AU: What if there was no shooting... Max pined after Liz, Liz pined after Max...
Takes place in Hondo Maria and Liz are getting their fortunes told to them by Madame Vivian and Liz learns a vital lesson.
***
Fortune tellers, they are the most absurd thing that I can imagine. I mean, come on, who in their right mind bases their future on what some crack whore, who claims to see the future while taking hits of LSD? But here I am, trapped in a car with my whacky best friend Maria, driving across the dry dirt roads of Hondo, New Mexico to pay a visit to Madame Vivian’s. Could that name be any more pathetic? Call me elitist, but at least she could have an interesting name, not something as bland as Madame Vivian.
Suddenly, Gina’s long, curly golden hair brushed up against my face as the wind flowed through the car, which diverts me from my train of thought. Maria, the most self assured person that I know, needs Madame Vivian to tell her how her life will be? She is going to base her future on the divination of some forty year old addict. (Did I mention that this gets better and better the more I think about it?) I quickly look over at her and burst out laughing.
She quickly diverts her eyes from the road and glares at me with her fiery green eyes. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, I’m just thinking about how crazy this trip is.” I bite my lip and imagine Madame Vivian telling feminist Maria that she will have a husband and two children– both boys. My eyes catch sight of her annoyed expression and a new fit of giggles bubble to the surface.
“Liz, it’ll be fun! Oh and I know what you’re thinking, babe. It isn’t going to happen. I’m not settling down because I’ll be a famous singer. Just you wait and see.”
“Riiight.” I muttered sarcastically. “You wanna know what? I believe in fortune tellers, I just don’t want to be told the truth. I, Liz Parker will be a scientist, with no one but my fifty cats and my famous best friend to keep me company; how pathetic. I think the one thing that’s more depressing is that going to Harvard to study molecular biology is my dream and no guy wants a scientist, especially not a plain looking one.”
“Stop it Liz, you’re not going to be alone, and you know what? Aaa-dam has been checking you out even more than usual lately.”
“Bullshit.”
“You know I’m right. Vivian’s just going to tell you that you’ll be Mrs. Max Evans and you’ll have lots of little Lizs and Maxs bothering the hell out of you.”
I couldn’t help but smile; after all, Max is my Achilles heel. He’s absolutely gorgeous- he has golden skin, defined abs, the most beautiful soulful eyes that I’ve ever seen, and this mysterious air about him that makes him oh so sexy. Oh my god if I could…
“We’re here!” Maria announced bringing me out of my stupor. She jumped out of the car and raced ahead, only to turn around and give me one of her patent haughty looks. Her arms were crossed and her legs spread shoulder length apart as she glared me down. “Are you coming?”
“Yes.” I mumbled as I slowly got out of the red Jetta and followed her up the path to the small shack which housed Madame Vivian.
A tawny colored woman greeted us at the door and pulled me away from Maria as she led me into the back room. I figured that this was Madame Vivian, since she fit my stereotype perfectly, the ostentatious outfit with swirls of purple and orange, the way her tightly curled hair was drawn to the top of her head, and the way that she accented every word with a fake Jamaican accent. She silently smiled as she stared into my eyes, then abruptly grasped my hands and shut her eyes, tracing the outlines of my palms before releasing them. She then produced a deck of tarot cards and shuffled them, then placed them down in front of her. “I see loneliness, but lots of satisfaction in your field. I see highest honors… de Nobel Peace Prize? A cure for de Aids? You will be a smart woman, who will sacrifice much for her dream.”
I glared at her, clenching and unclenching my fists as she went on and on about how many accomplishments that I would gain. There was this anger that kept gathering underneath my cool exterior as she revealed my future, anger that finally boiled to the surface, as the realization sunk in that I would live out my greatest fear, solitude. “No.” I whispered, and pushed my chair away from the table and raced out of that room, that building, and down the street, ignoring my best friend’s cries as she watched this display.
Tears welled up in my eyes as the dream of a family and a house with a white picket fence faded further from my view. I had reached the center of town by now, these towns in New Mexico were so small, and I must have tripped on something because the next thing I knew was that I was lying face down in a puddle, my face covered in mud. I lied there for a few moments, absorbing the shock of the fall and the appropriate nature of this recent catastrophe when I caught sight of a pair of Nike tennis shoes pointing towards me. I then moved my focus upward to discover the person who found my current state so interesting that he bothered to stare at me. It was then that I caught sight of his eyes and fell deep into his chocolate depths. Those eyes, those dark penetrating eyes with flecks of gold in them, that I always find myself getting lost in were here now. These were the eyes that would never be mine, never look over my body and find me attractive. He broke his gaze from mine as he stretched out his arm to help my limp form out of the mud.
I again stared at him, and saw my chance as my eyes fell upon his lips. It did not matter that my face was soiled with mud as I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. I shut my eyes and was amazed that he wrapped his arms around mine and kissed back, our tongues undulating as they moved together during this kiss. It was sudden and electric, and was the beginning of a new age in my life, one that contained everything that I had ever wanted, a life with Max that contained a future, not filled with scientific advancement, but of happiness and personal growth. It was there that I realized the truth, that life was what you made of it, and then I asked myself who believes in fortune tellers anyway?