"Hey," a voice suddenly sounded from behind him, "you going to go in or you just going to stand out here and stare?" Max immedietly recognized that the voice belonged to his sister. He spun around quickly.

"I - uh - I thought you were going out tonight?" he faltered, seeming a bit embarassed as he opened up the door for Isabel.

"Change of plans," she said simply walking past him. Max knew why she was here.

She'd been acting weird around him ever since she'd seen him and Liz on the basketball court. "Is that cologne you're wearing, brother?" she asked mockingly and Max just looked at her. So much for an evening with Liz. Max could see the dissappointment in Liz's face too as she looked up and saw Isabel. The whole reason she'd put in for the remaining part of the night off was because she had wanted to spend it with Max. Without interruptions from Isabel or Michael or Maria even. Maybe finally she could get somewhere with him. She didn't get Max. She didn't undestand him at all. None of the things he did added up or made any sort of sense at all. She had wailed about the issue over and over to Maria. "Why doesn't he want to be with me??" she would plea and Maria had no answer. Max had mangled his face in defense of Liz. He'd turned Kyle and many of his friends against him - for what? Just for she and him to sit quietly and stare at one another? She looked at Max now, who looked as displeased at Isabel's presence as she knew she did and she nearly pulled out her hair. No matter. It didn't make a difference if Isabel was there or not. Nothing ever happened between her and Max. Nothing ever would.

Isabel, Liz, and Max sat awkwardly around the booth. Normally there wouldn't be this uncomfortable atmosphere about them all, but tonight every word any of them said just hung in the air to the point that no one said anything for close to five minutes.

"So what were you planning on doing tonight?" Isabel asked fraudulently. Max knew what Isabel was doing and it bothered him. He thought all of this had been resolved. It had been Isabel of all people who had pushed him last month to stand up for himself and for Liz. Now it was as if they were back to square one - only worse. Now she had to check up on him.

"Nothing - we were just going to stay here...talk," Liz attempted to sound casual.

"What do you guys talk about?" Isabelle was quick to question and she put on one of her trademark Isabel smiles. The kind of smile she gave the boys who asked for her number everyday. "You talk and talk and talk - what do you talk about?" She looked towards Liz and then harder as she turned towards Max who was seated next to her. She still was left in the dark as to whether or not Liz knew anything. She was afraid to question Max about it - she knew how he'd react whether he told her or not. The whole matter of Isabel trusting him would be brought up again, then Michael would get involved. The ordeal they'd gone through last month would be negated.

"You know...just stuff..." Liz mumbled quietly as Max didn't answer.

"That's my leg, Liz," Isabel suddenly said in response to Liz's foot against hers, an edge to her voice.

"Oh..." Liz turned her head down, embarassed beyond belief - like a little boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar only worse. Max looked over at Liz's humiliated face that was quickly turning a shade of scarlet. Beneath the table top he elbowed his sister in the ribs and she just shot him a look.

"I do that all the time," he said quickly and Liz picked her head up quickly, realizing what Max was trying to do. "Remember that time when I did it to Michael?" he glanced toward his sister out of the corner of his eye. "And he kicked me - really hard beneath the table..." Max added grinding his teeth together as he just glared at his sister.

She nodded her head in a forced fashion and put on a phony smile, pretending to be recalling the memory. Liz's face was still flushed and as Max looked at her, he quietly moved his foot across to meet hers. He rubbed his foot against the top of hers, against her ankle and she glanced up to see the look on his face. It revealed nothing and so Liz attempted to follow suit. But she couldn't help it. It was the first time Max had ever really returned anything that she'd done. *Great* she thought to herself, *an everlasting game of footsie*, but as she looked again to his face she saw in his eyes a silent mischieviousness in them. That he liked what they were doing - that he liked that Isabel didn't know.

"So footsie, huh?" Maria raised her eyebrows as she and Liz shared a carton of Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream in the back room of the Crashdown. Liz had called her up as soon as Max and Isabel had left.

"No - Maria, it wasn't just footsie," Liz began to get a dreamy look in her eyes as she put her spoon down. "It was...I don't know..more -"

"More?" Maria looked at her friend skeptically, "More than what? Liz his foot touched yours, I wouldn't really call that..." Maria seemed to be thinking about something, "then again it is Max Evans - that's a pretty big move for him."

Liz grabbed another spoonful of ice cream and a smile began to form on her lips.

"Maria, it was...it was like ten times better than like the best kiss I ever had with Kyle," she attempted to explain and Maria just stared at Liz.

"Let me get this straight? You're comparing kissing Kyle - to your and Max's feet touching?"

"I already told you - it was more than that."

"How? How could it be more Liz. His foot touches yours, your foot touches his - that's all there is to it." Maria waved her spoon around in the air.

"I felt things," Liz protested quietly. "I felt.."

"You felt what?" Maria realized more and more with everything that Liz said how much deeper the whole Liz/Max thing went that she thought. It wasn't just a harmless crush anymore.

"I felt...like I could feel how he felt," Liz admitted softly.

"You have got it bad, girl," Maria just laughed, shaking her head. "I have never in my life...heard you talk like this."