Maria’s smile grew wider when her thoughts drifted to Michael. Of course, nothing had happened since they had helped heal him. And, she hated to admit she thought about him. But he had tossed her one of those guy-nods today. That must have meant something, right? she thought to herself. She still felt the “thing” for Michael, whatever it was, but didn’t want to tell anybody about it. Everything had been put on hold. She was getting a little sick of the “break” thing too. Of course, she shouldn’t really be one to talk. What she had with Michael wasn’t true love, like with Max and Liz. But the make-out sessions weren’t necessarily a bad thing…

Maria hadn’t really dated too many guys. Liz was always the one who had guys flocking around her. Sure, she was a science “nerd”, but more so a friendly, happy person, or at least she was. Maria was just her little sidekick. Sometimes, Maria felt a twinge of envy when she thought about Liz. Liz had everything -- a complete family, her beauty, and her popularity. She had her soulmate, or at least she knew who her soulmate was. She had everything Maria had ever wanted out of life.

Maria felt bad whenever she thought of Liz like this. It was wrong of her to think of Liz in a negative light. Liz had never been anything to Maria but a best friend. They were so close, they could have been sisters.

“Hey Maria? Can you just check in the back to see if my dad needs anything?” Liz’s voice came through the silence.

“Yeah sure.” Maria walked into the kitchen door. She could see Liz standing in the restaurant, cleaning the countertop. Liz turned around and began fixing up the shelves behind her.

A figure moved outside the Crashdown. Maria narrowed her eyes. She soon saw who it was. It was Max.

Max hadn’t been to the Crashdown in well over a month. All three of them stopped coming to the café. Maria looked at his expression. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets, and seemed to be debating whether or not he should open the door. He looked anguished, as if his choice to enter was the most important one of his life. Maria saw his hand emerge from one of his pockets. He placed it on the doorknob.

What are you gonna do Max? Maria thought silently.

He was about to open the door when a senior from school came up from behind him and opened the other door. Max stepped back. He was about to enter when he saw Dave Lynch walk up to Liz.

“Hi Liz,” said Dave. Liz turned around. Standing before her was probably the most popular guy at their high school. Maria watched from behind in shock.

Liz was puzzled at why Dave was here. He was a nice enough kid, from what she had heard, but she didn’t really know him. She had only talked to him a couple of times when he had an AP Biology lab and she was doing an experiment too. They were both in the science club, but she had been so busy with other things, that she never got a chance to go to meetings anymore. Dave was tall, with light brown hair and green eyes. All the girls she knew literally swooned when he walked by. She wasn’t one of them. But, she did know that he was really smart, athletic and friendly. He would be going to Harvard next year, her dream school. Still, it didn’t change the fact of him being at the Crashdown. She had never seen him in the café before. So why was he here now?

“Um, hi Dave. We’re actually closing early tonight.” Liz said.

“Oh, really? Huh. Well. Can I just get a drink or something? Like a Coke?”

“Um, sure. Hold on a sec.” Liz was busy getting a cup while Dave watched her.

Maria was still in shock. She quickly looked to the door, and saw an extremely tormented Max. He was frozen outside the door, watching the girl of his dreams in utter disbelief. He would never come inside now, Maria thought. She sighed. These two have the worst timing, Mari thought wryly. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Liz and Dave.

“So, Liz. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much. Midterms, I guess.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

A pause.

“Hey Liz…”

“Yeah?”

Dave seemed nervous, and continued. “Are…are you still with that Evans kid?” he blurted out.

“Excuse me?” Liz said, taken by surprise.

“Are you still going out with Max Evans? I mean, it looked like you two were going out. But I haven’t seen you together in a while. Are you still going out with him?” he asked again.

Liz stood still. No one had ever asked her outright if they had broken up, especially people at school. She thought she had been discreet. She wasn’t blatant about her relationship with Max, and she hadn’t thought anyone had noticed.

“Liz? You ok? Was that not a good question?”

“No, no. I’m sorry. I’m fine.”

“So…are you still with him?”

“Why do you want to know?” Liz asked cautiously.

“Well, I can’t really further this conversation if you don’t give me an answer. Because my next question will be a follow up to this one.” Dave gave her a crooked smile. He had a great smile. Liz faltered before answering. “Well, no. I guess I’m not with him anymore.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out. But, I was wondering, if you aren’t doing anything tomorrow night, you wanna catch a movie with me?”

Liz swallowed. Why was this happening? Was it a sign to move on? She didn’t want to move on. She felt like she would be betraying Max. And besides, she had no desire to be with anyone other than Max, regardless of how petty it was.

“I’m sorry, Dave. But no. I really can’t.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

“I won’t. I’m sorry.”

Dave’s face fell. He quickly tried to regain his composure that he was so famous for. “It’s ok. If you ever change your mind, though, you let me know. If we could just, hang out, or something. That would be great too. You know, whatever. You have my number, right?”

“Um, yeah. From the science club…”

“Right. Ok…”

“Ok…” was Liz’s slow reply.

“So, I’ll see you around, I guess.” He masked his disappointed face with his trademark smile, and left, tossing a couple of dollars onto the counter.

Liz rang up the soda, and stood, paralyzed. She needed to sit down. This day just kept getting worse. She wanted to just go home and sleep. She wanted to curl up inside her blanket, and hide from this day, and from everything that related to Max. She wished she could go back to the day Michael got sick, and wished she could have been more assertive, and helped save him. Michael was her friend too, after all. She should have helped him. If she had helped him, the six of them would still have been friends. Maria could have gotten somewhere with Michael. Isabel could finally have real friends. More people would see what a great person Alex was. And most of all, of all the good things that would have happened, Max wouldn’t have his had doubts about her.

*****

Maria was about to get up and go out to talk to Liz when Liz walked into the kitchen.

“I’m not going to Alex’s.”

“Liz! Come on. Why?”

“I’m just tired, that’s all. I haven’t slept in ages. Sleep will do me good. I need to sleep. That’s it. Do you know what happens to people who get less than eight hours of sleep a night? They -- ”

“Liz, you’re blabbering.”

“Sorry,” Liz said sheepishly. “But I’m not going.”

Maria sighed. “Alright, I guess. If you really don’t want to come, I can’t force you.”

“Yeah…” Liz’s voice drifted off.

“So…” Maria started expectantly.

“What?”

“So, spill! I can’t believe you haven’t said anything yet,” Maria said incredulously.

“About what?”

“Dave Lynch.”

“Oh, him.”

“Yeah, him. What’s up with him?” Maria pried. Maria used to have a crush on Dave Lynch, along with about 4 million other girls in their school. Dave was a really nice kid, from what she had heard. The strange thing was, he had never really dated many girls. Interestingly enough, Maria had also once heard that Dave had really liked Liz, for a very long time -- since middle school or so. Maybe some cute senior boy can take Liz’s mind off things, Maria plotted.

“I don’t know. I mean, where did that come from? It’s like, the second I break up with Max, he pounces on me.”

“Liz, babe, hate to disagree, but the Max thing? It didn’t just end. It’s been way over a month. Like, almost two. And besides, Dave didn’t pounce on you. He was a perfect gentleman. You should go for it. Just have fun. Move on. Make Max jealous. Maybe then he’ll come to his senses.”

“I don’t want to make him jealous. I just want things to go back the way they were.”

“I don’t think that can happen, Liz.” Maria said softly.

Liz looked away. Her head was rushing. She could feel the blood pounding on all the walls of her head. She really did need sleep.

“Maria, can you close up? I really need to lie down.” Liz walked out to the door behind the kitchen, and went up the stairs to her room.