He didn’t know what was running through her head. She was everything he knew she’d be -- sweet, smart, generous, caring, and beautiful. The last thing, of course, was a fringe benefit of what a great person she was, but he wouldn’t care if she didn’t look the way she did.

For most of his adolescent life, he had totally fallen for Liz Parker. His friends thought he was an idiot, dreaming about a girl for so long. Most of the people he had known had dated just about every girl in the school. Although his friends were morons, Dave had to give credit to them regarding Liz. They had never asked her out, although they had been tempted. But Dave knew that Liz would never go out with them. They were nice enough guys, but not her type.

And Dave had convinced himself that he was Liz’s type. They got along so well. She was really easy to talk to. He was amazed that Liz found him so interesting. He had to marvel at their friendship. He was glad Liz considered him a friend now, especially because he started to see her more and more each day. Before, he had been too scared of rejection to approach her.

And now, he wanted to take things a level higher. Unlike every other high school guy he knew, Dave did not have sex on the brain. What he wanted was to make things work with Liz. He had more respect for her than anyone he had ever known. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.

And from the looks of her dismal face, Dave racked his brain to say something that would comfort her.

“Liz, are you ok?”

Liz slowly turned her face to look at Dave. A concerned expression highlighted his gorgeous face. She studied his eyes again, as she had before, trying to find the infinite depth which she found in Max’s eyes. Although she saw compassion and care, the dark pools which forever induced her into Max’s soul was not there. Dave’s emerald-green eyes simply studied her face. “Liz?”

“Oh…sorry. I just got really tired. I should get home.”

“Yeah, um, well, this IS your house.”

Liz turned her head to look out the window. “Oh…” her quiet voiced trailed off.

“Liz, what happened?” Now Dave was really worried. “You were fine, like, fifteen minutes ago. What’s wrong?” Dave wanted nothing more than to know what was going on. He had always felt like Liz had been holding something back. But now, she seemed so disoriented.

“Nothing’s wrong…” Liz said slowly. “I guess I just got drained of my energy.”

Dave definitely knew she was keeping something back, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about it. “Ok. Well, do you want me to take you inside?”

“No, it’s ok Dave. I’m fine. Really.”

Liz slowly unclasped the seat belt buckle. Dave touched her hand. She felt cold and clammy under his own warm skin.

“Look, Liz, I know you haven’t known me that long, but I just wanted to tell you, if you need someone to talk to, and you know, you can’t talk to Maria, or whoever, you can always talk to me.” The words came out in a rush, and he felt stupid to say them, but he needed to let her know that he was there for her.

Liz smiled faintly. “Thanks.”

Dave continued. “And, I know that you haven’t been seeing anyone for a while. I don’t want to push you into anything, but I really like you Liz. I have for a long time. And I don’t want to scare you, but you really mean a lot to me. I just wanted to let you know.”

Liz’s face fell. Dave immediately knew he had said the wrong thing.

“Dave, I’m sorry, but nothing can happen between us.”

The words hit Dave like a ton of bricks. He let out a huge breath of air. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to force you -- ”

“No, no. It’s not you, Dave. You are a great guy. Really. But, I can’t be with you. I’m so sorry. I told you, I wanted us to be friends. Please. I still want to be your friend.”

Dave looked away. When he turned again to face Liz, she could she the immense hurt in his eyes. “I’m really sorry Dave… One day, you’re going to find the perfect girl. It’s just not me. I don’t want you to get hurt -- ”

“No, it’s ok. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

A dead silence hung in the car.

Liz searched Dave’s face for a glimmer of hope. She didn’t find it.

Finally, Dave broke the silence. “Let me walk you to the door.” Dave got out of the car, without taking so much as a glance at Liz.

At the door, Liz turned to face him. Neither of them said a word.

Finally, Dave’s sad voice cut through the silence like an icy knife. “Goodnight Liz.” Yet, his tone was not harsh. He couldn’t feel anger -- after all, this was Liz. And, he wasn’t angry. All he felt was dejection.

“Goodnight,” Liz said, smiling sadly.

Dave looked at her eyes, one more time, searching for a glimmer of hope, but other than her compassion for him, he could see no confusion. She didn’t want anything more from him.