Finished Canon/Conventional Couple Fics. These stories pick up from events in the show. All complete stories from the main Canon/CC board will eventually be moved here.
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell; God only knows how much I wish I did though.
Author's Notes: I know, like I really need to start another story when I have four not finished, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Hmmm, maybe I should just post challenges, less stressful for me. Anyway, I got the idea of this ficcy from LivE's short story "Poor Liz." While I loved the story, I always was wondering about Maria, Alex, and even Kyle, soo, I decided to write this story for my poor Stargazing heart; plus, I wanted to know if I can write fluff. Hope you like.
Okay, background. Everything up to Viva Las Vegas happened. Only, Liz confessed to Max about the whole "end of the world" thing, and they worked it out between themselves. Tess wasn't a bitch, and hooked up with Kyle. However, the aliens had to go back to Antar sometime after graduation, but before the gang went away to college. Alex is at MIT, Liz is at Harvard, Maria got into Boston U, and Kyle is back in New Mexico at Las Cruces
Although the language is pretty tame and everything, let’s be safe and say PG-13.
Whose Who?
Justin's POV
Okay, you may think I'm crazy, no, obsessed, but I'm a man with a mission. I'm going to find out once and for all if my roommate is lying. Before you leave thinking that I'm some deranged maniac, let me explain.
My name is Justin Cavini, from Chicago, and I'm a second year student at MIT. I hope to get my degree in Electrical Engineering and for the past two years I've been living with Alexander Charles Whitman. Now, Alex and I get along just fine; we're both interested in the same type of music, movies, hell, we’re both trying to survive getting our degrees at MIT. However, try to get him to open up about his life in Roswell before he came to Cambridge and he shuts up. Well, no, that's not exactly right; he'll talk about his parents, hangouts, has a couple of great stories about this place called the Crashdown Café, but it seems like he never quite opens up about everything. It's like he's hiding something, but I can’t figure out what exactly he’s hiding.
At first, I thought it was that maybe he was still in the closet. Don't look at me that way! You would too, okay, maybe not, but I had a couple of good reasons in believing he wasn't interested in women. First of all, he never went out on any dates, I mean NEVER! Didn't look at other women really either, when a bunch of guys would come over for studying we'd eventually get off topic and start talking about hot girls in lecture or in the media, and he wouldn't add anything to the conversation. Well, he might add his two cents in about whether Liv Tyler was hotter than Jessica Alba, but that was about it. Then there was this time when Sally Wu from our circuits class asked him out after our midterms and he flatly refused.
I know you're rolling your eyes at me, but you have to hear me out. Sally was, actually, still is one of the most sought after girls in the Cambridge area. Her parents are filthy rich, and she has a great body and face. But she's not all frosting with no cake, Sally is very intelligent, witty, has a wicked sense of humor, and is fairly nice. So, it shocked everyone in our hall when we heard that not only did Sally ask Alex Whitman out, but also he told her he wasn't interested in her that way. I believe Rick, our next door neighbor sums up our reaction quite nicely, "What the f@#* was he thinking?" As sad as it sounds, we all were in shock; I mean you have to understand, we're EEC's majors. We don't get asked out by the pretty, popular girls; it just doesn't happen, I mean you've heard the joke right? You know; the one about the EECS and a girl's reaction when asked…okay, going off on a tangent. Anyway, when Rick cornered the poor guy, do you know what he said?
"I like Sally, but I don't want to date her. In fact, none of the girls here have what I'm looking for; I'm just not interested."
That wasn't the kicker, that came about two weeks later when I was looking for one of my cd's at his computer. I know; I know; I shouldn't have read what was on his computer screen, but it was there and what I saw kind of shocked me.
Spaceboy's Gal: I can't help it; I miss him.
Stargazing Bass: I know. Who would have thought I'd miss him, especially when I punched him some years back.
Spaceboy's Gal: Ahh, Alex, are you saying you love our little Space Boy too?
How the hell was I suppose to know that they were joking on IM?
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 3:47 am, edited 22 times in total.
Yes, yes, I know; I shouldn't jump to conclusions so easily, but please, bear with me. First of all, I realize that I should have explained whom Alex was talking to on AIM. He was talking to one of his best friends from Roswell, Maria Deluca. That's right, a girl, and guess who is his other best friend; you got it; another girl, her name is Liz Parker. So, here were the things that I knew at that point. Alex had not one, but two best friends that were girls. He never really talked about any other girls from Roswell, or anywhere else for that matter. Alex didn't date, turned down a date from Sally Wu, and I saw a suspicious looking IM conversation. What would you have thought? Yeah, I thought so.
Well, in my defense, at least I never placed my foot in my mouth like some other idiots in our hall. Remember Rick, the guy who "talked" to Alex after the whole Sally thing? Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought that my roommate was hiding "in the closet" and decided to help the guy feel more comfortable about. It was a couple of days after I read the IM conversation, and I hadn't mentioned anything to anybody. So, it was a Friday night, and Alex was getting ready for a gig, oh, I guess I should mention that Alex has a band. He's the bass player and is pretty good; I've been to a couple of gigs. Anyway, he was getting ready when someone knocked on the door, since he was busy, I got it, and Liz walks through the door. Liz goes to our neighboring school Harvard, and just to let you know, Liz isn't one of those geeky girls with the plastic rim glasses, pigtails, and dorky sweaters. Nooooo, she's a hottie to say the least, long brown hair, these exquisite chocolate eyes, a body that has just the right amount of curves and…*goes off into fantasy land for a moment*…I'm a guy, what do you expect? Getting back to the topic at hand, I already knew Liz, how could I not? Alex, Maria, and she hang out a lot since they all go to school in Boston. Yeah, Maria is here too, she goes to Boston University, and she's also in Alex's band too. Again, off topic, so as I was saying, I let Liz in, and she's wearing a pretty trendy outfit which shows off her figure, but isn't over the top, you know. Well, since Alex was busy, I decided to casually, very casually ask about this "Space Boy" person to see if my suspicions were right.
"Spaceboy? Oh, you want to know how Maria chose her IM identity."
"Yeah," I hedged; hey, I didn't want to seem stupid in front of one of Alex's best friends. "I kind of assumed that it was because you guys were from Roswell. I mean, Maria is Spaceboy's Girl, you're Alien Dreamer, and Alex is Stargazing Bass, all kind of outer space/alien themed."
She gave me this little half smile, "Yeah, kind of, um, you kind of had to be there with us in high school to really get it, but 'Spaceboy' is Maria's nickname for her boyfriend."
See, I was right; Space Boy was a guy. Then she continued. "Even though he didn't let anyone but Maria call him that, we all knew he was secretly proud of that name."
"So, you guys were close?"
"Well, except for a time when Alex belted him," I gave her a disbelieving look, Alex, violent? Yeah, like that happened. "Yeah, it's a long story, but needless to say Alex really did punch him. We were all pretty close. It was really hard for us to say good-bye at graduation." Her eyes got a little watery at that point. Oops, didn't mean to get her sad.
Before I could say anything else, Alex came out with his instrument in hand, and so the two of them left afterwards. I'm not sure when, but apparently Rick saw the two of them walk out together and it was the first time he had seen the lovely Miss. Parker. Kind of strange considering how often they hang out, but whatever. As I was saying, I guess Rick got the impression that they were together because the next day when Rick came over for study group he was congratulating Alex on "his hot date." Of course the two of us were confused, until Rick started to describe Liz, "Oh, come no need to be sly. The cute brunette, who was wearing the hip huggers yesterday. Personally, I'm partial to blondes."
Alex shook his head, "That was Liz, one of my best friends. We're not together."
Rick gave him one of those "you've got to be kidding me" kind of looks. Then he got this look in his eyes, they soften a bit and seeing how it was only the three of us, he took Alex aside. "Hey, man I know people can be cruel, but it's cool with me."
"Huh?"
"Look there's no need to feel embarrassed by it. I mean; it must have been hard for you, growing up in a small town, probably a lot of small minds; they wouldn't have understood."
"Rick, what are you talking about?" Alex asked clearly confused.
"It's okay, Alex. You don't have to pretend between us; we're all friends; we'll understand."
Finally, understanding past through his eyes, and he pushed Rick away. "I'm not gay, Rick!"
"Sure, sure, I get it you're still in denial-"
Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head again, "I have a girlfriend, Rick. That's why I haven't been seeing anyone."
At this point I came into the conversation, shocked by Alex's admission. Hey, I was his roommate; I'm the one who is supposed to know little facts like that one. "How come you never talk about her?" I admit, I was a bit indignant.
Alex shrugged, "Well, no offense, but my love life is really no one's business."
"So what's she like? Does she go to school around here?" I asked. What can I say? I was curious, wouldn't you be?
Alex looked kind of nostalgic and melancholy then, kind of like Liz did when I talked to her the day before. "She's great. I can honestly say there's no one like her on Earth." Okay, clearly the guy had it bad. "But she had to leave the country for a while. Troubles at home, with the family, that kind of thing."
"Dude, I'm sorry; you must miss her." I said feeling sorry for the guy. No wonder he didn't want to be with anybody else. So it was a fairly good guy moment, not too awkward or cheesy, but then Rick had to spoil the whole mood by being an idiot again.
"Well, if you're not interested in Liz; do you think you could hook me up?" Like I said, idiot.
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
LIZ: Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?
MARIA: Cherry cola with arsenic?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like challenges? Try some of mine!
I can just see you're reaction now; you're shaking your head at me, aren't you? You're thinking that I'm making a huge fuss out of nothing, because my roommate kept the fact that he has a girlfriend a secret. In a way I guess I am, yet that's the root of the problem. I can hardly find anything out about his girlfriend, and I mean hardly anything. Heck, I didn't even learn her name until about two weeks after Alex told us wasn't gay. Yes, I'm aware that Alex basically told Rick and me to butt out of his love life, but come on, who doesn't like a little bit of mystery and intrigue in his/her life?
So, getting back to my dilemma. After Alex told us he had a girlfriend, we basically backed off giving him a hard time about not seeing anyone. You have to respect a guy for trying to make a long distance relationship work. Then I started to notice small things. They really didn't bother me back then, but when I thought about later; it got me thinking. First off, like I said earlier, Alex was pretty tight lipped about his girlfriend, which in itself is nothing, until I realized that she never contacted him. When I mean never, I mean NEVER! No letters, phone calls, e-mails, nothing, I don't care where in the world you are, how hard is it to drop a line to someone you care about to let him/her know how you are doing? It's pretty damn inconsiderate that's what it is. Don't go telling me that maybe Alex did get messages from her and never talked about it because he would. Bet you're thinking how the hell would I know considering the guy didn't tell me that he had a girlfriend in the first place, right? Well, he would because I'm guessing he'd be pretty happy to hear from Isabel. That and I have to admit, when Alex is on the phone with one of his friends from Roswell the first thing they talk about is how neither one of them have heard anything from "them."
Yes, I've succumbed to the evil otherwise known as eavesdropping. It's not like I'm listening in some other room holding a hanky over the mouthpiece of the phone so neither party can hear me breathe. What I mean, is when Liz, Maria, or even Alex's other friend, Kyle calls the first thing out of Alex's mouth is that he hasn't hear from "her," and then he asks if they heard anything from "him" or "her" depending on who is calling. Granted it took me a while to glean the information out of their little group, but I figured out that "them" refers to their significant others. I understand you think that I'm exaggerating about the gleaning part; would you believe me if I said I wasn't?
Didn't think so.
Remember when I said I didn't find out that Isabel is the name of Alex's girlfriend until a full fortnight after he told me he had one? I really only stumbled upon that one. I was doing laundry and somehow one of Alex's jeans got into my load of dirty clothes along with his wallet. When I was putting the clothes into the machine; it fell out and a photo became dislodged. It was a photo of Alex and this gorgeous blonde at his high school senior prom. Like I said before, I was curious; so I looked at the back and saw the name Isabel Evans written on the back along with the date. I decided to put the picture back and didn't mention it to Alex. I figured, if he wanted to tell me, he would, someday. Except that day wouldn't come for a very, very long time.
Anyway, I getting ahead of myself; where was I? Oh, yeah, besides the small fact that Isabel never contacted my roommate; there was the other little fact that she wasn't the only one in their little group that went out of the country for a very vague family reason. When Liz told me that it was hard to say good-bye to everyone after graduation, I assumed that their group split because they all went away to different schools. I assumed wrong.
Sarah Lancaster was Liz's roommate at Harvard; she's also one of my friends from high school, weird coincidence isn't it? I never really thought it was strange that Alex hung out so much with Liz and Maria because they're so comfortable with each other; you can tell that they've been best friends for years. I always figured it was their way of dealing with homesickness. When I ran into Sarah in March first year she confided that she was a bit worried about her roommate (I didn't know it was Liz at the time). Apparently the poor thing wouldn't go out on a single date although several cute boys in their classes had propositioned her. When asked why, she told Sarah that she didn't want to cheat on her boyfriend. When Sarah asked about said boyfriend, the roommate told her that he was away to fight some civil dispute about familial lands. A boyfriend who never called, e-mail, sent letters, or anything. A boyfriend, whom Sarah had never seen. Hmmmm, sound familiar? The only time she would go out was to hang out with her friends from Boston U and MIT. That was when I guessed that her roommate was Liz. Sarah confided that she was worried that Liz's boyfriend wasn't real, only an excuse to keep unwanted attention from other guys away from her, or worse a figment of Liz's imagination.
That's when I started to wonder if Alex was lying too.
It just didn't seem possible, because Alex always seemed so goofy and too good-natured to be lying about something like that. I left MIT feeling somewhat conflicted last summer. Then Alex invited me to spend a week in Roswell with him before the school year started. That's when I learned a couple more things about my roommate.
Last time we talked I mentioned Maria Deluca right? Well, Maria is kind of the opposite of Liz, personality-wise and physically. Liz is a petite brunette with brown eyes, while Maria is a taller blonde with green eyes. Liz's hair is straight; Maria's is wavy. Liz has this calming effect on people, and she has the mind of a scientist, probably why she's majoring in molecular bio. Maria on the other hand, how should I put this? She's a bit high strung at times, I'm told that she use to be worse in high school, and she's mercurial. There's a SAT word for you; one minute everything's good in the world, the next she's freaking out about something.
However, Maria is good for a laugh I must confess. We first met at one of Alex's gigs; she's the lead singer for The Whits (Don't say it. Alex is really proud of the name.). Getting back to the story, I came with a couple of the guys from the hall to support Alex. Tom, a second year, who lived three doors down and widely considered to be a bit of a smooth talker, saw Maria and decided that she would be his next conquest. So the guy started to give her a good deal of sweet talk. She listened to him nicely, nodded when she was suppose to, smiled, even gave him a good glance over as if checking out his body. Then she flashed him her patented 1000-watt Deluca smile and patted him on the back saying, "You're not what I'm looking for. Sorry, babe." Granted it was at the cost of Tom's ego, but the bunch of us couldn't help cracking up at that.
So what does this all have to do with my trip to Roswell? Everything.
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
LIZ: Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?
MARIA: Cherry cola with arsenic?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like challenges? Try some of mine!
So, where was I? Oh, my trip to Roswell, as I told you last time, Alex invited me to come down. Actually more like begged. Why, you ask? To be honest, it's because he missed my company; you don't buy that, huh? Well, I tried; seriously though, he did beg me to fly down from Chicago to Roswell. What was the emergency? Nothing much, just Maria's mother's wedding to the town sheriff. What can I say; Roswell is a small town.
To keep the explanation short, before going to college I took piano lessons for 12 years, and played both for my school's jazz band, and accompanied the orchestra and choir. Apparently the guy who was suppose to play with The Whits and Maria during the reception bailed on them a month before the wedding. According to Alex and Liz, both Maria and her mother were not pleased (I read that as ballistic). My sympathies were with those two, and to Ms. Deluca's fiancé. Luckily for Alex and his band members, he remembered that I used to play, so he called me up and I said "Okay."
Granted my reasons for going weren't just because I'm a nice guy, because I am; but also because I figured that I could find out more about my roommate and his elusive lady love. Hey, don't stare at me like that, it's not like I went down there and asked everybody that I met if they ever saw Alex with Isabel (I'm still assuming her name is Isabel because of that picture). But I was tempted. Like I said before, I was pretty confused about the whole subject matter when I left Cambridge for the summer, so when Alex asked me to come I decided that going would be the best way for me to figure things out. That and Alex assured me that seeing Maria and Liz in their waitress uniforms for the Crashdown Café was something I shouldn't miss.
It was an early June wedding, so I came down during the few days of May to rehearse with the band. Needless to say, Maria was nervous because the event was very personal to her that also made her a bit moody, but Liz and the others kept reassuring her that she would be wonderful for her mother's wedding. Liz was also pretty busy with her parents' diner because they were catering the reception, and both Alex and Liz had their internship at Metachem to worry about as well. I spent most of my time wondering the different sights with none other but Maria's soon to be stepbrother, Kyle Valenti.
Kyle, unlike the others in their group stayed in New Mexico for college. He attends Las Cruces where he obtained a scholarship to play basketball there. I asked him if he wished he could go to Boston where Maria, Liz, and Alex are, he told me that while he missed them, he was happy at Las Cruces and that "it's important for one of them to be near home." I remembered frowning at the wording of his statement, but decided that it must have been a private thing and decided not to pursue it. He took me to the UFO Center where apparently the guy who currently owned the place is a bit of an eccentric alien nut; claimed to be abducted by aliens. He tells the tourists about the time about four years ago, where he was in Roswell and then four days later found himself in New York. Kyle assures me that while Brody's stories are a bit outlandish, they're great for the town's reputation and economy because of the tourists.
While at the center I noticed that in one of their display an old newspaper clipping from about 5 years ago. It talked about a shooting, which occurred in the dinner owned by Liz's parents. I looked at the title of the display, "False Alarms," apparently the display was about different events around the world where people claimed aliens intervened in some event only for it to be proven to be a hoax or hallucination. Kyle saw my interest in the display, and gave me a small grin, "Yeah, that was not a fun day."
"What happened?"
"Oh, some guys got into a fight and one of them had a gun and it went off at the Crashdown. The noise surprised Liz; she fell down knocking a bottle of ketchup and spilled it all over herself. A couple of tourists where there for our Crash Festival; so, they thought she was shot; that the ketchup was blood, and some alien went up to her and healed her."
"Sounds like real fun."
"Yea, but a lot of good came out of it."
"Like what?"
"Well, Liz dumped me."
"Huh?" I gave him a weird look, and he laughed at my confusion.
"Long story, but sufficed to say, she found the love of her life because of the shooting, and in some strange way because of that I found mine." He confided. "In fact, Alex, Maria, and even my dad, I suppose, owe those idiots at the diner a bit of thanks, because if they weren't there that day, I'm not sure if things would have turned out the way they did." Did I mention that the guy was a Buddhist? It would explain his way of thinking, don't you think?
I left the center feeling a bit confused, by our conversation, but didn't really put much thought into it because I wrote it off as Kyle trying to not be nervous about the upcoming nuptials between his father and Maria's mom. I mean you should have seen Maria two days before the wedding. She really didn't want to mess up at the reception and couldn't help but run through all of the worst-case scenarios at the Crashdown in front of us. It wasn't until Liz mentioned the time that Maria stopped her rantings only to begin again on a different subject. "Oh, no it's 9. I forgot to set the VCR. Michael's going to kill me for not taping the game for him."
"Maria, calm down, it's only one game, besides it's not like the Coyotes are playing." Alex reminded her.
"It's the Stanley Cup finals," she retorted back heatedly, "I promised I'd tape all of the games during the Stanley Cup run."
Kyle seemed surprised by this news, "What a minute, not only have you been taping all of the Coyotes' games, but you promised Guerin that you'd tape all of the games during the post season?"
She nodded, and I felt impressed by her dedication to her boyfriend. I briefly wondered why he wasn't able to watch the games, and asked myself if Maria's boyfriend was somehow related to Alex's or Liz's significant others. "Maria, I'm sure that ESPN will re-run the game tonight sometime in the early morning like 2 am or 3. Just check the listing on the Internet tonight before you go to sleep. Stop stressing, I'm sure that things will be okay." I told her.
She looked at me, unsure of herself, "How do you know?"
"I'm from Chicago, remember? Hockey's a religion in the Midwest. Besides, I've missed a couple of games during my stay at Cambridge because of study group or exams. I just remembered that if they were on cable, ESPN or ESPN2 sometimes re-broadcast at 2 or 3 am."
Maria gave me a grateful smile before relax a bit before her mind found another thing for her to obsess over. Then Kyle made a smart remark that at least neither Isabel nor Tess was here to plan the wedding. Alex, Liz, and Maria grinned at the observation. Maria laughed, "Oh, yes, can you imagine the Christmas Nazi and Tess together? Heck, Kyle, you and your father got off easy. I'm sure Tess would have wanted you to wear a tux with tails."
"Yeah, and knowing her, she wouldn't tell us until two minutes before we're suppose to get dressed in them too."
All of them cracked up again at the observation, leaving me a bit confused until Kyle explained that when Tess spent her first Christmas in Roswell, she informed both Kyle and his father, that she had invited Ms. Deluca over for dinner one night, about 10 seconds before she actually showed up at their doorstep. I couldn't help but chuckle of the mental image of two bachelors hurriedly cleaning up their house for a guest, even if I didn't know who this Tess person was or her relationship to the group.
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
The wedding was relatively simple and a beautiful ceremony. There was a bit of a commotion before the ceremony between the maid of honor, a bridesmaid, the best man, and one of the ushers, in other words, Maria, Liz, Kyle, and Alex. Kyle had this mischievous smile on his face while it was obvious to everyone that Maria was not happy with her soon to be stepbrother. Alex was trying hard not to smile, and Liz seemed a bit flustered and embarrassed by the whole thing. However, before I got the chance to ask Alex about it, things started to get busy, and he became unavailable for questions.
The reception went well too. Maria, as Liz predicted, did an awesome job; anybody with eyes could see that her mother was proud of her that night. Liz caught the bouquet and received a great deal of teasing from Maria and Kyle, and then Alex caught the garter. He paled slightly from the catcalls all of his friends were giving him, and then Maria made some comment about Max not being happy when he will see the wedding video. I watched in amusement at the two as Alex placed the garter on her leg, apologizing the entire time, saying at one point "Max is going to kill me isn't he?"
Liz pursed her lips together before answering; "Actually, I think Isabel may do that for him."
He groaned at her statement, but held out his hand when he finished putting the garter on her leg; "In for a penny, in for a pound, how about a dance, Liz?"
As they went out to the dance floor, Kyle also offered Maria a dance, for the official dance between the best man and maid of honor. I have to say the four of them really are pretty tight for such a diverse group. I don't think I was the only person to notice that because other adults saw them and probably made comments about it. I noticed the groom and bride watching the four of them as well, and then Amy spoke to her new husband. "You miss her don't you?"
"Tess would have loved to see this day."
"You wish that the others were here too?"
"Well, I think it would make Maria happy to see Michael again, Alex and Liz would be very happy if the Evans siblings returned too. There's no question about that, but it just wasn't possible."
Amy looked at the two on the dance floor before saying something again, "I think today was the hardest for Liz. What? I wasn't blind; anyone could see that the two of them were crazy for each other. In fact I think all of us parents were surprised that Liz didn't come home with an engagement ring after graduation." She said coyly while her new husband was drinking some champagne. "But I think she did get a ring, don't you?"
Jim almost choked on his drink and looked at his bride, "Amy, why would I know? Maria is Liz's best friend, and your daughter. If Liz told anyone about Max Evans giving her a ring, she would know."
Amy just gave him another smile, "Like I said, I wasn't blind, and Maria learned how to keep secrets from me during high school. I mean she was a teenager, all teens keep some secrets from their parents although, Maria has a harder time keeping secrets than most. Besides, I know how those teens mean to you, not just Kyle and Tess. Max would have told you if he planned on asking Liz something like that, and I know of a certain conversation he had with Jeff before graduation."
"Amy..."
"I won't ask you to betray anything, but I'm not as ignorant as the rest of the adults in Roswell. Something was going on between them, and not just between Max and Liz, but all of them. The way they acted through out high school, then Michael received that offer to study with Cal Langley, the producer; I didn't even know he was interested in movie making. Then Ed Harding came saying that he wants to take Tess with him to tour Asia, and you let him take her."
"The man is her father-"
"Father? He left her for two years while you and Kyle took her into your home. She was like a daughter to you; plus, Kyle and she were having a relationship."
"She wanted to go, Amy. I couldn't stop her, and Kyle wanted her to be happy."
But the bride just continued on as if she didn't hear her husband, "And finally, we have the Evans siblings. They got some notice from a lawyer claiming to represent some distant biological relative in a class action land dispute in, where was it again?"
"Switzerland."
"Right, if I remember correctly, when Max and Isabel Evans were found out on that desert road all those years back, you did a fairly intensive search for their parents, or any biological family member, because they were so traumatized they couldn't even speak. You spent, what, about a full year checking up on leads before the Evans were able to finalize the adoption process because you didn't want to miss anything."
"Hey, leaving two six years old children out in the desert night is not just criminal but barbaric."
"Oh, I agree with that, but my point is, if you couldn't find any trace of family or anyone, how did this lawyer find them?" Seeing her husband keeping a neutral face, she just gave him an exasperated smack on the arm. "You know Jim Valenti; I'm your wife now, you shouldn't be hiding secrets from me."
"Amy," he told her in a mollifying tone, "It's nothing criminal, but I can't get into it. I made a promise and honestly, until they come back, I can't say a word about it."
"So, they are coming back?"
"Why? Eager to find Michael Guerin in Maria's bed again?" He asked her with a smirk.
Her mouth dropped opened, and her eyes widened with shock before twinkling with amusement, "Well, at least I didn't walk in on my son making out with my house guest in the kitchen."
"Yeah, at least Kyle and his friends never walked in on us."
"Maria and Liz didn't walk in on us, exactly; we were in the other room, and they were in the kitchen when they announced their presence." She told him with coquettish smile.
"That reminds me, why isn't there any coconut cream pie here today?" Jim asked with a grin. Amy laughed before pulling her new husband out on the dance floor.
Yes, I know. I was a horrible, horrible person for eavesdropping, but at least I knew that Liz does have a serious relationship, and I even found out that Max and Isabel were brother and sister. I was really happy to find out that my roommate wasn't lying about having a girlfriend either. So I didn't know the exact reason why she hasn't talked to him, and I being who I am, will probably have a talk about it with him later, but at that moment I didn't care. My friend and his best friend weren't delusional. Yea! I relaxed for the rest of the time there and watched as one of Maria's cousins, I think his name was Sean; had a little too much to drink and gave Liz a very big and wet kiss. Needless to say, Alex, Kyle, and I then had the pleasure of kicking him out of the reception and getting a cab for him after that.
“I’d like to see him try to call me ‘Alexis’ again.” Alex told Kyle as we hauled him into the cab.
Soon afterwards the bride and groom were about to make their exit towards a limo to take them to the airport for their honeymoon. Before leaving, both of them thanked me for coming on such short notice. The new Mrs. Valenti even called me her "favorite piano player" before giving me a peck on the cheek. Then she turned to Maria. "When Jim and I get back in a week, I better not find Justin sleeping in your bed with you, young lady. You have a tendency of thanking your mother's saviors in unique ways."
Kyle, Alex, and Liz started to crack up, while I blushed and Maria looked horrified, "Mother! That only happened once!" Her admission only seemed to send all five of them back into hysterics before even Maria began to smile as well.
As I made my way back towards my table for my jacket I saw something on the ground. It was a chain with a ring, with three stones on it; the chain must have broken off at some point, and the wearer hadn't noticed that the necklace and ring were missing yet. When I held it closer to examine it, I felt bad for the owner, because it must be a fairly important item. Before you begin questioning me, my mother felt that it was important for me to learn some things early. One of those things was how to pick jewelry for a girl, what is an appropriate gift for girlfriend of six months vs. a girlfriend of two years. What to get for an engagement ring, wedding band, and history behind said traditions; difference between precious and semi-precious; what to look for when looking at certain gems; which cuts are better; why certain cuts are more expensive than others. Yeah, I can just see you laughing at me right now. Anyway, not all of it was boring, for example, did you know that in Japan, pearls, not diamond, were the traditional stones used in engagement rings, and the reason why gold is used now as the band…yeah, yeah, I can see you're nodding off. Getting back to the subject, I figured that the ring had a great deal of value not just because of the stones and its platinum band, but because the ring itself was unique. At first glance it almost looked like an engagement ring, except that the main stone wasn't a diamond. It was the traditional brilliant cut probably 1.5 carat, but somehow it wasn't of one stone, it appeared to be two stones were fused together, although I wasn’t sure how, but it was definitely one half sapphire and one half aquamarine (September and March birthstones). The two stones surrounding said stone were smaller diamonds. I also noticed an inscription inside of the band. ~We Make Our Own Destiny~
I knew that I had to turn in the ring to the authorities, but then I remembered about the entire police force was at the reception except for one person because someone had to be at the station in case something happened. So you think I just went up to one of the deputies and handed it over and normally, you'd be right, except for all the guys and girls there were drunk or went home already. I pocketed the ring, and made a mental note to turn it in the next day
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
So the morning after the reception, I decided to go to the Crashdown to get some breakfast. As much as I liked Alex and his family, I felt bad mooching off his mother's cooking everyday. Anyway, I got there to find Maria and Liz both working that day; and to be honest, it was the first time that I saw them in uniform; because all of the other times I've been at the Crash, they've been off duty.
Let me tell you, I have no idea what Jeff Parker was thinking letting Maria and Liz wear those things. Granted they are basically your typically greasy spoon/diner waitress uniforms, in this teal color, complete with silver apron fashioned as a big alien head, and silver alien antennae. However, they're ridiculously short and have snaps going down the entire front of the uniform. Any semi-attractive woman wearing a uniform with snaps going down the front is featured regularly in any type of wet dream, whether it's pre-pubescent adolescent male to some 50 year old pervert; I should know, because I hate to say it; I'm a guy. So when I saw the two of them in those outfits, my eyes almost fell out of my face, which Maria didn't fail to notice. "Save it, Cavini. I've heard them all." She said with a smirk, "Now, what can I get for you, today?"
I ordered breakfast, and then noticed Liz coming out of the back with a very upset face. Maria saw her, and Liz shook her head. "What's wrong?" I asked Maria, noticing the exchange.
"Liz can't find a ring that's very important to her."
"A ring?" I repeated remembering what I found at the reception. At this point Kyle and Alex came into the diner and Liz looked at both expectedly. However, both also had negative expressions on their faces.
"I'm sorry, Liz, but I check the church, and no one turned in a ring." Alex told her, while Kyle pretty much repeated the same about the hall where the reception was held.
"What a minute, what type of ring did you lose Liz?" I asked.
"It's a platinum ring that Max, my boyfriend gave me before his sister and he left for Europe." She replied, "I usually only wear it on a chain behind all of my shirts. I remembered putting it around my neck yesterday before the wedding, but I couldn't find it after the reception. I've been searching everywhere for it. Why, do you think you've seen it?"
"I might have," I hedged. "What does it look like?"
"It has three stones, two diamonds on the side and the main stone is actually a fusion of my birthstone and Max's birthstone."
"Anything else?"
"An inscription inside of the band," she paused before starting again, "it says, 'We Make Our Own Destiny.' It was our motto." She told me softly, somewhat embarrassed.
I smiled as I reached down into my pocket and presented her with the ring and chain, "I found it at the reception last night, the chain was broken, and after breakfast I was going to turn it into the police station."
Liz hugged me while Maria squealed a bit; Kyle and Alex just patted me on the back. Liz recovered to tell me that my meal was on the house while she went back to fix the chain and put the ring on again, while Maria had to see to the other customers. When they left, I leaned over the table to talk to Alex and Kyle, "So what happened before the ceremony yesterday?"
The two seemed puzzled until I reminded them that Maria seemed angry and frustrated with them then. Then Kyle started to grin. "Uh, well, let’s just say, Alex and I did some recon for the unedited version of the wedding video for Max and Michael when they get back"
I wasn't getting it until something in my mind clicked, "You went to see Liz and Maria while they were still dressing."
"Nah, actually, Alex did."
My eyes widened at that remark, and I turned to my roommate and seeing his pink face only confirmed Kyle's statement, "Alex, never knew you had it in you." I said not knowing that Maria was walking behind me until I felt a smack on my head.
"Don't encourage them. You two do realize that you're going to be in some very deep trouble with Tess and Isabel, right?"
"That's okay, I figured that Isabel is going to hurt me for the garter thing anyway, so I'll just hope for a painless death, and maybe Max will revive me."
Maria only smirked at his statement, "Yeah, then he'll kill you again for first hurting his sister, only to bring you back so he can pound you for what you did to Liz, and lets not forget that my Space Boy would probably love to repay you for that punch you gave him junior year."
"And what other crazy things have my roommate done?" I asked Maria with a mischievous grin on my face.
"Well," she started with malicious ease, "should I focus on when he was a child or just high school?"
"How about the most embarrassing first and then we’ll see what happens next."
Both Kyle and Maria looked at each other and grinned while Alex just moaned, "No, not that you guys."
"Sorry buddy, but there were plenty of witnesses, someone is bound to tell him later, why not your friends?
"Tell him what?" Liz asked finally emerging from the back room.
"About what Alex did on October 25, 2000," Maria told her with a smile, and Liz started to nod in agreement.
"Watch it, Deluca, I know things too."
"Bring it on, girlfriend."
The two just stared each other down while Kyle and Liz started to laugh, finally, Kyle broke the showdown by revealing the secret himself; “Alex did a strip tease for Isabel's 18th birthday, in front of her mother too."
I couldn't help it I started to crack up when I heard that, Alex, goofy Alex doing a strip tease and getting caught by his girlfriend's mother, what a nightmare! "You're serious?"
"I think I have a tape somewhere…" Maria started.
Alex just glared at all of them, "That's it you're all going down. Sophomore year Kyle and Max got drunk and broke into Liz's room while she was out with that Doug Shellow guy, and the entire population of Roswell heard about it because of a radio contest."
"You did not just say that, Alex!" Liz screeched out horrified. She just stared at him a bit before returning some fire of her own, "Wanna hear about the time Alex and I got thrown in jail?"
"Huh? What radio contest?" I was very confused, while Kyle looked a bit red. While Alex explained that sometime sophomore year after Liz broke up with Kyle and she and Max were iffy, Maria entered Liz and herself into a blind date radio contest and Liz won. "Her date sprinted her away to the Crashdown, only for the radio people to follow them here, so Liz took him up to her room hoping that the radio people wouldn't follow, but no such luck, and who did they find up there? Kyle and Max, both extremely drunk."
"I wasn't that bad." Kyle stated.
"Do the words 'Hey, I'm just happy to be nominated...and I think I'm gonna puke,' mean anything to you, or should I tell him about the time you broke your ankle?" Alex countered and just continued. "Justin, you want to hear about the time when we went to Vegas, and Maria went in for an audition to be a stripper?"
"Hey, I didn't know that at the time!" She responded, "Besides, who's the genius who lost $3000 in one bet?" "
"Liz and Tess tried to get on the floor, but the goons didn't believe that their fake ID's and Liz spent a couple hundred quarters on the pinball machines."
"What a minute, you guys went to Vegas, and used fake ID's to get in to the casinos?" I didn't think Alex and Liz had it in them, on the other hand, Maria and Kyle, I could definitely see them pulling a stunt like that.
The four of them nodded, momentarily forgetting the small war brewing between them and started the whole "Do you remember?" game.
"Do you remember the dinner we had before Michael got Maria the chance to sing?"
"I'll never forget your face when your dad caught us, Kyle."
"Hey, I was up $1600!"
"Forget Kyle’s face, what about the face Alex made when he saw Valenti?"
"Do you remember those cheesy names we had on our ID's?
"I was Tom Collins."
"Harvey Wallbanger."
"Margarita Salt."
"Shirley Temple." I stifled a laugh at that one; I'm sorry, but Liz does seem a bit of a lightweight.
"Remember their names? Tess was Pĩna Colada."
"Isabel was Brandy Alexander."
"Max was Rob Roy."
"And Space Boy decided to be Dr. Love." This time I couldn't stop the laughter even if I wanted to.
"Sorry, but Dr. Love?" I said to Maria's glare.
"Hey, wasn't that trip when you and Isabel started to reconnect?" Liz asked Alex trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, I think it was also when Tess and Kyle really started to notice that they had feelings for each other, wasn't it?" Alex mused, while Kyle nodded in agreement. "Didn't you and Max also work out your issues after that trip too?"
"Yeah," she told us a small nostalgic smile started to grace her lips.
Maria broke the moment with a very wide grin, "You do know that this means when they get back, don't you?"
The other three just looked at her before replying at once, "Road trip!"
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:19 am, edited 2 times in total.
I, Justin, got into MIT and met my roommate Alex. Alex was a pretty nice guy, good roommate, smart, musically inclined, but just hung out with his two best friends, a lot. Said best friends were girls, Liz Parker and Maria Deluca, all three hailed from Roswell, New Mexico, and attended different schools of higher education in the Boston/Cambridge area. Alex didn't date, or went out much unless it was for a gig, or he was with Liz and Maria, which actually happened quite frequently. Turned down a date from the most sought after girl in our year, and I saw a glimpse of an IM conversation, which gave me the impression that my roommate was gay.
Luckily, I kept my mouth shut, and allowed Rick to make a fool out of himself when he "encouraged" Alex to leave the closet. Officially found out that Alex had a girlfriend, although, had found her picture some weeks later before learning her name. Then noticed that Isabel never contacted my roommate for the entire time he was with me. Saw Sarah, discovered Sarah’s roommate was Liz, Liz's boyfriend was guilty of the same behavior, and Sarah was afraid that her roommate was making up said boyfriend. I began to believe that Alex might have been making up Isabel as well.
Then I came to Roswell, and learned some new things about Alex. Isabel exists and Liz is dating her brother Max. Unless, three people, and two adults are lying or are very delusional, the close-knit group of four friends really consists of eight, but four of them are not in the picture currently. However, Alex, Liz, Kyle, and Maria believe firmly that their significant others will come back, and they're planning a trip to Vegas to celebrate when they do return.
So, you're probably thinking, what's the problem? The problem is that is it's now our second semester at MIT, and Isabel has yet to make an appearance, or at the very least, contact. You can roll your eyes all you like, but something doesn't seem quite right about this situation. How is it possible that you don't let someone you love know that you're all right? Okay, so, it's not any of my business, and I think that Alex has held up very well under the circumstances, but I'm beginning to wonder if he's starting to crack. What do I mean, "starting to crack"? About a month again, Alex started to mutter in his sleep, like he was carrying a conversation. Take a guess whom he talked to in these dreams? Come on, I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. The other weird thing is that after he wakes up from these naps when he's muttering in his sleep, he always is wearing this goofy, lopsided grin on his face. When I ask him about it, he just tells me that his dreams are just old memories. Old memories, who does he think he's fooling?
You know, I don't think it would be so bad if it wasn't for the rumors running around our hall. Most of the guys remember that Alex turned down Sally's offer for a date, and thanks to Rick and Tom, know that his best friends are very attractive girls. So yes, that ugly rumor about Alex being gay has begun to circulate around, again. Granted most of them talking about it have been better about keeping it from Alex. At least this time, I know that all of that talk is bull, and let those idiots know it, since I highly doubt that the Sheriff, his wife, and their children are lying about Isabel. Rick keeps insisting that Alex is doing the Willow thing from Buffy. That he had a girlfriend from high school, who left him and now he has begun to realize that maybe he isn't straight. There are days I wonder how Rick managed to survive his childhood let alone how he got into MIT.
But these are just the small things, the thing that really bother me happened last week. Tom, Rick, and a couple of other guys along with Alex and I were preparing for our midterms when Tom started to talk one of the old clubs in the Cambridge area that was being renovated. Apparently someone bought/rented the space out and was planning to open it again as dance/performance club.
"Really? When did you hear this?" Someone asked.
"Saw a friend of mine who is currently working at the site as part of her co-op at the design school." Tom responded, "Rumor is that Cal Langley is the backer for the club among the workers."
I frowned, when I heard that statement remembering what I heard at the wedding reception some months back. Did that mean that Michael would be in Boston? Glancing at Alex, I saw a mix of emotions running through his eyes, first shock, then confusion, and then, fear?
"Why do they think that?" Alex asked as he turned his attention back to his problem when he noticed that I was watching him.
"Umm, just that Rachel, that's her name, she thought she saw Langley and a couple other Hollywood types enter the club, and talked to the contractor."
"Hollywood types?" Rick echoed.
"You know, beautiful people, four of them I think she said, two girls and two guys." Alex dropped his calculator at this proclamation, however, no one really seemed to care and our interest in the new club dwindled as one of us reminded the group that we only had until tomorrow to finish our problem set.
Some three hours past on that Sunday when Rick's roommate, Sam, brought up the club again, Alex was drinking some water at the time; I was sitting across from him and had just asked him to see his results to compare answers. Sam asked Tom if he knew what the name of this new club was.
"No, they hadn't decided yet, but she heard one of them say something about 'Four Square' or something."
Alex choked and proceeded to spit his water out on to his homework set. "Sorry, went down the wrong tube," he croaked out as he began to clean up the mess. I eyed him strangely as the others just accepted his explanation and went on their business.
When we got back to our place, I asked him point blank what was going on.
"Huh, oh, nothing, I was just distracted that’s all."
"Alex, I’m your roommate, remember? I lived with you for about eight months last year and for about another five months this year, so I know when you’re distracted, and that wasn’t it. You’re fidgeting and not looking at me, what’s up with the club?"
"It’s nothing Justin, just, it’s just complicated."
"This wouldn’t have anything to do with Isabel would it?"
"Isabel, why do you think that I was thinking about Isabel?"
I gave him an "Are you kidding me?" look, "You’re always thinking about Isabel. You’ve even begun to say her name when you sleep."
He appeared to be a bit surprised by this, "I do?"
I soften a smidgen, "Yeah, you do."
"I just miss her; you know?"
"I guess; no, no, not really, considering I don’t have a girlfriend, and never had a long distance relationship before."
Alex gave me a wary smile at my comment, "Do I detect bitterness?"
"Nah, just tired, like you probably," I paused to think out my words before I spoke, "Alex, you know you can talk to me about Isabel, right?"
"Yeah, I know, it’s just…complicated." He told me before he went over to his side to grab his pajamas. "I’m going to take a shower first, all right?"
"Sure," I told him slightly disappointed, that he didn’t confide in me. Complicated? How complicated could it be? What? Is his girlfriend some alien princess from outer space and she had to leave Earth to return to her home planet and that’s why Alex hasn’t heard from her? Sure, that only happens in fairy tales and science fiction/fantasy movies. I think I better lay off the Star Trek for a while.
Okay, so now it's March, a full two months have past since I asked Alex about the club and I still can't shake the feeling that he's hiding something from me. I know you think I'm paranoid, but there's something there. It's not fear exactly, more like uneasiness. Yeah, I understand I'm not making much sense, but I put all the blame on my roommate for not telling me. On the other hand, we both have been really busy with school, and Alex also has his band. Even Liz and Maria don't come around as much any more because of the increase in our workload. With our mid-terms coming, we're all a bit on the stressed side, however, spring break is coming, so that should help us relax somewhat. The other bit of good news is that since it's March Madness, Kyle and his basketball team are coming up to Boston so they can play against Boston U, so the five of us can hang out while he's here. Come to think of it, we can check out the new club when it opens, since it'll be open the Friday Kyle arrives.
Still don't know much about it, it's being called The Whirlwind, not really sure why, but that’s its name. The rumors about the owners continue, around the different campuses, yet no one seems to be able to find much about them either, although some still think Langley is involved with a bunch of entrepreneurs from California. It’s a little strange because the only publicity that this place seems to generate is based on rumors and speculation except for the opening band on their first night.
The Whits are playing.
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
LIZ: Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?
MARIA: Cherry cola with arsenic?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like challenges? Try some of mine!
As the opening to The Whirlwind approached the more jumpy and anxious Alex became. Actually, all three of them, Alex, Maria and Liz became more nervous, which was strange. At first I thought it was because of midterms, but when our exams came and passed, I realized that their anxiety stemmed from something else. It took me a bit, but I figured that it was the opening of the club that bothered them. I could understand Alex and Maria being worried because this was The Whits first club opening, and The Whirlwind was generating a lot of buzz. However, Liz wasn't a part of the band in any way except being their number one supporter. She had been to every gig; unless she had lab or an exam, yet she seemed the most jumpy out of them all.
A week before the performance, Alex, Liz, and Maria were over at our place talking to Kyle on the phone (we have a speaker phone). I didn't mean to, but man, Maria was loud when she was excited, and so I might have heard one or two things that I really wasn't supposed to.
"What do you mean there been sightings of dry lightning!?" She asked.
"Well, according to my dad, about a month ago, there was a bright flash of light in the sky; you know; like the one that happened in high school, sophomore year."
"You mean over Frasier Woods," Liz clarified.
"Yeah, but Dad checked it out and didn't find a thing out there."
"Nothing?" Maria inquired.
"He even asked River Dog and Eddie for help or if they heard anything, and nothing. Why?"
"It's about the club."
"Oh, by the way, Dad wanted to send his congratulations about getting the gig. That's pretty big, if the crowd likes you, you'll-"
"Hey, Kyle can we get back to our little Czechoslovakian problem," Czechoslovakian? Czechoslovakia wasn’t even a country anymore. "Why didn’t you tell us that there was a sighting of dry lightning when we talked to you two weeks ago."
"I didn’t think it was a problem; what’s up with you, Sis?"
"Okay, first of all, don’t call me Sis. Second of all, we don’t think this club is on the up and up."
"Why not?"
"Hello, the name, it’s called The Whirlwind-"
"I don’t see the connection."
"Kyle, think. What region are our favorite people from?"
"They’re from the—oh, I get what you mean."
"Plus, the rumors that Cal Langley is a backer for the club."
"I thought you said no one could prove he was in town."
"No one can," Liz responded, "and that’s part of the problem. What if it isn’t Cal, but somebody like him? If it really is Cal, why hasn’t he come to either one of us? He knows we’ve been waiting for news, why hasn’t he come to tell us something? Then according to Alex, the person at the site saw four other people with Cal and one of them said something about ‘Four Square.’ Then The Whits get the gig to open for the club; Kyle, they didn’t even have to audition. Somebody called up Alex, and told him that the owners specifically told him to get The Whits to open. However, when Alex asked him who wanted to book them, the guy wouldn’t tell him." There was a pregnant pause among the four of them. "Kyle, are you still there?"
"So what? You think this could be some trap?"
"We don’t know, but remember what happened at Copper Summit and the whole thing with the Duprees."
"Yeah, I get your point. Damn it! It’s been three years since something like this has happened. The whole point of them leaving was to prevent stuff like this, you know."
At this moment, Alex decided to put some input, "Um, guys? I need to let you know something too."
"What is it?" Kyle asked.
"I’ve been dreaming about Isabel."
"You always dream about Isabel." Maria reminded him. See, it wasn’t just me.
"Yeah, but it’s different this time. She’s been talking to me in these dreams; it’s been going on since December." So now what, Isabel was psychic?
"What? I thought she could only do that with the others—"
"Senior year, that’s all she could do, but as Kyle said it’s been two years. She could have gotten better at it."
This seemed to get everybody’s attention and they all started to berate Alex for not sharing this news earlier.
"Hey, I just thought it was my subconscious, you know. I mean can either one of you say that you haven’t gotten dreams about Max, Michael, or Tess coming back, or relived some of your best moments?" When no one answered him, he continued. "Well, that’s what I thought until about a month ago, when we talked she kept dropping hints about seeing me play, or seeing me in Boston. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s my subconscious just acting up, or if it’s really her, or...”
"Or what, Alex?" Liz prodded.
"Or if it’s someone pretending to be her." He mumbled.
"Someone is invading your dreams?" Was Maria’s incredulous response. "Okay, Alex? I think you’ve spent just a little too much time around the computers and not enough time around people. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"
"You got a better idea?" He shot back.
Liz intervened, "Look fighting isn’t getting us anywhere. The question remains what are we going to do?"
Alex thought for a moment before answering, "Maria and I have to perform. If it was just the two of us in the group we could probably cancel, but it’s a lot of money and we have to think of the guys. What can we tell them if we told them that we didn’t want to do it? Besides if we were wrong and there’s nothing going on, then we’d look like chumps."
"Alex is right. We could easily say that I was sick or Alex couldn’t make it because of a cold, but not the both of us. And there are the other guys, what could we say without making them suspicious?"
Liz and Kyle seemed to just ponder after Maria finished. It was Kyle who spoke up first, "Okay, but you two aren’t going alone."
Liz continued, "No, Kyle is right, guys. We don’t do anything alone; we go together, as a team. Besides, it’s not like the two of you will be able to see anything while you’re on stage, right? Kyle and I can scope things out on the floor while you’re performing. Anybody will just think that we’re a couple of clubbers working the floor."
"I’m going too." I told them quietly, alerting them to my presence. You should have seen their faces. Liz turned very white; I thought she was going to faint. Alex ducked his head, while Maria pulled out her vial of cypress oil and began to inhale most of it. "Look you guys are my friends, and an extra set of eyes and ears will help, I would just like to know what is going on."
Liz seemed to regain some color and the ability to speak, "Justin, I want to tell, but it’s just—"
"Complicated." I finished for her.
"As in galactically," Maria murmured under her breath, and Liz just ribbed her kind of hard, while Alex threw her a glare.
I ignored her comment and continued. "As I see it there is something not quite right about this whole situation with Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess. The way I figure is this, 1) They’re part of the mob or something, but I remember Kyle’s dad talking to Maria’s mom and saying that it’s nothing criminal. 2) They witnessed something and had to go into Witness Protection. Or 3) They’re aliens from outer space." I raised my hands to keep them from interrupting. "Either way I don’t really care, but if you’re worried that this club could be a trap or has information about them, you guys should get all the help you want since I don’t think you will go to the cops."
"Don’t have proof something’s off." Alex muttered.
"Besides, I’m the only one of the five of us that’s 21; I can hang out at the bar and not raise eyebrows. Plus, I can act as either Maria’s or Liz’s ‘emergency date’ in case someone starts to bother them. We can also take shifts on the floor because it is possible that there is nothing going on, and we should all have some fun since it’s going to be Spring Break, right?"
"It could be dangerous." Liz pointed out.
"Yeah, and that’s stopping the four of you?" I replied; no one responded, "I’m coming with, okay?" The three of them nodded, while Kyle just said an okay over the speaker.
After Liz and Maria left, Alex and I talked a bit more; he asked me what I knew, and I confessed to the eavesdropping and told him what I heard at the reception.
"So you’ve been spying on me?" he asked with a grin.
"I think spying is a bit harsh," I protested. "Look, you’ve been pretty tight-lipped about stuff and I have never once asked for a straight answer. Do I want to know what’s going on? Hell, yes, but do I think I’m going to get an answer, no. So when I hear something about Isabel, or about stuff from your past, of course I’m going to be curious, who wouldn’t be. But I’m not the only one, Sarah, Liz’s roommate is worried that she’s delusional because Max hasn’t talked to Liz. I’m sure Kyle’s roommate/friends have the same fears about him, heck I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of them think he’s gay. Some of the guys in our building still debate about your sexual orientation, you know."
Alex started to laugh at that. Then he became serious again, "So why haven’t you demanded an answer yet?"
I shrugged, "I figured you’d tell me when you’re ready, but you haven’t yet, so I guess, you’re not ready."
"You know Liz was telling the truth; we, Maria, Liz, and I want to tell you what is going on, but…"
"But what?"
"It’s not our secret to tell." He finished, before changing the subject. "I really miss her."
"You never know. They may actually show up."
Alex smiled at my optimism, "And what would be the chances of that happening?"
--------------------------------------------------------------
So the five of us went to the club, we were able to get there early because the band had to set up. So Kyle, Liz, and I decided to check out the over all layout of the club. It had your basic club set up, one dance floor and stage on the main floor, a stair case that led up to some balconies which would allow people to dance and watch the band/DJ perform. The bar was on the opposite side of the stage, again typical.
I went over to one of the bartenders and asked if the owners were going to be at the club, but she didn’t seem to know. We flirted a bit, but I didn’t want to over do it. I was there to get information, not her phone number. I did find out some things though, apparently, the owners consisted of two sets of brothers and sisters, and were fairly young to be owners of a club. Also, the bartender thought the four of them were very attractive, although she thought one of them might be married, since he wore a band around his ring finger. When I asked about their names, she told me she wasn’t sure.
At this time, the club started to fill in with patrons and the manager welcomed us to the new club and announced Alex’s band to the stage. After a couple of minutes of cheers and loud applause, The Whits took the stage and started a set. Kyle and Liz took the dance floor first, while I went up on the stairs to the second floor for a better view. The place was pretty full, not surprising since a lot of people were curious about it. The four of them warned me that Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess might have changed their appearance since they left, but they told me basic descriptions so I could help narrow down the search.
However, even after Maria and the others finished their first set, I didn’t see anyone fitting any of their descriptions. The five of us grabbed a place near the stage to exchange notes. Maria and Alex admitted that nothing seemed weird or out of place back stage, while Kyle and Liz told them that none of the staffers or patrons that they noticed were their friends. I told them what the bartender told me, but even that didn’t seem to elevate their hopes or fears.
The Whits went back on stage while Kyle went off to get some thing to drink and I had to go to the john. When I got back, some bozo was bothering Liz for a dance. I check for Kyle and saw that some brunette at the bar was harassing him. Opps, probably should have asked Sarah, or Maria’s roommate to pose as Kyle’s date tonight. Well, I figured that Kyle could take care of himself, and went over to Liz to bail her out, "Hey, Liz, sorry for taking so long, you haven’t been waiting long have you?"
Liz turned to me; her eyes screaming her relief at my presence, "No, come on let’s dance." She told me as we practically ran on to the dance floor. "Thanks, I don’t know how much longer I could hold out on him."
"No problem. Besides, that’s what I’m here for remember? Emergency date? Good for chasing off pompous jerks, perverted nerds, spoiled brats, and arrogant jocks. Although I do require payment if I end up getting beaten up by said jocks."
She laughed at me as we danced. We were on the floor for a couple of songs when Maria started to sing Anywhere by Evanescence.
I have dreamt of a place for you and I
No one knows who we are there
All I want is to give my life only to you
I've dreamt so long I cannot dream anymore
Let's run away, I'll take you there
We got about halfway into the song when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a guy with short dark hair, amber eyes, and a soft smile behind me, and didn’t even register Liz’s gasp.
"May I cut in?"
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:50 am, edited 6 times in total.
Okay, let me tell you; it's guys like him that make guys like me self-conscious. He was taller, definitely spent more time in the gym than me, was wearing better clothes than me, although it wasn’t really not that hard to out dress me since I was just wearing a T-shirt and khakis. Heck, even his hair was perfect. The guy looked like he was a frickin' model; he was oozing that boy next-door charisma, and Liz was just soaking it up. I took consolation in only one thing; his ears were a bit big.
I turned back to Liz to see what she wanted to do, but when I saw her I knew that she was gone. I think if I fell on the floor from a heart attack or something neither her nor this new guy would have noticed. "Liz?" Normally, I would be worried by her lack of focus, but in this case, I had a pretty good idea who was cutting in. "Um, Liz? Are you there?" Then I noticed someone else at the club. "Hey, Liz, Karen and her minions are here."
Now you're probably asking who the hell is Karen? Karen Robina is one big b**witch if you take my meaning. I once heard Maria and Liz say that she gives Pam Troy a run for her money. Karen is very smart and attends Harvard with Liz, but is a complete snob. I haven't figured out if she got into Harvard-Radcliff based on her brains or her money. She’s also very pretty and she knows it, if you want a frame of reference think of Cordelia in Buffy pre-Xander. Got that? Now multiply it by 100, that's how bad she is. According to Sarah, Karen continually snubs Liz about her lack of dates in front of her little wannabes and anyone else willing to listen. Personally, I don't think Karen's remarks hurt Liz since she's so devoted to Max and her friends, but you know there are times when you just can't turn your back on revenge.
Anyway, my comment seemed to bring Liz out of her trance long enough for her to look at me. "Really?"
"Yeah, and she's looking straight at you or rather him."
A slow grin began to grace her lips, "Justin, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure." She leaned in a bit closer to whisper what she wanted me to do. I had to bit my cheek to keep from smirking. When she finished out lining her idea I turned back to the new guy.
"Justin, meet Max Evans. Max, this is Alex's roommate Justin Cavini. Emergency Date, good for chasing unwanted suitors away."
The guy grinned at me, "Thanks for taking care of Liz, but I can take it from here."
I stepped aside to let him take over, "Not a problem, just take good care of her." I told him, then turned back to Liz, "Liz, let me know if you leave the club so I can tell Sarah not to worry if you don't come back to the dorm." I said glibly as I winked at her. Her jaw dropped at my brazenness and Max only chuckled at us. She probably would have made some reply, but Max took her hand and quickly the two of them just went back to staring into each other eyes while swaying to the song.
As I made it to the bar where Karen and her friends were, she snagged me as soon as I got there. "Is that Liz Parker out on the dance floor?"
"Yeah." I said as nonchalantly as possible.
"Who's dancing with her?"
I shrugged, "Just some guy who wanted to dance with her."
"Just some guy? No way, must be a cousin or something because there is no way that a hunk like that would be dancing with a mouse like Liz."
I raised an eyebrow at her whinny voice. "Well, what are you going to do about? Go up there and interrupt their dance?"
"I think I will, besides doesn't Liz have a 'boyfriend,' or something?" Wow, this was easier than I thought it would be.
"Yeah, she does." A new voice came from behind me. Turning I saw that Sarah had come as well. "But none of us have seen him, have we, Karen?"
Karen scoffed at us, "No way he's her boyfriend." She told us scornfully.
"Care to make a wager?" I asked thoughtfully. Besides being a snob, Karen loves to take a gamble.
"How much?"
"Fifty bucks says that not only will that guy turn you down flat, but he's 1) her fiancé not her boyfriend, and 2) he'll end up kissing Liz to get rid of you."
"Done, like taking candy from a baby." She told me confidently as she sashayed her way down to Liz and Max. Sarah turned to me and by the expression on her face, I could tell she thought I was nuts.
"What if you're wrong?"
I was going to answer, when the bartender answered for me, "He's not. If anything, by the end of the night those two will be glued to the hip, and it'll take a nuclear disaster to separate them." I glanced at him, he, like Max, was taller than me and more muscular, however, while Max had the All American Boy image, his green eyes and attitude screamed rebel. Thinking back on the descriptions the others told me I took a stab and figured this one was Michael. Yet, before I could ask, Sarah tugged at my shirt to get my attention. So I looked back onto the dance floor and watched as Karen attempted to cut in Liz's dance with Max. Well, this is how I'd like to think what happened:
"Hi! I'm Karen, Liz's friend from school. You must be a relative of hers visiting. Liz why don't you introduce us?"
"Oh hello, Karen this is Max-"
"Max, wanna dance, I'm sure that Liz won't mind."
"Um, actually, Karen-"
"Oh come on Liz, it's not nice to not share with friends."
"Um, Karen? It's Karen, right?" Max interjects.
"Yes?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I really want to finish the song with Liz."
"Well, what about the next song?"
"Umm, no."
"Why not?" She pouts. "It's not like the two of you are dating, I mean you just met tonight. I should know, because Liz never dates."
"Well, if I have my way she'll never date again."
Karen pales, "Excuse me?"
Liz comes into the conversation again, "As I was saying before you interrupted, meet my fiancé, Max Evans."
Getting whiter, "No way."
"I think she needs proof." Liz tells Max as he grins at her and cups his hands on her cheeks and kisses her.
What kind of kiss was it you ask me? Well, the people up on the balconies saw it and started hooting, which in turn got the couples around them to turn and see them. They also started making catcalls and clapping, which got the attention of the band and Maria stopped in mid-song and began to grin, while Alex was just in shock with his jaw on the floor. That's what type of kiss it was. Me, I just had a dopey smile on my face, because I was fifty dollars richer, and I didn't have to do a thing for it. Sarah turned to me, demanding answers while the bartender/Michael started to laugh, slapped me on the shoulder, and brought me a beer on the house.
Karen stomped right back to the bar, fuming. "You cheated! You knew, and you let me go out there. I made a fool of myself."
"Yes, you did. But I warned you that he wouldn't dance with you, so pay up. Besides you never asked how I knew he was going to turn you down." I told her smirking as I held out my hand for the money.
She looked at my hand belligerently, I could tell that she didn't want to pay, but then Sarah and the bartender reminded her that they both heard the wager and so she reached into her purse and handed over the money.
"Great doing business with ya!" I told her as she stalked away.
Getting back to Max and Liz, after they broke apart, the whole club just started to cheer and whistle making Liz blush and Max grinned at her discomfort. Maria and the band members took a moment before she spoke to the crowd. "Okay, this will be our last song before I go on break again. I'd like to dedicate this for my best friend Liz and for all you romantics out there." Then Maria and the band started the first couple of bars of I Shall Believe by Sheryl Crow. I watched as Liz and Max started to dance and looking at them you could tell that this song held some significance to the two of them.
While I was watching I noticed that the bartender never took his eyes off Maria. "You know Maria?" I asked casually.
"Huh, oh, yeah. How do you know her?"
"Alex Whitman is my roommate, Maria's his best friend." He nodded at my information. "She's cute." I added seeing if I could get a reaction out of him.
Before he could even open his mouth, Tom and some of the other guys from our hall came by. "Too bad she's a frigid witch." Tom said as he sat by the bar.
"Never mind him; he's just bitter because she turned him down flat." As I explained what had happened to him with Maria. When I finished he just laughed while Tom bristled at him.
"You just don't know how to deal with someone like her." He told Tom.
"And you do?" Tom retorted disdainfully.
"As a matter a fact, I do." The bartender told him with a smirk as he walked out of the bar and towards the stage as the song ended. "Watch and learn."
"10 bucks says he crashes and burns." Rick stated.
"20 says Maria strings him along." Sam risked.
"25 says that Alex tries to scare him off." Tom put in.
I watched them and debated whether I should join in or not. Morally, I really shouldn't since I had information that they didn't, but at that moment, I remembered all the grief they gave me about Alex. How they said I was an idiot for believing his story about a girlfriend; how they made cracks about Maria and Liz behind their backs and decided that payback was always good. So I thought for a moment before saying anything, because I had to consider what Maria's temperament was like. "Thirty says she's gets mad at him, but lets him get away with whatever he's planning." I said calmly.
They laughed at me as we all stood back and watched. Maria had finished and started to walk off the stage when the bartender reached her. When she saw him approach, she pursed her lips together; her eyebrows raised, and placed her hands on her hips as if to say that she wasn't happy to see him. Then before anyone could react, he pulled her close to him and gave her a passionate kiss. I smiled as all of the guys' jaws just dropped. Then Maria pulled out of the kiss and slapped the guy really hard, all of us winced at the harshness of her reaction, but that wasn't all. While the guy put his hand on his red cheek, Maria gave him a smile and pulled him into an even more heated kiss. I think most of the guys' eyes were popping out of their sockets at that one. I just stood in front of them with my hand out. "I'll take cash or check."
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
LIZ: Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?
MARIA: Cherry cola with arsenic?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like challenges? Try some of mine!
Oh and I got to give thanks to Applebylicious for writing a small bit about Buddha's The Four Noble Truths. I got an idea off of it.
Part 10
Justin's POV
So the boys grudgingly handed over their cash while I just smirked at them. God that felt good. I remembered thinking that I must thank Liz for the lovely idea, and that I should give the others some of my winnings since it was with their info I was able to make these wagers. Although, I was sure that Maria would chew me out first before taking my money. I turned to look back at Maria and Liz. Both of them seemed to be oblivious to what else was going around them; all of their attention was on the men in front of them. Liz and Max were still doing "look into my eyes" thing, and Maria and Michael were for lack of better words "sucking face," man could they go at it. Deciding that nothing interesting was going to happen there I focused my attention on Kyle and my roommate. As predicted, Kyle was able to shake his stalker off, but I wasn’t sure it was a permanent thing or if she would be back though. Alex on the other hand was still on stage with some of the other band members. Apparently they were going to continue to play for the crowd while Maria took a break to rest her voice. I motioned for Kyle to come over to the bar so I could introduce him to our hall mates and to see if he saw Tess or Isabel in the crowd.
"Hey, man, saw you had some trouble with a brunette." I told him. He shrugged at my comment; I guess he was use to pretty girls throwing themselves at him. I pointed towards Liz and Max. "Are they always like that?"
Kyle grinned as he watched them, "Yeah, sickening isn't it?"
"Hell, yeah," I responded.
"Makes you envious though, doesn't it?" He smirked after a pause.
"Oh, yeah," I admitted.
"Now you know how most of West Roswell High felt during senior year."
I laughed at his remark, "What about you? Were you envious?"
"Not senior year." He looked straight at me, "I had Tess." Then he changed the subject, "So do you know what was up with that red-head who tried to horn in on Max and Liz?"
I chuckled and nodded. I proceeded to give him an explanation to Karen and the scheme Liz asked me to pull on her. Then I continued my story and told him what had just occurred with the other guys over Maria and Michael. When I finished, Kyle only smiled, "Honestly, I expected something like that from Tess or Maria, not Liz. You know what Buddha said, 'know when to hold 'em…'"
"'…know when to fold 'em...'"
"'…know when to walk away...'"
And we finished together, "'…and know when to run.'" The other guys looked at us like we were nuts.
"You practice Buddhism, and you play ball?" Sam asked Kyle.
"Yes, I do," he proclaimed proudly over the music.
"And the girls like that?" Sam continued.
Kyle pointed to the brunette who harassed him earlier, "She did." He turned back to me, "So what about you? Are you going to hold, fold, walk, or run?"
"The night's still young, and I'm still feeling lucky." I confided.
"Good man," he started, and then noticed something between Michael and Maria, "hey, it looks like the two of them are finally coming up for some air. I'm going to see if Michael knows where the girls are." He told me as he walked towards the couple.
I started to scan the floor again when Tom and Rick started to talk about a couple of blondes they had spotted on the stairs. I looked to see whom they were talking about. Both were blondes, but that's where the similarities ended. One was taller, and her hair was straighter and shorter. She also kept staring at the stage while biting her lip, a look of longing in her eyes. If I hadn't seen that picture of her last year, I wouldn't have guessed that she was staring at Alex, but there she was watching Alex play. The other was shorter and her hair was in curls, while Isabel had an air of detachment to her, the other just had this vibe, which I recognized. She was a flirt. My head was screaming Tess at this point; I also noticed that she kept turning her head, as if searching for someone, probably Kyle.
I wasn't the only one to notice her behavior, or the way Isabel kept her eyes on the stage in front of her. Rick and Tom made a couple of comments and were going to go introduce themselves, and hopefully obtain some numbers. "I don't think they'll be interested." I warned them.
Tom raised his eyebrows at me, "What makes you say that?"
"Well, for one thing, the taller one seems to have her eyes glued to the stage, so I think she's interested in someone performing. The shorter one just seems to be looking for someone particular."
"Yeah? Who do you think she's looking for?" Rick challenged.
Oh, I know it was wrong, but he was asking for it; I shrugged, "A basketball playing Buddhist from Roswell? I don't know."
Rick seemed surprised by my answer, "Kyle? I'll give you that one, because he has been attracting a lot of ladies tonight, but what about the other one?"
"Oh, that's easy. She's enamored with Alex." I said confidently, which only made the two of them howl in laughter.
"Cavini, your roommate's gay. When are you going to believe it?" Tom responded.
I took a moment to think; yes, this was very, very, wrong, but if I was right, it would pay off big time, and I promised myself I'd share with the others. "No, he's not, and I'm willing to bet big money on it."
This got their attention, "How much?" They asked.
"50 bucks from all of you that the shorter blonde will string you along a bit before shutting you down. A hundred that I'm right about the taller one and that either I won't be able to sleep in my room tonight, or Alex doesn't come back to his room."
You should have seen the other two; they honestly believed they were making easy money from me. "You're on Cavini," Rick told me, he turned to Sam, "You want in, Sam?"
Sam looked at the three of us, deciding. "You know considering how well he got the last one; I'm not taking a chance with this one."
Tom only laughed, "Like taking candy from a baby." Hmmm, when did I hear that one last?
Before I could say anything else, the pair was upon us. The short one smiled at us and opened her mouth to say something, but Rick stopped her before anything came out. "Hey, you must be new here."
"Yes, we were; actually we were hoping you could help us out."
"Sure. What do you need?" I asked them.
"We were looking-"
"-for a good time?" Tom interjected.
"I guess." The shorter one responded. Isabel still kept her aloofness; I suddenly remembered Maria making a comment about her being Queen Amidala from Star Wars. Watching her, I couldn't help but feel that those words were partially true.
"Well, you found it." Tom continued.
A wider smile formed on the short blonde's lips. "Let me guess, you want to get to know me?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Well, you know it'll start off small, a couple of dates, we have a good time,"
"That sounds good."
"Yeah, it does, but it won't last." She told him her smile fading a bit.
"Why not?"
"Well, you desire me?” She inched a bit forward, “Don't you?"
"Well, yeah."
"See, that's the problem. You desire me, then you'll form an attachment to me, and that's bad." She told him.
"It is?" He asked confused.
"Because suffering stems from attachment to desires, and I don't want to cause you to suffer." She explained, before grinning, "It's one of the Noble Truths of Buddha." You should have seen his face. "Besides, I was looking for someone."
"Who?" I inquired, since Tom seemed to lost control of his vocal cords.
"Umm," she hummed as she looked around until she spotted Michael talking to Kyle. Then a really wide and soft smile graced her lips. "Him," she pointed to Kyle.
"Wait a minute, don't you desire him?" Tom asked trying to get her to contradict what she had told him.
"No," she told him impishly. "I already have him." Then she winked at us and left. Sam and I were trying really hard not to laugh at that point. She walked towards him, while Kyle's back was turned. Michael noticed her approaching and said something to Kyle because he turned around really quickly.
"Tess?"
"The one and only, Buddha Boy," she responded with a grin as she stopped, placed a hand on her hip, and raised her head at him. "What? No hug?"
Kyle shook his head at her, before giving her a big bear hug and then kissed her. Whoo Hoo! One down, one to go.
Rick was trying to talk to Isabel, but she only was giving him one-word answers. Finally, he asked her if she wanted to dance or go somewhere more private to talk. This seemed to really get her attention because she finally faced him to give him an answer. "I'm sorry," she told him with a grin, "but you can't handle me." Ouch, I could see what Kyle meant when he said Isabel could be an Ice Princess.
Not willing to back down from a challenge, Rick continued, "So, who could handle you?"
A slow, crafty, almost wicked grin tugged at her lips before she turned her head to the stage and pointed to Alex, "He can."
"Whitman's gay." Was Rick's automatic response.
Isabel only raised an eyebrow at him. "Says who?"
"Every one in our hall, except for his roommate. The guy never dates, had two best friends who are girls, of course he's gay."
Her smile only got wider, "Well, maybe he was waiting for the right girl to come along."
"You?"
She nodded in agreement, "Me. Got go, boys." She told us as she made her way towards the stage, and her other friends. I watched as Maria and Liz squealed and jumped up and down when they saw Tess and Isabel. Sam and I couldn't hold back any longer and started to howl at Rick's and Tom's red faces. Oh, I know it was bad of me, yet it felt so good to stick it to them. However, I wasn't out of the woods yet. I still had the second part of the wager. So, I waited, and then Alex finally looked up from his instrument to see Isabel standing near the stage watching him. You should have seen the way he melted. Yup, the boy had it bad. He told the band he was done for the night, practically leaped off the stage, and into her arms, with his bass still in his hand. She looked at him, almost shy, scared of him rejecting her, but he only smiled at her and gave her a soft kiss. If my sister were with me, she'd heave a sigh and go all la-la on me.
I know you think I probably should have gone over to them to meet the others officially, but I decided that Alex, Liz, Maria, and Kyle deserved some alone time with their significant others. I mean it was almost two years since they had heard anything from them. I think they earned the right for privacy. So I went with Sam to talk to some other people we knew and drank some more beer. It must have been around 1 in the morning when I decided to look for the others only to realize that they had already left. So I headed back to my place alone.
Now before I continue, I should let you know about a little code we have in the hall. When one of us puts a sock on the doorknob it means we're studying inside and we're asking for everyone else to be quiet. When there's a black tie, it means parental units are there and to watch your language and music. Now, if there's a red string, rope, ribbon, twine, heck it could be yarn, on the knob, it means that there's a girl in the room, and that the roommate needs to go crash next door, until the next morning. Once it was 12 in the afternoon, you could go back into the dorm. Those were our codes and we pretty much honored them.
Guess what I saw when I reached my hall. Was I surprised? No, are you kidding? Two years, two years, of course Alex wants privacy, whether he's just talking to her or if they're doing something else; he wouldn't want me there at all. So I sat by Rick's door waiting for him to get back. I knew it wouldn't be long since he was dropping off a couple of other guys at their buildings; he's the only one of us with a car. When he saw me sitting there, his mouth just hung open, while Tom seeing his stupor asked him what was wrong. Rick pointed to me and the red twine tied in a bow around our doorknob.
"No way!" Tom whispered shocked.
"Yes way now let me in 'cuz I want to fall asleep." I told them, and then Sam as he rounded up the stairs. He took one look at the door and once again tried to stifle his laugh.
I woke up around 12 and noticed that Rick and Sam were both not in the dorm; I went out to the hall to see where they were. They were standing out by their door watching our door to see if Alex would come out, and they weren't the only ones. Somehow word of my little wager got around to almost every single person in the hall and to a couple outside of our dorm. Most of them were curious to see the outcome; however, a couple of bozos wanted in the action, stating that Alex didn't have a girl in there, but a guy. That he was going to come out of the closet, sure he was, morons. I looked at all of them as if they were crazy, didn't they have anything better to do? It was Spring Break! I asked Sam how long Rick was out there and he confessed he wasn't sure, since he only got up a couple of minutes before I did. I rolled my eyes, could they be any more immature? I looked at my ensemble, and remembered that I wanted to brush my teeth and to take a shower, but my stuff was in my dorm. It was close to 12 so I went up and knocked.
Alex answered the door, "Hey, Justin, what do you need?"
"Clean change of clothes and tooth brush, is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Hold on, I want you to meet someone." He turned away from the door, I'm assuming to tell Isabel who was at the door. "Isabel, this is my roommate Justin Cavini. Justin, meet my girlfriend, Isabel Evans." Alex told me as he held the door wider for me to see her. Even with her make-up off, I could see why my roommate fell for her. He could pick them.
She gave me a wide smile; her eyes gleaming with amusement, and held out her hand. "Nice meeting you. Sorry, for putting you out last night." Did I mention she was wearing his shirt?
I grinned as I shook her hand, "Not a problem, worked out for me, actually." I told her. BU YA!! I turned to the other guys smirking before I walked into my dorm, "Um, make all checks payable to Justin Cavini, that's C-A-V-I-N-I or Alex Whitman, that's W-H-I-T-M-A-N." I told them as Alex and Isabel laughed at me.
Last edited by Jadeling on Tue Jul 20, 2004 3:36 am, edited 3 times in total.
