening moping around the house, his mind constantly trying to discover exactly what was happening to him. Besides, Isabel would most likely be out organising things for Christmas, which she would no doubt try to get him involved in before she left, and if he stayed home, his Mom would no doubt make him a guinea pig for her new Christmas recipes.
So, he made his way to Michael's apartment. Since Liz and her father were out of town, it was pretty likely that Maria would be working late to cover her friend's shift; which meant that Michael would not have company tonight. Max's thoughts lingered for a moment on the relationship that Michael shared with Maria. He wished he and Liz had managed to work through everything and had stayed together. No matter how much or often he tried to deny it, Max knew that he was still in love with Liz; he always would be, it was like it was ingrained in his soul; it was part of him. He couldn't not love her. And that's what was so pathetic about their situation. Had it been anyone else, he would have turned his back completely the day she betrayed him with her ex-boyfriend. But it wasn't anybody else; it was Liz.
He shook his head, realising that he hadn't been paying attention to the road. Now was not the time to be going off into Liz-land again.
Pulling up at Michael's, he parked the jeep outside and knocked on his friend's door. He only had to wait a second before it was wrenched open, revealing an angry Michael.
"Look, I already told you, I don't want no damn carol singers so – " he looked up mid-rant, and stopped. "Max."
Max flashed him a knowing smile, "Hey, Mike. Being hassled, I take it?"
"Yeah," he replied, frustrated. He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "Damn kids."
Max bit back a grin. "You know, Michael, it's Christmas. You might wanna lay off the Scrooge attitude."
Michael's head snapped up. "Hey, look who's talking! I'm not the one who's been moping around here like a lost puppy these past few weeks," he retorted, but before Max could say anything in reply, he sighed and added, "Look, you wanna come in?"
"Sure," said Max, stepping inside the apartment. "And for your information, I haven't been moping, I've just been…preoccupied," he lied.
Michael crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow, "Sure you have, and I'm the perfect boyfriend."
Max sighed and took a seat on the couch. "Okay, fine, I've been moping. But that's my concern right now, not yours. And I'd rather not go there just now."
Michael just shrugged in a 'whatever' gesture, but Max could see the almost imperceptible nod of understanding as he did so.
"So, what brings you by tonight, Maxwell?"
It was Max's turn to shrug, "I noticed Maria was working tonight and since it's the holidays, I thought maybe you could use the company."
Michael's eyes narrowed, "You mean you didn't want to get roped into one of Isabel's little planning schemes and my place was the only place you could hang out."
"Well, that and my Mom's trying out new cooking recipes," he admitted sheepishly.
"Oh, well in that case, be my guest," said Michael, as he also took a seat on the couch. "I was just about to settle down for an evening with the Playstation. You up for it?"
That had Max smiling, he could really do with a fun night off, playing computer games with his best friend. Almost like a normal guy. "Sure," he replied, reaching for one of the control pads. "Be prepared to get your butt kicked, Guerin."
"Oh, I'm not the one in for a butt-kicking, Evans," retorted Michael as he picked up the other control pad. "Get ready for defeat!"
Three hours later, the former alien king and his second-in-command were slumped on the sofa, each with a bag of chips in hand, watching (or, more accurately, staring at the) TV. Unable to face another night sleeping in his room, with reminders of Liz all around him, Max had opted to crash on Michael's couch for the night. Maybe being in a different environment would help to keep his mind off the memory of seeing her and Kyle together, at least for a few hours.
"Man, I'm beat!" Michael's tired voice suddenly pulled Max from his thoughts and he looked over at his friend. "Been working on Maria's present all afternoon," Michael explained when Max fixed him with an inquisitive look.
"Working on Maria's…?" Max trailed of as an awful thought occurred to him. "Michael," his tone was warning. "What exactly are you giving your girlfriend for Christmas?"
"What?" Michael retorted defensively. "Isabel said I had to get her something personal, thoughtful and something she would never get herself and that's exactly what I did!"
"Michael, what did you get?" repeated Max, bracing himself for the answer, alarms bells going off in his head.
Michael nodded towards the back door, where a car bumper was resting on a workbench.
"A bumper? You got Maria a bumper?" Max cried incredulously.
"Not just any bumper," his friend retorted. "It's for a Jetta."
"Right, I see that," agreed Max. "But how exactly does it fit into Isabel's requirements?"
Michael sighed and prepared to tell the story again; he'd already had this conversation with Isabel earlier in the day. "One, it's personal because I personally know how annoyed she is that we keep messing up her car. Two, it's thoughtful because I had to get it from the junkyard and three, her bumper's been hanging off her car for months, which proves that she'd never buy it for herself," he finished, crossing his arms over his chest.
Max sighed, running a hand over his face. He spoke carefully, "Michael, when Isabel told you all those things, I don't think she was talking about a new bumper. Some jewellery maybe, but not a new part for Maria's car."
He hadn't meant to offend him, but obviously, his words struck a cord because next thing he knew, Michael was on his feet and storming out of the room.
"You know what, Max? I've had it with all this 'perfect Christmas', 'perfect present' crap!" he cried, as he stopped in his bedroom doorway and turned back towards the couch. "I'm going to bed. You know where the blankets are."
The door slammed behind him, leaving Max alone in the living room to clean up their mess. He turned off the TV and carried the remaining food and drink to the kitchen.
Grabbing a pillow and blanket from the small closet in the bathroom, he made himself comfortable on the couch and settled down to sleep.
***
The nightmares came again that night, as Max slept fitfully on Michael's couch. But something was different this time, they started out the same as usual, but right in the middle, something changed…
Max clambered eagerly up the ladder to Liz's balcony. Despite all her recent refusals to get back together with him, he was still as determined as ever to see her, to talk to her and maybe even persuade her to change her mind once and for all. He didn't know what was different about tonight, but all he knew was that one way or another, he was going to convince Liz to give him another chance. He had miraculously managed to secure tickets to tonight's Gomez concert in Santa Fe and although she had told him that she couldn't go out with him ever again, he had felt their connection when he'd kissed her in Whitaker's office the other day and he just knew that deep down, she still loved him; which was why he was climbing onto her balcony right now.
As he swung his legs over the wall, he couldn't help the feeling of elation that swelled up in his chest at the thought of being with Liz again. A smile lit up his face as he made his way over to her window, preparing to use everything he had to change her mind.
But he only got two-thirds of the way there, before a movement from within her room stopped him in his tracks.
No. He hadn't just seen what he thought, had he? Yes, he had. A focused gaze through the window confirmed it.
Liz, his Liz, was in bed with another man. Not just any man, though. It was Kyle. Her ex.
His heart dropped into his stomach and he felt tears welling up in his eyes.
No.
This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't.
He closed his eyes for a moment, willing the image of the two of them lying together in the bed to disappear, But it didn't. If anything, what he saw in his mind was a thousand times worse than what was actually occurring in the bedroom. All he could see was images of Kyle and Liz in the throes of passion, writhing together on the bed, crying out in ecstasy.
With a strangled sob, Max forced his eyes open once more, his gaze fixing sorrowfully on Liz, who was now facing him. She had pulled the covers up higher around her chest, the shock and shame evident on her otherwise flawless features.
Their eyes locked and as hard as he tried, Max just could not look away. In fact, as he stood there, staring into her eyes, everything else seemed to disappear around him.
The scene in front of him shifted and suddenly he was no longer observing the love of his life with another man, but instead he was seeing the two of them, he and Liz, together; wrapped in each other's arms, loving each other so completely.
Suddenly, the scene seemed to rewind and then he was witnessing them talking, fully clothed this time – wearing the same clothes he was currently dressed in, in fact. What looked like the very concert tickets he currently held in his hand were being waved in the air as the other version of him spoke heatedly. It was only a moment before they seemed to melt into each other, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss, arms wrapped around each other tightly.
As one, they stumbled towards the bed and sank down onto it; Liz was on her back, with him on top. Clothing was tugged at frantically and moments after his shirt was discarded, Liz's tank top joined it on the floor. His large hands caressed her newly exposed skin and Liz's pants soon followed the tank top. In a feverish need to rid him of his jeans, Liz began fumbling with the belt. His hand stopped her however and instead, he reached for something in his back pocket. As the image of Max pulled out the item he was searching for and whispered something to Liz, the other Max, the one observing the scene through the window, felt in his own back pocket for the condom that he had placed there only yesterday.
Max could do nothing but watch, with tears in his eyes, as this vision of him and Liz made sweet, passionate love on her bed. Whilst the other Max moved his head to place hot, wet kisses to the smooth skin of Liz's neck, her eyes snapped open and made contact with his own through the glass. Their gazes locked as suddenly Max was catapulted back into reality.
Blinking harshly, the world came into focus again and once again, all he could see was Liz and Kyle together in the bed. Stumbling slightly, he fumbled backwards towards the ladder, the concert tickets slipping from his fingers and falling to the floor of the balcony. Blindly he turned to face the wall, grasping the metal bar of the ladder with shaking hands as he climbed back over the wall and began his descent...
Max's eyes shot open as he awoke suddenly, his breathing harsh and ragged, his body aching for Liz.
What was that?
Had it been some kind of hopeful turn of events that his twisted mind had come up with, or had it been something else? His first thought was that it had been wishful thinking, but coupled with the strange things he'd already seen over the last 24 hours, he couldn't be sure.
But what he did know was that he desperately needed to talk to Liz. She had been the star of all his strange visions so far and somehow he was sure that she knew something about all this.
He glanced over at the illuminated clock on Michael's VCR; the glowing figures read 6.22am. Great. It would be several hours before he could find Liz and talk to her. With a sigh, he let his head fall back to the pillow and willed his body to relax and fall back to sleep again. But, when that didn't work, he flicked on the TV, turning the volume setting to low so that it wouldn't wake Micheal, and allowed himself to be sucked into the world of early morning reruns.
TBC...