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 Liz finishes clearing tables at the Crashdown. She seems unaware of the eyes watching her -- Maria, who worries about her friend, her dad who seems at a loss as to what to do, Max who studies her as she automatically goes through the motions. He's still angry with her, angry with Tess, angry with himself. Liz had been right about Alex as she had been right so many times before about so many things. Even Isabel knew, before him. That's why Isabel had been so defensive after the funeral. Liz hit a nerve. Isabel had been feeling responsible. That's why Isabel thought he should have considered the possibility. He, Max the king, wouldn't listen; hadn't realized what Tess had been doing to him, to Liz. And now Liz had proved her theory and it was over. The fight was over; she had her KO, but there was nothing left for which to fight. To save one friend, she lost another. And there was the old business of Tess. Max feels the distance between them loom larger and wonders how he let it happen. He watches her as she comes to his table.
"Do you want anything else from the kitchen before we close?" she says flatly.
Her eyes glaze over, deadened.
"No," he says.
She nods and lays his bill on the table. She doesn't look at him. She seems drained of life as she turns. He wants to grab her arm and hold her there, but he doesn't. He lets her go and watches her as she disappears into the back room.
In the back room, nothing seems to matter. The shelves are half empty, but there seems no point in taking inventory. Food's no longer important to her. In fact, Liz forsakes dinner, unable to ingest anything and keep it down for more than an hour. Her hands shake from her weakness. She steadies them by holding onto the sink. In the mirror, a stranger stares at her -- the face drawn, gray; the eyes cavernous. She looks sick, but she doesn't care. Her heart still beats, but she feels numb. Liz closes her eyes.
Max gets up from the table and takes the bill over to Maria.
Maria looks toward the back room, then back to Max.
"Dude, you HAVE GOT to do something!"
"What do you want me to do?" he says angrily. "She's not speaking to me."
"And you're not speaking to her. I know. ... You guys, you've got to talk. I mean, look at her, Max. She's beginning to look like Morticia Addams."
"She can talk to Sean."
"Yeah, well, he's the LAST person she should be talking to!"
Max shifts position nervously.
"And why do you think she went to Sean?" continues Maria.
Max lowers his head.
"Done any more face chewing with Tess? Breakfast boffing?"
"Liz broke it off."
"Oh, PLEASE. God save us from men!" screams Maria, throwing her hands in the air. "Can't you see what's in front of your own eyes? Are you still suffering from brain cloud?"
Maria slaps Max's change in his hand and turns to exit. As he does, Kyle storms in and decks Max. Max, caught unawares, stumbles to the floor. Maria turns in time to see Max fall on the floor.
"Stay away from Tess!" he says angrily. "I know what you did."
"What are you talking about?" asks Max.
"You slept with her, didn't you?" accuses Kyle. "That's why Liz did what she did! How could you hurt Liz like that? Do you even care?"
"What do you mean?" counters Max, getting up from the floor. "You SLEPT with Liz. I SAW you."
"I NEVER slept with Liz," says Kyle. Maria holds her breath as she realizes what Kyle has said.
"I SAW you," said Max. "You KNOW I saw you. I was there."
Kyle stops short. He realizes he's slipped. He looks from Max to Maria.
"You saw what Liz wanted you to see," Kyle says coldly.
Max looks at Maria. Maria slowly nods.
"You've were shagging Tess behind Liz's back," says Kyle. "I ought to beat the crap out of you."
"You never slept with Liz?"
"No, man, she just wanted to make sure you saw us together. She never said why. She wouldn't tell me."
"You never slept with Liz?" Max repeats. It begins to sink in.
"Don't you speak English?" says Kyle.
"You KNEW about this and you never told me?" asks Max of Maria. He's visibly upset. He looks at them both and he knows it's the truth. How could he have been so faithless? But why? Why would she SAY it? But he didn't need an answer to the question; he knew it. He starts for the back room, but Kyle stops him.
"Leave her alone, Max!" he says.
"I have to talk to her," he says to Maria.
"She doesn't want to see you," says Kyle.
"Is that true?"
Maria remains silent.
"I don't believe you," Max says to Kyle.
"Go home, Max," says Maria. She pushes him toward the door and locks it behind him.
They watch him until he finally walks away.
"I really blew it, didn't I?" says Kyle.
Max walks to the park. He stops and sits on the bench to think. All this time, he had come to believe that Liz actually had slept with Kyle. He had lost faith and he realizes that he should have known better. He doesn't want ... he can't leave it like this, not even one more night. Max gets up from the bench. He knows what he needs to do.
Liz knows she is running on empty. Her body tells her so. She feels like a marathoner who's hit the brick wall. But she doesn't want to stop. If she does, she thinks too much about what has happened -- about Alex, about Tess, about Sean, about Max, about her. She doesn't what to think, doesn't want to feel because it hurts too much. She wants to remain perfectly numb. It's the only way to keep moving, to put one foot in front of the other, to get through that same endless day.
Liz pulls the chairs of two dining tables away and moves the tables together to form one. One by one, she respreads the prom photos on the table. She circles the table like an animal searching for prey. She can't stop herself. She has done this every night since Alex's death. She thinks of the night Maria took Alex and her to Madam Vivian's; she thinks of FMax and changing the timeline. She feels totally responsible. She remembers how she lashed out at Max, infuriated that he would even consider Alex's death a suicide. She's furious with FMax and for being put in the position of saving the world in the first place. And mostly she's furious with herself for believing in destiny. She hasn't even hit her eighteenth birthday yet and her life was filled with regrets for what might have been. Liz feels herself slowly falling, losing control.
Unbeknownst to Liz, Max peers through the inch gap between shades and curtains. He watches Liz who now rocks back and forth between feet. She faces the windows, but she doesn't seem to sense his nearness. It alarms him because she always seems to know when he's there. He starts to rap on the window when her eyes make contact with his. It takes his breath away for they are no longer dead but filled with the darkness of absolute pain. She turns abruptly, stops, then slams her fist on the table. Max flinches.
Inside Liz is taken aback by her own violence. She stares at the table. There's Tabasco sauce on the photos ... and blood, her blood. She holds her hand in front of her. She feels no pain, but there's blood dripping down her palm, down her wrist. She sinks to her knees and begins to sob uncontrollably.
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