Roswell Fanatics

Title: Dying To Belong
Author: B
Category: AU M/L
Rating: MATURE
Disclaimer: People often say i look like Jason Katims...Does that count??...Does that make it mine??...Oh who am i kidding im just a little girl, i own nothing all right!! (BTW i don't really look like him. You know, just in case you were wondering)
Summary:Stuff happens...Enjoy
Authors Note: Prologue is short...This stuff im crapping on about here is probably longer...But that was the only way it would work...Chapters will be much longer
Feedback: Please? :puppydogeyes:



Prologue

A flash of light illuminates the night sky. A newborn baby sleeps peacefully in her adoring parents arms. The happy mood inside their hospital room contradicts the feverish whirlwind of the storm outside. A thunderclap and another flash lights up the awaiting vehicle positioned at the entrance to the hospital, ready to take the newly completed family home. Inside the car the heat emitted by the car warmed the family as they made their way home. Suddenly there is a blinding flash of car lights and the heart-stopping screech of tire's as the driver of a semi-trailer frantically tries to prevent what's about to happen. The little car is sent into a tailspin only to be stopped by a set of streetlights. Wrapped around the metal pole, any hope of survivors seams unlikely yet inside the mangled vehicle there is still signs of life. The semi conscious mother mentally checks herself for injuries. Blood drips from a deep gash across her forehead; her legs are trapped under the front of the collapsed car, preventing any lower body movement, and a sharp and painful metal skewer pierces the tender flesh of her upper abdomen. Fighting the alluring urge to slip into the peacefulness of unconsciousness, she forces herself to stay awake. Reaching over to her husband next to her she feels his neck for a pulse. A few moments and her worse fears are confirmed. With a heart-wrenching sob she blinks back the tears, which threaten to consume her. Her stable world is crumbling around her but she doesn't give into the emotional pain she feels in her heart as it cries for her lost love. She clings to the hope that her baby girl is still alive. She refuses to believe that anyone would take away the two people most precious to her in the entire world and leave her on this earth to suffer through the pain of it. Painfully testing her mobility she tries to turn her body as best she can so as to confirm, either way, the fate of her baby. The slight movement again brought to her to tears and she gasps as she feels the skewer imbed itself deeper into her flesh. Breathing through the pain she turns her body around enough to try and get a glimpse of her child. She is torn between happiness that her baby isn't crying meaning she wasn't in pain and the terrifying realisation that the absence of her baby's cries could mean she was dead. Composing herself she turned her head towards the backseat. There in her line of vision was her beautiful baby girl, sound asleep and still wrapped up tightly in her hospital issued blanket, safely secured into the protective car seat, undisturbed by everything that had taken place. Relief flooded through the woman and she sobbed with happiness. Her daughter appeared perfectly unharmed bar the cut she had just above her left eye. With a trembling hand the mother reached out towards the sleeping child and stroked her check while whispering words of love and comfort. She is suddenly aware of the whirring sound of the ambulance siren as it moves closer and closer to the wreckage. Smiling to herself she knew that everything was going to be all right, she still had her beautiful baby girl and help was on its way. This was what was going through her mind as the ambulance pulled up and as her lungs collapsed, releasing her soul to once again reunite with her husband and cementing her daughter's fate as a parentless child.


This was my first BTW...Im a virgin fanfic writer...Be gentle...With the feedback i mean

A/N: Thank you so much for the feedback...Im sorry this part has taken so long but its finally done...I assure you this is my first fic...This part may prove that to you...None the less here it is...Oh and BTW the cat in this fic is based entirely on my cat of the same name...I hope you enjoy this part


Part One

”Refuse to feel
anything at all
refuse to slip
refuse to fall
can't be weak
can't stand still
watch your back
cause no one will”

Simon - Lifehouse

Approximately 16 years later

“Okay Liz we have been through this before, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong” He waited expectantly for her to talk only to be confronted with an all too familiar silence. Obviously becoming irritated he continued.

“Look Liz everyone is concerned about you, the least you could do is try to make life easier for everyone and just talk to me” again silence.

Taking a deep breath the man in front of her tried to calm himself down. He knew what she was trying to do. Its what she has done every time she has had an appointment with him.

“This has been going on for years Liz, every time we have had an appointment you just sit there, rarely even making an effort to converse with me. I was hoping you would have grown up a little since our last meeting.” Realizing he wasn’t going to get a response he just shook his head at her, “ Oh what are we going to do with you Liz?”

“Im sorry to be such an inconvenience” she said, purposely keeping her tone and expression neutral.

Leaning back in his chair he closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to sooth away the beginnings of his Liz induced migraine. Taking a deep breath he composed himself and opened his eyes to look at the girl sitting on front of him. Her appearance was deceiving, giving off the impression of a normal carefree teenage girl, but he knew that the reality was much different. She had been in and out of foster care for her whole life, that kind of emotional instability was bound to have its repercussions but apart from Liz’s detachment to the rest of the world she seamed unaffected by the lack of proper nurturing she should have been given if it weren’t from the tragic accident which claimed the lives of her parents. Her case had baffled him for years. She had shown none of the normal signs, common amongst teenagers like herself. He stared at her a little longer, in a way hoping that he may be able to crack open her outside shell and reveal the scared, hurt little girl that he knew must be hiding beneath her cool, calm exterior.

“You know that’s not how I meant it to sound Liz” again he was confronted with silence. Any hope of her opening up was long gone. In all his experience he has never met another teenager quite so unwilling to open up. Sure he’d had problems with kids like her before but never to this extreme. In all the years she had been coming to him for counseling she had never shown any real emotion, only the same neutral expression. This worried him but he knew he couldn’t force her to open up.

“Okay Liz I can see we aren’t going to get anywhere today so you may as well get out of here, but I want you to make an another appointment at the front desk, alright?”

He knew waiting for some acknowledgement was futile but still he paused, in the hopes of getting some kind of reaction.

Rolling her eyes Liz stood from here chair and turned to leave the room. As she exited she could hear the man’s tired sigh before she disappeared around the corner, never quite making it over to the front desk to make that follow up appointment.

…


When Liz got back to her room her collapsed onto her bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She hated her appointments with doctor Anders. She had been seeing him for years now and the appointments always ended up the same. With him frustrated with her lack of conversation and indifference.

When Liz was brought into the orphanage as a newborn she was said to have been a little angel. Though they were confused about the fact that she never cried or caused them any problems, they never really questioned it, instead choosing to take it as a blessing. They never realized at the time that Liz’s lack of tears and normal infant behavior would result in her being endlessly moved around from one foster home to another.

Kicking off her shoes and making herself comfortable, Liz wrapped the blanket from her bed around her cold body, trying to take advantage of the warmth it had to offer. Giving in to sleep, Liz closed her tired eyes, reveling in the anticipation of the peaceful dreams, which awaited her. Clutching her pillow to her chest her breathing became shallow as she entered the plain of conscious sleep.

She was drifting deeper and deeper into a restful sleep when an all to familiar rattle came from her window. Whimpering in protest, Liz took the pillow she had been holding and held it to her head in the hopes of drowning out the annoyingly persistent sound coming from the window. All was quiet for a moment and Liz naively considered the thought that maybe whoever it was at the window had taken the hint and left. No sooner had she completed that thought when the rattling sound was heard again. This time a little louder and a little more impatiently.

Groaning in annoyance Liz hauled herself up from the comforts of her bed and stalked across the room to the source of the noise. Lifting up the window she looked upon the cause of her disturbed slumber.

“What do you want”, she spat, her voice full of venom. She stood there looking expectantly at the silhouetted figure standing before her.

“Meow”, was the answer she received.

“God Missy you are so annoying”, scolding the cat she just rolled her eyes at the pitiful look Missy gave her.

Sighing out a breath of frustration Liz spoke again, a little calmer this time, “fine get in”.

Happy with that offer, Missy gracefully leapt down from the windowsill onto the old wooden floor boards which adorned Liz’s room. Much to Liz’s disgust Missy then continued to walk over to Liz’s bed and take up residence right there in the spot which Liz had been peacefully sleeping just moments before.

“Oh no you don’t, get up that’s where I was sleeping”

A look of indignation crossed the cats face and she meowed angrily.

“Don’t give me that, this is my room and I’ll sleep where I want to sleep” furious with missy’s demanding attitude Liz made her way over to the bed to pick her up so she could get back to her REM cycle.

As Liz reached down to pickup the cat, Missy set her claws for attack mode and struck out at Liz, her sharp hooks connecting with the tender flesh of Liz’s upper arm.

Abandoning her plan to pick up the cat, Liz clutched at her arm, looking down at it to inspect the damage. Her mouth gaping Liz looked at Missy in shock, “I can’t believe you just did that” since this war between the two of them was a regular occurrence, that statement was a clearly a lie.

The smug look which was clear on Missy’s face soon turned to a look of fear as she saw Liz’s lips turn up in an evil grin and revenge flash across her normally emotionally devoid doe eyes.

Looking around her Liz’s smile grew as her eyes came to rest on a large bottle of water. She looked back over towards Missy, who had now taken up a fight stance on the bed, claws out ready to attack. Speed and agility would now determine the winner. In one quick movement Liz grabbed the bottle of water and emptied the contents onto the now very shocked, and very wet cat.

A satisfied grin graced Liz’s face as she internally did a victory dance. She watched a very pissed off cat shake off most of the water from her fur and, with as much dignity as a drenched cat can muster, jump down from the bed, stalk across the room, and vanish out the still opened window.

Turning back to the bed Liz’s satisfied smile fell from her lips as she realized and not only had the water wet her cat but also her bed. Groaning to herself she cursed whoever it was up there in control for letting her fight with Missy result in her once warm and inviting bed becoming all wet and cold.

Before she even had a chance to clean up the mess her and Missy had made the door to her room was unceremoniously flung open to reveal a slightly flushed, overweight, middle-aged woman with a tired look on her face.

Looking over towards the wet bed the woman standing in the doorway let out an exasperated sigh “Oh Liz you and that cat of yours”, Taking in Liz’s appearance she noticed her ruffled hair and tired eyes. “You haven’t been sleeping have you” taking Liz’s silence as a yes the woman continued “Liz you know you shouldn’t be taking naps in the afternoon, you’ll sleep right through dinner”.

She watched Liz for a response but only got a slight nod of the head from her. Satisfied with this answer the woman kept on talking, “well dinner is ready so I expect you to come downstairs and join the rest of the children at the table, we have some news we would like to share with you all”, and with that she turned and left the same way she entered.

Unaware that she had been holding her breath, Liz look in a much needed lungful of air. Walking over to the mirror she stared at her reflection. Looking back at her was a pair of tired, expressionless, dark brown eyes. Picking up the hairbrush sitting beside the mirror Liz began to absentmindedly comb her bed-ruffled hair, consciously lengthening the time before she would have to make her way downstairs to join the other parentless children.

Somewhat satisfied with her now mildly respectable looking hair, she put down her hairbrush. Turning away from the mirror she gathered up all the courage she could summon. Now ready, she slowly made her way downstairs.

…


Looking around her from her place at the table Liz casually observed her company. Down the far end of the table sat the woman who had entered her room just before. Her name was Sister Carlotta Jacobs, the woman in charge of Trinity home for girls, Liz’s current residence. The other girls who were housed at Trinity were of different ages, ranging from 4 to 10. Liz and one other girl were the only ones who exceeded that age group.

Glancing to her left Liz watched that other girl, out of the corner of her eye. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and way quite pretty to look at. She was nice enough and got along easily with everyone, that being the main reason why Sister Jacobs had been so adamant about Liz and the girl sharing a room.

When Tess had first come to Trinity it had seem like a blessing to Sister Jacobs. She, like everyone else at the home, was well aware of Liz’s introverted personality and was pleased with the idea of a girl Liz’s age staying at the home. She thought it would be good for Liz to associate with someone her own age, and she blatantly hoped that Tess’ presence would help Liz to finally open up. This was all kept in mind when Sister Jacobs placed Tess in with Liz upon arrival.

Thought her intentions were good, Sister Jacobs had no way of knowing that this seemingly appropriate paring would set off one of Liz’s famous downward spirals.

From the moment Liz was informed of the arrangement she had been against it. She didn’t voice it in so many words but Sister Jacobs could tell she wasn’t happy about it. Even before the whole Tess arrangement had been brought into the open Liz had never been much of a conversationalist, but after she was told that she would be sharing her room she became even more detached from everyone. This was a sure sign of her displeasure about the situation.

Since Liz had never openly used emotion to express the way she felt, Sister Jacobs had to learn to read her lack of emotion, so as to get some sort of an idea of how Liz was feeling. This wasn’t an easy task and on many occasions when she thought she had Liz figured out she would do something out of character and totally change her opinions of Liz.

Thought she was aware of Liz’s discomfort with sharing her room with another person Sister Jacobs insisted that this was just what Liz needed to help her wounded soul to heal. She needed a friend, someone to confide in, to share all the hurt that had plagued her existence, someone who could finally make her laugh. Sister Jacobs prayed that Tess could give her the companionship that Liz’s heart yearned for. Unfortunately those prays went unanswered.

Tess’ arrival into Liz’s life was what sparked her seven-day hunger strike and resulted in her substantial weight loss. From the day Tess moved into her room Liz’s reluctance to eat went mostly unnoticed. She would sit at the table and feign eating by pushing her food around on her plate, or by picking it up with her fork only to let it drop back to her plate, never quite reaching her mouth.

After two days of this Sister Jacobs became concerned with Liz’s behavior. She could now see quite plainly that Liz hadn’t taken to Tess at all, as much as Tess had tried to open Liz up, her efforts were without effect. She had known Liz for all 16 years of her existence and she knew her enough to realize that this was Liz’s way of protesting the new arrangement.
In a way she was angry about Liz’s reaction. She had done nothing but help Liz since the day she was brought to Trinity home for girls, but all her efforts went unnoticed by Liz. Sister Jacobs couldn’t help but feel a sense of rejection. She was trying to do what was best for Liz by housing her with someone her own age and all Liz did was deflect her offers of help and do something so childish as a hunger strike just to get her own way.

Sister Jacobs decided to just wait it out. Let Liz do as she pleased. She was sure that in a day or two she would move on from this childish behavior and accept Tess’ company as being permanent. Though five days later she was forced to re-evaluate that decision.

Her decision to wait it out only led to Liz’s three-day hospitalization. She was discharged and allowed her own room back on the condition that she started to eat on her own again. After Liz had agreed to these conditions she had been allowed back to Trinity. When Liz had returned from where she was submitted to endless tests and nasogastric feeds, she was welcomed back to a Tess free room.

Still looking at Tess now, Liz didn’t regret what she had done. She knew the reasons for Sister Jacobs wanting them together but she wasn’t ready to open up her heart to anyone. She had spent her whole life learning how to close herself off to people, close herself off to pain, that at this point she wasn’t even sure if she could let someone else in, even if she had wanted to. She had built a brick wall around herself as a means of protection but along with the protection came the self-inflicted suffocation, which that wall provided. Suffocation, which she was forced to lived with everyday.

Her thoughts were rudely disrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking away from Tess and towards the noise Liz realized that Sister Jacobs was now standing at her place at the head of the table, ready to say something. Out of courtesy Liz watched as Sister Jacobs spoke, not taking in anything she was saying, her thoughts had already turned back to her earlier musings. There was no need for her to pay attention anyway she was well aware of what she was announcing.

It was around this time every year, after school had been let out for the holidays, that the girls of Trinity would be funded to take a vacation to a previously agreed upon destination. This year it looked like they were all going to Disneyland, California. Having only a small number of girls, housed and Trinity it usually wasn’t too hard to find enough funding to cover their expenses. Sister Jacobs liked to go all out for there vacations because she knew how much it meant to the younger kids. This year was no exception. Tuning into Sister Jacobs voice, Liz just caught the last of what she had to say.

“…and since they have been extra generous this year we will be able to stay in one of Disneyland’s on site hotels!” she exclaimed her voice filled and pleasure at the exciting news she had just announced.

Liz could hear the loud whisper coming from the other children at the table as they processed this new information. Liz could sense their excitement levels rising but was unable to feel it herself. Her walls wouldn’t let her. She wouldn’t allow herself to become excited about the trip, it wasn’t worth the pain she knew would naturally follow. She had learned from experience that happiness just inevitably ended in sadness, a hard lesson to learn at such a young age.

There had been a time, once, when Liz had temporarily let down her defenses and opened herself up to the happiness her heart was desperate to find. She had been 6 years old and was living with a foster family at the time. The Harrison’s had been so kind and caring towards Liz that after several weeks she started to trust them and allow herself to feel the warmth their loving home provided. She had finally allowed herself to open her heart up to the possibility of happiness and let herself breath again only to have all her hopes of a blissful future destroyed. She was sent back to Trinity with only feeble excuses justifying her rejection.

The emotional pain she had felt then at such a tender age, scarred her worse than any physical pain ever could. At the age of 6 she made a promise to herself that she would never make herself vulnerable like that again, and 10 years later than promise still remains intact.

For the remainder of the meal, Liz was faced with the excited anticipation, which practically bounced off the other children. Even Tess’ eyes had lit up from the prior announcement. Liz knew what was to be expected during the next week as everyone got ready for the upcoming trip to Disneyland. She would be faced with eager little kids, counting down the days until they departed.

No longer being able to stand the constant Disneyland chatter Liz rose from the table. With her face expressionless and her eyes trained on her plate she asked to be excused.

“Yes you may be excused Liz” Not at all surprised by her willingness to leave Sister Jacobs watched her as she hastily collected her plate from the table and left the room in the direction of the kitchen.


…


Back in her room Liz thought about the impending holiday. The idea of going to Disneyland with a bunch of over-excited kids didn’t exactly trill her to pieces but it wasn’t like she had any choice in the matter. Now all she had to do for the next week was prepare for the holiday. That also meant finding someone to look after her cat while she was gone. This happened every year and she knew missy hated staying behind at Trinity by herself, with someone to look in on her and feed her but even more than that she hated being kept at an animal boarding shelter, the only other option available to her.

As if on cue Liz heard the familiar rattle at the window. Sighing to herself Liz contemplated just leaving the window open indefinitely, at least then she wouldn’t have to be at missy’s beck and call whenever she wanted to come in.

Approaching the window Liz thought about how she was going to break the news about the temporary alternative housing arrangement to missy.

As she opened the window Liz thought to herself sardonically, ‘Disneyland here I come’.



My diet is entirely based on feedback so please feed me

AN: Here it is...Better late than never...I hope its okay


Part Two


With one bag of measly possessions in hand, Liz gazes upon the California adventure hotel looming before her. The trip here had been less than desirable, with Tess talking non-stop the entire time about how excited she was and how she had always wanted to go to Disneyland. Tess had realized that her excitement wasn’t going to rub off on Liz at all and her endless chatter wasn’t going to encourage any conversation from Liz but she was too happy to try and contain it.

Taking in the sight in front of her Liz took a deep breath and tried to calm the nerves, which seamed to have taken up permanent residence in Liz’s stomach. This is the last place she wanted to be, surrounded by happy families on holiday, enjoying each other’s company. All it did was remind her of the ever present void in her heart which had yet to be filled.

Coming up behind Liz, Tess bend in toward her ear and whispered, “isn’t it amazing!” turning to face Tess’ excited gaze Liz shrugged in non-committal response.

“Oh come on Liz lighten up” Tess scolded “we have got to be in one of the happiest places in the world and still all you do is continue to sulk, you could at least try to make an effort” she looked at Liz’s expectantly, then just rolled her eyes and shook her head when she was unable to get any sort of acknowledgment from Liz.

Turning away from Tess and back to the huge building before her Liz tried to push back the feelings of hurt and anger that Tess’ words had provoked in her. She pushed back these feelings just like she did any feeling that threatened to wash over her. It was easier this way Liz would tell herself, far easier than dealing with the hurt that would come from feeling.

Back in control of her emotions, Liz let herself tune into what sister Carlotta Jacobs was saying.

“Since these holidays do take up most of our expenses there will have to be quite a bit of doubling up where sleeping arrangements are concerned”.

On hearing this Liz’s control wavered. That’s all she needs right now, some little brat sharing a room with her. All she wanted to do was be left alone but circumstances kept denying her this one pleasure.
Trying to gain back whatever control she could muster, Liz forced herself to listen as sister Jacobs rattled off the list of sleeping arrangements. She prayed that she would be spared the torture of sharing her living space. She was under enough pressure as it was being out of her usual controlled environment, which she thrived to keep but having to share with someone would just be too much. She held her breath and hoped that sister Jacobs would have taken this into consideration while she turned her attention back to the woman’s announcement.

“Lisa you will be paired with Sarah, Joanie your with April, Tess you will share with Liz…”

“What…no”, came the distraught cry from somewhere in amongst the group of children. Training her eyes to where the sound came from sister Jacobs was surprised to find it came from Liz. Though she knew this arrangement wouldn’t bode well with Liz she never in a million years would think that Liz would actually voice her displeasure with the situation. She was more the type to suffer in silence.

“ Please I can’t…” Liz tried to get the words out but they got stuck in her throat as she realized all eyes were upon her. Her heart raced as she endured the scrutinizing gaze coming from the other girls. She hated this, hated being looked at, being the center of attention; all she could think about was getting them to stop looking at her. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, her eyes were trained on the ground and she was struggling to breathe. She could feel the quizzical stares of those around her and she was suddenly feeling very claustrophobic. Before she even realized what she was doing she had dropped her bag and was running blindly, as far away as she could get from everyone’s suffocating stares.

Once she decided that she had put enough distance between herself and the rest of the girls she slowed her pace down to a jog until finally she was walking at a normal speed. There was no need to draw even more attention to herself by running around like the clinically insane.

She had been walking a while now and it was beginning to take its toll on Liz. A little while up ahead she could see masses and masses of screaming kids and happy families enjoying all that Disneyland had to offer. Sensing the beginnings of a stitch Liz looked around until she found what she was looking for; a medium sized food stall with several tables and chairs adorning the surrounding area.

Making her way over to a vacant table, Liz flopped down onto the hard plastic bench, eliciting a small groan as her aching body came in contact with the cold seat. She sat there for a moment contemplating what she was going to do now. She knew she couldn’t return to the hotel just yet, she wasn’t really in the mood for a lecture so really her only option was to stay put for the time being.

A low rumble emitted from Liz’s stomach made her realize just how hungry she really was. Liz hadn’t realized the mouth-watering smell of theme park food cooking before now but her stomach obviously had. Glancing over towards the nearest food stall Liz could see and arrangement of different foods, just waiting to be purchased. As if agreeing that food would be good right about now Liz’s stomach rumbled once more.

Digging her hand into the pocket of her jeans Liz produces just enough money to buy herself a small bucket of fries. After purchasing her food she turned to go back to her seat only to find that it has already been occupied. Taken aback at their sudden presence Liz faltered for a moment before taking a seat at the bench right next to the one she had previously sat at. Looking over towards the two people at the next table Liz watched as they conversed with each other. They were two teenagers, a boy and a girls, around the same age as Liz. The boy was tall from what she could tell and had dark hair. He seamed to be telling some sort of a story to the girl who accompanied him, what he was saying obviously funny because she was laughing as he spoke. The girl herself was somewhat shorter than the boy, had blonde hair and was very attractive.

Watching them, Liz envied the way they were so comfortable with each other. She had never had that. The ease at which they talked and laughed just blew Liz away. She wondered if they could be a couple but after watching them a moment longer she recessed that observation. They seamed more like brother and sister.

They captivated Liz. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. The girl must have been able to sense her gaze because a slight frown graced her features and she turned towards Liz. Shocked and embarrassed at being caught starring Liz averted her eyes, quickly investing all her attention in her now somewhat cold fries.

Liz mustn’t have looked away quick enough because a moment later she heard the girl whisper rather loudly, “What’s her deal?” embarrassed beyond belief Liz could feel her face go red. Before she had time to do anything about it a large presence came up behind her, blocking the sun, which was now lowering in the sky.

“Excuse me miss are you Elizabeth Parker?” turning her body towards the booming voice Liz nods timidly. Stealing a glance over towards the two teens seated at the next bench Liz could see them watching her.

Satisfied with her acknowledgement the large security guard took out his walkie-talkie. “ Elizabeth Parker has been found please notify Trinity, we’re on our way, over”.

Taking her by the arm the security guard pulled her gently from her seat. “Come on miss time to go back, they’ll be waiting for you at the California adventure hotel” he didn’t use much force but there was demand behind his actions. Liz was reluctant to go back but even more reluctant to disobey the security guard. Fighting her urge to look back upon the other boy and girl Liz kept her attention trained ahead of her.

“Oh my god Alex did you hear what that man said?”

Signing to himself Alex replied “ ok Maria tell me what I missed”

Frustrated that he didn’t realize what she had realized Maria continued, “ that security guard said that girl was from trinity!” she raised her eyebrows a little figuring that her statement should have meant something to Alex.

Still not getting it entirely Alex just continued to look at Maria quizzically.

“God Alex, Trinity is an orphanage for girls” exasperated Maria waited for Alex to connect the dots. She understands that he’s a guy so it may take a while so she tries to be patient.

Then suddenly it dawned on him. “oh so that means that girl was an…”

“ Orphan yeah”

“Wow that’s horrible, poor girl” seeing Maria’s guilty expression Alex asked, “Maria what’s wrong, why do you look so guilty?”

“I she heard me say ‘what’s her deal’ when I saw her looking at us. God she must think im so rude”

Alex was about to make a joke when he realized that this was really bothering her, “look Maria im sure she didn’t hear and even if she did why would she care”.

“Alex you are such a guy of course she would care.” Pausing for a moment Maria looked like she was considering something. Scared Alex tried to distract Maria from whatever she was planning.

“Hey Maria, look a pony” Alex exclaimed while pointing somewhere off into the distance.

Unperturbed by Alex’s games Maria voiced her thoughts, “maybe I should go find her to apologize, the security guard did say she was staying at the California adventure hotel, same as us.”

She looked so hopeful that Alex felt bad breaking her heart. Looking sympathetic he said bluntly, “no Maria absolutely not”

“But Alex…”

“No Maria, just leave the girl alone”, checking his watch he realized it was getting late, and his parents were expecting them back in a few minutes. “Come on Maria we gotta get back”, stuffing the last of his fries into his mouth he rose from his place at the bench, gesturing for Maria to do the same.

Seeing that Maria had yet to move Alex rolled his eyes, “stop thinking whatever it is your thinking, even if it wasn’t a stupid idea to try and find that girl how would you do it. The hotel is huge, it’s not like your going to go door knocking until you find her”

Feigning acceptance Maria signed in false displeasure, “your right Alex, im being stupid, its not like I can ask at the desk for her room number or anything, I’d have to know her last name to do that”. Waiting for Alex to rebut her last statement, Maria inwardly smiled, her suspicions answered. Alex didn’t remember the security guard mentioning the girl’s full name.

Alex was so taken aback by Maria actually agreeing with him he almost choked on his half eaten fries. Slowly Alex spoke, “that’s great Maria, im glad you see it my way”, smiling he added, “for once”.

Getting up and walking over to Alex, Maria linked her arm with his. Smiling sweetly up at him she said, “well there’s always a first for everything”. All the while planning just what she was going to say to Liz when she goes over to apologize.

…


In her room back at the hotel, Liz flopped down onto the bed and covered her face with her hands. She was still thoroughly embarrassed by what had happened earlier, with the boy and girl and that had only been compounded by the lecture she had gotten when the security guard had brought her back to the hotel, and back to sister Jacobs disapproving gaze.

Looking back to what had happened with sister Jacobs, Liz considered that it had gone pretty much as she would have predicted. Liz had spent her whole life-watching people, watching their reactions, their mannerisms, and their expressions so she now knew what to expect from people. Well most people. She didn’t like being around people she didn’t understand. People like that are to unpredictable and it makes Liz feel unsettled. She thrives on control and continuity. Its what keeps her from breaking down and retreating even more into her mind.

Looking around the room for the first time Liz noticed another double bed, identical to the one she was laying on, across the other side of the room by the window. On it was what she could only assume to be Tess’ things. When she had come back to the hotel sister Jacobs had informed her that despite her obvious dislike for the sleeping arrangements she was to share a room with Tess like she had specified on arrival. Although Liz wasn’t to thrilled about this, the initial shock had worn off and she was beginning to deal with the situation. It was just another thing she was going to have to get used to; another thing she would have to pretend didn’t bother her.

Before Liz had time to contemplate the reason for Tess’ absence the door to the hotel room was flung open to reveal none other than Tess herself. A look of surprise passed over Tess’ face as her eyes look in Liz’s presence. “Liz I didn’t expect to see you here, I thought you would be half way to Mexico by now considering your exit earlier”.

Liz made no attempt to say anything in return so instead Tess made her way over to Liz and cautiously sat down at the end of her bed. She looked at Liz for a moment, as if considering what she was going to say. Twisting a blonde curl around her finger in a nervous gesture she started, “look Liz… I know you don’t want to share a room with me, and considering your earlier performance im betting that most of Disneyland knows you don’t want to share a room with me…” pausing to take breath she continued, “…but it looks like we don’t really have a choice here, so I was just kinda hoping that we could put whatever differences we have aside and try to enjoy this vacation, I mean that is the whole point right?”, she looked at Liz hopefully, willing her to agree.

Liz noticed the hopeful look in Tess’ eyes and realized how hard her behavior must be for Tess. Her not wanting to share a room wasn’t anything personal. Liz didn’t want to have to share with anyone, she needed her space, and time to herself and sharing with another person didn’t exactly accommodate that need. At least being with one of the younger kids meant she wouldn’t have to talk to them at all. Most of the younger kids where scared of her because she never spoke, being in a room with one of them would have made sharing a little easier, but the fact that she was with someone her age meant she would be expected to have conversations and god forbid do normal teenage girly things. Liz just didn’t think she would handle that kind of interaction at the moment. Truthfully she didn’t really think she would ever be able to handle that kind of interaction or any other for that matter.

But watching the hope in Tess’ eyes she knew she couldn’t keep up this silence forever. She was going to try her hardest to act like a normal teenage girl, instead of being the depressed, orphan that she really was. She watched people do it all the time, how hard could it be? This was a vacation after all, she didn’t have to be herself, for this week at least. So that’s what she was going to do, she was going to try being normal for once, act like she was happy, maybe even smile. This was all so new to her, she had never really felt any emotion apart from sadness and loneliness, every life experience she had had so far had been filled with hope and then disappointment. It had gone on for to long that she was to tired to hope, it was easier to just except the disappointment, but she had watched people experience happiness and joy all the time. She saw how their faces lit up and a huge smile would grace their lips. Even if she hadn’t ever experienced these kinds of feeling, at least she could act like she did. So looking at Tess now Liz smiled and said “ okay, im game if you are”.


…


After dinner with Alex and his parents Maria decided it was time to put her plan into action. When everyone had finished their meals they decided to go back to their rooms, Alex’s parents in one room, Alex and Maria in the one across the hall.

Settling down on his double bed Alex got comfortable, while flipping through the vast array of cable TV channels, finally stopping when he reached his desired program. The Muppet marathon.

Looking over to what Alex was watching Maria smiled to herself. He would be busy for hours. Thinking quickly Maria spoke, “hey Alex im just going for a walk, okay?”

“Ah huh”, was his murmured reply, to engrossed in his TV program to fully process what Maria said.

Smiling at how easy this was so far Maria grabbed her coat of the rack and slipped out of the hotel room before Alex had time to realize where she was really going.

Making her way down the lift to the reception desk, Maria tried to think of what she was going to say to this Elizabeth girl. She had no idea but she knew she should do something. It felt right, and her mother had always told her to go with her gut instinct so that’s what she was going to do.

As she neared the reception desk Maria plastered a seductive smile on her face and turned on the charm. Leaning casually against the marble desk Maria beamed up at the reception clerk and waited for his acknowledgement.

Glancing towards the blonde bombshell awaiting his assistance the clerk instantly stood up a little straighter as he made his way over to her. Clearing his throat nervously he began, “um hi, is there anything I can help you with miss…”

“Maria, you can call me Maria” she smiled at him, purposely running her tongue over her bottom lip. Looking down at his chest, Maria flipped his name badge with one finger and continued, “ so Brad I was wondering if you would be able to tell me the room number a”, pausing for a second she continued, “Um a friend of mine is staying in”.

“I um, sure I guess I could do that. What’s the name?”

“Elizabeth parker”

Typing away at one of the computers for a moment, Brad stole quick glances in Maria’s direction, obviously pleased with what he saw. Finding the information he wanted, he grabbed a pen from the desk and a piece of paper and started to write. When he was done he folded the paper and handed it to Maria.

“Those are the numbers im pretty sure you wanted”

Confused a little by what he meant Maria just smiled and thanked him. As she walked back over to the elevator Maria opened up the piece of paper the clerk had given her. At the top of the paper was the information she had requested. Below it was Brad’s phone number. Smiling to herself Maria thought about how Michael would react if he found out about this. Though he tried not to show it, Michael could become insanely jealous at any male orientated attention directed towards Maria. It had been hard enough as it was for him not to lock Maria in his apartment and not let her go on this trip Alex’s parents had invited her to. The only thing that stopped him from carrying out this desire was Maria’s excitement concerning the holiday and the fact that he made Alex promise to keep all males within a 10-mile radius of Maria.

Though this didn’t alleviate all his concerns it helped him to sleep at night and prevented him from blowing all the money he had earned working at the crashdown on a plane ticket to California.

Pushing away her thoughts about Michael, Maria concentrated on her destination. Thinking about her boyfriend back home only made her miss him even more. Riding the lift up to the correct floor, Maria thought again about what she was going to say. Unfortunately she was still drawing a blank. She just hoped that Elizabeth wouldn’t think it strange that she went to the trouble of finding out where she was staying just to apologize.

Maria did realize that it was a little weird, Alex certainly thought so, but for some reason that she couldn’t explain she just felt something about this girl. She felt sorry for her; the fact that she was an orphan must be so hard on her. Maria didn’t know what it was like to have both parents but at least she had her mother. She had that to be thankful for but this girl had nothing. She had obviously been dealt a bad hand and she was probably dealing with that the best she could and she didn’t need people adding to her already sad existence by making rude comments, just like she herself had done. That was her main reason for wanting to apologizing.

Stepping off the elevator, Maria started looking at door numbers. When she reacted the right room she stopped, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

From inside the room she could hear noises, then definite footsteps coming closer to the door. Taking a step back she prepared herself for what was to come.

As the door opened Maria plastered a hopeful smile on her face and said nervously, “hey again, remember me?”


Feedback... :puppydogeyes:

A/N: Here's a new part for you all so i hope you like it


Part 3

Previously

Stepping off the elevator, Maria started looking at door numbers. When she reacted the right room she stopped, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

From inside the room she could hear noises, then definite footsteps coming closer to the door. Taking a step back she prepared herself for what was to come.

As the door opened Maria plastered a hopeful smile on her face and said nervously, “hey again, remember me?”
…


Maria spoke as soon as the door had opened, not really waiting to see who was on the other side. Looking now she could see that the girl standing in front of her was a hell of a lot different from the one she had seen earlier in the afternoon.

The girl she had seen before had looked so sad and lonely from what Maria could tell. She had been dressed casually, her chocolate colored hair creating a long straight waterfall down her back, and her face was completely devoid of makeup, bar a small amount of lip-gloss she had on. Yes she had been pretty but it was nothing compared to the girl standing before her now. This girl looked like she didn’t even know the meaning of the word casual. She was dressed in a revealing mini skirt and skimpy halter-top. Her face was covered with carefully applied makeup, right down to the sparkling lip-gloss she had on. Her hair was curled up into tight ringlets, her look completed with an award-winning smile. Shocked at the girl standing before her Maria stuttered nervously, “ y-your not the girl I saw this afternoon.”

Recognition suddenly crossed the girls somewhat confused expression and her smile widened “oh that’s right, your that girl I saw sitting with that guy at the food stand. Hi im Liz Parker”, she said sweetly, sticking out her hand for Maria to shake.

Slightly bewildered Maria shook her hand, “okay now im really confused you look nothing like the girl I saw today.”

Giggling at the puzzled look on the other girls face Liz tried to explain. “Oh no it is me, its just when you saw me earlier today I had just arrived and was really tired so I probably looked horrible”, flashing Maria another smile she continued. “Im sorry I didn’t quite catch your name”

“Im Maria, ah, Maria De Luca”

“Well it’s good to properly meet you Maria. Would you like to come in and meet my roommate?” Liz looked at Maria questioningly, waiting for her to reply, her perfect smile still in place.

“Um sure, if it’s not to much of an inconvenience of course”

“No not at all, don’t be silly”, Liz gushed while ushering Maria into the hotel room. “I’ll just call Tess I think she’s in the bathroom”. Turning away from Maria Liz’s smile faltered for a second before she took a deep breath and walked over to the bathroom door, knocking softly. “Tessie hon, could you come a minute, there is someone here I would like you to meet”.

“Sure just a sec”, was Tess’ muffled reply

While waiting for Tess to appear Liz turned back to face Maria, her smile plastered firmly in place. “So what brings you by here Maria”, Liz questioned, though deep down she knew she reason for Maria’s visit. Maria had realized that she was an orphan and was feeling guilty about her previous comment. It was practically written all over her face. All the years of watching people were really starting to come in handy just recently, Liz mused. Her intuition and acting skills were really kicking in. she could tell than Maria was confused with Liz’s apparent change in look and personality. She liked the fact that she was in control of the situation. She liked this feeling, like she was calling the shots. It made her feel powerful and in control. Two things she needed in life but never really had. Like before she was just hiding behind her personality but unlike her previously unperturbed front she used to wear, perkiness was rarely questioned, just appreciated. Maybe now she could be left alone, instead of having people give her pitying looks and endlessly questioning if she is okay. If on the outside she appears fine, then maybe people will believe it and just let her be.

Looking at Maria now, Liz gave her a reassuring smile, urging her to say something despite her obvious discomfort.

“Ah well actually I came by to apologize for earlier”

A slight frown marred Liz’s features and she tilted her head to the side as if trying to remember a reason for Maria needing to say sorry.

“What do you mean Maria, you have nothing to apologize for” she said, looking confused.

Her last statement surprised Maria. She was sure she had seen a look of hurt in Liz’s eyes when she had heard her comment before but now she seamed completely unfazed, though really it shouldn’t have surprised Maria at all considering the Liz standing with her now was like the polar opposite to the Liz she had seen before.

“Its just that I…”

“Don’t worry about”, Liz said quickly, cutting Maria off.

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else Tess made her presence known.

“Lizzie, who do we have here?” Tess asked sweetly her smile holding a very real likeness to the one, which grazed Liz’s lips. Looking at Tess now, Maria could see that their smile wasn’t the only think they had in common. Liz and Tess were dressed quite similarly, both in revealing skirts and tops. They were also both wearing perfectly applied makeup and Tess’ hair was also in tight ringlets, the only difference being her curly locks were blonde, not the beautiful chocolate Liz’s were.

Walking over to Tess Liz linked arms with her while making the introductions. “Tess I would like you to meet Maria, and Maria meet Tess.”

She waited for the girls to greet each other before she continued. “Maria and I met earlier today,” Liz explained to Tess

“Oh well its great to meet you Maria”

“Likewise” Maria smiled a little nervously.

An awkward silence settled over the three girls, each looking equally as uncomfortable. Breaking the silence first Tess spoke, “ hey Liz and I were just about to watch a movie on cable, do you want to stay and watch with us?”

“Um well I would love to its just that I left my best friend back in our room and he’ll be mad if he finds out I came over here and didn’t say anything to him”

“Not a problem”, Tess reassured her “ you can call him and invite him over too if you want”

Glancing at Liz, Maria tried to read the expression on her face to see if she wanted her to stay or not. She couldn’t really tell what she was thinking, but she was still smiling so it mustn’t have been bad thoughts.

“Um sure, if your sure its okay”

“No problem, right Lizzie” Tess said elbowing Liz in her side, gesturing for her to say something.

“Of course it’s no problem, it’ll be fun”.

Reassured by Liz’s words, Maria smiled genuinely.

“Okay great I’ll just call Alex”. Pulling out her cell phone Maria dialed a number off by heart. While waiting for Alex to pick up the phone Maria tapped her foot in an impatient manner. Covering the mouthpiece on her phone Maria said to Liz and Tess “ Alex is watching the Muppet marathon at the moment so it might take him a while to realize the phone’s ringing”.

After waiting a while longer Maria became frustrated. Just as she was about to hang up, Alex finally answered.

“God Alex’s it’s about time……I know what you were watching, but TV isn’t really that important……what! No im not taking that back its true……it’s only the Muppets……Alex no!”

Confused looks passed between Tess and Liz as Maria’s conversation with Alex continued.

“Fine if it will shut you up ill say it”, Maria paused and rolled her eyes, signing as she spoke, “the Muppets is the most ingenious show known to man kind, it has been since it started and it will go on being that way as long as it is still around. Without it the world would be chaos”, wincing as she said the next words Maria continued, “God bless the Muppets”.

As Maria said those last words Liz and Tess erupted into fits of laughter. Maria scowled, embarrassed at the fact that they had to witness that. Damn Alex and his manipulative ways.

“Now can I tell you the reason for my calling, cause god knows its not so I can proclaim the Muppets greatness……okay remember the girl I saw today…… well im kinda at her hotel room.” Maria quickly wrenched the phone away from her hear as loudly yelled profanities streamed from the phone. Getting over her fear of putting the phone back near her now somewhat deaf ear Maria tried to calm Alex down.

“I know I said I wouldn’t go but I……wait just shut up Alex and listen for a sec okay……well Liz and her roommate Tess have invited us over to watch a movie with them so grab some movie supplies and get your scrawny butt over here okay”.

Liz and Tess were still smiling over the phone conversation going on between the two best friends, only this time Liz’s smile was real.

Finishing up her conversation after telling Alex the room number Maria smiled at Liz and Tess. “ Its all set, Alex is on his way over”.

“Great lets just get the room set up. We can push the double beds together and just lay on them while we watch the movie”, Tess said, already moving over towards the beds.

“Sounds good I’ll help you”


…



Exhausted from pushing the huge double bed together the girls just collapsed in a heap on top of the floral bedspread.

Breathing heavily from exhaustion Liz signed, “maybe we should have waited for Alex to get here so he could have helped us”.

“Are you kidding me? Alex is more of a girl than all three of us put together”, Maria snorted.

“Well in that case im sure he won’t mind that we’re watching a chick flick”, Tess said happily.

“He’ll be cool with it, in fact he would have been downright disappointed if it wasn’t a chick flick, I did practically raise him on them after all,” Maria giggled.

“So how long have you and Alex been friends for?” Liz asked genuinely interested to find more out about the two, not that she had actually met Alex yet but the way Maria spoke about him made Liz want to get to know him and Maria better. This was a new feeling for her. Usually she was so ready to just push people away, not taking the time to get to know the person. She always to be left alone and normally she was content with that, even relived because it meant she wouldn’t have to share herself with anyone, or open herself up to pain, but since Maria had come into her life she was starting to feel differently and this scared the hell out of her, suddenly she didn’t feel so in control. She tried to push away her fear for the time being and tried to listen to Maria’s reply.

“Well my mom and Alex’s parents have been friends since forever so Alex and I have been around each other since birth. We grew up together.”

Liz tried to smile at the nostalgic tone Maria’s voice carried.

“That must have been really great” Liz said, her tone now expressionless.

Maria realized her mistake and felt instantly guilty. Here she was going on about how she and Alex had been friends forever when all this time Liz had grown up without parents and without a stable home environment. Whatever friends she had made at the orphanage may have ended up leaving or being adopted. Maria felt horrible for rubbing Alex and her everlasting friendship in her face. Before she had time to say something their was a knock at the door, signally Alex’s arrival.

Liz’s neutral expression changed to an instant smile as she hopped off the bed to get the door.

Opening the door to a very surprised Alex, Liz ushered him into the room where the other two were “ Alex come in come in, Maria has been telling us all about you”.

Still shocked at the completely transformed Liz standing in front of him Alex tried to speak, “okay just to get this out in the open I didn’t cry when Maria tried to beat me up in 3rd grade, I just so happened to develop and eye condition that day, okay?” he said willing them all to believe him.

Liz smiled at Alex’s randomness before she continued, “relax she didn’t tell us that story, but thank you for that little piece of information” she said giggling

“Damn”, Alex muttered under his breath, he was sure Maria would have mentioned that incident. She brings it up every possible chance she gets.

Getting up from the bed Maria walked over to Alex laughing. “Whatever Alex, you cried like a baby for weeks”.

“Did not”

“Did too”

“Okay children that’s enough, you two behave yourselves or you will have to go to bed without any dessert,” Liz said taking on a motherly tone.

“Oh speaking of which, I come bearing gifts,” Alex said holding up the two plastic bags he carried in each hand.

“Ohh gimme gimme”, Maria said grabbing at the bags. While Tess jumped up from the bed, trying to check out the loot.

“Whoa slow down there ladies, I brought plenty, I do know how much you eat De Luca”

Maria gave Alex a look that could kill and smacked the back of his head eliciting a ‘ow’ from the heads owner.

“Okay Maria when you’re done assaulting me would you care to introduce me to your new friends?” Alex asked her, praying that she was finished dishing out the abuse.

“Alex this is Tess, Tess, Alex” smiling at Tess Alex extended his hand for her to shake, “nice to meet you”

“Ditto” Tess replied.

“And this over here is Liz parker, the girl we saw earlier today, and Liz this is my moronic friend Alex” Maria said her voice full of false sweetness.

“Way to introduce me Maria. Ignore her Liz, im not as moronic as she makes me out to be”

“Don’t worry Alex I believe you” Liz said in a conspiring whisper.

“Okay now that introductions have been made, lets sit down and watch the movie,” Tess suggested

“Sounds good to me,” Alex agreed, “ what’re we watching?”

“The divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood” the girls all replied at the same time.

“Cool, my favorite” Alex said, unfazed by the surprised looks Tess and Liz were giving him. Okay so Maria had said he loved chick flicks but they had still been a little skeptical. Maria really had trained him well.


…


Towards the end of the movie there was another knock at the door, unsure of whom it would be Tess got up to answer. When she opened the door she felt something come flying at her legs. Looking down she saw it was one of the little girls from trinity.

“Jessie what’s wrong” Tess asked confused about the reason the little girl had come to her room.

“I don’t want to sleep, im scared, Lucy said there was a monster under my bed who would eat me as soon as I fell asleep” her little body shuddered at the thought of that.

Crouching down to Jessie’s level Tess looked at her, “there’s no monster under your bed, Lucy just wanted to scare you”

“How do you know you haven’t even looked” Jessie said accusingly. For a five year old she was pretty feisty.

Smiling Tess signed to herself, “okay Jessie ill come and see if there are any monsters, and if there aren’t you have to promise you’ll go to sleep okay?”

“Okay” Jessie said, “but only if you stay with me until I fall asleep”

“Okay I’ll stay” Tess said ruffling the little girls hair, “im just gonna tell Liz im going, then we can go check out that monster of yours”

Coming back into the room where the other three were now watching the movie credits Tess filled them in on what was going on.

“Ill be back after I put Jessie down. If you guys leave before I get back I just want to say it was a pleasure meeting the both of you”

“Same here Tess” Maria and Alex both replied

After she and Jessie had left they remaining three decided to get to know each other a little better. After what seamed like no time at all they looked at the clock to see that it had gotten really late. Helping Liz put the place back to its original state they all decided to say their goodbyes, promising to catch up again before they all had to leave.

Closing the door on her two new friends the smile slipped from Liz’s face. Today had been the most exhausting day of her life, granted she had made two friends in the process but still, everything was happening so fast, she hadn’t had time to think about what was going on.

When Maria, Alex and herself had been talking Liz’s didn’t know what to say. It was her first day being this new and improved Liz so she hadn’t really had time to decide what that all meant. She knew she couldn’t just start telling people how she felt, that was certainly out of the question, so when they were all talking Liz wasn’t sure what she should say. She had tried to keep the conversation focused on Alex and Maria, finding out that they were from Roswell, New Mexico and were on holiday with Alex’s parents, but somehow those two kept steering the conversation to her. They asked about how long her and Tess had been friends for and she knew she couldn’t tell them that she never really spoke to anyone so she had lied. As soon as she started lying she couldn’t stop, it just came naturally to her. Who knew she had this hidden talent? Liz felt bad for lying but she didn’t see any way around it. it was far easier to hide behind the lies than to confront the truth.

Thinking about it now Liz realized it didn’t really matter if she lied to them anyway. In a week Alex and Maria will be on a plane back to Roswell and she’ll be on a bus back to Trinity. After this week it wouldn’t really matter anyway. Relived at this revelation Liz decided that she would carry on this façade and she could do it guilt free.

She was glad Tess had convinced her to dress up in her clothes. It just made her acting a little easier. Some actors just work better in consume and Liz was definitely one of them. Anyway whatever she said while she was this new Liz didn’t have to count as a lie, she told herself, it’s just the character she was playing.

As Liz went into the bathroom after having got herself ready for bed she heard Tess let herself in. She could hear Tess unzip her bag, probably to take out her pyjamas to change into. After a few moments Tess entered the bathroom to clean her teeth in the mirror with Liz.

“So that went well”, Tess said her mouth full of toothpaste.

Liz just nodded in agreement as she continued to brush her teeth.

“Do you think we’ll get to see them again before we leave, I really liked them”.

“Were meeting up with them tomorrow,” Liz said, before rinsing the toothpaste out of her mouth and placing her brush into the holder.

Rising out her own mouth too Tess smiled “great I can’t wait”

Liz forced a smile. She had enjoyed Alex and Maria’s company a lot but spending time with them just meant more time she would have to be in character. This was just the price she would have to pay to have friends. Its not like anyone would want to be friends with her if they knew the truth about her. If they knew how emotionally messed up she was.

Turing to face Tess, Liz said, “yeah me too”.


Feedback please :puppydogeyes:

Part 4


“What are we gonna do im soo bored” droned Alex’s voice as he lay on Liz’s bed throwing a ball at the ceiling then catching it, then repeating the process.

“I don’t know, but would you stop throwing that ball, its driving me insane” Maria screamed from where she was sitting on Tess’ bed, watching the ball go up and down, over and over.

“Geez Maria, I didn’t realize you put on your cranky pants this morning” he shot back, stopping his game, long enough to glare at his best friend.

“Guys quit it, this is our last day in Disneyland, can we not spend it fighting” Liz said through clenched teeth while trying to smile, she was becoming tired of playing mediator between the two friends.

“Well what else are we supposed to do” Maria asked angrily, “We’re confined to this elegantly decorated yet extremely fun deprived room”

“You guys aren’t, you can go off and do whatever you want” Liz replied softly.

“And leave you here all on your lonesome, Lizzie” Maria said in shock “ we helped get you into this situation, we’re not going to leave you now, right Alex?

“Right, we never desert a fellow solider”

Laughing Liz shook her head, “its true you did help, but it was my idea to play that prank on Tess” Liz smiled at the memory, “who knew sister Jacobs would react like that”

“I know, it’s hardly fair” Alex shook his head in disgust. “A little hair dye in Tess’ shampoo hardly constitutes bedroom confinement.

“Damn straight” Maria agreed, adding her two cents.

Giggling Liz remembered the look of pure horror on Tess’ face when she realized that they had turned her once golden curls purple. “At least we got to be there for her reaction, plus the added pleasure of ruining her date with that guy she met on one of the rides, that sure didn’t hurt.”

Joining in with Liz’s giggles Maria spoke, “true that was a great added bonus” then realizing the situation of their captivity still remained she said, “not that it helped our current entertainment issues” a frown now marring her features.

“Oh well what’s done is done” Liz signed unhappily. Her saddened expression mirrored Maria’s.

“That’s it” Alex yelled dramatically, rolling off the bed and into an upright position shocking both the girls. Placing his hands on his hips Alex stared down at Liz and Maria disapprovingly. “This is our last day here and I refuse to spend it sulking” he spoke definitely “I say we blow this joint and go have some fun”

The girls looked up at him from where they were laying on the bed, defeat written all over their faces, clearly unmoved by Alex’s forceful speech.

“Are you really willing to endure the wrath of sister Jacobs” Maria asked bluntly “you’ve seen the woman in action, I know you were scared”

Alex’s defiant expression quickly wavered and his resolve crumpled.

“That’s what I thought”, Maria replied smugly. “So… Simpsons marathon anyone?”


…



This had been the best week of her whole entire life and now it was over. She was on the bus with the rest of the girls, headed back ‘home’ to trinity. Liz couldn’t believe all that had happened during the vacation. She had met two of the most incredible people in the world and spent all her time with them being, well, normal.

It had been the first time she had actually felt anything so long. Normally she would work so hard at cutting herself off from people that she also succeeded in cutting off her emotions to, the good and the bad. She was just numb. This week had been a big step for her. It was the most interaction she had had in her whole life. Even though most of what she said had been a lie. She tried not to let it bother her but it did. She felt bad for lying to Alex and Maria about herself, especially after they had shared with her so much of themselves.

They had talked about anything and everything. Liz knew more about Alex, Maria, and their friends, Kyle, Michael, Isabel and Max than she did about herself.

She knew about Alex and his band, Maria and her herbal remedies, Kyle and with his alpha male status and his ladies man lifestyle, Michael and his take-no-shit attitude, Isabel and her shopping addiction and Max with his straight A’s and his quiet and reserved manner.

Although she didn’t really know these people, she did know that she wanted to get to know them. She had never had that before. She was usually thinking up new and exciting ways to avoid people and shut out those who dared to get to know her. It scared her how much she longed to spend time with these people, maybe even integrate herself into their dysfunctional little group. She was dysfunctional; she could meet their criteria.

Though deep down she knew she would never fit in, not completely, but it was she closest thing she had come to friends, to a family and she didn’t want to give it up, not when she had just found it. Call her crazy, call her selfish, she was both of those things, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to go back to the way she was before the vacation, before Alex and Maria. She didn’t know if she could.

Deep in thought Liz hardly noticed the slightly purple haired Tess glaring at her from the seat next to her. Seeing her now Liz turned to question her.

“What do you want Tess”, seeing no attempt to reply Liz continued, “quit staring at me” still nothing, “would you give it up already?”

Purple Tess continued to glare. Sure she had the right to be a little angry; after all, the semi permanent hair dye seamed not to be so semi permanent.

“Fine whatever” Liz said, Turing back to stare out the window. She was really starting to love this acting thing. Who knew she would be so good at it. She could take on any personality she liked. She had been a bimbo around Tess and mimicked Alex and Maria when she was around them. It was kinda fun. Like a game. If she just kept on playing she would never have to show her true self. The scared and lonely little girl that she was may hopefully get buried under all these fake personalities that one day Liz might actually forget she even existed.

Pulled out of her musings but Tess clearing her throat, Liz turned to her.

“Im gonna get you back Parker, so bad” Tess stated coldly.

“Geez Tess it was just a joke, lighten up” Liz replied, her voice matching Tess’ coldness.

“Just a joke!” Tess practically screamed in exasperation, “you ruined my hair Liz parker, not to mention my date with Josh. I may never forgive you”

“Making out on the ‘it’s a small world’ ride doesn’t count as a date Tess”

“What would you know Miss Prude, you’ve never even been on a date, and you never will ” Tess spat venomously.

Liz felt her face flush red from embarrassment. It was true she never had been on a date, ever. A date would include talking, interacting, maybe even kissing. That had never been in Liz’s job description. She had always shied away from any kind of closeness, especially if it was male orientated. Boys would just complicate her already overly complicated life.

Not knowing what else to say Liz simply replied, “you know what Tess. Screw you” before turning in her seat so her back was to Tess.

Smiling smugly to herself Tess shut her eyes and lent her head back into her seat. Some way or another she would get back at Liz. She didn’t know how yet, nor did she know when but as soon as the opportunity arose she would take it.


…



Yanking her bag of belonging along behind her, Liz made her way across the old wooden floorboards of Trinity’s hallway, which led to her bedroom.

Throwing open her door she was greeted with an empty room, and an open window. Damn no Missy Liz thought to herself. She was really in need of some cat therapy. Missy really came in handy when she needed someone to talk to.

The caretaker had agreed to come in twice a day to feed Missy, making sure to leave the window open a smidge so as to let Missy come and go freely whilst preventing any unwanted guests of the human variety.

Signing to herself Liz decided she might as well get herself settled in while she waited to Missy to make an appearance.

Unzipping her bag Liz gasped at what she saw. Sitting on top of her somewhat crumpled belongings what a Polaroid of herself with Alex and Maria on either side of her, a giant Mickey Mouse engulfing them all in a huge hug. She picked up the picture and flipped in over. On the back it said, ‘if you’re ever up our way here’s our address’s and phone numbers. We’ll miss you heaps Lizzie. Lots of love Maria and Alex xoxo’
Liz couldn’t prevent the smile that crept onto her face. She hadn’t known that they had put this in her bag. Though it didn’t surprise her. She knew they wanted to keep in contact with her, the Whitman’s even when so far as to tell her she was more than welcome to come for a visit at some point. They were however unaware of her orphan status. Liz had told Maria and Alex she preferred to keep it that way.

Even though the fact the picture was in her bag hadn’t surprised her, the image itself did. She had never seen herself look so happy before, and it wasn’t the fake happy she had put on in front of Tess; this was genuine. Though she rarely had photo’s taken of her, those which where taken had usually depicted her mood fairly accurately. She had always looked sad in the pictures. She had always felt sad. But what she realized now, standing in her room holding the picture in her hands was that she was no longer sad. Sure she was far from frolicking in the meadows with the sunflowers kind of happy, but this was a start.


A rattling of the window alerted Liz to missy’s presence. Smiling Liz turned towards her cat, crouched down on the floor and opened her arms to missy.

“Come here miss-kins, give me some sugar,” she said, using a phrase she had picked up from Maria.

Missy came over to Liz in the pretense of a greeting only to flick her tail in Liz’s face before stalking over to the end of the bed and curling herself into a tight ball.

“Oookay” Liz said rolling her eyes. Missy was still obviously pissed about being deserted for the past week. She did this every time Liz went away. It only lasted a few hours. A few very frosty hours mind you.

After packing away her things, Liz climbed up onto the bed. She propped herself up against her pillows and pulled her legs in towards her chest while she stared over the tops of her knees at missy who laid curled up at the end of her bed.

After starting for a while at her immobile and somewhat angry cat, Liz stretched out one of her legs, extending her toe until she was in reaching distance and poked missy in the head. Missy stirred from her slumber and hissed at Liz, causing Liz to pull her leg back towards her body and out of harms way. She happened to like her toes where they were, and wanted to continue having them attached to her feet.

“Okay missy, im sorry I left you here all by yourself but its not like I could take you with me” Liz said trying her best to reason with the cat.

God I have such a twisted relationship with my cat, this is so not normal Liz thought to herself, disgusted with the fact she had to apologize to her cat. How pathetic.

Missy sneered at her attempts to apologize, clearly not buying into what Liz was saying.

Realizing that this wasn’t going to help, Liz turned to her last resort. Bribery. Jumping up for the bed, startling the cat in the process, Liz made her way over to her chest of drawers to retrieve the stash she kept there for occasions such as this one.

Bringing the package of cat treats over to the bed Liz held a treat out for Missy. Jumping onto all fours, Missy came up to Liz and made a swipe for the treat, but Liz pulled it back just out of her reach.

“This is bribery Miss, I have to get something out of this too” she said waving the treat around. Missy’s attention was solely focused on the food in Liz’s hand, not having listened to a word she had said.

“If I give this to you it means that you forgive me okay” Missy had become a little impatient at this point hand had begun to rub her body all over Liz, every now and them taking a swipe at the treat.

Realizing the cat was to far gone to reason with her Liz just gave in and held the food out for Missy to eat. She purred in contented pleasure. Liz’s past betrayal now obviously forgotten.



…


Glancing over to the small clock next to her bed, Liz checked the time. 3:56am. She had been trying to sleep for hours now but to no avail, all she could think about was how she would rather be elsewhere.

Since around 1:00 she had been playing the game ‘anywhere but here’ in her head. It’s a game she had been playing for as long as she could remember. It made her life a little more bearable, being about to spend her time playing make believe. She think about all the different places she could be if she wasn’t where she was. When she was younger her ‘any but here’ place would be with a loving family, in a friendly neighborhood with a couple of brothers and sisters to keep her entertained. When she grew older, and that dream became even more unrealistic, her ‘anywhere but here’ place became a little more independent. She would wished to be out of the orphanage and to be somewhere on her own, living a lavish lifestyle, but now, laying awake in bed at 4:00 in the morning, her ‘anywhere but here’ place had changed. Her ‘anywhere but here’ place now involved Alex and Maria. She had finally put names and faces to the non-descript, anonymous people who had previously entered into her game.

It was in those early hours of the morning when she decided what she had to do. She couldn’t just keep playing the game in her head. She was no longer content with that. She had pretended that she was for so long but now she was tired of living through her imagination. She wanted the reality.

Leaning over to turn on the small night lamp, by her bed Liz pulled the picture Alex and Maria had left in her bag out from under her pillow and stared at it. she then flipped it over to stare at the phone number and address on the back.

Smiling now to herself for the first time since she left Alex and Maria back in Disneyland Liz turned to the curious missy who was watching her from where she had been sleeping at the end out her bed.

Her grin widening on her face Liz spoke, “pack your bags Missy, we’re going to Roswell”.


…



Looking down at the expensive watch which graced her delicate wrist, Isabel checked the time. They should have been here by now.

“What’s taking them so long, they were meant to be here ages ago”, Michael said gruffly, voicing Isabel’s previous query.

“Relax Michael, you’ll get to see Maria soon”, Kyle laughed, rolling his eyes. For a guy who doesn’t like to show his feeling, he sure was being obvious when it came to his feelings for Maria. The guy had practically been pinning for her the second she left. Though Michael would never actually admit to that. Sexual frustration Michael had claimed. Yeah right, the boy way whipped.

Isabel, Michael and Kyle were waiting to meet Alex and Maria at the Crashdown where they were to come as soon as they got back, but that should have been a ages ago and the three were getting a little antsy in anticipation.

“I hope Maria bought me one of those Mickey mouse t-shirts I love, they are so cute” Isabel gushed, clapping her hands together in excitement.

“God Isabel is clothes all you care about” Michael replied rudely.

“This coming from the guy who is quite happy to wear that old Metallica t-shit for 3 days straight” Isabel retorted in disgust.

Before there argument had a chance to turn into a full out yelling match, as many of Isabel and Michael’s arguments have a habit of doing, the bell above the crashdown door rang out, signally someone’s arrival.

Seeing three of her best friends seated in there usually booth at the back of the diner Maria squealed and ran over to them, her arms spread wide.

“Hey guys, im back. Now tell me how much you missed me” she all but screamed, alerting all the crashdown’s patrons to her presence.

Jumping up from the booth, Isabel enveloped her friend into a giant hug only to be pulled off, then replaced by Michael, who swept Maria up in his arms for a passionate kiss. Thoroughly enjoyed by both participants. Thoroughly nauseating to the other two spectators.

After all three of the friends had given Maria a hug and settled back into the booth question time commenced. Starting off with…

“So where’s Alex?” Isabel asked curiously, realizing for the first time that there friend hadn’t been with Maria.

“Oh his parents insisted on him staying home to unpack, im sure he’ll be by later”.

Getting that out of the way, Isabel decided there were a couple of important questions in dire need of being asked.

“So did you meet any hot guys” she asked, raising her eyebrow suggestively.

“Better not have” came Michael’s quick response, as he put his arm around Maria’s shoulder possessively.

“What kind of question is that Isabel”, Kyle reprimanded disapprovingly. “lets not waste Maria’s time with stupid questions”. Turning to face Maria, a grin plastered across his face. “so Maria… meet any hot girls?”

Before Isabel had time to smack his across his chest Maria spoke, “well actually…”

At hearing that Kyle’s ears perked up. With a serious expression on his face Kyle spoke, “you have my absolute and undivided attention”.

Before Maria had a change to divulge all the juicy information Kyle was oh so hoping she would supply, the bell above the Crashdown chimed.

Isabel looked up to see who it was, a scowl gracing her features. “great its my loser brother”

Jumping up from the booth Maria ran towards the approaching Max, straight into his arms, practically knocking the wind out of him.

“Whoa slow down there Maria, I missed you too” she squeezed him tightly, sufficiently cutting off his air supply. “okay Maria, air becoming an issue”.

After hearing his plea Maria released her grip on him. Taking his hand she pulled him over to the booth, pushing Michael over to make room for Max.

Isabel looked max up and down, the scowl still present on her face.
“Max” she spoke curtly.

“Isabel” Max replied.

It was always like this with them. They would always either fight with each other, or just ignore each other completely. Maria wasn’t sure which was the better of the two. When they were fighting at least it meant they were talking. It had been this way between them since the 3rd grade. Isabel and Maria had been best friends since the first time they met. Then when Maria met Max, they too became also friends and Isabel hated it. she saw it as Max stealing her best friend. The Evan’s tried to talk to them, tell them it was okay to have the same friends but Isabel couldn’t handle that. Even though her friendship with Maria remained, her relationship with her brother dissolved. Since then Isabel had always held a kind of resentment for Max. she hated being a twin and she made sure Max knew that. Max wasn’t any better though, he did anything and everything possible to get a rise out of Isabel. He knew exactly which buttons to push so he pushed them. It was pretty exhausting being friends with those two, but Maria wouldn’t try and change them for the world.

Eagar to get back to the conversation, Kyle prompted Maria on what she was saying before.

“So these hot girls you met…?”

“Actually it was just one, well two if you count Tess, but we didn’t really get to know her.”

“Tess aye”, Kyle considered, stroking his chin dramatically, “what’s this Tess look like”

“Blonde hair, blue eyes… you know, the kind of girl you would go for Kyle. But that’s not who I wanted to tell you guys about”

“But..” Kyle began to protest.

“Jebus Kyle, learn to control your testosterone”

“Fine” Kyle pouted, crossing his arms over his chest like a little kid in the early stages of a tantrum.

“So anyway, this girl Alex and I met, her name is Liz Parker and she is so cool”

“She hot” Kyle asked

“Shut up Kyle” Maria and Isabel replied in unison.

After Kyle finally shut up, Maria told the group all about Liz and what she and Alex had been doing this past week, consciously leaving out the part about Liz being an orphan. On the plane home Alex and her and come to the conclusion that there friends didn’t need to know. It wasn’t their information to tell. The group listened contently as Maria spoke of all the things the three of them had gotten up to, making sure to mention Tess and the hair dye incident.

“I really wish you guys could have met her, you would have loved her. Alex and I don’t even have a picture of her to show you”

“How come”, Max asked curiously, wondering why in a week together they wouldn’t have thought of taking any pictures.

“Well Liz hates pictures”, Maria explained “ and the only picture she agreed to have taken Alex and I gave to her to keep”.

Thinking about the picture now, Maria was glad they decided to slip it into Liz’s bag. At first she had wanted to keep it, so she could take it home to show the rest of the group but she thought Liz would like it. Liz had told them she didn’t have many pictures of her own. She remembered what she and Alex had written on the back of the picture. They had both had so much fun with Liz for the past week and she didn’t want that to be it. Maria just hoped that Liz would use the number they left and call.

Feedback Please

A/N: Well here is the next part.. Finally


Part 5



Liz woke up abruptly to her left thigh being stroked softly. Groaning in annoyance Liz push the hand away from her leg. The guy who Liz had been unfortunate enough to be seated next to had been trying to feel her up the since they had boarded the bus.

“Ohh you like that baby” the guy purred, taking Liz’s groan to be out of pleasure.

“I told you not to touch me” Liz spoke through clenched teeth, trying to keep her anger in check.

“Aww but baby all girls say that at first. Before they succumb to my charm that is,” he said cockily.

“A chalk board is more charming than you” Liz spat out, utterly disgusted with the nerve of this guy. She had been peacefully sleeping while he had been doing God knows what to her. The thought made her shudder.

He laughed, “cute, very cute” he said looking her up and down, licking his lips suggestively.

Liz didn’t even want to imagine the thoughts, which were undoubtedly running through his mind. It was scaring her. She had never had much interaction with guys before, especially guys who just couldn’t take a hint. She didn’t really know how to handle the situation. But so far she had been okay. All he did pretty much was his version of sweet talk and a few attempts at touching her legs. He was around 18 after all and controlled by his penis, so she assumed this kind of thing was pretty normal for a guy his age, especially one as cocky and self-assured, as he appeared to be.

“Ugh” Liz said scrunching up her noise is distain.

“You know you want me. You have been practically throwing yourself at me since we have been on this bus. I don’t like it when girls play hard to get” he said a little testily.

Cocking her head to the side, she smiled sweetly, “Im not playing hard to get” she cooed flirtatiously, before her expression turned serious and her tone turned to steal, “im playing never gonna get”

He was getting pretty angry now, obviously not used to being turned down. “You know what, you should really reconsider your attitude toward me cause you own me big time for not ratting you out about your stupid cat” he spoke venomously. “I should have told the driver right away when I realize what was causing the noises coming from your backpack”

Liz didn’t say anything, just glared at him. True he was being a good sport about not dobbing her in but it didn’t mean she owed him. Especially what he seamed to be suggesting. Taking the backpack (with missy in it) on and off the bus every time they stopped to let her go from the bathroom hadn’t been the most easy job but luckily no one had realized what is was exactly that the backpack concealed. The asshole next to her was the only one so far who knew.

“Well” he spoke raising his eyebrows, “don’t you think you owe me a little sumthin sumthin?” he said reaching over to stroke her thigh again.

Slapping his hand away more forcefully this time Liz looked ready to kill.

“Get your filthy hands off me!”

“Come on baby no one’s looking”

“I swear to God if you don’t stop,” she said warningly, before roughly pushing him away.

“Fine you ungrateful bitch” he shouted, releasing the grip he had on Liz before he turned away to face the front of the bus.

Liz let out a relieved breath. To someone else it may have appeared she had him under control, which she knew what she was doing but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Her whole body had been tense and she had been terrified but just didn’t let it show. Holding her hand up she watched it tremble before she pushed both hands into the pockets of her sweater. Hopefully now the guy would finally leave her alone. She would be arriving in Roswell shortly and there were still a few pit stops along the way and she prayed that the now very pissed of guy seated next to her would be getting off at one of them.


…



A few hours had passed since the incident with the guy next to her and so far he hadn’t tried anything on her, apart from a couple of sideway glances Liz hardly even noticed he was there, she was to deep in thought to notice. She had been thinking about what the hell she was going to do when she did get to Roswell. Her leaving had been a spur of the moment thing so she hadn’t really though things through too much. She knew she didn’t have to worry about money; her parents had taken care of that or so that was what she had been told. Apparently after her parents had been married they started putting away money every week to provide for any children they would have. It had taken a few years before Liz’s mom had become pregnant with her so the money they had put away had accumulated. That money along with her parents life insurance was put into an account so that when she turned 16 a third of the money would become available to her. The rest to be received on her 18th and 21st birthdays.

Getting away from the orphanage hadn’t been too difficult. Its not like she was the first to run away. Most of the girls who had run away however usually ended up back at Trinity not long after they left, either finding it to hard to survive on their own, or being found and brought back, but Liz was sure she wouldn’t be found and she wouldn’t go back. That place wasn’t good for her; Maria and Alex were good for her. She wanted to be with them. Needed to be with them not that she would openly admit that of course.

The bus was due to arrive in Roswell within the next few hours, and the jerk sitting next to her still hadn’t go off. He also seamed to have regained his confidence after nursing his bruised ego for a few hours.

“So sweet cheeks, were ya headed”

“None of you damn business”

He laughed haughtily, “fine don’t tell me, im getting off at the last stop anyway so its not like I won’t see where you get off”

“Roswell”

“Baby we must be destined to be together because that’s exactly where im heading”

“Fabulous” Liz mumbled to herself while making her hand into a pistol and holding it up to her temple.


…



Stepping off the bus Liz was instantly enveloped in the warmth of the New Mexican air. They were stopped at the Roswell bus depot, just on the outskirts of town and she was waiting for the bus driver to unload everyone’s luggage. She took a deep breath and smiled a small smile. She was finally here. This was going to be the new start she desperately needed. She could be someone else here, anyone she wanted to be, anyone but who she was. She had found out at an early age that she was unlovable, even told that by one family, but she was going to be different now. Everything was going to be different.

After getting her bag she made her way over to a payphone. Taking out the Disneyland picture from her back pocket Liz looked at it briefly before flipping it over to get the numbers off the back. She reached for the phone and dialed the first number. Before anyone on the other end had a chance to answer Liz hung up abruptly. She didn’t know what to say to Maria. She hadn’t really figured that out as of yet. She knew she couldn’t say that she ran away from trinity. She could say that she was allowed to come here, but how long would they believe that lie, and eventually she would have to go back if she told them that. Well she could say that she had asked for emancipation. Maria had told her about her boyfriend Michael being emancipated earlier in the year, and he was after all around the same age as Liz. Maria and Alex would believe that right?

Making the decision not to call, Liz chose instead to find her own way to Maria’s, it would mean no awkward phone call and some more time to think about what she would say. The only problem was, how to get to Maria’s. Hauling herself and her luggage over to the bus depot’s inquiry desk Liz asked the woman there for directions. After a somewhat forced conversation with a very snappy Mavis, Liz found out that Maria’s place was only a 20-minute walk towards the center of town. Liz thanked the woman and set out on her walk to Maria’s. She hadn’t even left the bus depot when she soon realized that thinking the walk would only take 20 minutes was way to optimistic. Factor in the bag and the fact that Liz wasn’t all that athletic and she was looking at this taking her hours. She was about to give in and call Maria and beg her to come pick her up when a car pulled up beside her, and in the passenger seat was none other than the jerk from the bus, who Liz had found out as they were pulling into the bus depot that his name was Ryan, courtesy of a piece of paper with his name, number and address on it.

Seeing Ryan smirk at her current predicament Liz rolled her eyes.

“Hey baby”

“You know I do have a name”

“Yeah well since you refused to tell me just before I figured I gotta call you something”

Scowling Liz reluctantly told him her name. He smiled like a Cheshire cat.

“So Liz, planning on walking somewhere”

Letting her pride get the better of her she replied, “Actually I am, so if you would excuse me” she said while trying to continue in the direction of Maria’s, still hauling her bag after her. With missy nestled somewhere in amongst her clothes, the bag was anything but light.

“Wait, Liz was it?” the guy driving the car finally spoke. “That looks heavy, why don’t you let us give you a ride to wherever it is your going” he smiled at her.

Liz hesitantly chewed her bottom lip and weighted her options. She could try and walk to Maria’s like she had initially planned, God knows how long it would talk her, or she could accept a ride with the jerk and his friend. Deciding that the latter was the more logical of the two Liz reluctantly agreed.

“Great”, Ryan’s friends said smiling, while he got out of his car to help Liz with her bag, “im Sean Adams by the way, he said, extending his hand to her.

“Liz parker” she replied shaking his hand.

Climbing into the car Liz and Sean continued to converse while Ryan sulked in the passenger seat. He had been trying to chat Liz up for the whole bus trip but to no avail, and Sean just comes along and strikes up a conversation with her so easily. This was the story of Ryan's life. Sean and he had been friends since they were both made the football team a few years back and all the girls he tried to pull would end up with Sean. It was really starting to bother him but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He basically had to settle for the lesser class of girl which he always ended up with.

“So Liz where too” Sean questioned after they pulled out of the bus depot.

Liz took out the picture and read Sean the address off the back.

“That’s DeLuca’s place right?” Sean said a little dejected.

Confused with the fact that he knew that and the fact that he was upset about it Liz asked, “how did you know?”

“Maria and I used to be friends, before I made the football team, but she hates jocks, always has, so we kinda drifted apart. Now she has the same opinion of me as he does all the jocks, that’s why im surprised she’s still friends with Isabel”

“Isabel” Liz questioned, when Maria and Alex had told her about there friends, Isabel’s name had come up on many occasions. They both had acted as thought she was very important to them, but now Sean was saying that it surprised him that they were friends. Liz was confused.

Sean saw Liz’s confusion when he glanced back at her through the rear vision mirror so he explained.

“Isabel’s a cheerleader”, he said, as though that was explanation enough but on seeing her still blank expression he continued, “ as Maria always used to say, the only life form lower than a jock is a cheerleader”

“Oh” was Liz’s reply. She hadn’t known Isabel was a cheerleader. “ So why do you think they are still friends then?”

“Well they have been like best friends since forever so she made an exception, plus she’s great friends with Max, Isabel’s brother. I don’t really know, nor do I care. Maria can be friends with who she wants to be friends with” when he spoke he sounded a little bitter so Liz didn’t press the subject, instead she just sat back and watched the scenery go by.

After a few moments of awkward silence Sean spoke again, “so Liz you never told me how you knew Maria. Family friends?” he guessed.

“Yeah” Liz replied not really knowing what else to say.

“Well looks like we’re here,” he said stopping the car and getting out to again help Liz with her bag. Handing it to her he smiled slightly, “I would help you take it in but since Maria and I don’t exactly…”

“No that’s fine Sean, you’ve been a great help so far” Liz smiled and him and took her bag. “Thanks for the ride”

Nodding to her in response Sean slipped back behind the wheel and with a wave drove off, with the scowling Ryan still sulking beside him.

After watching the car speed away Liz decided she should check on Missy. She hadn’t heard her complaining for a while and wanted to check to see if she was still alive. Sure enough as Liz opened up the bag Missy’s head popped through the opening.

“Hey Misskins, we’re here” she said while picking the cat up out of the bag. “Sorry you had to be cooped up in there for so long”

Missy gave a look, which could only be interpreted as a scowl and leapt down from Liz’s arms.

“God you’re so ungrateful, I should have just left you back there”

Picking up her now considerably lighter bag, Liz hauled it over her shoulder and made her way up the DeLuca’s driveway and over to their front door, Missy sauntering after her.

Taking a deep breath Liz raised her hand to the door and knocked. She only had to wait a moment before someone bounded up to the door and opened it in a flourish.

“Maria where have you…” Mrs Deluca paused mid sentence as she realized that it wasn’t her daughter standing at the door.

“Hi, um you must be Mrs DeLuca” Liz spoke nervously. She hadn’t anticipated that Maria wouldn’t be home. “Um im Liz, Maria’s friend”

Mrs DeLuca's face lit up with recognition, “Oh of course, Maria has told me so much about you” she said, smiling welcomingly at Liz.

“She has?” Liz asked uncertainly, not really sure how much ‘so much’ is.

“Of course. Maria and Alex haven’t shut up about Disneyland, since they’ve been back”

“Oh” Liz smiled nervously.

Noticing they were still standing in the doorway Mrs Deluca spoke “im sorry where are my manners, come in come in” she said kindly, ushering Liz into the house. “Maria isn’t home at the moment, she’s probably off with that boyfriend of her’s at the Crashdown or something, its not far from here so Maria and her friends are always hanging out down there”

Liz smiled politely not really sure what to say. She didn’t have that much experience talking to adults apart from her shrink, Doctor Anders and the Sisters at Trinity, but Mrs DeLuca didn’t seam to notice and kept on chatting away, until she spotted Missy sitting at Liz’s feet.

“Aww you brought your cat” she gushed, scooping missy up in her arms and holding her to her chest. “What’s her name”

“Missy” Liz said, stumped by how her cat was acting. Missy was usually very anti-social, just like Liz, and never let anyone touch her, but right now, in Mrs DeLuca’s arms, Missy was shamelessly rubbing herself all over Mrs DeLuca's face, purring contently in the process.

“She’s so affectionate”

Liz just nodded her head in agreement. Well at least it looked like Missy would be happy here.

Just as Liz was trying to think of something to say, the front door flew open to reveal two laughing teenagers. One was unmistakably Maria and the other was a tall, scraggly haired boy who looked to be around the same age. Undoubtedly Michael.

“OMG LIZ” Maria practically screamed as she saw Liz standing with her mother.

“Hi Maria” Liz said nervously, not sure whether Maria was happy to see her or not.

Maria stood; in shock with her mouth wide open for a few more seconds before everything she was seeing registered itself in her mind and before Liz knew what was happening Maria came crashing into her, engulfing her into an enormous hug.

Liz froze up, not used to this kind of physical contact, but then slowly relaxed enough to hug Maria back. Liz’s uneasiness wasn’t lost on Michael as it seamed to be on Maria and her mother. Stepping forward Michael gently pulled Maria away from Liz.

“Maria, let the girl breathe would you” he spoke watching Liz while he said this.

Liz looked at him for a second before averting her eyes, to look down.

“OMG Liz I can’t believe your really here, I have so much to show you, you have to come to the Crash and meet everyone, this is so cool, I can’t believe your actually here, OMG we have to call Alex he’s gonna be so excited” Maria rambled not even taking a breath.

“Maria slow down” Mrs DeLuca and Michael spoke together.

“Im just so happy” Maria said before jumping up and down and hugging Liz again. Being a little more prepared this time Liz didn’t freeze up and was able to actually smile. She was so relieved that Maria was happy to see her, she was so unsure able herself and how people perceive her that she couldn’t be certain that Alex and Maria would be glad to see her, but by the way Maria was acting most of her fears were put to rest.

Stepping out of the hug Maria composed herself enough to introduce Michael to Liz.

“Liz this is my very handsome and charming boyfriend Michael and Michael this is Liz, the girl Alex and I have been telling you all about”

“Hi”

“Hi” Liz replied

“Well im glad you two decided to be monosyllabic today” Maria said sarcastically.

Before either of them could continue Maria’s mom sniffed the air and asked, “can any of you smell burning?” then her eyes went wide and she groaned, “oh God the casserole” and with that she ran off into the kitchen to salvage what was left of dinner, Missy still nestled in her arms.

“Great mom’s burnt dinner again, I guess were going to have to go out” then a smile crossed her face, “ I know lets go to the Crash, I think Max is working tonight, maybe he can get us a discount”

“The Crash?” Liz questioned. Mrs DeLuca had said that word before, but she never actually explained what it was.

“Oh the Crashdown’s this alien themed café just a few minutes from here. Max, Michael and I work there. Best - food - ever” Maria said, emphasizing the words.

“Ill go tell your mom were leaving” Michael said before walking off in the direction of the kitchen.

“We can call Alex, Isabel and Kyle and get them to come to the crash so you can meet everyone”.

“Um Maria im not sure that such a good idea, I mean I just got here and...” Liz started to explain.

“Oh come on Liz it will be fun” Maria whined.

Knowing that arguing wasn’t going to get her anywhere Liz reluctantly agreed.

“Great!” Maria beamed at Liz, “this is going to be so much fun” she smiled “so how long are you planning on staying, “Maria questioned, hoping it would be for a while, she didn’t want Liz leaving to soon.

“Actually I was planning on living in Roswell I’ll have to find an apartment or something…”

Cutting her off Maria squealed “WHAT!! OMG THAT’S SO GREAT, YOU CAN LIVE WITH ME, THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN” then Maria once again engulfed Liz into a tight embrace. In all the excitement Maria didn’t even consider how it was that Liz could just decide to move to Roswell but all that didn’t matter to her at the moment.

Just as Liz and Maria pulled away from each other Michael came back into the room.

“Your mom says it ok to go out, she’s just going to order in,” he explained as he picked up his coat and opened the door for the two girls.

Taking a deep breath, Liz stepped out of the house with Michael and Maria, preparing herself for when she would meet all of Maria’s friends. This was going to be her most challenging role yet. Playing the normal, happy-go-lucky teenage girl that everyone wanted her to be. She just hoped she could pull it off.


...



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Part 6

The bell over the Crashdown’s door sounded as the three teens walked through into the café. Michael and Maria headed straight over to a booth and Liz followed, looking around the place as she did.

Liz knew all about the Roswell crash from Maria and Alex, but she never realized as to what extreme these people took it to. She was amazed at how alien orientated the whole town was. Walking over to the crashdown from Maria’s house she had noticed little alien paraphernalia in a shop window but never really thought much of it, but now looking around she could see why they called Roswell a tourist trap. Any alien obsessed tourist would be quite at home here.

The walls were lined with pictures of cartoon UFOs and other supposedly legitimate newspaper articles on other alien sightings. It was kind of campy, but it was pulled off well. Liz thought it was cute.

Reaching the booth where Michael and Maria had stationed themselves, Liz sat down opposite them and reached for a menu taking note of the names given to the foods served. Things like blood-of-alien smoothes and Will Smith burgers. It was quite cleaver Liz mused. Looking up from the menu she could see Michael and Maria looking around the restaurant for someone.

“Max must be in the back” Maria said to know one in particular, “I wonder when the others will get here, I told them 6:30”

“Relax Maria, they’ll be here soon”

Liz watched the waitresses as they made their way in-between the tables, serving food and taking orders, everything seamed perfectly synchronized, Liz didn’t know how they did that; they made it look so easy. Another thing Liz noticed was the uniform the waitress’ wore. They were aqua in color and were sort of in a vintage style. They were lined in silver pleather around the collars and sleeve cuffs. It was also topped off with bobbing moon antennae and a silver alien faced apron with black almond shaped eyes for pockets.
Liz smiled at the uniforms, how she would hate to have to wear that.

“Yeah not attractive huh” Maria said noticing what Liz was smiling at.

“I think you look sexy in your uniform” Michael purred into her ear, causing her to giggle.

Just then the bell above the door rang out announcing the arrival of some more Crashdown patrons.

“There’re here”, Maria shrieked as she climbed out of the booth and ran over to her friends.

Michael stared at Liz apologetically, “sorry I don’t think Maria is capable of talking at a normal volume”.

Liz plastered a huge smile on her face; “hey I spent a week with her, im used to it” she joked.

Michael noticed her change from nervous to confident within seconds and his tone turned serious.

“This is probably pretty overwhelming for you isn’t it?”

Liz was taken aback by his bluntness but just laughed it off, “no this is great, I love meeting new people” she lied.

Before Michael had time to question Liz anymore, Maria bounded up to the table, her three friends in tow.

“Liz I would like you to meet, Kyle and Isabel. You already know Alex”.

Liz stood up so she could greet everyone properly only to have Alex grab her into a hug, similar to that of Maria’s earlier. He practically squeezed all the air out of her.

“Good to see you to Alex” she laughed, the nervous undertone in her voice, lost on the others.

“Wow I just can’t believe your actually here, I thought Maria was lying when she told me”

“Hey would I lie” Maria asked, feigning hurt.

“Yes”, Kyle, Isabel and Alex answered, Michael intelligently staying out of it.

Kyle and Isabel stood back and watched Alex and Liz greet each other.

“She’s hot, I’d do her,” Kyle stated appreciably only to be elbowed by Isabel

“Kyle that’s so inappropriate” Isabel reprimanded before introducing herself to Liz.

“Just ignore Kyle, he lacks the sufficient amount of brain cells required to be involved in a conversation which is not in some way associated with sex. Hi Im Isabel”

“Nice to meet you” Liz smiled at Isabel and then at Kyle.

“Ok let’s sit down” Maria butted in, ushering everyone to a seat. Michael, Maria and Isabel sat on one side of the booth while Liz slipped into the other side followed by Alex who was unceremoniously thrown out of the way, and replaced by Kyle, who was making sure it was he who sat next to Liz. Frowning at Kyle, Alex took a seat next to him.

“So when are we eating?” Kyle asked rubbing his hands together excitedly.

“Well if my dorky brother would be so kind enough as to get our orders then we could eat,” Isabel said icily. She didn’t want to appear mean in front of Liz but coming to the crashdown when her brother was working had put her into a bad mood. It was bad enough living with him; she didn’t want to spend her free time around him.

“Isabel, it isn’t Max’s job to take our order” Maria pointed out.

“Whatever, im hungry”

Signing Maria got up from the booth. “Fine ill go in back and see if he can get our order, it appears that all the waitresses have decided to go on break anyway”. Turing to Liz she smiled, “and that way you’ll get to meet him when he comes out”

“Lucky you” Isabel smiled thinly at Liz.

…


Making her way past the ‘employees only door’ Maria called out to Max.

“In here Maria” Max answered, recognising Maria’s voice instantly.

“Omg Max you will never guess what” Maria said excitedly.

“I bet its something about your ‘new best friend’”, Max mumbled incoherently, not taking his eyes off the burgers he was preparing.

“What?”

“Nothing” he mumbled, audibly this time.

Wondering what was up with her best friend, Maria continued, “Liz is here”

Finally turning to look a Maria, Max's eyes went wide, “what, actually here in Roswell?!”

Maria thought she heard a hesitant tone in his voice but dismissed it.

“Yeah she just turned up all of a sudden, Michael and I came back to my place to find her talking to my mother. How random is that” Maria explained, a permanent smile on her face. This only caused Max to scowl inwardly. Outwardly he smiled.

“Wow that’s great Maria, I can’t wait to meet her,” he said unconvincingly.

“You can right now, she’d here in the Crashdown. Isabel, Alex and Kyle are here also”.

This time Max couldn’t hide his disappointment and Maria saw the look on his face.

“Max what is wrong with you”

“What do you mean Maria” Max scowled.

“This is that I mean”, she said gesturing toward him, “Lately whenever I mention Liz you get this look on your face, you haven’t even met her”

Max signed, he knew he had no reason to hate this girl but he did. He used to be Maria’s number 1 best friend and now it seamed that Liz had taken his place, and they had only spent a week together. He knew he was being childish but he could help it. It was enough what he had to go through with the whole Isabel and Maria friendship, he didn’t think he could deal with that again. He had lost his friendship with his sister because they had both been unable to ‘share’ their best friend, despite the fact that that was exactly how things ended up. Maria had somehow maintained her friendship with both him and Isabel, but their relationship had never been the same. He didn’t want that to happen with Maria and him, if this Liz girl started to come before him, in Maria’s eyes. He didn’t know what he would do.

Smiling at Maria he said, “no, it’s just been a long day” he said signing for authenticity.

Maria didn’t believe it for a second but let it go anyway. “Ok well we need someone to take our orders, you can come say hi to Liz while your there” and with that she was off, going back in the direction she came with the expectation that Max would follow.

Groaning to himself Max did follow, picking up an order pad one of the waitresses had left on the counted when she had gone on her break.

Pushing open the door leading from the backroom to the front, Max looked over to his friends’ regular booth. Instantly his eyes came to rest on the new girl. Damn, she’s beautiful, Max thought to himself, but tried not to get discouraged. This was only a minor set back. He could still hate her even if he was attracted to her right? Making his way over to the booth, he tried not to look at her, but found his eyes seeking her out anyway. He had only just seen her and already his plan to hate her was looking futile. Be strong. Max coached himself inwardly, though all thoughts of hate left him the second she looked at him. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were enthralling. They had so much depth to them that Max had a hard time looking away, and an even harder time forcing himself to glare at her. Seeing the second of confusion cross her features made Max feel a little guilty, but he knew this was what he had to do. If this girl was going to come in here and try to take his best friend away then she best be ready for war.

He came up to the booth and instantly pulled out a pen and held it poised over the writing pad. Before Maria could make any introductions he said, “what do you guys want to eat?”

“Max” Maria said warningly, “This is Liz” she continued, gesturing toward Liz.

“Hi” Max turned to Liz and smiled fakely before re-asking his previous question.

Maria shot him a look that told him to behave, which Max chose to ignore. Liz was confused with Max’s attitude but pretended not to notice or care. She was used to being treated badly. She had had foster parents who acted that way and it hadn’t fazed her then, so it shouldn’t now she reasoned.

After everyone ordered, Max left right away, without another look in Liz’s direction. As soon as Max was gone Maria automatically apologized for him.

“Im sorry Liz, he’s not usually rude like that”

“Yes he is” Isabel threw in.

“Isabel” Maria said slowly, warning her like she had done for Max.
Liz just smiled, “its fine Maria, I didn’t even notice” but the truth was she did and she was upset about it. All those feelings that she had experienced when living in foster homes, she didn’t want to associate with Roswell. She was hoping for a fresh start, and wasn’t ready to have to prepare herself for rejection.

“Who cares about Max”, Kyle said, putting his arm around Liz’s shoulder, pretending the action to be out of comfort, “he doesn’t know a good thing when he sees it”

Michael could sense Liz’s discomfort and proceeded to kick Kyle as hard as he could, from under the table. Jumping away from Liz as much as the booth would allow, Kyle showed that he got the message. Brunettes weren’t really his thing anyway.


…



It was getting late and just about everyone has left the crashdown except for Kyle, Alex, Isabel, Maria, Michael and Liz. Max was in the process of closing up after having cleaned up the place and was about to join the group at their booth. They had been talking a lot about Liz, much to her displeasure. No one had been forward enough to actually ask Liz where her parents were, which Liz was very thankful for. She wasn’t ready to tell them and she knew that was something she couldn’t lie about. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about her parents ever, not the sisters at Trinity, not her shrink and neither Maria nor Alex. They had deduced that she didn’t have parents because of where she was living, but she had never outwardly said anything. She knew she would have to say something eventually, but just not yet.

Then other popular topics of conversation were school and housing. Maria had offered her place, but knew Liz wouldn’t be able to stay there forever. Liz had planned on getting an apartment anyway so she wasn’t too worried about that just yet. What she was worried about was school. She needed to continue her education. West Roswell High was the local high school where the others matriculated so Liz was going to try and see if she can enroll herself there. She wasn’t sure about what kind of procedure the school had so she couldn’t tell yet whether she would have to forge her ‘parents’ signatures or what other things she would have to lie about. It was to soon to tell. School was on break at the moment, and wasn’t starting up again for at least a week. So Liz had a little time to sort some things out.

While the group had been talking Max had been closing up the Crash and was now pretty much done. Making his way over to the booth his friends were at Max pulled up a chair and sat down, just in time to hear about Liz’s plans to enroll at W. Roswell as soon as school went back.

“This is going to be so much fun”, Maria gushed, “I hope we have lots of classes together”

Yeah wouldn’t that be great, Max thought to himself sarcastically.

“Your going to love it Liz, West Roswell is great, plus you have the added bonus of knowing us” Alex spoke boastfully.

Liz just smiled, feeling kind of uneasy now that Max had joined the conversation, and the evil glares he kept giving her didn’t help.

Before anyone had a chance to continue the conversation about Liz’s enrollment Max cut in. “Maria, are we still on for movie night tonight?”

“Oh” Maria looked sheepishly at Max, “it completely slipped my mind, Liz and I already made plans to get her settled in at my place, we’ll just have to do movie night some other time” she smiled apologetically.

“But Maria we always have movie night on Friday, always” Max pushed. Maria and Max had been having this movie and snacks night every Friday since forever. Sometime the others would join them but mostly it just ended up being them. When Michael and Maria had started dating, Michael made sure he was there to supervise. He was convinced that there was more to Max and Maria’s friendship than they were letting on, but he eventually came to realize that his fears were unnecessary. Their friendship was purely platonic.

“Look im sorry Max its just…” Maria was cut off by Isabel’s interruption.

“Give it up already Max, obviously Maria doesn’t want to spend any time with you” she laughed cruelly at her brother. She loved to provoke him.

Max just froze, not even able to form a coherent sentence, his sister had just voiced his fear. Now with Liz here, Maria and he would have less best friend time. He didn’t know if he could handle that. Sure he had his other friends, but they didn’t understand him like Maria did. He was used to talking to her about everything, its not like he had a girlfriend he could talk to. All the girls who were interested in him were mindless bimbo’s who he knew he would never be able to have a serious conversation with.

“Isabel that’s not true” Maria said glaring at her friends, then turning to Max she continued, “max I do want to spend time with you, its just there is heaps to do, with getting Liz settled in a ready for school and everything. I mean you understand right” her eyes begged Max to understand.

Despite his insecurities Max did understand. But it didn’t mean he had to be happy about it. “Fine” he said, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

Feeling the tension in the room, Kyle stood up ready to leave, “okay that’s my cue to leave”

Alex stood up to, “yeah I just remembered I have to be somewhere were there’s less tension” he joked trying to lighten the mood. Getting no reaction he continued, “Isabel you want a ride”

“Sure” Isabel agreed and got up from the booth to stand with Kyle and Alex. “Michael you coming to?”

Michael looked at Maria questioningly. Maria nodded her head and kissed Michael goodbye. “Ill see you tomorrow?” Michael asked.

“Im working all day tomorrow”
“Okay ill come visit” he replied before kissing her again, then turning to walk out with the others, leaving Maria, Max and Liz to sit in an uncomfortable silence.

Needing to write out her work schedule for the rest of the week, Maria reluctantly rose from her seat, “ill be right back guys I just have to do something” after giving Max a meaningful look, telling him to be good, she then left the two alone.

Max and Liz just sat there, Liz playing with her hair nervously while Max watched her, trying to feel hatred for her that he knew would never come. After a while Liz broke the silence.

“Im sorry if I ruined your plans” she spoke softly, not making eye contact with him. He didn’t say anything, just continued to watch her. She felt uncomfortable but tried not to show it. Instead she looked Max straight in the eye.

“Are we going to have a problem Max” she spoke bluntly, shocking Max. Sure he didn’t know her but he just didn’t think she would be that matter of fact.

“I don’t know. Are we?” he challenged.

“Hey im not the one acting like a two year old who hasn’t got his way”, she spoke smugly thought in truth couldn’t believe she had just said that.

“Excuse me” Max said incredulously. He was taken aback. When he had first seen Liz he couldn’t picture her to be the fun living, feisty girl Maria had described her to be. Maria had said she and Liz had had a lot in common but Max couldn’t see that. Until now. This petite brunette could really stand her ground, much to Max's displeasure. This was going to be harder than he anticipated.

“I just call it like I see it Max”

“Ok im just about ready to leave, are you guys…” Maria trailed off as the saw the looks Max and Liz were giving one another. She had really hoped they would get along. Apparently that was being far to optimistic.

Hearing Maria’s voice, Max and Liz stopped the staring competition they were having, and looked away. Deciding to ignore what she was seeing, for the moment at least, Maria decided it was time to go home.

“Max, I think Liz and I are just gonna head off”

“Sure”, Max said, getting up to let the girls out.

“Ill see you later” Maria said to Max, reaching up to give him a brief hug.

“It was nice meeting you” Liz smiled sweetly at Max as she followed Maria to her car.

Max just stood there and watched as his best friend drove off with Liz. His world was being turned upside down because of this girl and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was just going to have to get used to the fact that Liz was going to be a permanent fixture in his life whether he liked it or not. The scary thing was, he wasn’t sure whether Liz being there was such a bad thing, despite the threat she was to his and Maria’s friendship. There was something about Liz that appealed to him and he didn’t understand why. He just hoped he could curb those feelings.



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Part 7


Liz sat at a booth in the Crashdown as Maria worked her shift. They had been there for about a quarter of an hour and Liz was already anticipating some difficulties. Before coming into the Crash, Maria and Liz picked up the enrollment forms Liz was required to fill out if she wanted to attend W. Roswell with the others.

Going over the papers in front of her, Liz signed, hopefully this won’t be too hard. She thought to herself. Wasn’t denial great?

First question; student’s name:

Okay that’s easy

Parker, Elizabeth (Liz)

Student’s home address, contact numbers etc:

Okay that’s going to cause problems, ill just skip it for now.

Name of parents/guardians:

Skip it

What grade is the student in now?:

10th grade

What grade does the student expect to be in next year

11th grade

Is the Applicant a Sibling of a Current Student?

Easy

No

And Liz went through the rest of the application in a similar fashion, skipping those, which she couldn’t answer, and answering those she could. Half an hour later she had pretty much filled out what she could. Shuffling the papers into a neat pile, Liz looked around the Crashdown and for the first time noticed how busy it had become. Her eyes searched for Maria. She was looking tired already, and she had only recently started her shift. Liz looked around for the other waitress’ but saw none. Just as she was wondering why it was that Maria was scheduled to work a Saturday by herself, Maria came over and answered her unasked question.

“God im exhausted. It seams that Courtney has developed Mono” Maria explained, “can’t imagine how that happened”, she stated sarcastically, “and now im left to run this madhouse” she gestured around the packed restaurant.

It was like a light bulb lit up in Maria’s head and her eyes and smile grew wide.

“Omg im a genius”, Maria proclaimed, a mischievous smile on her face. Inching her way closer to Liz she whisper conspiringly in her ear, “you know what would be super fun Liz ” she grinned menacingly and Liz just knew to be scared. She now had this unwavering feeling that she was about to get roped into something she so didn’t want to do.

“What?” Liz questioned apprehensively.

“If you helped me work the Crashdown” Maria smiled proudly as if she had just found the cure for cancer.

“Maria no, I can’t, I don’t know how” Liz tried to weaseled her way out of it.

“Look Liz its my job to serve these people their greasy alien themed food and by God im going to give it to them and you” she said indicating Liz, “ are going to help me” she stated smugly, knowing Liz wouldn’t refuse.



…



Fifteen minutes later Liz walked out from the backroom, outfitted in the ever so attractive Crashdown uniform. Liz looked down at herself and groaned.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me”

Seeing Liz come through the ‘employees only door’ Maria smiled, “wow Liz you look great” then winced at how fake that sounded. “Okay I lied you look as ridiculous as I do”

“Thanks Maria” Liz said, wrinkling her nose as she saw her reflection once again in the milkshake maker.

Rolling her eyes at Liz, Maria pointed to the layout of the room, and gestured to the booths that Liz would work. “You take that half of the room, and I’ll take this half” she directed, “first customers yours okay, I still have my lot to deal with”

Hearing the bell above the door ring, Liz looked up to see who her first customer would be, groaning to herself when she recognized who it was. None other than Max Evans.

“This day just gets better and better” she muttered to herself.

Looking around for Maria, Max’s eyes came to rest on another waitress. Liz Parker to be exact. He was shocked to say the least at seeing Liz dressed in that oh so cute aqua uniform, but hide his shock behind a grin. It wasn’t hard to grin as he saw the look on her face. She didn’t look like a happy camper. Deciding to make things difficult for her, Max made his way over to the counter where he knew she would have to serve him. This was going to be fun. Strangely enough he liked annoying Liz. One day of it and already he was addicted. Maybe it was the cute look on her face when she was pissed.

Trying to act like Max being there didn’t bother her in the slightest, Liz started to reiterate the introduction Maria had just drilled into her.

In the most emotionally devoid tone she could manage at that moment she said, “welcome to the Crashdown, I’m Liz, I’ll be your waitress this morning, what would you like to order”

Smirking he said, “could you tell me the specials”

She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to piss her off, and unfortunately it was working. He was getting to her, and his sexy smirk wasn’t helping. Liz had never had such mixed feelings for someone before. It was euphoric while at the same time terrifying.

Playing along with his little games Liz listed the specials, as best as she could remember, hoping that if she didn’t show her annoyance, maybe Max would give up trying to provoke her. No such luck.

“Hmm I don’t know what im in the mood for”, stretching out the sentence in the most obnoxious way whist stroking his chin dramatically and looking toward the menu in front of him, looking up at Liz he grinned, “What would you suggest?”

Rolling her eyes, Liz let out a lingering sign. She spoke slowing, hoping that he may be able to understand the words if she didn’t say them too fast, “Max”, her tone had an edge of annoyance to it, much to Max's delight, “you work here, you have probably tried just about every meal this place has so offer. This shouldn’t be a hard decision” she spoke as if he was mentally retarded.

Max just laughed at how he had successfully managed to push all of Liz’s buttons and ordered a milkshake. He knew how hard it was to get the machine to work.


…


The Crashdown’s bell rang for what seamed like the 1000th time that day and Liz was just about ready to rip the bell straight off the framework.

It wasn’t the waitressing that was the problem, but instead the way Max had been following her every movement for the last 2 hours or so, only stopping every now and then to talk to Maria when she came over. It was unnerving her having him staring at her but that wasn’t even the most annoying part. It was the fact that Max knew exactly what his stares were doing to her that made her so mad. She hated being that obvious.

Since meeting Alex and Maria and since coming to Roswell, Liz and experienced so many different feelings and emotions which she had never felt before. She used to be so cut off and numb, but all of a sudden she was feeling a little more, human. Full range of emotions and everything. Many of which were Max induced.

He was really confusing to Liz. The way he spoke and acted towards her made her think that he disliked her, but sometimes she caught him looking at her and his eyes told her anything but. She just figured she was making something out of nothing. Its not like she had any experience in this area.

Looking up from where she was wiping down the counter, Liz noticed Maria in the middle of an animated conversation with an older man. He looked to be about 40 and was dressed casually. It looked to Liz like Maria knew him well. After staring for a moment she realized that they were talking about her. She could tell by the way Maria was gesturing and how the man would occasionally look her way. Frowning to herself Liz wondered who the man was, and what they were saying about her. As if he was reading her mind, Max provided the answer for her.

“That’s Mr Ortecho, he owns this place”

Before Liz had time to answer Max, or at least glare in his direction, she noticed Mr Ortecho and Maria coming over to her. Biting her lip nervously, Liz pretended to be actively working.

“Hi Liz Parker is it?” Mr Ortecho questioned.

“Um yeah that’s me”, Liz tried for casual, but had a feeling it didn’t come out that way.

“Im Mr Ortecho, I own the Crashdown”

Liz just smiled and looked towards Max, “yeah Max told me”

Mr Ortecho nodded at Max and continued, “Maria tells me you’ve been doing a good job,”

“Ah thanks” Liz replied glancing at Maria briefly.

“What would you say if I offered you a job here?”

Liz just opened her mouth in shock. This wasn’t what she was expecting. She thought Mr Ortecho might have been upset that someone he didn’t know was suddenly filling in, without his knowledge but instead he seamed fine with it.

“Its just one of the other waitress’ is moving away so a position has opened up. You’d just be doing what you’ve been doing now, working the floor and the counter, and occasionally taking inventory. What do you think?” he questioned again.

“Um sure I’d love to work here” she spoke, not really believing she was actually agreeing to this.

“That’s great”, Mr Ortecho smiled, “Maria thinks you’ll do well and I trust her judgment. She’ll organize everything, uniform, timetable etc”

“Okay great” Liz smiled back

“Well I best be getting upstairs. Mrs Ortecho will be pleased to know we’ve filled Rachael’s position” and with a nod of his head, he was headed off in the direction of the backroom.

Turning to Liz, Maria beamed, “this is gonna be so great” she clasped her hands together is excitement.

“What’s gonna be so great”, questioned a voice from behind them. Turing that direction, the three saw Isabel standing there.

“Liz is going to be working in the Crash with Max, Michael and me” Maria elaborated for Isabel’s benefit.

“That’s cool” Isabel said, addressing Liz. Then turning to face Maria she asked. “We still on for my place tonight?”

“Definitely”

“Liz you wanna come?” Isabel asked, “Maria and I were just gonna go to mine place and have girls night”

“Oh I don’t wanna impose” Liz said, shaking her head slightly.

“You won’t be” Isabel quickly cut in; “you and Maria can just come over after your shift” she smiled at how everything was working out. She was happy to spend some time with Liz. From what Maria and Alex had said she seamed like a great person. Someone she could get along with well. Maria was her only real girl friend that she had so she was looking forward to see what Liz was like for herself.

“Ok”, Liz agreed, though dreading what 'girl’s night' actually involved. Light conversation she could do. Hair and makeup however was out of the question.


…


Many hours and angry customers later, Liz and Maria had made it to the Evan’s place in one piece and were had actively started off girl’s night.

“What do you think looks better? The pink or the red?” Isabel questioned, tilting her head to the side.

“Um definitely the red. Goes better with her skin”, Maria replied, tilting her head in a similar fashion while looking at Liz’s reflection in the mirror”

“That’s what I thought”, Isabel agreed, while applying the lip color to Liz’s lips.

“Guys is this really necessary” Liz argued, her words coming out funny due to the fact Isabel was in the middle of applying her make-up.

“Yes”, the girls replied in unison causing Liz to roll her eyes.

“Ok im just about done”, Isabel made one last adjustment, then stepped back to look at her masterpiece, “you look beautiful” she gushed, and Maria looked over.

“Oh Lizzie you do” Maria joined in

Blushing Liz tucked some hair behind her ear and just brushed off the comments. “Well considering the train wreck I usually am, anything’s an improvement”, she tried to joke.

“Don’t be silly Liz, you’re not a train wreck. Here I’ll prove it to you”, stepping outside Isabel’s room Maria called out to Max, who was walking past, in the direction of his room.

“Max I want you to come look at something”, she said coyly, piquing Max’s interest.

“Ok” he said, following Maria into the room. What he saw when he got there made him falter. Liz was there, dressed up in one of Maria’s outfits, that Max recognized. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in loose curls and her skin looked flawless, a small amount of blush on her checks and red lip color and gloss on her lips. Liz looked beautiful to Max before, but now it was like beauty times 1000. Realizing he was yet to say a word and the girls were looking at him strangely Max cleared his throat.

“So what am I looking at?” he asked casually, praying the crackle in his voice wasn’t audible.

Maria and Isabel glared at his apparent stupidity and Liz just let out a laugh and rolled her eyes.

“See, this was a waste of time”

“Don’t say that Liz, just cause my idiotic brother can’t see what’s right in front of him, doesn’t mean that all guys are like that”.

Max looked toward Maria, hoping at least she would defend him. “She’s right Max” Maria told him, while pushing him out the door.

“Okay that backfired”, Max thought out loud. This whole, ‘pretend he doesn’t like Liz’ thing really wasn’t working out. It only made Maria mad, and Isabel worse, and Liz didn’t seam to care. Like she was so much better than him that it didn’t even matter what he thought.

“Damn it”


…


Hanging up the phone, Isabel went back into her room to inform the others of the change of plans.

“Mom and dad are stuck at some business meetings so they won’t be home till late. Looks like we have to fend for ourselves”

Understanding what she meant Maria asked, “So what are we going to make for dinner?”

“Pasta and salad? Its easy enough to make”

“Sounds good”

The girls headed off to the kitchen to prepare their meal and talk about the shopping spree they had planned to go on before school started back up in a few days.

Taking out the vegetables for the salad. Maria got to work, cutting things up and putting them into a bowl, while Isabel put on the water to cook the pasta in and got out a pan to make the sauce in.

Liz stood back and watched the others, already having been told that she didn’t need to help. Not that she was a great cook anyway.

Having heard the girl’s conversation about dinner, Max had decided to come downstairs and see what was on offer. Coming up behind Maria, while she cut up the carrot, Max swiped some of the food and ate it before she had time to stop him.

“Hey! Stop that Max!” she yelled, slapping his hand away as he tried to get another carrot stick.

“Hungry” Max mumbled while trying for another piece, gaining another slap, and no carrot in the process.

“Max this is our dinner. You make your own. Your getting fat anyway” Isabel said to him cruelly, poking his toned stomach with a wooden spoon.

“I am?” Max asked self consciously, rubbing his stomach slightly.

Laughing at him Isabel nodded.

Thinking about it he said, “well all the more reason you should let me have some of your dinner. Its way healthier than anything I could make” he looked to Isabel, then pleadingly at Maria, trying not to look up at Liz who was undoubtedly laughing at him.

“Nah ah” Isabel said firmly, shaking her head no, while folding her arms across her chest.

Max glared at his sister, he could see she was going to continue standing her ground. Knowing that she wasn’t going to give in, Max walked dejectedly over toward the cupboard and pulled out a box of cocoa pebbles, while mutter under his breath, “no wonder im so fat. All I get to eat is stupid cocoa pebbles” he grumbled then headed off to his room, eating the cereal straight from the packet.

Isabel signed in disgust, “being twins, it’s a wonder I turned out so normal” she said, nodding toward Max’s retreating form.


…


After stuffing themselves full of food and gossiping about nothing in particular, much to Liz’s relief, the girls headed off to Isabel’s room to get ready for bed.

Excusing herself to go into the bathroom to get changed, Liz walked to the end of the hall and opened the door she assumed to the bathroom’s. Entering the room, Liz gasped at what she saw.

Apparently this wasn’t the bathroom, but instead Max’s room, and Max himself was standing in front of his full-length mirror, shirtless and scrutinizing his extremely tanned and toned abs with a skeptical look on his face.

Hearing someone gasp he turned around to see a very shocked and embarrassed Liz.

“Oh. My. God” Liz stammered, not really believing what was happening, “I am so sorry Max, I was just looking for a place to change” she managed to get out, holding up her pajamas to verify her story.

Finding the situation funny, Max gestured around his room, “well your more than welcomed to get changed right here”, he smirked when the embarrassed expression on her face changed to that of an annoyed one.

“Yeah like that’s ever gonna happen Max”, she relied haughtily, looking his body over. Though appreciative of what she saw, she instead just shrugged indifferently.

Watching her expression of indifference, Max became self-conscious again. He had been trying to get Liz offside all day but she just seamed to act so superior with every comment he through her way. He was getting sick of it so he lashed out, “what’s with your attitude Liz? Where did you get the idea that you were so much better than me?”

“Well it was mainly through comparison” she relied coolly while smiling sweetly and winking at Max before turning around and leaving his room.

Flopped back onto the bed, Max just signed. What was this girl doing to him?



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