The two girls were sitting near the quad under a tree eating their lunch.

"Maria, you're crazy. You do know that, right?"

"Liz, hun, sweetie, listen to me here. I know you still love Max and I know you think that you could never fall in love again but hey, life goes on. And Jason is a great guy who really likes you for you. The least you could do is give him a chance."

"Maria, I know that. And I want to give him a chance."

"Then ask him out already!"

"Ohhhhh," Liz groaned and tilted her head against the tree. Liz did like Jason. And she loved the way he made her feel. He treated her like a princess and she liked that. "I just don't know if I'm ready. I want things to fall into place. You know? Let's just wait and see. OK?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Yea, I guess I get your gist."

------------------------------

"Max!" Tess yelled across the quad as she saw Max sitting down. She started over.

"Oh God," Max thought to himself.

"Well," she said as she planted herself next to him, "you didn't tell me you had fourth period lunch."

"I guess it slipped my mind." Max lied.

Tess just looked at Max. She noticed that he was looking around and who else would he be looking around for other than Liz? It was obvious that he still wasn't over her and this made Tess angry. Tess moved her hand over Max's.

"Max, I know this is hard for you."

"What's hard for me?"

"Everything. I mean I just walk into your life, and Michael's and Isabel's, and I change everything. I know this must be hard for all of you. It's only been a few months so I don't really expect you guys to be fully adjusted. It's just bad timing I guess. You were all so happy, what with Liz and all."

Max grew bitter, finding that Tess was an easy target for all his problems, which really, she was the cause of all his problems.

"Yea, believe me, I know." Max answered sharply, surprising Tess. She was expecting Max to say "Oh no, it's not your fault". She got even angrier.

"Max, you don't think I wanted your life to change so drastically, so fast do you? I didn't break you and Liz up on purpose. I'm not the reason she left and you know that, so you don't have to be so stubborn. This is our destiny Max, our destiny. Things have to be like this, can't you see? I'm sorry but Liz was only a roadblock for you Max. I hope one day you'll see that."

Max looked up at Tess coldly. "You don't know anything about Liz and I. You don't know what we used to share. So don't pretend you do. And as for our destiny, I want no part in it if I can't be with Liz. No matter what you, Michael, Isabel, Nasedo, or anyone else for that matter, says." With that, Max got up and walked away while an upset and angry Tess sat there pouting, trying to figure out what she did wrong.

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Wednesday afternoons at the Crashdown were horrible. Students from West Roswell would all come in after school to hang out and that was the one day with the least amount of staff, making it seem really busy. Liz and Maria were already buzzing away taking the usual orders you'd expect: Blood of Alien Smoothie, Will Smith Burger, Saturn Rings, Mercury Milkshake, basically anything greasy and fattening. Max was sitting by himself at his usual booth when in walked Jason. Max didn't notice him come over but Jason saw Max and slid right into his booth.

"Hey Max."

Max looked at Jason as though a brick had just hit him. He barely knew the kid and already, he hated him.

"Oh hey."

"Yea so, we never really got to finish our little chat the other day."

"Chat?" Max asked, knowing he was talking about Liz.

"Max, it's important that I find out who this guy is so I can talk to him and ask him to set things straight with Liz, you know? Give her a little closure. Now I'm asking you cuz I don't know anybody else here really and quite frankly, I think I can trust you. You seem like a nice enough guy to tell the truth."

Liz was over at the counter and saw the two guys sitting there together.

"Oh my God…" was all she could say. "What if he knows about Max and I? What if Max knows about Jason and I? This could get ugly," she thought. With that, she grabbed her pad and rushed over to the booth.

"Actually…" Max was staring to say his confession but was interrupted,

"Hey Max. Hey Jason. Can I get you guys anything?"

Max looked up and seeing Liz, he knew he had to tell her what he thought, and soon.

"Hey Liz. I was just talking to your friend Max here. He's a nice guy. Lucky to have you as a friend."

Liz blushed and Max got angry. "Now he's trying to make her blush?" Max decided that he wouldn't tell Jason anything. Because he would get Liz back before he could make a move on her.

"Uh, Liz," Max said standing up and taking her arm, "I need to talk to you."

Liz looked at him sternly, "Max, I don't think there's anything we need to talk about."

"No Liz, there is." Max pulled her into the back room. He would pour his heart out to her.

When they got in to the back room, Max looked into Liz's eyes.

"What is it Max?"

"Liz, please don't say anything until I'm done. I just need you to listen. Liz, I love you and not a day goes by where I don't wish you were with me. These past three months, they've been the worst in my whole life. Everyday, it hurts worse and worse and I keep wishing you were there but you're not. Liz, I know you love me too, and I know you miss me. When I told you that I choose my own destiny, I meant it. Now I know you left me in order for me to fulfill my own but I don't want to without you. I can't and I won't. Fulfilling my destiny with Tess is out of the question and it won't happen. So please Liz, please, I'm begging you. Please don't leave me like this. I need you more than anything in this world, especially right now. Please come back to me."

Liz just stood there in awe. Just when she thought she could move on, this. She knew she couldn't. She wanted to but she couldn't.

"Max, you know this can't be. I know how you feel. I want this more than you could know. But it isn't fair. Not to any of you. I would be depriving so many people of life just to make myself happy for a while. Max, this is for the greater good. I'm only a roadblock for you Max. Sure, it hurts like hell but you're stronger than that. You don't need me. I'm only holding you back. You need Michael and I sabel and Tess right now. Now me. Max, I love you and I always will but if we try not to look back, then we can move on."

Max was devastated. Angry at himself for making Liz think she wasn't important enough to him.

"Liz, I can't…I can't…"

"Shhhhh, you will." Liz put her finger on his mouth and started crying. She looked around and started to back up slowly then turned and ran upstairs.

Max was so confused. "What did I do wrong?" He shed a tear as he thought of the words Liz said. Tess had said the same thing. That Liz was only a roadblock for him. He made a fist and punched the locker next to him.

"Damnit!" He yelled as he punched it. There was a huge dent in the metal from his fist and the door sort of imploded into the locker itself. He slowly fell to the floor, sobbing in pain for Liz.

About ten minutes later, Jason noticed that neither of them had come back. He didn't want to intrude so he got up and peered into the window in the door to the back room. He saw Max getting up off the floor, heading towards the back exit and he looked pretty upset. No Liz though. He wanted to go back and see what was wrong but it was pretty obvious that they had gotten into some sort of fight and it wasn't his place to intrude. Jason went back out to the café and found Maria at the cash register collecting somebody's bill.

"Maria, Liz went into the back room and now she's gone. Any clue as to where she is?"

Maria, being very open to this rush of concern from Jason just smiled and told him she was probably upstairs.

"Want to really surprise her? Go around back and climb up the ladder that leads to the balcony."

"Anything." Jason hurried around and climbed the ladder that Max had climbed himself so many times.

As he approached the top, he heard Liz weeping and saw her sitting on a lawn chair, and then she looked up.

"Jason!" Liz asked surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"Maria said you might be here. What' wrong?" Jason went and sat down next to Liz and put his arm around her. She fell into his embrace.

"Oh God, Jason, it's me. I'm so confused."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Max would it?"

Liz lifted her head and looked him in the eye. "Jason, that relationship I got out of that I was telling you about, it was with Max."

Jason thought for a second. "Why didn't I just put two and two together? Of course!" he thought.

"So he's the guy."

"It wasn't his fault, I kind of left him. I had to even though I didn't want to. We just… weren't meant to be I guess." Liz started crying again and leaned back against him.

"Oh I'm so sorry Jason. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry? Liz, for what? You didn't do anything"

"Jason…I still love Max. Very much. That's not fair to you."

"Liz, Liz, Liz, hush. Don't feel sorry for me. It's totally understandable. This doesn't change how I feel about you one bit." Jason lifted up her chin as she slowed wiped away her tears. They both looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then something happened. Something Liz would never had expected. He kissed her. It was a soft, loving one. Then he gently pulled away.

"Liz, I care about you and I don't want to take advantage of how you feel right now. I'll be there for you whenever. No matter what." Liz and Jason just hugged for a while and then he left.