Roswell Fanatics

CandyliciousLovah: Yeah, Liz has every right to be pissed at Dean!

Boyfriend arrival…

Michelle in LA: Here, we go… Mr. Eye-Candy I arrived…

Yep, that’s true… Dean’s totally clueless what will hit him soon, lol. He could have cancelled the whole trip, but as you said, that would have probably been the end to the relationship as well. He’s a workaholic and he can’t lean back while others do the work – some people just can’t other than to put their job career first.

Well, it’s safe to say Michael won’t be happy at all!

Max by the pool… hm, definitely Max in shorts.

keepsmiling7: Go Liz! You don’t need Dean for the fun, lol.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Liz has every right to be majorly pissed at her fiancé, but we got a feeling he won’t be missed during the trip anyway, lol.

Drama? Oh hell yes!

sarammlover: That’s right… the Liz is going to change a thing or two for Liz Parker!

lizzy_koh: It is Dean’s company indeed and he would have the power to chancel it, but would that get him back on Liz’ good side? Probably not, lol.

Explosive fireworks, lol.

begonia9508: It’s true, he won’t be missed in the end, so stay at home Dean!

nitpick23: Well truck or car, the important part for the fic is that it gets them from Seattle to LA.

It’s indeed not Dean’s fault that this came up so short for the trip, but someone else could have handled it as well. With his business you never know, that’s for sure and he’s not the type who could lean back why someone else does the work. Call it bad luck for him… or maybe Dreamer luck? There are more ways to look at it, lol.

Dean could have cancelled the trip, but that wouldn’t have gotten him back on Liz good side for sure.

Alien_Friend: He’s definitely not the right man for Liz Parker!

mary mary: Lol, not disappointed that Dean can’t make it, huh? Yeah, we got the feeling he won’t be missed at all.




Chapter 10

Maybe I should have just gone to bed, Liz thought as she walked along the still busy Pier 39, wrapping her arms around her tightly. It was summer, but summer nights in San Francisco could still be cold and foggy – one of a few more reasons to miss her hometown of Roswell. It had hardly ever been foggy or anything there. Roswell only had two seasons, hot-as-hell summer and not-hot-as-hell-summer; there wasn’t much in between. Although the chilly nights San Francisco had one bonus that her hometown didn’t – the ocean!

The sounds of the waves splashing against the sides of the pier drew her down the pathway. “A coffee please,” she said as she stopped at a little kiosk. Normally she only drank it for breakfast, but at least it would be something warm in her hands and belly since she wasn’t planning to go home in defeat anytime soon.

“Cream? Sugar?” the woman around her age asked her politely and smiled.

“Cream, thanks.”

“Here ya go.”

Liz nodded and gave her some bills. “Keep the change.” Her cold fingers wrapped around the warm to-go mug as she continued on her way along the pier. She stopped for a second to watch and admire the lights of a rather large ship as it slowly maneuvered its way through the bay. Engrossed by the pretty lights she failed to notice someone standing behind her until they spoke

“Liz Parker?”

Turning in surprise, Liz's eyes took a second to adjust from the ship’s bright lights to the darkness around her. She only had a few friends in town and they most likely weren’t hanging out around Fisherman’s Wharf at night.

“Kyle! Oh, my gosh,” she went to hug him with a grin. “We haven’t seen each other forever.” And it really had been almost three or four months by now.

“Well, what can I say? I’m a busy man. Places to be, important people to see, and all that stuff,” he grinned and returned the hug. He wasn’t so much a fan of his past life in Roswell – especially not his high school days – but meeting with Liz was a whole other story. He always enjoyed hanging out with her again and she really was the only one from home other than his father who he still was in contact with.

“How have you been?! I swear every time we meet again I think you look better,” Liz teased and poked a finger against his stomach. A stomach that would have wobbled and jiggled a few years ago, but now it nearly broke her finger! It was tight and hard as bedrock. His hair was short and close to his head, his clothes casual but sexy at the same time.

“I can totally return the favor,” he shifted his stance and rearranged the paper bag he was carrying. “You here all alone?”

“Just said goodbye to a friend after dinner,” she lied, not really interested in talking about the truth right now and somehow it seemed ridiculous to walk around here alone because of a fight with her fiancé.

“An’ your plans now?”

“Going home, probably,” she shrugged.

“Nahhhh! The night’s way too young for that! What about a little party on my yacht?”

She almost choked on her coffee. “Your… excuse me, but did you just say your... YACHT?”

"Well it's no Saudi Prince sized pleasure ship." He laughed. “Some would probably say it’s more like a speedboat on steroids, but it’s got a bathroom and a small kitchen and a sleeping berth.”

“Wow, well that’s ......nice,” a stunned Liz had trouble finding the right words.

“I travel around a lot and this way I can take my own bed with me if I stay on the coast.”

“How practical,” she teased. “So you’ve got a wild party on your yacht, huh?" She put special emphasis on the yacht part of her sentence. "I remember when parties at your house used to mean a couple rounds of Dungeons and Dragons in the basement or a Star Trek marathon on TV."

"Ohhhh, god," Kyle slapped his hand over his eyes and shook his head, "please don't remind me of my pitifully geeky past!"

"Hey, I happened to enjoy your geeky past," Liz pulled Kyle's hand down from his eyes. "I even recall coming over once and watching a few episodes of that Star Trek show you loved so much. Deep Space... Twelve!"

"Nine actually... Deep Space Nine..." Kyle smiled fondly. "It was my birthday and you were the only person I invited that actually showed up and..." shaking his head, Kyle looked at Liz. “Look, it’s just some friends of mine from work and town blowing off steam. Maybe about 10 people, so if ya wanna join us for a while. It’s definitely lacking beautiful women.” Kyle wiggled his eyes. “Ya still with your lawyer? What was his name? Bean?”

“Dean,” she laughed, knowing that Kyle and Dean didn’t get along so well. “I’m still with him.”

He frowned. “There’s a little hint of sarcasm in your voice, Parker.”

“Forget about it,” she waved him off. “We had a fight and right now I don’t wanna talk about him… or think about him or anything about him.”

“Guess that’s one more good reason to go to my party.”

“Why not? I've never been on a yacht,” Liz agreed. “I’ll come with you for a while.”

****

The music on the yacht was loud, but not loud enough to drown the thoughts and worries in her head while she sat on a small bench next to the railing, staring out over the marina, where some of the other boats were lit up. What was she going to do about the trip? Should she really go without Dean? What if he had already cancelled the flight since he was actually the one working in the company that was paying for it? No, he wouldn’t do that – no matter how much they had fought.

Liz was pulled out of her thoughts when the cell in her hand buzzed. She expected to see Dean’s caller ID again. He had tried to reach her a few times now, but she had ignored it.

“A text message,” she muttered to herself and opened it up. Of course it was from her fiancé again.

Honey, I know you’re mad at me, but I don’t want you to be out alone at this time of night. Come home, go to bed and then go on the trip with your friends if that’s what you want.

She sighed, not knowing how to interpret this. Was he mad? Disappointed? Really worried? Sometimes it was hard to say with Dean, because of his job as a lawyer he tended to be… neutral a lot of times.

“Well, this’s one way to take part in a party,” Kyle said as he joined her outside while the other guests had gone inside a while ago.

“Sorry,” she forced a smile and put her cell away.

He placed a mug filled with something hot in her hand. “Glogg,” he said and sat down next to her. “So tell me what’s going on, Parker?” He waited for an answer, but when she stayed silent he lifted one eyebrow. “That bad, huh?”

“Well, no… I don’t really know.”

“Is it about Bean?”

“Dean,” she corrected him although she knew he remembered the correct name. “As I said, we had a fight.”

“About what?” He sipped on his own drink and then leaned forward, opening a small plastic box on the deck to pull a blanket out. He spread it out and placed it over both of their legs since the night was cold.

“Thanks,” Liz looked at him, “but shouldn’t you be inside with your girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend?” he looked at her, confused.

She nodded. “The one with the red dress. You two seemed to be very… intimate.” Which was a nice way of saying dry humping on the dance floor!

“Oh, that,” Kyle laughed. “That’s nothing.”

“Shut up,” she snorted. “So now you’ve transformed into a womanizer, Valenti? I’m very disappointed.”

“Ya know it’s a nice way to distract from my original question, but you get a pass for now,” he shook his head. “So what? I have a little fun now and then, does that make me a bad person? It’s not like I promise them anything.”

“No, I guess it’s okay, just… I remember different times and it’s weird to see you like this. Ya know… hot, successful an’ stuff.”

Kyle laughed. “Guess no one would have expected this considering my high school career, huh?”

Liz joined him with her own laugher. “I’d give anything to see Tess’ face if she could see you now.”

“Tess?” He frowned. “Tess Harding?”

“Who else?” She rolled her eyes "Was there another Tess you had a crush on in high school?”

“You knew about... I mean... things change.” Kyle said dryly. “I doubt she’ll even remember my name,” his tone turned amused, remembering those times all too well.

“I bet she’d bite her own ass now if she saw you like this.”

“You still in contact with her?”

“I haven’t been for a long while, but we’re gonna have a little reunion tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Wow. Just you an’ her?“

“No, Isabel and Maria as well.”

“Is DeLuca still with Guerin?”

“No, they broke up long time ago.” She wrapped her hands around the mug, enjoying the warmth coming from it.

“So, where’re you guys meeting? Here in San Francisco?”

“No, I’ll go to LA in a few hours and then we’ll fly over to the Maldives.”

He lifted his eyebrows surprised. “Maldives, huh? Not bad. The lawyer paying for it?”

“His company,” she said with a nod. “And it’s the reason we fought as well.”

“What’s there to fight about?” Kyle wondered aloud.

“He wanted to blow it off at the last minute,” Liz answered, her tone turning angry. “First off it was his idea to go there and now he’s too busy to go, but I already invited everyone and it’s kind of a miracle everyone had time. Plus Tess and Michael are already on their way to LA by now, so I can’t just cancel.”

“So you’re going alone?”

“Do you think it would be bad of me if I went alone?”

“Hell, no! He can’t honestly expect you to cancel everything a few hours before the trip. I say you should go and have fun. He’ll be busy with work anyway, won’t he?”

“Pretty much,” she agreed.

Kyle nodded and leaned back. “Four Roswell girls at the Maldives… they’re gonna go crazy. And you said Guerin’s gonna go as well?”

“As well as Maria’s new boyfriend. And Michael doesn’t know about it.” She laughed when she saw his knowing face. “Yeah… trouble.”

“Trouble?” He snorted. “That’s an understatement. Guerin’s gonna be pissed. I don’t wanna be in the other guy’s shoes. You should bring a referee as well.”

“Wanna come with us?” She was only joking at first, but then she started to really consider it. “I mean it, Kyle. With Dean not going we'll have enough rooms and all, so if you’re interested in going…”

He glanced at her doubtfully. “I’ve got a few days off, but somehow I doubt I’d be the right person for this.”

“Why?” Her excitement grew. “We’ve all changed, Kyle. Nothing’s like in high school anymore and you an’ Michael got along.”

“Just because we had to for some bio classes,” he rolled his eyes.

She waved him off. “That’s all a long time ago. Come on!” She held out her mug to him and put on a pouty face. “Say yes!”

He studied her face for a long while and considered the possibility before he lifted his mug and tapped it against hers. “I say why not. A few days on a lonely beach can’t hurt, right?”

Liz grinned and hugged him tightly. “Awesome.”

“But promise me I won’t get pulled into a classic DeLuca-Guerin battle and your fiancé won’t send a killer after me either.”

“Promise,” she let go of him and stood. “And speaking of him, I should probably go home before he calls the police.”

“When should I be ready?”

“Would 4am in the morning be too early?” she asked with a grin.

“Holy shit! 4am? That’s cruel, Parker!” Kyle groaned as he walked her toward and than down the gangplank.

"Hey, you wanted to go," Liz laughed as she hugged Kyle goodbye. "Pick you up from here?” She pointed at the boat.

He nodded "Yeah... see you at the butt crack of dawn I guess."

Liz laughed and turned to walk away. Kyle watched her for a bit to make sure she reached her car safely. Turning toward the gangplank he looked at the rather raucous party going on his boat. “Guess I should think of a way to get rid of them and get ohhh... three hours sleep or so”

Taking a deep breath Kyle bounded up the gangplank yelling, "OK, PEOPLE PARTY’S OVER!!!”

begonia9508: There will definitely be more fun, yes!

Nick’s looks really improve with his age. lol

True, Dean’s message was nothing more than getting some control back.

CandyliciousLovah: And the man of your dreams just stays for this part, what do ya say about that?

Lol, you shouldn’t have gone to bed at all then.

keepsmiling7: Kyle’s definitely up for some fun during the fic! Maybe he can also be the buffer between M&M, lol.

Natalie36: Thanks, we wanted fun, hehe.

Michelle in LA: You can count on that! No way Kyle wouldn’t use the chance to show off in front of Tess – see what ya missed, Harding! Lol

You could be right about Liz and Dean! Their relationship is far away from being a happy one!

Hm, who shares sleeping places with who has yet to be seen.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks. Here he is lol! Oh yes, Tess’ eyes will probably fall off, lol.

Alien_Friend: Tess won’t know what hit her, lol.

Nope, Dean would be not amused.

mary mary: Thanks! This might backfire on Dean, yep!

sarammlover: Thanks. He appeared and he stays!

xilaj: Tess will be shocked, that’s for sure, lol.

Oh Alex… damn! Kidding! We will bring him in the mix in time.

LuckyMiss: Hey new reader!

Fun and drama, there will be a lot of both, yes!

Reunions can get uncomfortable when things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, but as you said… mostly life takes a different path and neither of them is really in a state he or she wanted to be back in high school. Well, all but Kyle probably, lol.

It will be a wild reunion – and in more than one way, but you gotta be patient and read, lol. We still have some surprised for you readers.




Chapter 11

August, 26th

Liz sighed with relief when the alarm clock on her nightstand finally started to ring, announcing that it was time to get up and go on the trip with her old friends from high school. It was only shortly after three in the morning, but she hadn’t been able to sleep anyway. Her thoughts had been running over the trip, her decision to go while her fiancé stayed here and how that all affected the future. She had been going back and forth from going to cancelling the trip and back countless times within the last hours until her mind had finally settled on going. What was the point in staying? Dean would be busy and gone all week and she knew the situation between them was more than icy right now. Maybe a few days away with her friends would be good for both of them.

Maybe he will finally realize what he HAS with me, she thought and looked at her tired self in the mirror.

Or maybe you’ll realize what you have is not enough, a voice in the back of her head taunted.

Her gaze dropped to the fine silver ring with the small diamond, wrapped around her ring finger and she remembered the day Dean had asked her to marry him. She had been so happy and full of joy – but now when she looked at it, it seemed like a promise that never could be carried out in the end. Was she willing to marry a man who would always put his job first? She had her own interest in her career, but on the other hand she had always wanted kids too. How would that fit together if Dean wouldn’t make any compromises? Would she be bound at home to do the raising and caring for their children all alone while he worked?

A deep sigh escaped her lips, but she didn’t even notice it. Right now, there was nothing left from that joy she had felt on their engagement day and it all felt more like a hole that got deeper and deeper. Her thumb and forefinger of her other hand came up to touch the ring – turning it over and pulling on it. Her movements stilled when she had managed to pull it up halfway off her finger. Should she wear it considering the doubts she had?

Maybe it’s just because of our recent fights and the fact that I’m meeting old high school friend. The trip would do her good, she nodded to herself and pushed the ring back into place. Giving up without talking to Dean didn’t seem fair and maybe she just needed to clear her head and get away to have a look at things.

Liz bent over the sink to splash some water to her face before she combed her hair and put on the clothes she had already chosen to wear for the trip earlier.

She walked back into the bedroom and glanced around to see if there was anything else she needed to throw in her luggage before closing it up. Her gaze settled on the alarm clock and she nodded to herself before she walked over to zip the suitcase, ignoring the fact that there was another one packed right next to hers.

As quietly as possible she made her way downstairs with the heavy thing in both of her hands. Dean had been banned to the couch for the second time this week and he had accepted it with a silent nod after she had informed him about it after she had gotten home.

“Damn it,” she muttered and dropped the case on the floor in the hallway, pulling her hurting hand towards her body after she had managed to squish two of her fingers between it and the wall. On her tiptoes she walked into the living room to check on her fiancé before she left. No matter how bad their fight had been, it didn’t feel right to leave without at least saying goodbye.

“So you’re really going?” Dean’s voice was quiet, but not sleepy in any way.

She stopped, startled when he spoke, not expecting him to be awake. He wasn’t like her, the type who could spend a whole night in bed musing over things. “I’m going,” she said and tried to sound determined but not angry anymore.

He closed his eyes for a moment even though darkness was surrounding them and nodded to himself, waiting until she came closer to look at him over the back of the couch. “I guess I have to accept that.” Yeah, he had thought about cancelling the flight since it was his’ company’s private jet, but what would be the point? She would’ve hated him even more for that so he had figured letting her go on the trip with her friends was the better option since he wouldn’t be around much this week anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad to spend some time separately. They had been together every day for so long now that a little distance could help make her realize what she had with him…

“You do,” she said, looking down at him. Okay, technically he didn’t have to. If he cancelled the trip arranged by his company, she couldn’t do anything about it. His face was handsome in the soft moonlight shining through the large windows in the living room and she couldn’t keep herself from reaching out to touch his cheek. Was he still the man she had fallen in love with a few years ago?

“Be safe,” he mumbled quietly and forced himself to add more. “And have fun.”

Liz nodded, glad they could at least say goodbye to each other without another war breaking out. “Thanks.” She leaned over the backrest to kiss him gently but briefly. For a moment she considered telling him the truth about taking Kyle with her, but then she decided to leave it alone. There was no need to upset him after their moment of peace.

“Let me know when ya arrive at the resort.”

“Okay.” She looked at the white glowing clock from the DVD player. “I’ve gotta go.” She bit back the ‘love you’ comment they often used when saying good bye – somehow it seemed totally meaningless at this point.

****

Kyle leaned his back against the railing and gave the huge backpack he had thrown together in record time a little nudge with his foot. It had been a while since he’d had to do any of his own packing and he wasn't used to the whole concept. As a fashion model his newest top of the line clothing was normally handpicked by numerous third parties – it was either given to him on the spot or transported to wherever he was going to be. So tonight, he had ended up just grabbing handfuls of clothes and cramming them into his old high school backpack.

He shivered slightly and moved around a bit when the wind picked up off the bay, creeping in every crack of his bones.

As soon as everyone had left the little spontaneous party he had thrown he had started to wonder how smart it had been to agree to go on this little trip. Sure, they had probably all changed over the last few years, but he hadn’t really been friends with any of them besides Parker. Would they just accept his presence? Be annoyed by it? How was it going to feel when he saw HER for the first time in years?

He shook his head and pushed the thoughts away – hating it when the insecurity he had been fast friends with in high school made an appearance again. You’re thinking too much, Valenti. This vacation’s gonna be fun!

He straightened up when a car pulled into the little backstreet where he was waiting and he squeezed his eyes when the head lights blinded him madly.

Liz stopped the car parallel to the railing and got out, smiling at him. “Short night, huh?” Her gaze wandered over him and she couldn’t help but think how hot he looked. Snug fitting blue jeans, bleached from wearing combined with a tight black long-sleeved shirt that hugged his trained body in a very appreciative way.

“Like what ya see?” he teased when he recognized her gaze. "Not that I blame you for checking out this prime grade A hunk of meat here!"

“Hell, if I wasn’t engaged, Valenti,” she said playfully and winked at him. Yes, she liked his new looks a lot, but she could never imagine actually being more than friends with him and they both knew it – both wanted nothing more than that. She eyed Kyle's backpack with a bit of shock.

"Is that all you brought!? One tiny bag!? For a week!?"

“Yeah,” Kyle shrugged and opened the the car door to throw it on the backseat before turning back to Liz. "I got a few changes of clothes, some socks and underwear, swimming trunks and my toothbrush ...what else do I need?"

Liz shook her head in confusion at the thought of the male species ability to pack everything in one little backpack.

Kyle's eyes and hands roamed over the white Mercedes GL jeep. “Nice car! Not very common around here.”

She shrugged, not really caring about cars at all. “Dean picked it out.”

“Well, other than a nice choice in women he also seems to have a nice taste in cars, I’ll give him that much,” he said and studied her. “You look tired.”

“You should know that sleep was very limited last night.” And I wasn’t able to sleep at all, she added in her thoughts.

“It was, but you look like you didn’t sleep at all,” he admitted. “Want me to drive so you can catch some Z’s while we head out to LA?”

Liz bit her lip as she thought about it, her eyes roaming over the freshly polished car. It was tempting. Now that the goodbye with her fiancé was over and had gone better than planned she felt able to sleep – although Dean would kill her if he knew who was driving his car.
To say that he and Kyle didn't get along well was a major understatement.

“I won’t break it....or drive too fast,” he rolled his eyes when he could see her internal debate about it.

“Okay,” she nodded and walked past to him to slip into the passenger’s seat. “I really could use some sleep I guess.”

Kyle grinned and went to take his seat behind the steering wheel, giving the interior a once over before he started the car. “So what’s the plan? Go to LA international Airport directly?”

She nodded and got comfortable in the seat. It was weird to see Kyle next to her instead of Dean, the way it normally was in this car, but she slammed the door on those thoughts for now. “Yeah, we’ll meet Tess, Michael an’ Isabel there and start our flight as soon as possible.”

“We got time to stop for breakfast?” he asked when he turned the car to go back the way she had come from.

“I stopped to pick up some donuts, but if ya want something else we can stop somewhere if ya want.”

“What kinda donuts!? Where are they!? You get any chocolate ones...ohhh how about the rainbow sprinkle kind?!”

Men, Liz thought with an eye roll – it was all about food, women and sports. “Different kinds. I think you’ll find something you like.”

He grinned and nodded. “Guess we’re good to go then.”

She looked at the brochure for the little resort in the center console. “Yeah, come on beach and cocktails.”

“And sexy ladies in bikinis,” he added with a smirk.

Liz snorted.

“Hey, not everyone is engaged, Parker. Some of us are still allowed to enjoy the view and go out on the prowl.”

“I’m allowed to enjoy the view,” she told him.

“Really? Does Dean know you wanna check out the view of sexy bikini-clad women? Cause that's kinda hot!” He laughed and turned onto one of the busier streets, ignoring when someone honked at them.

“Kyle,” she smacked his arm.

“What? The idiot saw us coming!”

“I smacked you for saying I wanted to check out women in bikinis." Liz rolled her eyes. "But now that you mention it... he still had the right of way.”

“Oh please! He was driving a Prius! He doesn't have the right of way to anything driving a sissy car like that!" He waved her off. “Didn’t you want to sleep?”

“Not sure if I can sleep with your criminal way of driving, Valenti.”

“My way of driving is just fine,” he disagreed and leaned forward to shove the donut box open when he had detected it. He picked one out with a thick chocolate frosting on it and bit into it with delight, surprised when he recognized the vanilla cream it. “Mmm, wow,” he mumbled around a mouthful and looked down into his lap when a bit of chocolate landed on it before it slipped through his legs to the leather seat. Quickly his eyes shot up to look at Liz and he relaxed when her eyes were closed.

Checking on the street he moved up a bit to get the piece of chocolate, sticking it in his mouth and wiping away the little spot on the seat below him.

“You’re a pig, Valenti,” Liz commented drily.

Damn it, he thought. “Sue me. You picked the donuts up.”

“I’m already regretting that,” she said and opened her eyes again, smirking at him. “Be glad it’s me in the car and not Dean.”

“Why would I be in the car with your fiancé?” He shook his head at her and pushed the whole rest of the donut into his mouth so nothing could get lost again. He glanced around to find something to wipe his hands on when he detected a light trace of the frosting on it, but he couldn’t find anything.

The hell with it, he thought and pushed his hand into his pants pocket to clean it up before it moved to the steering wheel again.

“Did you just…” Liz held her hand up and turned to face the landscape. “Ya know… I don’t wanna know.”

CandyliciousLovah: Can’t decide you you want, huh? lol

Cardinal: She did! And everyone else will too!

Alien_Friend: The ring will be gone sooner or later!

Kyle is totally funny AND sexy. Tess will have to look twice!

Michelle in LA: Oh, the plane will take off – no worries!

Dean shouldn’t be too sure of things, huh?

keepsmiling7: Lol yep, that’s Kyle! Funny, a little clumsy AND sexy.

begonia9508: He’s the perfect guy to add in the mix of our gang!

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks. Dean definitely shouldn’t be too sure about Liz missing him at all, lol.

Sure, it could lead to some misunderstandings with Kyle and Liz showing up together, hehe.

mary mary: Dean won’t have much to say during the trip. He’s miles and miles away….

xilaj: Dean definitely shouldn’t be too sure Liz is going to meet him a lot. There will be lots of distraction of certain other persons…

sarammlover: He definitely stays!

Dean should watch out!

LuckyMiss: Cool !

Liz finally reached a point, where she is questioning her relationship with Dean. And what could be better to realize the truth, than a reunion with old friends?

Lol, the Tess/Kyle situation is going to get interesting.




Chapter 12

" I'll always - always Love You. Oooh Ooohhh!"

Swearing under her breath Isabel turned the radio off when another love song filled the car, putting her in an even more depressed mood than she already was. It was only about one and a half hours since Jessie – or as she preferred to call him big-fucking-asshole – had taken Maya away from her for a whole week. Of course he had been half an hour early this morning. They had still been at breakfast when he had rung the bell several times in a row.

Maya had been excited to see her daddy again and it had taken all of Isabel’s strength to play along with it and smile in her presence. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to see how miserable she was about giving her to her dad.

A whole week! She still couldn’t believe it! How could any judge in this world give idiots like him so much time alone with a kid?

“Excited to have a week off from mommy duties?” He had asked her with a slimy grin, already knowing how awful she felt for having to let Maya go. Looking over at her breakfast knife lying on the table next to her plate she wondered for a second if she could get away with murder... or at least maybe a painful castration.

Ungh, she still felt sick to her stomach, remembering the encounter with her future-ex-husband this morning. What had she ever seen in him? He was a cruel calculating asshole and the only reason he had wanted custody of Maya was because he knew it would hurt her in every possible way.

“Asshole,” she screamed into her car and slammed her hand on the steering wheel, accidently hitting the horn. “Sorry,” she muttered when the driver in front of her was obviously annoyed by it and showed it by sticking his hand out the window to flip her off.

It was almost too late when she realized that she had to change lanes to get to LA airport. The decision to go was still connected with doubts, but she tried to push them away. What else could she do a whole week alone in her apartment? Everything there would remind her of the miserable situation she was in, so maybe a trip away from home was just what she needed.

“Yeah, and what’re you gonna do the next time he takes her?” she asked herself out loud and shook her head. This wasn’t the right time to think about it, she needed to focus on something good – something that would cheer her up for once.

It took another half hour before she finally reached the parking garage where she planned to leave her car during their trip. Getting her luggage out of, she glanced inside again to check everything before she locked it up and walked to the elevator.

The heels of her sandy-colored pumps echoed with each step she took on the hard concrete while she made her way towards the adventure Liz had planned out. A glance at her watch gave proof to her early arrival – thanks to Jessie and his far too early appearance – so she would have the time to sit down and collect herself.

The other girl had told her to go to a special section that only operated private flights and fortunately she had chosen the parking garage next to the right terminal, so she didn’t have to walk far or search long to find it. The corridors were pretty empty in this part of the airport, with only a few businessmen hustling from gate to gate. Some of them had over-the-top styled woman half their age plastered to their sides, others were only looking at their cells instead of where they were walking. “Idiot,” she mumbled under her breath and felt her lips turn up in a smirk when she watched a man almost run into a half high pillar.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” someone asked her suddenly and she stopped in surprise to look at the friendly smiling man on her right. Well, actually he looked a little too friendly for her taste.

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” she dismissed him and brushed her hair back before she moved on, ignoring him when he made a gesture to take her luggage for her.

Her gaze moved around the airport, checking to see if there was any sign of any of her friends, but she couldn’t see anyone yet. There were a few seating arrangements built on her right and left, each of them only containing around 10 seats. On the left there was only a single man, his gaze on something he held in his hands. On the right there was a family with two kids, one of them probably around Maya’s age.

Go left, she decided quickly, knowing that watching the family interact together would only remind her of her own situation right now and she really didn’t need any fuel added to the fire.

The man sitting there all alone didn’t even move an inch or look up when she took a seat a few feet away from him. He appeared to be alternating between trying to text and call someone with the small cell phone he held in his hand. After the third attempted call since she sat down he muttered something to himself that she couldn’t make sense of, but it sounded kinda pissed off. Great, Isabel thought, maybe it had been a bad idea to sit here.

Her cell started to buzz and she placed her bag into her lap to look for it, shoving a few things aside to find it. There was a text message from Liz letting her know she was on her way but still needed about half an hour before they would be finally arrive at the airport.

I’m already here, take your time and meet me at the terminal you suggested, she answered with quick moves of her fingers, before she let her cell disappear in the bag again.

For some reason her gaze travelled over to the man again. He had to be around her age, maybe a year or two older and he didn’t look like a businessman at all. His clothes were casual but in a way that still expressed a hint of wealth, his hair was short and dark – a bit messy because he kept running his hands through it in what looked like in frustration. A feeling of sympathy washed over her, though she had no clue why, but he looked as miserable as she felt.

Her gaze lowered to the papers he was holding in his hands, but it was hard to tell what was written on them. Could be tickets, she mused.

“Mr. Whitman,” she heard someone call in their direction. “Mr. Whitman, we really need to get ready now. We’ve already stretched the patience of flight control to its limits and they said if we don’t take off in the next minutes, we’ll lose our clearance for takeoff today.” A woman, dressed like a stewardess, walked in their direction, obviously speaking to the lonely man next to her.

“Can’t we wait for another half hour?” He finally looked up for the first time, revealing his face to Isabel as well as the other woman.

He was handsome, Isabel thought. Messed up and kinda lonely, but handsome. He wasn’t the type she would recognize in a crowd, but there was something about him that made him different.

“Well, in the words of the flight controller: If we don’t get our asses up in the air by 9:30, we’ll have time to think about it until tomorrow morning.” She rolled her eyes. “I guess that means no, we don’t have any time left to wait.”

Alex sighed loudly, shoving his cell into a pants pocket with one hand and looking down at the tickets in his other hand. “Guess our asses are staying in LA then.”

The other woman nodded and didn’t seem to be surprised. “I’ll tell the captain,” she said and walked off again.

Isabel turned to look at him again when he dumped the papers he was holding into a trashcan nearby, his movements showing off his frustration. "Looks like you're having a bad day too…”

He looked up when she spoke and it seemed like he hadn’t even realized she had been there until then. “You think?” he snapped and stood up to leave. He winced and stopped when he saw her pissed off face from the corner of his eye. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean,” he said without looking at her.

She shrugged. “I didn’t mean to be a smartass I was just having a shitty day myself, that’s all.”

“One of those days where you should’ve stayed in bed, huh?” he asked feeling calmer now and he finally turned to meet her eyes, hands shoved in his pockets.

Isabel smiled a little and nodded. “Definitely, yeah. I guess that’s life nowadays.”

He snorted and smirked, forgetting for a moment his reasons for being mad. “Alex Whitman,” he introduced himself and pulled one hand out to hold it towards her.

She straightened up and shook his hand. “Isabel Ram....." she caught herself mid-word "... Evans... Isabel Evans, nice to meet you, Alex.”

Now what? Alex's thoughts raced while his brain was still trying to make sense of the situation. Was this beautiful woman in front of him really talking to him?! Maybe even flirting with him?! Or was she just talking to him with no flirting involved?! To say he was a bit socially awkward when it came to talking to and flirting with women was like saying water was wet!

He glanced around the airport until his eyes settled on a little café and bar in the terminal. “May I invite you for a coffee maybe?” There was nothing to lose. If she told him no then it’d just be the cherry on top of his shitty day, but it wouldn’t bring him down more because he had already reached ground level.

Isabel checked the time again. “Sure, I’ve still got a bit of time left.” She got up from her seat and grabbed her luggage.

“Let me handle this,” he told her and reached for the heavier looking bag.

“Thanks,” she smiled, letting him willingly take it.

“This way,” he pointed in the direction of the bar and then felt stupid because it was pretty obvious.

They walked over in silence and decided to sit down at a little table where they had some privacy. The waitress joined them immediately and after they had ordered two coffees she walked off again.

“So Alex,” Isabel started when there was an awkward silence between them. “Do you wanna tell me about your shitty day or is that too personal a question?” She rested her chin in her hand and waited to see if he was willing to share. She was really curious about what had upset him so much and who he had been waiting for.

He shrugged uncomfortably and pulled his collar away from his neck as if it was too tight. “I was waiting for my girlfriend… well ex-girlfriend, I guess.” A smirk wandered over his lips, but it was one of those faked grimaced ones.

“She stood you up?” she asked in surprise and just earned a snort from him.

"No show, no answers to calls or texts."

“Where were you planning to go?”

“Seychelles,” Alex answered shortly and played with the menu card while his mind was running over the past weeks again.

“And she just didn’t show? That’s cold.” Isabel leaned back in her chair. Should she feel bad about the fact that it was nice to know she wasn’t the only screwed one on Earth?

“Well,” he scratched his jaw, “we’ve had problems lately. Fights about nothing, arguments about the slightest things an’ stuff… I kinda sent her an invitation for the trip and told her it’s the last effort to save whatever’s left between us…” He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Seems like she didn’t think there was anything to save.”

"And what about you?" Without thinking she reached out and placed one hand over his. Isabel had to bite back a laugh as Alex's eyes damn near bulged out of his head as he kept looking between her face and their joined hands.

It's nice to know I still have it.......and he's blushing too! That is so sweet!

“About me?” Alex asked with a high pitched voice but then coughed and in a much deeper voice repeated his question "Umm, I mean... about me?"

“Do you believe the trip would’ve brought you two closer again?”

He shrugged helplessly. “Probably not to be honest.” It just wasn’t easy to let go after five years, he added in his thoughts.

“Sometimes it’s better to put an end to things.”

“Speaking from your own experience?” Alex asked curiously and then wanted to smack himself. "I'm terribly sorry! That's none of my business and was terribly forward of me!

Terribly forward of me? Who talks like that anymore? And here's that blush again!

For the first time in what felt like months Isabel let out a loud laugh. “It’s okay, Alex. Seeing how I got you to pour your heart out to me it's only fair that I return the favor.”

Isabel began to tell him the whole sordid story. When she had finished she expected him to run, but to her surprise he seemed to be pretty pissed off.

“You mean he's not only using your kid as a bargaining chip in your divorce, but he's trying to force unwanted advances on you?!"

Unwanted advances......I just love the way he talks, Isabel thought as she nodded her head.

"Well, that's just... I mean no gentleman should ever... well, that’s just lower than snake shit in a wagon rut!"

For the second time in a short period Isabel laughed out loud. “Well, I don't quite know what a wagon rut is, Alex, but we'll go with it.”

"Well, a wagon rut was an indentation made in the ground by the wheel from a wagon passing over..." Alex cut himself off in mid-history lecture when he realized what a geeky loser he sounded like. "Sorry, that was just something my grandma used to say a lot. She was a bit old fashioned."

She's not the only one in the family it seems.

“Your kid’s with him right now?” he guessed.

“Yeah,” she grimaced. “For a whole week. The damn court decided it’s the best for her to spend one week with her mother and then one with her father.”

He looked somewhat surprised. That seemed like an unusual verdict when a kid was still that young. “Guess your husband has some influence?” he asked and nodded when she made a sound of agreement.

The subject was depressing her, he thought and tried to find a way to change the subject. He was glad when the waitress brought their coffees and by the time she had left again he had found another question to ask her. “So what’re you up to here in the LA airport? Waiting for someone?”

Michelle in LA: Hm… we are sure there will be found something for Alex.

Haste makes waste – we will get to the Dreamer action. And guess what? Max makes an appearance today and stays for the WHOLE chapter.

Uh… didn’t make it for the bday, so happy belated bday today!

begonia9508: Alex made it just in time, couldn’t leave him out!

mary mary: That’s definitely an option.

keepsmiling7: Maybe she can hear ya.

Thanks, we are back with more.

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, need a lot of boys, huh?

There will be more Stargazer interaction soon!

Alien_Friend: Alex is a cool guy and so right for our Isabel! Thanks.

xilaj: Alex is a huge contrast to Isabel’s ex – so just what she needs.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks. Yup, there is!

sarammlover: Thanks! Yep, he’s just gonna be perfect for her.




Chapter 13

Maria was elbow deep into her very tiny, jammed, packed and overflowing bedroom closet while she looked for the ‘perfect' outfit to wear when it came time to meet her old friends. It had to be right - nice enough to make them think she had made it in life, but not too fancy to make it look like she was showing off. Of course, the fact she had NOT made it at all was bound to come out eventually - but she didn't want it to be all written over her in the first five minutes.

"Okay, how about this one?!" Maria spun around with one of her outfits held in front of her.

"Uh, no," Max shook his head from his spot leaning against her bedroom doorframe.

"What?" Maria looked down at the outfit and than back up at Max. "Why not?"

"We're going on a SUMMER trip to the beach," Max reminded her. "That isn't a summer outfit. You wear that an' you'll be sweating like a fat jogger trying to run their first marathon."

"Yeah, okay, I guess you're right," Maria agreed with a sigh as she let the outfit fall to the floor to join many others that had been rejected and littered there. She turned around and began to dig in her closet again and after a few minutes she drug another outfit out and held it up for Max to judge.

"Nope, sorry," Max shook his head again. "That one is soooooo out of fashion it's not even fit for a visit at your granny's."

"What? I paid $100 bucks at a fancy uptown store just last year!"

"Sorry hun, but fashion is like boy bands," Max smirked. "What's hot one year is replaced with something better the next year."

"Female fashion....boy bands....." Maria quirked her left eyebrow up a notch. "How very metrosexual of you to know these things."

"What can I say, I guess I'm just a well-rounded, sure of himself heterosexual male," he smiled with a sexy wink at her.

Rolling her eyes, Maria threw the outfit she was holding at Max's head. Not being quick enough to catch it, the dress landed on his head, covering his face.

"You may be well rounded and all that, but you sure are slow," Maria laughed. Okay, maybe her sense of fashion had never been the best - she'd give him that much - but Michael had never really cared about it. Ungh, don't think about that prick!

Reaching up, Max pulled the dress off his head and looked at it sadly. "You know, I've always wanted some woman to throw her clothes at me. I had hoped it would be a pair of lacy red panties......hell I would've been happy with just a nice decent-sized bra....but no, I get one of your old out of date outfits slung at me. My life is so sad."

"Well, if it would make you feel any better, I could throw one of my bras at you'" Maria offered.

"I said a DECENT sized bra," Max teased. "Not one of those flat chested things YOU wear."

"EVANS! I'm thinking of throwing one of my heavy pairs of SHOES at you right now!"

Max was saved from a very painful death by the ringing of their telephone. "Uh, yeah, I better get that," he laughed and started to walk down the hallway to their living room. A split second later he popped his head back into the room. "Take that yellow top. The one your mom got you last summer."

Maria nodded as Max took off for the phone again and she started digging in her closet, looking for it. "There you are!" she shouted with glee when she found it and dragged it out. Just as she was about to give it the once-over to make sure it was okay she heard Max's voice from the living room.

"Hello? You've reached the Evans - DeLuca nuthouse! How may I direct your call?!......Oh! Hello mother...."

Ungh the Wicked Witch of the West is on the phone, Maria thought with a grimace as she threw her clothing on the bed and quickly made her way towards Max. His relationship with his parents was more than what people would call strained - it was practically non-existent if he had to say anything in it. Yet, his mother happened to make a call now and then - trying to get him back under the influence of the pretty folks.

She found him sitting on the couch, the phone in one hand, while the other was already massaging his forehead to get rid of a headache.

"Yeah mother … no mother… I know mother......" Max sighed, knowing this game all too well. "I fuckin' know Father's birthday is this weekend and NO, I won't make it to the party you have planned." His eyes met with Maria's briefly.

Sorry, she mouthed at him and wondered if the woman would ever learn that if she wanted a relationship with her son she needed to accept his way of living his life.

"Why not?" Max continued to ramble on the phone. "Well, as you know those stuffy put on parties you and Father love so much aren't for me. I mean, if you've met one Senator you've met them all. Besides I've already made plans to go off on vacation with Maria this weekend." He looked up when movement of his roomie caught his attention and he almost laughed out loud when he saw her writing something on the microwave in the kitchen with her lipstick. WTF? HANG UP ON THE BITCH!

"What do you mean Maria who?" he asked, puzzled when his mother's voice got his attention again. "My best friend.... my roommate for the last few years. Yes, I'm still friends with her! And why do you have to say HER like that anyway?"

"How did she say HER?!" Maria flopped down on the couch next to Max. "And what did she say about HER? Uh, I mean ME."

Max cupped the phone's mouthpiece and hissed at Maria out of the corner of his mouth. "I'll tell you later"

Uncupping his hand, he went back to talking to his mother. "Well, I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I'm not coming to that stupid party. Bye." He pressed the disconnect button on the phone furiously and threw it on the coffee table in front of him hard enough that the battery compartment flew open from the impact.

"Easy Max," she said and placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing that calls from his parents always left him frustrated and agitated.

"I know," he sighed loudly and wiped his face with both hands. "Why did I even pick the damn phone up without checking the caller ID first? I mean, it's not like anything is ever gonna change with them. They're still The Demonic Duo who can't quite grasp the fact I no longer want them in my life!"

"Hope dies last they say," Maria answered with a shrug, although she doubted there was any hope for stubborn people like his folks.

Max let his head fall against the backrest of the couch. "I guess," he mumbled. It had been so long since the last time he had really hung out with his parents for more than a few minutes, but he wasn't willing to take any blame for that. No, it was all their fault that he wasn't willing to be a part of their family anymore…

~ ~ ~

April, 4th 2007

"Max, we shouldn't be here,", Ariela giggled when he let her into his room on a sunny afternoon after high school. "If your parents find out, they -"

He closed the door behind them with a kick of his foot and silenced her with a passionate kiss. "They're both working late like usual," he mumbled in between kisses. "No one will be here anytime soon."

She smiled at him and freed herself from him to walk further into the room. "Well, in that case," she said saucily and opened the first few buttons of her shirt with a shy smirk on her face. Their secret relationship had been going on for several months and until now they had both been able to hide it from everyone in their families. "Wait," she suddenly said, "what about my Mom?"

"She's set up at our beach house for today," he told her with a smirk.

Ariela's mother had worked for his family as a housekeeper for several years now, but it had taken him a lot of time and convincing to make her daughter agree to finally go out with him.

They both knew that their parents - and especially his - would never agree with a relationship like this, but he didn't care. Ariela had Hispanic roots, making her looks mysterious and just so beautiful in his eyes.

While he had first just gone after her because of her looks, he had quickly learned that he was attracted to her more than just physically and this had seemed to be mutual. Now after several secret dates, not to mention several sessions of secret groping, Max's feelings were starting to wander into the love territory .

"C'mere then," she said and held a hand out to him.

He went to her willingly, letting her guide him to the chair in front of his desk. With a slight push he landed on it heavily and had very little time to think when she shifted to sit in his lap, facing him.

"I can't wait until high school's over an' we don't have to hide all the time," she breathed against his lips.

"Me too," he agreed, anticipating that day in the future when they both planned to move to New York to go to different colleges there and live their lives without the steady influence and control of his controlling parents. His hands wandered up her thighs and under the short skirt she was wearing, enjoying the way her soft skin felt against his rougher palms.

Ariela growled low in her throat and moved against him, ready to lose some of her clothes when the door had swung open furiously.

~ ~ ~

His father had walked in that day, practically dragging her away from him and accusing her of brainwashing his son, just to take advantage of his family and the money they had.

Ariela had fled from the house after his harsh words and then Philip Evans had talked to his son, rambling something about how he understood that a woman like her could easily set up his teenager hormones and how it was fine to be just 'getting some' from the help. But what he hadn't been prepared to hear was that his only son had actual feelings for the daughter of their housekeeper and that he wanted to be with her.

Max still didn't know how his father had found out about their relationship that day and at some point he hadn't cared to find out anymore. Ariela had started to avoid him after that and he was pretty sure that his old man had done or said something else behind his back to scare her off. A few weeks later the housekeeper had been fired and since the woman had only had a work visa for the USA, both had been sent back to their home in Mexico.

A few times after that he had tried to contact her but finally after a few months, on his graduation day in high school, she had agreed to talk to him - but only to tell him that he should never call her or contact her again. It had been the last time Max had heard Ariela's voice and it had also been the last time he had spoken to his father to tell him that he was moving to New York to start a new life without being involved with the family anymore.

"Hey, don't let this bother you now," Maria finally brought him back to the present and bumped him slightly. "We are going to the Maldives, yay." Her attempt to cheer him up was only half-hearted though because she knew it would take a few minutes for him to get back in a better mood. "Ya got everything packed?"

"Done with that," he nodded "Got all my stuff packed the night we decided we were going on the trip ."

"Of course you did,” Maria smirked – where she was a professional procastonator, Max was Mr. Johnny on the spot. He never put anything off and took care of it right then....which was probably why he was in charge of all their bills.

"Alright. Well, not me, so I better hurry. We've only got a few hours before we have to leave." She leaned over to give him a crushing hug and a loud wet kiss on the cheek.

"Ungh, M'ria," he complained and ducked his head to avoid her extra wet lips, but he had to smirk anyway. "I'll go an' get something for lunch."

"Sounds good," she agreed and they both got up at the same time, walking off in different directions.

Michelle in LA: Very true!

sarammlover: Yup, one of many dicks on this planet, lol.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Sometimes parents forget, that the things they do for “only wanting their best” isn’t really the best for their child at all.

The M&L waiting has yet to wait for a few more chapters.

begonia9508: Sadly that’s true, yup!

Hm, could be!

CandyliciousLovah: Thanks! We are working on getting them all together… starting with today’s uppy!

keepsmiling7: Cool!

There is always this weird stuff you do, when you meet old friends, right?

Alien_Friend: They work together perfectly (as friends).

xmag: Yeah, you can say that! Life isn’t that bad for him right now and it could get better (in the end).

xilaj: Thanks, we think so, too. There will be more Maria/Max moments, no worries!




Chapter 14

“Yeah, I’m planning a trip to the Maldives for a week.” Isabel wrapped her hands around the coffee mug in front of her.

“Oh... by yourself?”

"Alex Whitman?!" Alex mentaly cringed when he heared his grandmother's voice yell out in his head. "Young man, you do not ask people personal questions like that!"

Alex shook his head slightly in order to clear out one of his grandmother's many manner lessons. A trip to the Maldives? Was she waiting for a new lover right now? He was sure a woman as beautiful as her probably didn't have lots of down time between boyfriends. Maybe he should grab his bags and make a break for it before some muscle bound guy got here and knocked him on his ass.

Isabel chuckled as she watched the thoughts whirl through his eyes. It was obvious what he was thinking. “With friends, Alex. I’m going with a few friends.”

Relief washed over him and he wondered if it was because of the fact that no boyfriend would be killing him within the next few minutes or because his first impression was right and she really had been flirting with him. “Right,” he laughed out loud, “it’s just not a destination where friends go normally.”

“That’s true, but the fiancé of one of my old high school friends obviously works in a company that owns its own resort there and they can use it for family vacations. She invited me an’ a few other old friends over for a whole week and since I have this week off anyway…” she shrugged.

“Oh, so it’s like a high school get together? That’s exciting. I haven’t seen any of my friends from back then for years now.” Yeah, maybe because you never had any real friends in high school, his conscience taunted.

“It’ll be four of us, four girls that is... and a few of their significant others, I guess.”

“Sounds like you’re gonna have fun, Isabel.”

“I hope,” she smiled, but it faded quickly.

“You don’t believe it?” he asked skeptically.

Isabel shrugged. “Fun has kind of checked out of my life at the moment and taken off down the road at high speed. I mean everyone’s bringing someone, ya know? Liz has her fiancé, Maria’s bringing a new boyfriend, and Tess, well, she’s bringing her stepbrother, who would be Maria’s ex-boyfriend, so I expect drama.”

“Dear Lord,” he chuckled quietly.

She looked up when he laughed and couldn’t help but think that he looked cute when his cheeks dimpled. “What about you? Interested in going with us?” Her question was out before she even had the time to think about it. What was wrong with her? Had she learned nothing from her horrible past? You didn’t just invite strangers on a trip like that!!!

“ME?” He almost choked on his coffee.

“Sorry, that was a stupid question. Forget it.” Now that she had dropped the question, she has no clue how to get out of it again. Did she want to get out of it at all?

His face fell at her hurried dismissal. While he had been shocked by her question, the annulment that had so quickly followed felt worse.

“In spite of my foot in mouth outburst would you really wanna go?” She turned it around again when she noticed a sad note in his features.

“Well,” their eyes met and he stared at her while his brain worked fast. “That’d be a bit crazy and spontaneous, wouldn’t it? I mean going off on an international vacation with someone I just met? I don't normally do spontaneous. ”

“Yeah,” Isabel agreed. He didn’t strike her as the type who had done anything really crazy at all in his past life.

“And your friends don’t know me.”

“I don’t know their boyfriends either,” she countered.

“But at least they know their boyfriends. You don’t even know me.”

Her eyes glistened with amusement at their little game. “That’s admittedly true. It would be a chance to get to know you though.” Was this too crazy? she wondered. What if they didn’t even get along?

Alex remained silent while they stared at each other. He was torn between yes and no. On the one side this could be a totally different experience in his life, but on the other it could turn turn out not to be a good experience at all.

“Isabel?” Their staring match was interrupted when someone else stopped at their table.

“Oh, my God, Liz!” The blonde girl got out of her chair and pulled her friend into a hug. “Sorry, I didn’t see you coming.”

And that’s when I missed my chance, Alex thought as he watched the girl. It’d probably been a joke anyway. Why would a woman who looked like she had just sprung off of the cover of a magazine invite him on a trip with her friends?

Liz grinned as she returned to hug. “You look gorgeous!” Her heart was pounding quickly with her excitement. Hopefully her hands weren’t too sweaty.

“Thanks, and I can so return the favor.” Isabel glanced at her. Wow, she had definitely grown up during the last year. This wasn’t little innocent Liz Parker from high school anymore.

“It is so good to see you again. It’s been a long time.”

“Too long,” the other woman agreed and glanced at Alex briefly. “Oh, I’m totally impolite, sorry. Alex, this’s my friend Liz from high school. Liz, this’s Alex,” Isabel introduced them.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” he squeezed her hand tightly but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Alex,” Liz smiled to downplay her confusion because the man looked nothing like she would have imagined any man in the company of Isabel Evans. And it definitely wasn’t the lawyer from the picture on the homepage she had googled the other day. “I wish I could say that Isabel talked a lot about you, but…”

He laughed uncomfortably. “Well…”

“There was no way to tell you about him, because we just met about half an hour ago here at the airport,” Isabel interjected quickly.

“Oh! Okay.” Liz wondered if she looked as confused as she felt and turned her gaze towards her friend with a questioning look.

“I’m not with anyone right now, so I was planning to go alone,” Isabel explained. “But then I met Alex here and I wondered if he could come with us.”

“You wanna invite someone neither of us knows?” the brunette asked and then grimaced before she turned to him with an apologetic look. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude."

“Don’t be, I’d probably react the same way,” Alex smiled and then reached back fumbling for his wallet. "If it help’s I can pay my own way."

Brown eyes danced between him and Isabel while she thought about it intensely. Maybe it was a bit of a risk, but this trip had turned out to be spontaneous in so many ways, so why not? “The hell with it,” Liz finally said with a laugh. “Put your money away Alex, if you wanna go, you’re invited. Be warned though, we might have some drama.”

“Isabel just told me about that,” he said, amused, and settled his eyes on the blonde woman to see if she had been really serious with her invitation.

“Welcome aboard,” she winked at him, surprised that Parker had agreed so easily. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t the same person anymore. Not at all. “So, where’s your companion, Liz?” She glanced around, but there was no one standing anywhere close to them.

“He needed to go to the bathroom after he spilled chocolate from a donut on his jeans during the drive,” she rolled her eyes, amused, and wondered what the other girl would think when she found out who she had brought with her.

“Men,” Isabel laughed. “No offense, Alex.”

“I’m not like every man so none taken,” he countered and was surprised by it as much as Isabel.

“No, you’re not,” she agreed with a smirk and gestured for everyone to sit down. “You want a coffee, Liz?”

“Oh, no, thanks. I’ll wait until we’re up in the air for that.” Liz pulled a chair away from an empty able behind her to take a seat as well.

“Well, if it isn't Isabel Evans! Roswell High`s own Miss America!" a male voice announced.

“What the…” the blonde girl turned in her chair slightly to find out who the owner of the voice was. Her eyes narrowed on the admittedly good looking but a bit too short man in front of her. His face looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on where she knew him.

"You want me to give you a hint?" Kyle smirked when her face told him exactly what she was thinking. He slumped his shoulders a bit and said in a hesitant voice. "Uh... hey guys... um, did any of you catch the new Star Trek episode on TV last..."

“Oh, my God,” Isabel's eyes grew wide when it finally hit her. “KYLE FREAKING VALENTI?”

"Well, I'm not quite sure that's the middle name on my birth certificate," Kyle laughed.

"Holy crap!" Isabel jumped up and ran over to Kyle so fast she managed to flip her chair over backwards.

"So sorry," Alex muttered to the table behind them as he reached down to pick Isabel's chair up off the floor. "Apparently someone important that she's not seen in awhile."

Isabel turned in the bear hug she was giving to Kyle to look at her friend. “Liz, this is Kyle Freaking Valenti!”

The brunette girl laughed. “I know. He’s here with me.”

“He’s here with…” Isabel's eyebrows raised as her gaze shifted between her two old classmates. “Oh no, don’t tell me he’s your fiancé!!”

“Babe, I told you we should’ve told them before the trip,” Kyle played along as he broke Isabel`s hug and walked over to Liz to wrap an arm around her.

“How?” Isabel felt stupid. “I mean, I didn’t know…”

“You can relax,” Liz assured her with an amused smile and shook Kyle off. “He’s not my fiancé. Fact is Dean had to be at work, so I invited Kyle instead of coming alone.”

“You’re no fun, Parker,” he complained when she gave their cover up so early.

“Your looks have definitely improved since the last time I saw you, Valenti,” Isabel grinned.

"Well, when you pump iron, run five miles a day, and no longer eat every meal at Pizza Hut this’s what you get," Kyle made a show of flexing one of his biceps.

"Oh, lord." Liz rolled her eyes before smacking him on the shoulder. "Narcissism, Kyle, look it up!"

Feeling a bit like a third wheel, Alex stood up from the table and walked over to join the group.

Kyle stuck his hand out he gave him a big smile. "Hi, I'm Kyle Freaking Valenti it seems."

"Yeah, I kind of caught that after about the third time Isabel shouted it out for the whole airport to hear." Alex laughed as he shook the other man's hand and then smiled even more when Isabel stuck her tongue out at him from behind Kyle's back. "I'm Alex Whitman."

Dropping the handshake Kyle looked back and forth between Isabel and Alex. "So Alex, tell me: How did you manage to snag our resident Ice Queen here?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You guys are here together, right?" Emphasis was put on the word together.

"What?!" Alex felt the blush run over his face. "Uh, not together... we’re just… friends... and well, sitting here... uh, talking... and there was coffee to be drank!"

As much as she loved seeing him blush and found it oh so adorable, Isabel took pity on him. She walked over to Alex and looped her arm through his. "Relax, Alex, Kyle here is just yanking your chain."

"Oh, okay," Alex tried to relax, but to be honest having Isabel wrapped around him was only making it worse... she smelled so good!

“So Kyle, who knew you were a hottie under all the fat,” Isabel smirked as they all took seats around the small table.

"Yeah," Kyle smirked back. "And it only took me three years and an expensive gym membership during college to find it."

“Does Tess know you’re coming?” She could clearly remember the boy’s crush on their friend back in high school and the fact that the other girl had dismissed him with no mercy.

“Nope,” Kyle's eyes became narrowed and guarded a bit at the mention of THE name

Oh, my, not only Michael and Maria drama, but also a totally stunned Tess. This was going to be interesting. “You have to play the fiancé role again when she gets here, imagine her face when she realizes who you are.”

Kyle grinned. Yeah, she’d regret all of those heartless words she had thrown at him back in school, he thought, satisfied.

“Uh-huh, no,” Liz shock her head.

“Aw, come on, Liz,” they both begged at the same time.

“Just for a few minutes,” Isabel added. “Harding did stuff like this all the time to us back in school. Remember the time she stole all your underwear during gym class, forcing you to walk around commando the rest of the day! Time to pay her back.”

“I’m really not good at stuff like this,” she denied.

“You don’t have to do much. You fooled me pretty good a few seconds ago. I totally believed it for a second.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“This’s gonna be hilarious,” Isabel cheered, feeling as if she had been taken back to high school and the stupid immature games they had played there. She had missed being that happy unworried person and for the length of this trip, it would be okay until she had to go back to being a responsible mom.

This bunch was trouble, Alex thought, amused. They probably weren't the people he usually hung out with, but he had a feeling this trip was going to be a lot of fun.

keepsmiling7: Lol, he will probably wonder about that too. Thanks!

begonia9508: He probably doesn’t know yet, but he will find out soon!

CandyliciousLovah: And the reuniting goes on…

xmag: Yup, there is going to be lots of fun and not to mention confusion, craziness, frustration…

Michelle in LA: After her ex, she’s going to rethink her choices of men, lol.

mary mary: Well, considering our lack of updates lately, it is probably not so difficult to catch up, lol.

We do have lots of fun planned, yes!

Alien_Friend: Lol, you will get the chance to witness Tess’ reaction in today’s update.

Thanks!

xilaj: It will be!

Hm, the Kyle and Liz stuff won’t turn out into a mess.

Alex is a little old fashioned, lol. But maybe that’s just what Isabel needs right now.

LuckyMiss: Thanks!

You don’t have to wait long for Tess’ reaction!

Yep, there are sweethearts and assholes in this fic, they balance each other out, lol.





Chapter 15

“Could you be any louder if you tried?” Michael snapped at his sister when she turned the page of her magazine again, the paper making a noisy bitchy sound with the move.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a wussie, Michael. A little hangover won’t kill you, you big baby. And by the way, I wasn’t the one who made you pound back all those shots of tequila last night.”

No, he thought, frustrated, it had been the super hot female bartender who had been flirting with him all night. How had he not noticed how that woman was filling him up? “You were there, you could’ve stopped it.”

“I`m your baby sister.... not your babysitter,” she told him and put the magazine away. “Don’t blame me for drinking too much,” Tess had to glance away to hide her smirk. Okay, maybe she wasn’t that innocent…

~~~~

“Hey, Lisa,” Tess greeted her old friend from LA when she had entered the bar.

“Tess?! What’re you doing here?” the woman squealed and ran around the bar to hug her friend. “You didn’t say you’d be in town, I would’ve taken the night off.”

“It all happened pretty spontaneously,” the other woman said as she returned the hug. “I’m here with Michael; we’re leaving for a trip tomorrow morning.”

“Michael?” Lisa frowned. “Your brother?”

“Um-hmm, you remember?”

She snorted. “If you’re talking about the hot guy in the pictures in your old apartment, then hell yeah, I remember. Where is he?”

“On his way,” Tess told her as her friend took her place behind the bar again and she sat down on a stool in front of it. “So, could you do me a favor?”

“A favor?” Lisa glanced over her shoulder when she prepared a drink on the other side. “What kinda favor?”

“Filling up my brother?”

“You serious?” the bartender asked and walked over to her again. “Why?”

“Well, as I said we’re going on a trip tomorrow and my brother kinda thinks we’re going to Hawaii, but we’re not, and I was thinking that keeping him up all night and giving him a nice hangover would help make him sleep as soon as we get on the flight.”

Lisa snorted. “That’s not gonna work, Tess. I mean, you’re gonna check in for the flight and stuff, he’ll know – no matter how much he drinks – that you’re not going to Hawaii before you board the plane.”

“It’s a private flight, maybe I can handle it.”

“Private?” The woman’s eyes lifted in interest. “Won the lottery?”

She chuckled. “Not me. But an old friend of mine might have.” She turned to the entrance and noticed Michael finally stepping in. “So what about Michael? You’re in?”

Lisa looked up at the man in question. “What a serious waste, but okay.”

“Cool,” Tess grinned.

“You couldn’t even wait for me for five minutes, could you?”Michael complained when he took the seat next to his sister.

“I was thirsty,” she shrugged.

“And yet you don’t have a drink,” he rolled his eyes and lifted his gaze to the bartender to order something. He was surprised to find the woman already looking at him with a cheeky grin.

“What can I get you, handsome?”

~~~~

They hadn’t slept at all last night because by the time they had said goodbye to Lisa, the sun had been coming up again. “I’ll go and get the tickets.”

“Get the tickets?” he mumbled.

“Yeah, there’s the counter where I have to pick them up. Wait here for me, okay?”

“Not goin’ anywhere,” he agreed halfheartedly and let his head drop back on the backrest.

“Alright,” Tess got up and looked for the directions before she walked to the area where Liz had told her to meet the rest of them. She had directed her brother to a different section on purpose, hoping that there would be a chance to get him onto the plane before the others.

****

Liz was laughing at something Alex had said when the bouncing of blonde locks behind him got her attention. “Tess?” she asked while the woman was still turned away, obviously looking for someone.

Tess swung around when she recognized the voice and her face lit up when her eyes met her old friend’s. “Parker!” The two girls slammed together in a big hug and did a lot of ear piercing squealing while jumping around in a circle. “Look at you!”

Liz grinned when they separated again and glanced down at herself. “What’s wrong with my looks?”

“Nothin’,” Tess snorted. “You look great.”

“You don’t look bad either, Harding,” Isabel showed up next to them, also smiling. “I see you’re back to the curly look. Fits you much better.”

Tess laughed and hugged the taller girl. “Thanks, I thought so too.” In their first months in LA after high school they had both met now and then, but within time as life will, those meetings had become rare and farther between. Soon they became weekend phone calls, then a few texts or emails, and then they fell away completely. “And not that I would’ve thought any differently, but your looks are still intimidating for us normal-sized women.”

"I`m not that tall," Isabel rolled her eyes. "And you're not normal-sized, Harding... you're more shrimp-sized."

Laughing, Tess threw one of her arms around Isabel's waist, the other over Liz`s shoulders, and pulled them both close to her. "This vacation is so going to rock! All we need now is Maria and the Four Musketeers are back together!"

"Tess there were only THREE Musketeers," Liz laughed.

From his spot in the background, Kyle listened at the conversation between the three women. He was sick of waiting for the moment when his former high school crush would recognize him.Taking a deep breath he just threw himself right into the mix. "Technically you're both right," he said as he stepped out into the open right in front of Tess. "At the start of Dumas`s book there were only three Musketeers, but by the end D`Artagnan is also made one bringing the number to four.”

Liz and Isabel both looked at each other with matching smirks as they stepped away a bit to enjoy the show. This was going to be sooooo good!

Tess just looked at the stranger with a frown. Somehow his features seemed to be familiar, but she was pretty sure if she had really met the nice hunk of man flesh in front of her before, she would sure as hell remember him.

Holy shit....she really has no clue who I am, Kyle thought, amused when he looked at her confused face, not to mention the onceover she was giving him. His own nerves settled when Harding obviously wasn’t breaking out into yet another of her Kyle-Valenti-the-loser tirades like she had so often in high school. Why should she, you’re not the same anymore!

Isabel grinned and gave a small nod to the brunette woman when she looked at her. Go on, she mouthed.

“Tess,” Liz started, “this’s Kyle, he’s here with me.”

So this hunk.... not to mention smart hunk.... was Parker’s fiancé? Lucky bitch! Tess thought in frustration, but forced a polite smile and stretched out a hand towards him. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you.”

Kyle looked down at the petite hand in front of him. An internal debate raged in his head over whether or not he should take it.

“Hello, Tess,” he said with a half smile and took her hand, his eyes directly focused on her.

They all looked at each other for a few moments in silence before Isabel couldn’t hold back any longer and let loose with a very unladylike pig snort of laughter. “Oh my God, you have no clue who he is, do you?”

“What?” Tess frowned and pulled her hand away from his quickly. Her eyes went back to the man in front of her. Kyle… she thought, but still drew a blank. “Okay well, this is getting a bit weird, so…”

Kyle looked at her, challenging. It was the first time in his life that their roles were reversed. This time he had the upper hand of the situation and he enjoyed it just a few moments longer. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon. Besides I could do with a beer.” With that he turned on his heels and left for the bar leaving the girls and Alex alone again.

Okay, that was strange, Tess thought as she watched the retreating man as he headed away... getting a very nice view of his backside in his tight jeans. Very nice!! I'd love to take both hands, grab a handful and just squeeze!

“Okay, what’s going on here?" Tess turned to her friends. "Why does everyone think I should know him? I don’t think I’ve ever known a Kyle…” As she repeated his name again loudly a thought entered her mind and she slipped past her friends in order to get another look at the man but he was already lost in the crowd. “NO WAY!”

Her voice was loud enough to get the attention of several tables around them, but she didn’t even notice it in the moment of shock.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding! I think she finally got it,” Isabel snickered to Liz.

“Pretty sure,” she chuckled and enjoyed the scene in front of her because the other girls’ behaviors weren’t that different from high school.

“Star-Trek-Valenti?” She turned on her heel and went back to the girls. “The loser guy who tried to be cool like us!? The guy who was fat? The guy who was ugly? The guy who was un-dateable?” she hissed so that only they could hear it.

“And for the most important part: The guy who had a huge crush on you all through school. Not to mention the guy you talked bad about for years running,” Isabel added quietly with a smirk and looked up into the air. “Liz! Can you see the pigs flying up there?”

The brunette girl laughed hard when she realized Isabel was referring to something Tess had said on their graduation day.

“Pigs will sprout wings out of their butts and fly to the sky before I would EVER want to date Kyle Freaking Valenti!!”

“Yeah, look at that.”

Tess stared at them as if they were both out of their minds. “Are you two insane?” She turned her head toward the bar and was finally able to look at the man in question again, giving him a quick onceover. Damn, the guy had really changed in every possible way. How could she EVER have thought about a possibility, where Kyle Freaking Valenti turned out to be Kyle Freaking Hot Valenti? “And HE’s your fiancé, Liz?”

“Uh…”

Isabel rolled her eyes. Yeah, maybe Parker had changed, but she still wasn’t a person who could lie to a friend’s face. Not even for fun. “He’s not her fiancé. They’re just friends.”

Thank God, Tess thought in relief, but she tried to hide it. “So where’s your real date?”

“He had to stay at home because of work, so I invited Kyle instead.” Liz shrugged and wondered how obvious it was that she and Dean had problems.

“Your guy let you go alone with a bunch of girls and another single guy?” The other girl lifted her eyebrow.

Isabel could see that Liz obviously wasn’t comfortable talking about her fiancé yet, so she decided to distract Tess for a while. “Hey, you haven’t met Alex yet. He’s coming with us as well.”

The man straightened up when he heard his name. He had kept himself in the background until now, knowing that reunions like this were pretty emotional and since he wasn’t really part of the group he didn’t want to intermingle too much on his own for now. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

For the second time, Tess was speechless when she shook the hand of the young man in front of her. Although he didn’t look bad, he wasn’t someone she would’ve put together with Isabel Evans. “Hi Alex, so you’re here with the Ice Queen?”

He frowned and looked at Isabel for help. “Well…”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes at the shorter blonde.

“What? He has a right to know about your high school nicknames,” Tess teased and looked back at Alex. “And she really deserved hers.”

“I don’t think he wants to know that,” Isabel denied. “Alex and I just met about an hour ago. No need to bore him with old stories.”

She just met him? Tess wondered. Could this trip get anymore crazy? “And he’s coming with us?”

“Yup.”

“Well…” she frowned while she tried to make sense of this. She had figured that everyone would be here with fiancés, serious boyfriends or whatever, but it seemed to turn out the other way. “Guess if you’re bringing a stranger and Liz is bringing Kyle Valenti, I shouldn’t feel too bad about bringing my brother, should I?”

Isabel looked at Alex apologetically. “Forgive her, she didn’t mean it in a rude way. That’s just her way of pointing things out.”

He shrugged one shoulder with a smirk. “No offense taken.”

“How did you two meet?” Tess wanted to know curiously. And she needed a distraction from Valenti, who was watching her.

“Save this talk for later,” Liz said when she looked at her watch. They still had about half an hour, but they were still one person short. “Where’s Michael?”

“Oh yeah, about that… he’s waiting over there,” she pointed to her left. “I was wondering if we could get onboard first? He’s hungover and sleep-deprived so I’m pretty sure he’ll be out cold as soon as he gets in a comfortable seat. This way we’re hopefully already up in the air before he realizes what’s going on.”

“You still didn’t tell him?” the brunette woman asked, surprised.

“Tess, do you really think…” Isabel started.

“He’ll be okay once he gets over the shock. But ya know him, he wouldn’t come with us if he knew.”

“If he wouldn’t, why’d you force him?” Kyle interrupted, coming back from the bar with a beer in hand. “He and Deluca aren’t together anymore. You really want to stick them together on a small island for several days when they obviously don’t want it?” It really didn’t make any sense to him.

She knew it sounded crazy, but they didn’t know some things about her brother that she knew and it HAD to be for his own good! Maybe it was egoistical to risk the peace of the trip for it, but Michael wouldn’t give in on his own. “Guys, just chill, okay! It’ll all be fine... trust me!”

And those famous last words ended the same way as many other famous last words from history. Such as General Custer’s: “I'm sure there aren’t that many Indians in that village,” or the captain of the Titanic: “I'm sure we're past all the icebergs by now!”

xilaj: Lol, when Tess says -‘Trust me’ - ya know we are up for some trouble.

begonia9508: We get them in the plane today. There is a start…

Indeed! It is fun to see the high school famous suddenly being boring or ugly or whatever, lol.

xmag: You could be right! It won’t be boring, that’s for sure.

The Candy couple will bring some action into the group!

Alien_Friend: Kyle will get his pay back sooner or later, hehe.

Something is for sure: No one wants to sit next to Michael, once he finds out about his sister’s prank. Wanna be in Tess shoes? Nope!

zaneri1: Thanks you and welcome on board. We are just getting reading for take off!

keepsmiling7: Awkward – that’s for sure. And a lot of more things once Michael finds out the truth, Maria sees Michael, Liz gets an eye on Max…

Thanks!

LuckyMiss: Lol, you don’t want to be in Tess shoes, once Michael realized, what is going on. He’s going to be beyond pissed of.

The girls have great dynamics even after this long time. This friendships are really rare.

CandyliciousLovah: We are just getting started.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Ready for take off? Our gang is… almost.

sarammlover: Epic yes! And it sure as hell won’t turn out as planned. Muhahaha….




Chapter 16

They all stared at Tess doubtfully for several moments before Liz sighed in defeat.

“Alright, but if this blows up in our faces we’re leaving it to YOU to handle Michael and his infamous temper.”

“Fine, fine,” Tess waved her hand in dismissal.

“Ok, the plane’s already here and just about ready to go. You need to get to gate 3 and hand these tickets to the woman waiting at the gate.” She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a small stack of papers before she handed two of them to Tess.

“Cool, anything else that I need to know?”

“No, we can wait here for another 20 minutes, that’s all the time you have to get Michael onboard.”

“That’s enough,” the blonde girl nodded and her locks bounced up and down as she turned to leave the group.

Kyle took another swig from his beer as his traitorous eyes watched Tess’s backside – her whole backside not just her butt – as she bounced away from him. Her hair was just as curly and unruly as it was back were in school, but her body looked a bit more firm and toned from workouts, which she was obviously doing on a regular basis. Other than that, she was still the girl from high school he couldn’t take his eyes off of.

The same one who treated you like crap and said mean things to you all the time, he reminded himself and forced his gaze away.

“Oh wait,” Liz called to Tess when an idea suddenly popped into her mind.

Tess turned to look at Liz, one eyebrow raised in question.

“There are some smaller separate cabins in the front right behind the pilot and after the kitchen area. You could take a seat there while we stay in the back at first, that way he won’t see us immediately.”

“Nice,” the blonde girl grinned.

“Oh,” Isabel’s eyes grew wide when she had her own idea. “How about we send Alex in there too? Michael doesn’t know him.” Her eyes shot to the man in question when she realized it had been rude to suggest it without even asking him. “Sorry, you probably don’t want to.”

“That would be fantastic,” Tess said excitedly before he could reply one way or the other. “If he asks, you could just tell him you won the tickets on a radio show like he thinks we did. Oh, and we’re going to Hawaii.”

Kyle rolled his eyes when the girls were obviously having fun plotting an evil plan for Guerin. The poor guy wouldn’t know what hit him once they were in the air.

“Yeah, I guess I could do that,” Alex shrugged. He wasn’t really good at pretending stuff, but he didn’t want to look like a total killjoy, so he’d give it a shot.

“As soon as Michael’s asleep you come back and join us,” Isabel placed her hand over his on the table and squeezed it slightly, giving him a big smile “Thank you sooooo much for doing this for us, Alex.”

Looking at the smile Isabel was giving him and then letting his eyes fall towards where her hand was touching his once again led Alex to a simple conclusion. Not only would he do what she asked of him – aka lie to some stranger – but he’d probably wrestle a pride of starving lions with bacon strapped to him while doing it as long as she kept smiling at him and touching him like she was.

Looking back up into Isabel’s beaming face he swallowed a bit before speaking. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Hurry,” Liz waved her off. “We don’t have much time left.”

“Alright, I’ll see you guys soon,” Tess called over her shoulder as she left to go back to her brother. Crazy, she thought when her gaze locked on the tickets for a moment. From what she knew Isabel had been married, but the guy with her was a stranger. And Parker had brought the high school nerd? She stopped again and turned around, her gaze locked on the man who had been anything but hot a few years ago. With a beer in one hand and the other on Liz`s shoulder, he leaned in and laughed at something she said, showing a line of perfect white teeth. Damn, how could someone so boring, nerdy and geeky turn out like THAT?

The announcement of a different flight brought her back to the present and reminded her that she was on a more important mission right now. Kyle Valenti was going on the trip, so she would have a lot of time to figure out how she brought his old high school passion for her back on the screen.

****

Relief washed over her when they walked along the aisle leading to the small private jet of Liz’ fiancé’s company. There had been a little screen at the entry that had announced the destination of the flight, but obviously Michael had been too tired to even notice it.

She had found him sound asleep when she had returned to get him. Feet stretched out, crossed at the ankles, not to mention his head thrown back against the wall and mouth wide open while snoring. But the best part was she had found him surrounded by a group of young teenage girls who had obviously had a lot of fun taking pictures of him with their cells.

Tess had stopped and watched them for a moment, laughing so hard that it had made her stomach hurt when one of the girls had even stood next to Michael and stretched out her tongue so that it almost touched his ear.

Once the girls had their fill of pics they scampered off in a giggling pack, comparing pictures on their cell phones.

Walking over to him, Tess had kicked one of Michael’s giant boots. “Hey! Rise and shine, Rip Van Winkle!”

Grumbling something under his breath that sounded like a few unmentionable four letter words, Michael had opened his eyes and stretched a bit, trying to work out the hangover cobwebs in his brain.

“What’s so funny?” he had grumbled, when he noticed the smirk on her face.

“Nothin’,” she had said and bit her lip to stop the grin. She had taken a few pictures of her own and when the moment was right she would rub them in his face. “Just thought about something I saw on TV last week.”

He snorted and rubbed his face tiredly when they reached the entry of the jet. “How long’s this flight supposed to last?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. A few hours maybe?”

“At least there’s time to sleep.”

They both stepped in and were greeted by a friendly, smiling stewardess. “Welcome on board our flight to – “

“Oh, thanks, are we the first?” Tess interrupted quickly before the ‘helpful’ flight attendant could ruin the trip. Hungover or not, Michael was standing right there and would have no doubt heard their true destination.

“Yes, you are,” the woman frowned for a second, but then smiled again. “You can choose whichever seat you’d like.”

“Thanks,” she said and dragged her brother with her before anything could be revealed in front of him.

“Holy shit!” Michael looked around the plane. “You sure we’re right here?” He had expected something like a tiny prop plane where they had to sit on wooden boxes filled with chickens and whatever else people had to transport.

“I told you this is for real,” Tess rolled her eyes and walked towards the front, where Liz had told her were more private cabins.

“Yeah, but this is a fuckin’ high end pleasure plane, Tess.”

“Anything wrong with that?”

“No, just…” he followed her through the kitchen area when she didn’t seem to have any interest in taking a seat.

“This looks comfortable, don’t ya think?” She stopped at a booth with two large seats, a TV and a lot of space for legs and luggage.

“You sure we’re allowed to sit here and not back there?” He thumbed behind him.

“She said we could sit anywhere, didn’t she?” Tess shrugged and threw her bag in one of the seats.

“True,” he agreed and didn’t waste any time sitting down in the empty seat in a comfortable sprawl. His eyes roamed over several buttons on the arm rest and after trying several out he finally found the one that let the backrest drop back automatically while something to rest his legs on came out from the wall in front of him. “This’s how life should always be.”

“Like you’d waste all your time sleeping,” she said and sat down as well. “You don’t even sleep long on your days off.

“Whatever,” he dismissed her and got comfortable. “I will waste the flight time and sleep.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do the same,” she agreed, relieved when he suggested what she had hoped he would, and watched him as he leaned his head against the wall next to his seat. It took less than ten seconds before his eyes fell closed.

He looked relaxed and peaceful in that moment – a look her brother hadn’t worn much the last few years since high school and she felt a small wave of guilt wash over her. He had to talk to Maria sooner or later, but he would be pissed at her once he found out what was going on and what she had set up to get him into this mess.

The curtain was pulled back suddenly and Tess jumped slightly in her seat, but relaxed when Alex stumbled his way in nearly tripping over all the bags he was carrying.

Tess couldn’t help but smirk when she noticed that some of the bags he was carrying had a bit more feminine flair to them.

So Isabel already has you doing the heavy lifting for her, huh?

“Hi,” he greeted a bit loudly before clearing his throat and trying again with a bit more calmer voice as he took a seat in the booth opposite them.

“Umm, I mean, hello.”

Michael quirked one eye open for all of a second when he heard another voice but he quickly closed it again for lack of interest.

“Hey,” Tess replied back. “Are you going to Hawaii?”

“Uh, yeah,” Alex smiled to cover his nervousness. What had he gotten himself into? He wasn`t an actor! “I won this trip off a radio contest, so I was a little sceptical at first. I mean you know what they say ‘If a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is.’”

“I know what ya mean,” Michael snorted without opening his eyes.

“I’m Tess, this’s my brother Michael,” she said and shot Alex a slight glare for adding on more to her brother’s suspicious nature. “You’ll have to excuse him; he’s very paranoid and untrusting. I mean, I doubt he’d even believe anything the Pope said.”

“It’s not paranoia to be suspicious... some of us have to be rational and on guard in this life,” Michael grumbled under his breath.

“That’s true,” Alex agreed. “And on that Pope thing: I’m with you too. I mean, how can you trust anyone who wears a hat like that?”

Michael snorted a bit with laughter. At least this dude has a bit of a sense of humor. Might make the trip a bit more fun.

Tess rolled her eyes with a small smile at Alex and mouthed a thank you into his direction. He nodded dumbly in reply and went to stow his and Isabel’s stuff.

It didn’t take long until she heard the soft snorting coming from her brother’s direction again. As expected it had only taken a few minutes before he had fallen back to sleep. Just in time, she thought when she became aware of movement in the front.

“Shhh,” Liz told everyone when they entered the plane. “We gotta be quiet and make sure Michael’s asleep until takeoff.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “I still don’t think this’s a very smart idea.” He didn’t know Guerin that well, but he had always come across as a guy who didn’t like to play games and be fucked with.

“But no one asked you,” Tess said as she tiptoed into the front to let them know her brother was sleeping. After thinking about the earlier situation a little more clearly she had come to the decision that it had been rude of him to not tell her who he was in the first place.

Their gazes met and it turned out to be a glaring contest until Liz stepped in between them. “We’ll let you handle him when he finds out,” she told the blonde and shoved Kyle into one of the seats.

“Hey,” he complained, but sat down anyway.

“When are we taking off?” Isabel asked and shoved her huge carryon bag under a seat.

“In a few minutes.”

“Could you tell them to not reveal our destination when they greet the flight guests?” Tess asked.

“Already told the stewardess about that, no worries.” She nodded to the front. “Take your seat so we can get rolling.”

“Alright,” the curly blonde agreed and went back to sit in her booth with Michael.

“Where’d you go?” he asked tiredly.

She was surprised to find him half awake. “Just the bathroom. We’re taking off soon.”

“Wake me when they serve the grub.” Michael rolled over in his seat facing away from her. Not a second later he raised his head a bit and looked back “When they do, ask ‘em if they got any peanut butter M&Ms.” With that he dropped his head back down and was out like a light.

keepsmiling7: That won’t be pretty, lol.

She will get her eyes on him very soon!

HypnotiqBlueEyes: You can count on it, lol!

We are almost there!

begonia9508: Yes, eventually as you see.

Doubtful they will keep Michael asleep for a so long flight with a stop over in New York lol. But maybe they can get Maria in before he realizes it?!

You will have an insight in Maria and Max today! No, they don’t miss it. They don’t get into the plan in LA like the others, because they are in NYC.

Drogyn: Hey and welcome to the story! He so will!

xmag: Michael’s not going to be nice and Tess should be hiding in the darkest corner of the plane, lol. It will take some afford to calm his nerves.

Alien_Friend: One mission accomplished, lol. You are right, Michael’s reacting won’t be pretty.
sarammlover: He won’t be happy, that’s for sure.

Tess has to make some afford on the Valenti front.

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, and he doesn’t even know what’s coming up towards him yet.

xilaj: Mission accomplished, curiosity is wanted. And Michael’s reaction won’t be pleasant as you can imagine.

There is still a lot to come for all of them!



Chapter 17

“Here are your burgers and fries,” the young man behind the counter flashed her a smile and tugged on the collar of his dark blue uniform with tiny white embroidered letters proudly saying ‘AIRPORT BURGAWESOME’.

“Thank you…” Maria’s eyes dropped down to his name tag, “Jason.” He was a bit younger than she normally went for; she liked them her age or a bit older, but he was cute, legal and she had been single too long to care right now.

His grin widened when she used his first name. “Going on a trip today or waiting for someone to get back?” Jason hoped she wasn’t waiting for a boyfriend or anything, although she had been pretty flirtatious since she had ordered her meal.

“Going,” she said and took a fry to stick it in her mouth, grinning when his eyes followed the movement. “Some friends and I are going to the Maldives for a week.”

“Impressive. Isn’t that something people do for honeymoons?”

She laughed. “I guess. But everyone can enjoy beaches, cocktails and good weather, don’t you think?”

“True enough.” He crouched down behind the counter and grabbed one of the dessert packages there as well as a pen to scribble his phone number on it quickly. “Apple pie,” he told her and placed it on her tray. “On the house,” he added with a wink.

“Well, that’s really BURG-AWESOME, I love apple pie,” Max appeared from behind and grabbed the package, tearing the wrapping apart and throwing it at a nearby trashcan without bothering about the cell number on it. He took a large bit of it and grinned at the guy who had been flirting like a goofball with his friend for so long now that he wanted to gag. His free hand went around her waist as he looked over her shoulder. “Problem here? I’m starving, babe.”

Maria hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt when she turned to look at him. “No problem and that was my dessert.”

He shrugged with a sheepish grin and took the tray full of food from the counter to carry it over to the seats he had already chosen while she had been flirting with burger-guy.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Jason mumbled, embarrassed, before he walked to a different register where customers where waiting.

“He was just…” Maria started, but then stopped when she realized she wouldn’t get his cell number a second time and stalked off to find her friend. “What the hell was that?” she asked and placed her hands on her hips as she glared down at the spot where he was sitting, sipping on his bottle of water.

“I saved you from another disappointment, maybe?” He shrugged with a smirk. “Besides, I thought I was your boyfriend for the next few days?”

“Not until this trip starts,” she grumbled and hit the back of his head with her hand before she took the seat across from him.

He snorted as he forked a large helping of his salad out of the bowl and started to chow down.
“This salad is FAN FUCKING AWESOME!”

She rolled her eyes and kicked his leg under the table. “Where the hell did we even find a salad at in this fast food Mecca?!”

It was a valid question. They had found themselves surrounded by doughnut stores and fast food joints as soon as they cleared security and entered the terminal. Maria was sure Max was bound to have an allergic reaction from being around so much unhealthy fast food!

“Over there,” Max mumbled around a mouth full of salad using his fork as a pointer.

Looking over her shoulder at where Max was pointing, she could see a small kiosk by the bathroom with a sign saying ‘Tofu 4 U - Only in New York’.

Maria turned and watched as Max poured some more dressing on his salad. “At least tell me that dressing is the fattening kind?”

Wiping his mouth with the napkin, Max smiled at her. “Nope, fat free, babe.”

Muttering something under her breath about people probably having a bionic colon after eating so much greens and fiber, Maria once again glared at her best friend. “Why did you cock block me back there?!”

Max cringed at the looks they were getting from nearby tables due to Maria`s choice of words in her outburst and lowered his voice a bit. “You can’t find romance at a place in the airport called ‘BURGAWESOME’.”

“Yeah, because you know it all. And who said I was looking for romance anyway? I might’ve just wanted a good lay,” she replied defiantly and snatched up her burger to take a huge bite out of it. “Ohhhhhhh this is sooooo good.” As a food lover Maria damn near orgasmed over the taste of the bite she had just taken. Ripping off the top bun she stuck some of her fries on the burger and once again started chowing down.

He watched with a bit of revulsion as the burger grease ran between her fingers. “I thought you were starting a diet? You know... Maldives... new bikini... ring any bells?” He shook his head, disgusted.

“I am!” Maria reached over and grabbed her drink to shake it at him “Diet Coke, see?”

He rolled his eyes – a tad jealous of her nuclear fire burning metabolism – and tried to make peace. “Look, I’m not judging anyone due to where they work. Lord knows we’ve both worked our fair share of crappy jobs, but that guy had his cell on that package way too quick for it to be an individual case. He probably does that with every hot chick that comes to his counter.”

“Bullshit,” she denied stubbornly.

They ate for a moment in silence, but it didn’t slip her notice that Max’ eyes kept going back to the guy in question and when he suddenly grinned and nodded in that direction she knew that he had gotten his proof.

She turned in her seat and watched the way Jason flashed the same sexy smile at a different girl. Why the hell did he always have to be right? He could read people’s body language really well, but she wouldn’t admit that to him.

“I told – “

“Don’t you dare, Evans,” she interrupted him and shot him the evil eye.

“ – you so,” he finished the sentence anyway, knowing she wouldn’t be mad for long.

“I hate you.”

“No, you love me, but that’s okay. I love you too.” He reached over to steal a fry from her, knowing Maria was territorial about her food and it would piss her off. Quickly dodging her smacking hand, he snatched the fry and popped it in his mouth and just as quickly made a face when it tasted as if it was coated in salt. “Ungh, how do you eat stuff like this all the time?”

“Shut up, not everyone loves that eco-chow you’re always buying.” She took another fry of her own and crammed it into her mouth. After a few minutes and many bites later, Maria had polished off her food completely.

“Hey,” he smirked and bumped her leg under the table lightly. He could tell she was nervous about meeting her old friends again, so this whole bickering thing was just his plan to distract her. “Wanna go over to that bar we passed and calm our nerves with some liquid courage?”

“Sounds like a plan,” she agreed and got up at the same time he did.

“See, I knew why we got here early,” Max wrapped an arm around her shoulders while he carried both of their carryon bags in one hand.

Maria snorted and glanced at her watch. “Still two hours before they pick us up. That’s not early, that’s fucking nerdish uncool early.”

He threw his head back and laughed out loud. “I promise I won’t tell your cool friends about it, okay? We could run the last few feet and pretend we just got here in time for takeoff.”

“Oh you better not tell them,” she agreed. “But no running either, Evans.” She elbowed him in warning. “I mean it. DO NOT EMBARRASS ME, understand?”

“Me?” he asked pretending to be shocked as he led her towards the bar he had pointed out earlier.”I’m shocked.”

“Yes, you! You read Star Trek books, you have a coin collection, and you’re freakishly addicted to that show American Pickers! You’re as boring as bath water. “

“First off never trash A.P., it’s an awesome show,” Max moved his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive way. “Besides, throw in a few candles, some music and some massage oil and I bet I could make bath water VERY non-boring.”

“Ehhhhhhh! I so didn’t need that mental image in my head!” Maria shook her head. “Look, just let me handle the talking… and acting… and everything else that comes up! Comprende?”

“You worry too much, Deluca,” he said as they entered the bar and found a table. Max held the chair out for Maria to sit down. “Everything will be fine; they’re still your friends from high school. It’s doubtful they invited you to point their finger at you and laugh.”

They were interrupted when the waitress came over to take their order.

“Bud Light draft, large for me and a margarita... even larger, for the lady, please.”

She sighed and leaned against the backrest. “Easy for you to say. Wouldn’t you feel better, if ya knew you weren’t the only one who couldn’t fulfill your dreams? I know I’d feel better if there was someone more of a loser than me.”

“You’re not a loser,” he squeezed her hand on the table until she looked at him. “That’s bullshit.”

“Maybe not by all definitions, but I feel like one when I think about what I wanted and what I got.”

“Uh-huh. So you wanted to marry your high school love, you wanted to live in a fancy apartment in New York with him, and you wanted to be a singer, right?”

She nodded. “Thanks for pointing that out again, dear friend.”

He ignored her and went on. “Well. You didn’t marry that guy, which only makes him a loser, not you. You do live in expensive Manhattan, which is pretty awesome considering the high rent and our apartment isn’t a total mess. You do sing – “

“In a shitty club, and just because I talked my bosses’ an ear off and have to do extra long waitress shifts for it.”

“Anyway, it IS singing, and you also study as well, which makes you a very busy, hardworking, sexy lady in Manhattan who can still stand her ground and never backs down in a challenge. AND last but not least… you’ve already got a real big fan of Maria Deluca, the singer and the person.”

“And that would be?”

“Me.”

She smiled and blinked in horror when his speech made her eyes water. Thank God the waitress had returned with their order, giving her time to get her emotions back under control. “Thanks for saying that, Max.” It really helped to look at the situation from a different angle.

“It’s only the truth,” he shrugged and glanced up at her, smirking. “So show me that pic of your high school gang again and explain who’s who”.

“Sure,” she rummaged around in her bag and pulled out the photo of them taken on graduation day. She had found it in an album and thought it would be nice to take it with her to show the others.

“This’s Liz, the brain of the gang. A-plus honor roll since kindergarten, president of every important school club, not to mention she was our valedictorian. Hell, she already knew in fifth grade what kinda job she wanted. Tess,” her index finger moved over the photo and landed on the blonde, “was our miniature blonde bulldozer, ya know? When she wanted something she went after it and God help you if you got in her way. She’d run over and flatten you. She broke several boys’ hearts, too.”

“Who`s the Amazon?”

“That would be Isabel,” Maria snorted as they sipped their drinks. “Isabel always got what she wanted without much more than a snap. We called her the Ice-Queen, because she could come across as really cold to people who didn’t know her very well.”

He noticed the irregular edge on the left side of the photo right next to her image and knew without asking that she had ripped her ex-boyfriend out of it, but he let it go without comment.

“Doesn’t mean they all got what they wanted. Life after high school isn’t a bed of roses as you know. I bet you a hundred bucks that Liz girl works as a cashier at Walmart right now... or Tess is married to some lame bald guy... Isabel may even be fat now!”

She chuckled at his suggestion, even though she couldn’t believe any of those things could be true and she couldn’t shake the worry that she was the only one who had gotten none of the things they had written on that stupid paper locked away in a box.

CandyliciousLovah: Maria’s reactions till has to wait, but maybe we get a clue of Michael’s today. lol

sarammlover: Prepare for the Candy-reunion!

keepsmiling7: Ladies and gentleman, please take your seat, we are ready for take off.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Today we get the group together. Prepared?

Thanks for the bump!

begonia9508: They are different, but don’t they say: Opposites attract?

LovelyPOM83: We are glad you found your password, lol. And we found the next part as well. Thanks.

xilaj: Thanks, there will be more Max/Maria. Not this part though… because we’ve got a Guerin-drama coming up. Uhoh…

mary mary: Yup, we get the gang together today. Let’s see how smooth this goes, huh? We hope your RL calms down.

Alien_Friend: Wonder how much time Maria will have to think about the others once she sees who’s in the plane as well? Lol

If she knew…



Chapter 18

The sound of heavy wheels hitting the asphalt combined with the pressure of his body pressed into the seat from the braking, Michael woke from his sleep and blinked against the sunlight shining through the small oval window of the plane.

He groaned when he felt all kinds of stiff muscles in his body, which only ached more the first time he moved to sit upright again. Were they already in Hawaii? Shit, how long had he been asleep? he wondered and looked out the window, but all he could see were some different kind of grey flat buildings and other parked planes as well as a few buses and little vehicles that drove around all frenzied in lanes that were printed on the ground in crazy patterns. Who would know where to go? he wondered as he watched the frantic movements going on outside his window.

For Hawaii the airport was admittedly huge, a lot of bigger than he’d expected it to be. He glanced at his watch and realized that he had slept for several hours. Yeah, it had to be Hawaii, what else was between their departure from the West coast and the islands other than lots and lots of water, right?

A glance around the cabin told him that he had been left alone sometime during the flight. But the sound of her bubbly laughter filtering through the dividing curtain that seperated the planes seating sections let him know where his sister was. Rolling his eyes, Michael could only imagine how Tess would’ve already made friends with the rest of the contest group during the long flight. She was the complete opposite of him, a social butterfly with a big mouth who loved to mingle and socially interact with EVERYONE who crossed her path.

Since their flight had been so long Michael was sure everyone on the plane was now aware of who he was and the top ten most embarrassing moments in his life. The only time Tess ever shut up was when she slept or that time she’d had her wisdom teeth taken out. Her face had been so swollen up that she’d looked like a human squirrel trying to hide acorns in her mouth. I really need to find the photos I took and tease her with them again. Michael smirked at that fun memory, but was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of the overhead intercom.

“Ladies and gentleman, we’ve just reached the John F. Kennedy airport in New York City. Please remain seated until we reach our parking position. After a quick refuel, machine check, and welcoming our last guests aboard, we’ll continue our journey.”

NEW YORK CITY? Michael pressed his forehead against the window to check his surroundings again. Okay, maybe he didn’t attend classes on a regular basis back in high school, but he had been good enough in geography class to know that New York City was nowhere near the flight path to Hawaii.

“Attention. Customer regulations and laws of the state of New York don’t allow any passengers on that stopover to leave the plane. Thanks for your understanding.”

“What kinda shit is this?” he muttered to himself and opened his seat belt to go and look for his sister, earning a glare from a stewardess when he ignored their former announcement and stepped through the kitchen, which combined the back with the front, where everyone else seemed to be. “Sorry,” he flashed a smile at her.

“Just be careful,” she told him with a similar flirtatious smile as well as flushed cheeks.

The loud laughter of several girls could be heard from the front and he turned to push the curtain open to have a talk with his sister. He was about to call out for her when the words were suddenly stuck into his throat and shock made him freeze in place when he spotted some familiar faces sitting with his sister.

Liz was the first to stop laughing as her eyes collided with Michael’s stunned face. It had never been easy to read his expression, but this one was easy to make out. It fell somewhere between the ‘pissed and what the fuck is going on’ category. If looks could kill. She swallowed hard and pointed at him slightly when the others just looked at her in confusion.

“Michael,” Tess squeaked out the moment she saw her brother and the furious look on his face. She had expected the storm to break and hadn’t looked forward to this moment, but she had hoped to have Maria aboard and be over the Atlantic before it hit. Getting up from her seat she approached him nice and easy.

From his own seat a smirking Kyle removed the ear pieces from his iPod. There was no way in hell he was gonna miss this! He just wished he had some popcorn to go with the show that was about to happen.

“Michael, hey,” Tess said again when she neared him.

His eyes ran over the old Roswell gang again as his sister got closer to him. How the fuck had he gotten into this without even realizing a damn thing about it? His bullshit detector was usually a lot better than this! He glared at Tess and turned before she could reach him to head back to his former seat, almost running over the stewardess in the kitchen.

“He’s sorry,” Tess apologized and followed him. “Michael, wait!” She stopped when he presented his back to her, obviously collecting his stuff to leave this plane no matter what it cost. “Would you pleeeease talk to me?”

He suddenly whirled around, his backpack in hand, and glared down at her angrily. “Like you talked to me about this? Get out of my way!” He pushed her, not caring in that moment if the move could hurt her. How did she dare...?!

Tess pushed herself out of the seat she had been squeezed into and didn’t let him get past her. “I know you’re upset with me right now, but please, can you give it a chance?”

“Upset?” He hissed and got louder with each word. “Upset was what I was that night you took my car out without asking and your giggling pack of dumb friends got drunk and threw up in it! RIGHT NOW I’M PISSED THE HELL OFF!”

She winced, but didn’t give up yet. “What’s so bad about a trip with our old friends from Roswell?”

“You’re seriously gonna ask me that question, Harding?” He felt himself shaking with anger and all kinds of emotions that had been buried deep down in his soul, so that he had to clench his hands a few times to remain in control. How could she do this to him? Why after the last years would she be so cruel to throw him into such a situation totally unprepared? He wasn’t dumb and he knew exactly why they were in New York now. Was Maria aware of the fact that he was here in the plane or had they left her clueless like him as well?

Tess looked up at him pleadingly but she knew there was nothing she could say to make him see reason at the moment. He couldn’t run away from this for the rest of his life, but now that she was looking up into his eyes, she regretted what she had done to him. She could deal with his anger, with his grumpy moods, but not with the broken look in his eyes – a look she had seen on him once before and had hoped to never see again. “I’m sorry.”

He turned around when he saw the tears brimming in her eyes and left. He couldn’t find any sympathy for her right now, but he didn’t want to see her tears either so he did the only thing that he wanted to do right now. Leave.

Everyone in the front lifted their heads when the curtain was ripped open again, but none of them said anything.

Michael just glanced at them briefly and tugged his backpack tighter before he continued on his way to the door. His anger against his sister increased when it was also her fault that he had to behave like this in front of all of their former friends, but no matter how much he would probably enjoy a chat with them, there was no way he was going to stay here.

“Sir, as we told you before, you can’t get out at this airport,” a stewardess who was waiting to welcome the rest of the guests told him.

“I don’t fucking care about what you said,” he snarled. “Tell them there’s an emergency or whatever, but in no fucking way am I going to wherever this stupid shit of a plane’s going.”

The woman looked at him, confused, but she didn’t back down either. “Well, is there?”

His expression turned into one of confusion.

“An emergency?” She lifted one eyebrow.

“There sure as hell will be if you don’t open that fucking door and let me out.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but if we don’t have any medical or terroristic emergency, I’m afraid I can’t let you out. And if we make one up, then I’m afraid this whole flight is going nowhere today.”

“You think I care?” He blew the air out of his nose loudly, his emotions boiling in him like hot water in a geyser.

Kyle got out of his seat and leaned forward to talk to Liz. “Told you he’d be pissed off.”

“Yeah,” she made a face.

“Go talk to him.”

“Me?” she asked in shock. “I’ve never been that close to him, I don’t know how to handle him,” she hissed back at him.

“Come on. You’re still Liz Parker, the group’s peacemaker and the best friend of his former girlfriend.”

“He’s right,” Isabel agreed when she joined them in the gangway. “If he listens to anyone, then maybe it’s you.”

She doubted they were right, but she was kind of the tour guide and if Michael made the crew open up that door to let him leave, then their whole vacation was in serious danger. “Alright,” she groaned and got up.

The stewardess was glad when she saw someone else approaching them and hoped that the person would be able to calm this passenger down before they really had to call the police and cancel the flight.

“Michael,” Liz said gently while she neared him slowly.

“Just keep it to yourself, Parker,” he muttered, already feeling his headache coming back.

“Hey,” she took a deep breath and stepped in front of him to look into his eyes directly. “I know you’re mad right now and I can’t really blame you. I told Tess my doubts about this, but you know her…” She rolled her eyes. Maybe taking his side would be smarter right now than trying to convince him how this was such a good idea.

Michael just stared down at her, but didn’t say anything. The short brunette had always been the most diplomatic person in the group and there was just no way anyone could yell at her because she couldn’t harm a fly. He had to give her credit though. While she had come across pretty boring during high school, she had developed into a woman that surely got a lot of male attention with the way she looked and dressed now.

“Laws forbid anyone getting out here and if you make them open that door it’ll probably involve police and stuff,” she continued and grabbed his upper arm with her small hand when he was about to tell her how little he cared about that. “BUT, if you really want to go home then there’ll be a chance tomorrow. We’re going to the Maldives and-”

“Maldives?” he spit out in shock and rubbed his head. “Where the hell is that?!”

“An island chain near the coast of India.... well, they’re actually more atolls than islands but most people call them...” Liz quickly shook her head out of scholar mode and went to her best quiet calming voice. “Yeah, well, we are going to the Maldives and the crew will stay there overnight before they take the jet back. You could go with them back to LA if you still want to tomorrow.”

She looked at him, expecting him to tell her where to shove her words, but surprisingly it didn’t come. Nothing came.

“You don’t even have to share a room with anyone. The island’s big enough for everyone to have their own cabin for those who want to,” she continued when he stayed silent.

“Sleep on it for one night and if you still wanna go home then…” Tess agreed with Liz when she neared them again.

“I’m not talking to you,” he snarled at his sister and was glad when she retreated again. He was fed up with her and he wasn’t sure how long it would last. His gaze shifted to the stewardess when she spoke to another crewmember quietly and he was sure it was about him.

“Yo, Guerin, if you need help planning some revenge on your sister I could help.” He grinned when the woman in question passed him and gasped in shock. He winked at her before he turned to look at the other man again. “I have to settle an outstanding score or two with her too.”

Who the hell was this guy? Michael narrowed his eyes at the person talking to him. “Freakin’ Star Trek Valenti?” he asked, stunned.

Ungh, he hated to be reminded of that, but he gave the other guy credit because of the piss poor piss he was in right now. “The one and only.”

Could this trip get any more awkward?

“So?” Liz brought his focus back to her. They needed a clear agreement from him that he wouldn’t try to get off of the plane.

Michael looked at her and then at the stewardess waiting by the door. He knew who would be entering in a few moments and his stomach twisted at just the thought of it. “Did you at least tell her I was gonna be here?” he asked and hoped that she knew. The encounter was inevitable even if he stormed off the plane as soon as the door opened, but maybe it wasn’t so bad to stay at least for that one night if she knew that he would be there and had decided to still come.

“No,” Liz said miserably. “No, sorry, she doesn’t know. And…” she prepared to be killed as soon as the words were out, “… just so you know, she’s bringing her boyfriend.”

It felt like a truck had hit him right after the words were out and he had no words in him at all. So she had moved on, that wasn’t a surprise, but he had never wanted to witness it personally.

“Miss Parker?” the stewardess asked impatiently.

“I won’t run out. Go ahead and open the fuckin’ door,” Michael growled at the woman. He would survive this one night at the Maldives. Not for any of the people in the jet though, but for Maria, because she had probably been looking forward to this trip and she had no clue what was waiting inside the plane either.

“Thanks,” Liz said, relived when he agreed to stay and reached out to squeeze his arm, but she dropped her hand when she noticed he didn’t want to be touched. “If you’d rather go back to your seat-”

“No,” he told Liz, determined. “I want her to see me before she takes a step on this plane. Let’s give at least one of us the chance to decide if she wants to meet the ex, what ya say?” he asked sarcastically.

“Right,” Liz agreed, ashamed, and turned towards the door. He was right and although it was mostly Tess’ fault, she felt guilty as well.

The stewardess finally started to open the door and a fresh breeze from outside as well as the sound of laughter was carried inside with it. HER laughter, Michael realized and his body stiffened from head to toe. He wasn’t ready to see her – above all not with a different man at her side – but he had no choice thanks to his sister.

“It was just a burp, it’s not like I asked you to pull my finger or something!”

“Max, that’s disgusting,” her voice could be heard when she neared the entry, followed by more laughter when she suddenly came into sight.

Michael leaned his body against the wall behind him and waited for her to notice him. She looked beautiful like in past days and he’d say even better. Her eyes expressed her happiness the moment she saw her old friend Liz…

… And then her face turned into pure consternation when her gaze swept over him. For a moment he was sure he could read her thoughts though her expression. No, it’s not him. And then came the moment of realization.

“Michael…” her voice was quiet and it sounded like someone had pressed the last bit of air out of her lungs along with his name.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks for the bump!

Lol, the blow was expected and it will still last in the uppy. You wil get a clue about Max’ reaction to Liz as well.

sarammlover: Yep, lol. And now we are back. Thanks.

LovelyPOM83: Yeah, this was to be expected and it is not over.

keepsmiling7: Lol, thanks for the bumps.

Lol, can’t wait to get Maria away from Max, huh? You are not the only one.

begonia9508: Yeah, Tess should have expected a reaction like this! Especially from a guy like Michael.

xilaj: You will know… eventually.

Tess probably feels bad about it too now, but well, we had to get them all together in that plane.

Alien_Friend: Thanks!

Fun can come… as well as drama. Muhahahaaa…

CandyliciousLovah: Well, the parts have to be cut somewhere, lol.





Chapter 19

Liz had quickly gotten out of the way and was now watching with apprehension as the ex couple glared at each other from across the plane. The problem-solving part of her wanted to jump in and try to make peace between everyone, but the rational survival part of her brain recalled all the vicious fights Michael and Maria had gotten into back in high school. And Michael’s breakup actions years ago as well as the anger Maria held over that... well, there was no way in hell she was getting in between that! She liked her skin intact!

“If those two go at it we’re so gonna get our asses hauled off this plane by the TSA,” Isabel muttered from the back.

Turning for a second to look behind her, Liz could see the whole gang inside the plane was leaning into the gangway in order to see the action.

“If they do, I got twenty on Guerin,” Kyle answered. “He may be slower than her, but he’s got about two feet on her in height.”

Oblivious to what was going on around him, a luggage loaded Max tried to make his way around his best friend who had suddenly stopped in front of him. “What’s the traffic jam here? Let’s get on this plane and get our vacation groove thing started!” he cheered, but froze when he realized something was up. His best friend and fake girlfriend had the weirdest look on her face, something between total gobsmacked shock and severely ‘I’m-this-close-to-clawing-your-eyes-out’ pissed off look. “So... anyone wanna tell me what the hell’s going on?”

When he got no answer Max turned back to Maria and gently put his hand on her shoulder “Hey, you okay?”

Michael followed the movement with his eyes and finally snapped out of his daze. He pushed himself from the wall to stand at his full height. “So I’m here,” he said and hated the way his voice sounded in that moment. It showed all his feeling and he was sure she’d still be able to read between the lines. He had meant to explain more about the situation, but he didn’t trust himself right now and he needed to get away from her because he couldn’t bear the sight of her with another man or the look of hurt in her eyes, so he pushed past Liz to go back to his seat. The others would explain what was going on and hopefully it would be the truth this time.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you,” Liz finally spoke to her former best friend. Why had she agreed to something like this? She could kick herself for the look on Maria’s face right now.
“He’s with Tess, but he didn’t have a clue you were coming. He didn’t even know we were going to the Maldives.”

“Yeah, for sure he wouldn’t have set a foot on the plane if he knew he had to face me,” Maria’s hurt turned into anger. “The pussy didn’t even think it was necessary to face me for a breakup.”

Breakup - the word bounced around Max’s brain till it clicked. Holy shit, it was the vanished-off-the-face-of-the-earth asshole ex-boyfriend!

Maria straightened up and shoved the shock away, suddenly feeling a wave of determination and strength wash over her that she didn’t know she had in her at all. So Michael was here? Good! Then he could watch how FANTASTIC her life had gone with a new sexy boyfriend. By the end of the vacation she wouldn’t leave him with a single doubt that she didn’t miss him in her life.

Liz looked uncertainly between the inside of the plane and the woman still standing at the entry. Would she turn and leave? How mad would she be with her?

“It’s good to see you again, girl,” Maria took a step forward and hugged her tightly. “You really look good.”

The brunette girl sighed in relief and returned the hug. “You look good too,” she said and added a whispered: “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry,” the blonde muttered back. “If he’s the one Tess brought, then that’s the way it is. I moved on and don’t care. It was just a little shocking.” Moved on, yeah! Who was she kidding?

“So you’ll still come?”

“Of course,” Maria stepped away and smiled at her before she turned to grab Max’ hand. “Liz, meet my boyfriend, Max Evans.”

“Hi, Max, it’s nice to meet you,” she reached out to take his huge, warm hand to squeeze it. Only now, when she lifted her head to look into his eyes, did she take in his appearance and her knees immediately went weak when he flashed a smile with lips and teeth so perfect it was ridiculous. His deep brown eyes looked down at her like she was the most exciting thing in the world.

“I uh - nice to, uh - yeah.” Max tried his best to unglue his tongue from the roof of his mouth as he took in the gorgeous girl in front of him. Man, this woman was so his type it was a shame she had a fiancé... and he a FAKE girlfriend!

As soon as they had taken the first step inside, a stewardess rushed by to close the door behind them. “We have a short schedule for departure, so please take your seats.”

Liz waved them over. “Come on, this way.”

“Alright,” Maria nodded as Liz took a few steps ahead of them. Turning to look at Max her eyes narrowed when she noticed the way his eyes were following Liz’s swaying rear end a little too closely.

“Owww,” he was snapped out of his hypnotism by a sharp elbow to the ribs. “What the hell, woman!”

“You’re MY boyfriend, remember that.”

“Uh… oh, yeah.”

“Don’t think I missed the looks you were giving Liz,” she hissed before heading down the aisle with a fake smile “And bring our bags!”

“Yes, dear,” Max growled under his breath and stumbled along carrying a ton of bags - most of them Maria’s. They stopped when the other passengers came into sight and didn’t miss how everyone looked as if a nuclear bomb was about to go off amongst them. Dropping the bags to the floor, he raised his eyebrows in question to no one in particular and asked: “Soo... something going on here?”

The mood suddenly shifted and Isabel got out of her seat with a smile to hug the new arrivals. “Maria, it’s so nice to see you again.” They hadn’t seen each other even once after leaving Roswell. “You look stunning.”

“Uh-huh,” she countered with a smile and hugged her as well. “I think stunning is a bit overstated but thanks. And you look perfect as always.” Her gaze wandered behind the woman and her eyes grew wider when she detected the man with the iPod in his hands. “Kyle Valenti? I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

He looked at her – almost shocked that she had figured out who he was without a question. “I’m Liz’s surrogate date.” He grinned and got out of his seat to greet her.

“Not surrogate,” Liz denied.

“You two…”

“We’re friends,” she explained. “Dean had to stay for his job so I asked Kyle to come along.”

“See, I’m just second choice,” he rolled his eyes.

“How’d you figure out it was him?” Isabel wanted to know, amazed. It had taken a throw back reference from Kyle before she had recognized him.

“Are you kidding me?” Maria looked amazed at her friend’s ignorance. “Did you guys not recognize him?”

“Uh, yeah, this’s Kyle.... we went to school with him,” Isabel said, a little lost.

“Oh my god, you guys have no idea, do you?” A smirking Maria grabbed one of her smaller bags from Max and began rooting around in it. “I mean, do you guys never read Cosmopolitan or whatever?”

Whereas Tess, Isabel, Alex and Max seemed to have no clue, Liz and Kyle knew where this was going and shared a smirk.

“Here it is!” Maria claimed in delight as she yanked a magazine out of her bag and began flipping through it. After a few seconds she found what she was looking for and held it up for all too see. “See anyone we know?”

In the black and white add was a model clad only in Calvin Klein underwear as water dripped down his chest and ran along his abs.

“Oh, my fucking God! “ Isabel squealed as she took in the picture and the man sitting close to her.

“Yep, our boy here has done quite a few of these in numerous magazines,” Maria chuckled. “He’s got quite a fan club here in New York. Just check out YouTube.”

He’s an underwear model? Tess thought when she neared the group slowly. No wonder he looked like a god. Holy shit, I have that one! she realized as she looked between the magazine ad and Kyle. I used it last week when I was home alone and needed a... Tess’ train of thought stopped as she felt the blood rush both ways - to her face for a blush and further south due to the pleasurable memory.

“I guess I’ll have to look at the advertisement more,” Isabel smirked and stepped aside to introduce someone. “Maria, this’s my friend Alex. And before someone else tells you, we just met at the airport, and yes, that is kinda short term, but who cares, right?”

Maria looked at the man, stunned for a moment, but then smiled and shook his hand. “Hey, Alex, I guess you already figured out what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Still learning,” he said with a smile.

“Hi, Maria,” Tess greeted quietly when she stepped in front of her, unsure how she was going to react considering the fact that she had brought Michael.

“Tess,” the other girl greeted back and looked at her observantly for a moment. Okay, so either she could be pissed at her or she could get over it already and enjoy the short time they had together. “I see you didn’t grow another inch.” A smile broke loose on her face and she hugged the curly blonde in front of her. “Hey, munchkin.”

Tess felt relieved when she didn’t seem to be too mad and for now ignored the allusion to her size. Her gaze wandered to the man standing behind her friend and the feeling of guilt increased when she saw how good looking he was. Michael really didn’t deserve this. Shit!

“Everyone, this’s my boyfriend, Max,” Maria pointed behind her and leaned into his chest.

“Hey,” came from different sides.

A sound could be heard overhead and then a male voice said, “Cabin crew, ready for takeoff.”

“Guess that means: Take your seats,” Liz said and sat down, closing the seatbelt.

Everyone else followed her example and crashed into the many empty seats. Max waited until Maria had taken the one by the window before he slipped into his. “You okay?” he asked gently and took her hand. He knew her ability to hide what she was really feeling and right now she probably looked a lot of calmer than she actually was.

There was no point in hiding how she truly felt with Max – he would see right through it. “I will be,” she mumbled and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“You still wanna go with the original plan?” he asked, his voice low so no one would overhear.

“Sure. I’m not giving him the satisfaction.”

He nodded to himself and looked out the window when their speed increased and the landscape outside flew by. “Maybe it’s not a bad thing he’s here. It could give you some answers finally.”

“I’m not sure if I want them anymore.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” he squeezed her hand for encouragement.

They stayed silent as the plane lifted from the asphalt, the movement causing a funny feeling in the head and stomach. Max smirked when he heard a little gasp behind him and he turned his head to look at the seat that was occupied by Liz. “You okay?”

She turned her head in surprise and blushed when he had obviously overheard her. “Yeah, I just hate takeoffs.”

“Me too,” he admitted and winked at her. “It’s like someone reaches inside your head and squeezes your brain.”

“Oh my God,” she laughed and nodded. “You’re right. I always wondered how to describe the feeling, but that hits it pretty well.”

He laughed along with her, liking the way her face and eyes lit up and the dimples formed on her cheeks. Damn, it was going to be hard to not flirt with her during the trip, especially when her fiancé obviously wasn’t around.

Maria’s gaze wandered to the curtain at the end of the gangway, where she knew Michael was hiding on the other side.

What was going on in his head? How did he feel about it? His voice and body language had revealed insecurity and hurt – but really, how good was she still at reading him? She had never seen the breakup coming, so maybe it wasn’t hurt. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander over the sudden encounter a few minutes ago.

Although he still looked like the Michael Guerin she knew from the past, his looks had changed. He didn’t wear his hair in spikes anymore, it was a tad longer and he had that just-out-of-the-bed look, which really fit him well. His body had always been nice, but now it looked like he had lost the little bit of fat he’d ever had and replaced it with muscle. Not that he was a muscle head that couldn’t even bring his arms to his sides anymore, but parts like his shoulders, neck and arms were more defined. There were his eyes, which changed the most though. Somehow they looked … empty. And although she didn’t want to feel any sympathy for him she wondered what has caused it.

The curtain was suddenly opened and a stewardess came out carrying several filled glasses. “Miss Parker, the champagne.”

Liz got out of her seat when the signs for fasten seatbelt went off and took two of them from the tray to hand it out. “Alright, friends, let our vacation begin!”