Kyle Valenti had no idea what was going on with Liz Parker. They had had fun over the summer, but things had definitely cooled between them. Ever since the day of the shooting at the Crashdown. There were rumours going around that Liz had been shot that day, yet she was just 'a little shaken up' and obviously not hurt at all. So what happened?
Kyle knew that his father, the sheriff of Roswell, New Mexico, suspected that Max Evans did something to Liz that day. Kyle had no idea what Max could have possibly done, but he knew that something had happened. Why else would Liz be suddenly hanging around Max when she was supposed to be his girl?
First Liz started blowing him, telling him she had to study Biology with Max when he wanted to see how she was. Maybe she did have to study, Kyle didn't know—it sounded reasonable at the time. Then she was an hour-and-a-half late for their date at the Crash Festival. When she finally turned up, she evaded his questions about when she had been and practically seduced him, telling him she'd meet at the Festival in half-an-hour.
Kyle turned up time, Liz's kisses promised a fun evening. But, Liz did not show. When he cornered her in school a couple of days later and asked her about it, she blew him off again, saying that she really wanted to stay and talk to him, but it wasn't a good time.
Then there was that strange silver handprint he saw on Liz's stomach. It was after the shooting, he had taken Liz on a date and she had been out of it all night. She apologised for being out of it, but she was very cagey about the handprint he saw when her top rode up as she reached for the spare key. He asked her what it was, she snatched her top down and said "Goodnight, Kyle" very brusquely.
Kyle pulled up in front of the Crashdown, intending to talk to Liz. He was getting out of the car when he saw Liz in Max Evans' jeep. "Liz!" he called out, but she didn't hear as Max drove off. Confused and annoyed, Kyle got back in his car and followed Max and Liz to a broken down trailer park outside of town. He turned his engine and lights off and waited.
He couldn't believe it. Liz Parker was his girl! His girl! And here she was, in the jeep with Max Evans! Getting closer to him. Bending down over his… She's giving him head! "Oh my… Liz get… get up!" When Liz didn't move, Kyle got out of his car to stop it.
"Liz!" he exclaimed when he got to the jeep.
"Kyle!" Liz sat up, startled or shocked, Kyle couldn't tell.
"Hey, Max," Kyle greeted him, just to be polite.
"Hey, Kyle."
"What's going on?" Kyle asked his supposed girlfriend.
"Nothing," Liz whispered.
If nothing was going on, why whisper? "Why are you whispering?" Kyle asked in a normal, if a little quiet, tone.
"We're… ah… waiting for Michael," Liz seemed to be getting a flustered. "We're going to go… ah…"
"Bowl," Max put in.
"Why are you whispering?" Kyle asked again, puzzled. Why are they being so cagey about waiting for a friend?
"We're going bowling," Liz replied, not really answering his question, as usual.
"Liz, what were you doing down there?" Kyle had to know, a cursory glance (as much as he hated to be that intrusive) told him that Max's fly was still up.
"Oh, I dropped my ring," Liz was still whispering, and for the life of him Kyle could not see a reason for it.
"Why are you whispering?" he asked for a third, then something struck him as odd. "Bowling?" Kyle asked incredulously.
Meanwhile, Max had other things on his mind. "Get down," he suddenly ducked.
Kyle joined him. "What?" He was getting increasingly puzzled. What was going on? What were they hiding from? What had Max gotten Liz into? For Kyle knew without a doubt that whatever this was, it was Max's fault.
Liz did not duck when the boys did. She leaned over Max froze, looking ahead of the jeep. After a moment's, when they heard a car drive away, she whispered "She saw me."
"Who did?" Kyle demanded. Were they spying on someone?
Max, naturally, knew what Liz meant. "We've got to tell Michael. We can't do anything else here. Let's go." Max turned the key and started the jeep.
Now Kyle was thoroughly confused. "What is going on? If you're waiting for Michael, why do you have to go and tell him? What do you have to tell Michael Guerin?"
Max revved the engine and drove off, preventing an answer to the question. But maybe that was the intention, Kyle thought. Liz had not been very interested in answering any of his questions, he realised, not since the shooting at the Crashdown.
Kyle stood dumbly in the dust wake of the jeep. How could this have happened? When did Liz suddenly prefer Max Evans' company to his? Did Max do something to Liz in the Crashdown that day? Was Max blackmailing her? Kyle shook his head. He was beginning to sound like his Dad. Maybe there was something in that. From the questions his father had been asking him, Kyle knew that he suspected Max of something. But how much was Liz involved?
Belatedly, Kyle realised he was standing in the middle of the trailer park alone. He got into his car and drove home.
Kyle was walking through West Roswell High the next day with his football buddies when he saw Liz. She had stopped to watch him walk by, and it seemed to Kyle that she had a guilty look on her face.
That was when Kyle knew that Liz was definitely hiding something from him. Something to do with Max Evans. It was the beginning on the end.
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