As the guys, too shocked that they had been so stupid to talk about the aliens while they were in a place where anyone could hear, kept staring at Maria she finally snapped out of her muteness, “Oh my God! Oh my God! Please tell me I didn’t just hear what I think I did.”
Max and Alex looked at each other for a minute before Max turned his attention back to Maria and cautiously asked, “What did you hear?”
“I mean it can’t be true can it? I know that the whole town has this whole fixation on it and everything but it’s only a gimmick right?” Maria said starting to get hysterical and pacing back and forth.
Max watched Maria for all of ten seconds before he knew he had to do something. He blocked her pacing and placed his hands on her shoulders, “Maria, you need to calm down.”
“Calm down?! Calm down?! How do you expect me to calm down when I just heard you and Alex talking about aliens?” Maria exclaimed.
Max clamped his hand over her mouth trying to keep her quiet. He had to think of something fast to tell her, “You don’t think we were being serious do you? Alex and I were just guy talking.”
“Yeah, you know how the fairer sex is a complete mystery to me.” Alex jumped following Max’s lead. “It’s like they’re from another planet.”
Over his hand Max could see Maria glaring at him before saying something. But since his hand was still covering her mouth, it was unintelligible. So she pushed him away, and they could see she was quite angry. “I can not believe you two! I can’t believe you just stood there and lied to my face when you know I know the truth. How long have we been friends and you do that? Now I want to know everything that is going on and I want to know now. If you don’t tell me I’ll run out into that café and scream at the top of my lungs what I heard Alex say.”
Max knew she was serious and looked her directly in the eye. “I’ll tell you but you have to promise that you won’t tell anyone, not even your mom.”
“I promise.” Maria said seriously.
“Okay.” Max said. “Why don’t we go up to my room and talk? Do you need to tell one of the other waitresses that you’re on a break?”
“No, I only worked half a shift today. I just got off, that’s why I came back, I wanted to see if you guys wanted to do something since I haven’t seen a lot of you around. I guess I know why now.” Maria rambled as the three headed upstairs to the Parker apartment.
When they reached Max’s room, and after he made sure his parents were gone so they wouldn’t overhear, he took a minute to call Liz and tell her exactly what was going on. He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was worried but didn’t say anything except for him to tell Maria to call her or something if she had any more questions. Her trust in him to tell Maria floored him but he didn’t tell her. He hung up the phone and turned to face a still shell-shocked and half-hysterical Maria. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
“Um…” Maria said not sure of what to ask. After all she had just found out that aliens existed. What did one ask in this situation? “I guess I want to know everything you do.”
“Don’t ask much do you?” Alex asked jokingly.
Max just smiled at the two before starting the explanation and story. “Well like you overheard Liz, Isabel and Michael aren’t from around here.”
“Michael too? I always knew there was something off about that guy. I mean a side from the guy who’s from the other side of the tracks going nowhere in life image that he showed everyone.” Maria interrupted until she realized what she had done. “Sorry, go on.”
“There was a crash in 1947 and they were the only survivors that they’ve seen actually. I know you’re thinking that the crash was 42 years ago but they were in these incubation pods and then one-day they hatched in like the form of humans. Ordinary looking six year olds. But they’re different. They have these powers. That’s how I found out. Liz used her powers that day in the café. I was really shot and Liz risked everything to heal me. I almost died.” Max explained. He heard Maria’s breath hitch at his last statements and tears come to her eyes but he went on.
“I’m not sure what happened after they hatched but I assume they got separated and somehow Liz and Isabel ended up with the Evans.” Max said.
“Do they know? Their parents?” Maria said interrupting again. She knew that she should be quiet and let him explain but her curiosity always got the better of her.
“No. The only people that know besides them is in this room.” Max informed her. “Except now there are people who are suspicious, well one person in particular, Sheriff Valenti.”
“Because of the shooting?”
“Yeah, I mean I lied and didn’t tell him that Liz nor Michael were even here that day but there were others who told him something else. We threw him off for a little bit but I’m getting a head of myself.” Max said. “After Liz healed me, I confronted her and asked her what happened. That’s when she told me that she was an alien. Well she actually pointed her finger up and I ended up guessing she meant she was an alien. I kind of freaked when she told me and I left. Later that night, she came to me in the café to try and talk to me. To show me that she was still the girl I had known for years. We did this connection thing that let me see some of her memories…”
“How did you do that? What was this connection thing?”
“When she healed me, she had to connect to my brain and saw some memories. She did it in reverse so that I could see some of hers. The things I felt from her were amazing.” Max realized he was getting mushy. “Anyway the next day, Valenti questioned me and I found out that he suspected Liz. I went to her and asked her some questions. That was when I found out about Isabel and Michael and her powers as well as some other stuff. I told her about the Sheriff and she took off. But not before she told me that she was going to leave Roswell because it wasn’t safe. I went after her but Alex blocked my path.”
“After Max told me, I was pretty much in shock like you. I mean I found out that the girl I’d been pining over for years was a different species. But when Max told me that they were in danger, I offered to help. We drove over to the Evans’ just in time to stop them from leaving. They weren’t exactly happy that I knew but we ended up pulling together and with a plan from Max we managed to throw off the Sheriff.” Alex jumped in.
“It’s a long story that I’ll tell you about later but the just of it was that we showed the Sheriff evidence that Liz wasn’t at the Crashdown. And since then they’ve been laying low trying to keep him off their trail although some of them more than others.” Max muttered thinking about Michael and his visit to the Sheriff’s office.
When he finished, the three friends sat in silence as Maria soaked it all in. They took the fact that she hadn’t run screaming from the building yet. She was acting quite calm actually. She had pulled out her vial of cypress oil and sniffed it deeply. She looked at them and said, “I know that you’re probably waiting for me to freak out. And believe me, I’m surprised I haven’t yet. I don’t know why.”
“Maybe you’d feel better if you talked to Liz.” Max offered. “She told me to tell you that if you had any questions that you could talk to her. I’m sure you’d rather talk to her then Michael or Isabel.”
“Yeah, talking to either one of them would be too scary.” Maria said. She had talked to Liz off and on through out the years in different classes or like the other night in the Crashdown but she was in no way close to her. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, Liz just always seemed to not open up to or hang out with anyone but Michael and her sister. And now it seemed Max and maybe Alex. Which brought up something she wanted to ask. “So Max, what were you and Alex talking about when I came in? About spending time in the company of beautiful alien women?”
Max rolled his eyes. “That’ll take a little longer to explain.”
PART 17
Liz ate her food lost in thought despite the conversation her family was having around her. It was a typical night at the Evans house and it was nights like this that Liz felt the most comfortable. It was then that Liz could almost forget that she was different from others and act like a normal human daughter. But tonight other things were on her mind, one being the fact that Maria had now found out about them. The list of people who knew their secret had gone from zero to three in just a few weeks and it couldn’t help but make her nervous. She liked Maria well enough and knew that she was one of Max’s best friends but she still held onto her fears. Years spent in hiding would do that to a person. And she didn’t even want to think about Michael and Isabel’s reactions when she told them.
“Liz honey, are you feeling okay?” Her mom asked.
She smiled at her mom in reassurance and hoped that she didn’t notice that the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m fine Mom. Just tired.”
“You haven’t really been eating anything, just picking at your food. Is it okay?” Her mom asked still sounding worried. “I can fix you something else if you want.”
“No, the foods okay.” Liz said, as she looked down at the food on her plate, not that you could see much under all of the hot sauce. She looked back up at her mom and saw that Isabel was watching her closely. “It’s just like I said, I’m tired with all of the studying I’ve been doing.”
“Sometimes I think you push yourself too hard.” Diane stated. “You don’t have to get straight A’s all of the time, you should learn to have fun and enjoy high school.”
“Diane, leave Liz alone. If she wants to work on her school work rather then running around partying and getting in trouble then let her.” Philip chastised his wife. “From the way you sound you act like you would rather her be getting arrested or something like that then the way she is now.”
Diane dropped the subject then and Liz smiled a genuine smile to her dad in thanks for his defense. She knew her mom didn’t always understand the life of seclusion she had put herself in. After all Diane was a very sociable person, and was a member of gardening, book and other clubs now that the kids didn’t need so much of her attention. Isabel was the same way of course and Diane had tried to get Liz more involved but she hadn’t budged.
“So how is school going?” Philip asked.
“Fine, just getting ready for midterms and things.” Liz answered.
“What about you Izzy?”
“Same, studying, getting by. I’ve been using the free time that I have in the guidance office to study and prepare.” Isabel answered.
Isabel kept talking as Liz went back into her silent mode and brooded. She pushed the food around on her plate for another ten minutes before she said; “Can I be excused?”
Her parents excused her from the table and she went up to her room. She knew that Isabel would follow not long after she helped their mother clean the table. Liz usually helped too but she wasn’t up to it tonight. Maria wasn’t the only thing on her mind but her conversation with Max as well.
His arguments were improving every time they talked and she found it getting harder and harder to resist him. Especially since she had wanted him for so long. She had even been drawn to him before she’d hit puberty and the hormones reacting. She didn’t know why but it had been there. And now with this new closeness ever since she had healed him, her control was slipping away from her.
Remembering that she needed to talk to Michael as well as Isabel Liz headed for the balcony. From there the person standing on it could see the main window of Michael’s apartment. They had worked out a signal when he had first moved in that would tell him that they needed to talk to him. They kept a large flashlight on the balcony next to Liz’s little Christmas starlights but unlike normal flashlights, this one was tinted green. It would shine just above the TV and he would know. He had a similar way to contact them. They knew it was probably a little too cloak and dagger but figured it kept late night phone calls down to a minimum.
Liz knew that since it was a weeknight, Michael would be getting off soon so she turned on the light and left it going. She curled up in one of the lawn chairs that they kept there and stared up into the sky. She wondered if one of the stars she was looking at was home. It was something she had wondered constantly about over the years but still didn’t have any answers. She pondered if she ever would.
She heard Isabel barge into her room a short while later and soon came out onto the balcony and took the other chair. “You were awful quiet tonight.”
“You sound more and more like Mom every day, Iz.” Liz teased.
“I’m serious. Something is up with you and it’s not school. So share.” Isabel ordered.
“I was just talking to Max earlier and he’s getting more and more persistent. I reminded him that it wasn’t safe and he said he doesn’t care, that he wants to be with me anyway. It’s just hard to keep pushing him away.” Liz said looking at Isabel. She was surprised when her face didn’t reflect the seriousness that it usually did when she reminded Liz that they couldn’t have attachments, instead her face seemed soft. But Liz didn’t get a chance to find out why because Michael reached the balcony at that moment.
“I’m barely home from work, eating and was happily watching a hockey game when I see your signal. So what’s up?” He asked gruffly.
Liz took a deep breath and told them, “Maria knows. She overheard Max and Alex earlier and they had to tell her the truth about us.”
“What?!” Michael exclaimed getting up from his perch where he had been leaning and pacing the balcony. “Don’t those two know that they can’t just talk about us in public for anyone to hear?”
“They know how stupid it was,” Liz snapped. “Max apologized over and over.”
“What did she say?” Isabel asked.
“What do you think she said? She probably completely freaked out. The girl’s completely weird and spaced out, just look at her clothes.” Michael exclaimed.
“You’re one to talk Michael.” Liz threw back him as she looked him up and down. “How many black T-shirts does someone have to have?”
Michael glared at Liz before saying, “I’m just saying that you can tell by just looking at her that she’s strange. And she is always talking.”
“Sounds like you’ve paid a lot of attention to her, Michael.” Isabel stated trying to keep the smile off of her face as she teased Michael.
“No, I don’t pay attention to her. I try not to but it’s hard not to when you always here her mouth going. How do you expect someone like that to keep our secret?” Michael exclaimed.
“Max assured me that although Maria is a bit…high-strung, she is a good friend who can keep a secret. And I believe him, they’ve been friends for years.” Liz stated. She knew that this was how Michael would react to the news but Isabel was being unusually quiet.
“That makes me feel so much better.” Michael muttered. He too noticed Isabel’s reaction and said, “Why aren’t you saying anything about this?”
“What’s there to say? It’s done. And unless one of us suddenly has developed the power to erase memories then we’re stuck with three humans who know our secret.” Isabel said.
“You know, it’s probably better that she knows. That way she won’t be trying to figure out what’s going on with Max and Alex and making it all worse.” Liz added.
“Whatever, I see nothing said here is going to do any good so I’m just going to go watch the rest of my game.” And with that Michael disappeared over top of the railing. Liz was about to say something to Isabel but her sister had already retreated to her room. Liz sat back and stared once again up at the stars hoping things would be okay.
PART 18
Maria knew she was being watched. She had become aware of it ever since she found out about the aliens. She was being watched by the aliens, as well as Alex and Max to see if she was going to crack. To see if she could handle knowing and not running off to tell someone. She couldn’t blame them, after all she was known for her big mouth. But when someone told her something in confidence, especially if it was important, she never blabbed. She had secrets about the guys that had never told a soul, not even her mother.
But as sure of herself that she would tell, she wasn’t sure of what she thought of the whole situation. After all she had just found out that she had been going to school for the last eight years with three aliens. She could remember different times through out the years where she had been involved with them at school, like gym classes, or class projects. Sometimes she had even casually chatted to Liz during a class. It was just weird to think that they were there, acting perfectly normal. Of course according to Max, they were normal except for the whole green cells and power thing.
This was something that worried Maria, the power thing. They made her uncomfortable. Would they use them on her if they didn’t think she could be trusted anymore or decided she was the enemy? If Liz could heal Max by just putting her hand on him, could she kill him just as easily? She was grateful to Liz for saving one of her best friends but it was almost too much. Maybe she should do what Max said and talk to Liz. Ask her some questions like Max had.
Maria was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t watch where she was going and as she turned the corner, she crashed right into someone. They both went sprawling on the floor. Maria sat up quickly and started apologizing. “I am so sorry, I was in my own world.”
She expected to have run into a student or even teacher but as she looked at the person who she had ran into, she didn’t recognize the woman. She looked to be in her mid-thirties with shoulder length dark hair and blue eyes. Maria couldn’t stop the shiver she felt down her back as she looked at the eyes, they were so cold looking. The woman smiled at her but she could tell it was just for show. Maria wished she could read auras because she was sure this woman’s would tell her a lot. “Don’t worry about it, as busy as the halls are I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before.”
“Do you work here at school? I haven’t seen you around Ms...” Maria said being nosy.
“Pierce. Danielle Pierce.” The woman said introducing herself.
“Maria Deluca. Let me help you.” Maria said as she helped Ms. Pierce pick up her things. She noticed that she had been carrying some file folders, the kind she knew that the office kept on all of the students. There weren’t a lot of them, maybe four or five. As she picked one up, she couldn’t help but notice the name, Elizabeth A. Evans. This woman had Liz’s file. She knew that it could be for any ordinary reason but knowing what she did about Liz, she thought it could be something more. “So what do you teach here Ms. Pierce?”
“I’m not a teacher. I must be going, be careful not to crash into anyone else.” She said before disappearing down the hall.
Maria watched her go and couldn’t help but feel like something had been off about the whole exchange. She got up off the floor herself when her English teacher came over, “Maria are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just being a klutz.” Maria said brushing it off. “Mrs. Taylor, can you tell me who that woman was? She said her name was Danielle Pierce and that she wasn’t a teacher.”
“The school hired Ms. Pierce a few days after the Crash festival to help update the computers and the files.” Mrs. Taylor informed her.
“Thanks, I better get going.” Maria said as she hurried away. She was probably being paranoid but maybe now was the time to talk to Liz.
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
It took her a little while in the chaos that was pre lunch period but Maria finally spotted Liz at her locker. She didn’t see Isabel or Michael around and figured now would be the best time to talk to Liz. She hurried over to her and arrived right when Liz slammed her locker shut. Liz saw Maria and smiled. “Hey Maria, how are you?”
“I’m trying to deal.” Maria answered. “Max said that you might be willing to talk to me about…things.”
“Yeah, yeah. Any time.”
“How about now? During lunch. I have some questions for you and I think there’s something I should tell you too.” Maria said.
Liz could see Maria’s eagerness in her eyes mixed with something else so she said, “Sure, let me grab something from the vending machine and we can go out to the football field. No one will bug us out there.”
“What about Isabel and Michael? Won’t they wonder where you are?” Maria asked.
“No. My sister and Michael already told me they wanted to go out to lunch. I didn’t feel like going so we’ll be fine.” Liz assured her.
The two headed over to the row of machines. Liz got a can of Cherry Coke and a bag of Tabasco and Cheese flavored popcorn (NOTE: They really make this and it’s sold at grocery stores. It’s delicious.) before the two girls went out a side door and headed towards the football field. Like Liz said, it was deserted. The two got comfortable on the ground before Liz said, “Okay fire away.”
Maria took her eyes off of the lunch she had brought and said, “Well Max and Alex filled me in last night so I guess I know the basics but I have some questions about your powers. Like are they dangerous?”
Liz looked slightly uneasy at the question but said, “We’ve never hurt anyone, if that’s what you mean. And we wouldn’t unless we felt we were in grave danger. The most we normally use them for is to fix things, change colors; heat things up that kind of stuff. I find them useful when I’m working on different science stuff, to pull stuff to me or away. We don’t know too much about them ourselves, but I think that they are evolving, getting stronger and developing new ones.”
She looked Maria straight in the eye and said, “I know how the movies and TV portray us but we’re not going to hurt you. We just want to live our lives, maybe learn more about ourselves.”
“And you guys don’t have any idea where you come from or anything?” Maria asked. She felt sympathetic to them. It must be hard to not know anything about your roots. She might just live with her Mom but she remembered enough about her dad that she felt she knew about her family.
“No, nothing. We don’t remember anything from before we hatched out of our pods. Even that is kind of fuzzy.” Liz explained. “The three of us got separated that night and later on but ended up back in the same school. We recognized each other and knew that we were different from the other kids so we agreed to never tell anyone else. And we didn’t until I healed Max.”
“Which I am very thankful for.” Maria said, her voice dripping with sincerity and thanks. “And now you could be in danger of being found out.”
“Yeah. Sheriff Valenti has been looking into the shooting. We don’t know for sure if anyone else is like the FBI or something. We’ve always known that there are probably people who would want to ‘study’ us although we only found rumors, no evidence.” Liz stated.
“Liz, I might just be acting paranoid or something but just before I found you in the hall, I ran into someone in the hallway. We completely wiped out and fell on the floor. I thought it was a student or something but I didn’t recognize her. I started asking her questions to find out if she was a new teacher something because her eyes were really creepy looking. I also noticed that she had some student files, one of them was yours.” Maria described.
Liz’s eyes widened slightly and asked. “Who did she say she was?”
“She didn’t. But one of my teachers said she had been hired by the school to work on their computers and go through the files. I know what you’re thinking, since she was supposed to go through the files it’s not strange for her to have yours. But if she was just organizing them, why would she have yours outside of the office.”
“She wouldn’t.” Liz confirmed. “I don’t know if it’s serious but I’ll talk to the others and look into it. Thanks for letting me know. It’s nice to know you’re on our side and I’d like to be friends.”
Maria smiled at her, feeling better about the whole situation. The conversation turned to trivial stuff as the two girls finished up their lunches.
PART 19
Later that day Liz found it strange that her sister had come into her room and asked if she was going to the Crashdown that night. It was Friday night and their parents were away for a dinner with some of their friends. So they left some money for Liz and Isabel to get dinner with knowing they’d either order pizza or go to the Crashdown. “Why did you want to know if I’m going to the Crashdown? You always complain whenever I do.”
“I wanted to catch a ride with you.” Isabel said simply. “I have a date and I told him I’d just meet him there.”
Liz eyed Isabel up and down. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans, a red V-neck sweater and a pair of boots and jacket that matched. They matched so perfectly that Liz knew Isabel had used her powers on them. But as nice as she looked, she wasn’t wearing her normal date attire. “You’re going out on a date?”
“Yes. Now are you going or not?” Isabel asked showing Liz that she didn’t want to answer any more questions. She wasn’t ashamed to be going out with Alex, just didn’t want to deal with Liz or Michael’s questions over the whole situation. She knew Liz would think that she was doing it to keep Alex under control while Michael would just start one of his attachment speeches. And she didn’t want to be in a bad mood. She wanted to have a perfectly normal date with a funny guy who knew she was quite normal herself.
“Yeah, I’m going. Michael’s going with me too. I wanted to ask Max and Alex, if he’s there, if they’ve seen that Pierce woman anywhere around school.” Liz stated. She had already filled Isabel in on her talk with Maria but hadn’t been able to find Michael all afternoon until it was time for them to leave school. As she gave him a ride home, she told him everything. In typical Michael fashion, he went completely paranoid. When Liz said they were going to quietly investigate Pierce, he’d argued with her. She won out in the end but knew he planned to check her out for himself. The two girls headed out to the jeep, finding Michael already lounging in the back seat. In only minutes, they were off.
Liz couldn’t help but notice that something seemed off with Isabel, maybe she was just nervous about her date. They quickly arrived at the Crashdown and went inside. It was late enough that the families who came in for Friday night dinner had already came and gone, leaving mostly highschool students hanging around. Max smiled at Liz as the three aliens grabbed a booth towards the back and away from the other customers. They had just sat down when Maria came to take their order. “Hey guys what can I get you?”
They gave her their orders; well Michael and Liz did anyway. When Maria came back with their drinks Michael took it upon himself to make sure nothing was missed during Liz and Maria’s talk earlier. “This Pierce woman, did she act nervous when you said your name?”
“No. Why would she?” Maria asked.
“If she’s investigating Liz then she’s here because of the shooting, which brings Max into it and if she’s snooping around school then it won’t take much to link you to him.” Michael said in a tone that some might sound condescending, which Maria seemed to.
“Excuse me if I’m not used to this whole cloak and dagger thing.” Maria stated. “I’m just ordinary human and don’t normally have to worry about it.”
Maria turned and left in a huff going into the kitchen. Liz glared at Michael when Maria left. “You were pretty nasty to her. Can you act a little nicer?”
“Liz, how long have you known me? Have I ever been nice?” Michael said raising his eyebrow.
Liz smiled at him, “Despite this whole persona you put out, Isabel and I both know how you can really be.”
Michael didn’t seem get a chance to respond because just then Max walked over from the counter and Alex came in to the restaurant. As soon as she saw Alex come in, Isabel got up out of the booth and that was when it clicked for Liz. “Alex is your date?”
“Yeah.” Isabel answered shortly before smiling at Alex in greeting. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He said looking like a kid with a new toy. “I know we said we were going to eat here but I thought of something that might work a little better with our after dinner activities.”
“What?” Isabel asked just as Maria walked our with a big picnic basket. “Here you go Alex.”
“Thanks Maria.” Alex said gratefully. He felt pleased with himself over his idea, and being friends with the owners had its perks. He turned to Isabel. “I thought maybe a picnic would be nice.”
“After dinner activities?” Michael asked gruffly until Liz kicked him under the table.
“Shut up.”
Alex smiled in appreciation to Liz before looking at Isabel. “Ready Milady?”
Isabel had to admit that the guy was sweet and took his proffered arm. The two left the restaurant with four bewildered friends behind them. Max was the first one to say anything as he plopped down next to Liz, “So what was it that you wanted to ask me about?”
It took Liz a minute to figure out what Max was talking about, him sitting next to her was a big distraction. “Oh, um I wanted to know if you have seen Ms. Pierce around school?”
“Maria mentioned what happened earlier and I racked my brain all afternoon but didn’t come up with anything. She’s probably in the office most of the time.” Max answered.
“Isabel plans to see what she can find out on Monday.” Liz stated. “I never thought when she volunteered her free period at the office that we’d be using it for this.”
“We have to use what we can.” Michael stated simply as he munched on a Saturn Ring.
Maria and Max talked more with them while the two aliens ate their food. As they sat there, the bell above the door rang and Tess walked in with a few of her friends. There was a flash of anger in her eyes before it was replaced with a smug smile, “Well isn’t this cozy?”
“What do you want Tess?” Maria snapped.
“Aren’t you supposed to be nice to your customers?” Tess asked.
“If I thought you were here just to be a customer then I would. This is the fourth time this week you’ve been here and I don’t think it’s for the forty grams of fat you’ve been wolfing done.” Maria stated. “I have a feeling that you’ve become Roswell’s newest stalker.”
Tess’s friends couldn’t help but snicker at Maria’s comments. Even Michael smirked in amusement. Tess’s pale face reddened in either embarrassment or anger. But everyone stopped laughing when she looked at Liz and said, “Can I talk to you for a minute in private?”
None of them knew why Tess would want to talk to Liz but she just nodded and got out of the booth. She followed Tess to the girl’s bathroom and faced the blonde. “What do you want Tess?”
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m on to you.” The blonde said looking her directly in the eye.
“What are you talking about?” Liz said trying not to show her uneasiness.
“Max, now I know he told me that you guys were just friends but I know better than that. I’ve seen the way that you look at him.”
“Tess, I don’t know what happened between you and Max but I didn’t…”
“You didn’t have anything to do with it? I know better than that. I’m not falling for that innocent act you show everyone else. I just wanted you to know that you’re not fooling everyone and I know that you’re hiding something. And I’m going to find out what it is and Max will never go near you again.” And with that Tess turned on her heel and left the bathroom.
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
Alex drove Isabel and himself out to a clearing on the outskirts of Frasier Woods and they set up their spot. Isabel was impressed by the effort that he put into everything. Along with the picnic basket, he’d brought a hug blanket, a lamp, and a small radio. She figured that he’d brought sandwiches so she was surprised when he pulled out containers of Mexican food complete with hot peppers and Tabasco.
Alex must have seen her surprise because he explained. “I ordered some delivery from Senor Chows and had it sent to the Crashdown. Maria being the wonderful friend she is, fixed it all up for me.”
“Liz sure seems to like her.” Isabel stated as they began to eat.
“Although I know Max and I messed up, I’m glad Maria found out. It was tearing things up between the three of us.” Alex said as he too started to eat. “I’ve known Maria almost as long as I’ve known Max and I know that she gives off these wacky vibes but she’s solid.”
“Alex, you don’t have to sell me on Maria. She kind of showed where she stood when she went to Liz.” Isabel assured him. “Now if you don’t mind, can we not talk about all of this?”
“Sure, sure.” Alex said. After that the two talked about other things, music, movies, everything and anything that they could think of. Things that people usually talked about when they got to know each other. When they finished with their food, Isabel surprised Alex by dousing the lamp and moving to sit closer to him. It took him a minute to realize that she was getting ready for what she had suggested, stargaze.
Isabel tilted her head upwards and pointed, Alec did the same thing and she started pointing out different stars and constellations. “And then to the right of the Milky Way, that's Orion.”
“Oh, wow.” Alex said amazed at how much she knew about the constellations.
“You see the North Star?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok, now look a little to your left...and a little further out, that small group of stars right there, that's the Cygnus constellation. It's the furthest we can see from here.”
“I used to look up there, and stars were just stars. One was just as good as the next one. Somehow with you...I mean... but now I look at them differently. Like each one is full of possibility.”
“Since Cygnus is the farthest, Liz and I figured that our planet is farther than that.”
“Is that why you know so much about the stars? Because you know that somewhere out there someone is waiting for you?” Alex asked with interest.
“I guess. I wanted to see if I could figure out where our home was. But it didn’t take long before I learned that no life had been found on the planets they had studied so I wasn’t going to find anything. After that I just thought it was interesting so I kept at it, even if didn’t lead to our planet.”
“Well I have to say, I’m glad you’re on mine.” Alex said feeling ridiculous at his words until he saw Isabel smile at him. “Thanks.”
“You’re very welcome.” Alex said smiling back.
Isabel couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked when he smiled. She was enjoying her time with Alex. She could be open with him and he still liked to be around her. She realized then how it must be for Liz to be around Max. And she started to understand why Liz wanted to have something more. Maybe Liz was right and they should let someone in.
**The constellation part is from Out of The Woods**
PART 20
It took Liz a few minutes to compose herself before heading back out to the restaurant. The others were staring at her in question. “It was nothing. Just something about school.”
But despite her reassurances, she could tell that they didn’t believe her. She didn’t feel like talking about her confrontation with Tess, it had rattled her. After all the Sheriff’s daughter had just told her that she was probing into her life. A life she wanted to keep secret. She grabbed her jacket and shrugged it on. “Listen guys, I’m tired and I told my dad I’d get up early with him so I’ll see you later.”
Max, Maria, and Michael watched as she made her way through the café and headed for the door. Max looked at Maria who nodded almost imperceptibly, telling him that she’d cover for him and he followed after Liz. Michael was about to object when Maria stepped in front of him and spoke. “Let him go. Tess was the one who upset her and if I know Max, he’ll feel responsible for it.”
“He is.” Michael stated.
Maria rolled her eyes. “I’ve got to get back to work. We close in a few minutes and I’m closing by myself.”
Michael stayed in his seat finishing up his food as well as Liz’s while the last few stragglers left and Maria started cleaning up. She didn’t say anything as she went about her nightly duties. She had finished cleaning all of tables and only had the counter and filling the ketchup bottles and she could go home. She knew that Max would clean the floors in the morning. So she headed back to the large storage room to grab the big container of ketchup. It took her a minute to catch sight of it and sighed in disgust. One of the guys had put it on the tallest shelf and she couldn’t reach it. The step stool had broken a week ago and hadn’t been fixed so she had no way of reaching it. That was when she got an idea, although she dreaded asking him for a favor. She’d rather ask just about anyone.
She walked out into the dining area and reluctantly over to his table. “Look I know that you’re just finish up your food and the last thing you want to do is lend a hand but do you think you could help me out in the storage room? There is a container that is too high for me and I need you to get it for me.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because it would help me out.” Maria said like she was talking to a small child. Michael’s eyebrow only rose in question. “Okay fine. Don’t help me. And here I thought you might want to show me another way that aliens are superior over pathetic humans.”
“Well now that you put it that way.” Michael said getting up.
She showed him to the back and into the storage room. She pointed out where the container was and he reached up to get it. But just as he got a hold of it, he slipped and started to fall backwards. He collided with Maria who fell into some other supplies. They hit the door and suddenly it started to swing shut. Maria saw it but she couldn’t get up in time to catch it. When it slammed shut she couldn’t help but curse. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
“What’s your problem?” Michael grumbled. “You couldn’t have gotten that hurt.”
“The door. It shut.”
“Yeah, so.”
“The door is propped open because when it shuts, it locks. Meaning we’re locked in here.” Maria explained in a huff. Her night was getting gradually worse. “But we’ll be okay as soon as you wiggle your nose or whatever you have to do to use your powers and get us out of here.”
“I can’t. Umm, my powers aren’t that reliable.”
“So what does that mean?”
“It means that if I try to unlock it, I could melt it and we'd never get out of here. I can’t get us out of here.” Michael explained. He didn’t know why but he felt slightly embarrassed by the confession.
Maria closed her eyes. “Great.”
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
Liz was almost to her jeep when she heard footsteps behind her. “Michael I don’t feel like a lecture about how I brought this on myself by saving Max.”
“I’m not Michael.”
Liz whirled around and looked into the concerned eyes of Max who was a few feet behind her on the sidewalk. “Max, sorry. I was expecting Michael.”
“Evidently.” Max stated smiling to her. “I think he was going to come after you but I beat him to it. I wanted to see if you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” Liz asked.
“Because I saw the look on Tess’s face as well as yours when you came out of the bathroom. What did she say to you in there?” Max asked.
“I told you, it was just about school. Now I really have to go.”
“Do you have to rush off? I thought that maybe we could go for a drive, or a walk? Just walk down the block and back. ” Max asked trying to keep her from going home. He didn’t want her to go yet. Partly because he didn’t want her to be upset and partly because he just wanted to be with her.
She saw how much he wanted her to stay so she nodded. Max smiled and took her hand as they started to walk down the sidewalk. Liz was in shock by the action that at first she didn’t realize he was speaking to her. “I know that Tess said more than you would say…”
Liz was about to but in but Max held up his hand to halt her. “And if you don’t want to say, I understand. But I have an idea what it could be about and I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. If I had handled things better with her, she wouldn’t think you were the enemy.”
“It’s okay, Max. Really.” Liz assured him. “Tess just wants to be with you and you broke up with her. She’s hurt and sees you with me so of course she thinks that it’s because of me. Especially when most of the time she sees us we’re making an effort to be alone and talking in whispers.”
Max thought over what she was saying and realized she was right. “Yeah, I can imagine how it looks.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t hang around so much. It’s raising suspicions.” Liz suggested.
“Liz, I don’t think that we should do that, hell, if I had it my way, we’d spend a lot more time together.” Max said then what she had suggested hit him and he read between the lines. As they turned around to walk back to the café, he said. “That’s what’s got you so spooked. Tess said something to make you think she’s suspicious about your ‘origins’.”
Liz knew that despite her attempt to hide the truth, it was written all over her face. “I’m not sure what she knows, all she said was ‘I’m not falling for that innocent act you show everyone else. I just wanted you to know that you’re not fooling everyone and I know that you’re hiding something. And I’m going to find out what it is and Max will never go near you again.’”
“You know that’s not true right.” Max said hurriedly.
“Yeah, I know.” Liz said as they reached the jeep again. “It was just unnerving. I’ve always hid in the background and now I feel like anything I do is under the microscope. Look I need to get going, my parents are going to be home and I need to cover for Isabel. See you Max.”
“Bye Liz.” Max said. He watched her pull away before he went inside. The café looked closed except that Maria forgot to lock up. He locked the front door and hurried up to his parents’ apartment.
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