I'm Max Evans and for once in my life, I slept in today. I guess always being the responsible and dependable one wears thin and I needed to relax. Since tonight is the big "double date" with Liz and Maria - I had the feeling that I should be saving my strength. After all, Liz's parents weren't going to be home tonight, I certainly didn't need to be falling asleep during the movies that we all planned to watch - that wouldn't be the smooth "look-fall-in-love-with-me" moves that I needed to put on tonight. So, I slept in until noon today.

Yesterday was a big day, Liz broke up with Kyle, Nasedo posed as Kyle and tried to scare Liz, and Liz and I planned our date. We decided that it shouldn't be anything fancy because none of us had money to go to a super fancy restaurant. Liz suggested going to a new restaurant in town called BJ's (okay, this isn't a phallic reference or anything - geez, you all are perverts!) which served pizza and sports bar kind of food. After that we were going to head over to Liz's house to watch some old movies and just have a good time.

Some of you still might be wondering what happened after Nasedo/Kyle ran off yesterday. Liz was shaken at the encounter with her "ex-boyfriend," mainly because she didn't ever think that Kyle could act like that. Technically, Kyle Valenti would never really act like that, because I know even though he seemed stalkerish in my past... (You know, trailing us down 285 South, having his friends beat me up...) Kyle really did care about Liz and just worried about her. I took Liz straight to the Crashdown after the incident, however. The idea that Nasedo could shape shift into anyone scared me and I hoped that if Liz was safe at home, hopefully Nasedo couldn't get to her.

I took my time getting ready for tonight, because I was really very excited about our big double date. I mean, in my time, Liz and I never really got to date without worrying about Sheriff Valenti or someone else drooling down our necks... so this was going to very enjoyable for me. Besides, the closer I got to Liz, the closer I was to finishing Nasedo's challenges. Remember, I only have ten days left and I have to get Michael and Maria and Isabel and Alex together.

Staring at myself, clad only in a towel wrapped around my waist (Stop! I can hear all the catcalls from here! It's making me blush!) I wondered what I should wear and if I should do anything special to my hair. Furrowing my eyebrows in concentration, I waved one hand over my hair, spiking it up slightly. Not bad, I thought. Then, I waved my hand across my hair again, adding blue tips to each of the spikes.

"Nice touch, Maxwell. Although I'd go with green spikes to match your aura."

I turned around to see Michael leaning casually against the wall in my room. A small smirk played across his lips as he eyed the towel around my waist. "You know, Max, I'd also suggest wearing a pair of pants, we don't want Liz to think you're a pervert."

I rolled my eyes and turned back around to the mirror and grabbed my razor off the counter. "So, Michael. You're here early... Something up?" I asked as I started to lather up white shaving cream on my cheeks and looked at Michael in the mirror.

Michael shrugged and began to pace. As he did, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and I took a moment to change the tips of my spiked hair to green. "I guess I came to borrow a shirt, all of my shirts were dirty because Hank never bothers to clean anything." Michael said in a rush. His eyes looked down to the floor for a moment. "I guess I want to look good tonight."

Putting down my razor, I walked over to Michael and clapped him on the back lightly. "Why don't you try this red and black button-down flame shirt that Izzy gave me for Christmas last year. I never wear it and besides, the red would match your aura." Michael nodded and headed over to my closet.

As I continued my shaving, I thought about how Maria really effects Michael. He usually never asked me for help and couldn't give a rats ass about looking good for anyone. It was just nice to see that the "stonewall" that he had placed around him crumbling. Michael was very different in my time and to tell the truth, while I've been back in the past, I've missed that Michael.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours later, I sat calmly on my bed, wearing my dark green button down shirt that matched my hair, with a white T-shirt underneath, and black pants. Michael, on the other hand was pacing around my room again, ranting and raving about our upcoming date. He was dressed in my red and black button-down flame shirt and black jeans, really dressed to impress, in my opinion.

"... Maxwell, what on this planet possessed you to set this sort of thing up? Are you trying to kill me? First of all, we have dinner... then watching a movie... at Liz's house... without her parents there? I'd swear that you were trying to get some with Parker, but that's not your style. Then, I mean, it's dinner with Parker and DeLuca... Freaking DeLuca! She's the girl I would call dogface in the 5th grade. Besides, she's weird, annoying and what's up with all that sniffing..."

"It's because you like her Michael." I called out over the ranting as I grabbed a new magazine and idly flipped through it. Michael only freaked out like this whenever things were changing and he knew he couldn't stop them. I remember the earful I received in my past when Michael spent the night after he found out that afternoon that I had told Liz our secret. He may seem oddly quiet, but Michael really expresses his opinions around Isabel and me.

Michael ranted for another minute, before my words hit home. He stopped in mid-pace, with his/my red and black shirt swishing and started at me. "Listen, Max." He said through gritted teeth, "I-DO-NOT-like-DeLuca. She hates me and I don't like her."

I sighed at stood up to face Michael. "Michael. Please, you don't even know if Maria doesn't like you or not. That entire name calling thing back in the 5th grade was... interesting, but I think that she probably liked you more than anyone else in the class." I raised an eyebrow at Michael. "C'mon, give yourself some credit. Afterall, you DID save her life in the Crashdown the other day, so HOW can she possibly hate you?"

Michael shrugged and looked at the time on my alarm clock. "Well, it's 5:00pm and I guess we're supposed to meet Parker and DeLuca at the Crashdown soon. I guess we'd better go." Michael started to head out of my room.

"I'm glad you're warming up to this idea, Michael." I said as we left my room.

"Whatever, Maxwell. I'm just along for the ride, I guess."

*******************

It was 5:25 on Saturday afternoon, when Michael and I drove up in front of the Crashdown, all ready for our "double date." We had stopped before we got to the Crashdown to buy each of the girls a small present, so we were running a little late. I had bought a small bouquet of wildflowers for Liz and after some prompting; Michael picked out a sunflower for Maria.

Michael and I jumped out of the Jeep and headed inside the Crashdown. Before entering, I quickly prayed that Nasedo would leave all of us alone tonight. If I could only hope, right?

Liz and Maria were both seated at our usual booth waiting for us and they each looked amazing. Liz was wearing a semi-transparent purple blouse (she had a tank top underneath, I believe) with black cargo pants and black shoes. She looked totally stunning, as usual. Maria had on a very tight blue shirt and dark blue jeans with sandals. I thought she also looked fantastic and I think Michael agreed by the way he gasped slightly when he saw her. (Being his best friend, I pretended not to notice.)

"Hi Liz and Maria. You guys look great!" I said as I approached them at our table. "Here Liz, this is for you." I held out the wildflowers to her and enjoyed the smile that came across her face.

"Thank you Max, they're so pretty!" Liz exclaimed. Chalk up one love point for Max Evans, I thought.

Michael was standing behind me and shuffled towards Maria slowly. Maria eyed him warily as he came closer. "Here." Michael muttered. "I thought you would like this." He handed Maria the sunflower.

Maria's eyes narrowed for a second and then smiled. "Thank you Michael. How did you know that sunflowers were my favorite flower?" Maria asked as she held her sunflower and sniffed it.

"Because I remember you drawing them all over your notebooks in 5th grade..." Michael said matter of factly. "Sunflowers - they just suit you, you know?"

Maria smiled again at Michael and then turned to Liz. "Let's put these in water real quick before we go, I don't want mine to die." She grabbed Liz's hand and pulled her towards the back room of the Crashdown. I for one was shocked. Michael never told me that he knew Maria's favorite flower or that he even remembered it from 5th grade. I think that Michael has known that there's something special about Maria and just never admitted it to himself.

I elbowed Michael in the side. "Nice." I whispered to him.

"You think?" Michael muttered, unsure of himself. After all, this was our first dates with girls in our lifetimes.

"Yeah. You impressed her. Girls like to know that you pay attention to them." I whispered back as Liz and Maria walked out of the back room and headed towards us. I walked over to Liz and helped her put her jacket on and asked, "All ready now?"

Liz smiled. "Yeah, Max. You know, I think I'm going to have a great time tonight."