TITLE: Poor Liz
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL:
lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: M/L
DISCLAIMER: Nothing Roswell is mine.
SUMMARY: Dreamer fluff! This short fic is written from the POV of Liz’s new college roommate, Michelle. They have been sharing a dorm room during the first year at college. Liz is at university alone since Max left for his planet after their senior year. Yes, I know this has been done to death, but I’ve had this reunion scene in my head for ages and wanted to put it on paper. Max and Liz play a little deception on her overeager friends. So sue me!
DISTRIBUTION: Only here please!
POOR LIZ
"Leave her alone, she's missing her boyfriend," I tell my friends as we enter the dorm room I share with Liz Parker. I could see her lying on her bed, clutching that book that she’s always writing in. I hear my friends giggle, but Liz remains on her bed with her eyes closed.
I don’t know what to do anymore. I really like Liz and we get along great, but she refuses to lead a normal college girl life. She won’t date any of the steady stream of guys who are interested in her and she spends her time studying, going to the movies or talking on the phone with her friends back home, Alex and Maria.
She has a boyfriend, she tells me. One that loves her very much and without whom she has trouble living. I feel terrible for her. I suspect she has dreamed up this guy, because he seems too perfect. Not that she talks about him much. I don’t even know what his name is. Just that he used to give her white roses and that she knows he misses her like crazy.
What?! He misses her? Yeah right! This very invisible boyfriend never calls or writes and she won’t even show me what he looks like. She claims he is out of the country. Well, where could he be that he couldn’t find a phone to call her for a whole year? I think he either doesn’t exist or he is a jerk. And Liz deserves better.
I actually thought she was crazy at first. Then I got to know her and realized she is one of the most level-headed girls there is. She wrote home to her parents and she got amazing grades. Everything was normal apart from the whole boyfriend thing.
I tried several times. "You actually are a really pretty girl, Liz, why don't you wear more make-up and go out with us on Friday? You will meet someone…"
But she always declines. And I know she still waits for this supposed wonderful guy to remember she exists…
My other theory is that he is, well, you know, butt ugly! Maybe that’s why she won’t show me his picture. Or he could be a mousy bookish type. As intelligent and smart as Liz, just… plain. The whole thing intrigues me to no end and my friends and I have endless debates about ‘poor Liz’ and her phantom boyfriend. Liz is not one of the really stunning girls on campus. There were enough cheerleading types hanging around that she could blend into the background. But there were guys that liked her. Why couldn’t she get out there and date them like a normal girl?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chem class was finally over and a bunch of us are walking back to the dorm, talking like only 19-year old girls could. Liz is quiet though. She seemed jumpy the whole morning and I wonder what was going on with her now. She has these days when she just seems to retreat into her own little world. I would normally find her in tears then. Once I even found her crying in front of the mirror, her hand on her bare stomach. I had a wild thought that she was pregnant, but realized that was impossible.
"Wow! Who is the hunk?" It is Jenny, practically drooling.
Jenny was a consummate flirt, so at first I don’t really pay attention to her. But when all the girls at the front stop to stare at whomever it was Jenny has seen, I turn to look too.
He is sitting on the hood of an old Jeep, wearing faded old jeans and a white T-shirt, his boots resting on the bumper. Gorgeous was the only word that came to mind. Even from this distance I can see the muscles of his arms move.
His eyes are on our little group, checking and discarding each one of us methodically like he is looking for someone. He even skips the blonde and busty Jenny. He has mesmerizing amber eyes. My interest is definitely piqued.
Liz, who has been tagging along at the back of the group, suddenly pushes Jenny out of her line of vision, her mouth opening in a small ‘oh’ as she sees Mr. Adonis. Well, well, well, little Lizzie Parker is not blind after all!
The guy straightens when he sees Liz, causing a very pissed off gasp from Jenny.
“Do you know him?” Jenny asks Liz as she and the hunk keep staring at each other. It feels like the air around them is zinging and I wonder what on earth is happening here.
“I’m going to,” Liz says firmly, shoving her books into my hands and shocking all of us speechless.
Mr. Hottie slides off the hood of the Jeep as Liz walks closer and eats her with his eyes. There is no other way to describe what I am seeing. He watches every little move she makes hungrily, and it very much seems like he is mentally removing Liz’s demure knee-length skirt with the slits in the sides and her fitted button-down blouse. I bet Jenny is having a coronary, but there was no way I am looking away from this scene now to find out!
We follow Liz as she goes towards him, never taking her eyes off him. It seems like this stranger will manage in a few seconds what we have been trying to do for months, make Liz forget about her missing boyfriend. I have to admit that I understand her sudden willingness to give up the other loser. This guy is bloody gorgeous and seems totally taken with her.
They stop in front of each other, close enough to touch. The staring thing continues.
“My name is Liz,” she tells him with a sweet smile.
“I’m Max,” he smiles back crookedly. Can this guy get anymore sexy?
“What brings you to our campus?” Way to go Liz! Although, who are you and what have you done with our quiet and serious Liz Parker!
His gaze travels down her body one more time and I can see how she gets flushed and starts trembling.
“I came to find a special girl.” He has a voice like warm honey, I think dreamily.
“Yeah? Anyone in particular?” Liz is being flirty! My shock increases tenfold.
“I think I’ve found her.” He steps forward and brushes a strand of Liz’s hair behind her ear. It is the most tender thing I have ever witnessed. Figures, tiny Liz will bring that out in a guy. “Will you come with me?”
Now I start to worry. We know nothing about this guy. He could be an axe-murderer, a blood-sucking alien, anything!
“Liz!” I hiss at her. “What are you doing! You don’t know this—”
“Yes,” she informs him breathlessly. “Yes, I will go with you.” She didn’t even hear me. This man in front of her has taken over her whole reality.
He puts his hands on her face and she flings herself into his arms. We all gasp at her audacity. And gasp again as they practically devour each other in front of our eyes.
He lifts her up in his arms and plunders her mouth as if he has done it a thousand times before. In spite of my alarm, I see how perfectly she fits against him. It is the most scorching kiss I have ever seen. Liz moans and presses herself so tightly against this… this stranger, that it’s hard to tell where he ends and she begins.
“Liz!” I cry again, what has gotten into my normally rational roommate?
I hear him groan her name against her throat and we all watch in stunned fascination as he trails kisses down her throat while his hands find her behind and curve her closer to him.
When they break apart both of them are panting and they stare at each other again. “Let’s go,” he finally tells her and I see Liz nod eagerly.
“No Liz!” I tell her firmly, trying to grab hold of her arm, but he has swung her up in his arms and deposited her in the Jeep before I could get to her. They drive off, leaving all of us standing in front of our dorm with open mouths.
“What the hell was that?” Jenny fairly shrieks. “She just throws herself at some stranger? And how could she leave with that creep? He jumps the first girl that shows interest in him? What kind of guy is that?”
I stare at the quickly shrinking taillights of the Jeep and can’t help but think something has happened here that we all are completely clueless about.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Liz, dragging Max behind her by the hand, arrives in our room the next morning. She is positively glowing and if I weren’t so angry I would’ve enjoyed her finally coming to life. She looks… completely
loved, is all I can come up with. But I spent a frantic night worrying that her mother will call and I won’t know what to tell her. “Where
were you?” I lay into her, but it was clear where she’s been. And who she’s been with.
They blink at me in incomprehension.
“With Max,” she tells me as if that should explain everything.
“I can
see that! How could you just go off like that? Are you insane? Do you know what can happen to single girls nowadays?”
Max pulls Liz against him and enfolds her in his embrace. “Don’t worry,” he tells me seriously. “I will take good care of her. And thank you for worrying about her and looking out for her.”
I am struck speechless. He is in love with her! He is in love with her after spending one day in her presence. It screams from the way he watches every little move she makes as she flings things into a bag and the soft way he touches her and talks to her.
They are out the door before I gather my wits. I run to the window and see them get in the Jeep. Max leans over and kisses Liz. His hands cup her face as he brushes his lips over hers tenderly.
Turning back to the room, I see the shambles she has left her side in. Clothes are strewn all over haphazardly, but I notice another interesting thing. She has taken that book she always writes in…
~*~*~*~*~*~
Maria calls late Saturday night. She always calls at the time normal girls would be out on dates, because she knows Liz would be home.
“She left with a guy,” I tell Maria curtly.
This is met with a long silence. Then: “You’re kidding me!” She sounds even more shocked than I would’ve expected. “How? What?”
I decide to give her the condensed version. “We get home from class yesterday, she sees this hottie waiting outside for who knows whom, she throws herself at him and they drive off into the sunset. I’m telling you, the real Liz was abducted by aliens!”
Maria laughs hysterically suddenly and I start wondering if everyone from Roswell was insane. “What is so funny?”
“So, she fell for a hottie at first sight, huh?”
“Apparently,” I answer, wondering why Maria has bounced back from the shock of her life-long friend’s strange actions so quickly.
“Was he by any chance tall, dark and handsome, with stunning amber eyes and answered to the name ‘Max’?”
I gape at the phone, a horrible suspicion taking hold of me. “Yes…”
The earsplitting shriek coming down the phone-line almost deafens me for life. I hear her yell to someone on her end. “Alex! They’re back!”
“Maria,” I scream, hoping to get her to talk some sense to me. “Who’s back? What are you going on about?”
“Max! Max is back,” she finally tells me breathlessly.
Max is back? “You mean Max is…”
“What? She never told you about the love of her life? Max Evans? Her boyfriend of three years? Veritable hunk?” Maria sounded incredulous now.
“No.” My mind still had trouble coping with the incredible news. Liz really had a boyfriend. And he was neither ugly nor boring!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next time I saw them was three days later. I came home from class to find them in our room, making out heavily. They were kissing each other like only two people with a
lot of practice could. Nothing awkward or tentative about it. Their mouths knew each other, their hands knew each other and I would rather not know what else of theirs knew each other. They looked like two halves of a whole. And I could swear I saw a bluish glow where Max’s hand was brushing Liz’s arm? Goodness, I must be losing it!
I give Liz a death glare when they finally notice my presence and stop kissing. Lord, the guy was gorgeous as it is, but you should see him when he’s all flushed with passion!
Anyway…
“You could have
told me,” I yell at Liz. “I thought you were going off with some murderer or something! I was so worried.”
“Sorry,” she tells me, looking anything but.
Max puts Liz on her feet, and again I notice how he keeps handling her like she is something rare and precious. My envy of her climbs another few notches. He holds out his hand: “I’m Max Evans. Liz’s husb— Liz’s boyfriend.”
“I know that
now,” I retort sulkily. But I shake his hand anyway. Whoa, the man had an electrifying touch.
“She’s coming to live with me,” he informs me. “I’ve been without her too long and…” He turns to look at her with such emotion that I have trouble not choking up. “And I can’t be without her ever again.”
That’s it, I’m going to Roswell for my next holiday. There must be some more of him around! “Uhm, okay?” I say uncertainly. “But what if your parents call?” I ask Liz.
She glances at Max quickly. “They won’t. They’re going to know he’s back on Monday.”
And I’m left wondering what was so special about Monday.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, nothing could’ve prepared me for what she meant. For on Monday, there was a huge announcement on national TV. Aliens were living among us. The King of another planet being one of them and after a huge war on his home planet, he has returned to earth to be with his human love and wife of just over a year.
Max Evans, holding the hand of my former roommate, was standing next to the President of my country, with some sort of entourage behind him. ‘Poor Liz’ was the Queen of a planet called Antar. I wish you could’ve heard Jenny’s scream!
THE END
