Circumstances

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I had to get some more written. hope you like it.

Please Review, they do help me write faster!
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Chapter Two

Liz finished her shopping without too many snags. She’d almost run into Isabel, but Michael had, once again, let her slip away unnoticed. Then, she’d been so close to running into Max, but Maria had seen her. She’d walked up to Max, and stopped him from seeing her, allowing her to escape again. She thought the whole thing to be incredibly funny with Maria and Michael acting as her shields. She was currently walking out of the mall, and she ran into Alex, quite literally. He reached out to steady her, and smiled brightly at her when he saw it was her. Liz became very irritated, but it wasn’t really with him.

“ My lord, has everyone just decided to go to the mall today?” Alex’s smile immediately vanished and Liz felt bad instantly. She wasn’t mad at Alex, she was just frustrated with everything. She looked back at him, and saw that he had a hurt expression on his face. She sighed when she saw this, and walked over to him.

“ Oh Alex, I’m sorry. It’s really great to see you, it just took me off guard. Maria, Max, and the others are here too, and I’m trying to avoid them.” Alex nodded his understanding, and moved in to hug her. She smiled and accepted his embrace. She was about to say something else to him, when Alex cleared his throat.

“ If you’re trying to avoid, then you may want to leave. They’re all coming this way.”

Liz whipped her head around and saw Max and Michael staring at her. She said goodbye to Alex quickly, and dashed off towards her home. Isabel didn’t even smile at Alex as she passed him. Alex was getting fed up with the way she was treating him, and he wouldn’t take much more of it. He just shook his head and walked into the mall, without looking back.

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Later that evening, Liz was helping out at the Crashdown, even though she didn’t work there anymore. Her father had told her she could wear her regular clothes, instead of her uniform. She was standing with her back to the kitchen window, so she didn’t hear Michael walk up behind her.

“ Nice going on Fleeing yesterday. Max looked at me, and he was not a happy camper. You just had to stop and hug Alex didn’t you? I don’t know why you’re friends with him anyway.”

Liz turned around and looked at him funny. Michael hung out with Alex, and the fact that he was talking bad about him, made her wonder. She still didn’t fully understand why he was helping her out with Max. She wasn’t able to ask him, because he wasn’t finished.

“ Not to mention, you’re here tonight. You know that we hang out here each night, so if you’re wanting to avoid him, why are you here?”

Liz gave him a surprised look. Where did he get off telling her what to do? She was about to ask him just that, when Maria came crashing into the front door. Liz looked at her worriedly. Maria was gasping for air, and trying to speak.

“ Max...on his...way. I’ll take..over for you.” Liz gasped and spun around on her heel. She ran to the back and sat down on the couch in the back room. She then remembered that Max had been back there several times, and that he’d go looking for her. She jumped up and run up the steps to her room.

Max entered the backroom just as Liz was closing the door to her bedroom. He sighed and sat down on the couch. Michael walked into the room, and sat down beside Max. Michael knew that Max was dying to talk to Liz, but he understood why she didn’t want to see him. It was for one simple reason..it hurt. Max looked over at him, and tried to appear unbothered. It didn’t work, though, because Max couldn’t hide his feelings from Michael.

“ She was at the mall today, wasn’t she? You went up to her and talked to her, didn’t you?” Michael found that he didn’t want to lie to Maxwell. He didn’t like Tess, and he was going to tell him that.

“ Yes, she was, and Yes I did. She doesn’t want to see you right now, and I don’t blame her.” Max looked up at him with a surprised look.

“ Since when do you care about what happens between Liz and Me? What’s this about not blaming her for not talking to me? It doesn’t help anything with her running away like this.” Michael took a deep breath to prepare himself, because he knew Max didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.

“ Yes, I think she’s right. She doesn’t want to see you with another girl, especially Tess. After everything that we’ve been through, I don’t know how you can trust her so easily. She’s a real shit to Liz, and you don’t seem to care. You risked absolutely everything for her, and now you’re throwing it all away. You don’t make any sense to me at all.”

Max couldn’t believe what Michael was saying to him. He’d always given him a hard time about dating Liz, and when he wanted to pursue this thing with Tess, he doesn’t like it? Michael would always baffle him. He was about to leave the back room, when Liz came walking down the steps. She looked nervous, but she was walking up to him.

“ Max, I guess we need to talk. I know running away from you doesn’t help anything, but I wasn’t ready to talk to you.” Max looked pointedly at Michael wanting him to leave. At first Max thought that he was going to argue with him, but he glared at each of them and left. Max turned back to Liz, who looked even more nervous.

“ I’m glad I caught you. I’ve been wanting to reach you for awhile, but Maria wouldn’t give me your phone number to where you were. What I’m getting at here is, you were right. Tess and I have a destiny together, and we can’t ignore it. I care for you deeply, Liz, but this is bigger than either of us. Please just know that I never meant to hurt you. I know you don’t want to hear this right now, so I’ll give you some space. I’ll understand if you don’t want to, but I’d love for us to still be friends.” Liz couldn’t say anything when he finished with his speech. All she could do was stare at him. He nodded his head, and walked out of the room.
Liz watched Max leave the room, and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her face. She moved to sit down on the couch, unable to catch her breath. She’d always imagined this day, but it hurt so much more then she could possibly have thought. Michael walked into the room and when he saw her face, he rushed over to her side. Liz didn’t fully understand why Michael was being so nice to her, but just then she was grateful. He hesitated, but eventually he put his arm around her shoulders. Liz tried to stop crying, but she couldn’t do it. She finally looked over at Michael, who wore a grim expression.

“ Why would he do that? In one breath he’s telling me how much he cares for me, and in the next he’s saying he never wants to see me again. Michael, I knew that this was going to happen, but part of me was still hoping.” Michael nodded because he really didn’t know what to say to her. He’d known Max for a really long time, and he hadn’t seen this coming. He knew he was supposed to be comforting her, so he tried to think of something nice to say.

“ I’m sorry, Liz. Let me go get Maria for you.” Liz nodded her agreement. Michael walked out into the dining area, and up to Maria. When she saw him, she rolled her eyes as if she didn’t want to see him at all. He ignored her facial expression, and kept advancing towards her. When he finally reached her, she looked as if she was going to object, but he stopped her.

“ Listen, Liz really needs you back there. She’s crying her eyes out, and I do believe that’s your department.” Maria looked over at him with a worried expression.

“ Okay, thanks. Will you keep an eye out?” Michael nodded, and watched as Maria hurried to the back room.